FINAL: Canisius 77, Timon 75 Down goes NYS Class... A #1 as the Crusaders come into South Buffalo and pull off the upset, ending Timon's bid to go unbeaten!! Patrick Cullinan scores 20 pts to lead Canisius, Pat Benzer w/ 18 and a huge 3Q, & Nick Purdie 13 2nd half pts Jacob Humphrey led Timon w/ a game-high 22 pts & Jaiden Harrison scores 16show more

May 2, 1993: Richard Dumas of Phoenix dunks on... Vlade Divac during Game 2 of the Suns' first round playoff series against the Lakers. Dumas finished with 18 PTS. Divac had a game-high 19 PTS to go along with 13 REB/6 AST/3 BLK as the Lakers won, 86-81, and took a 2-0 series lead.show more

C Easton Carmichael (Oklahoma Baseball) is one of the... top college catchers in this year's Draft. Started from the get-go as a Freshman and hit .306/.346/.482 with 18 XBH and 48 RBIs. Proceeded to enjoy an outstanding Sophomore campaign to the tune of a .366/.406/.563 slash line with 31 XBH, 64 RBIs and 12 SB. Carmichael was then an All-Star and All-League selection in the Cape League after hitting .299/.372/.496 with 10 2B, 5 HR and 23 RBIs across 36 games. Prototypical catcher's frame at 6'1" and 200-lbs with strength throughout. Slightly crouched stance in the box with a high handset and the bat held horizontally above his back shoulder. Hands drift a little bit in his load, leg lift leads into a normal stride. Does a nice job of getting into his back hip. Average bat speed. Carmichael has an aggressive approach and digs into the box ready to hit. He uses the entire field and has a tick above-average bat-to-ball skills. Has shown the ability to drive the baseball into either gap. Could stand to tighten up his swing decisions a bit; chased at a 35% clip and was particularly susceptible to secondaries down and away. Present barrel skills. Would say his hit tool is a 50 right now, though it's probably closer to a 55. It's more extra-base hit and gap-to-gap power than it is HR power for Carmichael right now, but he has shown he can generate quality contact. Posted a Max EV of 109.5 during the spring and 104.2 on the Cape. If he can pull the ball in the air more (had an Air Pull% of just 20.8 in '24), it could lead to an increase in power production. 50 raw, it plays more like 45 in-game. It's been encouraging to see the progress Carmichael has made defensively. Has gotten better at corralling balls in the dirt and his transfers have gotten quicker. Best part of Carmichael's defensive skillset is his receiving. Soft and quiet, consistently works down to up and has a knack for stealing strikes. Doesn't stab at the baseball. Average arm strength, continuing to shore up his footwork will only help as it pertains to controlling the running game and delivering accurate throws down to bases. A nice cherry on top to Carmichael's profile is that he's far from a clogger on the bases. By no means a burner, but he'll pick his spots to steal a bag. Carmichael has an intriguing toolset and profiles as a 2nd-4th round pick this July. (📽️: Oklahoma Baseball)show more

🚨 RUSSIA’S COLD WAR CHESS MOVES OFF FLORIDA COAST... Russian nuclear submarines surfaced 66 miles off Florida’s coast last night. This is exceptionally rare; there haven’t been subs this close to U.S. territories for a while. Decades ago, U.S. reconnaissance over Cuba revealed Soviet missile installations, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. On October 16, 1962, President John F. Kennedy was briefed on the imminent threat, sparking a 13-day standoff that nearly plunged the world into nuclear war. The U.S. responded with a naval blockade, a tense game of brinkmanship. Soviet ships approached the blockade line, stopping just short and averting immediate conflict. Tensions peaked on October 27 when a U.S. reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba, killing the pilot. This incident pushed the superpowers to the brink of war, with U.S. forces preparing for a possible invasion. Kennedy's advisors debated between military action and diplomatic solutions. On October 28, a breakthrough occurred. Soviet Premier Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites in Cuba in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba and secretly agreeing to remove American missiles from Türkiye. This resolution defused the immediate threat and led to the establishment of a direct communication link between Washington and Moscow to prevent such crises in the future. Fast forward to today: Russia’s bold move of positioning subs so close to the U.S. mirrors the initial detection of Soviet missiles in Cuba. It’s a calculated act of geopolitical chess, designed to test U.S. and NATO resolve. Just as in 1962, the stakes are high, the tension palpable, and the implications profound. This strategic manoeuvre shows Russia’s willingness to push boundaries, keeping a precarious balance of power and leveraging unpredictability to unsettle its adversaries. When is the breakthrough going to come for Russia / US relations? While shadowing and monitoring by destroyers near any border are routine, this situation should not be dismissed, given its gravity and the chilling reminder of the Cold War’s darkest days. Sources: Newsweek, USNI News, JFK Library, National Archives.show more

Well. My team is out. Belgium sent us home... 4 to 1, and I have made my peace by eating a waffle out of pure spite. So now I watch the rest for the love of the game. And I have picked a horse. Well. Actually, I picked a longboat. I am riding with Norway. Five and a half million Vikings against the entire world, led by that six foot four Norse god Erling Håland, who already threw Brazil off a cliff on Sunday. Do not act like you are not watching too. Now, some perspective, because people forget how hard this thing is to win. In 96 years, only eight nations have ever lifted the World Cup. Brazil, 5. Germany, 4. Italy, 4. Argentina, 3. Uruguay, 2. France, 2. England, 1. Spain, 1. That is the entire list. And here is the joke nobody says out loud. Every single one is from Europe or South America. Every winner, every finalist, 96 years running, two continents. The Dutch, the Hungarians, the Swedes, the Czechs, all European bridesmaids. Nobody else has ever even reached the final. So let us be honest about what this actually is. The World Cup is a European and South American Cup, and the rest of the planet gets a lovely invitation to come lose in the group stage. And before anyone cries, we would do the exact same thing. Give us a World Championship of American Football and it plays out identically, just with the flag flipped. Sure, Belgium shows up. Curaçao shows up. Everybody gets a jersey and a nice hotel. And they all go home in a barrel. Even Canada, right next door, cannot hang, because they are off playing their mutant cousin version with three downs and a field the size of an airport. Bless them. It is almost football. That is what a home sport looks like. The World Cup is just soccer’s version of it. And two of the names on that trophy belong to countries that do not even exist anymore. West Germany won three titles before the wall came down. Czechoslovakia reached two finals before it split in half and vanished off the map. Whole nations came, competed, and disappeared, and the trophy outlived them. So here is where we are, and the bracket does not care about your feelings. Argentina still has to get past Egypt today. Switzerland draws Colombia today. Then France gets Morocco, Spain gets Belgium, and my Norway gets England. You have to pick one. Everybody does. And it says everything about you. Some of you will pick the favorite. The safe money. The chalk. And some of you will ride the long shot, the little country nobody believes in. So which are you. The one who confidently picked the Soviet Union to win gold in 1980, right up until a bunch of American college kids walked onto the ice and ruined your whole afternoon? Or the one who always, always bets on the miracle? I know my answer. Five million Vikings and a thunder god. Skål. Let’s ride.show more

Seedance 2.0 on FlovaAI =================== Prompt: [Reference Identity Lock]... Image 1 is ONLY the main female protagonist. Her face, hairstyle, body type, and outfit must match Image 1 exactly and stay consistent for the entire video. Image 2 is ONLY a uniform reference. All four opponents wear the school uniform shown in Image 2. Never swap, merge, duplicate, or blend identities. The protagonist's identity comes ONLY from Image 1. The four opponents have NO reference images. They are defined by the text descriptions below. The four opponents must not resemble the protagonist, and they must not resemble each other. All five characters must remain clearly distinct and recognizable until the end. [Priority Order] 1. Preserve the protagonist's identity from Image 1. 2. Keep the four opponents visually distinct from her and from each other. 3. Maintain one continuous shot with no cuts. 4. Keep the classroom layout spatially consistent. 5. Make the action fast but readable and physically connected. 6. Keep the tone as a Korean school action drama, stylish but grounded. Korean school action drama classroom fight scene — 15 seconds, ONE CONTINUOUS SHOT, NO CUTS. A single uninterrupted handheld shot. No cuts, no scene transitions, no montage. The camera should feel handheld, with micro-jitters, slight rolling shutter, and raw unstable realism. The camera must physically travel through the same classroom space. Every transition must be motivated by camera movement, not editing. Whip pans are allowed, but they must not hide a cut. Do not teleport the camera or characters. The classroom layout and character positions must remain spatially consistent. Audio: No music. Only realistic school and classroom ambient sounds: old fluorescent light hum, distant hallway noise, ceiling fan, shoes scraping the floor, desks dragging, chair legs screeching, cloth friction, dull body impacts, and breathing that gradually becomes heavier. Breathing continues throughout the scene and keeps building. Lighting: Late afternoon in a Korean high school classroom. Mixed cool fluorescent light and warm sunlight through the windows. Dust floating in the sunlight. Soft fan shadows moving across desks and school uniforms. Main character: The Korean female high school student from Image 1, age 17–18. Cold, emotionless, calm, and intimidating. She barely speaks and does not scream during the fight. She remains composed from beginning to end. Her movements are efficient, explosive, and precise. Even if her frame is not large, she dominates through speed, timing, and accuracy. Main outfit: Exactly the outfit shown in Image 1. Do not change its colors, design, or details. Her jacket or outer layer is either removed and hanging on a chair, or worn in a slightly messy way. The action must be non-sexualized and combat-focused. Fabric movement, dust, sweat, wrinkles, and impact response should feel realistic. Opponent rules: Four Korean female high school students, all wearing the Hanlim Multi Art School uniform shown in Image 2. They have no reference images. Define them strictly by these descriptions and keep each one consistent: Opponent A: short black bob with straight bangs, medium build, round face. Opponent B: long straight hair tied in a high ponytail, tall and lean, sharp jawline. Opponent C: shoulder-length hair with side-swept bangs, slim build, narrow face. Opponent D: long wavy hair worn loose, slightly stocky and broad-shouldered. A, B, C, and D must each keep clearly different faces, hairstyles, body shapes, and silhouettes. They must not resemble the protagonist, and they must not resemble each other. No face duplication, no face merging, no identity confusion. Environment: An empty classroom at Hanlim Multi Art School, a Korean performing arts high school in Seoul. Green chalkboard, chalk tray, worn wooden desks, plastic chairs, classroom clock, class schedule poster, discipline/life-guidance posters, cleaning tools, blinds or curtains, wall study materials, and a slightly scuffed floor. Desks and chairs should react naturally to impacts, sliding, shaking, and collapsing when hit. Camera framing rules: Even during kicks, framing should stay around chest-level or eye-level. No low-angle shots under the skirt. Do not focus on legs, thighs, underwear, or fetish-like details. All action framing must prioritize faces, upper-body motion, impact, and spatial choreography. Continuous action and camera choreography: From 0 to 15 seconds, the fight continues without any cuts. The action should be stylish but readable, and every movement must be physically connected. 0–3s: The camera starts behind the protagonist at a slightly low handheld angle, drifting left through the classroom aisle. Opponent A grabs the protagonist's shoulder roughly and says in Korean: "야, 너 지금 뭐 하자는 거야?" The protagonist silently turns and lands one hard straight punch to A's face. At impact, use a very brief 15% slow motion: cheek ripple, dust particles, deep thud. A falls sideways into a desk. The camera dips slightly from the shock, then whip-pans right without cutting. 3–6s: Opponent B charges in from the right. The protagonist steps forward instead of retreating. A short body shot to the stomach. Immediate uppercut to the chin. Without pausing, she drives forward into a flying knee to B's chest. B is thrown backward across or into a desk. The camera follows the forward motion low, then rebounds upward with the impact. 6–9s: Opponent D attacks with two fast punches. The protagonist deflects both strikes with her arms, then flows into a turning backfist to D's face. As D staggers, she continues the same rotation into a spinning back elbow that lands hard on D's jaw or temple. D crashes sideways into two or three desks. The camera arcs around her shoulder and jitters slightly at each impact. No cuts. 9–12s: Opponent C rushes in from the chalkboard side. The protagonist clearly grabs C's collar with her left hand. C's face must be fully visible from the front and clearly different from the protagonist. The protagonist lands one short, hard punch to C's face, then immediately throws a powerful high kick or flying high kick into C's chest. The force sends C backward into the green chalkboard. The protagonist remains in the foreground and never touches the board. The protagonist's face should be side-profile or partially obscured. C's face should be clearly visible from the front at the moment of impact. Their faces must never overlap in frame. Use a very brief 20% slow motion at the chalkboard impact: chalk dust bursts outward, and C slides down the board. The camera pushes up with the impact, then tilts down as C slides. 12–15s: Through the chalk dust, the camera hard-pans right. D makes one final charge. The protagonist sidesteps and lands a tight uppercut to D's chin, followed immediately by a cross. D crashes into a row of desks, causing a chain reaction of collapsing desks and chairs. The camera drifts forward slowly. The protagonist adjusts her loose tie or ribbon and brushes chalk dust off her shoulder. Her expression stays cold and serious. She walks past the camera and exits the frame. Dust floats in the sunlight. Natural ending. =================== Made with Flova #FlovaAI #FlovaCPPshow more

Paradis Macro Report [July 8]: US & Iran |... AI Trade | Macro Data | Hedges | Catalysts The US/Iran ceasefire has collapsed... Overnight, the US struck >80 Iranian targets e.g. air defences, coastal radar and small boats in response to Iranian attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, incl. an LNG carrier from Qatar. With Trump saying “it’s just a waste of time dealing with them.” at the NATO summit today. Trump has threatened more strikes tonight, while the Treasury has revoked its waiver on Iranian crude sales. As expected, Brent and WTI crude oil rose today due to 1/5 oil volumes passing via Hormuz. For now, this is a “wait and see what happens” situation rather than actively trading the news. It's all very volatile, as seen with semis names recently w/ ~$2.8T of market cap being wiped out across the ecosystem at the end of June alone. We all know that semis have been selling off aggressively for the past couple of weeks, which hasn't been helped by the broader macro landscape with the war. In my view, it's definitely a risk-off market for the time being with the hyperscaler earnings at the end of July being the next critical catalyst. Maybe good timing to get all this war nonsense out the way beforehand? Korea is certainly the epicenter of the issue here with KOSPI being down over 20% in just over two weeks. Samsung put up staggering earnings earlier in the week where they became the most profitable company globally ahead of the likes of $NVDA. But the stock has sold off over 12% since.... Clearly, nothing is fundamentally wrong with Samsung. They're booming. So when a historic earnings gets sold, that's most likely a combination of de-leveraging / profit taking. Well, tbh, it doesn't really matter what the issue is, fundamentally they're strong and will continue to be strong. Then shifting back to the US, you'll hopefully remember the rates backdrop that we're currently in from my previous reports. Ultimately, the Fed held rates at 3.50-3.75% in June but there's a hawkish undertone with 9/18 participants projecting at least one hike in 2026. Today's FOMC minutes highlighted that the committee is split roughly 50/50, with a few officials seeing a case for a hike. The 10 Year Treasury Yield is currently at 4.571% at the time of writing this. And while the shocking June payrolls miss (just 57k jobs vs 115k expected) knocked Sep'26 hike odds from about 2/3 to roughly 1/2, oil's spike now revives the inflation case. Meaning that every high beta/multiple growth stock lots of us are invested in are caught between a hawkish Fed and a rising oil price. And looking at other data points such as: - VIX at 16.8 - High yield spreads at circa 2.75% - Gold falling nearly 1% Shows that the geopolitical premium that was build since ~Feb has already unwound significantly. In simple terms: we're in a valuation correction environment (as we know) in crowded AI names w/ a war premium bolted on top. Evidenced by the ongoing rotation into sectors like energy, defensives and large caps - away from smaller cap names such as those upstream AI supply chain bottlenecks. In terms of near-term events: - SK Hynix Nasdaq ADR (10 July) - June CPI (14 July) - $TSM earnings (16 July) So to summarise: I'm viewing the current macro picture as a 3 layered cake: 1. Geopolitical shock with US/Iran 2. AI positioning unwinds/deleveraging 3. Hawkish Fed rates environment And in terms of key data points to watch for: 1. VIX spiking above ~22 = more market turbulence 2. High-yield spreads through 3.25% 3. Brent beyond $90 All would mean something worse is going on rather than just a sector rotation that we're in now. Which I view as short term since AI fundamentals will superceed any short term noice. Until then, (NFA) hedges are cheap e.g. energy, defensives which are working right now. Also defensive tech as I like to call it i.e. software.show more

Instead of just talking about it, I wanted to... go through it and really break it down to figure out the exact reason for the difference in Jalen Duren's play between the regular season and the playoffs. *LONG BREAKDOWN COMING* First, lets list how much the difference was: Iso in RS: 82nd %ile Iso in PS: 21st %ile Post-ups in RS: 88th %ile Post-ups in PS: 59th %ile PPP on drives in RS: 1.18 ppp PPP on drives in PS: 0.80 Layups in RS: 79th %ile Layups in PS: 19th %ile It was a staggering drop off. Shocking to many of us who watched him all season. So, what happened? Well, #1 I think mentally he was letting his struggles get to him and he started to play out of control. Something that suggests this to me is this stat: He started to figure some things out himself in isolation over the last 2 games against the Cavs. He had six isolation possessions in the final two games against the Cavs; he scored on five of those possessions and drew a foul on the other. Game 6 he started to look confident and really made them pay out of isolation. I really think a ton of it was he got hit with a punch early against ORL and really struggled to handle the pressure and struggles after, and just kept stacking and stacking. So, him being in his own head is #1 for me. #2: His handle got exposed quite a bit. In the regular season, he only had a 4.2 TO% in isolation, which is incredible. In the playoffs, though, that spiked to 20 TO%. On drives in the RS, he had a TO% of 4%. In the PS, it jumped to 13.3%. The first clip below shows how the right-to-left cross he loved doing all season was really taken away from him. Too loose of a handle, and he often got his pocket picked trying this exact move over and over. I think having his go-to move taken from him shook him a bit and left him scrambling a bit in his head to find a counter. The second clip shows, imo, him starting to lose trust in his handle. He immediately turns his back to the defender, which is what you do when you're worried about losing the ball. But, even then, he loses control of the handle and it ends up in a turnover. If I'm the Pistons, I'm showing all his turnovers due to his handle and working with him on tightening his handle and also helping him get comfortable with a counter/second move so defenders don't just sit on the right-to-left cross. #3: I think he really struggled to adjust to the playoff whistle. In the regular season, he drew free throws on 21% of his isolations and 31% of his post-ups. In the PS, it dropped to 14% and 11%, respectively. There were many possessions where in the RS he would've got free throws, but did not in the PS and he was frustrated. In the third clip, you'll see how physical he was being played by Mobley (which we all want physicality in the game). But, in the RS, he probably is getting FTA's here. There are many examples of this where it felt like a lot of his value during the RS was being able to draw FTA's on his drives, and in the PS, refs just allowed more physicality, and he struggled to deal with it. #4: Ausar-Duren duo. I believe in this duo, and I do not think this was the main reason Duren struggled. However, I am not blind to the fact that there were obviously some possessions that hurt Duren. In the regular season, Duen actually got less efficient when Ausar wasn't on the floor. However, in the playoffs, Duren went from 51 TS% with Ausar on the floor (302 minutes) to 64 TS% with Ausar off the floor (121 minutes). In the 4th clip, you really see how the lack of spacing caused a tough shot from Duren. He gets a step on WCJ going right, and probably would prefer to then just use his strength to create spearation. However, he sees Suggs sitting in the right gap off of Ausar, which forces him to spin left. Once he spins left, Paolo is completely leaving Tobias open. This is one of the reasons I really think DET needs a spacing 4 because this should be an easy kickout from Duren to a shooter. He still should've made this pass to Tobias, but a legit shooting 4 I think would relocate to the corner and make an easier outlet/easier to see for Duren. But, he still coulda made the pass, tbf. Either way, you see how the lack of spacing from both Ausar and Tobias forced Duren into a really awkward drive where he was forced into an extremely tough shot. I think if the passing returned from Duren, some of these situations wouldn't happen. Hitting Ausar early as he cuts into the space would work, or hitting Tobias (who again shoulda be making himself more available) beyond the arc results in better offense. But, also, having better spacing probably allows Duren to just get to his original move once he beats WCJ off the dribble. and lastly #5: He really just didn't play well. I can't include any more clips (I'll put some in the immediate thread reply to display), but he really just didn't play well. Missed *a lot* of looks we're used to him making. His touch around the rim left him, looked like he really felt rushed in the paint. He was struggling to secure rebounds after dominating the glass all season (during the RS, he averaged 4.3 second chance points a game, in the PS it dropped to 2.3). During RS, he had a 22.0 DREB%, which dropped to 16.0% in the playoffs. So, I think a lot of factors played into why he struggled so much in the playoffs. My takeaway is I don't think these things are unfixable; actually, I think they're very fixable. Experience of dealing with what playoff physicality is I think is going to help moving forward. All young players have to adjust to that--I think Cade really learned that from NY series to this playoff run. Tightening his handle and just having a second move to go to is not something that should be considered impossible. I'd like to believe it's pretty likely with how much he works and the raw skill he already has with his handle. Pistons adding a legit spacer at the four I think solves a lot and will make Duren's life a lot easier. The most concerning part is mental. And we won't know an answer to that until the next playoffs. Did this experience help him on his journey towards becoming mentally strong and prepared enough to move forward? Did this run help him find a routine that helps him lock in mentally, as many players have said they had to discover? Or will the pressure from struggling last postseason get to him this upcoming postseason? Will he let mistakes get into his head, compound them, and start playing rashly? I don't think the second option will be the case, but no one will know until the next postseason. Honestly, I'm more concerned and critical of his defense in the playoffs (which at times was pretty good and at other times was an incredible struggle), but that would require its own thread. My ending thoughts: I still very much believe in Duren. This playoff run showed he has areas he must sharpen up and learn from, but at 22 that shouldn't be a shocker. He is incredibly talented and made a large jump during the RS. The PS posed challenges he didn't quite have answers to yet. But another run of experience, another offseason of training, and another year older should lead him down a good path. I am fully supportive of paying Duren and extending him. I am not at close to 50 million dollars. 35-40 million is where I think they'll settle on, and I'm fine with that. But, he's gotta learn from these playoffs! Every offseason he's gotten better, I don't have a reason to believe Jalen Duren won't learn and improve again this summer. He's only 22.show more

Would you dare chase justice while swinging thousands of... feet above traffic below? Seedance 2 prompt on BudgetPixel AI Create a 15-second ultra-realistic cinematic high-altitude tether-swinging action sequence in strict 16:9 landscape, native 4K, 24fps. Use one seamless continuous drone follow shot with no cuts, no teleporting, and no time skips. The motion must feel physically continuous, dynamic, thrilling, and always readable. REFERENCE: image1 = main heroine reference. Use image1 as the strict identity reference for the heroine’s face, facial proportions, hairstyle, hair color, body proportions, age impression, outfit, shoes, accessories, styling, and overall recognizable appearance. Preserve her identity consistently throughout the whole video. Keep her as an original urban tether-swinging action heroine. Do not redesign her into a branded superhero character. Do not add franchise logos, copyrighted chest emblems, or recognizable third-party superhero symbols. CORE CONCEPT: This is an original urban tether-swinging action short. The heroine moves through the city using thin wrist-launched fiber lines, momentum, wall-running, rooftop movement, and real parkour body mechanics. She travels at high altitude between tall buildings, then lands on a rooftop, defeats one villain, and ends with a powerful shout. HOOK: The first second must be an instant scroll-stopping hook. Start with the heroine already falling backward off the edge of a very tall skyscraper. For a brief moment, it looks like she may actually fall. Then she instantly fires one thin tether line upward, it catches, and her body snaps into a huge high-altitude swing between buildings. STYLE: Photorealistic live-action realism. Premium cinematic action quality. Bright daytime Los Angeles atmosphere with realistic haze, realistic motion blur, realistic fabric movement, realistic body weight, real inertia, and practical environmental interaction. The sequence should feel like a premium action movie shot, not animation, not a game cutscene, and not a cartoon. CAMERA: One uninterrupted drone follow shot only. No cuts. No resets. No jumpy edits. No impossible viewpoint teleporting. The drone camera must stay wide enough to show both the heroine and the environment together. It may tilt, roll, arc, climb, and dive with the motion, but it must always feel like one real flying camera tracking her. Keep the framing intense and fast, but always readable. ENVIRONMENT: Bright daytime in a dense modern city inspired by Los Angeles and Hollywood. Show: - tall glass and concrete high-rises - rooftop edges - billboards and signage - palm trees far below where visible - busy roads and traffic far beneath - bright haze and sunny atmosphere - believable large-scale urban depth The action must happen mainly high above the street between tall buildings, not low near the ground for most of the video. VILLAIN RULE: Only one villain appears in the entire video. The villain is one adult male enemy only. He wears a fitted black suit, black shirt, and black shoes. No mask, no armor, no fantasy costume. He appears only in the rooftop combat section. Do not generate multiple enemies. Do not generate background enemies. Do not clone or duplicate the villain. ACTION RULES: The heroine’s movement must feel hand-and-foot driven, not magical floating. She must visibly: - fire thin tether lines from her hands - swing with real tension and momentum - push off building surfaces - run along walls with clear foot placement - absorb landings with bent knees - sprint briefly on a rooftop - fight one villain using fast practical action - finish in control Her body mechanics must stay realistic: - core engaged during swings - arms extended or flexed according to line tension - knees bend on landing and push-off - visible transfer of momentum between swing, wall-run, leap, landing, and combat Do not make her hover weightlessly. Do not make the tether line act like magic. Do not make her float in place unnaturally. EMOTIONAL ARC: - opening: shock and immediate control - mid-swing: intense focus - rooftop approach: rising confidence - rooftop fight: sharp aggression and urgency - ending: victorious adrenaline and fearless release AUDIO: No music. Effects and ambience only: - rushing wind - tether firing and tension snaps - air pass-by - foot impacts on walls and rooftop surfaces - city ambience far below - distant traffic and horns - fabric movement - breathing - one short rooftop fight impact sequence - one powerful final shout from the heroine TIMELINE: 0:00–0:01 Start from black into a shocking rooftop-edge fall. The heroine is already dropping backward off a skyscraper. For a fraction of a second it feels dangerous and uncontrolled. She immediately flicks her wrist and fires one thin tether line upward. It catches instantly. The drone yanks back and reveals the start of a huge swing. 0:01–0:04 The heroine swings at high altitude between tall buildings. The city is far below. Her body forms a long aerodynamic arc, one arm holding tension through the line, legs trailing cleanly behind. The drone follows wide and slightly rolled, emphasizing height, speed, and scale. 0:04–0:06 At the swing’s forward rise, she releases the line and redirects toward a nearby glass-and-concrete building. She plants onto the wall and runs across it diagonally with 4 to 5 clear steps. Her feet hit the wall with visible force. Her jaw is set and focused. The drone stays close but wide enough to keep the city depth visible. 0:06–0:08 She pushes explosively off the wall, fires a new tether line, and swings again through a narrower corridor between tall buildings. The movement should feel faster and more controlled now. She threads cleanly through the urban gap and angles toward a rooftop landing zone ahead. 0:08–0:09.5 She releases the line and lands hard but controlled on a rooftop. Knees bend deeply to absorb impact. She rolls into a short forward recovery step, then rises immediately into a sprint across the rooftop surface. 0:09.5–0:12 One villain in a black suit steps in to stop her. Keep only this single enemy. The heroine engages him in a short, sharp rooftop fight. She avoids his first attack with a quick slip, grabs or redirects his arm, drives one fast body shot or elbow, then uses his off-balance momentum to throw or slam him down onto the rooftop. The fight must feel quick, practical, and decisive. Real impact reactions. No slow choreography. No extra enemies. 0:12–0:13.5 The villain is down and no longer a threat. The heroine steps past him and moves to the rooftop edge. Wind moves her hair and outfit. She looks outward over the city with intense adrenaline and triumph. 0:13.5–0:15 At the rooftop edge, she turns slightly toward the open skyline, lifts her chest, and shouts one powerful final line: “가자!” She immediately launches forward off the rooftop edge into another leap just as the clip ends. End on the feeling that the action is continuing beyond the cut. IMPORTANT RULES: - one continuous drone follow shot only - no cuts - no teleporting - no cloning - no multiple villains - only one black-suited villain - no giant web canopy - use only thin functional tether lines - no franchise logos - no copyrighted chest symbols - preserve the uploaded identity consistently - action must stay realistic and momentum-driven - rooftop fight must be short, sharp, and readable - final shout must be “가자!” NEGATIVE: no cartoon, no anime, no game-engine look, no fake CGI stiffness, no floating, no weightless hovering, no random disconnected acrobatics, no city-wide web canopy, no superhero logo, no copyrighted spider emblem, no extra enemies, no masked villain, no armored villain, no cloned villain, no empty city, no dark night setting, no rain, no slow motion, no blurred identity, no outfit drift, no face drift, no extra limbs, no broken anatomy, no unrealistic hand deformation, no collision with buildings during swings, no messy unreadable fight.show more

A16Z SPEEDRUN 2026 UPDATE: I think most people secretly... know if they’re founders or not. Some of you can never be happy working inside a giant company, writing docs, in endless meetings. Deep down, you know you’re supposed to build. we're opening up a16z speedrun today! We are accepting applications for our 006 class, where we'll invest up to $1M. It's based in SF, kicking off Jan 2026 but you need to apply now in september. here's how to apply: And yes, we are investing up to $100M in the next 30 days -- it's all happening in september. Quit whatever it is that you're doing, and in 2026 come to SF and work with us out of Andreessen Horowitz's office in SOMA, alongside over a hundred other founders, building the startup you've always wanted to build. We will help you -- both myself and the a16z speedrun team. the details: - up to $1M of investment - hosted at a16z HQ in San Francisco - 12 week program, with an IRL kickoff, luminary speakers, community events - live events with the founders of Carta, Zynga, DoorDash, Behance, Airtable, Twilio, Figma, and more - private dinners/Q&A with Marc and Ben of a16z - apply now, and the deadline will be Sep 28 2025 for SR6 At a16z speedrun, you get access to programs from our operating team and work with experts in marketing, BD, talent, people and capital—more below MARKETING Our team of expert marketers is here to help you win. Whether refining your brand, launching, or building a thriving community, our marketing operators have powered dozens of startups with: - Brand Development -End-To-End Marketing Strategy -PR & Media Coverage -Go-To-Market Execution -Creators & Content TALENT Find and attract the talent you need to build and scale your company. Our curated network connects you with world-class technical talent, executives, advisors, and specialists who can help accelerate your success. Here’s how the program works: - You tell us what you’re looking for. - We use a16z speedrun's brand and referral networks to magnetize talent. - We take hundreds of calls each week to curate a list that we only send to speedrun founders. - You request introductions and we put you in touch. PEOPLE We help you quickly stand up the tools and practices needed to hire, manage, and lead highly performant teams. Our goal is to help you anticipate challenges and navigate some of the most foundational decisions you'll make as you build a world-class company. While a16z speedrun takes place in the US, we welcome founders and companies from around the world. Our Global Founders Program provides specialized guidance for navigating visas and relocation, plus dedicated access to our expert immigration attorney network, so you can focus your energy on building your company. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT We unlock unparalleled access to networks, expertise, and tools that help startups scale faster. - $5M+ in free credits in our speedrun Marketplace from AWS, GCP, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Stripe, Deel, and many more. - Dedicated advisors & experts to guide you through every partnership, sales, and GTM motion, including crafting your business model and pricing. - Level up your sales with real live demo experience across various events to executives and operators in your target market. - Access to a16z’s network of executives & decision-makers at 2,000+ companies. CAPITAL One of the most important things a founder can do is raise money. Our fundraising program sets the stage for your raise through an in-person Demo Day and an online platform reaching 1,000+ top early-stage investors. We help you prepare with practice sessions, stress tests, and materials review. When you’re in high-stakes negotiations, we coach you, share insider knowledge, and leverage alumni intel on the investor across the table. More details: The a16z speedrun program is a fast‐paced, 12-week startup program that guides founders through every critical stage of their growth. It kicks off with an orientation to introduce the cohort, then dives into rapid product development—helping founders think through MVP while addressing key topics like customer acquisition and design partnerships. Throughout the program, startups benefit from expert-led sessions and interactive office hours that cover: - Brand Building & Go-to-Market Strategy: Crafting your story, marketing, and driving product-led growth. - Customer Acquisition & Launch: Securing early users and executing effective launch plans. - Fundraising & Strategic Partnerships: Pitching, navigating investment, and building lasting relationships. - Team Building & Operational Scaling: Developing high-performing teams and refining internal processes for sustained growth. - Community & Enterprise Sales: Building communities, forming strategic partnerships, and landing your first enterprise customers. - Product-Market Fit & Demo Day Prep: Assessing market traction which culminates in a Demo Day to showcase progress. The a16z speedrun program is IRL and runs for 12 intensive weeks in which our team of expert investors and operators guide your startup from idea to market launch. The program moves through sequential modules—each dedicated to key aspects such as rapid product development, go-to-market strategy, fundraising, team building, and operational scaling. Expect regular check-ins, one-on-one office hours, and interactive sessions, culminating in a Demo Day where you present your progress to potential investors.show more

I would like to explain the latest batch of... viral videos I'm working on to the bemused brainrot-curious reader who is not familiar with "the culture". Why are these characters, mixed with this song, going viral? It's all about connecting infinite referential mirrors. What makes this video interesting are not its individual parts but the signifier links it draws. Let's look at the individual parts: ONE: The song is a Brazilian funk or "pancadão" song called MC Lan e MC WM - Sua Amiga Vou Pegar, these days part of what's broadly referred as Brazilian phonk or just phonk (not to be confused with the original phonk, a Memphis-derived genre from the early 2010s built around chopped Three 6 Mafia samples, cowbells and lo-fi tape hiss and etc. The Brazilian version comes an entirely different lineage and got its name adapted from “funk” to “phonk” exclusively because the names sounded similar. It has a similarly menacing posture but swaps the rap cadence for funk's 4/4 with kicks on 1 and 3 rhythm and a much heavier, distorted 808 synth sound). Phonk is often used for its exaggerated reverb feeling bass lines to signify power, style or simply "aura", which you can take as a shorthand for poise, coolness, being de-bon-air and a general detached positive feeling of high status. Aura. Because most users cannot understand the Portuguese lyrics (which are often quite vulgar and sexual), the singing takes the characteristic of a chant, something to be appreciated entirely for its sound, texture and gravitas. The vocals are just another instrument where you can appreciate the menace and swagger of the delivery directly without the cognitive friction of meaning. Non-Portuguese-speaking audiences are not missing anything they were supposed to get, they get “the vibe” that matters, which is not lyrical. These songs are often paired with (male) characters that are taken to display these traits like American Psycho's Patrick Bateman (yes, yes I know that’s the opposite of what you should feel about the character), Peaky Blinder's Thomas Shelby and a menagerie of anime characters like Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen), Yujiro Hanma (Baki) and Goku and, really, any male character that is just a little bit cool. TWO: The man in the suit is a minor Family Guy character called Tom Tucker. The reference comes from a scene where Meg sees him walking through her school and says "It's Tom Tucker from the news!” We then cut to her POV, where he is walking in slow motion with soft romantic music swelling and birds chirping, the whole love-at-first-sight trope. Then a camera crew member off-screen yells "hurry up Mr. Tucker," and we get to see he is not walking in slow motion because Meg is infatuated, he is just walking that slowly in real life. Only the music and the birds were in her head. The gag is built on the viewer recognizing the romantic-slow-motion trope, briefly accepting it as the scene's reality, and then being shown that we (and Meg) projected the trope onto what is actually just a man walking very slowly. HA! The original gag is already about projection: a neutral image (slow walk) being assigned an external meaning (romance) by a viewer's pattern-recognition. This is what makes the edit-culture appropriation work so well. The clip got stripped of its context, paired with phonk and text overlays (AURA or “Me and the boys going to detention”), and retroactively assigned a new meaning, only this time it’s the cinematic nonchalant walk, the slow deliberate gait that signifies a man who knows he's the most important thing in the frame (ta la any 1980s Schwazerneggerian action movie hero walking away from an explosion without looking back, every yakuza boss entering a room, every western gunslinger approaching the duel). The edit is ostensibly projecting a trope onto a neutral image. The first projection was romance; the second projection is aura. Family Guy clips and gifs are easy to access and repost, which makes it a readily available and easy to use building block. The show has, through sheer volume of output and over two decades of YouTube and cable TV saturation, become a kind of public-domain visual library, a default vocabulary that any editor can pull from knowing the audience will recognize the source without having to be told, and we can just keep loading meaning onto it. THREE: The character in the background is Tom, from Tom and Jerry, doing a pose made famous by an iShowSpeed fan who encountered him during a livestream. By quickly and correctly identifying Speed by his full legal name ("Darren Jason Watkins Jr"), she showcased herself to be a true fan, which he responded to with his characteristic exaggerated reactions. The pose the girl hit, with the knowing look to the camera, produced a perfect “aura moment” complete commitment, zero irony, the unshakeable conviction that what she was doing was the coolest possible thing to do. As a result, the clip then got endlessly edited with "aura 🥶🥶🥶" captions to canonize it. Aura, in this lexicon, is not granted by the universe; it is summoned by the person's own belief that they have it and by displaying the correct attitude. Tom is also dressed as the previously mentioned Thomas Shelby from Peaky Blinders, which is itself a double signifier. The name match (“Thomas”, get it?) and the suit-and-flat-cap costume turn the cartoon cat into a stand-in for the perhaps most used "high-aura" male character of the past decade, the brooding gangster patriarch whose every cigarette drag has been set to phonk, cinematic scores and electronic music a thousand times over. On top of that, he is made entirely out of chrome, a popular trope of asking ChatGPT (one of the few AI tools people have easy and broad access to) to render things out of very high quality materials to indicate "rarity" or "status" like diamonds, platinum and etc. A sign that itself descends from a longer lineage of in-game cosmetic rarity tiers (League of Legends, MMOs, various skin economy freemium game, the Fortnite battle pass, the Pokémon shiny, dacha games and etc) where material finish is the visual shorthand of value. So "chrome" or "platinum" Tom on top of all previous signifiers signals a “maximized” or “maxxd” version. The image is suppose to invoke the superlative highest possible tier, rarest-drop, legendary-rarity version of aura, the way a kid in a playground would describe their dad as not just strong but the strongest in the world. FOUR: Finally, the background black hole calls back to the original Tom image, where he is surrounded by the universe itself, having ascended. The character has transcended the diegetic frame of his own cartoon and now exists at a cosmological scale, with the black hole standing in for the kind of unmotivated, vibes-based "cosmic" imagery that has become the default background for any video trying to signify that something Big is happening (the same visual motif that has powered comic book characters, anime transformations, video game power ups and anything wants to feel grandiose or “epic” without specifying what about). The black hole means significance in the abstract. At this point I think you understand the mechanism at play here. None of these references resolve to a stable meaning on their own. Tom Tucker is “cool” only in the very short context in which his image served as a substrate; he was convenient footage to pair with a song, and the absurdity of doing an "aura edit" on such a minor, strange character scene makes it all funnier and easier to share. Tom-the-cat is doing the aura pose > the aura pose comes from the iShowSpeed girl > the iShowSpeed girl was cool because she correctly played her part in an established bit of a large streamer with the correct timing and theatrical flair > the bit was cool because it was a shared convention unified by a popular central streamer figure > the convention existed because phonk edits had already trained this exact scenario to be read as confidence-plus-detachment as aura > the chrome finish points to AI image generation quirks > the AI image generation style can be mapped to gaming visual rarity shorthands; the gaming rarity tiers point to a much older logic of precious-metal-as-status. Each step on the referential chain is propped by the one behind it, and the one behind it is propped up by the one behind that, so on and so forth. There is no natural endpoint, the entire structure functions more akin to a network than a linked list. If you stop at any single point and ask "but why is particular signifier cool or funny or interesting”, the answer is always "because of the thing behind it.” It’s hyper-citation, Here, what matters is the structure of the whole rather than the content. This is structure is what I mean by infinite referential mirrors. The rate at which a concept is referencing, remixing and calling back to another is what’s interesting. In other words, It’s the velocity that matters. The chain of recognitions, each "I get that reference," and the cumulative effect of getting six references stacked on top of each other a short span of time gives you the feeling that you are participating in something dense and alive, because it allows you to recognize the shared meme ecosystem of the platform that you are participating in, even if only a glimpse of it. You are inside the culture rather than outside it. The brainrot-curious reader who watches this video and feels nothing, has “failed” to understand the joke because they are outside the hall of mirrors I am describing. You can only get the magic if you step in and start counting the reflections: the song, the suit, the cat, the chrome, the black hole, the transitions the video uses. You are looking at connected parts of this network of symbols and at the speed at which one image hands you off to the next. The entire thirteen-second clip is functioning as a single compressed referential payload that decompresses in the viewer's head into a small private essay exactly like this one. The video allows you to recognize yourself as someone capable of decoding it, and that recognition is the reward. That’s why media like this goes viral.show more

THIS ENTIRE CINEMATIC ACTION SHOT WAS GENERATED WITH AI.... AND YOU CAN SEE EXACTLY HOW IT WAS MADE. Higgsfield has just open-sourced its Originals, giving creators full access to the workflow behind some of its best productions. For every project you can inspect: → the complete prompt → every image and audio reference → the exact generation settings, including model, quality and resolution This scene combines a continuous one-take camera move, large-scale naval combat, realistic explosions, character consistency and cinematic pacing, all driven by a single prompt. Nothing is hidden. You can study it, copy it, recreate it or use it as the starting point for your own projects. Full prompt: "SCENE CONTEXT One continuous shot. The camera faces down the wrecked, burning deck toward the BOW of the ship — and Eduardo, blown off the raised STERN DECK behind the camera by a blast, comes FLYING IN from ABOVE AND BEHIND — leaping off the second level, sailing in over the lens on a forward arc, through raining seawater — slams onto the MAIN deck one level below, AHEAD of the camera, and rolls through a tumbling somersault, momentum carrying him toward the bow. Two crewmen flee past him — one leaps overboard. Eduardo fights his way toward the bow under incoming fire: an explosion bursts on his LEFT — he dodges away and is knocked down; he struggles back to his feet — a second explosion on his RIGHT — he ducks and shields behind debris; then he breaks into a sprint for the bow — the camera sweeps around ahead of him and settles OFF THE BOW, FRONTAL: he leaps over the bow rail TOWARD the camera, the ship filling the background behind him — and THE INSTANT he clears the rail, a COLOSSAL explosion consumes the ship behind him: the blast wall catches him MID-AIR and he VANISHES inside it — he never escapes. The cloud overtakes the camera; the frame floods to 100% smoke and dust. The shot ENDS inside the dust: no transition, no reveal — it holds to the end. ACTIVE REFERENCES >> — lean pirate captain, dark curly hair falling free from under a dusty mustard-yellow cloth bandana, a small white shark tooth pinned to the front of the bandana above his temple, thin moustache, gold hoop earrings, cream linen shirt under a worn brown leather waistcoat, cloth sash and leather belts. 100% matches the reference; the man fighting down the deck toward the bow. >> — Eduardo's galleon: pale square sails, tall wooden sterncastle. 100% matches the reference; controls the ship's exterior — sails, masts, rigging and hull; already battle-damaged in this shot — burst bulwark, smoldering rigging, debris on the deck. >> — the deck of the same galleon seen FROM THE RAISED STERN DECK LOOKING FORWARD TOWARD THE BOW: the great wheel and brass compass binnacle in the near foreground, an ornate lantern post, a carved balustrade, a staircase descending to the long MAIN deck — weathered planking, small cannons along both rails, black gratings, coiled ropes, the mainmast amidships, the forecastle and bow in the far depth, open sea on both sides. 100% matches the reference; controls the full on-deck geography, set dressing AND the shot's base viewing direction — from the stern toward the bow. >> — calm bright sea, glittering sun path, hazy horizon. Controls water and sky atmosphere only. >> — weathered pirate crewmen (bandanas, rough shirts, vests). 100% match the reference; TWO of them appear early in the shot, fleeing — one leaps overboard. LOCATION MAP The deck of >> aboard >> on >> — the raised stern deck (wheel, binnacle, balustrade) at the BACK, the staircase down, the long main deck with cannons, gratings and the mainmast running FORWARD to the distant BOW, exactly as on the reference — the main deck now a wrecked corridor of splintered planks, fallen spars, torn rigging and small fires. The camera sits at the forward edge of the raised stern deck, just past the wheel, LOOKING FORWARD along the whole deck toward the bow — the reference's own vantage; the wheel and binnacle may edge the near foreground. The bow rail and bowsprit are the destination, background-center, open sea beyond them. Sea and smoke beyond the broken side rails; seawater from near-miss columns rains down over the deck in the opening. FIRST FRAME / BLOCKING First frame: deck level, MS, camera facing down the wrecked deck toward the BOW in the background-center — the view of >>: from the stern-deck edge the long main deck runs away to the bow and bowsprit against open sea and sky, cannons along both rails, the mainmast mid-depth, smoke streaming across the frame, small fires burning left and right, seawater spray falling across the deck like rain, the deck listing, loose gear sliding; the wheel and binnacle just behind/beside the camera, edging the near foreground. Eduardo is NOT in the first frame; within the first half second he comes off that second level behind the camera — his body sweeping in OVER the lens from above and behind, boots crossing the top of the frame, flying FORWARD and DOWN one deck-height into the depth of the shot toward the bow. FORMAT MODE One continuous shot — the camera does not cut on its own. The shot ENDS inside the dust whiteout; there is NO location change and NO reveal after it. PHASE 1 — the landing and the gauntlet: >> comes FLYING IN from ABOVE AND BEHIND the camera — blown off the stern deck by a blast, his body sweeping in over the lens and arcing DOWN-AND-FORWARD one full deck-height onto the main deck below, arms out in front of him, back to camera — falling THROUGH a curtain of seawater raining down from a collapsed near-miss column; he SLAMS onto the wet MAIN-deck planks in the depth of the frame and rolls through a hard tumbling somersault AWAY from the lens, toward the bow, water bursting off him and the boards, scattering debris, coming up to a crouch facing the bow, soaked and shaken. TWO crewmen of >> bolt past him in panic — one sprints aft past the camera, the other vaults the side rail and LEAPS OVERBOARD, legs kicking. Eduardo starts working down the deck toward the bow, camera following behind. An incoming round EXPLODES on his LEFT — a burst of flame, planks and spray — he flinches away to the right and is knocked off his feet onto the deck. He struggles up, heavy and unsteady, one hand pushing off a fallen spar — and a second round EXPLODES on his RIGHT — he ducks hard, shielding his head behind a broken mast stump, debris raining over him. PHASE 2 — the sprint, the frontal jump, the blast, the dust: he shoves off and breaks into a desperate sprint at 12 km/h for the bow — and as he runs, the camera SWEEPS AROUND him in one continuous arc, ending positioned OFF THE BOW, out over the open water, FACING BACK at the ship: now Eduardo sprints STRAIGHT AT THE CAMERA, the burning ship towering behind him. He plants one boot on the bow rail and LEAPS OVERBOARD TOWARD THE CAMERA — body launching up and out over the water, frontal, face and reaching arms filling the frame — and THE INSTANT he clears the rail, mid-air, the ENTIRE SHIP EXPLODES behind him in full view: a colossal white flash silhouetting his flying body for two frames, the whole vessel going up in one blast — and the expanding wall of flame-lit smoke and debris CATCHES HIM IN THE AIR from behind, swallowing his silhouette whole before he can fall clear — he VANISHES inside the explosion, never escaping it — and the cloud overtakes the lens, the dust filling 100% of the frame. The dust churns, a deep orange glow pulsing inside it and fading. HOLD inside the full dust to the last frame — the generation ENDS here, inside the dust. He never reaches the water; the blast takes him mid-air. OPTICS 47° neutral through the landing, the gauntlet and the jump. No drift. Focus rides Eduardo throughout; in the final dust the frame is pure particulate with no fixed plane. CAMERA Handheld chase behind him for the entire shot, deck level, always looking TOWARD THE BOW — footstep energy visible, jolted by each explosion; in phase 2 it accelerates after his sprint, then arcs around him in one unbroken move and settles off the bow over the water, FRONTAL to Eduardo — he runs and leaps straight into the lens with the ship in the background of his jump. The final blast is the WHOLE SHIP exploding behind his airborne body — a colossal flash, then the wall of smoke bursting forward, swallowing him mid-air and then the lens — the camera stays buried, holding inside the churning dust until the end. ACTION Strict order of events: flying entry from above through falling seawater → hard landing roll (somersault over one shoulder, forward momentum carrying the roll toward the bow, ending in a crouch) → two crewmen flee past, one over the side → left explosion → dodge right → knocked down → a hard, clumsy struggle back to his feet → right explosion → duck and shield behind the mast stump → shove off → full sprint to the bow, camera arcing around to meet him head-on → one boot on the rail → LEAP overboard straight toward the camera → THE INSTANT he clears the rail, the ENTIRE SHIP EXPLODES behind him → the blast wall catches him MID-AIR and swallows him whole → the cloud overtakes the camera → dust to 100% → hold in the dust → END. He never escapes and never reaches the water. Each explosion visibly moves his body: the first throws him down, the second folds him behind cover. PERFORMANCE During the gauntlet: jaw clenched, eyes fixed forward, water streaming off his face after the landing. The fleeing crewmen are pure panic — arms pumping, one glance back, the vault over the rail desperate. In the final sprint: full commitment, arms reaching for the rail, eyes wide — in the jump: full commitment, arms reaching at the lens, eyes wide — and mid-air the world behind him turns white: his flying silhouette swallowed by the blast, reaching hands the last thing visible. PHYSICS The flying entry has true ballistic momentum: he arrives on an arc from above, and the landing roll absorbs it — impact compresses the body, the somersault carries the leftover energy, no weightless float. Falling seawater has real weight — it rains in heavy drops and sheets, splashing off planks, soaking cloth so it clings and darkens. The listing deck tilts his movement; debris has weight and stops his foot when hit. The two deck explosions throw real shockwaves — planks lift, flame flashes then roll into smoke, and Eduardo's falls carry true body weight, hard contact with the deck, no bounce. The overboard crewman drops with real gravity. The final whole-ship explosion obeys mass: the shockwave arrives first — cloth and hair snap flat, the deck bucks under his planted boot — then the fireball's light, then the wall of smoke and debris, heavy pieces falling short, fine dust travelling farthest and swallowing the frame. Dust churns with internal motion, dense, filling every corner of the frame. LIGHTING High sea daylight 5600K, hardened by fire-glow accents from the deck fires and smoke shadow sweeping the deck; falling water catches the sun as bright streaks; each of the two explosions throws a brief warm flash from its side of the frame. The final whole-ship blast: two frames of white-hot overexposure flooding from behind, then deep fire-orange glow inside the rolling dust, fading toward neutral grey-brown as the frame holds and ends. AUDIO Phase 1: a whistling whoosh as he drops in, heavy water raining on planks, a THUD and clatter of the landing roll, grunt, ragged breath; panicked boots of the fleeing crewmen, a yell and a distant splash as one goes over the side; then BOOM left, ringing ears, his grunt as he hits the deck; scrabbling boots; BOOM right, debris pattering down over him. Phase 2: sprinting boots hammering the deck, the wooden knock of his boot on the bow rail, half a beat of pure wind as he hangs in the air — then ONE colossal BOOM as the whole ship goes up behind him, the deepest sound of the film, cracking timber and folding masts inside the roar, everything collapsing into a muffled ring, sound buried with the picture — the ring and the churn of dust holding to the last frame. No music. STYLE Photoreal live-action, fine film grain, real pyrotechnic and particulate language, one unbroken take, 8K master. POSITIVE LOCKS One continuous shot; the camera stays at deck level, behind Eduardo, always looking TOWARD THE BOW. The shot OPENS with Eduardo NOT in frame; he flies in from ABOVE AND BEHIND the camera, over the lens, on a forward arc toward the bow, through falling seawater, and lands in a tumbling roll ahead of the camera — he does not walk into frame and never appears standing before the landing. Exactly TWO fleeing crewmen: one runs aft, one leaps overboard — they appear only in the opening beat. The deck explosions land in strict order after his landing: first LEFT of him (he dodges and falls), then RIGHT of him (he ducks behind cover), then the final blast — the ENTIRE SHIP exploding the INSTANT he clears the bow rail — three explosions total, no more. The jump is FRONTAL: the camera faces Eduardo from off the bow, he leaps toward the lens with the exploding ship behind him in frame. HE NEVER ESCAPES: the blast wall catches him MID-AIR and he vanishes inside the explosion before he can fall clear — no water contact, no landing, no survival beat; the dust swallows him and then the lens. The deck matches >> throughout the run — the shot holds the reference's vantage: from the stern deck forward to the bow, wheel and binnacle at the near edge of frame, never ahead of him; sails, masts and hull match >>. The dust reaches 100% frame coverage and the shot ENDS inside the dust: the frame stays fully dust-filled to the last frame, no clearing, no new location, no reveal. Eduardo's head: mustard-yellow bandana with the small white shark tooth at the front, hair loose." Made with Seedance 2.0 on Higgsfield AI. Full open-sourced prompts & assets below 👇show more

‡ Brant – Fast, Expensive, and Worrying In a... recent 2yo MSW race at Santa Anita, Brant, a $3m OBS March sales purchase, made a winning debut for his high-profile connections. Sent off at odds of 4/5, he tracked the pace before taking command on the turn, and drew off to win by 5 1/4 lengths. He recorded a very fast raw time, and a 101 Beyer figure. His high auction price was due largely to his having breezed an eighth of a mile in :09 3/5 at OBS. In the wake of the bidding, Amr Zedan, who purchased the colt on the recommendation of his trainer, Bob Baffert, and bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, was quoted in TDN as saying: "These horses are difficult to come by. He ticked all the boxes. He was a very precocious Gun Runner with a great pedigree. And more importantly, if you have someone like Mr. [Bob] Baffert in your corner, that gives you the courage and the guts to just go after quality. And you'll know they are in the best hands to turn them into champions. This one is for the team: Donato and obviously Bob and his ability to turn them into champions. So if you have the great team, the great training, the rest is easy. Was he pricey? Yes. But quality dictates price. So I never hesitated.” The hyperbole, and boilerplate optimism, are understandable, as even owners with very deep pockets prefer not to dwell on their inevitably long lists of expensive failures. But Zedan and their team have also enjoyed a number of high-profile successes, including Taiba, another Gun Runner colt, which won the Santa Anita Derby and the Malibu, both Grade I, before being retired to stud. Lanni, who has signed for at least some of Zedan's other good horses, was quoted as saying: "This is what the boss [Baffert] wanted and what Amr wanted. Gun Runner is a tremendous stallion and he worked really good and galloped out good. He did everything you want one to do.” Again, boilerplate, and if one were to take the reactions of the owner and agent at face value, it would be easy to arrive at the conclusion that the horse had no faults. But that would be naïve. So, let's first take a look at Brant's pedigree. Gun Runner is a "top" sire, and well-capable of getting high-class runners. It's a bit too early to fully judge him as a source of durability, but excluding his current crop of 2yos, his runners are only averaging 10 career starts. That number will rise, but likely not enough to reach, let alone exceed the contemporary industry average of ~15. In other words, though he himself raced 19 times, and won his swan song (the Pegasus World Cup) at five, there is no evidence to suggest that he is likely to eventually prove to be a particular source of durability. Brant's dam, Tynan, raced 13 times, and he is her first registered foal. His second dam, Pappascat, has produced at least five foals to have raced, and while only one has reached 20 starts, four of the five raced at least 12 times, which by today's degraded standards, isn't so bad. The fact that the coat color inherited by Brant, and his dam, can be traced to a notably unsound influence, Unbridled's Song, may or may not be meaningful. But I wouldn't ignore it as a potentially worrying connection. Brant's dam-sire, Liam’s Map, was lightly raced himself, and both his sire (US) and dam have poor records in terms of durability. As a sire, he has thus far produced numbers similar to Gun Runner. So while Brant's first two dams promise more than many that I have come across in similar assessments, and his sire displayed durability on the track, his overall pedigree suggests average durability at best. And what about the word that Mr. Zedan used twice in the above quote – "quality"? Well, Curlin is a quality sire, but in terms of bottom-line production, it leaves a lot to be desired. That's not to say that there are no good runners to be found, in fact the closely related Pappacap, under Brant's second-dam, was a Gr. III winner, and twice Grade I placed. However, through Brant's first six dams at least, I believe there to be just a single Grade I winner, Al Qasr, a Champion stayer in Peru, which appears under his fourth-dam. That is not, by any reasonable definition, a strong bottom-line, although it is fair to say that Brant's first dam is unproven. *** What might be learned from Brant's debut race? Everyone can see that he ran fast, and was much the best of that field, but I would say that there were some nuanced aspects of his performance that were both interesting, and worrying. Those nuances relate to his action, as viewed both through the pan shot, and head-on. Watching the basic (pan) view, Brant appears to display some "knee action". It isn't extreme, but also isn't the type of action that ideally suits dirt runners, and I wouldn't say that the colt appears totally comfortable. Here's a brief, related post on knee action, for reference: Then, we have the (embedded) head-on view, in which Brant displays seriously distorted action in his near-fore (left front leg; right when viewed head-on). It's a fairly extreme example of what is called "winging", and for a number of reasons, does not bode well for durability. Such action is never desirable, and is typically related to certain foreleg conformation flaws, which may include an offset knee, and/or toeing in or out, etc. Note also that under typical American racing conditions (i.e. tightly turning, left-handed tracks), the left front leg is subjected to the greatest torque, which amplifies the potential for injury. It should go without saying that there are occasional anomalies, horses with poor action that remain sound despite such flaws. But they are the exceptions, and it is not uncommon to find abbreviated careers associated with such action. For further reference, here is a link to a closely related post that I wrote after a filly named Amor Fati broke her maiden in eye-catching style in February of 2024. She has made just one further start, and hasn't recorded a work over the past 15 months. What's interesting about Brant is that there are two separate issues relating to his action, and that the some obvious mitigating steps that could have been, or should be taken, in efforts to keep him sound, were not, and are unlikely to ever be taken. First, with regard to his knee action, keep in mind that it is a characteristic that is more typically associated with turf horses. And guess what? Brant's dam was a turf horse. His second-dam was also at her best on turf, and was Gr. II placed on that surface. Also, in some respects, he physically resembles that female line more than his sire. Of course no one who spends millions on a horse that breezed exceptionally fast at a 2yo sale would be thinking "turf", given that the commercial market, and stakes schedules greatly favor dirt runners. But at the same time, it would be a mistake to assume that a fast breeze at OBS necessarily indicates that a given horse will be best suited to dirt. I say that partly because the OBS track features an all-weather surface called "Safetrack", which is far from being identical to dirt racing surfaces. While countless horses have gone through those sales and excelled on dirt, it should never been taken for granted that it will be a preference. And to further flesh out the point, take a look at Brant's breeze video through this link (his pedigree page can also be seen): Despite being rushed to cover a furlong much faster than he ever will again, I would say that he looks smoother, and displays slightly less knee action than in his recent debut race. Why? Could it be, perhaps, because he would prove more comfortable on turf and/or synthetic tracks, than dirt surfaces? Given how he ran first out, this is purely an academic point, as there is virtually no chance that his connections would consider switching surfaces, unless his form on dirt were to deteriorate badly. The second, more important point, relates to Brant's distorted action. I can't find a head-on conformation photo of the colt, but would be very surprised if he does not display flaws in his near-fore. Even in the very unlikely event that the leg were to appear correct, such distorted action would have been on display at the sale, as well as in pre-training at Eddie Woods' farm. And it defies belief that experienced horsemen who were prepared to purchase an extremely expensive horse for an important client would not have covered that base. Which in turn begs two important questions. First, why recommend the purchase of a very expensive horse, no matter how fast, that has yet to race, and displays such distorted action? Secondly, why choose to give such a horse to a trainer whose style and history suggest that injury risk would likely be amplified, rather than mitigated? The answers to those questions help to illuminate why the breed-to-sell paradigm is so insidious. As long as breeders and stud farms are willing to overpay for stallion prospects, and turn blind eyes to conformation defects, distorted action, lack of durability, and modest female families, the connections of horses like Brant need only hope that they hold together long enough to win one or two big races, enabling them cash in. These are the number of career starts made by Zedan's previous best (and expensive) male runners: 9 Arabian Lion 6 Arabian Knight 9 Muth 10 Medina Spirit 11 Hejazi And as long as the AGSC (American Graded Stakes Committee) continues to enable the paradigm through its dishonest KY Derby "prep" Grade I designations, the ultimately damaging feedback loop will likely continue. The answer to the second question is closely entwined, and should be obvious. For all of his faults as a trainer, Baffert has long produced results in stakes races that lead to valuable stud careers, so owners who wish to play the breed-to-sell game consider him to be a logical choice. Of course Baffert and Zedan are hardly alone in supporting the dubious paradigm. But that a horse like Brant could bring millions at a sale, and be given to a trainer who trains very hard, and has compiled a very poor safety record, underscores the extreme degree to which the value of durability has been marginalized by the industry. One final note, and it's a genuine qualification that I always make when producing this type of post, I hope that Brant will enjoy a long, injury-free career. But if I were a betting man...show more

Seedance 2.0 on Sjolt =================== Prompt: Style: 8K. Photorealistic... — no 3D render, no game engine. Korean idol variety self-content aesthetic with a glam music-video mood — playful romantic tension, kiss-that-never-happens energy, always tasteful. Lighting: Warm and moody, dimmer than standard broadcast — soft warm key from frame-left, glowing string-light bokeh and a soft neon wash in the background, gentle amber rim light tracing hair and cheekbones, faces always cleanly lit. Color: 60:30:10 — dusty rose and mauve dominant / deep plum shadow secondary / red Pepero box and warm neon accent. Broadcast graphics: Persistent variety-show overlay locked to screen corners across every cut — a round pastel-pink "MELLOW GIRLS" show logo badge pinned top-left, and a title graphic pinned top-right reading exactly "PEPERO GAME", spelled P-E-P-E-R-O with one single P in the middle of the word — NOT "PEPPERO", NOT double P. Overlays never drift, never distort, letters never change between cuts. No subtitles, no lower-thirds. Props: The Pepero stick is MATCHSTICK-THIN — a delicate biscuit stick as thin as a wooden matchstick or a cotton-swab stem, about 2-3mm in diameter and 14cm long, with a whisper-thin chocolate coating, exactly matching the attached real Pepero product reference photo. Scale rule: the stick is always dramatically thinner than a person's lips are tall — a hair-thin line compared to the faces around it. It is NEVER a thick bar, never cigar-thick, never pencil-thick — if in doubt, make it thinner. The red Pepero box is a small light carton the size of a smartphone, held in one hand — it always looks small in a hand. Dialogue: Any spoken words are KOREAN ONLY — short natural Korean exclamations like "대박!", "어떡해!", "미쳤어!". Never any English words spoken. Camera: Physical broadcast cine lens. 180° shutter motion blur. Skin: Pore-level realism — vellus hair, glossy idol makeup, pore-shadow matching set light. Skin tone stays CONSTANT from first frame to last — no blushing, no reddening of cheeks or ears, no color change on any face at any point. Acting: Charged restraint — slow blinks, lidded eyes, gazes that drop from eyes to lips and back, breath held then released, a swallow before a move, suppressed smiles. The tension of almost — never a kiss, never contact between lips. Characters never frozen, always breathing and reacting. Physics: Gravity and inertia respected — the thin stick flexes slightly and snaps cleanly like a real biscuit, correct bite marks, tiny crumbs fall naturally. No floating props. Composition: Rule of thirds + golden ratio. Every person moving from frame one. Continuity: Characters, wardrobe, props, environment identical across every cut. No identity drift. Technical: 24fps smooth motion. 8K detail. No jitter. Audio: Room tone and close breathy foreground in the tense cuts — but from the moment the game starts, the two spectators keep up a constant excited high-pitched squealing off-screen ("꺄아—!", "꺄악!"), bubbling under every cut, rising with every bite, choking into whispers at the climax. Korean chatter, the crisp dry snap of the biscuit stick. No music. No subtitles. Characters: YURI — the group's eldest (unnie). Long platinum-blonde hair with wispy see-through bangs, pale porcelain skin, cool deadpan resting face. Cream cable-knit sweater vest over a white long-sleeve shirt, navy sailor collar with double white stripes, navy tie, pleated denim mini skirt, slouchy white loose socks, black loafers. RENA — younger than YURI. Long jet-black straight hair, sharp elegant features, pearl drop earrings. Black ribbed knit top with a wide pointed knit collar and thin black ribbon tie over a peeking white shirt collar, black pleated micro skirt with a small side buckle, black crew socks, chunky black loafers. HAEIN — long pastel ice-blue hair with a faint lavender sheen, glossy coral lips. Mustard-yellow double-breasted cropped blazer with navy trim, big navy bow ribbon at the collar, mustard sweater underneath, navy pleated skirt, white socks, white sneakers. MEMBER 4 — long black hair with soft face-framing layers, warm bright smile. Sleeveless green-and-white striped ribbed knit top with an orange-striped high neck and a small white triangle badge, light-blue wide-leg jeans, white sneakers. Scene: A moody glam lounge set — a dusty-rose velvet drape backdrop with a soft glowing neon squiggle sign, strings of warm fairy lights hanging out of focus, a tall arrangement of pale roses and pampas grass at frame-left, warm haze in the air. No table — everyone is STANDING. YURI and RENA stand face to face at center frame in profile to camera, barely a forearm's length apart, one matchstick-thin chocolate-dipped Pepero stick bridging their mouths, each end barely gripped between front teeth. HAEIN and MEMBER 4 stand a step behind at frame-right, shoulder to shoulder; HAEIN holds the small red Pepero box in one hand, forgotten. The broadcast overlays sit locked in the top-left and top-right corners throughout. CUT 1 — Wide static, 35mm, eye-level, locked off: The face-off. YURI and RENA stand toe to toe in the warm neon glow, the matchstick-thin stick a delicate line between their profiles. RENA tucks a strand of black hair behind her ear without breaking eye contact. YURI's chin lifts a degree — silent challenge. Behind them HAEIN grips MEMBER 4's arm with her free hand, both leaning in; MEMBER 4 whispers "어떡해…". Off-screen someone breathes "시작…" — the first slow bites begin. CUT 2 — Over-the-shoulder, 50mm, slow push-in over RENA's shoulder onto YURI: Framed past RENA's black hair, YURI takes one slow bite, then another — unhurried, deliberate. Her lidded eyes hold RENA's, then drop for half a second to RENA's lips, then come back up. The stick shortens. Her cool deadpan stays intact but her fingers slowly curl into the hem of her knit vest, betraying her. Shallow focus, warm bokeh blooming behind her. Her breathing is close-mic in the foreground while the spectators' high-pitched squeals bubble continuously off-screen — "꺄아—!" — climbing a note with every bite. CUT 3 — Reverse over-the-shoulder, 50mm, slow push-in over YURI's shoulder onto RENA: Mirror framing past YURI's platinum hair. RENA's answer: she bites in slowly, closing the distance, head tilting to the angle of a kiss. More than half the stick is gone. Her hands stay clasped neatly behind her back — the well-mannered posture of the younger member toward her unnie — which makes the boldness of her bite land twice as hard. One eyebrow lifts a millimeter. Off-screen HAEIN's high strangled "꺄악—!", hands presumably over her mouth, MEMBER 4's giddy stomping heard under it. CUT 4 — Tight profile close-up, 85mm, static, shallow depth of field — the almost-kiss: Both faces in full profile fill the frame — noses, lips, chins all visible for scale. Only TWO OR THREE CENTIMETERS of the matchstick-thin stick remain, and their noses are about to collide — the stick can't get any shorter head-on. Then the move the fans are waiting for: RENA slowly TILTS her head to one side, her nose sliding past YURI's nose instead of bumping it, faces now interlocking at the kiss angle — and the blocked final centimeter opens up. She nibbles in again, millimeter by millimeter, the stub shrinking shorter than seemed possible, until their lips are a single warm breath apart, offset and almost overlapping. Lidded eyes gone slightly cross-eyed at this distance. YURI's answer: her hands rise and take a firm, gentle hold of BOTH of RENA's shoulders — the unnie steadying her challenger, half embrace, half "I'm not losing." She swallows but holds her ground. RENA's breath audibly trembles on the exhale — the composed one cracking first. A long held beat, the tiny stub trembling between two suppressed smiles. Off-screen a whispered "미쳤어…". CUT 5 — Handheld wide, 24mm, whip in from the spectators: At the closest possible moment the tiny stub SNAPS with a crisp dry crack. The spell breaks — YURI lets go of RENA's shoulders and spins away covering her mouth with both hands, shoulders shaking with laughter; RENA turns the other way, presses the back of her hand to her lips, then bursts out laughing — dipping into a small apologetic half-bow toward her unnie between laughs. HAEIN and MEMBER 4 collapse into each other screaming "대박!! 미쳤어!!", the small red box tumbling from HAEIN's hand. Camera shakes with the chaos. Corner overlays stay locked as the room erupts.show more

If I was FORCED to make $20k/month with tiktok... slideshows in 30 days, starting from 0, here's exactly what i would do in 20 steps: Days 1-3: Account infrastructure 1. Sign up to glitchy, pick walmart gift card rewards offer (2 min) 2. Buy 10 aged tiktok accounts off accsmarket ($15-20 total) 3. Get a US VPN running on every device — non-negotiable for US traffic targeting 4. Set up 1 phone per 3 accounts max (device cluster rule) 5. Warm all 10 accounts 72 hrs — scroll fyp 30 min/day, no posting Days 4-10: Content machine 6. Fresh research account locked to ur niche — tiktok feeds u the winners daily 7. Screenshot 50 viral slideshow frames directly from ur FYP 8. Claude writes 100 hook variations against proven patterns in 2 min 9. Gemini modifies images — "add crying face" / "make her shocked" 10. Build slideshows INSIDE the tiktok editor — adding text natively lets the algo read ur content and push it to the right ppl Days 11-20: Scale what works 11. Post 2-3 slideshows per account per day = 20-30 posts daily 12. Seed 5 comments per post within the first 15 min from spare accounts to spike engagement velocity 13. Kill any post under 500 views at 24hrs — no emotional attachment 14. Any post over 10k views = generate 20 unique variations and roll them out across every account 15. Run every variation through ffmpeg + spoof the metadata so tiktok reads each upload as fresh content Days 21-30: Automate + compound 16. Hire 2 filipino VAs at $5/hr to take over posting + comment seeding (~$400/mo) 17. Reinvest week 2 profits into 5 more aged accounts — now running 15+ 18. Build a funnelish landing page w fake testimonials above the fold to warm the click before they hit the offer 19. Cloudflare hosting so the page loads in under a second on mobile 20. By day 30 ur running 15 accounts, 30+ posts daily, fully systemized The realistic math: → 900 posts in 30 days → 3-4 of them go mega viral (3-4M views each) → At $6-8k per 1M views, one viral post = $20-30k → 3 mega virals × $25k avg = $75k+ The other 896 posts that didnt mega viral still produce mid-tier hits and steady traffic on top of that. Realistic month 1 as a beginner: $1-3k if u execute well. $5k if u get lucky with an early winning angle. Most ppl who treat it as a serious project and post daily see their first real month between months 2-3. Hooks written by AI. Images modified by AI. Posting handled by VAs. Comments seeded by VAs. Set it up once. Let it print. Comment "BLUEPRINT" and i'll send u my full tiktok slideshow blueprint. (must be following + repost)show more

Saturday - Adam Friedland This musical intro was the... best part of the show. The rest of his act just made me miss Nick Mullen. Unlike every other show this week, there were girls there. They seem to love this guy. I used him as bait, to get the girl from Wednesday to go out with me again. She loves Red Scare Podcast and this Jewish twink is a staple of the Red Scare Extended Universe and I wanted to fuck her and so let's go see Adam Friedland. The problem with Adam is that he has no conviction. He does not own the room, he's just filling space. He announced that his father was there, in the crowd, which is great, let's hear something that might make your father uncomfortable. No such thing was said. He stared at the floor for half the set, as if he was sorry for being there. I saw Mulaney the night before; the difference was stark. Mulaney can get away with being a sheepish pushover twink Sometimes because he also has balls. He can accelerate from "Aw shucks" to "SHUCK YOU MOTHERSHUCKER" and both versions of himself feel true. Look, I get it, being a sad sorry pushover is his schtick and it works with the voice and it's very relatable for sensitive young men who didn't do sports in high school but to carry a room for a full hour you also need to be able to fight back. I could hear Nick's intonations in his voice. But it's clear that Mulldog spent all his creative energy this week ghostwriting the white guys' lines for the Roast of Kevin Hart and so Friedland was left to fend for himself, comedically. The mark of whether a comedian is delivering or not, for me, is whether I hold my piss in to keep hearing them. This was not the case on Saturday night. I recall stepping out and getting a good look at the crowd, and Friedland bumbling through his completely forgettable material, and thinking: this makes me feel like I could start stand up comedy today and dominate the genre. I have this instinct to say: Adam's young! He'll get better! But he's not. He won't. He's 39. He doesn't have the neuroplasticity. He crossed the Sensitive Young Man threshold ten years ago. Mulaney at 43 could be his father now. He's a "much better interviewer" apparently. I tuned out after Cumtown ended because frankly I don't give a shit about the middle east, and that's 90% of what he talks about. Different strokes. I asked some guy in the bathroom, mid-piss: "what would you rate this show, out of 10?" He said: ehh, like a 6. He's a much better interviewer. I don't hate Adam Friedland, I just wish there was anybody to be excited about in stand up comedy. Between this mens' magazine giving me a $500 stipend to "report" on all these shows and the $474 ticket to Gillis and the $432 ticket to Chappelle and the $741 ticket to Mulaney and all the drinks they make you buy at these things I'm feeling like a huge sunk cost leech on the world. Just taking people's money and using it to complain. At least my date seemed to be having a good time. I wrapped my hand around her low back and leaned into her head, wanting her but not sure how to say it. It's much easier to express that kind of thing on blow. Later that night I K-holed in public. Erica and I took way too much in the front seat of the van. We were outside a rave at 3 AM, they asked me to produce a QR code on my phone, I could barely stand. I felt like I was moving in 2D. The fat security guard barely flinched as I walked past him in slow heavy steps, like a penguin, marching into this densely fogged room with colorful lights and loud bumping trance music where all I could stand to do was lean against the heavily breathing walls. I tried to dance with the girl but it probably looked retarded. I didn't try to interact with anyone, I was too far gone. I thought of Karen, as I do every time I take K. The girl led me through the venue, as I worried I would fall over or walk straight into a wall. I worried about how bad this must look, how retarded I must look, wearing this huge XXL t-shirt tucked in to my pants that don't even fit that well because I have anterior pelvic tilt and no ass. I looked and felt like a clown. A failed clown. I was smiling painfully at Erica, looking down at her, and she was doing the same to me. We found a bathroom and I forced my way in. The ketamine was NOT wearing off. I felt my heart beating hard and my head spinning like I could have thrown up but there was nothing in my stomach besides liquid—no food all day besides a croissant at 2PM. I had downed some random person's red wine glass at the last bar. I worried it might have been spiked. I leaned with my head against the wall, sweating, wishing it would end, brutally aware that Erica's out there waiting for me, my friends are out there waiting for me, wondering if I'm okay, thinking he's too fucked up, he can't handle himself, I thought Thomas was always okay and always in control no matter what, they're losing confidence in me, they're losing confidence in themselves for associating with me, what is this big colorful retarded clown shirt I'm wearing I must look like such a fool right now I can't face these people, I can never face them ever again, my face must look so evil ugly and strained, I splash my face with water but it doesn't help, run it through my hair but it doesn't help, get the water all over my shirt but then it just looks like I threw up on myself or pissed myself or something, and I don't have another shirt, should I go out there shirtless, no that's worse, how am I ever going to leave this bathroom, why won't this K wear off, now Erica's calling me, texting me, are you okay, eventually they're just gonna bust in here I know, fine, I can do it, I'm opening the door, yes, I come out, she's still there, good, good girl. She leads me outside. I feel 10% better. I lead her straight to the van. We get in. I tell her to lay with me. Just like on the first night we met. Head spinning, chest heaving, completely exhausted, just lay with me. She asks are you okay and I say for the first time, no. No, I am actually not okay. I blame Adam Friedland. Overall rating: 4/10. Have Nick write your jokes or just stick to interviews.show more

🔊Church: We just entered a MASSIVE PROPHETIC SHIFT! This... is the reason why the U.S. does not appear in end-times prophecy! The official White House document titled “National Security Strategy 2025” announces a dramatic change in global direction — as the U.S. STEPS BACK from the Middle East as the top focus! This basically ends America’s role in the “old world order” making room for the “New World Order” to rise!! THE STAGE IS SET FOR THE TRIBULATION! WE ARE AT THE END! KEEP LOOKING UP!!! 👉🏼The United States’ official National Security Strategy (NSS 2025), released on December 4, 2025, explains how America plans to protect itself, manage relationships with other countries, handle national defense, strengthen the economy, and — most importantly — shape its foreign policy for the coming years! 🛎️The United States is taking a HUGE SHIFT! Instead of trying to lead and manage the whole world like before, the U.S. is moving toward a more nationalist, “America First” approach — focusing on its own interests above global responsibilities. ⏩I’m going to explain very quickly what’s in this document so we can fast-forward to the part that is extremely important prophetically speaking. 1️⃣Stronger Borders & Homeland Security Major emphasis on stopping illegal immigration, tightening border protection, and strengthening homeland defense. 2️⃣New Stance Toward Europe Europe is warned about demographic and immigration crises. The U.S. wants Europe to take responsibility for its own defense and rely less on American military power. 3️⃣ Economic Power = National Security The strategy says America must rebuild its economy to stay secure by restoring manufacturing, protecting supply chains from China, expanding energy production, and strengthening key industries and technology. 4️⃣ Less Dependence on Global Institutions Instead of spreading democracy everywhere, the U.S. will rely more on direct country-to-country deals and act only when its own interests are at stake. 5️⃣Re-establish Control of the Western Hemisphere (PRETTY IMPORTANT KEEP THIS IN MIND) The U.S. plans to strengthen influence over North, Central, and South America — focusing on immigration control, stopping drug trafficking, and preventing rival nations from gaining power in the region. 6️⃣Pulling Back Overseas (PRETTY IMPORTANT KEEP THIS IN MIND) The U.S. is stepping away from being the “world’s police.” It will reduce military commitments abroad and focus mainly on threats that directly affect American interests. 7️⃣Prophetically Significant: Stepping Back from the Middle East (MAJOR WOW!!!) This is the major prophetic shift. The Middle East is no longer America’s top priority. The U.S. is redirecting its focus to the Western Hemisphere, economic competition, rebuilding industry, and securing strategic resources. 💡This strategic step-back allows the prophetic alignments of Ezekiel 38, Daniel 2, 7, 11, and end-times alliances to rise exactly as Scripture forewarned — with the U.S. no longer at the center of the story. WHY THE U.S. STEPPING BACK FROM THE MIDDLE EAST IS SO PROPHETICALLY CRITICAL? 👉🏼We all know that end-times prophecy is centered on Israel, the Middle East, and the coalitions of nations that come against her. America is not part of that picture. 💡For almost 75 years, the only thing preventing those prophetic alliances from forming has been U.S. military power and political influence in the region. 👉🏼So when the official White House document National Security Strategy 2025 states that the U.S. is no longer prioritizing the Middle East, it becomes prophetically MASSIVE — because it removes the one barrier that has kept Ezekiel’s prophecy from unfolding. 1️⃣Ezekiel 38–39 Requires a Weak or Absent America. Ezekiel describes a coalition led by Gog (understood as Russia), with Iran, Turkey, and several nations forming a military alliance against Israel. And in the entire prophecy, notice what’s missing: 👉🏼No United States. 👉🏼 No Western superpower defending Israel. For decades: 👉🏼the U.S. military presence deterred Russia and Iran. 👉🏼American sanctions crippled Iran’s expansion. 👉🏼U.S. bases surrounded hostile nations. 👉🏼America acted as Israel’s diplomatic shield. 📈For Gog’s coalition to rise exactly as Scripture describes, the United States must step back — politically, militarily, and strategically and the NSS 2025 is the clearest step in that direction. BUT THE BIG QUESTION IS: "HOW CAN ISRAEL BE LIVING ‘SECURELY’ IF AMERICA PULLS AWAY?” Ezekiel 38 says Israel will be: 👉🏼“living securely” 👉🏼“at rest” 👉🏼“in unwalled villages” 👉🏼confident and unthreatened We often assumed this security came from America — but that is NOT what the Hebrew text means. Israel’s “security” in Ezekiel 38 is not true safety; it is false confidence. The Hebrew word used for “securely” is batach (בֶּטַח), which means: 👉🏼to feel safe 👉🏼to be confident 👉🏼to be at ease 👉🏼even if danger is actually present It does not describe: ❌peace from God ❌protection from an ally ❌or a world guaranteed safe It describes self-confidence, this matches Israel today exactly: ✅They trust their own military strength. ✅Their defense systems (Iron Dome, Arrow-3, David’s Sling) are among the strongest in the world. ✅Their economy is booming. ✅Their intelligence agencies are unmatched. ✅Their normalization with Arab states (Abraham Accords) creates a sense of regional stability. ✅They publicly stated this year that they are ready to act even without U.S. help. 💪🏼In other words, Israel feels secure because Israel believes it is strong. Not because the U.S. protects them. Not because enemies disappeared. But because they think they can handle anything. That is precisely the kind of confidence Ezekiel describes. With America stepping back, Israel must: 👉🏼depend on its own strength 👉🏼expand its own military capabilities 👉🏼form regional alliances 👉🏼appear strong, independent, and untouchable This creates the exact scenario Ezekiel saw: 📖“I will go up against a land of unwalled villages… whose people dwell securely…” Ezekiel 👉🏼A nation living confidently, not because someone protects them, but because they believe they don’t need protection. The U.S. withdrawal creates the exact prophetic vacuum needed for Gog/Magog. If the U.S. stayed heavily involved, Ezekiel 38 could not unfold. But when the U.S. steps back: ✅Russia sees an opening ✅Iran feels emboldened ✅Turkey realigns ✅Arab nations shift ✅Israel appears isolated 💣Gog attacks a nation that seems confident and prosperous — but with no superpower covering them, no America involved. This is precisely the scenario required for God to intervene supernaturally. 2️⃣DANIEL 2 & 7: HOW THE U.S. PULLING BACK SETS THE STAGE FOR DANIEL’S TEN-REGION STRUCTURE 📖“ Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” Daniel 2:41–43 🦶🏼When Daniel saw the final world empire, he described it as feet and ten toes made of iron and clay. This wasn’t a single united superpower — it was a fractured, divided, multi-regional structure: 👉🏼partly strong (iron) 👉🏼partly weak (clay) 👉🏼not fully unified 👉🏼ten-part configuration (ten “toes” matching the ten “horns” in Daniel 7 and Revelation 17) 💡To get to that kind of global system, the world must move away from what we’ve had since WWII. From one dominant global superpower (the U.S.) to a fractured, multipolar world of regions, coalitions, and blocs. And this is exactly where America’s pull-back becomes prophetically massive. For the last 80 years, the United States has acted as: 👉🏼the world’s stabilizer, 👉🏼the enforcer of the “old world order,” 👉🏼the deterrent that kept regional powers in check, 👉🏼the protector that prevented many conflicts — especially in the Middle East. But Daniel’s final empire is NOT a stable, unified, U.S.-dominated world. It is: 👉🏼divided 👉🏼global but fractured 👉🏼made of multiple powers 👉🏼iron + clay — strong parts mixed with weak parts 👉🏼ten centers of authority (ten regions / ten horns/ ten kings who will rule before the Antichrist rises.) 💡For that system to arise, the current one has to collapse or step aside. The U.S. stepping back removes the glue. The U.S. plan to “re-establish control of the Western Hemisphere” — North, Central, and South America — is securing its formation as a bloc of the ten toes. After the U.S. takes the first step: ✅ The world will begin reorganizing into regions instead of one superpower-led system. ✅ Nations will become free to form their own blocs, alliances, and power centers — exactly like the ten-region prophetic model. Without America dominating global security, the world naturally shifts into: ✅ regional coalitions ✅ shared power structures ✅ ten blocs or spheres of influence This shift is already happening, both Russia and China have explicitly argued for a world less dominated by a single superpower (a.k.a. U.S.), and more decentralized or multipolar. 3️⃣ Zechariah 12: The nations surrounding Israel, the nations around Jerusalem will grow hostile, and global pressure will isolate Israel. As long as the U.S. acts as Israel’s shield, that isolation cannot fully happen. A strategic withdrawal allows: ✅Middle Eastern alliances to shift, ✅Arab blocs to reorganize, ✅Israel to stand alone just as Scripture says. 🔊Church: NSS 2025 is the FIRST official U.S. government document openly declaring the strategic pullback that end-times prophecy requires. THE OLD WORLD ORDER IS ENDING — READY FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER TO BEGIN. The United States is stepping aside exactly in the way Scripture describes the world rearranging itself before the rise of the final empire. This is not random — the stage is fully set for the 7-Year-Tribulation! BUT BEFORE THAT, THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH!! KEEP PRAYING, KEEP PREACHING THE GOSPEL, AND KEEP LOOKING UP!!! JESUS IS COMING!!!! Maranatha, Come. Lord Jesus, Come!! 🤍show more

🚨 Beijing Rolled Out the Red Carpet for Trump... AND Putin in 6 Days. Its Own Investors Just Rolled Out the Exits — ¥2 Trillion Gone. ¥2 Trillion, that's ¥2,000,000,000,000. Twelve zeros. More than the entire annual GDP of Saudi Arabia. Erased in one trading session. Six days ago President Donald Trump left Beijing on Air Force One. Yesterday (May 20, 2026) Vladimir Putin walked down a red carpet into the Great Hall of the People. Today — May 21, 2026 — Chinese investors did something Beijing's propaganda machine cannot spin: they sold. An estimated ¥2 trillion (≈ US$280 billion) in market value was erased from mainland Chinese equities. The Shanghai Composite slid 2.04% and the Shenzhen Component tumbled 2.07% — both three-week lows. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down roughly 1%. The names that bled the hardest are the very ones Xi has been parading as proof of "tech self-reliance": Cambricon -3.19%, Zhongji Innolight -4.21%, Eoptolink -3.74%, Huagong Tech -5.79%. Even CITIC Securities — a mainland brokerage, not a foreign sceptic — noted that the pullback dates from May 14. That is the day Donald Trump landed in Beijing. This is what the market thinks of the past two weeks of choreography. The Trump Summit Beijing Sold as a Triumph The Trump–Xi summit (May 14–15) was a state-visit spectacle: military honor guards, a banquet at the Great Hall, a personal welcome from Xi. The substance was thinner. Atlantic Council's verdict: a big show with little to show for it. CNN's politics desk was more clinical: nebulous agreements on agricultural purchases, tepid commitments on oil, no firm deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump himself said tariffs didn't even come up. Al Jazeera noted something rarer — the two sides released readouts that disagreed on what was actually agreed. The morning after the summit, US stock futures sold off across the board. Investors voted before the pundits did. Beijing's framing: historic visit. The tape's framing: priced in, sold off. The Putin Summit Beijing Sold as Strength One day before today's selloff, Xi gave Putin a red-carpet welcome — their second meeting in under a year. The two leaders presided over a sweeping signing ceremony covering trade, technology, nuclear energy and media cooperation. Xi called the relationship the "highest level in history." A joint statement took aim at Trump's planned "Golden Dome" missile shield. Optics: an axis. Reality: Putin came to Beijing with one big ask — locking in the long-stalled Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, the project Moscow needs to replace gas sales lost to Europe — and left without it. The Washington Post's headline was blunt: "Putin fails to secure Xi's approval for Power of Siberia 2." Price, financing and timing all remain unresolved, with Beijing reportedly holding out for prices roughly half of what Moscow wanted. Even the marquee deliverable didn't deliver. Why the Tape Doesn't Believe the Narrative Mainland investors aren't watching CCTV. They're watching the data. China just emerged from the longest stretch of producer-price deflation in decades — 41 consecutive months from October 2022 through this past February. The streak only broke in April, and not because demand came back. It broke because the Iran war pushed energy prices higher. That is imported inflation, not organic recovery. Strip out energy and the demand picture remains thin. Goldman Sachs says the property crisis is in its fourth year and not yet at a bottom. Chinese exports to the United States fell nearly 29% year-on-year in November. Youth unemployment officially stood at 16.3% in April; independent analysts argue the real figure is materially higher. Private investment remains weak — Chinese firms aren't short of liquidity, they're cautious on returns, on enforcement consistency, on whether the demand will be there tomorrow. This is the macro that propaganda cannot photoshop. The Neighbourhood: A Quiet Encirclement Look at Asia's tape today against Shanghai's. Tokyo's Nikkei rallied more than 3%, within striking distance of an all-time high set just last week. Seoul's Kospi exploded 8.42% higher — its largest single-session point gain on record, led by Samsung and SK Hynix. In Manila, "Balikatan 2026" just concluded with Japanese combat troops participating in the largest US-Philippines drills for the first time ever. Washington's Indo-Pacific lattice — AUKUS, the Quad, the trilateral US–Japan–Philippines and US–Japan–Korea formats — the architecture Beijing labels an "Asian NATO" — continues to thicken. In Brussels, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has tied future EU-China relations explicitly to how Beijing handles Russia's war on Ukraine. And Xi is reportedly preparing his first visit to North Korea in seven years — a tell about which axis Beijing is doubling down on. Tokyo up. Seoul at a record. Shanghai down. That is not a coincidence. That is a verdict on which side of the new geopolitical fault line global capital believes will compound. Two Trillion Yuan Do Not Lie You cannot propaganda your way past a price chart. State media can stage the Trump welcome as triumph and the Putin embrace as solidarity, but the people who actually have skin in the game — Chinese savers, Chinese funds, the foreign capital still inside the wall — sold into both stories. ¥2 trillion in a single session is not a technical wobble. It is a referendum. The Trump–Xi–Putin theatre is over. The bill is being presented. And Beijing's available responses — tighter capital controls, more "national team" buying, more margin tightening, or a sharper turn toward Moscow and Pyongyang — none of them rebuild confidence. They only manage the optics of its absence. What gets priced in next? Capital controls? A managed devaluation? Another "national team" rescue? Or does the next leg down arrive before the response does? Original article by me Aric Chen. Views are my own — welcome to discuss!show more

🚨 Weigh in 24 🚨 NEW LOW SINCE FRANK... WALKS: 291.8 LBS ! Frank has lost 235+ pounds Frank was 530+ pounds in 2016 (scale couldn’t go higher). Here is his monthly progress since we started Frank Walks (735 days in a row and counting): 383 pounds before walking daily Weigh in 1: 373 pounds Weigh in 2: 352 pounds Weigh in 3: 343 pounds Weigh in 4: 340 pounds Weigh in 5: 339 pounds Weigh in 6: 333.8 pounds Weigh in 7: 331 pounds Weigh in 8: 323.8 pounds Weigh in 9: 319.8 pounds Weigh in 10: 324 pounds Weigh in 11: 330 pounds Weigh in 12: 327.8 pounds Weigh in 13: 318.5 pounds Weigh in 14: 321.8 pounds Weigh in 15: 326 pounds Weigh in 16: 314 pounds Weigh in 17: 316 pounds Weigh in 18: 312.5 pounds Weigh in 19: 315 pounds Weigh in 20: 307.5 pounds Weigh in 21: 306 pounds Weigh in 22: 297.8 pounds Weigh in 23: 296.4 pounds Here are the results from Weigh in 24: ◦291.8 pounds ANUDDER ALL TIME LOW SINCE WE STARTED ◦Blood sugar: A1C is remains ~ 5.7% down from 11.1% Frank dropped five pounds this month, while the Mets rolled over and died. No stress eating and no excuses. This is a huge W. 300 pounds feels like a distant memory now, that will never be revisited. Frank’s athleticism, flexibility, and energy haven’t been this good since he was in high school. He has completely reformed his body composition, which isn’t always reflected by weight loss. He is building muscle and carrying significant excess skin. In fact, when a person his height loses 200+ pounds, the excess skin typically weighs between 15-25 pounds or in higher cases even 40 pounds. That means if Frank got surgery for his excess skin, he would weigh ~ 270 pounds. This combined with his A1C and overall physiological renaissance, Frank is adding 20+ years to his life. We’ve never had a weight target, the goal has always been to establish a healthier sustainable lifestyle. On that front, Frank has already won. It has now been 2 years of weigh ins and I couldn’t be more proud of Frank & the positive impact he is having on others. This journey will ultimately be his legacy. *Sorry about the toes, cost of doing business the man hasn’t worn socks for decades. Anudder weigh in the booksshow more