u/TeamMarch

I keep seeing people complain about the new edition of the short story and I'm wondering if it's even worth it...?

Hi.

This feels like a really silly question, so bear with me pls…

I don’t have best friend. I want a best friend. How do you get a best friend.

I’ve thought about just being like, “hey, I would like to be closer with you”, but I feel like that is really awkward to ask. Like asking someone out on a date is like, ok, that’s something people know. But asking people out… as friends? Is that weird? Or have u guys done it

Or is there another way I don’t know. Like I feel like you just keep talking until you get closer, but sometimes that feels so hard to do. Any advice on how to get closer to people?

Hi!

So I've been trying to find a good way to record audio and I'm thinking of buying the Movo X1-Mini Video Shotgun Mic as it's only, like, $70 and from what I've heard is a pretty decent sound. I don't know if I have enough for a sound recorder though, which is my question if I really need one for this. My short won't have a bunch of dialogue, but I know a video I saw mentioned they recorded it on audacity on a laptop. Is this something I could do, or no.

If not, is there a decent, cheaper sound recorder I can get? Somewhere near the price or even cheaper from the sound recorder would be really great. Thanks!

Hey!

Obviously film noir in the classical era and when thought of in the future are very different but are there any albums that are like that of modern noir sounding? Like a jazzy kinda thing. And yeah I’d listen to a jazzy album but idk where to look so. Saying that makes this post sound really silly but I guess like anything specifically noir. I need stuff to listen to while I write

Something I love is the remixed version of “The Fragrance of Dark Coffee” it’s so perfectly noir—and kinda Godot I guess too.

Hey!

Recently watched Double Indemnity (1944, dir. Billy Wilder) and I absolutely loved it. Definitely a classic right there (obviously). I had a few questions right after watching that, even after retrospection, I'm a little confused about. There's a big chance I might've missed something because old movies are harder for me to lock in on (though I felt very locked in on this one) and my own attention span just being really bad in general.

1. What was the deal with Nino Zachetti? I mainly mean between him and Phyllis. He came over to her house a lot, was she manipulating/extorting him? I know she was telling him that Lola was seeing other men and making him mad, but what else was the connection there? I was a little confused there, unless I just said the reason and I'm thinking there's more there and there wasn't. Lol.

2. What was Walter's goal at the end? I know he went to the house and ended up killing Phyllis, but then he told Nino to call Lola. Okay. Then he confessed to the crime and Keyes overheard. Okay. But then he mentioned a border? I heard in an interview (much, much later) from Wilder that this was referencing Mexico. Is that true? Was he trying to escape? I think in the movie he mentioned needing to do "one more thing" before he died, but I was a little confused.

Again, fantastic movie, but I was a little lost by these things and if there's a proper explanation that I missed that would be cool. Or maybe I'm thinking about them too much, lol.

Hi!

I'm working back at McDonald's after about a year off, and I tried resigning into my account but nothing is working. I can't reset my password either. I told my GM about it and I think she reset my password to a temporary one, but when I use it, it doesn't want to work.

I even try to reset it with the https://account.mcd.com/MyAccount/reset/ link. But that never works either, as after passing the CAPTCHA and getting an access code, it just boots me back to the first screen. It never lets me reset anything.

What should I do? Should I just talk to my GM again?

Hi!

I was thinking about making a noir film. I love the genre a lot, but, frankly, I haven't seen a lot. When I think of noir, I think of the B&W, the low-key lighting and heavy shadows, the voice overs, the tragic stories and characters, and the detectives. Though, obviously, the noir genre is expansive.

I wanted to watch more noirs. And I mean actual noirs, not neo-noirs. Do you guys have any classic movies that stand out as great noirs? They could be big budget movies or unknown, I just want some good noirs to watch

Edit: 17 hours later

Wow, I forget how much you guys really help. I've got so many movies on my list, it's gonna be hard to pick through them all. I think for now I'll watch the first four movies that helped french critic Nino Frank create the idea of "film noir"

Double Indemnity
Laura
The Maltese Falcon
Murder, My Sweet

I am definitely going to pick through these and watch as many as I can. I'm not a huge old movie fan, but I want to be, so I'm gonna try and really appreciate these movies. I know I'll like at least some of these, so I think it'll broaden my taste of older film as well.

Thanks so much!

Hi.

Okay so i am not a very affectionate person. but i want to be. but i'm not. and in the few intimate relationships i've been in, i feel like i'm a very... lovebomb-y person.

i don't like to say that because i never have the intention of manipulation. but i feel like it is. like at first i have a great passion for something or someone but then it dies off after too much exposure. is this a common thing? or am i just an evil person.

and what do i call this. lovebombing can't be the right term right. because that's a manipulation tatic. like people will pretend to shower people with love and affection and then once they have them on the hook, they destroy their lives. I know i'm not like that. i genuinely mean what i want, but then it dies. it's not like i don't have an extreme love for them. i do. but i just stop showing it a lot. i would like to show it more. i know, as a person, i'm just really reserved. and i'm kind of fine being at least semi reserved, but i don't like to hurt people. maybe what i am doing is manipulation even if it's not intentional. idk. i feel like you guys would know because you are good people.

Hi

Gosh, idek what to say. I feel weird rn. But I feel really happy. And there isn’t really anyone else I can rant to about this so I’m ranting here since I feel y’all would understand. This is partially a rant and partially a question about squishes. I’ve never really understood them but maybe I am right now.

There’s this friend I’ve had for a while. We met on Twitter and started out as js moots for a while. But she was a really good artist that was really under appreciated so I would like and repost and comment on all of her art and that slowly became almost of her posts when I could. And I was happy to do it, she never asked me to do this and she never expected anything out of me I just really liked supporting her. But there was a time where I was really really worried that I didn’t mean as much to her. I looked at things really focused on Twitter and thought well since she doesn’t do the same to my posts that means I’m not as important right? Eventually we friended each other on other platforms too and talked more on those, but I always felt that there was some sort of disconnect between me and her.

Later I would also be told that she didn’t want me to comment as much on her posts (for some reason I don’t totally understand but it could also be that she found it annoying lol which I’d understand haha). This honestly made me really sad. As said before, I loved the interactions I had with her. We eventually developed some banter in these so I get not wanting that on twitter, but those made me really happy and smile throughout the day. But I just stopped without saying anything. Not that we stopped talking but I just tried toning it down a lot.

Recently though things changed. She revealed in one of her replies to me that she considered me an actual friend, not just some twitter mutual. For reference, we met around late 2024, so it’s been about a year and a half at this point. But this made me happy. I always referred to her as my friend (my online friend anyway) and not js some mutual on Twitter. And I even invited her to my personal server (that she didn’t join but idrc it’s her decision) so you know it made me happy that she considered me a friend and not js some dude who wouldn’t shut up on her posts.

This leads to me getting really drunk and ending up texting ALL of my friends a few days later. I tell them that I love them, and she’s one of the main ones I talk to. I basically tell her that I appreciate her a lot and that she means a lot to me. I completely forget about this and she’s responds saying the same thing, but going further and saying she considers me one of her CLOSEST friends. Wow.

I’ll be honest this has just made me so giddy and so happy for so long. I mean it’s been a week and I still haven’t stopped thinking about it. It makes everything I’ve done for the past year and a half feel so worth it. Like yeah I enjoyed it in the moment, but you wouldn’t want to pour your heart and soul into someone just for them to reject you. But no, they really feel the same way. I really wanted to hug them if they weren’t across the world 🥹.

It also makes me realize, in retrospect, the kind of person she is. Shes a very self contained person. At least from what I can gather. She doesn’t talk about herself a lot (meaning her personal life) nor does she really ask others (unless the situation requires it like I tell her I be upset then she would). She’s not heartless, she’s actually very caring, and she’s very skilled at the art she creates, and I feel like that comes off with how much care she puts in to both her artistic projections and her friends and loved ones. She doesn’t ever really show affection unless the situation prompts itself to, and she always loves to banter with me and I’m guessing other people and act like she’s mad or upset but really she’s not. She’s such a sweet person and I’m glad I met her! And I’m especially glad that I’m one of her closest friends. And mainly that I didnt really ask her if I was, she really brought up that fact herself. It makes it feel less forced. Like I said, she wouldn’t really do that out of nowhere. So it’s interesting she did. And it makes me happy she did.

I wonder if this is a squish though. They’re somewhat of “friend crushes” no? I definitely feel a platonic crush right now. If there was such a thing as platonic gestures of love that wouldn’t be confused with romantic (because I promise this isn’t romantic) then I would shower her w it cuz I’m js so so giddy. But then again im unsure if she’d like that lol

Hi!

So my main question revolves what my friend and I should do, both aro, about if we should or shouldn't go into a fwb. Here's a story time below and the main question after!

Story time! Okay so I have close friend, who I'll just call spark for privacy reasons. I've been friends with her for a while, like 3-4 years. We're both similar in our age around 20. And we've been close friends for a while too.

To begin, she's one of the people who made me realize 1 was aromantic as she is too. I like to believe this brought us a lot closer, we never had to worry about the "boy girl friendship" thing becuase we were aro

But recently as of late (by recently I mean like |wk nine months) I've been feeling sexual attraction for her. This isn't normal, we've both opened up about how we don't have interest in each other. And I never lied about that when I said that. I thought she was pretty and I complimented her (as a good friend would) but nothing else. But then one day that changed and now I began to feel sexual attraction.

I never told her this (pin in this for later) and for the next several months it got a little bad. I never went out of my way to be weird or assault or harass her or anything but it felt weird to me, especially because, again, we both felt comfortable as just friends. And part of me wanted to just be friends too. After all, I loved them as a friend. And I don't want a romantic relationship. But I started having thoughts of fwbs.

Then a few months later after this revelation, spark and I met up for the first time (we kinda met up one time but that was a long time ago ver briefly, and we are online friends btw). It was a very fun and I loved that week (though my wallet didn't), but I can't lie and say I didn't have sexual thoughts during that either.

All of this to say that it kinda got out of hand. I didn't want to tell her and ruin our friendship by making this sexual feeling something to tear us apart. And I didn't want her to view me as some weirdo (or something) but last night I got super drunk and I lowkey told her and now we are here.

Story time over! I got a mixed response, but her main worry is similar to mine in that if she agrees to do this friends with benefits with me (which I don't think she's just agreeing to doing it bc I asked?) that it could spiral somehow and ruin our friendship. And she doesn't want to deny and make me upset either.
What should we do? This post is kind of for both of us, as I don't really know anything about this either.
We both don't really like relationships and I'd say are pretty comfortable with how we are right now, and we wouldn't want the sexual aspect of it to take it into a possessive relationship. Idk. Is there any advice for what we should do? If so pls do share.
Thanks!

Hi!

I'm looking for fiction books about prison escapes or about prisons in general? I'd prefer fiction, but if there's a well written / interesting non-fiction that also works fine!

I'm mainly interested in writing a novel like this, so that's why I ask. Any novels that critique the prison life are also great (though I imagine most of them would do that lol)

Thanks!