u/Thecamra17

Can we just acknowledge how cool the movies are for adding that extra detail to the time periods in each installment?

Like the original trilogy felt very much like as if it's the far future of our world, which the books are a bit vague about since Katniss isn't entirely well versed on the entire history of Panem. While watching the movies there's a lot of futuristic technology yet also we can see influences of our own time period such as the brutalist architecture in the capital looking like our own soviet era countries.

But this concept is expanded with Ballad and Sunrise having aspects of the 1920's and 1970's respectfully. While the books paint the picture this is wholly just Panems lore and doesn't really expand on it aside from the Great War causing all of this.

The way they've designed these movies, it feels like there's another storytelling layer that coyld only have been pulled off on the screen rather than the page. Like my head cannon is that Panem was basically our world up until world War 1, obviously rather than it being a European conflict instead it was in America and instead of states we had districts. Like a darker version of the US civil war.

And that's the Flashpoint, once the dust settled after ww1 Panem went down the path they are on now while we went on to have the great depression/ww2 etc.

On top of that the part that really has my brain struggling to wrap around is that the 74th games in the book (Katniss's era) is literally the 2010's which is just kinda wild for me to think about.

So to any fans of both series's, I'm going to say some unpopular opinions about ATLA.

Suzanne Collins has already put out two pretty awesome books that expand her universe AND seems to have enough creative control of the films to make fairly faithful adaptations. Obviously we haven't seen Sunrise yet but I have high hopes.

The same really can't be said for Michael Dante DiMartino and the ATLA team. Don't get me wrong, the Kyoshi books are really solid and I love them! But I don't see why they're putting all their energy into the live action show or the legend of aang film. While these are good works of art, I don't think they're great additions to the world they've built. The live action show is just retreading the same story in a worse way and the legend of Aang really had nothing of value to say, great animation but literally brought nothing to the table.

I think I'll post this in the ATLA subbreddit but I really just wanted to show appreciation to what the Hunger Games is doing with these new and creative stories.

Alright so here's just a thought I'd like put out while I'm killing time at work today and wanted to start the conversation.

So I work a pretty straight forward white collar job as a compliance regulator (aka guy who goes around your jobsite with a clipboard and documents compliance issues). It's really easy, I'm not a jerk, I get along with everyone and I meet my monthly quota without issue. I don't even really need to wotk that hard since I have no chance of a promotion, just keep the client in compliance and I won't get fired. Most days I just hide somewhere and read reddit. I make roughly 6 figures but I live in an area where that's basically just making ends meet. I can afford rent, insurance and food for the month while putting a little bit towards savings.

I guess my statement is that I've effectively stopped contributing to the economy for the most part. Aside from rent which goes to my landlord, Wi-Fi, cell phone, insurance which goes towards those entities and whatever groceries I buy from grocery outlet or save mart. I've stopped all my subscriptions, I torrent everything now to entertain myself. I guess the only subscription I have is my VPN so I can torrent without fear of losing my wifi. I take public transit to work so I know my fare goes back to that program which I use every day. I don't go to restaurants anymore, I don't drink either. I buy a few indie games here or there on steam and I know that the majority of the profits are supporting those artists and then the rest of my entertainment goes to a few Patreons I support like podcasts which I can listen to for hours.

I still socialize too, I have movie nights over discord with friends. I just cast the movies I pirate straight from my hard drive, skirting the streaming black screen issue entirely.

Sometimes I go out and walk around with friends, we'll smoke some weed but I get it from my cousins who grow it so I'm not spending money there either.

While I'm technically still on the grid, I'm really not supporting the greater economy at large anymore. And I know that a lot of data points to the upper 10% basically holding up the economy, I just wonder who else lives like I do? Are there other ways you feel like you're living as the "Modern Frugality" if we can even call if that? This is basically just survival for me.

Alright so here's just a thought I'd like put out while I'm killing time at work today and wanted to start the conversation.

So I work a pretty straight forward white collar job as a compliance regulator (aka guy who goes arouyour jobsite with a clipboard and documents compliance issues). It's really easy, I'm not a jerk, I get along with everyone and I meet my monthly quota without issue. I don't even really need to wotk that hard since I have no chance of a promotion, just keep the client in compliance and I won't get fired. Most days I just hide somewhere and read reddit. I make roughly 6 figures but I live in an area where that's basically just lower middle class. I can afford rent, insurance and food for the month while putting a big towards savings.

I guess my statement is that I've effectively stopped contributing to the economy for the most part. Aside from rent which goes to my landlord, Wi-Fi, cell phone, insurance which goes towards those entities and whatever groceries I buy from grocery outlet or save mart. I've stopped all my subscriptions, I torrent everything now to entertain myself. I guess the only subscription I have is my VPN so I can torrent without fear of losing my wifi. I take public transit to work so I know my fare goes back to that program which I use every day. I don't go to restaurants anymore, I don't drink either. I buy a few indie games here or there on steam and I know that the majority of the profits are supporting those artists and then the rest of my entertainment goes to a few Patreons I support like podcasts which I can listen to for hours.

I still socialize too, I have movie nights over discord with friends. I just cast the movies I pirate straight from my hard drive, skirting the streaming black screen issue entirely.

Sometimes I go out and walk around with friends, we'll smoke some weed but I get it from my cousins who grow it so I'm not spending money there either.

While I'm technically still on the grid, I'm really not supporting the greater economy at large anymore. And I know that a lot of data points to the upper 10% basically holding up the economy, I just wonder who else lives like I do? Are there other ways you feel like you're living as the "Modern Frugality" if we can even call if that? This is basically just survival for me.

Alright so here's my story: I started working in 2019 by joining a consulting firm out of college. I was able to stay employed through covid and really put my heart and soul into my job. I didn't make a lot, only about 57k annually but I was able to pay my bills and figured I'd climb the corporate ladder making my 7% raise every year as well as taking on as many clients and projects they could throw at me. I really trusted my project manager and thought I would stay with the firm forever, but eventually I hit a rift with one of the clients I was working with. The relationship soured and I won't go into details but the firm basically cut me rather than re-assign me to a different project.

This devastated me as I had never been terminated in my life. By 2024 I was back on the job market I slowly discovered that getting another job wouldn't happen quickly despite my resume now being much more filled out than when I graduated college. That first firm provided me with plenty of diverse projects and certifications that really made me stand out on during interviews but by the time my unemployment was about to run out I had gotten desperate, taking on the first company to hire me. They got such a deal on me too, I was making far less than I had made at the first job and the work itself was much more physically demanding.

I was only there for a month when another position I had applied for reached out to me, the commute was closer and the pay was better. So I gave them a shot, I called in sick to my current position and made my way to the interview where they asked if I was still unemployed. This was my first lie as I said I was still on the market because I wanted to show I was loyal and not a job hopper.

Then they asked for my last pay stub and I gave ito them (I didn't realize this was optional), that's when the salary negotiation turned against me as I was basically given my previous salary from the first job. At first I was glad to be making the same amount, but now I had more debt after being unemployed and I no longer trusted climbing a ladder. I guess the nail in coffin for my trust ran out when I had a private conversation with my new coworker at this new position. We started talking about how much I made and I realized he made 20k more than me despite us being at the same level and had the same background.

Keep in mind all these jobs have been in the same consulting field and the only thing I lacked was experience of the work culture at each specific company which could be learned rather quickly. I was furious and decided that I would take control of my own career, I had no trust left to give. I started job hopping, lying on my resume and asking for higher and higher salaries each time. I did all of this was staying employed at each job, using this system as my own corporate ladder.

I was clever too, if they needed to get me a specific certificate of clearance before I started the job then I'd make them pay fof it, finish the training and then I'd start the process all over again using the new accolades to get a better position somewhere else.

Now granted; I've been caught a few times, fired a few times and now I don't nearly care as much about the type of work I put out. I basically do the bare minimum just exchanging my time for a paycheck and just scrape by enough to not get fired.

I've been at this for years and my salary has been doubled, I know I can't do this forever but I've yet to fail a background check despite my resume not reflecting my actual work history accurately anymore. I've got only three positions and companies that I disclose while the reality is that I've lost count of how many companies I've worked for. Sometimes I've worked for two or three at the same time.

I guess my question is, has anyone else been doing this? My family and friends can no longer keep track of where I'm working and they all think I'm crazy for acting this way. But I've been living my best life because of this; I've paid off all my debt, upgraded my car and even have a healthy work life balance because I was able to negotiate my own hours.

Sadly I'm still just a consultant and all my projects are contract based meaning I have to pay for my own insurance and 401K through the private market. I basically don't get PTO or vacation days off but I'm at the point where I don't even ask for time off anymore, I just take days off here and there without telling anyone and hope I don't get caught.

I have the mentality that they need me more than I need them and if I get fired or laid off then I've already got two or three more positions lined up waiting for me.

Alright so here's one that crossed my mind: anyone else remember when Black Ops 1 had a multiplayer mode where you could just spawn in an entire lobby of bots to play against? It was basically a way for you to experience the online multiplayer without actually having an online account.

I think this is a massively underrated and under-utilized system as plenty of games now have dead modes since they were so directly tied to online multiplayer. And yes, I'm aware some games still have servers on PC that you can try to scrounge some people up to play, but this is a simple workaround that I don't see used often.

Another aspect I think of was in MW3 Survival mode where you could use points to call in bots to help you for a round or two. I know I know, most players enjoy the challenge of facing down hordes by themselves but honestly I'd love the option to play some classic Halo Firefight or Gears Horde with a few bots on my side, even for just a round or two for points purchases.

I still use an Xbox 360 and love to fire up some classics like RDR 1 and even Space Marine if you remember that. Both of these games have multiplayer modes which were perfectly fine being played by yourself but literally cannot be booted up without a Xbox live subscription. RDR had these really cool character unlocks that I can't even use anymore without paying for Xbox live and Space Marine had a survival mode that I would play for hours.

Idk, this rant kinda got away from me, but I'm curious if anyone else felt this way.......................