This story would be megathread material if not for the fact that I could turn it into a discussion topic lol <3 So share your stories if you have any.
Anyway today I found out that on the 29th season of The Amazing Race (special interest: competitive reality TV) which I haven't seen before because it was after the time I paid attention to that show, had a roadblock challenge where one of the two racers from each of the remaining four pairs had to play a game of Street Fighter 5 against a pro until they won. (Special interest: Street fighter's competitive scene and fighting games in general)
Few interesting things about this.
- The leg took place in South Korea, which is interesting because South Korea's fighting game community is MUCH more focused on Tekken. Most top Tekken players are South Korean. Its Japan's fgc thats more Street Fighter focused, with a lot of top players being Japanese. Like there are very good Japanese Tekken pros and very good South Korean Street Fighter pros, but if you really wanted to like, represent South Korea's pro gaming culture which would supposedly be the idea, it should be Tekken. But obviously they did Street Fighter V because Capcom sponsored them lol.
- The two noteable pros were called Poongko and Infiltration. Both pretty over the top personalities. Poongko is known for being sponsored by reddit's (incredibly bigoted and incredibly horny) /r/Kappa community at one point, and for a lot of silly antics. He's actually pretty likeable. Infiltration has always been really funny but uh... he's banned from Capcom sponsored events indefinitely because of a domestic violence case and a few N word drops on stream and a think a couple other problematic instances. So its kinda embarrassing now that he was the representative. He did admittedly have a very fun personality and made funny jokes in interviews and stuff. (Also was known for randomly pulling out unexpected low to mid tiers which is always a crowd favorite).
- The roadblock was a terrible idea lmao. Expecting people with no experience to beat professionals, even in a somewhat unstable game like SF5, was absurd. They ended up having to repetedly have the pros adopt random handicaps until the racers could win. AT least thats how it was explained to me, I havent watched this yet (though I Really want to check it out so I can see how it played out).
Interesting stuff for me!
my hobbies are being gay and communism, and you wouldn't believe what this forum I found is all about
I suspect I have autism (haven't been formally diagnosed but the psychiatrist who diagnosed me with ADHD/ADD also thinks I have it) and while I tend to deep dive into the topics that catch my interest, none of them last very long. For example, in 2019 I was really into space travel, but that only lasted until 2021/early 2022 and now, I barely think about it at all. Two years ago I was into crocheting, but that has also died down. The only things that have sustained my interest for very long periods of time are main characters in my own stories (some of which have been written, some of which are only ideas in my head).
I've read some definitions in various places and I'm still not sure what a special interest is... and if I have them. What makes something a special interest, exactly? How can you tell? Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask!
I think its still a special interest if it comes and fades like that. As long as its hyperfocused.
Public transport and socialism definitely cross eachothers paths a lot but I think one of those developed into the other if I am honest
I use gas/insurance prices for cars to sway people into thinking there is a better way. I know for a fact some people turn bitter for a split second when I tell them I'm fortunate enough to walk to work but I try to flip it back onto capitalism's fault.
Yeah, although it happened a long time ago.
I loved knights and stuff, and science fiction, and Indiana Jones, and giant robots.
Then I saw the box cover of Mechwarrior 2
I basically had kittens right then and there. Then I dived into the lore. Great noble houses? Unscrupulous Mercenaries? Honor battles? Planetary fiefdoms? Archeology to dig up robot technology? Holy fuuuuuccckkkk
I like bugs and Paper Mario, so I was very surprised and happy when Bug Fables came out.
Oh my favorite streamer streamed that it seems very fun!
It and Hollow Knight were a huge boon to the bug people in the furry fandom (there are dozens of us!).
My special interests are too intolerably weird for that to happen 
Closest I've ever come is this banger Pyramid Inu video, which at once converged
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Black Dresses albums
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[woe betide ye who hears of this cursed book]
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gay anime & manga
and is the first time I have ever fuckin seen any sort of connection implied. I still feel so abnormal about it tbh.
Also did they really play SFV on reality TV, lol
Also did they really play SFV on reality TV, lol
Yeah lol. I think the interesting thing about it is how its a minor example of capitalism overriding the purpose of the show? Because like I said in the post, if you wanted to do what TAR is supposed to do and represent South Korean culture, the fighting game to do that with would whatever version of Tekken was current then because thats what the FGC there is mostly focused on. But like, Capcom clearly paid to get their game in the episode lol. I have to assume. Just interesting to me.
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I cant find a way to upload it directly but here's a funny gif of the event: https://imgur.com/Ko2hFjO
Why is she smacking the stick???
Woah we can upload videos with sound now (sorry not trying to hijack the thread)
Show
for me it was a year or two ago after i read Capitalist Realism and got really into that. Then i realized Mark Fisher was one of only a few people (and also the first, iirc) to interview Burial, my favourite musician of all time. I also learned that Fisher was an important (important-ish?) person in a lot of the underground electronic music from the UK in the 2000's, being close with Kode9, Caretaker, etc.
i think i read the Mark Fisher x Burial interview like +10 years ago when I was first introduced to Burial's music and had to learn everything about him and his music, but by then, i had never heard of Mark Fisher, lol.
I love street fighter and competitive reality tv (survivor is my favorite but amazing race is my 2nd favorite). Never seen this season so thanks for the heads up. Playing Koreans at competitive video games is like asking a contestant to beat a chess master in chess- it’s not going to happen without some major handicaps.
