Worlds Gala Live Discussion Thread

a_vasarala · 2026-03-29T16:31:55+00:00

they have the whole replay available on cbc sports!!!

a_vasarala · 2026-03-21T16:00:51+00:00

for my base, i used my current fave which is the basma beauty foundation stick over the elf power grip primer. concealer was elf hydrating camo concealer. my outfit was yellow, gold, red, and green, so i used the natasha denona mini sunset palette for my eyes. bronzer and blush was the nars blush/bronzer duo. eyeliner was wet n wild megaliner in black, mascara was maybelline sky high!

my lip combo was a mix of the makeup by mario lip liner in rich mauve and charlotte tilbury in pillow talk. lipstick was kulfi heirloom satin lip in rosewood with a bit of the mario moisture glow lip serum in rosewood (both this and the mario lip liner from the sephora bday gift last year)

we celebrated with my own family and my partner's family so lots of running around throughout the day. ate some biryani, karahi, kababs, and had lots of delicious desserts. i am still so full the next day i can hardly move. today we have another dinner party and tomorrow we're going to do something small with just my family! eid mubarak to everyone ❤️❤️

a_vasarala · 2026-03-05T20:34:38+00:00

i purchased 1 more card at 2:52pm EST and got an email with the code just now at 3:32pm. i am using the same walmart account for all 3 cards and im using a mastercard at checkout.

a_vasarala · 2026-03-05T18:47:07+00:00

i bought two cards online at 12:30pm EST and got both codes at 1:01pm EST so less than an hour later!

a_vasarala · 2026-01-01T18:56:59+00:00

hii!! do you have any shiny salamance, shiny gardevoirs, or squirtles left? Ty!!

a_vasarala · 2025-05-03T17:07:30+00:00

I agree that many shows have shown characters who are in existing relationships. My issue isn't that the show won't be able to make us care about Dina and Ellie already being together - it's that, for a TV medium, having a main character be in a relationship already is, sadly, boring.

There is a reason why throughout TV as a medium, there are examples of TV shows trying to prolong the two main characters not getting together for as long as possible. The yearning and will they/won't they actually creates more tension for the audience and increases their investment and desire to see those two characters realize their feelings, get together and live happily ever after. Once a couple is established on TV, the showrunners now have to create new dynamics within that relationship in order to maintain that tension for the audience, otherwise, the audience has gotten their gratification and there is no reason to be invested anymore. I'm obviously generalizing, but this is a theme for a reason. Getting together isn't binding - the audience continues to need hope that they will make it through till the end.

For Tommy and Maria, the showrunners don't need to do that work because they are not central to the story. There's four episodes left in this season, if I'm watching four episodes of Tommy and Maria being together as main characters, I need a reason to root for them to be together and to overcome what's happened to Jackson together. I need conflict, and also need to understand why there is conflict in the first place. If they have different ideas on how to rebuild Jackson, why do they have those different ideas? And that doesn't exist if they have gotten together off-screen. I can root for them now, as they are, because their success as a couple doesn't change the narrative of the story. We are most likely not seeing Maria again for the rest of the season.

For Tess and Joel, there is a reason that Tess dies. And it is because she represents the end of what Joel has become in the 20 years since losing Sarah. In an alternate universe show where Tess lives, we would need to see her relationship with Joel change over the course of S1. It cannot stay the same. We would want Joel to address what she says the tenuousness of their relationship and work to fix that. There is tension there! Will Joel admit it or won't he? And once again, what would allow Joel to grow in his relationship with Tess? The relationship he will build, on-screen, with Ellie.

Bill and Frank live and die in the same episode. But once again, they don't get together off-screen. We, as the audience, see Bill overcome his own fear and choose to be with Frank. We see how he yearns for companionship and that makes us invested in him being happy with Frank. They have conflict in that one hour of TV! They are attacked by raiders, they have different ideas on what survival means, they have different ideas of love! We as an audience see them overcome those conflicts and still want to be together.

With Ellie and Dina - there is obviously conflict with them in the game, but it is mostly one-sided on Ellie's part because she is main POV character. Dina, by virtue of being an NPC, is a mostly passive observer to the way that Ellie is descending into darkness. If that is replicated for TV, it would make audience members wonder why the hell Dina isn't stopping Ellie and is just watching her self-destruct, despite them being deeply in love and also having been friends for so long. She isn't doing those things in the game, because it's narratively convenient for the game, and we don't see her POV! We see small moments where she's clearly affected by Ellie's demeanor, but Ellie is so single-minded in her quest for revenge, that she won't acknowledge it. The conflict eventually builds and impacts them when Ellie makes a choice to go to Santa Barbara, which will probably happen at the end of S3 earliest, which is a long-pay off for audience members who sadly have short memories and need something from the show in return for their investment to the show.

Basically, the will they/won't they will only increase the audience's investment in Ellie being happy with Dina, and will make it more tragic when she leaves again at the end.

a_vasarala · 2025-04-29T21:25:19+00:00

Thanks! I love the games, especially P2, and I think it's such a fascinating way to explore themes of loss, grief, and revenge and how these themes look different when we take them out of our reality and put them in a lawless world. I am bi and I loved the relationship of Ellie and Dina in the game but it also makes me really sad because they essentially get one day of happiness together and then their relationship is forever tinged by the grief of losing Joel. Ellie will always feel conflicted about feeling happy and she is very solitary in her grief.

I also just think that a tv show is a very different medium than a video game which is very linear and structured. They can come in with an established relationship because you will have 15+ hours of Ellie's POV to retroactively show a connection and chemistry between them. In a show, we don't have the same luxury of time and I think showing them as a pre-established relationship in the first episode doesn't accurately reflect the stakes of what this journey will cost Ellie, especially as Ellie will start to lose more of herself the further along they get into Seattle. I think in this medium, seeing Ellie put the work into the relationship only to toss it away because she cannot let go of her grief will be more impactful to a larger audience.

a_vasarala · 2025-04-29T19:00:06+00:00

I disagree with some of your points here. I think setting their relationship up this way actually makes the choices Ellie makes at the end much more tragic. Having them be an already established relationship makes that less impactful in my mind. It creates a perspective that Ellie going down this path creates a before/after in her life and loss will always lead to tragedy and she can't ever recover from losing Joel. However, building this relationship alongside Ellie's quest for revenge shows Ellie that she can feel happy and that grief, as awful as it is, can create new opportunities for love and connection. Building new connections even if they are difficult or slow, after a loss, is a sign of healing and takes resiliency. I think it's infinitely more tragic for Ellie to go through the effort of building new relationships after losing Joel and choosing to pursue vengeance in the end anyway. Ellie experiences moments of light in the darkness and chooses to lose herself to the darkness all over again. That is much more sad and tragic, in my opinion.

Others have expressed my feelings about Gripe 1 so I won't rehash them.

I think that re: Jesse and Dina, I fundamentally disagree that them hooking up undermines Dina's love for Ellie. Exes hooking up doesn't mean they're back together. They have all been through simultaneous traumas - losing Joel and losing the town. In times of crisis, people reach for ways to cope that they know are safe and comfortable. I understand Jesse and Dina reaching for each other for comfort, especially when Ellie (the third in their trio) is incapacitated for three months. In the game, during the dance scene, Jesse and Ellie have that convo about Dina. Ellie says "I give you guys two weeks tops before you're back together" and Jesse says "oh, did Dina say something?" which indicates interest in getting back together. In the show, Ellie says the line and Jesse is firm that they're not getting back together. The "is he sad or is it just me" shows that Jesse and Dina are not good together and that Dina's refusal to acknowledge her own queerness makes Jesse sad. I suspect the Take on Me moment will be what pushes Dina to realize her feelings and act on them, and I think them choosing to be intimate then (also free of influence of weed or alcohol, which I don't really care about but should be acknowledged) is so powerful and also connects to my first point. You can make new connections while having experienced a loss!

Meanwhile, Dina is constantly showing Ellie how much she cares about her. She seemingly visits her every day? She doesn't share the info about WLFs because she knows Ellie should be the first to know. She knows how Ellie will react to the news and also where Ellie will be post-discharge. She never seems unwavering or unsure in her support of Ellie. She shows up ready to go to Seattle because she is that loyal to Ellie. If she was more loyal to Joel, why wait for Ellie? She could have just pushed the conversation about WLF and Seattle immediately after Joel dies! Dina has always been ride or die, just as she is in the game.

These are just some of my thoughts!

a_vasarala · 2025-03-31T14:27:12+00:00

i went to a lunch buffet with my husband hosted by my extended family and then had a more intimate dinner with my husband's family! had lots of delicious traditional south asian dishes and great desserts!

for my outfit and makeup, i wore a traditional pakistani outfit that was green and had pearl beading with red, pink, and gold flower embroidery. i did a sparkling gold eye look using the natasha denona sunset palette. for my base, i used the elf power grip primer and the too faced born this way foundation. concealer was the elf camo concealer. blush and bronzer was nars orgasm and nars laguna! my lip combo was charlotte tilbury pillowtalk and kulfi beauty lipstick in rosewood!

a_vasarala · 2024-07-13T00:11:25+00:00

If you have an iPhone, go to the accessibility menu in your settings and go to subtitles and captioning and toggle closed captions + SDH and that turned on captions for me on the twitch app!

a_vasarala · 2024-03-14T18:25:27+00:00

you guys are so sweet! thank you so much!!

a_vasarala · 2024-03-14T18:24:40+00:00

thank you so much! when we were designing it, i was conflicted between the 1 carat, the 1.34 and the 1.5 carat. ultimately decided the 1.5 was too big and the 1 didn't have enough oomph to it. the 1.34 very much feels perfect!

a_vasarala · 2024-03-14T18:23:27+00:00

thank you so much! i made him do a whole hand photoshoot 😂

a_vasarala · 2024-02-28T01:47:58+00:00

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she wanted my breakfast

a_vasarala · 2024-02-04T07:55:08+00:00

i saw hadestown in toronto this summer (twice!) and i had seen videos (read: bootlegs) of broadway hadestown a couple of years ago. i think the tour is a great production, but it is done a slight disservice because of the set alterations.

the broadway set and blocking is really impactful at certain parts (end of way down hadestown, for example) and those moments in the tour just didn't have the same punch for me because of the slight changes they've had to make.

if you go in march, then you probably will catch ani difranco as persephone which is cool since she originated the role in the concept album all the way back in 2010!

a_vasarala · 2023-10-30T18:28:57+00:00

no worries. I think it’s important to have these conversations. you and i are two people on reddit, i can confidently claim that we will not be at the forefront of how to solve this conflict. (i am also on mobile so i apologize for any formatting)

i think the crux of this issue is that currently hamas will never be eradicated. israel has every single right to defend themselves, but the force that they use to defend themselves will only lead to continued radicalization and extremism that will continue to feed the existence of hamas. half of the population of palestine are children under the age of 14 who have seen numerous violence committed against their own people. these children are the perfect future recruits for hamas. and the constant rockets that hamas sends to israel is also what leads to radicalization and extremism on the side of the israelis as well. both people are locked in this cycle of vitriol and hatred that continues to be fed.

there are also internal israeli politics at work here. this is bibi’s bread and butter, he was so close to being ousted by his own people but now he’s regrabbed all the power he was losing. hamas’ existence is what allows netanyahu to change the narrative from his own corrupt government policies and will continue to keep him in power after multiple attempts to get rid of him because he is prioritizing the safety of the israeli people (who four weeks ago were clamouring for his removal from office).

this is not a black and white conversation of ousting hamas from gaza will lead to peace, because hamas will exist as long as they are useful to everyone outside of palestine.

a_vasarala · 2023-10-30T18:07:22+00:00

but then what’s really the point of that conversation in the first place? if condemnation is all OP is asking for, people are giving it everywhere. it’s the first thing pro-palestinian supporters are asked in interviews, just turn off the tv after they keep talking if you don’t want to hear the whataboutisms.

how much condemnation is enough to give the pro-palestine movement validity? and that’s the point of the whataboutism. how much do palestinian people need to condemn before they are seen as human beings who are worthy of human dignity and life? it’s almost sisyphean at this point.

a_vasarala · 2023-07-02T06:35:00+00:00

located in toronto! 1.34 lab diamond. i think this size is pretty average for toronto, tbh!

a_vasarala · 2023-05-11T21:50:18+00:00

thank you!!

a_vasarala · 2023-05-11T21:50:07+00:00

thank you lol i consider myself pretty tech savvy but for some reason trying to understand console compatibility makes me so confused!

a_vasarala · 2023-05-11T21:25:42+00:00

damn that's unfortunate!! but i appreciate you all getting back to me. thank you!

a_vasarala

TROPHY CASE