im sure this has been touched on before but the real edge with order flow is having situational awareness on an institutional level to be able to say with a measure of confidence that X is from someone closing a position, Y is someone hedging, Z is just the short leg of a spread, etc etc.

like someone sold $6m USD worth of SPY 350 calls on friday and a lot of retail dudes were like wow omg how dare and then the cats who work at desks were like a) thats not a big number and b) you have no idea if this is someone closing a leap or what.

but yeah that kinda insight is why i took a step back from options / stonkage and just went balls deep into alg trading microstructure imbalances in /nq.

so i give alien earth its props because its actually kind of a masterpiece, but im also realizing that im not super into xeno horror anymore. like its funny because the actual cast of the show are putting in the performances of their fucking lives, everyone seems to be dialed tf in and doing just categorically great work. the writing is great. the vfx are FUCKING GREAT. and the plot is fucking great. but i just saw something slither down the back of someones shirt and im kinda like i dont know man, i got enough problems.

but you know, thats on me. thats my problem. im still here for it regardless.

foundation thoughts

great season so far in as much things are really popping up

i miss the old day tho. as much as im enjoying the jim morrison version of day, its a little frustrating that we will likely go the rest of the series without ever seeing the old day again.

this doesnt feel like a season 3, it feels like it should be a season 5. we could have had 2 more seasons of world building and lee pace scenes. this would have been a net positive.

the mule doesnt really capture my attention. i enjoyed his ascent but watching him just casually send everything into total ruin like within maybe 5 minutes of actual footage is weird.

also the screenwriting feels lopsided.. we get so much of him leering and being a menacing psychopath but so little of him doing anything else. it feels very impatient and very shallow and very cheap.

also id have preferred a bit more guidance re what the fuck is demerzel up to. they have basically established her as something of a mysterious fulcrum for everything happening in empire land but then ignore her for an entire episode. also the notion that day could just caper off the grid is a bit much but whatever.

we have 3 seasons left and then a guaranteed 4th thats already in production with goldberg at the helm. given the pacing i cant imagine theres a season 5 out there. its going to sad when this show wraps and thats a pretty high compliment imo.

1 more ep of foundation for the season. have some questions/concerns that i expect will not get wrapped up in the next 50 minutes...

- who corrupted the genetics of empire? why did demerzel kill dawn but let everyone else chug right along, even tho its acknowledged that day is corrupted as well? that seemed like a really, really big deal and just kinda got swept aside.

- why is day just kinda bopping around an empty street instead of like, calling in someone to ferry his ass back to demerzel?

- didnt dawn have magical healing thingies in his blood? why are his legs still so fucked up?

- harry seldon heel turn is ahhhhh interesting... also letting the mule live was a choice.

im underwhelmed at the note alien earth season 1 ended on. i didnt hate it but man i expected a lot more ground to get covered. also i really feel like they wrote themselves into a bit of a corner.

overall i give it a B+. its quite good at the end of the day but it felt uncommitted somehow. im going to absolutely 100% go fucking nanners if they cancel it tho.

also not a single fucking peep about renewal so far.


edit: oh shit there is an episode 8 next week, thats the finale. ok cool so be it.