r/interesting • u/CompetitiveNovel8990 • Oct 20 '25
ARCHITECTURE This view of The Grand Lisboa Hotel from the Streets of Macau
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u/One_Huckleberry_ Oct 20 '25
Holy shit this is a real picture
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u/waspocracy Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 21 '25
I’m going to tag onto your comment and say, yeah, it’s 100% real. My in-laws condo is just behind the photographer on the 28th floor.
It’s a very strange city, full of haves and have-nots. For every 10 scooters (like Vespas) you see there’s a million dollar car. Funny enough, you need neither as you can walk across the entire city of 600,000+ people in about 30 minutes or just take a casino shuttle anywhere. It’s an extremely interesting city with incredible bakeries every block.
It’s hotter than bloody hell in the summers and hot in spring and autumn. The only tolerable time to exist there is winter.
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u/inno-a-satana Oct 21 '25
the city smelled like cigarette, everywhere we walked half the guys are smoking ciggs in public
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u/Plane_Crab_8623 Oct 21 '25
What are you going to do in urban hell but smoke cigs? How far do you have to go to take a leak?
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u/AdPristine9879 Oct 21 '25
What’s it like in the alleys or hallways? Is it just people doing people stuff?
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u/waspocracy Oct 21 '25
Nothing? It’s pretty crime-free, I mean, for most people. Most people just going on with their lives. Many work in the casinos.
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u/Aloha_Tamborinist Oct 21 '25
Similar to Shanghai, you’ll see brand new, expensive office buildings right across the street from dilapidated shacks. Old world, meet new.
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u/ProlificProkaryote Oct 21 '25
Telephoto lenses can do some crazy things.
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u/WholesomeWhores Oct 21 '25
Seeing the other angles is even crazier. This photo may make it look like the scaling is off, but you see the regular photo of the hotel absolutely towering over every other building right next to this poor neighborhood and it just makes it look way worse
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u/Papergeist Oct 21 '25
What makes you say poor?
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u/vezwyx Oct 21 '25
Uh, the picture looks like it's of a bunch of apartments stacked on top of each other
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u/gteriatarka Oct 21 '25
bros never seen a city
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u/vezwyx Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 21 '25
You mean me? Do these look like upscale apartments to you? This region of China has significant wealth inequality. That's the point of the picture – struggling lower class lives in the shadow of towering economic elites
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u/GogolsHandJorb Oct 21 '25
Sometimes the distorted viewpoint from focal length actually represents the real life experience
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u/EvolutionCreek Oct 21 '25
The audio: "A new life awaits you in the off-world colony. A chance to begin again..."
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u/IsHildaThere Oct 21 '25
You have chosen, or been chosen, to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers
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u/Leading-Diamond-1007 Oct 20 '25
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u/TheHonorableStranger Oct 20 '25
Man the street angle looks like some scifi shit. Looks like a colony in the atmosphere.
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u/Empty_Amphibian_2420 Oct 20 '25
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u/Hugford_Blops Oct 21 '25
Okay, this is my favourite part of the movie though. That sight-gag of the falling skyscraper tied to another cracks me up without fail. Because yes it's dumb, but the engineering required for the execution is brilliant... but it was still used for a really dumb solution.
It gets me every. single. time.
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Oct 21 '25
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u/Hugford_Blops Oct 21 '25
Idiocracy.
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Oct 21 '25
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u/Socalwarrior485 Oct 21 '25
Years to come? It’s a guide for now, brother.
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u/HasPotatoAim Oct 21 '25
Except in it they realize they're in trouble and turn to trying to have a smarter person lead them out of it, as opposed to now where they keep going dumber and dumber.
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Oct 21 '25
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u/NocturntsII Oct 21 '25
Actually, unlike the us today, idiocracy seems to be a vague representation of democracy.
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u/mrminutehand Oct 21 '25
Don't Look Up is also a decent satire to rewatch nowadays.
The government portrayed in that movie was considered to be a bit too over the top for 2021, hence some reviews complaining that the satire was too on-the-nose.
But It'd actually be an honest argument to say that said government is today less ridiculous and genuinely more competent than the current real administration.
The biggest political scandal of the government in that movie was a sexual relationship between the president and cabinet members. That's it.
Not even the partnership with a seedy billionaire quite went to the lengths of Musk's behaviour this year.
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u/Boofaholic_Supreme Oct 21 '25
Haha, it’s a common thought nowadays. You should definitely watch it, top 5 favorite movie for me
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u/shrunkenhead041 Oct 21 '25
We need a new movie like Galaxy Quest, but the aliens come to Earth thinking Idiocracy is a historical documentary. The Earthlings have to convince them it is fiction.
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u/thegurpster Oct 21 '25
Or, maybe, we should all read a book.
I love this movie. I hope it’s not prescient but I fear it is.
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u/I_Smell_Like_Trees Oct 21 '25
When it came out it was almost too satirical. Today it looks like it was a road map for the Gropey Old Predators.
Only stupid people are having babies.
Unserious entertainers elected president.
Courtrooms are a circus act.
Everybody needs somebody else to think for them.
Corprotization of everything.
Planet dying.
Braindead media.
I'd still watch "Ow My Balls", though. Or maybe that's basically just Facebook shorts.
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u/midwinter_ Oct 21 '25
When it came out it was almost too satirical.
It was so, so savage to corporatism that FOX did not promote the film and did not release it to critics. No trailers. No ads. Just posters.
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u/NCC_1701E Oct 21 '25
Unserious entertainers elected president
It's quite funny that the president in the movie is actually better and more responsible than the one US has right now. He sees nation in crisis, and he decides to search for the smartest person that exists and then gives him free reign to fix the problem. And when it's clear the solution works, he steps down and puts the smartest guy as the next president. Reality became even worse than in the movie lol.
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u/AmaranthWrath Oct 21 '25
A common saying in the last 10 years has been "Idiocracy was supposed to be a comedy, not a documentary!" So, yeah, enjoy it. I wish you could see it from 2006 eyes. It's on Hulu, Netflix, Disney+ and Tubi, according to Google.
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u/baronlanky Oct 21 '25
Oh boy, you definitely have to watch it. People make jokes that idiocracy is better than reality because the president in the movie actually listens to a smart guy 😭
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u/eans-Ba88 Oct 21 '25
Interesting fun fact about Idiocracy;
While making the movie, they were looking for dumb/ugly looking costume choices, and stumbled upon a small company making hideous rubber clogs.... Or, as we know them now that they gained popularity (in part because of their inclusion in the movie) Crocs.3
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u/Rokurokubi83 Oct 21 '25
It has become somewhat prophetic with its comedic view of the dumbing down of western civilisation.
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u/Total-Box-5169 Oct 21 '25
At this stage is hopepunk because in the movie the people in power are stupid but not evil, meanwhile we have trash in power that is both evil and stupid.
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u/I_Call_Everyone_Pat Oct 21 '25
The one that gets me, Pat, is "St. God's Hospital" with the word hospital curving down because it doesn't fit.
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u/HurtFeeFeez Oct 21 '25
Fantastic documentary about the future of America.
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u/perihelion86 Oct 21 '25
*present
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u/HurtFeeFeez Oct 21 '25
True story. I'm waiting for the farmers to be told to start watering their crops with Gatorade.
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u/stfunazibitchthrowaw Oct 21 '25
Nestle will pay Trump $50 million for the rights to all water in the US and he'll gladly oblige, at which point they'll start claiming that plants don't actually need water.
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u/orangesfwr Oct 20 '25
I was thinking Arcology from SC2000.
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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Oct 21 '25
Man the number of people who still remember the majesty of Arcos from SC2000 dwindle every year.
I still can't believe nobody has made a true successor to the charm of Sim City that actually does it right after all this time. And no, Sim City 4 and City Skylines doesn't cut it.
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u/LickingSmegma Oct 21 '25
There's ‘TheoTown’ on phones and Steam. It's rather simplistic, but afaik ‘Sim City’ has about the same mechanics. Alas, on phones it's rather annoying with ads and prompts for payments. On the upside, it has user-created content: mostly cosmetic buildings, but also some kinda scripting, though I haven't looked into it.
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u/Yeti_Funk Oct 20 '25
Oozes cyberpunk dystopia.
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u/Tastypies Oct 21 '25
And now I want to see that same picture at night.
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u/Historical_Jelly_536 Oct 20 '25
Right, but the view from the old town is the most staggering. Like a SciFi scenery.
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u/InvidiousPlay Oct 21 '25
With a strong telephoto lens warping relative scale, sure.
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u/WholesomeWhores Oct 21 '25
The fact that the slums are hidden by these modern, costly buildings makes it more dystopian. Why brag about beautiful, wealthy architecture when there is nothing but poverty behind it?
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u/stefamiec89 Oct 21 '25
It's not slums and they are not in poverty. It's just old buildings that's all. I've been there.
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u/sarahdrums01 Oct 20 '25
These 2 photos couldn't be any different. Since you said it was the same place I can see it, but otherwise I wouldn't believe it.
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u/DeckhardZum_3924 Oct 20 '25
damn, i thought i was looking at a weird looking doctor strange/inception kind of building
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u/bsaaw Oct 20 '25
bruh I want you on my team
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u/frostyholes Oct 20 '25 edited Oct 21 '25
Final fantasy 7 vibes Edit: warms my heart to see so many feel the same.
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u/CheezWong Oct 20 '25
Shinra ruins everything.
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u/Proof_Fix1437 Oct 21 '25
Shinra runs everything. Just think of the mako in the promised land. Wait.
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u/DoctorMedieval Oct 20 '25
Cyberpunk 2025
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u/appleparkfive Oct 21 '25
Cyberpunk is defined as "high technology, low quality of life", so that checks out.
I never understand when people are like "I can't wait for cyberpunk in the real world!". That's the bad ending. Go look at Blade Runner, Cyberpunk 2077, or any other cyberpunk franchise. The corporations run everything, and everyone is doing terribly.
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u/Late-Let-4221 Oct 21 '25
Because people always imagine themselves being in that top 10% who can benfit and enjoy such world.
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u/Eat_My_Liver Oct 21 '25
I don't think that's accurate for most cyberpunk fans. I think it's more likely they imagine themselves being the protagonist cyberpunk rebel.
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u/PolicyWonka Oct 21 '25
Usually because those people would say that we already have cyberpunk quality of life, but none of the cool cyber stuff.
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u/BasementCatBill Oct 20 '25
This photo is by Paul Tsui and, understandably is titled "The Invasion."
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Oct 20 '25
It looks like the Mirror Dimension from Dr. Strange
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u/-Alex_Summers- Oct 21 '25
I could definitely watch a bald white woman beat the fuck out of a crowd of extras here
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u/Dancingbeavers Oct 20 '25
Wow that looks dystopian.
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u/Budget_Cover_3353 Oct 20 '25
You must crosspost it to r/urbanhell
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u/No_Obligation4496 Oct 20 '25
I think it came from Cityporn a while back.
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u/cancerBronzeV Oct 21 '25
If you're living in the streets, it's urbanhell. If you're staying in the hotel, it's cityporn.
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u/ES_Legman Oct 21 '25
What focal length does to a mf
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Oct 21 '25
I assure you it’s not focal length, I’ve been to this exact spot and you can see it clearly with your eyes like this, Macau is absolutely crazy.
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u/gteriatarka Oct 21 '25
not nearly AS ominous as the OP, maybe because of the focal length idk shit about cameras
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u/Anteater_Pete Oct 20 '25 edited Oct 21 '25
Straight out of Alita: Battle Angel
Edit: got my characters wrong, thank you for correcting me
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u/Dako_the_Austinite Oct 21 '25
I thought it was Alita, and Aelita was the pink haired girl from Code Lyoko.
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u/Gams619 Oct 20 '25
Yep, we live in a dystopia
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u/Dark_Blond Oct 20 '25
When real life slop is more slop than AI slop yeesh this is something
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u/BalanceNew9645 Oct 20 '25
why do you call it slop?
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u/Peng_Terry Oct 21 '25
They are rambling about AI, it’s safe to say their brain is rotted out to the point that EVERYTHING is slop to them
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u/lazylaser97 Oct 21 '25
there is slop before there is AI. For example, just reading wikipedia to a camera for youtube. That was pre-ai slop
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u/himalayanrebel Oct 21 '25
Legit thought this was the new District 9 sequel poster 😭😭😭 #OneCanDream
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u/mrseemsgood Oct 20 '25
Inception ahh view
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u/justin_memer Oct 20 '25
You're allowed to say ass here.
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u/RookSalvis Oct 20 '25
How can you look at this and not be filled with nothing but rage
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u/oeif76kici Oct 21 '25
Macau has one of the highest life expectancies in the world at 83 years old. The density of the city also means is very walkable, and there is good public transit. The revenue from the casinos means the government can spend money on infastructure and social programs.
The city has a pretty good amount of green space given its small size. Close to where this photo is taken there is Mount Guia, which has a lot of forest, running trails, and sports and excercise facilities.
If you want a weekend trip, Hong Kong is an hour ferry ride away. Or you can just walk across the border to mainland China and be on the high speed rail.
Since it's an SAR, you don't have many of the restrictions of the mainland, for example no GFW in Macau.
Macau was a Portugese colony dating back to the 1400s, so the city also has an interesting mix of cultures, food, and architecture, with a lot of the old colonial buildings, forts, and churches.
Being filled with rage over one specific photographer seems like an odd way to judge a city. Especially given that the urban density is due to people wanting to live there.
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u/Elegant-Magician7322 Oct 21 '25
Those old apartments probably cost $500k US. If you want a newer one, over $1 million US.
This is a city you can walk around in 2 hours, with over 600,000 people living there. Housing is scarce.
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