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One member went from complaining about how a London-sightseeing montage was geographically impossible to posting pictures of a tied-up Robin from the Batman TV show in without any sort of credible segue one post flat.
You see this? This spot right here? This is where you get off.
You see this? This spot right here? This is where you get off.
Thor (2011)
May. 10th, 2011 07:41 pmPretty good, actually. Don't bother with 3D, unless thirty seconds of a diesel-looking Chris Hemsworth shirtless are worth the money to you.
I do like the Shakespearean stuff, and how Kenneth Branagh managed to make Thor's arrogance entirely different from Tony Stark's.
I do like the Shakespearean stuff, and how Kenneth Branagh managed to make Thor's arrogance entirely different from Tony Stark's.
a young man and a fool
May. 1st, 2011 09:39 pmYou'd think I'd learned my lesson the first time.
After spending the better part of an hour wandering back from Thor (great movie, BTW) —including one montage-worthy moment when I realized I had just gone in a half-mile circle when I thought I was taking a shortcut—and was standing on one of those little wedges of grass in between the freeway and its onramp, trying to figure out if I recognized the overpass ahead, when a complete stranger stopped and asked me if I needed directions. Turned out the pedestrian ramp I was staring at was indeed the route I was looking for, and I was home inside of ten minutes.
In other words, my foolish pride/social anxiety/a little from columns A and B had me going around in circles, but the friendliness of the locals saved me a few seconds of staring when I was nearly home anyway.
Quite nice, these Brits.
After spending the better part of an hour wandering back from Thor (great movie, BTW) —including one montage-worthy moment when I realized I had just gone in a half-mile circle when I thought I was taking a shortcut—and was standing on one of those little wedges of grass in between the freeway and its onramp, trying to figure out if I recognized the overpass ahead, when a complete stranger stopped and asked me if I needed directions. Turned out the pedestrian ramp I was staring at was indeed the route I was looking for, and I was home inside of ten minutes.
In other words, my foolish pride/social anxiety/a little from columns A and B had me going around in circles, but the friendliness of the locals saved me a few seconds of staring when I was nearly home anyway.
Quite nice, these Brits.
Compare and Contrast
Apr. 26th, 2011 08:55 pm
This is the cover for "Cordelia's Honor", the first book in the award-winning, best selling Vorkosagian Saga.
This is the cover of "A Hymn Before Battle", the first book in John Ringo's Posleen war series. The bulk of the story a tightly-plotted, exhaustively researched military drama about humanity being hired to fight the Horde of Alien Locusts known as the Posleen by alien species who can offer them all sorts of wonderful new technology, and humanity's reactions to the information and gearing up to fight.
The large-breasted woman is a legendary Special Forces vet who spends months in alien jungles gathering recon on the Posleen which turns out to be useless, yet seems to have forgotten any significant sort of camouflage above the waist, or even to cut her long, luxurious hair short. To be fair, her comrade in arms seems to have decided bright green is an ideal concealment color, to go with the conspicuously laser sighted guns they did not use in the book. It's a B-plot, at best.
"Gust Front": The Posleen show up when humanity is still putting on its makeup, so to speak. Earth scrambles to mount an effective defense.
This looks like some kind of fanart a kid on deviantART whipped up.
Let's jump a few years, to "Cally's War", about a young woman who becomes an stealth agent for the resistance against the horde of alien Loan Sharks who are trying to screw Earth over. She was trained by her dad and grandad, is officially dead, and is probably the second deadliest woman in existence.
Naturally, her favored choice of armour is low-cut space-leather and an space-M4 with a muffler on the end.
For some reason, the Posleen War books don't sell as well as the Saga.
Minor addendum
Apr. 21st, 2011 12:40 amhttp://mcity.livejournal.com/266301.html
Right, so Harry met a Dementor and had a flashback, like he canonically does in year 3. He uses his powers of Rationality to make some surprisingly insightful deductions, which go way, way off when he reasons that the prophecy was heard by McGonagall, who told it to Dumbledore, who arranged for Snape to hear it so he could tell Voldemort and be Voldy would be lured to his death.
Nice to know he's not omnipotent.
Right, so Harry met a Dementor and had a flashback, like he canonically does in year 3. He uses his powers of Rationality to make some surprisingly insightful deductions, which go way, way off when he reasons that the prophecy was heard by McGonagall, who told it to Dumbledore, who arranged for Snape to hear it so he could tell Voldemort and be Voldy would be lured to his death.
Nice to know he's not omnipotent.
Regarding HP&tMoR
Apr. 20th, 2011 08:08 pmhttp://mcity.livejournal.com/260258.html
After what feels like several dozen jokes at the expense of Harry/Draco MPREG fics--I mean, at least I mixed it up a little--it turns out that one canonical character was lovers with another.
Spoilers for an almost 12-year old book follow.
Canonically, the Potters changed their Secret-Keeper to Pettigrew at the last moment, told no-one, and he betrayed them. Everyone thought it was Sirius. Sirius went after Pettigrew and he blew up the entire street to escape, but IIRC, everyone thought that Pettigrew went after Sirius and got killed for it. Including Lupin. Harry deduces that Sirius went after Pettigrew after betraying the Potters because they used to be lovers.
You can't spend so much of your fic making fun of slashfics that say two characters are secretly gay, and then turn around and go "these two characters were secretly gay". There are plenty of other reasons for Sirius to try and kill Pettigrew, if that's what everyone believes and I remembered the book wrong, including plain ol' stark raving madness. Or maybe Pettigrew "happened upon him by coincidence" while he was trying to escape and got angry.
Oh, and the Weasley family rat was tested after Bill Weasley got suspicious of it, very publicly. Turned out it was just a rat. Bill was treated and released. I have a sneaking suspicion that Harry's going to cleverly figure out what really happened at some point.
After what feels like several dozen jokes at the expense of Harry/Draco MPREG fics--I mean, at least I mixed it up a little--it turns out that one canonical character was lovers with another.
Spoilers for an almost 12-year old book follow.
Canonically, the Potters changed their Secret-Keeper to Pettigrew at the last moment, told no-one, and he betrayed them. Everyone thought it was Sirius. Sirius went after Pettigrew and he blew up the entire street to escape, but IIRC, everyone thought that Pettigrew went after Sirius and got killed for it. Including Lupin. Harry deduces that Sirius went after Pettigrew after betraying the Potters because they used to be lovers.
You can't spend so much of your fic making fun of slashfics that say two characters are secretly gay, and then turn around and go "these two characters were secretly gay". There are plenty of other reasons for Sirius to try and kill Pettigrew, if that's what everyone believes and I remembered the book wrong, including plain ol' stark raving madness. Or maybe Pettigrew "happened upon him by coincidence" while he was trying to escape and got angry.
Oh, and the Weasley family rat was tested after Bill Weasley got suspicious of it, very publicly. Turned out it was just a rat. Bill was treated and released. I have a sneaking suspicion that Harry's going to cleverly figure out what really happened at some point.
http://mcity.livejournal.com/238871.html
Yes, the same comm. In fact, there's one guy who was ranting about how the early Young Justice trailers didn't showcase the female characters, despite people pointing out that said characters wouldn't show up until episodes 2 and 6.
He's off on a tear again, entirely ignoring the fact that a)the trailer is meant to show off the aliens and action to comic book geeks, and b)we already had a trailer with Carol. What's really relevant is that Warner Marketing somehow didn't put in any more obviously female characters, and the the one shot we see of Carol in this one seems to be her backing away in fear. In the middle of a crowd scene. The other noticeable female seems to have some sort of Underboob-Window costume that's actually less exposing than her canonical one.
Shortly following the protracted debate, a comment on how good Ryan's butt looks, and a half-dozen people agreeing with said comment.
GOOD JORB WITH THE CONSISTENCY, [COMMUNITY].
Yes, the same comm. In fact, there's one guy who was ranting about how the early Young Justice trailers didn't showcase the female characters, despite people pointing out that said characters wouldn't show up until episodes 2 and 6.
He's off on a tear again, entirely ignoring the fact that a)the trailer is meant to show off the aliens and action to comic book geeks, and b)we already had a trailer with Carol. What's really relevant is that Warner Marketing somehow didn't put in any more obviously female characters, and the the one shot we see of Carol in this one seems to be her backing away in fear. In the middle of a crowd scene. The other noticeable female seems to have some sort of Underboob-Window costume that's actually less exposing than her canonical one.
Shortly following the protracted debate, a comment on how good Ryan's butt looks, and a half-dozen people agreeing with said comment.
GOOD JORB WITH THE CONSISTENCY, [COMMUNITY].
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality
>been avoiding it because I worried Harry would be a Mary Sue
>pleasantly surprised when Harry turns out to be an actual character, rather than a mouthpiece for the author to point out how Rowling Got It Wrong
>a bit wordy and smart-alec for an 11-year old, but I of all people have no right to complain
>McGonagall, for various reasons, takes Harry to Diagon Alley instead of Hagrid
>People there selling "Knives +3! Forks +2! Spoons with a +4 bonus!"
>nope.avi
Addmittedly, I was looking for the slightest pretext to drop the fic, but that wasn't "slight". Even in DnD, the game mechanics are supposed to be an abstraction of what's actually happening. And then Harry promptly compares it to AD&D. Yes, we get it, thanks. If you're reading a fanfic, there's a pretty good chance you can recognize a DnD reference. What would those utensils do, anyway? Make the food be more nutritious? Wouldn't it make sense, then, for someone to invent utensils that make things less nutritious, so people could lose weight?
>Harry goes to Gringotts
>starts asking questions of Griphook
>thinks about how no one in the WW has ever heard of "arbitrage"
>MFW an 11-year old is using terms most people twice his age don't know
>Harry has a series of snide thoughts about how he or any "competent hedge fundie" could own the WW in a week
Aaaand there it is.
Still, at least the fic makes it clear that Harry is *supposed to be* kind of a self-absorbed, intellectual geek. I'm kinda wondering when they're going to get into the fact that watches work in Hogwarts, yet no one brings, say, a handgun in. (ANSWER: It's a a)British b)children's book series.)
>been avoiding it because I worried Harry would be a Mary Sue
>pleasantly surprised when Harry turns out to be an actual character, rather than a mouthpiece for the author to point out how Rowling Got It Wrong
>a bit wordy and smart-alec for an 11-year old, but I of all people have no right to complain
>McGonagall, for various reasons, takes Harry to Diagon Alley instead of Hagrid
>People there selling "Knives +3! Forks +2! Spoons with a +4 bonus!"
>nope.avi
Addmittedly, I was looking for the slightest pretext to drop the fic, but that wasn't "slight". Even in DnD, the game mechanics are supposed to be an abstraction of what's actually happening. And then Harry promptly compares it to AD&D. Yes, we get it, thanks. If you're reading a fanfic, there's a pretty good chance you can recognize a DnD reference. What would those utensils do, anyway? Make the food be more nutritious? Wouldn't it make sense, then, for someone to invent utensils that make things less nutritious, so people could lose weight?
>Harry goes to Gringotts
>starts asking questions of Griphook
>thinks about how no one in the WW has ever heard of "arbitrage"
>MFW an 11-year old is using terms most people twice his age don't know
>Harry has a series of snide thoughts about how he or any "competent hedge fundie" could own the WW in a week
Aaaand there it is.
Still, at least the fic makes it clear that Harry is *supposed to be* kind of a self-absorbed, intellectual geek. I'm kinda wondering when they're going to get into the fact that watches work in Hogwarts, yet no one brings, say, a handgun in. (ANSWER: It's a a)British b)children's book series.)
(ideas) Halo: Asymmetry
Mar. 27th, 2011 03:02 pmRandom Spartan has to help ODSTs and regular soldiers fight a guerilla war against the Covenant after their ship crashes. Their MJOLNIR armour may or may not be too badly damaged in the crash to remain operational, depending on the writer's preference. Since the Covvies' ship was damaged too, they can't leave or signal for help, and are waiting for backup to arrive.
Anyway, the good guys have to train the citizens to defend themselves, make the hard choices, occasionally sacrifice citizens as a distraction so they can succeed elsewhere. Neither side is exactly happy about this. The Spartan grows closer to the regular soldiers, so it actually hurts him/her when they die.
Incidentally, Jackals eat the flesh of fallen enemies and live prisoners, as one might expect from the name. So defeated humans might kill themselves to avoid capture.
I'm not sure if the Covvies would have the one city on the planet or what, but the whole thing would be like the New Caprica arc on Battlestar Galactica, or The Enemy of my Enemy fic. Something like that. Actually, that wouldn't be too different from the original Halo, if the Pillar of Autumn had somehow come out of Slipspace near an occupied planet instead of Halo.
Blah blah, IEDs and last-resort suicide vests, blah blah, gritty realism, blah blah.
Anyway, the good guys have to train the citizens to defend themselves, make the hard choices, occasionally sacrifice citizens as a distraction so they can succeed elsewhere. Neither side is exactly happy about this. The Spartan grows closer to the regular soldiers, so it actually hurts him/her when they die.
Incidentally, Jackals eat the flesh of fallen enemies and live prisoners, as one might expect from the name. So defeated humans might kill themselves to avoid capture.
I'm not sure if the Covvies would have the one city on the planet or what, but the whole thing would be like the New Caprica arc on Battlestar Galactica, or The Enemy of my Enemy fic. Something like that. Actually, that wouldn't be too different from the original Halo, if the Pillar of Autumn had somehow come out of Slipspace near an occupied planet instead of Halo.
Blah blah, IEDs and last-resort suicide vests, blah blah, gritty realism, blah blah.
I think I love Firefox 4.
Mar. 27th, 2011 12:10 amEspecially since a quick uninstall and reinstall fixed all the hangups I kept getting with the previous versions.
And it looks more like Chrome now.
Man, I missed the Search Bar.
Panorama looks nice.
I'll still use Chrome if I need a sync'd browser, though. The school Macs use FF 3.5, and I don't think I have upgrade permissions. Not that I'd need another password to forget.
Yes, I'm gushing over a web browser. At least I'm not so geeky that I'm naming my computer.
And it looks more like Chrome now.
Man, I missed the Search Bar.
Panorama looks nice.
I'll still use Chrome if I need a sync'd browser, though. The school Macs use FF 3.5, and I don't think I have upgrade permissions. Not that I'd need another password to forget.
Yes, I'm gushing over a web browser. At least I'm not so geeky that I'm naming my computer.
OH JOHN RINGO...huh?
Mar. 25th, 2011 12:13 amDear bestselling author John Ringo,
So I've reached chapter 24 of "When the Devil Dances",(spoilers) and there's a tank named after a Sluggy Freelance character, Bun-Bun.
I'm always ranting about how intrusive shout-outs often are in fanfics. I've relaxed my stance on that a little. There's a time and a place, folks, a time and a place. And I've noticed your habit, Mr. Ringo, of having characters make references to movies and stuff. This is backed up by your own afterword stating that you found Kipling was popular among the doughboys while you were still serving, and the fact that people occasionally look at the character making the reference and having no idea what they're talking about. They're mimetic references, rather than fanfic's usual diegetic ones.
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seriousfic has some stories taking place after Tron: Legacy when Sam occasionally makes a few references to pop-culture stuff. The story is tight-third person, so it makes sense when the narrative makes these references as well. Fanfics that are lighter in tone can "get away" with larger amounts of it, such as my own Fila Derrouge, though even those can sink under the weight of "wacky injoke lol".
In the chapter I linked to, there is a piece of...artillery, to understate,that has recently been decorated with a picture of SF's Bun-Bun with a switchblade and the phrase "Let's Rock, Posleen-boy!"
I know your target audience is, well, geeks, but expecting all--or even most--of them to get a reference to a then-five year old comic strip seems...unprofessional. As does the idea of the crew
drawing the thing in the first place. As does the series of other wacky injokes (lol) that follow. You mention that they were going to clear it with the higher-ups, but hadn't got a chance to.
Uh-huh.
The closest thing something like this has come to happening in the real world, AFAIK, is a bunch of Boy Scouts with a Dr. McNinja patch.
This is not helped by the fact that I have only a vague idea what the references they're making are. I know very little about SF; it's part of the general geekery background noise, like Monty Python or Warhammer 40K. I was completely lost. At least with the poetical stuff, the reader can generally grok that it's poetical stuff. Same with pop-culture references. This is just...irritating. and I've really been liking the series so far.
Sigh
-Jonathan
EDIT: One of the characters mentioned "Bun-Bun" to a random officer, who not only knew what he was talking about, and he happened to be a big fan. So we have two people, in the middle of the apocalypse, who happen to have read the same webcomic. Most fanfics wouldn't try to get us to believe that.
So I've reached chapter 24 of "When the Devil Dances",(spoilers) and there's a tank named after a Sluggy Freelance character, Bun-Bun.
I'm always ranting about how intrusive shout-outs often are in fanfics. I've relaxed my stance on that a little. There's a time and a place, folks, a time and a place. And I've noticed your habit, Mr. Ringo, of having characters make references to movies and stuff. This is backed up by your own afterword stating that you found Kipling was popular among the doughboys while you were still serving, and the fact that people occasionally look at the character making the reference and having no idea what they're talking about. They're mimetic references, rather than fanfic's usual diegetic ones.
seriousfic has some stories taking place after Tron: Legacy when Sam occasionally makes a few references to pop-culture stuff. The story is tight-third person, so it makes sense when the narrative makes these references as well. Fanfics that are lighter in tone can "get away" with larger amounts of it, such as my own Fila Derrouge, though even those can sink under the weight of "wacky injoke lol".In the chapter I linked to, there is a piece of...artillery, to understate,that has recently been decorated with a picture of SF's Bun-Bun with a switchblade and the phrase "Let's Rock, Posleen-boy!"
I know your target audience is, well, geeks, but expecting all--or even most--of them to get a reference to a then-five year old comic strip seems...unprofessional. As does the idea of the crew
drawing the thing in the first place. As does the series of other wacky injokes (lol) that follow. You mention that they were going to clear it with the higher-ups, but hadn't got a chance to.
Uh-huh.
The closest thing something like this has come to happening in the real world, AFAIK, is a bunch of Boy Scouts with a Dr. McNinja patch.
This is not helped by the fact that I have only a vague idea what the references they're making are. I know very little about SF; it's part of the general geekery background noise, like Monty Python or Warhammer 40K. I was completely lost. At least with the poetical stuff, the reader can generally grok that it's poetical stuff. Same with pop-culture references. This is just...irritating. and I've really been liking the series so far.
Sigh
-Jonathan
EDIT: One of the characters mentioned "Bun-Bun" to a random officer, who not only knew what he was talking about, and he happened to be a big fan. So we have two people, in the middle of the apocalypse, who happen to have read the same webcomic. Most fanfics wouldn't try to get us to believe that.
From deviantArt
Mar. 22nd, 2011 12:27 amhttp://fav.me/d39sdno
>Struggling for somewhere to look, for something to say or do, eyes of brilliant azure drew to a stain, amorphous and varnished into the heavy stone - no larger than a flannel's breadth - and dark enough to be.
>Shuffling clumsily and handling the stale stone how a mutt treasures its favourite toy in the aftermath of an epic tug-battle.
I like how they manage to write several paragraphs with a lot more words than usual, but without a single action verb.
>Struggling for somewhere to look, for something to say or do, eyes of brilliant azure drew to a stain, amorphous and varnished into the heavy stone - no larger than a flannel's breadth - and dark enough to be.
>Shuffling clumsily and handling the stale stone how a mutt treasures its favourite toy in the aftermath of an epic tug-battle.
I like how they manage to write several paragraphs with a lot more words than usual, but without a single action verb.
>search dA for Chell from portal
Feb. 24th, 2011 12:10 pm>24 images per page on search results
>1 tickling fetish pic
>1 bikini pic
>2 fat/feeder fetish pics
>1 Alyx Vance/Chell slashpic based on that Tanya Chalkin lesbians photo
>1 encasement bondage pic
Honestly, I'm surprised that there aren't more foot fetish pics-WHOOPS IT'S THE FIRST RESULT MAYBE
>1 tickling fetish pic
>1 bikini pic
>2 fat/feeder fetish pics
>1 Alyx Vance/Chell slashpic based on that Tanya Chalkin lesbians photo
>1 encasement bondage pic
Honestly, I'm surprised that there aren't more foot fetish pics-WHOOPS IT'S THE FIRST RESULT MAYBE
Dear Halo: Helljumper artist:
Feb. 24th, 2011 12:21 am
This is Veronica Dare. As a recon specialist, she wears light armour.
And this is your depiction of a group of ODSTs, the UNSC's elite shock troops.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
First off; Gretchen, front and center. I notice the complete lack of any kind of armoring whatsoever about the waist, which seems inconsistent with the rendering of Dare, above. Also, having hair that length, outside her helmet, could easily get her killed. Dare has a ponytail, which, lo and behold, fits in her helmet.
Also, that gentleman in the back is wielding his Spartan Laser incorrectly. In fact, given the size of the thing as seen in the games, I am fairly certain that grip is physically impossible. The Splaser rests on the shoulder, like an RPG. It's not like you have an excuse; you could've just looked it up on the Internet.
Considering the size of the SMGs Gretchen is wielding, I do not know what those tiny pouches around her hips could possibly contain. Perhaps a weeks supply of chewing gum?
-Jonn
There's a popular webcomic that made a joke about rape. This isn't exactly new ground for them; they make jokes about everything. However, the comic was criticized by a feminist blogger for allegedly making fun of rape culture, and it snowballed from there.
I'm not going to comment on the matter itself. However, people seem to be taking anything, anything at all, and using it as an excuse to bash the webcomic's artist. The most egregious example is probably the bit where they took offense at the songs he had playing on UStream when he was drawing the comic. One Tori Amos (who is a rape survivor)song, and another one involving Nazis. The average UStream is well over an hour. The average song is all of four minutes. He's been cracking jokes about the situation on his Twitter for months, mostly with regards to the accusations that he is a rape apologist. If the guy in question really wanted to piss off people, he wouldn't be nearly so subtle about it. It's just two songs, people, not some grand endorsement of rape culture.
This whole situation is entirely intractable; no one's giving an inch, and all further discussion is doing is publicizing it, encouraging the trolls. I know someone recently got rape threats and someone else got death threats, but that news should be kept off the Internet. In fact, just go straight to the police. Now. Right now.
I'm not going to comment on the matter itself. However, people seem to be taking anything, anything at all, and using it as an excuse to bash the webcomic's artist. The most egregious example is probably the bit where they took offense at the songs he had playing on UStream when he was drawing the comic. One Tori Amos (who is a rape survivor)song, and another one involving Nazis. The average UStream is well over an hour. The average song is all of four minutes. He's been cracking jokes about the situation on his Twitter for months, mostly with regards to the accusations that he is a rape apologist. If the guy in question really wanted to piss off people, he wouldn't be nearly so subtle about it. It's just two songs, people, not some grand endorsement of rape culture.
This whole situation is entirely intractable; no one's giving an inch, and all further discussion is doing is publicizing it, encouraging the trolls. I know someone recently got rape threats and someone else got death threats, but that news should be kept off the Internet. In fact, just go straight to the police. Now. Right now.
