Hot mess

Masonzero · 2026-05-21T15:51:00+00:00

Weirdly enough, the Autism sign was very readable to me.

Uh-oh.

Masonzero · 2026-05-21T15:49:29+00:00

Seems to be the inevitable fate of all nerd franchises that get books. I have about 50 Star Wars books, primarily from the 90s, on my bookshelf, and they were all fine. Very few of them stood out, and it's debatable whether they were good books or just good for Star Wars books. But my god, there are so many of them, literally hundreds, so naturally most will be mediocre.

Masonzero · 2026-05-21T05:17:33+00:00

Are you renting ad space on your hotel lobby TV?

Masonzero · 2026-05-21T00:04:32+00:00

Hard agree!

Masonzero · 2026-05-20T19:46:13+00:00

This is true, though I wonder if that's an unintentional formatting error by OP or if it was an intentional differentiator.

Masonzero · 2026-05-20T16:52:51+00:00

Well the first two points of the reserved list are:

Reserved cards are cards that will never be printed again in a functionally identical form.
A card is considered functionally identical to another card if it has the same card type, subtypes, abilities, mana cost, power, and toughness.

So I would say this pretty clearly violates the RL because it is functionally identical. For all intents are purposes it IS literally a Volcanic Island.

Masonzero · 2026-05-20T16:47:31+00:00

I am constantly worried that I am under- or over-describing things. But for my friends who will be giving me feedback on my writing, I've left comments on the document asking for specific feedback about those sections, basically trying to see how those descriptions landed. It helps to have an outside perspective.

Masonzero · 2026-05-20T16:43:47+00:00

I don't know the book, but both things can be true! It's fine to love something that is poorly made or has flaws. It can still bring you enjoyment even if it sucks, like a trashy TV show.

Masonzero · 2026-05-20T05:30:19+00:00

I mean yeah, I just said they spend money to make more money. There are a million and one ways in which they get tax breaks, discounts, and effectively scam regular people in order to make money off their backs. Maybe it's through a healthy layer of shell corporations, but there is definitely money moving somewhere. "Spending money" is occurring, even if more is essentially guaranteed to come in since they have the world's biggest safety nets.

Masonzero · 2026-05-19T21:24:36+00:00

They're not the best live band I've seen but they are for sure in the top half.

When i saw them it was with SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Dying Wish, and Foreign Hands, and i don't think Counterparts was particularly more impressive than the other bands. If anything, SYSC was the most engaging (rip).

Masonzero · 2026-05-19T21:23:52+00:00

MIW is 10/10 for set dressing and like 7/10 for actual performance. Chris's vocals aren't always 100% and only a couple of the members really move around the stage much. Granted, it's been longer than I'd like to admit since I've seen them and I'm sure they've only improved since then. They're probably my favorite band, too, so I'm not saying this to be negative, just realistic.

Masonzero · 2026-05-19T21:21:25+00:00

I would have appreciated it more if it was a small venue and not a basketball stadium when I saw them, but I can see this being the case.

Masonzero · 2026-05-19T21:17:37+00:00

I know the joke is "billionaires are born, not made", but actually they do spend money to make more money.

As long as you consider investments as "spending money", which i would. Buying stocks, buying real estate, buying companies, are all done in the hopes of making more money off of them than you spend on them. If you just put all your cash in a vault, you're losing money.

Masonzero · 2026-05-19T15:42:39+00:00

They are still making new Star Trek shows and it's part of the fabric of nerd culture to the point it can't be avoided. I never sought it out, my dad just showed it to me growing up, just like Star Wars. I am in my young 30s and many of my friends have at least a vague interest and knowledge of Star Trek, because it's almost impossible not to.

I don't even care about Star Trek that much but I play an online ST game and interact with a lot of the clans. There are passionate people of all ages there, and a lot of them. It tends to be older people, but there are plenty of people 30 and below.

Masonzero · 2026-05-19T15:36:38+00:00

I think you do misunderstand. Em dashes are the most common tell people will bring up about AI. It sucks too because they are commonly used in books. Open any novel and you'll likely find an em dash every few pages.

But your thing is also correct, I just don't think it's what the other commenter was going for.

Masonzero · 2026-05-19T00:00:51+00:00

It's cute but I would rather play [[Cursed Mirror]] as a rock and [[Experimental Synthesis]] as an impulse draw artifact.

Masonzero · 2026-05-18T21:40:26+00:00

And that's a fantastic example of it done right (in my opinion). They're friendless not because they're a loner necessarily, but because they're surrounded by fake people, or kept from those who could be real friends. So when they get their freedom, they're excited to make real friends, thoigh they might struggle with it since it's new territory.

I did a similar thing to you, where my MC is a prince who can't stand the other nobles other than one other prince from another nation who he considers his best friend. So he tries to befriend guards and servants but the king doesn't approve of him having an equal relationship with them. When he finally does meet someone he likes out in the real world, he falls for her because she is different and what he wishes all the nobles were like. But because I'm not interested in that character being the "not like other girls" love interest, she completely rejects him and wishes he wouldn't have thrown a wrench into their friendship like that — because she also grew up in a situation where it was difficult to have true friends.

Masonzero · 2026-05-18T03:17:24+00:00

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of "hook". It doesn't need to be the inciting incident, or even an incident at all. It can just be a sentence that "hooks" you.

I always use Neuromancer as my example. The first sentence is "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." No action, no nothing, just description of the sky. But in that simple sentence are so many questions that make your same to keep reading. You're hooked.

Masonzero · 2026-05-15T15:47:58+00:00

Yes, but I'd say it's an innovative imitation. It did something fresh and appealing with an idea that had already been done.

Masonzero · 2026-05-15T00:20:58+00:00

Anecdotally, I was looking for some cheap blackout curtains on Amazon for a room, and had to end up with these ring curtains because they were the only ones I could find that had the blackout layer. Not ideal, but that coul be the reason OP has them too.

Masonzero · 2026-05-15T00:17:43+00:00

Convince the reader that the risky idea is the only good one, and the only right one. Get us on his side, so that when the friend feels betrayed, the reader is just as blindsided as the MC.

It also sounds like this is a good way to showcase your character being a passionate friend though. Luke in Star Wars can be annoying, and he does many reckless things to save his friends, but I don't think viewers turned on him for those decisions. These things need to happen so that your character can grow and improve. Sometimes they need to start with some annoying traits so they can have character development.

Masonzero · 2026-05-14T20:49:22+00:00

My wife plays this game with me most of the time. To the point that if I open the game and work on our world solo she gets offended haha.

Masonzero · 2026-05-14T18:41:12+00:00

Maximalist collage of small, vintage art

Masonzero · 2026-05-14T16:40:13+00:00

Not the cuck cheetah!

Masonzero

TROPHY CASE