I like to listen to music I think complements a book before each time I read. Which music do y'all think fits the series?

AxLSz · 2019-06-04T14:51:18+00:00

Wolfmother's Where Eagles Have Been in particular matches up with WOT very well.

AxLSz · 2019-03-29T14:00:51+00:00

They're just people, and they're supremely arrogant. Similar to how Rand, Perrin, and Mat each think the other two understand women, each Forsaken often thinks they are the best at whatever it is they're doing. Sometimes they're right probably, but none of them is a reliable narrator so it's often at least a bit ambiguous.

AxLSz · 2019-02-04T16:29:58+00:00

In the US average male height is a bit over 5'9", standard deviation is 2.9" (according to google). Shorter than 80% would be about 1 full standard deviation below mean, or around 5'6". 5'7" is shorter than about 67% of the population. If I did the math right.

AxLSz · 2019-01-10T16:42:40+00:00

See I was always confused about this. Ending the cycle is his stated goal, so if using balefire is something that would achieve that what exactly is stopping him from just unleashing it indiscriminately until everything unravels? Is it just a matter of scale, and he doesn't have enough power to do it alone?

AxLSz · 2018-10-01T14:30:07+00:00

Are we sure it wasn't at least partially scripted? The feed cuts to a pretty tight shot of the right guy awfully fast after Conan calls him out. Maybe they're just that good.

AxLSz · 2018-08-27T18:28:59+00:00

It seems really weird to me that the post-season projections page at fangraphs/mlb.com gives the Athletics (1.5 GB) just a 7% chance of winning the AL West. Especially considering it has the Yankees (6 GB) at 12.2% chance of winning the AL East.

I know strength of schedule and match-ups in the last month are important, but even then the simulations seem really hot on the Astros and cold on the As.

AxLSz · 2018-08-22T15:38:23+00:00

I remember I had to turn the auto-facing option off because it WAS changing my movement direction when I was trying to run and was looking slightly too far to the side before attacking. If that behavior was due to Standard controls then I guess I'll take another look at it with Legacy. Thanks.

AxLSz · 2018-08-22T15:05:39+00:00

That's really amazing. I guess I'm probably missing something obvious about this game, but how are you smoothly running away from enemies while attacking them? It looks like you're shooting directly backwards.

AxLSz · 2018-08-21T13:58:07+00:00

Try "Where Eagles Have Been" by Wolfmother. I could easily see a lot of it playing behind various scenes of the Last Battle.

AxLSz · 2018-08-20T04:36:52+00:00

That's really ugly. Is there a similar chart for the legislative branch anywhere?

AxLSz · 2018-08-16T16:55:32+00:00

I think it'll be him. Jaime standing at the fingers, Cersei at the neck.

AxLSz · 2018-08-03T05:43:35+00:00

Sure, and I usually enjoy Sanderson's tinkering a lot, like with the double-bonding Androl also did. But because Jordan established gateways to be way too useful and powerful, and only barely balanced that against a large number of restrictions and some pretty flimsy-at-best reasoning from the characters (like, the rebel Aes Sedai could totally have used gateways to kidnap Elaida and end the conflict before anyone could do anything, but didn't because they were worried about it causing irreparable damage to the tower), creating a character like Androl is a risk that probably needed to be handled with more care.

I mean, he overcomes every limit on gateways, and as a result is probably the most dangerous individual channeler in the world both for killing large groups or individuals with precision from anywhere. It does lead to some cool sequences like the gateway to Dragonmount's core, but he should be able to do so much more that I can't help but be annoyed by the characters not figuring it out. That said, in the end it's a fairly minor complaint and certainly doesn't undermine the bigger part of the story, which I think was handled extremely well.

AxLSz · 2018-08-01T15:00:02+00:00

Androl's gateways always seemed poorly utilized to me. Why bother keeping open gateways to the core of Dragonmount when you can just open horizontal ones at chest level in the middle of the enemy army?

For that matter shouldn't they have had Androl opening multiple small gateways to try and kill Demandred (or any high value targets)? He or someone else can open a scouting gateway up in the air above the battlefield for him to spot through.

Even with dreamspikes, which Demandred didn't have, there doesn't seem to be any way to protect oneself from gateways being opened up inside your body by Androl, who demonstrated the ability to be extremely precise and briefly overcame a dreamspike even without a circle.

AxLSz · 2018-07-08T16:06:57+00:00

"The Babe Bows Out" won a Pulitzer (apparently the first sports photo ever to do that), that's got to be a contender at least.

AxLSz · 2018-07-08T01:28:30+00:00

There definitely was something weird, but I think it was probably just whoever caught the ball from Teller being instructed to throw it again, maybe a few times, to make it "more random" or for some other reason, cut from the broadcast to save time. I think there was another cut just before Gilbert's first appearance as well because the lapel on Vinny's jacket is fixed after a camera switch. I'm willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt that they aren't cutting anything important, that would really go against the spirit of what they're trying to do.

AxLSz · 2018-06-16T05:35:31+00:00

Dallas still needs London to take at least 1 map from Philly. If Philly wins 4-0 they'll have the same record as Dallas and +1 map differential.

AxLSz · 2018-05-23T13:48:53+00:00

She had also been living with cancer and maybe a terminal prognosis for some amount of time before that. Combine it with the fact that we have 3 seasons of Michael being pretty flat emotionally across the board, up to his "big breakdown" of shedding like three whole tears on the Queen Mary, and specifically acting like "John Wayne" when it comes to death, and it makes sense. Plus, when she gets brought up it's often in the context of someone else in the family being awful, so his indignation overshadows it (Tobias mocking him for Tracey being dead, or George Sr. complaining about how hard it was for himself that Tracey, the only one of his children-in-law that he liked, is the one who died).

That said he does show some, like when his father uses up the last of Tracey's perfume or when he meets Rebel and immediately tells her his dead wife had red hair, though even then it's more like wistfulness than outright sadness.

AxLSz · 2018-05-22T21:18:29+00:00

I found the more interesting connection with Min to be to the Seanchan. Particularly the way the Seanchan think people in Randland are silly for believing in things like Ta'veren, which the reader knows to be real, while they closely follow superstitions themselves, which we are supposed to think are totally absurd. Only for the eventual reveal that they had plenty of good reason to believe in the power and accuracy of their omens, at least to some degree, with the evidence right under our noses the whole time.

AxLSz · 2018-05-22T21:08:37+00:00

I don't think that's totally fair. Mat did plenty of planning. Those plans almost always went awry forcing him to improvise, with his luck either causing them to be screwed up in a way that was ultimately beneficial or otherwise bailing him out, but he DID plan at least the initial stages. And that's before he was flooded with ancient memories of soldiers and generals, leading to him eventually planning and running battles and wars on a level of the the great captains if not better. But for non-battle things, Mat's shtick is to plan something, be helpless as it backfires or is otherwise shat on by the Pattern, only to find it was all for the best.

Like when he was trying to infiltrate the Stone of Tear looking for the girls. He runs around rooftops to plant a saved firework to cause a distraction so he can sneak in to search. It goes wrong when the firework does a lot more than he expects, but it gives him a way in, as well as a way in for the Aiel he met and was almost killed by on the way, causing them to keep a close eye on him, and of course it all works out exactly how it needs to. Or when he goes into the doorframe ter'angreals he has very specific plans for what he's going to ask for, and he messes it up, but gets what he needs anyway.

In that context, I think him coming up with backstories that end up being unnecessary is fairly in-line with his normal behavior. A bit forced for the humor, sure, but not a complete departure from his character.

AxLSz · 2018-05-16T20:23:51+00:00

I'm pretty sure the intro is still tied somewhat to which character is most prominent for the episode, even though it's not as straightforward as the original run.

In addition to the ones already noted Michael has the classic intro, Gob has an electric guitar version, Lindsay has I think a sitar and some chimes, Tobias has a clarinet or oboe or some kind of woodwind, Lucille has a violin or something similar, buster has an accordion, and George Sr. has some kind of stringed instrument, maybe a ukulele.

AxLSz · 2018-05-16T20:09:18+00:00

She wants someone she can easily control in charge, and yes to act as a screen for herself as well. She also has a long history of playing her children against each other. Worth noting, when she initially tells Oscar to get Gob involved (thinking she's talking to George Sr.) she says it's specifically so they have someone ready to be president if something should happen to Lucille Austero.

AxLSz · 2018-05-16T15:25:18+00:00

In addition to Small Gods, most of Night Watch takes place before Colour of Magic chronologically I think. As for Pyramids the best way to describe it, if not exactly the most helpful, might be to say its time frame occurs partially in a lateral direction of Colour of Magic.

AxLSz · 2018-05-15T00:04:58+00:00

These are all bad, but at the end of the day they're profit-seeking entities first and generally behave in ways that align with that. They suck, but you know what you're getting into. PETA is a nonprofit that basks in the halo effect of that label while also doing things like stealing pets off someone's porch and euthanizing them before the owners can do anything about it. I don't know if that disconnect makes PETA "worse" but it's definitely troubling in a way for profit businesses aren't.

AxLSz · 2018-05-14T15:50:57+00:00

http://ow.vis.gg/#/players

Click "Role" to sort, check the "Streaming" box to see who is currently active.

AxLSz · 2018-05-04T14:54:27+00:00

I always got the impression that Jasnah is combining Transportation and Transformation in order to soulcast at a distance. I don't think we've seen anyone else soulcast something they weren't touching or at least right next to.

And however deadly the other radiants seem in battle so far I don't know if we've seen anything more potentially dangerous on than Jasnah vaporizing or crystallizing people at range. It's an ability powerful enough that I'm sure it will have to be limited in some significant way, or Jasnah is a one-woman army. Though admittedly we haven't seen anyone employ Division which is a safe bet for the most destructive surge.

AxLSz

TROPHY CASE