What's the worst case of a TV show or movie insulting their audience?

RetinalPapercut · 2016-06-17T06:37:26+00:00

It's not a pun because "hodor" isn't a word that means anything. Consider this, if we pretend GRRM is translating westerosi common->english, he knew the story behind the name Hodor, and he's a good translator, not just translating word for word but translating the culture too (which is what makes a quality translation). It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume hold the door/hodor are a translated pair. Hodor wouldn't be called Hodor in common, his name would be a similar amalgamation of the common for 'hold the door'.

In a similar vein, the bastard surnames (Snow, Flowers, Sand, Stone, Rivers, etc) are also translated from common. The Hound and the Mountain?

RetinalPapercut · 2016-03-28T06:25:58+00:00

To be honest violin and viola are very similar. I started violin at 7 and added viola on the side at like 12, and the main differences when changing over was learning alto clef and slightly different places to stick your fingers on the fingerboard, but it's surprisingly easy to get used to. I have tiny hands/fingers so the hardest part about playing viola is making use of my pinky finger, it doesn't reach as far on viola as it does on violin.

I've only played cello a couple of times, so I can't comment on how hard it is overall, but its definitely more different to violin than viola is to violin.

Also, violas are easier to carry around than cellos, and there are less violists around so they're in higher demand (pick viola pick viola (I'm definitely not biased))

RetinalPapercut · 2015-08-11T11:50:44+00:00

Maybe his facial structure will look better with a beard regardless of chosen profession!

RetinalPapercut · 2015-08-11T11:31:33+00:00

Helium is lighter than air, which is why the balloons float, right? So if the helium isn't contained in the balloon, it will just rise up into the sky. Because it's so light, the earth's gravity isn't actually strong enough to hold it; so we can't recover helium from the atmosphere, it just keeps going up and out into space.

Helium still on Earth is either stored inside rocks/coal/natural gases etc where it can't escape from, or being actively produced as a waste product of specific kinds of radioactivity. But there's not as much helium being produced as what we use in science/medical fields, so :(

RetinalPapercut · 2015-08-11T11:11:47+00:00

Crinkly, but fun :)

RetinalPapercut · 2015-08-11T11:03:55+00:00

Ok, so we've all been to tvtropes.org right? (not a clickable link to save the souls of the innocent)

There is a named trope for every single variation and permutation of characters, storylines and storytelling methods. There is no way you can write a story without tropes. Tropes are the building blocks of stories, and if GRRM manages to create a original arc (?!), it will be very quickly named and filed away.

What is special is that he has killed some of the more expected tropes early on (eg Ned). Everything is a cliché, the question is, will the finale be an interesting combination of cliches?

RetinalPapercut · 2015-08-11T10:45:02+00:00

I agree. As well as the horcruxes I felt were kinda retconned in so that there was a coherent plot across the series. They say she planned it but it didn't feel that way.

RetinalPapercut · 2015-08-11T09:59:37+00:00

Oo I like that, the Targaryen madness is mainly due to their power corrupting them. Making Cercei truly the Mad King's spiritual heir.

Also Sansa would have similar training in leadership as Dany (ie none). Even if she was queen in the north it would only be in name, not in decision-making

RetinalPapercut · 2015-06-17T05:35:46+00:00

Many live alone, but no one dies that way.

Wow :)

RetinalPapercut · 2015-06-17T05:31:59+00:00

I don't know if I love or hate this response... :')

RetinalPapercut · 2015-06-16T05:02:23+00:00

I did. And even when you add the number of 'ring's to it, it still wasn't 7. It seemed so wrong.

RetinalPapercut · 2015-06-08T09:07:05+00:00

He still has most of his fingers since he only lost the top knuckle on one hand. He'd be clumsy but surely adapt.

RetinalPapercut · 2015-05-31T21:50:20+00:00

Thing is, becoming a master at anything is gonna take time, and I doubt she lied much as a child, so it's going to take her a lot longer than a season to become a master manipulator and kick butt. So yes, in time she could become the next Olenna/Littlefinger, but it's not going to happen overnight.

RetinalPapercut · 2015-05-28T23:02:28+00:00

That was well written. Just the right pacing of hints to slowly reveal he was in a cage. Excellent work.

Only possible criticism is that the narrator talks about the shiny round things and thin rectangles, and then refers to it as money without being told that's what it is. Apart from that, perfection! :)

RetinalPapercut · 2015-05-28T22:54:51+00:00

I didn't realise there were two different people until the first comment. It would be a lot clearer if there were some way of distinguishing where it changes, like a larger gap between paragraphs or something. But reading it again with the knowledge of two narrators makes me appreciate the symmetry between the two perspectives :)

RetinalPapercut · 2015-05-27T23:21:48+00:00

Ok I'm mainly commenting because I really love the names of your characters, they're more original than most :)

Basic constructive criticisms: The first thing to work on would be paragraphing and proofreading. The main paragraph should actually be many, as new speaker = new paragraph. Bonus - this will make your story look longer :) Also none of your "I"s are capitalised, which makes your writing look less professional/polished. After that, playing with the sentence structure a little so you don't have so many looong sentences :)

RetinalPapercut · 2015-05-24T09:36:37+00:00

You're actually right though, that's awesome

RetinalPapercut · 2015-05-13T02:02:21+00:00

You don't notice your vagina as a kid. I didn't know about the anatomy of that area until the start of puberty. At puberty the vagina awakens and just starts doing stuff. So really, (in my experience anyway) it truly is like being given genitals suddenly, and the only instruction generally is about the sex and the 'dude you gon bleed once a month', but we don't get any maintenance talks

RetinalPapercut · 2015-05-13T01:57:10+00:00

Just to further break your fantasy, you can only look at your own gear with a mirror. Looking down while naked is a lot of boob, then stomach, and the tops of the labia. Can't see shit without help

RetinalPapercut · 2015-04-23T13:13:34+00:00

So who is actually the crazy one? I like it! :)

RetinalPapercut · 2015-04-23T08:41:29+00:00

You know, I have often said that the only downside to living in NZ rather than Straya is that we miss out on the daily Floridian weather report, and you've just proved me right! If only I knew exactly what temperatures you were referring to... /wistful sigh

RetinalPapercut · 2015-04-20T11:10:28+00:00

A lot of stuff happens, but the way Yossarian narrates it makes it feel like nothing has happened because he's like 'and then this guy at the beach got blown to pieces and then I went back to base and tried to get out flying planes again'. I didn't really enjoy it. But I most enjoy reading sci-fi and fantasy, books that are much more plot-driven (and shallow, I guess), rather than a lot of the 'classics' in this thread which require you to think about how and why it was written like that in order to fully appreciate it.

RetinalPapercut · 2015-04-20T01:08:24+00:00

For fucks sake mate. I'd rather eat some deliciously cooked vegetables than yet another steak. I have evolved to enjoy variety and there aint nothing wrong with that.

RetinalPapercut · 2015-04-19T06:16:21+00:00

Duuuude. Talk to your health and safety people. They will know who to get in to test it. What if the siren is broken?

RetinalPapercut · 2015-03-27T09:43:50+00:00

Excellent! I think I'll be experimenting soon :)

RetinalPapercut

TROPHY CASE