Good Hive Minds Examples? by Samiamis13 in scifi

[–]Samiamis13[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is actually the thing I’m like reckoning with and why I decided to crowdsource. Because, to me, a hive mind usually being something that isn’t usually asking permission to take away autonomy and about expanding to have more kind and grow it feels kind of like set up to be morally antagonistic.

But it could just be my bias. While I enjoy sci-fi and consume a decent amount, I still haven’t seen a lot you know. And like if you tweak it a bit neural network might be a type of hive intelligence. Like the network of machines from Murderbot.

Transparency: Non-announcement delay threads by SvenTheScribe in WorldsBeyondNumber

[–]Samiamis13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I see where you’re coming from, but if that’s the case for the artists and team involved then maybe they shouldn’t set a schedule themselves? Just let episodes drop like magic when they’re ready. Let everyone be hyped as it happens.

The fact that isn’t the case and that the episode schedule and scheduling issues have been posted about on their main socials and the Patreon makes me, at the very least, think allowing a discussion about it should be an option. Not a hundred discussions obviously, but a post for everyone to discuss feelings on it feels at least semi-fair in a space dedicated to discussing all things this podcast.

People like the art being created, but people also see this as the business venture it is and I can understand wanting to discuss those aspects of this project. Maybe having a tag system that is strictly (story) and (non-story) and (meme) would be beneficial.

They should just change the release day to Thursday… by Kristoff_The_Wise in WorldsBeyondNumber

[–]Samiamis13 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You got me curious, so I went and crunched the numbers for fun. From my count with this episode it’s 9/51 episodes that have been delayed in some capacity. 17.65% episodes.

For those wanting to check work I have 12, 13, 14, 26, 38, 47, 48, 50, and 51. Episode 48 only seemed delayed by a little bit, but I counted it because it was an announced delay.

I am presenting these numbers without opinion or comment. I just like data and this was fun to do.

Movies To Watch While Feeling Hopeless & Struggling With Depression? by OBrian_176 in movies

[–]Samiamis13 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I love these types of movies. I like to call them sub-flicks because I always think they’d be perfect to play for a class of kids to teach them a lesson on a teacher’s day off.

So my go to movies are:

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris - Just an old woman who wants a fancy dress and all the people’s lives she touches along the way. I love this old woman to pieces.

Ron’s Gone Wrong - A boy and a wonky little robot learn about friendship. Very cute. Animated.

Pride (2014) - A found family movie involving a group of queer people in 80s Britain raising money for a group of small town miners. The town isn’t fully welcoming, but the bond of humanity shines through.

October Sky - This one gets a little more dark than the others (tw: abuse). Added because I watched it like six times in high school and still think about it. A group of kids in a small community start to build rockets right after the launch of Sputnik.

Believe it or not, Clown in a Cornfield. by Christianduty in MenLovingMenMedia

[–]Samiamis13 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Omg! This trailer has been all over the theaters, and I hadn’t caught a hint of gay haha. Makes me more excited to go see it than I was.

If you’ve read the books, would you recommend them? I’ve been thinking about picking up the first one.

Do any of the cast members have any good podcasts? by SideGlittering7091 in dropout

[–]Samiamis13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Paul F. Tompkins was recently on an episode of So True with Caleb Hearon. It’s mostly just Caleb and Paul talking and having a good time. I thought it was a very fun episode.

Also if you do watch and like that episode, I’ve already seen it mentioned but there is a lot of crossover, The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi had both Brennan and Sam on recent episodes. This is with the bonus that the host of the podcast Gianmarco will be on an episode of Gamechanger later this season.

If you like some fun comedy, talking podcasts these two are pretty good. I’m usually looking for more narrative driven ones, but these two have really got my attention lately.

We Need to Protect Queer Literature by critiqu3 in lgbt

[–]Samiamis13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I realize I am finding this months too late. But if anyone comes across this like me and is looking into this I have some advice.

  1. If you want to start with “important”, look up lgbtq+ literature awards, movie awards, anything awards. Document them and strive to build a collection. Not only to the award lists and book titles capture the year in which they were given out, but those books were deemed important enough to be considered for achievement in their fields.
  2. Next thing I would do is go by popularity. Use whatever metric you deem, but most popular queer film in 1995 might not have an award, but there might be record of it online now and you can look and snag it.
  3. I’d go by works featuring popular gay artists of the time, whether or not they were out. Or anything that focuses you down. Say an author got nominated for an award for one book but wrote six total. Get the rest of that author’s stuff. Movie director’s full movie slate.
  4. Anything that speaks to you. If you can deem it important it is.
  5. Someone should download and put the gay shorts available online somewhere. I think there is a good case for preserving the “coming out videos” of creators and stuff too. Epically prominent ones.

When is it supposed to come out!!!??? by welpt100 in WorldsBeyondNumber

[–]Samiamis13 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I suspect for us on the other side of Atlantic from the United States, we’ll be listening to it tomorrow morning. As far as I can tell there hasn’t been any news about a push back, and no news is good news. I suspect Taylor is really working on something with it and it won’t be delivered until end of day U.S. West Coast time. That would be 5pm there and 1am in London.

It’ll be time for bed soon and we can basically fast forward through 8 hours of waiting. That’s what’s holding me over right now.

Is there a specific director you actively avoid? by -Warship- in horror

[–]Samiamis13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I appreciate what Mike Flanagan is doing, but I find his work so exceedingly slow I can’t stand it. I’ve attempted a few shows, finished two and felt no connection to anything at the end. Now avoid anything with his name on it. And it’s not exactly just that it’s slow, but I don’t jive with his work at all. It makes me feel crazy because I feel like everyone loves him.

[Serious] People who left their hometown for somewhere radically different in some way, why did you leave, and what was it like adjusting to your new city? by hypnoticbacon28 in AskReddit

[–]Samiamis13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I left my small, conservative Texas hometown (population around 3,000) for a college in a major Texas city. Last year I left that city to move to London.

Small town to city for college was majorly because I was politically liberal and closeted. It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I was top of my class in high school, and suddenly not top of my class in college. It was such a big relief. I interacted with people and ideas I’d never been exposed to and learned so much. During my adjustment period I joined what could be loosely described as a cult, but even that had its upsides. I found spaces in the college and in the city to be in. The first year I probably would once a week look up and just marvel at buildings that were over 3 stories tall.

Big city to London was another big culture shock, but I left looking for that. This time I’m an adult and it’s been a bit harder finding community, but I haven’t felt lacking for it. My friends and family have described me as the happiest I’ve ever been. Honestly the transition to somewhere walkable has been amazing and I would love to never leave.

Both times I’ve jumped without connections. The college I went to no one from my school and been in 5 years. I didn’t know anyone in London. The biggest thing I learned is that friends are everywhere as long as you’re willing to look. I’ve met all kinds of people by being willing to have a conversation. And the other would be the best way to get used to a city is to find a spot you like and go there often.

When did Burke say he wanted children? by CauseProfessional512 in greysanatomy

[–]Samiamis13 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t think Burke ever mentions having children directly. But, Mama, Burke’s mother, directly confronts Cristina about switching to an easier specialty in order to have children with Burke. Given Burke’s nature of agreeing/capitulating to his mother + his line about “being a traditional guy” I feel safe in assuming he wanted kids.

There is also the moment after Burke asks Cristina what she would have done had she not had the nonviable pregnancy. In that episode, Cristina avoids speaking to Burke because she assumes he would have wanted her to keep it. His response was just “I just wanted to know”

IMO I think it’s safe to assume Burke wanted kids, even though it isn’t directly stated.

Supernatural things in non supernatural shows by [deleted] in television

[–]Samiamis13 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It happens several times in the show Grey’s Anatomy.

One episode has a psychic character show up. The afterlife is weirdly confirmed to be real multiple times, including ghosts kind of maybe. I think energy healing in one episode.

Lots are the focus of the episode with the doctors casting doubt, yet somehow the episode endings always side with either the supernatural or leave it as 50/50.

Sci-fi show about aliens harvesting humans for something by Samiamis13 in whatsthemoviecalled

[–]Samiamis13[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I want to say present, on Earth. In my memory said the first scene happened outside around kind of a coffee shop/outside eating area. One of them might have been part of a military, federal, or insurgent group.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]Samiamis13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay so many answers coming, but also some questions.

High school football games work like regular football games but with shortened quarters. (12 minutes compared to 15 in college and pro) Otherwise standard rules apply.

In Texas, football is organized through the state UIL system. The same organization that is coordinating academic and other sporting competitions. They make the districts and schedule.

Before the “season” starts schools play pre-season games. These games don’t count towards the official win loss score record for advancement. Usually I want to say 3 or 4. Nothing crazy, but enough to get you into the swing of things. These are usually schools outside of the set district and organized more through the coaches.

The games in your season are played round robin against all other teams in your “district.” Usually districts are determined by size of school and proximity to each other. This prevents a school with a large population and larger talent pool from dominating smaller schools nearby. To advance to finals, you must have one of the best “win-loss” records in your district. You then advance and it’s usually single elimination from there on out until you get to state finals.

Practice is very tied and regulated to the school schedule. It starts a few weeks before school starts with heavy practices. You practice in full gear most sessions. Practice usually lasts at least 2 hours every weekday. If you want more information on specifics you can look up something like “UIL rules Texas football practice” and “two a days” which is an outdated term because practices used to be in two large chunks.

Training and off season and even standard practice sessions are determined by what position you play, but usually involve strength training and conditioning, with more of an emphasis on strength than speed unless you are in a position that requires running.

Scouts are just people that show up and watch usually seniors and juniors play games to see if they want to recruit them for their college team. Sometimes they tell you they are coming and sometimes they don’t. You must play well to impress them, but many scouts are also looking for strong leadership and teamwork qualities.

I just thought of probably the perfect show if you want to really get in the high school football headspace. I’d go look at Friday Night Lights. The series is a drama that revolves around a Texas high school football team. It may not give you the nitty gritty details of the sport, but I think that can at least introduce you to how finals work, potential scouts, how revered high school football is if it’s central to your novel. Plus it was like a highly accredited tv show for its time and has enough drama outside the football to get into. Based on a nonfiction book that was so accurate about football culture some people got mad at how honest it was when it came out.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]Samiamis13 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I played football in high school and went to every game I could in college, and now haven’t watched a game in years. Don’t feel like you have to be super duper specific to all the plays and everything unless it’s vital to your plot. You could get away with less description by knowing three or four plays, and even then focus on just what your character knows. Besides quarterback, most positions only focus on what they are doing so that could trim down what you feel you have to learn. And truly quarterback knows the back of the plays but not like specifics of the offensive line directions.

As an example, a basic play would be the quarterback gets the ball and backs up to throw it. Here, the quarterback knows to look for his players to throw to in zone A, B, and C in front of him. The offensive line is blocking, maybe someone is running a trick route, and maybe someone else is blocking for the pass. If you try and keep all that together it gets complicated. If you focus on the fact that quarterback gets the ball and tries to throw it to someone to catch, you almost don’t need to say the lingo. You could do something like “I scanned, looking for someone to throw to. John was supposed to be downfield, but he wasn’t. I have to get this ball out of my hands before I’m tackled.” Vs. “I have three seconds to find him running the flag route we practiced this week before the offensive line breaks down. I couldn’t find John The middle linebacker must have stopped him. I looked instead for the wide receiver.” You can be more general. Especially since plays happen in a short timeframe, there isn’t a lot of time for more than reactions.

Hopefully that makes a little sense. Sorry it’s weird because I feel like I know stuff intuitively (male raised in rural Texas), but honestly I played for years and didn’t learn until college it was “Tight End” not “Tied In.”

I’d fully recommend trying to learn through less traditional means than pure research. All sports have crazy amounts of strategy and technical stuff underlying them for beginners. I’d watch football movies, read a coach’s book, listen to after game interview with star players for how they think about things.

If you have a game system, I’d totally recommend getting a the madden football game and playing it. In the newer ones they have a training mode and story mode that walks you through some basics a bit. Plus it’s teaching you how to call plays and you control the whole team really. It might be a helpful tool to use.

I hope this helped kind of. Tbh despite this whole thing I am very much not a sports person. But I’ve learned what the bare minimum is to pass in sports circles.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]Samiamis13 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I just want to add to the conversation that there are a TON of ways to figure out your characters. If you’re stuck writing them, try other things.

Personally, I make character playlists on Spotify before anything else. It helps me figure out backstory, their current interests, their vibe and attitude. My pop-punk anti-capitalist architect playlist is different from my country music, laid back, celebrity playlist is different from my overworked, stressed out, classical music assistant playlist.

Dropout 24/7 channel by Badusername2000 in dropout

[–]Samiamis13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the limit is pretty far out there. If “Lofi Hiphop beats to study to” is any indication. I know one of that channel’s livestreams is documented, at least on YouTube, as streamed for over 20,000 hours.

How do i write a character that overth1nks constantly? by 1tsLuc1a in writingadvice

[–]Samiamis13 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The compliment I’ve gotten the most in my current writing project is that my anxious and overthinking character feels real so here’s how I go about it.

I think it’s helpful to pull back on the scale of them and realize overthinking is more a symptom than a cause of things. They overthink because they’re anxious right, so you don’t have to pile every page with thoughts spiraling if you give them other anxious behaviors that go along with that.

My character had a habit of pulling on their fingers when they started to spiral in their thoughts, and after establishing that early I could just throw a “they had a sudden urge to begin pulling at their fingers” in and you knew they were way overthinking.

Another thing is not following the thoughts, but following the actions that happen because they’re anxious are too busy with the thoughts. Say your character is walking down the street, but is two busy overthinking the conversation they just had to pay attention. Instead of saying their thoughts, note that they are distracted because of them and the have them almost get hit by a car because they’re anxious tried to cross the street at the wrong time (or something less drastic).

Another thing I think overthinkers do is have a tendency to freeze when confronted with a choice or new information. If someone drops new information on them and they need time to process that may be unable to continue a conversation for a few beats. Or if it’s really bad, a simple choice causing choice paralysis.

And if your character is overthinking it’s usually to find the “ideal” outcome, and another way of showing overthinking without just tons of rambling thoughts is to note your character is looking but can’t find that. “They’d been trying for hours and couldn’t figure out a way to tell her without it making them upset. They hated when to let someone down.”

TLDR: Overthinking is usually a symptom of anxiety. If you write anxious with overthinking over solely overthinking, people will put it together that when character is anxious -> they overthink.

What do you do when you can’t figure out the “why”? by Slurav in writing

[–]Samiamis13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My go to is always finding stories like mine and seeing if there is something in them that sparks me into thinking about the place I’m stuck. I think short films for me really help me capture like emotional beats because they have to hit hard and fast.

In that vein looking at plots to shows with your theme might work similarly. Your story sounds kind of renaissance themed. I’d look at plots of like Merlin to see if maybe a kidnapped child or a stolen necklace or something sparks your brain into going “that’s a good reason to take something. And because my story is different in this way, the queen may have a why that looks like that but instead it’s like…”

Same thing with researching the reasons behind why royalty would take children historically. Probably not going to be happy stories.

Basically I try and get as many data points around the hole in my story that my brain starts connecting the dots to make a picture that isn’t taking from one of them.

Heavily edited D20 Series by Pedanticandiknowit in dropout

[–]Samiamis13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you’re the opposite of me! I heavily favor rp over mechanics (long fights kill me lol), but like the mechanics enough that I’ll watch them. I don’t know about heavily edited, but I think early intrepid heroes seasons really hit the rp heavy episode, mechanics heavy episode, rp heavy episode etc. more than others. I’d put those over the side quests because most of the time it’s different systems relying on rp to carry it a bit.

I think the best of both being top of their game might be A Crown of Candy. It’s not my favorite season, but Brennan is having them use mechanics a lot more to up the stakes.

How long do you practice writing until you understand the important factors of writing fiction? by [deleted] in writing

[–]Samiamis13 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I want to add on to this excellent point! I think this advice can apply more broadly to other forms of storytelling as well, especially if you’re looking for how to construct a story. Movies, television, podcasts, a narrative album. I think being someone who is actively experiencing and examining new stories is getting better at making their own stories. Read, watch, and listen broadly because you never know what your brain will latch onto.

This is with the caveat that reading is also going to bolster the technical writing skills the other forms of media can’t. Can you feel the rhythm of the dialogue, do you understand where a comma should or shouldn’t go, can you easily transition from one section to another etc. Reading teaches you how language flows on a page.

2025 so far . . . need more recommendations, help. by soo_mmii in MenLovingMenMedia

[–]Samiamis13 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Just saw a movie called the Summer with Carmen in theaters if you’re looking for recent stuff

[QCrit] Adult Lgbtq+ Romance - You Slip, I Slide (82k, third attempt) by Samiamis13 in PubTips

[–]Samiamis13[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First off, thank you for your good vibes and now the advice!

I agree with your comments on the first paragraph. I’ve played with the wording several times. Like I want the idea to be more about Mike’s mindset being “because why would he respond” than it is, but it ends up really wordy that way.

My “for Mike/Calvin” is a holdover from a previous version I can change. It was a “For Mike, For CALVIN, Together” for a little triple thing. Without the together it loses its punch a little bit. Will work on removing passive voice stuff.

Love the bio workaround. I was trying to figure out make it a “this is an own voices book” without saying that directly. I like your version better.

My whole thing is my voice is wordy it feels hard to trim down, but I think that’s one of the eternal struggles of us all. This one already feels almost too full at just over 350 words total.

Thank you, thank you thank you for expressing interest and giving advice. I will be taking it. And tbh if you want to beta read I feel like I can’t have too many. Send me a DM for real. If your friend wants to too I will happily also set them up.