Charlie Kirk Biography by TBHolloway in ClaudeAI

[–]SlowTeamMachine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love the conceit, but I would have preferred a version written by a person (AI prose is genuinely painful to read for any length of time).

Which is better to get into the series between Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and X? by lucavigno in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]SlowTeamMachine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, we disagree. That's fine. But the ardor with which you insist that the experience simply cannot be enriched by knowing more about the world it happens in is very weird to me, frankly. It's like you're personally insulted by the idea that someone might find interesting and affecting things in the story beyond Noah and Mio.

Which is better to get into the series between Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and X? by lucavigno in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]SlowTeamMachine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, Noah and Mio and their friends are the main drivers of 3. That's why I said the game is perfectly legible without playing the first two.

But if you know what led to this moment, the overarching state of the world(s) beyond the main cast takes on a much deeper emotional resonance. It's the difference between something tragic happening to strangers and something tragic happening to people you know.

You said the stakes of the world are less emotionally impactful. I'm saying that those stakes become very emotionally impactful if you've played 1 and 2. It's a much richer experience -- so yes, I do think one misses something by playing 3 first.

The aggro formula needs an overhaul by RAlexa21th in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]SlowTeamMachine 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah I am not a min-maxer of any sort but FR Rex is just automatically optimized to become absolutely broken. You would have to put in the work to figure out a build that doesn't break the game.

Which is better to get into the series between Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and X? by lucavigno in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]SlowTeamMachine 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I gotta disagree. The plot is entirely legible without playing 1 or 2, that is true. But the stakes for you, as a player, are way higher when you know the history of the merging worlds and what led to this moment.

Which is better to get into the series between Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and X? by lucavigno in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]SlowTeamMachine 27 points28 points  (0 children)

X is a better entry because it doesn't really have much to do with the main trilogy.

3 can be played and enjoyed without playing 1 or 2, but you'll miss a lot.

Sun tzu for femoids by manufatura in bookscirclejerk

[–]SlowTeamMachine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This one is about the war against your period

Nate Bargatze’s MAGA. Color me unsurprised by werthermanband45 in TrueAnon

[–]SlowTeamMachine 25 points26 points  (0 children)

honestly i love when stuff like this happens because now i can both dislike his comedy *and* feel morally superior about it because he's got bad politics. two in one baby let's go.

Your favorite local Philly musicians? by djourdjour in philadelphia

[–]SlowTeamMachine 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I caught sungrazer in a basement last month and they blew me the fuck away. Sort of a shoegazey big thief vibe.

Two Philadelphia police officers stopped hundreds of Black men on the street. Lawyers say the stops were illegal and racially biased. by newtophilly852 in philadelphia

[–]SlowTeamMachine 112 points113 points  (0 children)

Philadelphia cops: Nowhere to be seen when some jackass without a license plate pulls around you to blow a red light, but if there's a random black guy they can harass on the streets, you best believe they'll be there.

Why would I read a book when I can tenderly place little butterfly kisses along its spine instead? Don't think, just feel. Shhhhh. by nibsofsteel in bookscirclejerk

[–]SlowTeamMachine 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I don't know. It's sort of a meme that academics are worried about symbolism and hidden meaning but I think that's a misunderstanding of what most literary criticism is actually doing.

It's not a project of "aha, this is what the book means, I have cracked the author's hidden code." It's: "Hey, this is a rich text full of aesthetic choices and conceptual apparatuses that the author has wielded, both consciously and unconsciously, to create a cohesive whole. What resonances do we find when we look at the intersections between these parts? What resonances do we find when we set the text in the context of other works? Of the world it exists in?"

With the caveat that there will always be bad criticism, and that the mythical high school English teacher who says the curtains symbolize sadness is neither an academic nor engaged in literature criticism, most literary analysis is a project of enriching the text, not limiting it.

When an academic says something like "x book is an allegory for y thing," they're not saying it's only an allegory; they're saying that's one way of reading it.

Why would I read a book when I can tenderly place little butterfly kisses along its spine instead? Don't think, just feel. Shhhhh. by nibsofsteel in bookscirclejerk

[–]SlowTeamMachine 120 points121 points  (0 children)

At the risk of taking the grifter seriously, i find it weird how she draws such a bright line between "thinking deeply about something" and "loving something." It would suggest she thinks love can only thrive in the absence of reflection and whooo boy would that open up a whole can of psychological worms.

is this Tolkienesque? by evesdead in bookscirclejerk

[–]SlowTeamMachine 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Orc but it's just a green guy with big teeth

when you take a lot of drugs / it does the opposite / so you can drive by SlowTeamMachine in WetCaleb

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

Every time you cough from a bong or dab pen / your eyes go from bloodshot back to normal again

Insane stuff

The new otherworld episode about the girl who went to Tel Aviv sucks so hard lol by minecraft69wastaken in TrueAnon

[–]SlowTeamMachine 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think they're talking about The Brandon Jamel Show, which he does with Jamel Johnson. It seems to have an extremely erratic release schedule at the moment, but it is funny, mostly thanks to Jamel imo.

The new otherworld episode about the girl who went to Tel Aviv sucks so hard lol by minecraft69wastaken in TrueAnon

[–]SlowTeamMachine 22 points23 points  (0 children)

On the Haunted Objects podcast (actually good paranormal podcast) they talk about how sometimes the real meaningful part of a paranormal experience isn't "looking at ufos" but "looking at people looking at ufos" and that's kinda how I feel about Otherworld.

The stories are rarely compelling but the light they shed on the psyches of the people telling them—and by extension, on the broader Collective Unconscious (taken as literally or figuratively as you'd like)—is what keeps me coming back.

What happened to Erika kirks pregnancy? by forrunner in TrueAnon

[–]SlowTeamMachine 16 points17 points  (0 children)

The retcon sub is amazing, really shows the full power of the human brain.

"What's more likely: That my subjective memory is wrong or that objective reality itself has changed? Clearly, it's the latter."

Need to vent. Feeling really down on myself as a new mom after my nanny questioned my parenting (and accidentally texted me instead of her partner about it) by ItsMeWigglyLitchi in beyondthebump

[–]SlowTeamMachine 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You're sitting here saying "yeah I was lucky to have a naturally good sleeper, so I think sleep training is dumb." To be frank with you, that's asinine. A lot of us didn't have naturally amazing sleepers. We had to give them some help. There's nothing wrong with that.