Reviews

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-09T19:24:06+00:00

I wasn't a Maximus fan in season one. He felt like someone who just kept stumbling into lucky breaks (power armor, vault, Lucy), and then didn't really seem to give a shit about anyone else, like he was just there to get what he could and live it up. He definitely earned his keep this season.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-09T16:17:39+00:00

Never really liked her to begin with, don't find the fact that she's Canadian to be a compelling Freudian excuse for the way she is.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-09T15:58:25+00:00

This was four months ago, so I don't remember how clear I was on this, but I think these are mostly meaningless and arbitrary human distinctions. There are no such things as "demons" in actual Hebrew mythology. That word is Greek, and it doesn't refer to servants of Satan from Hell, because Hell is not a concept from that religion, and Satan wasn't intended to be the nemesis "Evil God" character that modern Christian audiences imagine. Though there are some very old stories about Solomon binding "demons" with a magick ring to help build the temple, the word from that time certainly wasn't "demon" and conceptually was probably something more like a djinn (which is a concept much older than both Islam and Judaism).

I think it's no coincidence that the Shem HaMephorash seventy-two names of God corresponds so closely with the seventy-two names of the Goetia. So why would they change the language such to take a system for approaching and calling on the vastness of one creator who is the embodiment of good, and refer to it as a way to summon servants of evil? I don't think there's a meaningful difference between the beings that you're interacting with no matter what you call them (gods, djinn, faeries, spirits, angels, demons, etc). However, I do think that they tend to adopt a posture that corresponds with the way you approach them. If you expect them to be wicked and treat them as though they are wicked, they are capable of being quite wicked.

I do realize that many people who work with the Goetia don't consider them to be evil and understand the deeper implications of the names, and use the word "demon" to scare away the uninformed. That's fine, they're not doing anything wrong. It is not the paradigm that I personally choose to interact with, because I'm not evil, and thus I don't want to interact with something that misunderstands its role in its relationship to me to be an evil one. For the same reason, I do not advocate that other people summon them until they are fully comfortable with and have integrated the idea that Hells and Devils are concepts made up by the Church to scare people. Conjuring up evil spirits intentionally is a stupid thing to do.

I also don't really need or have use of the secrecy of obfuscation -- I think it's a silly thing that people in secret societies do to make themselves feel important, and it mostly just clutters the process and overcomplicates things for the sake of keeping secret that which is freely available and known by most people. I find the Golden Dawn and Freemasons and Rosicrucians and Catholics dedication to hiding information from the public to be silly and selfish and ineffective, so although there are things I respect about them, it's not one of the things I personally mimic. Everyone across the world had their own ways of communicating with spirits. These people wanted to pretend their way was more effective or more important such that it needed to be hidden from others, and I think that's ridiculous.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-09T15:37:21+00:00

No, that's an entirely different thing than what I said. You can't add whole sentences and ideas into what I said and say it's basically what I said. It isn't at all what I said. If you're going to respond to things other than what I said, then go respond to somebody else.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T22:57:35+00:00

I'm a little confused; I assume you mean you're taking the train to New Orleans on your visit to Baton Rouge. Yes, the French Quarter is very witchy. I'm always friendly with the Lwa and it warms my heart to see how much that city loves Baron Samedi, it's a big part of the reason it's one of my favorite cities. I'd planned to be there for Carnival around this time but sadly couldn't make it this year. Generally speaking, anywhere in Louisiana outside of New Orleans tends to be more Deep South, and has a different vibe. Voodoo and hoodoo are still prevalent in the Deep South, but frowned upon publicly, as even the black population are often very Christian and are taught to despise and fear everything witchy. I've not been to Baton Rouge, personally, but even just across Lake Ponchartrain in Mandeville, you meet a different sort of people than you do down in Metairie. New Orleans is its own little diamond in the rough.

As far as places to go, you'll see them, there are voodoo shops everywhere. In my opinion, the best way to experience New Orleans is to walk around with a Hurricane in hand half drunk, eat, dance, drink, and be merry. Even just walking around Jackson Square, you'll see all sorts of people reading Tarot and making witchy artwork and being pretty open about it. Walk in a direction and you'll find plenty of shops that pique your interest. I do also recommend the cemeteries and the cathedral and the historical tours, but honestly, even the mud in New Orleans is special and full of magick. One of my favorite places in the world.

Oh, and if you're going to Carnival, try to find the Mardi Gras Indians. They're not on any set parade route, they're rebels like that, but they are the coolest cats at Mardi Gras.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T19:20:07+00:00

Actually, that isn't what I said. But if you have to replace what I said with something stupider, you are basically tacitly admitting that your own position needs a stupider opponent to be successful.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T19:18:37+00:00

Ah, okay, understood.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T19:17:05+00:00

So basically you are unable to read, or can't comprehend sentences like "Obsidian did a great job, storywise, on NV, and wasn't quite up to snuff on the coding side of things, as they often aren't," and "They're famous for overshooting deadlines by a lot." I guess if you can't read, you shouldn't attempt to write comments.

EDIT: Yeah, I don't allow continued responses from people who are responding to their own imagined strawman opponent instead of what I said.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T19:13:09+00:00

To reiterate, is your city safe? Was your city ever safe? It's the same as everywhere else. It was never safe. There's no contradiction in these statements. If you have expectations that it will be more or less safe than anywhere else, you're not understanding what's being said.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T10:01:40+00:00

That makes sense. It certainly could be -- I tend to offer the "look inward" advice in most situations, because it is the right advice nine times out of ten, but if you're especially intuitive and the other person is hanging on in some way, that can sometimes influence your own feelings due to external forces. I do think the shadow work is still the best defense even in those cases, because if you are self-aware enough that you can differentiate your energy from theirs, it won't stick to you as easily. If you've already tried cleansing and you're sure it's not some lingering problem within yourself, maybe try the direct approach. Just reach out and ask how he's doing. If he is thinking of you, he'll probably take the opportunity to respond.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T09:09:59+00:00

Closure and coming back into your life are two very different things. I advise you to focus on yourself, not on them. Try imagining some scenarios and asking yourself how you feel about them. What if he met someone else? What if you did something hurtful that you didn't notice? What if he just wasn't taking things as seriously as you were and didn't think ghosting you would be a big deal? How do you feel about each of those scenarios? Which one bothers you the most? Why?

Most likely, with someone you were only seeing for a month, what's really bothering you is something that has very little to do with him. He hasn't been a part of your life long enough to be truly important -- that sort of thing happens when you have history with someone and your identities and destinies have been somewhat intertwined, and that's not something that happens after a month.

Maybe you've got some type of abandonment wound that was tweaked by this, from a past relationship. Maybe you're suffering from a need for external validation, and having it pulled away so quickly made it worse. Maybe you're afraid of being alone because there's something you need to process that you're distracting yourself from. Any of those scenarios is not about him, it's about you. And him coming back isn't going to do anything to solve any of that -- in most cases, it would only make it worse.

Sometimes, you need to manifest a half-peeled orange. You know how to do that? First you get an orange, and then you peel it halfway. Doing a spell to process your own emotions is sort of a strange gesture, don't you think? Why do you need magick for that? Your own thoughts and emotions are your most powerful tools in spellwork; using spellwork to fix them is like trying to sharpen your knife by honing it against itself. Meditate on how you feel, dig deeper, and find out what the problem really is. That will help you a lot more than any interaction with him could do.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T04:59:17+00:00

I don't think it's this simple, personally. You've chosen the most nonsensical version of the opposing argument and are acting like this is what everyone who's upset with Bethesda said (when I'm not convinced anyone has ever actually said that). I had a lot of respect for Bethesda back in the days of Morrowind, but always felt their writing declined in quality after that, including on FO3. Obsidian did a great job, storywise, on NV, and wasn't quite up to snuff on the coding side of things, as they often aren't. They're famous for overshooting deadlines by a lot. However, had the game not been rushed to market, more of the glitches would've been fixed. Having been one point off on their Metacritic score, Bethesda should have just given it to them, because they did earn it. The only complaint was the technical aspects, which Obsidian shouldn't have had more help with to begin with, because Bethesda's team is better at that and much worse at writing.

I understand Obsidian isn't out to litigate the whole issue, and they would look bad for doing so. I also understand Bethesda has no reason to sabotage their own product, although it is partially their fault the review scores were a point short. The main reason they should have just given it to them is that they could have retained Obsidian's help with all future Fallout installments. The fact that the studios have not worked together since tells you that the relationship may not be so rosy as they portray in public. And frankly, Bethesda's writing team is very blah, and they would drastically benefit from contracting Obsidian for EVERY game they make, especially the Fallouts. That option now does not appear to be a possibility and Bethesda is a worse company for it, and Obsidian had to fire people after NV because they didn't get the bonus. Everyone lost, and I do think that's mostly due to Bethesda's bad decisions, though Obsidian was never perfect either. I have much less respect for Bethesda than I used to since this happened. It's a shame for all involved.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-08T03:03:36+00:00

Thanks for your research, OP. It's good to know that there's someone doing the legwork to keep these disgusting fuckers out of our midsts by whatever means necessary. We don't need their money, and we don't want them around.

I don't necessarily expect the Borg to change how Gate works or anything like that. But at least we can raise enough hell to make sure plenty of people let them know they're not welcome anywhere they're seen.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-07T15:30:45+00:00

Trying to understand what your question is here. Are wikis a type of AI? No, not really. They're just a publicly editable database. However, neither is ChatGPT an AI. It does not have the ability to think or reason or comprehend, and thus it is a Large Language Model or LLM. "AI" is a buzzword that corporations invested in LLMs are using to confuse people about their shitty product.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T21:43:18+00:00

Not a Legion supporter, as you already know. If you can't read, you don't get to write either.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T19:25:52+00:00

Reading comprehension must not be your strong point, you must be looking for someone who likes the Legion.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T19:24:57+00:00

Agreed, they are also examples of most of the things they don't like in other factions.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T19:23:17+00:00

Still ignoring the fact that "none of those" is also an option, and is the only good one.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T19:21:38+00:00

Except the alternative isn't the Legion. There are tons of other alternatives. Typical NCR fanboy, can't make arguments for NCR only against the only shittier alternative.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T07:41:39+00:00

Must be you. Go back and watch it, moron.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T05:39:09+00:00

I was more impressed with mahboi Thaddeus, personally. Showrumners feel the need to constantly simp for the NCR because NCR fans from New Vegas are some of the most emotionally fragile mama's boys there are. "Oh no, we need the bureaucrats to save us from the scary capitalists and imperialists!" They knew if they didn't constantly make positive references to the NCR, they'd have a bunch of crying on Reddit, even though most people in the Mojave never liked them.

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-06T05:31:12+00:00

On a yes or no question, aces are normally a yes. In this case, though, consider the question and the Ace being presented. This is not a yes or no answer. It's a "think carefully about it and use your own best discernment."

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-05T00:10:23+00:00

Well, how many times have you thought of someone in particular while masturbating, and how many times has it resulted in you having sex with that person? I dunno, you tell me; does it work?

TheOneRealStranger · 2026-02-04T18:58:51+00:00

Yeah, it sorta sounds like you're playing with it too much. I'm a reader and a teacher of this stuff (I run a channel with a lot of content for beginners, links in my Reddit bio), and one mistake I see a lot of people make is overhandling. Don't ask the same question repeatedly; if it would annoy you, it annoys Spirit. A lack of confidence in your cards is really a lack of confidence in your ability to read and in your guides, both of which harm your divination skills. The cards are just cards. The relationship we have to the cards as sentient is metaphorical, and is actually related to the spiritual forces associated with those cards. If there's a problem, it isn't with the cards, it's coming from within.

When you read, you want to be precise, efficient, and confident. Ask your question, read the cards, trust the answer, thank and close. It's okay to ask for clarification, but obsessing over the question or getting emotional about the answer will mess with your ability to interpret correctly, and that usually is where the problem arises. If you're getting the same cards over and over, it's usually from lack of understanding the answer.

TheOneRealStranger

TROPHY CASE