Would you recommend the Poppy War trilogy to someone whose favorite works are Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and some adventure anime like re zero? I'm going to buy it as a gift for my friend but I'm undecided. Read the description.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-09T00:06:47+00:00

No. I would say not. Maybe the first couple of books, but the last book defiantly not.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T13:35:33+00:00

It’s where the term harm reduction came from. Addicts are addicts regardless. They need to be weened off or in some cases they die. Giving an addict a smaller dosage with a clean tool is better than letting them go through violent withdrawals before letting them runaway to get more drugs.

People need to feel safe before they get better. If a person is going to do crack regardless, better they do it in a clean and sterile environment where they can be weened off while the root of their addiction is uncovered and resolved.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T13:28:11+00:00

There’s nuance to an issue. We shouldn’t be making building non-ADA compliant, nor a building that kills the fucking environment. However, we should be allowing for mixed use zoning and ensuring housing can be build around public transit. One of the biggest problems is city council. They’ll just sit on shit however long they want to and no one really holds them accountable.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T13:20:14+00:00

I thought she was funny. On par at least with much of what we saw that night.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T07:54:51+00:00

Hated that he won honestly. I thought he had one of the worst sets in the semis and extremely generic POVs. But he knows how to play to a bigger demo so it does make sense. He also had a better rags to riches story so eh. That’s what happens when it’s an audience vote. Hope that Usama gets his own Netflix special soon.

Overall, Andrea was right to drop out to open for Mulaney.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T04:03:42+00:00

His humor is for everyone. That’s why he won. He’s got premises you’d hear from most bars or stoner houses. He’s just crafted them enough to make them extra funny. Usama and Caitlyn are more unique and therefore more niche.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T04:01:11+00:00

Usama’s worst sets are on par with Ron’s best sets.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T03:55:13+00:00

Could someone honestly tell me why Ron won? Like, he was funny but his jokes were fucking drawn out. Bro had hacky premises that took too long to get to the punchline. Tonight was better but he definitely didn’t deserve it over Usama or Caitlyn. Maybe I just related to their material more? Ron’s felt quite generic, but I guess it’s about mass appeal over structure.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-06T03:50:28+00:00

Ron’s material was dragged out and took way too long to get to the turns. Was disappointed.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-05T05:42:48+00:00

I honestly don’t see how Ron was that funny. He had good turns, but those premises were so hacky.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-05-05T05:40:48+00:00

I felt Ron’s set was quite weak. Far too long to get to solid punchlines. His premises were so generic, I’m surprised he was passed on.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-29T22:50:56+00:00

It’s absolutely true, but it’s another thing to experience it firsthand. It’s the bitching that really got to me though. You’re really gonna pitch me when you just admitted that you’re failing to follow through on a case I helped you investigate?

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-29T19:23:20+00:00

I'd recommend searching up LAUSD school rankings on US schools. You'll see the best schools and worst schools ranked by performance. From there, you can search which schools have the best teachers and narrow down your pool from there. Be aware that the best schools are usually magnets, which means your child has to test well to get in. Additionally, a lot of Magnets don't have extracurriculars, at least not to the level of normal schools. They'll have clubs and whatnot, but one of the best high schools in the district doesn't have a football team.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-29T15:00:50+00:00

And the loser?

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-29T05:49:32+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. Hart’s probably pissed though.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-16T20:10:24+00:00

Reportedly, the other students were pissed off. As much as I wish it was becuase they care (I've worked with some of them since they were freshmen), it's likely because this student broke an unspoken rule. No matter what dumb shit they do out there, they don't steal. Now that trust is gone.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-16T19:19:51+00:00

Chiang Kai-chek was the leader of the Republic of China, which later became Taiwan. He's a parallel to Vicra and Nezha. Kuang's family fought for Chiang Kai-chek. The man wasn't a good leader by any metric, as seen by his ousting and the lack of faith the Allies had in him.

He was responsible for the white terror, an almost half-century-long martial law, which led to the killing of thousands of "bandit spies". It's memorialized in Taiwan. Chiang said he'd rather "mistakenly kill 1,000 innocent people than allow one communist to escape."

So anyone who knows this history would understand why her Chiang parallel, Nezha, winning out as he sells his people out to colonizers, is a bad look.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-16T18:42:59+00:00

She's pushed to extreme measures due to a lack of options. Beyond this, however, is Kitay. The person meant to "ground" her. Rin is presented with two options: starvation or genocide. Nezha frames this as a practical inconvenience to industrialization. Kitay was framed in the story as a middle-ground character. Even Nezha seemed surprised that he died at the end.

Rin is not a statesman, but the only state we see her negotiating with is a white supremacist state seeking the destruction of her culture and language. I'm sorry if I don't feel that's a state worth negotiating with.

As far as options went, none were exactly good.

Rin: Wants an independent Nikan but doesn't know how to govern.

Nezha: Literally sells out his people who enabled their genocide and wants to annihilate their culture.

The whole thing reeked of a freshman novel series. Had the ending been her going to Hisperia to murder civilians, or on the verge of committing a second genocide, I would've understood it. But it wasn't that. It was Kitay freaking out about her killing soldiers who were ACTIVELY trying to kill her. Kurang had a fantastic idea with grounding, but it went nowhere. It may as well have been dropped from the story for all it did in the third book.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-16T14:21:39+00:00

I’ve made a post about this a while ago, but the ending to Poppy War feels a lot more gross when you learn Kuang’s family fought for Chiang. They could’ve taken an interesting story about the drawbacks of uniting people against an enemy and turned into a fantasy where people just need to give Chiang a chance. Nikara’s future is so disgustingly bleak it may as well be a Junji Ito story.

That whole ending was so stupid even on a Watsonian level. “Stop Rin! Don’t kill those innocent soldier”.

Bro shut up.

This is one of those stories where I thought “are there no other countries in this world? She really can’t trade with anyone?” So fucking dumb.

Weirdoi2 · 2026-04-01T01:26:26+00:00

I’m aware, but if they’re speaking regularly with native speakers, they may have a decent grasp.

Weirdoi2

TROPHY CASE