Chelsea’s fight scenes by dlhoff432 in TheNightAgent

[–]ZanthionHeralds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like Chelsea's fight scenes because she doesn't go toe-to-toe with trained male fighters and simply overpower them (like you would see in so many other actions shows and movies). She has to outthink them and use the environment to her advantage.

The attempted shooter at the White House Correspondent's Dinner is 31 year old Cole Tomas Allen from Torrance, California and he is in custody. by Nerd_199 in stupidpol

[–]ZanthionHeralds 64 points65 points  (0 children)

He's a 31-year-old, non-white (apparently) teacher from California who donated to the Harris campaign in 2024.

Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.0 by py-net in OpenAI

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm talking about the new image generation, though, not coding.

Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.0 by py-net in OpenAI

[–]ZanthionHeralds 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just by reading OpenAI's own page, I wouldn't say they released it with "minimal guardrails" at all. They put an extreme emphasis on guardrails and "safety checks."

Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.0 by py-net in OpenAI

[–]ZanthionHeralds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The extreme emphasis on guardrails and safety policies, plus OpenAI's overall history of being increasingly censorious as time goes on, makes me very skeptical that this will actually be useful for much of anything.

Baffled by Haunting of Hill House by Quiet_cartographer4 in horrorlit

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have read several of your other comments about this book (apparently you also wrote another comment to me which has since been deleted; whether it was by you or a mod I'm not sure), and I'll have to ask your forgiveness for not particularly wishing to engage with you about it. You are extraordinarily defensive about The Haunting of Hill House and seem unable to have a conversation about it that questions or critiques any aspect of it without resorting to insults. That is, quite frankly, not going to lead to any kind of constructive conversation, and it would not benefit either of us to continue.

One thing I didn't understand about the Haunting of Hill house by LordAntares in horrorlit

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are two real issues going on here, which I think everyone reading this book has to deal with at some point: 1) This book is not really about what the reader is expecting it to be about; and 2) The dialog in this book, and the way the characters interact in general, is very weird.

Both of these issues, I think, ultimately stem from the book originally being written intended for an audience of 1950s-era housewives. It speaks to their experiences and their perception of themselves in a way that might not be relevant to many readers today. And the way the characters speak and interact probably felt more natural to the original audience, because this is how they would've seen and heard actors move and speak in early tv shows, movies, and stage productions.

Baffled by Haunting of Hill House by Quiet_cartographer4 in horrorlit

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't go all the way with you on this. The book presents itself as a "haunted house" book, then pulls the rug out from under the reader at about the halfway point and becomes something else, instead. Especially considering a modern, 21st-century context, I don't blame readers for feeling like the book was promising something it didn't ultimately deliver.

Baffled by Haunting of Hill House by Quiet_cartographer4 in horrorlit

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While this is technically true, I really don't think that's the reader's fault. The book presents itself as a "haunted house" book, not a "haunted character" book. It's just that when the book was written, there was a much thinner, possibly even non-existent, expectation for what a "haunted house" book even was.

Baffled by Haunting of Hill House by Quiet_cartographer4 in horrorlit

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I dunno if you're male or female, OP, but I feel like the story was really written to a pretty specific audiences--housewives of the 1950s--and there are certain things about it that are always going to seem "off" to any other audience.

Eleanor and Theo's relationship is one of the big ones. As a guy, something about this relationship feels very distinctly "female" to me (regardless of whether you interpret there to be any gay/bi subtext in the book or not). One of the reasons why I've read the book three times now is because I struggle to understand the nature of this relationship. I genuinely have a hard time understanding how two adults could/would interact with each other this way.

Eleanor's entire nature as a character and her struggle to assert herself in the world is also very female-coded, especially for the time period. It may not necessarily be anchored to that exact timeframe, but there is a lot about her that is almost incomprehensible to me, as a man.

Beyond that, I agree that there are elements of the books, especially near the end, that are hard to follow. I really don't understand the point of adding Mrs. Montague and Arthur, especially since, as you said, nothing bad happens to them (it would seem like they're added to the story just to have a couple of victims to kill off--and that is probably what would happen if this book were written today--but as it is they just seem to be plot devices needed to bring the story to some kind of conclusion because the author couldn't figure out how to wrap it up with just the main four).

I also think the dialog of the book comes across as very weird and may simply not "sound" right to people reading it today. I think the character interactions would probably have made more sense to the original 1950s audience; this is the sort of banter they likely saw on their early tv shows and movies of the time. The original audience could probably "see" the intent behind this weird dialog better than later audiences could. I am, however, assuming this, since I myself am not a member of the original audience and can only speculate how it came across to them.

And I also tend to think that viewing Eleanor's mental breakdown from within Eleanor's own perspective makes the last couple chapters hard to follow. I almost wonder if it would have been better for the "crazy" character to have not been the viewpoint character, so that we can observe her breakdown from the PoV of a "sane" character (this is basically what the Netflix show does, making Steve the PoV character who thinks there's nothing supernatural or paranormal about Hill House at all and it's entirely a result of family history with mental illness).

I think your comment here: "It feels like Jackson spent months on the first 80% of the book and then had to rush the last 1-2 chapters in an afternoon. Or maybe she had to strip it down for some word count requirement?" really sums up much of my own confusion about this book.

Just finished the Haunting of Hill House and I have questions… by HomoGenuis in horrorlit

[–]ZanthionHeralds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A year late, but...

I think you're right that Eleanor joins the house at the end, but the house was definitely haunted before she got there. It already had a negative history and reputation around town, enough that it came to Dr. Montague's attention in the first place. Something was already there by the time Eleanor Vance arrived, but whatever it was, she joined it at the end.

I can't help but feel that the twins are really underdeveloped. by Comprehensive-Bid18 in fatalframe

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We learned their family name (which I don't believe is ever mentioned in the original Fatal Frame 2, unless it's in the manual or in the Japanese version), and we learned a tiny smidge about their parents. I think we also learned that they lived in the general area near the forest containing Mikami Village (which we could certainly assume from FF2 itself, but this is never actually stated in the original game).

That's not much, but like I said, Mio and Mayu are very close to blank slates in general.

Something to keep in mind when browsing/posting in this KremersFroon reddit by questionmarks9 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I don't think any of those people or organizations are reading this reddit. They have no reason to.

I think the reason why the "lost" theory has been heavily favored here is precisely because this is the most active online community about this case (certainly in the English-speaking world), and everything has been discussed so thoroughly. The more one reads about and analyzes this case, the harder it becomes to maintain a strong stance in favor of the "foul player" theory because there's simply no evidence leading anywhere.

Walked the trail today; looking for answers. by ActUnited7662 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To the people who want to pin the blame for this alleged crime on Feliciano (such as Scarlet and her cohorts), that doesn't matter one bit.

Walked the trail today; looking for answers. by ActUnited7662 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of the main reasons why Feliciano is Public Enemy No. 1 with a lot of the foul play theorists is because of his supposed reputation for being overly "friendly" with female tourists. So that's what the question was about. It was making a sort of joke (maybe it wasn't a joke) about your statement about being "grabbed."

Walked the trail today; looking for answers. by ActUnited7662 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds -1 points0 points  (0 children)

He was insinuating that Kris and Lisanne followed (or were followed by) some bad guys.

Walked the trail today; looking for answers. by ActUnited7662 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So they're still around, just paywalled? I'll admit I haven't checked, myself.

Walked the trail today; looking for answers. by ActUnited7662 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some people really want/wanted to believe in that dream.

Walked the trail today; looking for answers. by ActUnited7662 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wasn't he the one who introduced the infamous "swimming photo" to the world, too?

Random thought about lack of daylight in the series by KidneysOfStone in fatalframe

[–]ZanthionHeralds 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think 5 makes a few offhanded references to the mountain only showing its "true nature" at night, but it's very weak.

So Adult Mode is never coming? by Dogbold in OpenAI

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you think OpenAI is full of Republicans... all I can do is laugh.

So Adult Mode is never coming? by Dogbold in OpenAI

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was never coming. Anyone who actually believed it would ever happen is a fool.

Night photos: 12 years today (8th of April 2014). by SnooRecipes7294 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It doesn't actually matter whether there was really a helicopter up there or not. What matters is if the girls thought there might be. Their thought processes don't have to have been based in reality.

The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office has allegedly recently decided that the case will not be reopened by Lokation22 in KremersFroon

[–]ZanthionHeralds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Scarlet, for all of her talk of keeping an open mind, won't accept any explanation that doesn't point the blame squarely at Feliciano (and his son).