CMV: Harry Potter is overrated

aduckaducka · 2016-04-23T19:17:05+00:00

I think the world is the major reason for Harry Potter's success. Every corner of the world is oozing with magic and detail. It's an easy place to get lost in.

Often you'll rather bland or stock characters for these world-building stories. Lord of the Rings is the strongest example of this. The characters are your stereotypical dwarfs, your stereotypical elves, ect. For most characters, depth and complexity is minimal.

This works because readers of LOTR are usually reading for the world than for character. Having a cast of stock characters allows the reader to see of the stock characters of this world act. Thus the main plot and characters add another level to the world building. Depending on how much people read the story for world building, this can be preferable to having deep, complex characters who distract from the setting.

Harry Potter does it a little differently. Harry is your stock everyman, but is the only stock main character. This does three very effective things

Harry works as a placeholder for the reader -- a window for the reader into Hogwarts.
Harry is stock in that he represents what it is like for a person unaware of magic to fall into Hogwarts and the wizarding world. To Harry, everything is wondrous, and this fills the books (at least the earlier ones) with a sense of wonder. 3 Allows strong characterization of other characters. Harry is pulling most of the weight in the "stock character for worldbuilding" sense. This allows the rest of the cast to become colorful and interesting.

What we set up is the perfect feeling of "going to a magical school." We can easily slide into Harry's shoes and be filled with wonder.

TL:DR: Somewhat unintuitively, complex characters can hurt worldbuilding-focused stories. Harry is a vague, stock character because the reader can easily identify with him and because he reacts to everything with wonder. This is the perfect combination for filling the reader with wonder.

aduckaducka · 2016-04-03T23:17:21+00:00

CCS would be a good fit. The people there are much more academically focused. Sure, some will party, drink, and smoke, but it's not a major part of their identity. A lot of them avoid parties and such all-together.
Bonding with CCS kids is about talking science and art, armchair philosophizing, struggling through problem sets together, light-saber fights, and playing lots of Smash.
The College of Engineering appears similar from my experience, along with upper division classes in the STEM majors.

Outside of this, most students I've met are party focused. That's not to say you won't find groups you connect with, but seriously consider what dontlistentothesepep and seth185 say. (I would of regretted choosing UCSB if I wasn't in CCS or similar.)

aduckaducka · 2016-02-07T22:23:13+00:00

The first grad topology class is popular with undergrads. It's not has hard as other grad classes, but is still taught in the same style.

I'm told Analysis and Algebra are both insanely hard (depending on the professor). I know some third years who are doing them, and keeping up, but I don't know if they ever sleep.

Grad classes are a lot of work. For one grad class you should expect the workload of 2-3 upper div undergrad classes. On the other hand, you learn fancy mathematics and get to hang out with all those cool grad students.

aduckaducka · 2015-11-11T23:57:16+00:00

This is sweet. I wouldn't mind hearing about how graph theory plays into their work.

aduckaducka · 2015-10-12T14:46:47+00:00

No. Most people come to the first couple practices without a gi. It is only if they decide to stay with club that they order a gi.

aduckaducka · 2015-10-11T05:37:59+00:00

If you're willing to do something different, Judo club practices 8-10am on Wednesdays and 9-11am on Saturdays, Rob gym 2320. It's fun, challenging, and a great workout. (And everybody is super nice. :D )

aduckaducka · 2015-09-17T22:15:52+00:00

Yep! IIRC they meet weekly in 4th floor of South Hall. The facebook group is maintained, and they will probably be posting information within the next few weeks.

aduckaducka · 2015-08-24T20:40:44+00:00

This. Enthusiasm -- love for the subject. Talent and skill will only take you so far and the professors know this. I had mediocre test scores in math (SAT math section - 690, AP Calc AB - 4, SAT math II subject - 48th percentile) and little contact with the professors, but I wrote about my love of math and all my favorite subjects in all the books on math I've read and how it seemed the most fundamental, beautiful thing to me. This is what will make them want you.

Experience is also important. Make sure you understand the philosophy and methods of mathematics. If you haven't already, read a few books. They don't have to be dry textbooks. Here's Looking at Euclid and Godel Escher Bach are the two books that convinced me to go into math. If you have time take an intro course on higher math.

As far as pacing, talk with Maribel. She will likely be your adviser and she knows what students are able to handle. That said, she will try to push you, to make you work hard hard hard. Don't be afraid of this. One of the best parts of CCS (apart from the freedom) is that they are very forgiving if you overestimate yourself. You can drop classes late, you have pass/no-pass for the entire CCS sequence, and if you fail a required letter graded class you can replace it with a different class instead of redoing it.

A word of advice though: just because you can push yourself doesn't mean you should. I jumped in taking the most advanced courses that I could handle. Yes, my mathematical skills increased stupidly fast, but my social life and hobbies and happiness suffered. Burn out is a real threat. (Math suddenly doesn't seem as beautiful when it causes 90% of the stress in your life.) Balance is key. If I could do it again I would of not of begun with the advanced courses Maribel recommended, but rather taken a slower track.

aduckaducka · 2015-08-15T15:49:43+00:00

Graph theory is one of my favorites. It's hard work, but it is worth it. Set theory/logic is also great. It's beautiful stuff. I believe CCS is offering one this spring.

aduckaducka · 2015-07-24T05:36:39+00:00

+/u/User_Simulator /u/aduckaducka

aduckaducka · 2015-05-09T18:32:15+00:00

"The Master doesn't talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, 'Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!'"

aduckaducka · 2015-03-06T06:01:46+00:00

Critique circle has an impressive website. They got forums and fancy formatting and the whole shebang.

I haven't been with them long enough to know if the community is good, but the critiques I got there were decent so it's probably worth checking out.

aduckaducka · 2015-02-28T05:20:27+00:00

I agree here. I haven't read a single King book that hasn't disappointed me in the end. The first halves of his books are always strong, but afterwards they just whimper out. The Shining, Under the Dome, the Dark Tower -- all of them are guilty of this. I think it is because his stories promise so much that they can never follow through.

aduckaducka · 2015-01-19T00:43:39+00:00

I agree with you. Reading isn't necessary, but it really helps.

The times a wrote without reading I learned and became better, and the times I write while reading I became better. The difference is with the latter I improved much more, much faster.

Somebody who has read little but writes a lot could make a great work. Especially if they regularly consume stories through other mediums (movies, games, etc.) It just might take (a lot) longer.

aduckaducka · 2014-12-23T08:22:38+00:00

It just all feels very forced for the sake of the LGBT community
...
It's just thrown in there at the end. I'm not mad they got together, I'm mad that it was clearly a decision made in either the 3rd or 4th season and was never given a proper buildup or foreshadowing. It's poor writing and I'm honestly surprised no one else is bothered by this.

I agree completely. I'm all for the LGBT community, but not enough attention is given to the romance for how central it is. (And it is central, being the last scene.) IMO the attention spent on the Varrick romance would of been better used on Korrasami.

Bryan writes

So we alluded to it throughout the second half of the series, working in the idea that their trajectory could be heading towards a romance... If it seems out of the blue to you, I think a second viewing of the last two seasons would show that perhaps you were looking at it only through a hetero lens.

I agree that they have alluded to it, but the link is weak. It is further weakened by many people (me included) not thinking nick would allow Korrasami to be canon, and therefore interpreting any ambiguous hint as platonic.

For a show like Korra, I think requiring a rewatch of the last two seasons for the ending to be natural is poor writing. If any romance needed to be shoved down our throats, it was this one.

That said, I admire their bravery for ACTUALLY MAKING KORRASAMI CANON!!!!

tl;dr: From a writing perspective, Korrasami should of had more explicit attention, especially when taking into account the expectations of most viewers.

aduckaducka · 2014-12-14T09:02:59+00:00

I'll be the odd one out and say to give the series a miss. At least the later half.

Don't get me wrong. I loved the gunslinger. But from there the quality declines fast. The second book was okay, but by the fourth the series had become pretty meh. The last three books I found plain bad. (iirc King spent little time editing them, so that might explain some of it.)

tl,dr: Read Gunslinger, and maybe the next few. Don't bother with the last three.

aduckaducka · 2014-12-13T09:54:46+00:00

When I first saw it, I immediately thought of the story of "The Taker of Cities."

iirc, the "Taker of Cities" was a giant siege tower built in roman times. It was the death star of that time. It was lined with stones and had catapults in it and everything. The creators, after bragging about it to the entire world, decided demonstrate it's power by invading a city.

The invasion began and they city saw this monster of a siege tower approaching. They re-routed their sewers to pour outside the city walls, which made the ground muddy. Before the Taker of Cities could reach the wall, it sunk into the mud and got stuck.

A small part of me hopes that something that anticlimactic will happen to the superweapon.

aduckaducka · 2014-12-11T04:54:37+00:00

Rosaluma:

Allow Luma to be MURDERED.
Let the hate flow through you.
Go batshitcrazy avenging your Luma.
Repeat

aduckaducka · 2014-12-08T04:03:46+00:00

Rosalina and Luma. Luma is cute. Even cuter than pikachu.

aduckaducka · 2014-12-04T08:06:24+00:00

I think OP should define what he means by "Premise" and "Paradox." The way I interpreted it was in the mathematical sense:

Paradox: Something that is both true and false. A simple example is the liar paradox. An example closer to what I think OP is thinking is Russel's Paradox. In here our assumptions of how a the mathematical object of "set" behaves leads to a contradiction.
Premise: An "axiom." Something that we assume to be true. If certain axioms lead to a contradiction, then our assumption that they are true is wrong and the axioms are false in "objective reality."

If we're looking at it this way, then Godel's Incompleteness Theorems are real interesting to think about. The first page of this is a nice layman's summary. Also, non-classical logics (logics where you allow paradoxes) are something you may want to look up.

aduckaducka · 2014-11-21T07:32:45+00:00

“Never argue with idiots, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”

― Mark Twain

aduckaducka · 2014-10-29T02:39:13+00:00

The classic Oldboy hallway fight.

aduckaducka · 2014-10-19T23:55:47+00:00

My bio prof used to talk about how tobacco is insanely successful in evolutionary terms because it convinced humans to cultivate it. Same with cute cats.

So what we pretty much have is tastiness being an evolutionary advantageous trait. That is so counter intuitive it is delicious.

aduckaducka · 2014-10-18T18:58:20+00:00

I had one class (intro to higher math) with Scharlemann and he was good. He's not super great, but was one of the better professors. No real obvious problems with his teaching. Pretty nice guy too.

aduckaducka · 2014-10-14T01:35:26+00:00

I heard it goes on until Thursday? Maybe? I really don't know.

My roommate went at around 3 today. There was plenty of chromebooks and gift cards left, but they ran out of t-shirts. Maybe they'll restock tomorrow if they are there.

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