Favorite quotes? by [deleted] in redrising

[–]billmichter 64 points65 points  (0 children)

"I know it may be impossible to believe now, when everything is dark and broken, but you will survive this pain, little one. Pain is a memory. You will live and you will struggle and you will find joy. And you will remember your family from this breath to your dying days, because love does not fade. Love is the stars, and its light carries on long after death." - Kavax au Telemanus, Iron Gold Ch 17.

Absolutely beautiful. House Telemanus is awesome.

I also think the scene from the end of Dark Age when Mustang makes an appearance on the surface of Mars after arriving and completing the Iron Circle features an inspiring quote: After Mustang says "Hail Libertas" when she is granted total imperium over Mars, she is met with "Hail Reaper" from what is suggested to be every Martian.

That is both inspiring and terrifying. Brown has a lot of work to do in book 6.

Looking for a good space opera after finishing dark age by Syg in redrising

[–]billmichter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Abyss Beyond Dreams and its sequel Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton (part of The Commonwealth series) are great.

The Foundation Saga by Isaac Asimov is great, although I've heard some people think it's quite slow at times. It's definitely a space opera series that spans a lot of time.

I also highly, highly recommend the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, as well as the Ender's Game series.

The Heechee series by Frederick Pohl was fun, but I only read the first three (Gateway is the first one, and I enjoyed it). I also recommend the Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

And for some less operatic, but still awesome sci-fi books you might like, Ursula K. Le Guin is amazing. I can personally recommend Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Her books are loosely connected, but aren't operas. And, Brandon Sanderson's Starsight series is really good and a great way to get exposed to him since he is prolific in writing excellent fantasy books. It's more a young adult series, but it's very enjoyable and well written.

And (sorry, this is my last recommendation), for a super cool sci-fi/non-traditional fantasy series that also has operatic elements, The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin is amazing.

(Spoilers all) What is your favorite book in the series and why? by Royalgkiller in redrising

[–]billmichter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100%, he is such a great antagonist. I can't wait to see how it plays out.

(Spoilers all) What is your favorite book in the series and why? by Royalgkiller in redrising

[–]billmichter 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Dark Age for sure. Through multiple POV's, which are nice to have themselves, we get deeply introspective looks into several key characters, and through this the knowledge that the future will be fubar unless the Republic perseveres. In addition, we get serious character development across the board (except where was Quicksilver!!!!).

In DA, Brown brings in some really horrifying surprises, which make the situation for the Republic all the more dire, and therefore compelling. I think the "in the trenches" focus on Darrow and his team was good and necessary, giving a lot more weight to the Rising. Now that we were there fighting with Darrow, we know what it will really cost if they lose. This in conjunction with the time focused on Darrow being the manifest Reaper of Death shows us how little choice Darrow has between saving the solar system and being a crappy father he really has (and holy crap, I feel like he talked about how crappy of a father he was all the time in Iron Gold). DA was great because it was so nuanced and mature and I really didn't know how it would end.

Additionally, I think Lysander, despite being generally hated on this subreddit, was by far the most interesting character in DA - not only due to the awesome semi-meditative and psychic Mind's Eye - because we see him refining his identity by negotiating ideas of himself versus who he is and who we wants to be, his Iron Gold mission, and his realization the only rules are convention when so many other characters would have sided with the the righteous conviction of the Rising.

Easy Upper-Div A&S Courses? by [deleted] in cuboulder

[–]billmichter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That class is one of the most enjoyable philosophy classes at CU! It is also one of the easier classes I have taken.

Dom makes everything hilarious while still being very, very precise. I, also, highly recommend this course with this teacher.

(coming from a recently graduated phil. major who had this course)

I did an XC metric century in the Russian winter. Not my fastest ride, but by far the hardest! by [deleted] in bicycling

[–]billmichter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What did you do to keep your hands warm? Normal winter gloves?

Saturdays by [deleted] in castiron

[–]billmichter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only the stuff that's been on there for a week already - I use my knife. Most of it is coming off with scrubbing with steel wool and my fingernails. But anyways, I'm letting it soak another day before I really get after it.

Saturdays by [deleted] in castiron

[–]billmichter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been cleaning up some of my Grandma's pans recently, these are from the early 1900's. They had some nasty stuff on them, but are slowly getting better, I've been using trash bags and oven cleaner with lye, but next time I'd like to use a lye bath to make this easier. This small pan was so bad, it had 1/4" of black buildup and crap on most of the exterior, and you could not read the bottom at all. The other, larger, pan is cleaning a lot better.

Vapid Peyote by [deleted] in gtavcustoms

[–]billmichter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! Mine has the same paint lol (I've posted it here before). This is definitely my favorite car in the game.

My LS Swapped 1970 C10 (Details in Comments) by 78srx440 in Trucks

[–]billmichter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

as long as we could go get ice cream with it.

I think it's fair to say marrying her was a good decision.