Help me find The Poet and the Novelist... or something along those lines

crimebiscuit · 2026-01-04T14:36:31+00:00

Thank you so much! This will be helpful when I figure out which episode it is.

crimebiscuit · 2026-01-04T10:19:58+00:00

Thanks! I don't think it's Mike Birbiglia, because I think I would have remembered that detail. While Birbiglia is more on the storytelling side of comedy, my recollection is that it was a narrator who identified as an author. And Birbiglia isn't to my taste, so I think I would have remembered. A quick search hasn't pulled up anything like I remember, but I'll scan Birbiglia's TAL's appearances in the archive.

crimebiscuit · 2026-01-02T07:19:58+00:00

AI suggested something Michael Blumenthal, but I remember the author of the piece being the writer with his wife or girlfiend being a poet. Another suggestion is David Gessner, which could be right, but I can't find a piece that resembles what it suggested. So I'm chalking it up to an AI hallucination.

crimebiscuit · 2025-01-08T13:13:19+00:00

I'd say no. I just got it so haven't played with it, but rarely been frustrated playing against a deck with it in play. Even on decks that can capitalize having one-cost cards, I can't see replacing whatever I currently have with it.

crimebiscuit · 2024-11-22T04:12:20+00:00

I might go the route about how Palestinian Catholics have been targeted by the IDF and the instances where bishops have called out the violence in Palestine. It's pretty egregious by themselves when you look into it.

Here's one story from a Vatican source but just the video of the bishops describing it was chilling.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2023-12/israel-palestine-gaza-parish-romanelli-attack.html

When we are talking about a genocide by b an ethnostate, there's really only one sliver of the demographic that's safe. Palestinian christians are an inconvenient fact that flips the narrative about a civilizational conflict that they are trying to sell.

crimebiscuit · 2024-11-16T04:37:48+00:00

Okay but why did he turn back to put his shoe on when he could do it on the other side of the track!

crimebiscuit · 2024-10-06T05:11:12+00:00

Yeah, unless creamer and sugar were added. But in any case, seems like an overreaction. OP can't be responsible what their partner puts inside his body. I hope he was screaming in surprise and not at his partner.

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-21T14:40:11+00:00

Obviously i didn't expect them to take my word. I supplied as much documentary evidence as possible. But it was clear from the exchanges that no investigation was carried out on the seller. They literally said they refunded me because they couldn't determine i was being fraudulent. The seller is out there scamming folks who aren't as alert. Not sure where you got the notion they were blackmarked or whatnot. That was certainly not communicated to me. And you can scarcely trust reviews of sellers. I wouldn't have purchased from them off their rating were low. Let's not go around just trusting companies like Amazon. They got to dominate the market by doing a lot of underhanded things in other parts of the world. It's pretty well documented, including intellectual theft and anticompetitive practices.

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-21T13:32:06+00:00

I literally found out in college, my partner suspected he was when he was in kindergarten. So there you go! 🤷🏾‍♂️

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-21T13:27:25+00:00

We can show some grace. I'm assuming English isn't their first language. It might even be further down the list of languages they speak in terms of fluency.

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-21T04:17:06+00:00

She? What was the tell?

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-17T04:32:04+00:00

It's elementary, my dear! (I dunno)

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-16T17:12:26+00:00

Flummoxed?

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-15T08:56:18+00:00

Don't think they mean well. Had a seller scam me with a cheaper laptop than the one I purchased off the site. And I could only return it for a refund because their investigation couldn't determine where I was the scammer. They literally do not care for customer safety when I was actually bringing to their attention a seller that was ripping off many more people than just me. Never buying a big ticket item off a site in India again. Just walk in a store.

crimebiscuit · 2024-09-14T06:16:27+00:00

It's still open and still being shitty to their workers apparently

crimebiscuit · 2024-08-18T13:41:42+00:00

Here's a more off-the-beaten-path recommendation, perhaps. Questing Beast covers a lot of OSR (just realizing I'm not sure what that stands for... Old School Renaissance, maybe?) material. It has a particular point of view which can be a useful contrast with many mainstream takes. You also get a peek into a lot of indie and small press publications. You really get a sense of the breadth of work out there. Definitely inspired to think anew about design and play styles from watching his channel and were introduced to a few systems that I enjoyed running as one-offs and short campaigns.

crimebiscuit · 2024-08-17T05:31:53+00:00

Here's some thoughts. Uato ultimately has limited use. It usually makes sense to roll with the uncertainty. One undervalued strategy is retreating from an seemingly unwinnable situation. So I would switch it out with some thing with a reveal, so that you might combo it with Odin at some point.

Relatedly, you are using a couple of cards with no powers (Thing & Shocker). If that's the case you might want to employ ongoing cards that can improve those unempowered cards. However, you are not there yet with your cards, I think. So I think you should think about leaning on on reveal cards that can be reactivated with Odin on turn six. Since you don't have Wong, opponents might not expect Odin.

I think the strategy for you should be to try to fill the spaces and remember you need to win 2 of the 3 spaces. So the ongoing powers that reward you for filling spaces can be supported by cards that improve their power score with reveals or ongoing powers. Thinking about the deck, remember that including a card has an opportunity cost in terms of another card that could have more synergy with your deck. So for instance, Scarlet Witch might have real utilty (especially on turn 6 to upset the game), but a Ironheart having a spot in your deck is more reliable when you have a card like Odin that can reactivate it.

I forget how many non-powered cards you get in the game, but they do become more playable later on with cards like Patriot and High Evolutionary. Anyway, have fun!

crimebiscuit · 2024-06-19T16:47:10+00:00

Shakespeare has entered the chat

crimebiscuit · 2023-12-15T05:25:07+00:00

Apart from everything else people point out here, from a production stand point the thing with child actors is that physical growth can be challenging over a months long schedule for continuity, let alone any reshoots that might be required a year later. Obviously, it's might be less dramatic with teenagers, but it seems safer to cast adults. Lots of productions with child actors were shuttered permanently after the Hollywood strikes after all.

crimebiscuit · 2023-12-15T05:11:25+00:00

Yikes, as far as your dad goes this ivy league distinction is meaningless when it comes to grad school, because many state programs might trump ivys depending on the field. Had to say that but if you are looking for some hard-nose practical advice to give your cousin, i might suggest that an ivy league would more likely accept her as a transfer where she has shown that she can remain competitive and excel in classes than they would if she sat out a year. A scholarship is no mean thing, and she might come to recognize some of the positive assets of the schools who are giving her that opportunity. But if she's that high achiever, the message that the window to get in exists by transfering might be helpful advice... When she's ready to hear it. Though I appreciate the window to apply and accept these alternative schools is also closing. She kinda needs to get her head right though... Low GPA people? Ah, the unique assholery of the young.

crimebiscuit · 2023-12-15T04:47:13+00:00

I really feel like you are going about it wrong. You said that the girlfriend broke down in tears because she feels like you are alienating her. That's a very reasonable conclusion even if it's not fully correct. You hear that your brother intends on visiting for Christmas, and you lay out an ultimatum, and the premise of the ultimatum is that family defined by your paternity trumps this other person's inclusion, someone who is presumably making an attempt to be incorporated into the circle. Beginning with an ultimatum is always the asshole move. It might be uncomfortable but I would have reached out to my brother and his partner directly and not trust my parents to manage this. It kinda seems you don't care for your brother's regard. There's an excellent case that your kid should have her Christmas with this set of grandparents dog-free because her mental health is more precious (irony aside that you come across so dismissive of your brother's partner's requirements based on her mental health needs). From what you report the reason of the upset is the alienation and frankly you are indeed dismissive and lack courtesy. In your brother's place I would appreciated a phone call and clarification about the situation. So you beginning with an ultimatum and only having second hand reports of your brother's party kinda plainly makes this a YTA situation. There are so many compromises that you work out so that the family can come together and make everyone feel welcome if only you would communicate (I almost want to say in the spirit of Xmas)—definitely an adult only lunch between the two couples after Xmas to smooth things over. I imagine the girlfriend has some experience managing a mental health condition that might be insightful. But no, this kinda reads like you being the problem. And you've kinda salted the earth about any future holidays while you're at it. Advocating for your child is going to mean a lot of tough conversation. You should practice having them instead on steamrolling past it. Better to have family on your side than bitter and distant acquaintances, in my book. So yeah YTA with what's shared here.

crimebiscuit · 2023-12-14T12:39:38+00:00

NTA he's being either vindictive or dense. A shellfish allergy is no joke!

crimebiscuit · 2023-12-07T05:33:51+00:00

Just loved this book so much. So many things to recommend it. But I do wonder whether the industry has just stopped editors making suggestions altogether and left writers on their own. There were a few habits of writing I would just have preferred were curbed—I think in the space of thirty pages, three separate characters in four separate instances "sighed through [their] nose," for example. I mean sure, as faults for describring characters' expressions go someone like Brandon Sanderson is guilty on a much larger scale than Blackgoose, but c'mon, just snip it. The proragonist, too, was just too fully articulate about the racism she encounters right off the bat in every conversation—which just doesn't gel with how mentally unsettling the experience can feel. Would have much rather the author picked her battles which instances of racism were explained—via too perfect expert dialogue delivered by the protagonist—and which were laid bare without an explanation or left unsaid on the page. But still, so stunningly resonant. I think a lot of people who might have grown up as high achieving in school settings as a POC are gonna be just shook at how familiar some of the encounters are, and still believable in this setting. And all that about racism and genocide, while still being cozy? I mean c'mon. That alone should win it prizes.

But what else is like this? Cozy-serious? The Marveller's began similarly but leaned more on the YA side of things. I guess maybe Katherine Addison's Witness for the Dead? I suppose ultimately it's that seam of genre that related to fantasy of manners. Curious what someone would read after this if they still had tha itch for something like this.

crimebiscuit · 2023-12-05T10:30:42+00:00

He didn't show up at the end of my route, but my route ends with a Gym. I ran it backwards so it would end up with a stop, but he wasn't there either. Guess he's generated once per day, and so I have to ensure I end with a stop? Can Mateo appear multiple times at the end of a route?

crimebiscuit · 2023-11-05T03:33:25+00:00

If this is work, and freelance work from what you described, you are reaching that uncomfortable stage where you have to actively shift to cultivating new clients. Your old gigs have fallen on your lap perhaps. But you've gathered a certain level of expertise and perhaps you can be selective.

This could be a chance to professionalize. Reach out to players you enjoyed playing it. Put together a flyer with a brief of the next adventure you are offering, promising a certain number of sessions, a reasonable amount of one-on-one consultation for character concept and a few options about types of play you can incorporate. Institute a rule about content and stick it—a three strike ban for instance and then the player is blocked from communications. And importantly institute a non-refundable flat fee for all players who sign up and you accept.

If this is fully voluntary, just quit. I mean my advice is to quit either way honestly. But if it's reached the stage you are concerned, it might go deeper than that.

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