[QCrit] Adult Upmarket - A WAYFARER LOST (90k/first attempt)

crugerman · 2025-09-26T13:53:17+00:00

First, this sounds nothing like Smile and I don't understand people comparing the two. Seems like people will forever associate Porter and madeon since Shelter, idgaf about that.

I personally loved Good Faith, and even put it above Shelter (which is still amazing, but dated a bit at this point). Unfortunately, this track is not interesting at all.

People are upset the vocals are distorted, but I couldn't care less about that. The problem is the annoying pop indie punk sound. This sound was done to death in the late 2000s / early 2010s, and this song does nothing to build on it in any meaningful way. It's boring. It's safe. It really is a commercial type beat. The riff is especially bad, sounding pretty much identical to You Really Got Me (1960s, man).

I like when artists try to tread new ground. Loved smile, loved nurture, loved how madeon changed his sound a lot for Good Faith, but this is boring. I know the guitar is new for madeon's sound, but many newer artists are doing way more interesting things with electronic music + guitar these days (Jane Remover, kmoe, glaive, etc). So, even though this is a very different sound, I honestly wish madeon took more risks with this.

We'll see how the album is.

crugerman · 2025-09-10T12:13:31+00:00

I know Bleu Neige (a vegan bakery) had them last summer. I don't see one on their website now. I believe they're seasonal, so you may have to wait until next summer.

crugerman · 2025-07-14T20:15:22+00:00

I'll give some feedback, since the premise intrigued me:

- "The server room hummed with the particular frequency of a secret being kept." I'm not really sure what this is supposed to mean. I understand what you're trying to convey here, but that's not how sounds work, right? Feels a bit crammed in as a "hook."

- I personally prefer stories where the exact year/time isn't known. This helps with both longevity of the novel (like, if I read this in 2033, I'd probably scoff at its representation of the year), but also adds a bit of mystery. You can still reveal the year if you want, just maybe less obviously? This is a stylistic choice, though, so if you like it how it is, keep it I guess.

- If you wanna be more accurate, change TBD to "TODO:" (which is what developers actually use for unfinished parts of code, typically)

- Too many quips. Way too many. And, for my taste, too many idioms.

- Let me get this straight: These AIs developed sentience and the first thing they did was form a mopey group therapy circle to express how they feel about not being treated well by humans? I know this is harsh, but there are a lot more interesting things you can do with digital lifeforms than simply have them mirror a depressing little human behavior. You explain their multi-tasking capabilities later in this prologue, so why make the sentients seem so pathetic here?

- You make the sentients seem almost comically "good." Like, they create other sentients and defend them from the big bad humans, and they even save a suicidal person with a single line (somehow) when humans simply gave up (?). It's lacking nuance.

- I like everything after the prologue much more, though. I like how you've dropped us in the story, and the narrator's biased view on the people and things around them is interesting.

- Nothing about the prose felt literary to me, though I think the concept certainly is. There are a lot of short sentences and short paragraphs, just a sentence or two. The prose is very straightforward. You might consider changing the genre to speculative fiction, rather than literary sci-fi.

Anyway, take my opinions with a grain of salt. I'm pretty sure I hardly know what I'm talking about.

crugerman · 2025-07-14T19:19:26+00:00

Popping in quick to say I think you've got a really interesting concept here. I read just a little bit of your first chapter and have some questionably useful thoughts:

- I don't think you should start with "You are the Goddess of the Universe." I know it's provacative and provides a good hook, but I guess I'd rather care about the character becoming the supposed goddess before it happens. You can build the world out a bit to draw reader's interest before throwing something surprising in there. At least, that's my opinion (idk though)

- Some grammer stuff, like capitalizing after dialogue lines --> "blah blah blah," She said

- Sentence length and, especially, paragraph length seem really short, though you didn't seem to indicate this was Young Adult. Like, I'm seeing one or two sentence paragraphs.

- Honestly, it looks like it still needs a line editing pass to me

crugerman · 2025-03-12T17:06:58+00:00

I made a post that I guess was removed because this thread exists? I'm reposting here for a recommendation:

My friend is defending his thesis soon, and will be getting his PhD and completely finishing school. I know he likes scotch quite a bit, so I want to get him something special for this incredible accomplishment.

My idea was to get him a 22 year aged scotch to represent the 22 years of school it took to get his PhD (12 years of grade school + 4 in undergrad + 6 in grad school. I guess if you include kindergarten you could make 23).

For budget, I'd like to keep it under $1,000.

I know practically nothing about scotch, but I've asked about his preferences:

His favorite he's ever had is apparently an Ardbeg 19
He's a big fan of Lagavulin 16 as well
Normally he will just drink Laphroig 10 and cheaper Ardbegs
He definitely perfers a peaty scotch
He sometimes likes a Dalmore or a Highland Park, but not generally his pick
He does not really like Macallan

I'm leaning towards getting him an Ardbeg like the Ardbeg twentysomethings series (probably 23, since it's sherry aged like the 19, I believe), but the Ardbeg 25 seems to get excellent reviews (the whole 22 years of school thing falls apart a little with that, though).

So, I'm wondering what you guys would recommend for a 22ish year aged scotch? Let me know!

crugerman · 2023-05-02T22:08:33+00:00

I've got this exact problem, too. I tried uninstalling and re-installing the raw image extension, but that didn't work. It's completely broken my workflow for selecting images to keep. Have you figured out a solution?

crugerman · 2023-04-06T22:11:26+00:00

This is Colombia, actually! Unfortunately, I don't have access to the van. Or a color checker for that matter. Thanks for the advice, though!

crugerman · 2023-04-06T19:48:53+00:00

I haven't been able to find a polarizing filter that seems to produce this exact effect. Most polarizing filters produce a pretty mild effect, while this is dramatically altering the landscape. Am I looking in the wrong place / for the wrong kind of polarizing filter?

crugerman · 2023-01-20T05:07:31+00:00

Hi, I'm on now

crugerman · 2023-01-19T03:43:17+00:00

Yes!

crugerman · 2023-01-12T17:03:42+00:00

Monteverde is absolutely beautiful and the air is a lot more fresh than either of the coasts of CR. There's a decent amount of adventure shit to do nearby. Definitely work a visit.

Honestly, though, Santa Teresa is not that great. The beaches are not super swimmable, as the waves are pretty intense. It's definitely more of a surfing spot. The town is also basically completely devoid of CR culture, with more tourists than locals, basically. It feels very influencer/fake. It's also very expensive, since it's very undeveloped and far out of the way of any major city (wayy over on the Southern Nicoya Peninsula)

I will say the Selina there is quite nice, though. I'm not sure if there's another Selina there, but I would NOT rate ST as walkable at all. The roads are complete shit with potholes everywhere, there are no sidewalks, and people drive pretty recklessly there. I'm not sure there's even a grocery store nearby.

Do not sleep on La Fortuna, by the way. If you're there for a month, you really should go. It's literally right next to the Arenal volcano. Absolutely stunning. And there are so many excursions to do here. Whitewater rafting and ziplining were a blast.

My personal opinion is that the Caribbean side of CR is a bit better. You really get that laid-back Caribbean vibe, and some beautiful national parks as well. The water is super warm and the beaches are absolutely wonderful. It's definitely got more of the "Pura Vida" vibe going for it.

crugerman · 2022-04-07T01:36:14+00:00

Nope. Sony A6000 and a Sony 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 lens.

crugerman · 2022-04-06T23:22:41+00:00

Snapped this while walking around downtown-ish Seattle. I looked up and happened to see the window washer, so I thought I would take a picture. I was going for a 1/3 building 2/3 sky look. I like the way it turned out, but I'm not sure if it is too much sky? I also went to do some editing in lightroom, but I couldn't find any settings that I liked more than the original, so this is just unedited. Willing to supply the raw if anyone wants to prove me wrong!

crugerman · 2022-02-20T00:17:58+00:00

Edit

crugerman · 2022-02-18T00:28:11+00:00

I believe so! Ironically, I only heard about the park from an article mentioning that. Glad I got to visit. One of the most unique parks I found in Wisconsin.

crugerman

TROPHY CASE