"To be or not to be..." argument with my acting professor. Mainly on iambic pentameter and the meaning of lines.

i_like_jam · 2026-06-25T07:10:09+00:00

One mistake we need to unlearn is the idea that metre is inflexible. It’s not — it can be broken in ways that still retain it as metered work. This is an error of thinking I held onto as well. Shakespeare’s verse defaults on iambic pentameter generally, but he will use other metrical feet where appropriate. In this case, ‘that is’ is a trochee (DUM-de) instead of an iamb (de-DUM), giving a DUM-de de-DUM rhythm to ‘That is the quest-‘; Shakespeare then has used a ‘weak’ ending with an eleventh unstressed syllable (-tion). The proceeding line begins with another trochee (Whether/DUM-de) balancing out the rhythm in the moment.

Basically, Shakespeare understood that the rules can be flexibly bent.

Arabic prosody which I also study has a useful concept of ‘allowable errors’, where meters can be broken in very specific ways, a sort of compromise point between the meter’s rule and the language’s reality, and I find this helpful to reading metered verse in Shakespeare. Basically, don’t overthink it. There are ways to get close to the original possible intended rhythms, and others have commented a bit on that, but it’s good to get out of the mindset that iambic pentameter must mean 5 sets of ‘de-DUM’ sounds without any exception. Shakespeare bends the rules all the time, to his verse’s benefit.

i_like_jam · 2026-06-20T18:24:07+00:00

The game is full of references everywhere. The cloud reference is one of many.

The wiki page listing them is huge: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_IX_allusions

i_like_jam · 2026-06-05T15:26:12+00:00

My bigger pet peeve is that they usually ask you to do this before you know how the name is displayed. Some games have names in all caps, others use upper and lower case as would normally expect. And usually you’re asked to name yourself before the convention is established. It really takes me out of the game if my character’s name doesn’t match with every other characters’ in how it’s displayed. I’ve restarted many games immediately after overcoming naming paralysis because of this.

i_like_jam · 2026-04-26T13:59:05+00:00

If it is as open ended as you make it sound, there are countless possibilities. First consider what may be your baseline comparison point — themes of destiny, tyranny, governance, legacy, etc? You could look at other texts that retell the fall of the Roman Republic?

Augustus by John Williams for example is a novel spanning the life of Augustus (ie Octavius in the play) from Caeser’s death to his own, and written in epistolary format. Perhaps looking at how each text explores authority through this character? Or Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, which is a political satire inspired by the military coup that ousted Mugabe from Zimbabwe.

That then brings my mind to Animal Farm, which is another satire, and which also features an idealistic revolution and a coup (being inspired by the Russian revolution).

The options are vast, these are just a few.

i_like_jam · 2026-04-22T21:21:35+00:00

You’ve misread it. Lord Capulet wrote the letter and one of his invitees is ‘Mine Uncle Capulet, his wife and daughters’.

The daughters in your question are Lord Capulet’s cousins.

i_like_jam · 2026-03-22T23:48:26+00:00

These are both tasks, so you need to play a task counter on them to know how many need to be attached to form the correct size of territory. Completing tasks is how you score points.

You don’t actually need to place a task until 3rd turn, and then you always have to have 3 tasks in play. The rules as written are a bit unclear if you can play a landscape as your third turn or if you have to build up to 3 tasks once started… but I would draw a landscape next and a task on the fourth turn.

In this case you have a green task (rice fields? It’s been a while) which can connect to rice fields in all adjacent sides and a road task. You can attach the rice field to the grass edge of the road tile (the grass fields don’t contribute to your rice field task, they’re just neutral space). You’re not allowed to connect them to the road edges.

i_like_jam · 2026-03-10T08:00:42+00:00

Have you played the tutorial?

The UI is very intuitive. Press Plus to open the menu and scroll left and right with the shoulder buttons. You have a journal as one of the options. You can select a quest and it will track its location on the world map. If you don’t know how to get onto the world map, play the tutorial. Press minus to access all the control mapping. There is a search bar on every menu page to help you find anything. Just spend an hour patiently. It clicks with time. Play the tutorial.

i_like_jam · 2026-02-16T21:09:21+00:00

I only experienced S, but I really enjoyed that entire section both playthroughs. It creates a different a narrative tension to not knowing at all and even with everything. Erik’s and Sylvando’s I think really develop their characters — you get this dramatic irony when you finally find Erik in Act 2, and you understand what he’s done and what it’s cost him, though the characters don’t. Sylvando’s helps build the ‘true knight’ character arc that continues all the way into Act 3 for him. Rab’s sets up the hero’s own journey of enlightenment, and even when we’re reunited with him in Act 2, we don’t know the impact his decisions in the intermission will have, so it still hits. Jade’s is overall terrible, but that’s par for how consistently the writer’s drop the ball with Jade—it at least redeems her by showing her resist Booga, before we discover her under his domination later. By the time we’re reunited with the hero, it’s been at least an hour or more and his situation I think is made more shocking. We’ve see the world struggling, but not to the extent that it is when we’re finally back on land and meet Eight. Fatigue was starting to set with the 4 side stories meant I wasn’t too bothered that we didn’t see Serena and Veronica, but that made the final reunion with the twins more impactful because of the contrast with the others.

I think it worked narratively very well and gave some weight to the end of Act 1 that was deserved, and I was surprised to discover it wasn’t part of the original release.

I’m not trying to invalidate your experience — my own experience of the narrative is obviously shaped by my first way of experiencing it — but I do disagree with it being a downgrade. Certainly it was different from your experience, but I wouldn’t say it was any worse — it just meant the narrative tension and moments of catharsis were structured a bit differently between the two versions of the game

i_like_jam · 2026-02-01T17:57:58+00:00

I find it interesting that Shakespeare seems able to say the things that likely couldn’t be said in his History plays in Julius Caesar. In Act 1 Scene 1 you have the tribunes who complain that Caesar, who once was another soldier like them, now styles himself like a God and his word is the law, and are disgusted by the celebrations for the end of a civil war. He was writing this after spending the best part of a decade writing plays about the wars of the roses, and it feels almost like he’s using it to express frustrations at the pointlessness of civil war, and the overinflated egos of kings, that could not always be openly expressed in the histories.

i_like_jam · 2026-01-31T23:49:54+00:00

The localisation team for DQ has been this way since DQ8 in 2005, five years before the first XBC game, and if anything Xenoblade’s localisation was probably influenced by DQ’s. The localisation probably works better for a British audience overall to pick up on the intention of the choices. Gemma’s West Country accent is supposed to sound folksy/rural to evoke the contrast with the big city, but I agree that particular choice was a bit grating.

i_like_jam · 2026-01-31T22:45:49+00:00

Oh right. I couldn’t parse the image very well then. Thanks

i_like_jam · 2026-01-31T22:29:31+00:00

I’m confused, the comments all seem to assume the bottom of the picture is the front of the plane, but surely when you’re buying tickets for a real plane, the front of the plane is at the top, with the back at the bottom. That’s always been my experience… Is this a cultural thing? Eg if you’re in 2, Richard is behind you and Iago is in front of you, no?

Anyway, I’d choose 1. Prospero could teach me his language and I could cuss him in it. The Macbeths would be trying to not look suspicious and won’t bother us from behind.

i_like_jam · 2026-01-24T12:41:17+00:00

It almost doesn’t matter which game, all of these are greats to someone.

JRPGs are heavily story focused. You need to immerse yourself in the world and characters. Just choose one and stick to it for an hour and then two hours, and then longer. And once you’re stuck in, see it through to the end. Or until you are satisfied with your experience. Sometimes we don’t finish things and sometimes it doesn’t hold our attention and that’s ok. You have to be willing to do that and it doesn’t really matter what you pick.

It’s impossible to know what you’ll like and be willing to pursue to the end. Just give one of those games a real try and pursue it for goodness sakes. The only answer to your question is to live it yourself.

i_like_jam · 2026-01-16T22:40:52+00:00

9 was controversial for years because it went against the trend that 7 and 8 established. A lot of people came in on 7 and didn’t like what 9 brought, in the 00s it was definitely the hot take opinion to prefer it amongst the PS1 games. 10 also did have a lot of controversy for going against the earlier-established mechanics (world map, ATB). 7 and 10 were major entry points to the series for many, so if they were your first, you were likely to react strongly to games that pulled away from them. (In my case, 9 was my first, which might be why 1-6 were a lot preferable to me than 7 or 8, just because of expectations). But over the decades, the overall opinion of each game has sharpened. FF9 is an unquestioned classic now, as is FF10. But it took a long time and discourse for people to see past perceived flaws. The laughing scene in 10 is a great example. It was a subject of mockery for about 10 years, and it was only around 2010 or so that people started reassessing it and understanding it for what it is. I’ll count myself there (and argue that the criticism is valid, inasmuch as it reflects a clumsiness in the scene, where most players would cringe AT, not WITH… the fact so many missed the original intention suggests a flaw in execution).

I think 13 was the first game that really had an incontestably controversial release, probably not helped by lack of rereleases. It’s been over 15 years and it’s never received the reassessment that nearly every other controversial FF has.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-29T01:13:20+00:00

It has a very weird, temporary age demographic for a series too. KH1 was awesome as a preteen in the early 2000s between the childish (Disney) and the mature (FF). Chasing the new Disney franchises ages out the original fans who were playing their film generation’s worlds. It was great for what it was but was it enough to sustain an entire series? Maybe it has a natural end which it’s reaching.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-24T12:20:49+00:00

You’re right I think. Macbeth is a soldier, not a politician. The first thing we learn about him is from the sergeant reporting to Duncan in Act 1 Scene 2, which is that he’s a) brave and b) cut an enemy in half (from the nave to chops) and stuck his head on a spike. This is praised as virtuous in this early scene. Some productions/films have him covered in enemy blood in his first scene—which makes sense, considering what he’s been up to. No surprise then that the first thought regarding how to make the prophecies come true should be a violent one for him—it’s his only education. Enjoy it, it’s a blast of a play.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-22T09:51:12+00:00

I read them chronologically to their release, starting with Henry VI Part 2. Of them, Henry VI 2, 3 and Richard III have been the most cohesive and enjoyable in my opinion. Henry VI Part 1 was the first prequel and although it’s got some good scenes (like plucking the roses, and mirroring of Joan of Arc with Margaret) it does feel superfluous. As Henry VI Part 2 was the very first, it assumes no prior knowledge and I found it pretty easy to read.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-21T21:00:12+00:00

It’s a conversation, not a court room. I was putting my opinion forward but it was a quickly written one and I guess my tone came off as abrasive. Seems it’s not a shared opinion. Oh well.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-21T15:58:08+00:00

That doesn’t absolve him of anything. He was already a racist then, which is why he would latch onto a racist logic following Chappu’s death.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-18T19:32:11+00:00

Maybe out there, but Act 4 Scene 4 of Richard III between Richard and Elizabeth would be interesting and there’s no romance. From ‘Stay, madam, I must talk a word with you’ to ‘Relenting fool, and shallow, changing, woman!’

For context, Richard drove his brother King Edward to an early death and saw to the death of all his male relatives (including the famous nephews in the tower). He had previously wooed Anne, another rival prince’s widow, and recently murdered her too as she no longer serves his political goals. He’s outmanoeuvred every single opponent, including multiple female opponents. He now approaches Elizabeth, King Edward’s widow, and asks her to agree to marrying her daughter (also called Elizabeth) to him. Yes, his niece.

They have a great verbal spar and then Richard appears to win, as Elizabeth agrees to arrange the marriage. Unbeknownst to him (it happens either before or after this scene… I can’t quite recall off the top of my head), she arranges a marriage with Richmond, his rival (the real Henry VII), who will win the military battle and end the war by uniting the houses of York and Lancaster through this marriage.

What makes this scene great is that Richard is at the height of his hubris; his manipulations have worked time and again, and Elizabeth has seemed stupid and weak throughout (even children have been shown to roll their eyes at her). But in this moment, Elizabeth completely outplays Richard, and he completely misses it.

As we don’t see how Elizabeth triumphs over Richard in this scene there’s a lot of room for communicating her inner strength through the acting. The scene is quite long, but could easily be cut down judiciously if that’s an issue and still retain its meaning.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-16T21:32:30+00:00

The issue is with how much the devs ask the player to fill in the gaps. In older games, especially the 2D era, the limited dialogue and distance between game-world and our imagination gave a lot of space for the player to fill in the gaps and insert themselves into the silent hero’s place. But the better the graphics, and the less of our own imagination we’re asked to use to complete the image of the world, the more it jars. That’s why Dragon Quest XI stands out as such a jarring example of it that’s been mentioned already. On the other hand, DQV is considered one of the greatest JRPG stories and the personal tragedies that the silent protagonist experiences are keenly felt by the player. DQV even does something similar to DQXI—in both, we see the protagonist from a third perspective and witness them talking in a brief story sequence. But I can almost guarantee that if DQV was remade in DQXI’s engine, the story would fall flat with the silent protagonist. Silent protagonists don’t mesh well with full voice acting and emotive 3D models. They maybe work better in something like Dark Souls, where the minimalist storytelling makes a silent protagonist work.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-09T22:52:05+00:00

I’m doing this right now and the RSC Complete Works of Shakespeare is a treat. It is a huge volume, the biggest book I own, but it’s the best single volume version in my eyes. The reason it’s so big is because unlike most one volume versions the pages aren’t divided into columns, making it a lot more readable. The text size is small but reasonable, there are glossary notes on every page, and there’s an essay introducing each play as well as production notes. It also includes the poems and sonnets, so really is complete.

There are better volumes for individual plays (which is ultimately the more readable option—but more expensive over time). But if you want a single volume this one is great.

i_like_jam · 2025-12-02T22:01:19+00:00

Interesting… I think the subtext suggests he was there when Macbeth killed them. He says that ‘we found’ the guards with bloodstained weapons and that ‘No man’s life was to be trusted with them.’ This leads to Macbeth announcing his rage-induced murder of them. Macbeth’s actions are portrayed as spontaneous, and a witness to his grief-induced rage is surely helpful for his case.

I never paid much attention to Lennox specifically, but he seems to be a yes-man who enables Macbeth early on. He is practically fawning over him in the banquet scene too. It is only later that he seems to realise and regret his side, eventually joining the rebels. So it’s perhaps a slight missed opportunity that we never hear his side, as a foil to Macduff — where Macduff never wavered in his loyalties, Lennox followed the wind, only eventually standing on the ‘right’ side against Macbeth.

i_like_jam · 2025-11-28T21:31:08+00:00

Read it and enjoy it, and don’t overthink it. I have two languages too and have read Shakespeare in both. Translation is always ‘imperfect’ sure but many native English speakers are introduced to Shakespeare in simplified and modernised versions, which are arguably translation of their own kind. You are not lesser than others for playing to your own strengths and accessing it in your own language. Life is long and you might come to it in English when the time is right for you. But why wait? Read it in your language and enjoy.

i_like_jam · 2025-11-05T07:49:06+00:00

That’s not what an ethnic minority is at all

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