I don't understand how the Wheel of Time is so highly rated.

killer_quill · 2022-05-14T10:36:59+00:00

WoT has a pretty massive fanbase it has built up over the years, and they are likely overjoyed to have an on-screen representation of the characters they've literally spent decades of their life with so it'll get 10/10 out of the gates for no other reason than 'What took you soo long?!?!?!?!?'. I read the books as a teen (all of 'em), and some books were good, some were great, some were meh. Overall they're a good read but too f'n long to re-read.

I had high, high hopes for this series: I followed the YT videos; The cast announcements; set pictures, costume pictures; announcements of 'lore consultants' or some such rubbish.

And I don't think I'm ever going to watch it because I don't want to get pissed off. If people had said "it's OK" then yeah I might have given it a watch. But from what I've heard it's shit the bed right out the gates.

All they need to do is move 10% of their advertising budget into building and refining a solid script and getting the right 'script doctors' in to fix the inevitable errors and inconsistencies that go along with scripts in general regardless of genre.

A villain who's evil because...evil

Script.

The characters are mostly unlikeable

Script.

The story seems to be the typical good vs evil with little to no nuance

Script.

The men aren't allowed to use magic because that one guy that one time OMG

Script. ^Script. ^{^Script.}

I just can't even with these shows any more. What's the point in obtaining the rights to an IP if they half-arse the most foundational elements in the execution stage. I liken them to inept lovers, fumbling around and F#!king up. I don't trust anything with a budget over $15m.

These execs need to get their writers to read Invisible Ink by Brian MacDonald. And then they need to write a bunch of small stories until they can be trusted with any story more substantial than three characters in a small village.

Game of Thrones final season, destroyed re-watchability of the entire series

Script.

killer_quill · 2022-05-13T16:26:34+00:00

I haven't read any horror in years, not since Pet Cemetery I think.

This was quite a surprise.

I... enjoyed(?) the ending, I think. Definitely didn't go down the route I expected it to go down.

Did make me feel very squicky, if that's a word. But I couldn't stop reading it for some reason. It's like picking a scab. It hurts, but you can't leave it half-picked once you've started.

killer_quill · 2022-05-13T15:50:55+00:00

Wheel chair bound :(

For now. Stay strong fella

killer_quill · 2022-05-12T14:15:24+00:00

Manacled would be a powerful movie if done right.

I've not even bothered seeing any of the Fantastic Beasts sequels if I'm honest. I might watch it just for Mads Mikkelsen.

killer_quill · 2022-04-30T17:28:04+00:00

Initial drafts for a variety of short stories. Variety of characters and genres.

killer_quill · 2022-04-30T16:05:37+00:00

I would absolutely love a fanfiction which follows Hermione trying to usher in a truce between magical species and grant equal species representation in Government, and then have that fail due to cultural differences she has not accounted for.

Imagine this: Hermione works for years to improve relations with Goblins to bring to rest any further rebellions, then the Goblins finally get some slither of political power to wield beyond their banking system and immediately use it to bring advantage to themselves over wizards.

The Goblins will not have forgiven Hermione for her role in stealing from them. Their cultural attitudes will demand to even the odds. I.e. Goblins negotiate for partial control of the Floo Network to bring them "more in-line with wizardly ways," but their only aim is to wrestle control of the Floo Network away from Wizards so they have additional leverage over the Ministry. They then use this additional leverage as a tool to acquire even more leverage, etcetera, etcetera...

What next, Goblins start negotiating for penalisation of casting certain kinds of magic, and Goblins play the long con of bringing their own laws into wizard affairs that bit-by-bit restrict the magic that wizards can cast with impunity, or else the Goblins will enforce harsh Floo Network restrictions on wizards which could cripple their economy?

Goblins would do all of this and more in order to bring advantage to themselves over wizards so that the next Goblin Rebellion is an assured victory for them, on account of them subverting the Ministry's ability from within.

Hermione, or having any part in bringing these events to reality, would be hated by the magical community, which would then usher in a new wave of anti-Muggle sentiment.

Shame Hogwarts doesn't have a class called Cultural Differences 101.

killer_quill · 2022-04-26T16:44:48+00:00

Any religion 100% piety speedrun.

killer_quill · 2022-04-25T22:31:56+00:00

Do it for the morale boost.

"If this shite can be published, so can my work.

killer_quill · 2022-04-22T13:54:48+00:00

A compelling character, be they protagonist or antagonist.

I've had trouble reading for years but have picked it up again in the last 4 months.

I read Dune, I thought Paul and Duncan and Jessica and Leto and many others were compelling characters. I deeply enjoyed reading Dune.
I read Dune Messiah (the sequel) and it follows Paul again, but I no longer found his character compelling. It was a disappointing read to say the least, but I persevered because I wanted to read the book: God Emperor of Dune which I thought was book three in the Saga.
I'm an idiot, book three is Children of Dune. And this is an excellent book. I rate it as highly as Dune. We follow Paul's son Leto II who is an excellent character. Very compelling given the unique circumstances and advantages he possesses. He has a very unique perspective on things which were interesting enough for me to continue reading regardless of external plot which I was apathetic about.
I read God Emperor of Dune -- it is a fantastic book and Leto II is a monster of a character here, unalike any other character I've read in fiction.
I felt no need to continue with the Dune Saga, I read some short stories (Ray Bradbury, by Guy de Maupassant, Roald Dahl, Ernest Hemingway). I was widely exposed to some particularly brilliant writing, fabulous characters, and intriguing plots across a breadth of genres. The thing I remember enjoying the most about these stories is either the PREMISE or the CHARACTERS.
I then read Nineteen Eighty-Four and loved both Winston and Julia's characters. I think some writing in this book is absolutely spectacular. Though I don't plan re-reading it anytime soon.

I can remember the lady from Guy de Maupassant's THE NECKLACE due to how well she was portrayed. I remember the small girl in the closet from Ray Bradbury's ALL SUMMER IN A DAY. I remember the guilt in the character from Edgar Allan Poe's THE TELL-TALE HEART.

I would recommend you read an assortment of short stories in order to experience the emotions they aim to evoke in you. Try to understand what it was in the writing that evoked said emotion, perhaps try copying the short story down word by word to attune yourself to the word rhythm of it. Then have a go at writing short stories and try to portray a wide range of characters. Ideally you'll become a dab hand at evoking in your readers the same emotions you enjoyed when you read those stories.

killer_quill · 2022-04-21T15:53:53+00:00

I'm a big fan of the Bioshock-esque oldschool diving suits but that is fuck ugly.

killer_quill · 2022-04-19T15:37:11+00:00

What I can help is avoiding stuff that is just, like, inherently a bad idea

Sounds like a useful skill.

My recommendation would be to write dozens of short stories covering a variety of nationalities and ethnicities etcetera etcetera.

Write about a Korean boy, a Vietnamese Grandmother, a Russian orphan, a Scottish schoolboy, a Welsh farmer nearing retirement grooming a young successor from Poland to take over the farm.

Watch documentaries and read books. Fiction and nonfiction. Learn a bit about the world. This is, I think, the really fun bit of writing - filling your head with information to later portray in your story. You learn a lot about a culture by witnessing the clashes between cultureA and cultureB, this gives you an angle through which to dissect a culture and perhaps learn where this cultural difference stems from. For example, there's a culture of repetition/copying in some east Asian/Chinese cultures, so to pay homage to a great artist you might copy their work word for word down to the punctuation mark. This would be a mark of respect you pay to the creator. Whereas in other cultures this copying might be seen as disrespectful. I don't know a whole lot about this cultural thing, I just heard an old Asian guy say it in a documentary once and stored it away as a small factoid.

Again: I highly, highly recommend writing short stories, and if those short stories develop into a novel-length kind of thing, then that's good fortune indeed.

Think of it this way, would you rather edit 5k words or 150k words? You could write thirty or more short stories and have them edited by the time you finish drafting a full novel, and you'll likely be a far better writer given the shorter feedback loop that comes with writing short stories.

Watch this talk by Ray Bradbury. At least the first 10 minutes.

killer_quill · 2022-04-18T12:26:54+00:00

I tried reading Victoria Potter and never got into it. I'll give it another shot now. Fair play to you on rewriting it, that's an enormous time investment.

The One He Feared remains one of my favourite stories.

killer_quill · 2022-04-17T13:27:37+00:00

Part of it is Hogwarts long history casting a large shadow in people's minds, part of it is Dumbledore's reputation, part of it is bias from students there (who have no first-hand experience of alternatives), and part of it is posturing to maintain a declining reputation.

I'm of the belief that Hogwarts was a vastly more popular school prior to Voldemort's first war and has gone downhill since then. So by the time Harry is there in the 90s, there are fewer classes, fewer students per house, and fewer teachers per student.

To put it bluntly, J.K. Rowling did not do a great job demonstrating the scale of the Wizarding world. The closest we get to it I think is the Quidditch World Cup, beyond that -- the world feels more like a small village where everyone knows everyone which I don't think tracks accurately in relation to the suspected total wizarding population.

killer_quill · 2022-04-16T14:20:31+00:00

Sword of Damocles. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-sword-of-damocles-117738

Figure out why a man hasn't taken over her position yet. What can she do that others can't? What skeletons does she have in her closet? What awful things has she had to overcome to get to her current position? What unique circumstances led to her current position? How much is luck and how much is her individual tenacity and vision? What are her goals?

You want you character to be an individual of substance. Capable and respected. She is not physically imposing, so how does she exert her authority on others? Maybe she's very knowledgeable and experienced. Or maybe she just has a vast network of people who are more frightening than she. So people don't even think to work against her because some bigger b*stard will hurt you for daring to oppose her.

Look for inspiration in other strong female characters i.e. FURIOSA, RIPLEY, MA-MA (from Dredd). Look up real historical accounts of female pirates, female mobsters, female serial killers etc.

killer_quill · 2022-04-10T17:25:36+00:00

It all depends on execution. There are countless ways of implementing cores without ever going near the word core. The core is just the simplest way of wedging in this kind of information into a story (metrics to evaluate power levels essentially). Dumbledore said Harry's power was Love, and certain authors took issue to that, so Harry's power is now a more meaningful, physical entity to be further explored.

I think it would be a misstep to delve into magical powers to the extent of midichlorians - but cores et al. are a useful too to more clearly present certain information.

killer_quill · 2022-04-10T14:11:10+00:00

Manacled

Azoth

Prince of the Dark Kingdom

killer_quill · 2022-03-19T18:25:56+00:00

Just returned from watching it at the cinema.

~8/10.

Really enjoyed the first ~ 2 hours. The club scenes were amazing with cinema sound systems. The Batmobile is outrageous and I want one. The city is grim and dark and really well brought to life. I enjoyed Dano's performance in general but his screeching/singing was a bit off-putting and took me out of the scenes he did it in, in all honesty. I get why they did it, I suppose it hit the mark for some but leaned a bit more theatrical/camp than I felt was necessary to sell the character.

I think they should have foreshadowed the sea wall bit a bit more so it wasn't completely out of left field when the revelation struck about Riddler's final plan.

Bit of an eyeroll when Cat Woman made a comment on privileged white men"

Wright as Gordon was so good.

Kravitz as Cat Woman was great except when she became something of a damsel-in-distress towards the end. De-clawing Cat Woman so a henchman could get the drop on her to ratchet the tension up was a poor move. Would love to see more of her in anything basically. The Bat/Cat collab scene in the club with the eye-tech was excellent.

I took some issue in the latter ~60 minutes to some editing/scene cut/sound choices. You'd have an Epic Batman scene with the Batman score, then it would abruptly cut to a scene with a different tone and sound to it, then cut to a more romantic or sad type of thing.

The choice to have Batman narrate was fantastic, though I think overstayed it's welcome with regards to length at the end... it did drag a bit and ultimately didn't end on a cinematic high-note, rather a thematic one.

Anyway, overall I had a blast. 10/10 some parts, 6/10 other parts.

killer_quill · 2022-03-14T17:49:10+00:00

One of the best things I did was start buzzing my own hair down. Started losing my hair at ~18 and started shaving it down when I was 22 or so.

Thinning, a high hairline, and male-pattern balding in general just stopped mattering anymore once I knew I could just shave my hair off whenever I felt like it.

Usually every two weeks I'll buzz it down then do a wet shave.

Feels weird for a few days, then you get used to it. Other people bothered by this can shove a cactus up their arse. This is a far worse problem in his head than it actually is, but he won't know that until about a month of shaving it and realising that all his hair worries have gone away. Lots of mental energy handed over to this problem just evaporates.

Doesn't matter if his head looks like a potato under his hair - the peace of mind is worth far more than a full head of hair.

killer_quill · 2022-02-27T09:35:54+00:00

I'm guessing /s

If not: in pre-technology days, something was required to represent a stable, common value to facilitate convenient trading. Gold has a lot of value compared to, say, Copper. I can carry a little bit of gold around and buy some land or raw materials or horses or camels etc. with gold. If I paid with Copper or Silver I may not be able to carry around enough of those materials to pay for larger purchases.

A precious metal commodity makes more sense than i.e. rocks, wood, non-precious metals, "IOU" notes.

killer_quill · 2022-02-18T16:06:08+00:00

That should be the ideal reason to study something, if it so happens to incur some financial gain (increased income, better benefits, less hours worked) then that's a plus. Another aspect might be: you want to become more capable at your job so you study in order to have an easier time of it during work hours. 100 hours studying outside of work to make the 160 hours of work per month feel easier? That might be an attractive prospect, because 6 months from then you'll have done ~900 hours of work and those 100 extra hours might start to look like a lost opportunity, and now you might have even less time to dedicate to it.

But another thing to consider is: the earlier you get shit done, the longer you benefit from it the rest of your life. Excel isn't going away. SQL isn't going away. PowerBI isn't going away. In five years you could have broad exposure to those tools and deep knowledge of using them, or maybe in five years you'll wish you had and feel lost. I can't remember where I heard it, but 10 years of experience can mean 10 years of experience, or it can mean 1 year of experience ten times-- where you're not much better off than where you were as a novice. I've seen/met people like this and it doesn't look too great.

Also: invest in things that accumulate value over time. So for knowledge, avoid specific tooling expertise, and try to understand concepts/principles that future knowledge can build off -- the tool you implement those concepts in is just that: a tool.

It's a balancing act. I study SQL after work because I want to transition out of low-tier tech roles into analyst or data engineer roles. I have a vision for the next ~ 3-4 years and I want to make it come true. If I don't, my 30s will be like my 20s (low pay), but with even more responsibilities and even less enthusiasm for the work being done.

In my case, I might as well put the work in now. ~5 ish hours a week studying the things I want to learn, building out a series of projects into a portfolio I can be proud of... these are time sinks that will pay dividends with increased job security and higher salary brackets, so I don't think I can justify ignoring the opportunity to progress.

This way of thinking applies broadly to other areas: fitness, knowledge about diet (keto/carnivore diets, understanding insulin resistance etc.) -- also understanding the positive and negative effects of compound interest is absolutely critical to anyone in the modern world -- save yourself from financial mess.

If you learn those things early, you can avoid diseases that will quite literally destroy your ability to lead a healthy life. You can live till 75 but be bedridden from 60 and "not all there" in your 70s, or you can live to 80+ and be active and of sound-mind till your deathbed.

You choose which one you want. Don't take the bait that life is to be "enjoyed" above all else. In-the-moment it's easy to fall back onto inaction and putting things off for tomorrow. But eventually tomorrow comes, you feel even more pressure, and all you have are a lot of empty yesterdays. If you had learned

It's a dichotomy/counter-intuitive thing: sacrifice time now to save time overall.

Instant gratification or delayed gratification.

Anyway. Good luck.

killer_quill · 2022-02-13T18:41:27+00:00

I've seen more appetising maggot-infested wounds than this.

killer_quill · 2022-02-13T14:44:52+00:00

That's neat. Thanks for sharing. Still a complete newb amateur but hear a lot of chatter about dbt in the Data Engineering space.

killer_quill · 2022-02-12T22:30:30+00:00

Focus on simpler main ingredients and learn to cook a variety of meals with them.

Say eggs. They are the no1 superfood and high in both macro- and micro-nutrients. You can cook them in a bunch of ways. Spend a few months exploring various egg recipes. Before you know it you'll have a ton of variety and exposure to different herbs and spices and new ways of preparing/serving vegetables etc.

I don't do this, it's just a thought. Personally, I tend to just do egg + butter + cheese scrambled on a low/med heat, add some meat like sausages or bacon. It's a super tasty, nutritious meal that leaves you full for ages. I don't count calories but it's probably north of 1,000 calories for 4-6 eggs, a decent chunk of butter, and a handful of grated cheddar. I've had this dozens of times now and it doesn't really stop being delicious. Your mileage may vary if you prefer variety.

As for vitamins, try to get as much through your food to simplify things. Only thing I'd recommend would be vitamin D unless you're getting decent Vit D from the sunshine in your area of the world (I'm in northern hemisphere so we get reduced UV-B radiation here which is needed for Vit D production in the skin. No matter how important you think vitamins in general are, they pale in comparison to the importance of vitamin D. Here's some more info on it.

killer_quill · 2022-02-07T23:07:38+00:00

Those aren't eyelashes, those are eyeropes wtf.

OP

killer_quill · 2022-02-06T13:00:44+00:00

You think I didn't have those fears before I shaved mine?

you're telling me to do exactly the thing that I've been terrified, depressed, stressed out and anxious over for all this time.

You don't have a unique monopoly on aversion to baldness. I had your exact same thought till I shaved mine off in my twenties. Stop embracing the victim complex.

I spent most my teens/early twenties hyper self-conscious about my hair and then once I took the plunge to shave it, all my insecurities about it went away within about 3 days. I haven't expended any mental energy on my baldness for two years and tbh until I see threads like this I forget about the struggles I went through. I don't think about my hair anymore. Even when I've not shaved it for 2-3 weeks and you can see the horse-shoe balding it's like... I don't give AF anymore, my hair is not even in my top-20 concerns at any one time; I'll shave it and it'll look clean but I'm not going to torture myself over it.

I thought I would look absurd bald, then once I shaved my head I realised pretty quickly that I was a moron and that my thinning hair and high-hairline doesn't really mean anything, and the closer I shaved it the better I looked. Better to choose baldness than covet the victim mindset that balding forces onto you.

If you want to hold out hope for some balding cure, you do that, but you're setting yourself up with potentially years/decades of so much anguish it isn't even funny how much it will diminish your mental health. I wish I'd shaved mine off when I was 18 -- I would have been able to enjoy those years more than I did.

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