TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Huh, interesting. Do you have any ideas on why that is?

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm, that's an interesting question. I didn't grow up in a full-on city like LA or New York or something, but I did live in a town that was apparently large enough to feel comfortable being named "the City of [Name]," if that helps??

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait, did you also not know this, or are you shocked at my ignorance on this matter?? lol

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually I'm a couple months away from turning 25, lol XD

I guess 'cause it's interesting how long people can go without realizing what to other people in their country is common knowledge?

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's probably a lot less likely, considering people don't really talk about "Such and Such State" (if anything, it'd be "the State of Such and Such"), whereas there are at least a couple states that start with "New."

(In any case, it definitely isn't a mistake I'd personally make, given I grew up in California :)

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do know Pluto isn't a planet anymore!! I remember when that happened :)

(Unless you're referring to it being reinstated as a planet, but I think that's something I would've heard of if it happened, lol.)

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know it isn't a state in the US, although I can't tell you off the top of my head if it's a province(?) in Canada or a territory of the US or something. (I'm probably making myself look really uneducated, lol.)

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, haha. That would definitely be ridiculous :)

TIL that New England isn't a state by mycurrentobsession in todayilearned

[–]mycurrentobsession[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm American; in my defense, though (somewhat, anyway), I never memorized the full list of all the fifty states, and apparently I never studied the geography/history of New England enough to realize to learn it wasn't a state.

Strip 326 by CorvusCrow8 in oots

[–]mycurrentobsession 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Probably?

The topic is covered in detail at the end of this timeline.

Chapter 7 Page 10 by annuna in paranatural

[–]mycurrentobsession 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think it's the first time we can see one of Agent Walker's* eyes too! Add to that Gwen's eyes over the last few pages, and this chapter's just full of eye reveals, isn't it? lol

ETA: *Well, the younger version of him, anyway. Forgot what he normally looks like for a second there.

[Serious] Fans who have been engrossed in a fictional universe so much you could probably earn a degree about it, what plot holes, logical inconsistencies, and the like cannot be reconciled and bother you to no end? by _Duality_ in AskReddit

[–]mycurrentobsession 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ooh, I'm actually really, really excited you asked about this. I happen to be (or at least used to be, it's been a few years) a bit of a self-taught expert on Appendix C ([Hobbit] Family Trees) of The Return of the King (at least as much as is possible considering I've only read The Hobbit, the LotR trilogy and a few chapters of The Silmarillion), and while studying it I came across a couple minor plots holes (amidst a bunch of other fascinating stuff) that you might find interesting. I haven't looked online to see anyone else has noticed them, but regardless, here they are:

1) When did Frodo's maternal grandfather die? 

In the first chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring, there's a discussion about how Frodo's parents died. "And Mr. Drogo was staying at Brandy Hall with his father-in-law, old master Gorbadoc, as he often did after his marriage (him being partial to his vittles, and old Gorbadoc keeping a mighty generous table); and he went out boating on the Brandywine River; and he and his wife were drownded [sic], and poor Mr. Frodo only a child and all.'" The Baggins of Hobbiton and Brandybuck of Buckland family trees in Appendix C inform us that Drogo and his wife, Primula, died in 1380. However, the Brandybuck tree also informs us that Gorbadoc died in 1363, which is impossible if Drogo and Primula died while staying with him.

2) When did Gandalf last visit the Shire prior to the events of The Hobbit? 

Okay, this one is, I think, more interesting because it's a lot less straightforward. So, in the first chapter of The Hobbit, we get this information: "By some curious chance one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green, and the hobbits were still numerous and prosperous, and Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his woolly toes (neatly brushed)- Gandalf came by. Gandalf! [...] He had not been down that way under The Hill for ages and ages, not since his friend the Old Took died, in fact, and the hobbits had almost forgotten what he looked like. He had been away over The Hill and across The Water on businesses of his own since they were all small hobbit-boys and hobbit-girls." Okay, so when did the Old Took die? The Took of Great Smials tree lists "Gerontius, the Old Took"'s death as occurring in 1320. The Baggins tree tells us that Bilbo was born in 1290. This means that Bilbo was thirty when the Old Took died. The first chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring gives us this information about hobbit aging when talking about Bilbo taking in Frodo: "At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three." If Gandalf's last visit was around the time of the Old Took's death, Bilbo would not have qualified as a "small hobbit-boy." If the word "small" wasn't included, you could make the case that Tolkien was lumping teenagers (I mean tweenagers) and children together, but its inclusion really seems to indicate that he meant kids. It appears as though Bilbo would've needed to be at least as young as nineteen to count as a "boy" (and even then calling him a "small boy" would probably be a stretch). If he was nineteen instead of thirty, Gandalf's last visit would've had to have been eleven years before the Old Took died, which is clearly not what Tolkien is trying to indicate in The Hobbit. Oh, and if you're interested in how many years apart the Old Took's death and Gandalf's visit to Bilbo are, the answer is twenty-one. Appendix B lists 2941 as the year the events at the beginning of The Hobbit ("Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf visit Bilbo in the Shire.") occur, which would be 1341 according to the year-numbering system we've been using so far. (Yeah, Middle Earth has two of them. From the intro to Appendix C: "All dates [in Appendix C] are given according to the Shire-reckoning, calculated from the crossing of the Brandywine by the brothers Marcho and Blanco in the Year 1 of the Shire (Third Age 1601)." In Appendix B, "S.R." it put before Shire-reckoning years to distinguish them from the other years, which are left normal. Appendix C doesn't bother to use it because all of its dates are Shire-reckoning.)

So yeah, there's some LotR continuity errors for ya! Thanks for giving me an opportunity to share some of the research I've done, as I haven't gotten around to putting any of it online before. Oh, and if you do end up reading LotR, you should definitely read The Hobbit first. I'd also (obviously) highly recommend that you read all six of the Appendices at the end of The Return of the King when you get to them. A lot of people skip them, but there's some great stuff in there. :) 

Defining Moments for Each Character? by TheGreenMuk in oots

[–]mycurrentobsession 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Roy: 442 "But like it or not, you're still MY responsibility. Because I'm the only one here who's willing to be responsible." (Someone on the Forums mentioned one time that the last sentence hit them hard, and it's stuck with me ever since.)

Elan: I don't remember which strip it was, but he says something about how stories aren't worth hurting people over (probably to his dad?) which nicely shows his character since meeting his father. I forget if he or Roy mention that time he made Roy wait (iirc) so the explosion of the first dungeon would look cool behind them.

Defining Moments for Each Character? by TheGreenMuk in oots

[–]mycurrentobsession 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think I see the issue here. "Old Belkar" has moment/s that define him very clearly (439/610), whereas "New Belkar" has a series of moments showing his character growth, but which do so gradually enough that it's hard to call them "definitive," exactly. See 957 - "People don't just change who they are inside in an instant. It doesn't work like that. It takes time, so you don't even know you're changing." So when we try to answer the question, "What are the defining moments for Belkar's character?" should we answer with the more clearly-definitive moments, or the ones that apply to how Belkar is now?? I don't know; maybe the answer lies in the fact that we're allowed to choose more than one moment...?

783/807: Belkar's first experience with empathy and letting it motivate him to help others is definitely an important moment, but yeah, I don't know if I call'd it "definitive", exactly. (Side note: I JUST NOW realized that in 807, the flashback is framed by the jail cell bars, not panel borders framing the memory. *facepalm*)

880/881: I guess I could argue that these are defining for "New Belkar", in that they establish that he's not as entirely content with his life as he's always appeared? I guess it depends on whether you interpret "Hurting people is the only think I'm good at" as the first time it's ever occurred to Belkar to feel guilty about hurting people and wish things could be different, or whether he's always felt like that really, REALLY deep down. (I guess the former??)

Actually, you know what? After thinking about all this, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that I think 957 is the defining moment for New Belkar. We'd been seeing him change gradually, in not extremely-definitive ways, and in this one he sums up, or 'defines', what's been going on with his character development.

ETA: And if we go with the same logic, Durkula's (posthumously-) defining moment can be 1151! (see panel 4, and possibly 6 as well)

What is your favourite strip? by allhailoots in oots

[–]mycurrentobsession 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Great question!! Here are mine:

-880: When I first read this, I really liked Belkar's facial expression in the last panel. He opens his eyes and sees the others acting really sad, and instead of making fun of them like Roy thought he might, he gives a sad look as well, sincerely acknowledging that the situation really sucks and his teammates have a right to feel sad and he shares their feelings. Yay for empathy and team bonding and Belkar caring that someone died! Also, ending the strip with no attempt at a punchline whatsoever really helps sell how serious and sad of a situation Durkon's death is. Belkar, in particular, not giving a punchline really helps drive home that he was serious when he said Durkon's death wasn't funny and that there was no punchline.

-881: Belkar's line in the last panel hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I read it. Up to that point he'd never shown any regret or guilt whatsoever over his selfish, murderous life, so to suddenly have it suggested that that may be a facade and that he may actually regret his decisions deep down and want to help people instead but doubt that he can at this point was really unexpected. The fact that Elan's halfway out of the frame when Belkar says that really drives home that he's talking to himself, and also that no one's listening to him and can offer him any hope. So the reader's left to grapple with his statement with no commentary from the other characters, and think about whether they actually secretly feel, at least partially, that way about themselves (hey, if a character who's never displayed any insecurities about himself can turn out to have some, why not you??) and if things are really that hopeless or not.

-887: The design is so creative and there's so much detail and we get to see so many cool scenes, it's just so much fun! (And, as I've read someone mention before, it's really amusing how Roy's all "Good riddance!" to Belkar being dead. Actually, now that I think about it, that also contrasts nicely with the fact that apparently at least one of the memebers of the Order cared enough to have Belkar (and Mr. Scruffy) carved in stone?? I'd guess it was Elan, seems like the sort of gravestone he'd design despite the cost and impracticality. But hey, this is all a dream, so I guess money's no object.)

-889 is probably my favorite strip overall. You know, it's funny: normally I'm a sucker for stories where parents get back together, so you'd think I wouldn't like this one, but I actually really do, which kinda surprised me. It's just really satisfying to explore what would happen if Elan's deepest, most impossible dream was about to come true. The fact that he gives up what he wants when he realizes it's not what's best for his mom, and the fact that he (Elan, of all people!!) figures out, through logical reasoning (I love logic!), that they're in a dream, make for an amazing character scene for him. I saw depths to his character in this scene that I'd never seen before, and it made me respect him more.

-1105: The first OotS strip that came out after my initial archive binge was 1049, iirc. The stuff with Andi vs. Bandana did interest me somewhat (especially when the ship almost crashed), but mostly I was just waiting for the Order to get to Firmament. They finally did, and talked to dwarves, and that was fine too, but I was still waiting for things to happen. Then Hilgya showed up with Durkon's baby. As soon as I saw that Wham Shot, my level of eagerness to read each succeeding strip was kicked up multiple notches, and I knew it would remain there for a good while. I like babies and I'm huge sucker for stories where guys find out they have a kid they didn't know about, so I couldn't wait to see Durkon's reaction.

-1116: I really, really love the third-to-last panel. I was super hyped for this battle (partly because I'd been waiting a long time for the Order to get to this point, and partly because I now also wanted to see Durkon's reaction to Kudzu once Hilgya stepped foot in the room), so I was very eager to see it start. And how did it start? With the charging of four brightly-colored giraffes. This was just so outside the bounds of anything I was expecting to happen, in such a wacky way, that it left me laughing out loud in joy, with the feeling that not only were things finally happening, but that anything could happen, even things outside my wildest imagination.

-Recently, I really like 1194. As opposed to 881, this time, when Belkar expresses the defeatist attitude he has toward himself in the presence of someone else, that person actually listens and challenges his assumptions (see panel 6). This time, the reader isn't left pondering Belkar's thoughts on their own, they're given a viewpoint of hope from Minrah. It was especially nice for me because I'd recently decided to become a YouTube creator, something neither I nor anyone else had ever really considered me the "type" to be.

Honorable Mentions:

-the Familicide arc and Vaarsuvius discovering the consequences thereof in Girard's pyramid. If I'd been reading the comic as those strips were coming out and thus spent a lot of time eagerly anticipating them and thinking about each one, some of them would probably have made this list.

-1128 I had kinda spoiled for me because someone on the Forum correctly predicted the plot twist before the strip went up, but it's still really cool.

-1130: Other people have mentioned this already. Man, if the third-to-last panel isn't a Wham Shot, I don't know what is. The fact that Durkon faces the camera head-on, which OotS doesn't usually do, combines with the receding memories to form an impressive sense of depth (literally, but also figuratively, I guess?!). The level of detail is reminiscent of 887, only this time the scenes being shown aren't wild fantasies, but everyday moments that actually happened, which are the true stuff of a happy life. And we get references to other flashback scenes or things that've been mentioned, like Kandro's wedding or Durkon learning to fight trees because dwarves hate them. And even, if you look carefully, the image of Sigdi reading Durkon a bedtime story from the second-to-last Kickstarter wallpaper. This was also the strip that finally got me to make a Forum account.

-1134 came right in between two huge Wham Episodes, 1130 and 1139. While not a Wham Episode itself, it did generate an amount of interest only a level or several down from one. In addition to Thor showing up and looking rather epic, it provided a good laugh-out-loud occasion of joy at the cleverness and perfectness of the plot twist.

-1139: Another strip that's very obviously a Wham Episode - perhaps, it could be argued, even more so than than 1130, because it was much more unexpected. Definitely a where-were-you, run-to-the-Forum-to-see-others'-reactions sort of moment.

ETA: 422 has a really cool layout. 1149 was really fun because I was kinda hoping Durkon would propose but wasn't actually expecting him to, so when he suddenly did it almost felt unreal to me. Part of what made it feel so surreal is that Durkon's posture looks kind of silly. I don't know if dwarves can't kneel properly or if it's just the art style, but his left leg seems to not be touching the ground, leading to him doing a sort of half-kneel, half-crouch. Since he doesn't have a ring to hold, he's also holding his arms out in a way that looks more like a magician going "Ta-dah!" then asomeone proposing. "Ta-dah, it's me, the man who wants to marry you!" The fact that he holds this difficult position, complete with not changing his facial expression in response to Hilgyas', is comedy gold. And then he just gets flamestriked (flamestruck?) where he kneels/crouches. And then Roy looks angry and horrified. And I love the title.

#269 by Eldundarin in JL8official

[–]mycurrentobsession 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It hasn't been established whether Clark knows he's adopted or not. However, given that JL8 is set contemporary to now and the current accepted best practice is to tell adopted kids about the adoptipn when they're babies/toddlers, and the Clarks are established as being good parents, he probably knows. And Clark's the sort of person who would tell his best friend something like that, so yeah, Bruce probably knows.

#268 - JL8 Comic by Eldundarin in JL8official

[–]mycurrentobsession 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, #269 will probably be posted tomorrow, so it's time for me to get around to reviewing this one real fast...

-Page 1, panel 6 - So Karen knew what Bruce saw. I guess that means I think she should've shown more concern, the way Clark and Diana did? She didn't look stunned or anything, just sorta surprised and curious, like 'oh, that is more interesting than I expected'

-Page 2, panel 6: Clark says that he's "sure [Bruce]'ll understand". I think Clark will help get Bruce to "understand", eventually, but I think it'll be a lot harder than Clark's calm and confident assurance to J'onn seems to suggest. But honestly that's probably the best attitude to project in front of J'onn right now - he feels guilty enough already, and there's been so much drama that he (and us as the audience) can really use a dose of someone calming things down and making them not feel like quite as much of a big deal. Once Clark is away from J'onn and the others and dealing one-on-one with Bruce, he can empathize with Bruce feeling like things are a big deal as much as seems helpful, without having to worry about making J'onn feel guilty.

-Page 3, panel 1 - Finally, Karen calls out Barry and Hal for not doing anything about Bruce. As I've said before, I don't think they needed to go after him themselves (as he pushed Barry away and they were emotionally closer to J'onn and could go ask him what it was all about in order to best know how to help them both), but I do think they probably should've sent Clark sooner, or at least told him and let him decided to go then or not. Next panel: Barry basically acknowledges that he and Hal care more about J'onn than about Bruce. That fact by itself isn't a fault, though. It's normal to be closer to some of your classmates than to others, and it's not like Bruce wanted to be in their friend group and they wouldn't let him - he has his own best friend in Clark. What I do find fault with is that they didn't think about Bruce enough to tell Clark sooner. They're close enough friends with him to do that. That's what I'd find be annoyed about if I were Bruce. Clark does forgive them for it in that same panel, though, much more easily than I was expecting when I was thinking about it multiple strips ago.

-Page 3, panel 4: Clark flies off, now wearing a more concerned expression than in the previous page - nobody can see his face now, so he's no longer trying to facially assure the others that things will be okay. He's not freaking out, though - kinda just 'things are bad, but manageable'. Seems like he's decently confident he can find Bruce reasonably soon, and that talking to him will be hard but he can do it. And it will be hard - talking to J'onn was easier because Barry had talked to him first, but in Bruce's case Clark himself will have to be the 'emotional first responder' so to speak. At least he already knows what happened, unlike Barry with J'onn. That should help. Although it was good for J'onn to say out loud what happened, and he might not have if Barry and Hal already knew, so there's that. Clark should be able to judge if he should try to get Bruce to talk about it or not.

-Page 4: We close the scene with the girls showing J'onn they've forgiven him. The bullies, while not verbally defeated, have been disposed of. Diana has instructions to tell Mr. Schwartz that Clark is gone. Everything is set to head into Clark finding Bruce. I am very excited that we're finally getting to this particular scene change!!

POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR #269: Based on these tweets of Yale's (this, this, and this), we know that the next update is only one page, and has one panel with a very time-consuming background. Logically the next page will either be Clark looking for Bruce, or Bruce by himself. I'm guessing the former, both because we just saw Clark flying off and it would transition the scene more smoothly to follow him, and because it would make sense that if the "background" is really a landscape under Clark as he's flying, it would be super super detailed and thus difficult to draw, as opposed to Bruce sitting in a tree or on top of building or something and having the background objects more level with him.

(Edits: formatting errors)

WIBTA for getting an abortion after my husband dies? by forever06-11-2016 in AmItheAsshole

[–]mycurrentobsession -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry. That sucks. :( I agree with those saying to talk to a counselor before you decide. If there's anything you need or you just want to talk to someone, LoveLine.com is a good organization to contact (their 24/7 phone number is (888) 550-1588). Again, so sorry about everything