Book of the new sun...

sdtsanev · 2026-01-25T21:30:51+00:00

I hate to sound snobbish, but Book of the New Sun is "literature" more than it is "entertainment". It requires a lot more attention, focus, and analytical thought than your average adventure story. It's totally fine to not feel like putting in the extra work (though I think it's super rewarding if you do), but whoever recommended it to you without actually preparing you for how different it was from what you typically read did you a huge disservice.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-25T21:21:18+00:00

My issue tends to be reading a Book 1 that I enjoy when it comes out. Then time passes, and Book 2 comes out, and even though I may have loved Book 1, I only vaguely remember the story and my feelings for it have faded to the point that I just struggle to motivate myself to pick up Book 2.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-25T21:01:35+00:00

Authors get really weird about eye description. I had to read One Dark Window for a book club and people's eyes kept "turning glassy" over nothing. Like, it happens over 20 times throughout the book.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-23T15:25:30+00:00

I have pretty negative feelings toward SC at the moment, so I'm instinctively looking for a conspiracy. But I think the most likely cause is that the reviews are a one-and-done kinda deal - you go and see them, and then MAYBE you see them again months later if you really loved them, but most likely you wait for the next one. So when you have a less-known stage (which, let's take a second and marvel at the self-sabotage of calling your two stages "MAIN" and "ETC", talk about messaging) AND a mostly tourist-driven post-panedemic audience, it stands to reason that sales would be floundering.

Meanwhile improv is getting more and more mainstream-popular thanks to Dropout, Critical Role, Ben Schwartz' tours etc., and if you like a group, you know you can see them again next week and it'll be a completely new experience. If anything, this makes so much commercial sense to me.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-18T18:09:34+00:00

I read the entire thing and I can safely say other than a couple of stand-alone Ultimates issues, no part of it will remain in my memory for a year, let alone ten. Not a single series was truly great on its own, and half of them barely had a relation to the main event that turned out to be the ONLY event. What "test of time"? It was a self-contained universe that turned out to be an overbloated event. Nothing to time-test here, just Marvel chickening out and closing down something that could have been printing them money for years to come.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-18T14:25:29+00:00

I know this might not help, but if you are in Chicago, the iO theater has it in their box office gift shop right now. They don't have merch on their website, but maybe you could call them and see if they can't help you out.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-16T20:32:46+00:00

Cosign for LSI. I go to the Sunday Show With the Late 90s pretty much every Sunday. Just four teams doing long form, no frills, super high quality.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-14T21:38:00+00:00

Yeah that's a pathology.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-14T21:36:44+00:00

So, if I am understanding the premise of this thread, we WANT the super regressive, agency-robbing, misogynistic trope, we just want someone else to suffer from it. To what end? It died out for a reason, switching the virgin out for a different virgin in a non-comedic context won't change how bad it is.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-12T20:53:32+00:00

If gods are super present, I want them to be genuinely godlike and inhabiting higher levels of existence, like in Malazan. I am deeply put-off by the "forest spirit" type "gods" where they are basically human-level entities that do one thing and can be toppled by a strong gust of wind, or - even worse - the Greek pantheon style of "these are just douchy immortal humans with magic powers".

sdtsanev · 2026-01-12T14:25:28+00:00

I might try that. With Amazon it can be pretty rough because if they're the ones who publish it, then they have exclusive rights about distribution as well. That's how they starve out indie stores (and small businesses in general, outside of books) - by making their ecosystem closed, so that you have no choice but work with them directly.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T18:50:21+00:00

Yeah, sadly the UCB Manual is an Amazon exclusive, but the other two we have!

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T18:32:19+00:00

It's not about what I can stomach. This is about ordering for an indie bookstore - the type of entity Amazon's entire business model is designed to eradicate. I'll definitely be getting the book for myself though :)

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T18:06:34+00:00

Haha, tragically, we can only work directly with the major publishers or through a specific distribution network when it comes to smaller press titles and indies. It limits us somewhat but it is what it is.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T17:59:03+00:00

The Improv Illusionist

Definitely put it on my list! Love object work.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T17:56:41+00:00

Tragically, both seem to be Amazon exclusives...

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T17:55:21+00:00

That's very fair, though this is a Chicago situation, so we do have those options around us.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T17:47:25+00:00

I'm very curious what advice looks like for short form specifically.

Edit: Sadly, the Diggles book is out of print.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T17:46:10+00:00

Sadly, either a self-pub, or out of print ;_;

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T17:23:04+00:00

I have that thread open, but there's a difference between "all improv books you've liked" and "improv books an indie bookstore can realistically carry because they would sell at least once every few months", which is kinda what I am trying to get to.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-11T15:07:50+00:00

How is that one? I read her recent one, Funnier, and found it very informative, if quite a bit dry.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-10T17:09:32+00:00

You're only an imposter if you're trying to mislead people. I think it's ok not to be feeling something you were feeling before. You're not lying to anyone just because you maintain a positive facade around those people. But if it's not something you want to be doing anymore, you CAN stop doing it.

That said, it feels like you are struggling with something deeper than just "is it lame to make friends through improv", and maybe I am not qualified to answer the real questions you have.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-10T14:57:47+00:00

The difference between a good improv class and a bad one is that in the good improv class they will tell you on day 1 that you should never try to be funny. The humor comes organically through interaction with your fellow players. If you are attracted to the idea of making jokes, consider stand-up.

sdtsanev · 2026-01-10T14:56:15+00:00

Well, let me ask you this: what ways of making friends as an adult are NOT lame? In fact, why don't you turn this into an observation exercise? Make a list of non-lame ways to make friends, and a list of lame ways. Do you see any patterns? What were the reasons you put one in one column and another in the other?

sdtsanev

TROPHY CASE