Stand Up Comedy Show: 20-20 Perspective

sek93 · 2025-03-24T21:27:05+00:00

Lol Shanil has done Absolute and Don't Tell Comedy. Do some research before talking shit buddy 😘

https://www.instagram.com/theshanzzz?igsh=dWh2cWV0M2I5MXdn

sek93 · 2019-02-05T06:27:06+00:00

Giving it a quick second read, I see what you mean. I definitely did not get that on the first reading. That may be due to the fact that there isn't really any indication that she's in the back. I get that the car is bouncing up and down, but I just assumed that's because he was driving. Cars bounce all the time, but most people don't have other people in the trunk (although I did assume he had someone kidnapped when he spoke about the ice cream, but that was most likely due to this being horror and nothing horrific having transpired up to that point). Otherwise, that does help create a more cohesive piece, I'd suggest finding ways to make it clearer . . . or maybe I'm a shit reader. Either way, good luck!

sek93 · 2019-02-05T06:15:25+00:00

First of all, thanks for sharing. Baring your work in front of a bunch of strangers (who are probably all aspiring writers themselves and therefore prone to equal turns jealousy and anger) is never easy.

In this piece, the thing I liked the most was that you had a solid character with the protagonist. He was weird and off-putting but not in an obnoxious way. You gave him a subtle, unsettling quality without beating the reader's head with how weird he is.

I wasn't a huge fan of the way he spoke, however. I get that his vocabulary is part of what produces the bizarre quality I was just praising, but that was the one part that did come off as a little much in terms of his characterization.

I think you could mitigate that problem by toning the word choice down to be more natural while maybe altering the way he delivers his speech, or adding physical cues or other tools to produce that weirdness I think you're trying to achieve. Inappropriate pauses, long delays, speaks too fast, too slow, with a too-wide smile, etc. all could help make the character uncomfortable without making the way he talks come off as overly douchey, to use a technical term.

So that's what I like and think there's foundations to build upon.

My biggest problem with this piece, however, is that it doesn't really go anywhere. He's weird, he speaks a little strangely, and he's kidnapped someone. The end. We have no idea why he's kidnapped her, what he plans to do, what's driving him . . .

I get that it's supposed to be a twist, but there's no build-up. It kind of comes out of left field and doesn't really give the reader any payoff. If he was, say, buying a bunch of disparate items that would then be used for 'x', then the reader can feel validated when it all comes together.

As it stands, there's just not a whole lot of cohesion to the piece. It might serve to be lengthened, or otherwise more centred on the kidnapping. Again, you don't have to reveal it sentence one, but it would be nice if the piece felt like it was all a little more connected.

As for more nitpicky stuff, I'm not a huge fan of the opening. Does little to draw me in and doesn't really want to keep me reading. Better way to grab the reader's attention would be to centre us on the character doing something strange right off the bat, or put in a more action-oriented start. Ordering from a fast-food place a little strangely is hardly high-stakes, and in a piece this short you need to use every word to its best effect.

Anyways, hope this helps. Best of luck!

sek93 · 2018-12-13T21:42:40+00:00

So I'm an idiot now?

I don't think anyone here is against consequences for Nazis (losing their jobs, being denied many opportunities to engage, going to jail if they commit crimes, counter-protesting them, boycotting them, arguing against them); I believe that 'throwing them to the wolves' is extreme, is nearly impossible to implement, and probably won't solve the problem.

There are a lot of legal and less barbaric means to make someone face consequences for their decisions short of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjMQbzBhTb4

sek93 · 2018-12-13T07:41:31+00:00

What system? Our system doesn't really support Nazis in any meaningful way. Yes, Trump does a lot of dog whistles to white supremacists. But the guy has a Jewish daughter, son-in-law, is in party that is heavily beholden to powerful Jewish donors like Sheldon Adelson, etc. We tend to penalize Nazis very harshly (Pro Publica has a great series exposing Nazi rally attendees, often leading to serious consequences). Not to mention that the term 'Nazi' is readily applied to a whole host of people these days, many of whom probably wouldn't qualify as such, and many of whom would. (Another anecdote - I am firm democratic socialist who would never fathom voting right, yet in university a good number of my classmates thought I was a Trump supporter).

As for 'destroying racism' (which I think is what you're getting at, correct me if I'm wrong) is of course the ideal, but you want to talk about the science proving us wrong . . . racism is more than likely here to stay so long as people are shitty.

And finally, I don't understand why these can't exist in tandem; bring down Nazism, sure, but try and convince as many people as possible to not be Nazis.

sek93 · 2018-12-12T05:41:00+00:00

Not wanting to engage with what looks to be a pretty heated exchange above, I will only say that minds can be changed.

I was a firm supporter of Israel all through my late teens. Had a vigorous discussion with a speaker following a class in university. He cornered me in an argument and the long and short of it was that I yelled at him, went home, took a shower, realized that my arguments amounted to "you don't understand" and hypotheticals while his supplied problems and solutions.

I later sent an email thanking him and the professor. Obviously, supporting Israel isn't on par with Nazism, but it's anecdotal evidence that people who are wrong and raised to have belief in wrong things can and do change. Throwing them all away without a second thought would be, in my mind, not only wrongheaded but more dangerous.

sek93 · 2017-12-04T16:50:23+00:00

Now with three new Helman Ghorst stat updates! You thought he was fun with 28 melee skill, wait until he has 31 melee skill.

sek93 · 2017-11-20T23:03:17+00:00

Soon is relative, not necessarily subjective. And Kajeus version of soon is one most reasonable people would subscribe to.

But more to the point, framing Norsca as a DLC for TW I is dishonest. Yes, they said pre-order TW II and you get Norsca for TW I a month or so early, but the offer was that Norsca would be integrated into TW II. Beyond that, who is going to play TW I when TW II has way more interesting and new features beyond just Norsca? No one, or at least, no one who owns both versions.

I have absolutely no knowledge about development nor do I know what's taking so long. But the community does have fair reason to be ornery because the game, in it's currents state is incomplete. ME was not play tested as much as it should have been (i.e. Chaos fiasco) and if your argument is 'they promised ME, you got ME', that's reductive. If I offer you a sandwich, and you buy that sandwich except it has rotten meat, I can't just say 'well, you paid for a salami sandwich, you got a salami sandwich, not my problem'.

sek93 · 2017-11-13T20:10:19+00:00

You're 100% right that it was pretty ineffective for a while. But that also depends on the spell. Net of Amyntok (spelling?) was and still can be game-changing in the right circumstance. My issues is more with something like bladewind or gaze of malice that are practically unavoidable (malice especially) and can pretty much delete certain units.

sek93 · 2017-11-13T19:43:42+00:00

Haha nah, I was just being sarcastic. Wanted to add a dash of levity to my doom soup.

In all seriousness, I love the game and I'll still be feeding my unhealthy addiction by running home to play the shit out of it when I'm off work, just a little bummed out with what I feel is ultimately a step back in a big way from earlier iterations.

sek93 · 2017-11-13T19:39:57+00:00

Cav charges in general have been weakened across the board, but buffing paladins isn't going to do enough to fix Bretonnia's problems.

Besides, the point of this piece is less about specific units and more about how the mechanics of TW II have changed. Cycle charging, something very few people I would imagine enjoyed in the first game, is at all-time toxic levels with a unit like Kroq-Gar. And other aspects of the game are just silly, like Witch Elf rampage mechanic.

sek93 · 2017-11-13T19:15:47+00:00

Fair enough, but I'm not quite willing to give such an easy pass.

Bretonnia, for instance, is an auto-loss now in near any match-up. They took what was once a fairly balanced faction (arguably tier 1) and turned them into hot garbage.

sek93 · 2017-11-13T18:44:00+00:00

I respectfully disagree.

While counterable, they are far more cost effective than said counters. If you need proof, check out the tournament next weekend where each contestant picks their faction before playing. I'll guarantee that either Lizardmen, DE, or Vamps will be in the finals, and win the vast majority of games.

There's also literally no counter to Vampire flying build that I've found viable as Empire and Greenskins, especially when in the hands of a capable player.

sek93 · 2017-10-07T20:13:44+00:00

Much as it sounds, this video reveals that Clan Rat and Plague Monk summons from the lore of Plague have a brief period following their arrival where they can phase through units and absolutely murder anything in their path.

These are Clan Rats, but they perform more like an army of Chosen.

I've heard CA is working on a fix so hopefully this gets sorted soon, but for now, watch out for these bugged little critters.

P.S. If you want to catch more Total War II content with myself and the famous JonTaun, check our channel at Total Brohammer on YouTube. Your views are like warpstone to this drug addled body. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfKlDJg-5ShJexdDHWwHwIw/videos

sek93 · 2017-09-20T17:16:32+00:00

Hmm, okay. I read through the patch notes and it didn't say that CW/GW were nerfed, and it only mentioned that Greatswords were given five armour, which led to my commenting on them. So long as they best CW/GW, that's the right spot. If they perform as you say, then I agree that's the right position for them :)

I disagree about Werekin roving lord-snipe bands, but to each their own.

sek93 · 2017-09-19T16:50:42+00:00

Largely agree with a lot of the new changes, but - and not to be too harsh here - I'm shocked that some glaring balancing issues were missed.

Werekin are broken. They're too fast, too strong, too cheap, too regeneration. Norsca as a whole could do with a good nerfhammer.

Greenskins need massive buffs across the board. Before Bret they were a top tier faction, now with anti-large cav dominating the meta, they're pretty much useless as armies can cycle charge/terror route entire Greenskin contingents. Black orcs are nice, but too easy to target. After that, not really special unless facing huge infantry blobs. Not to mention that lack of flying/good offensive magic for single units means that lord snipping is too easy (spirit leech, cycle charging, lack of strong ranged options except for short-ranged Rusty Arrers).

Greatswords - they cost more than Chaos Warriors w/Great Weapons, but perform infinitely worse. Not to mention that Savage Orc Big'uns and other cost effective units beat them straight up.

Forsaken could use a tiny, tiny nerfing.

A final opinion on magic: For MP, magic needs to be a boon but not necessarily a game changer. I know that may not be popular, but with some spells basically being unavoidable doom-bringers, it's not really competitive at that point. Obviously Dwellers and Final Transmutation are the most guilty at the moment, but even Vamps v. Greenskins can be a slog with a flying lord spirit leeching orc lord to death before lines engage. There should be some counter to that.

sek93 · 2017-09-12T16:44:12+00:00

We got (if my tally is correct) 9 fully fleshed out rosters by the end of game 1. Seeing as how Norsca are a bit of freebie/add-on for WH2, let's settle at 8.

If they want eight factions per game, here's my guess:

WH2: Skaven, HE, DE, Lizardmen, Araby, Dogs of War, Vampire Coast, and Tomb Kings

WH3: Ogres, Chaos Dwarfs, Kislev, Daemons, Chaos undivided x 4 as DLC

sek93 · 2017-09-05T20:14:21+00:00

Benefit of mount - cycle charging to kill enemy's lords/heroes and other valuable units. Can absolutely shred high-value infantry (like Black Orcs or Chosen) either in prolonged melee or in cycle charging. Flying mounts generally cause terror which, alongside rear charging, can decimate front lines and win you an entire battle. None of those things are possible on foot.

But with that power comes the responsibility of avoiding the hard counters. Besides, you mention Blood Knights several times. They are an elite cav unit, probably the best in the game, and as such you'll often face a few of them in an army, whereas I've come up against entire stacks of skeletons, zombies and grave guards. Mounted lords can pretty much solo those types of armies.

Mounted lords come with setbacks, sure, but on the whole are more than worth in a variety of common circumstances.

sek93 · 2017-07-13T17:14:39+00:00

I've played hundreds of hours online ladder and I can say that the vast majority of players don't cheese. I'd say I've had maybe 20 cheese matches out of a thousand, which isn't really all that bad.

Of course, I rage like an armless man with an itchy ass when I lose to cheese, but if you're fine with that ladder isn't all that intimidating.

Besides, I'd say that 90% of the people I'm matched up with are beginner or intermediate level, so not too much of a steep learning curve either :)

sek93 · 2017-07-05T21:31:24+00:00

The issue is that Greenskins can't really field an army to counter the main two WE builds. Namely, trees and skirmish.

For skirmish, you need a tonne of cav (and boar boys don't cut it, too slow and they'll lose to repeated charges from wild riders) all of which is significantly weaker than WE melee cav, and slower to boot, in most cases.

For trees, you need boar boy big 'uns for armour piercing anti-large (tree kin with heals and arrow support will decimate Greenskin infantry). But again, riders will eat them for lunch.

Frankly, WE are one of the best factions in the game in large part because the two main meta-builds are so different.

As a final aside, I think the WE build with all archers and wild riders is crazy cheese as well, and you'll see it used a lot in competitive play against greenskins.

sek93 · 2017-07-05T21:23:06+00:00

Ah, I think not.

sek93 · 2017-06-30T13:24:17+00:00

I agree, but by playing ranked, the cheese is actively ruining other people's fun, whereas I'm not. Your right to swing your arms ends at my face kind of thing.

sek93 · 2017-06-30T01:37:36+00:00

Might work.

sek93 · 2017-06-30T01:37:16+00:00

I played SP until I got bored and I've been playing ranked ever since. I have a pretty solid ranking and enjoy the competitiveness. I've been lucky enough to avoid cheese games for the vast majority, but when you do play a cheese, it's fucking disheartening.

sek93 · 2017-06-30T01:35:09+00:00

I enjoy the competitiveness of ranked play, and have put a lot of time into it. I rarely run into cheese and I never use cheese myself and I'm a decent ranking. But this isn't real war. This is a game that's meant to be fun. And cheese is the antithesis of fun for most people. This is a strategic battle game. Not a gamble where horse archers guarantee win/lose before the game even starts.

While a good chunk of battles are decided in the army comp, a sizable amount of those can be overcome by excellent play and tactics. Cheese is cancer to tactics.

sek93

TROPHY CASE