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adureus · 9 months ago

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At his heels lie beds of near every hue ( pampered, thriving ), though their floral collection is limited. It's not for lack of ambition, or a lack of labour. Nay ⸻ the Blight has robbed the land of much. In that quiet morning, his only company is the babble of rills throughout the backyard's nursery, an echo of a lifestream in all sense. Not too long ago, this sight was consigned to fantasy. During their nascent years, they had naught ⸻ no seeds, no preparations were salvaged since Kupka's assault. All which remained would serve as monuments, mementos, proof of an existence lost to time and dust. He bristles at that. They need not desecrate memory with a want so trivial as a sample of a wildflower. Would he have thought the same of this passing request, some moons ago, regarding the harvesting of Snow Daisies and their seed ? Their temperamental needs were attributed and tailored to their environment. To mimic these conditions would normally be considered a trivial use of resources already strained thin. Once vernal lands choke on hibernal corruption, half-buried dreams, and an unprecedented scarcity both flora and humans alike must face. Yet their gardeners had achieved the impossible. Despite the odds, despite the difficulty. In secret, they'd mottled what they could. A modest patch, tended and nurtured. And now, their patience is rewarded, with the added boon of resilience.

Daisies aren't a common choice, but they embody a particular beauty. Refined, reticent in their presence, yet deadly. As is one Jill Warrick. Horticulture wasn't his forte, though he'd been informed of their toxicity. A fitting comparison perhaps, considering her skill with a blade. Roses, while cliché, deliver messages of affection effective and clear. Though, he gathers them this day not for the uniqueness of the arrangement, rather for a union of loyalty unwritten. Both flowers serve as vestiges of home, bundled in delicate parchment, suspend the glory and essence of nations beloved and bold. Rosaria and the Northern Territories, respectfully. Now they rest as bitter shells of yesteryear.

It’s a small, meaningful lull to days of activity and no pause. He’d even gone as far as inscribing words of appreciation onto paper ⸻ far from a letter of love ( and uncharacteristic ), he’d never been the sort to find himself fanciful with language. But she needed to know her importance to him : her contributions, his pride in seeing her grow and heal, and her ascension to personhood ⸻ unfettered, she climbs closer to the fruits of freedom.

The quill pauses then.

In youth, following her arrival, she held a predictable reticence. Yet, she also lacked a certain regality about her ⸻ no pretension or haughtiness embittered her words. The Princess of the North graced them all : a sharp interruption within the walls of Rosalith. So different. So stark. Blue to red. Red to blue. The Rosfield heirs welcomed her as any other, lacking prejudice and honouring her origins. It wasn’t long before she established roots for herself, now warmly settled despite her apprehension. And as they grew close, he’d learned much from her. With her, she'd brought wise perspectives, intentional words. Emotion guided her, true, as it did all youth ( before logic and maturity stunted their wonder of the world ), but she enlightened him with what many would consider an ancient wisdom. Perhaps the conflict had acquainted her with worldly knowledge, of lessons seldom taught so early. But war was not courteous enough to spare anyone. She’d protected him, cured him of indiscretion and lapsing confidence, remained realistic. She'd kept his expectations within the realm of man, constrained and attainable, promoted his success. Even at an age so tender, she carries words so wise. A song honed through generations, as though the Queen of Rime sung them within her ear, imbued through slumber. She’d done much for him ( down to catering to his own hound ! ) and in return, he’d incurred naught but debt ⸻ debts she futilely reminded he need not pay.

He’d insist.

During one of his father's annual tours, he'd reciprocate. Once they'd broken from the procession, exploring field and wood unseen, he'd aimed to surprise her with sights wild and wonderful. It would not be. The heavens wept, drowned his hopes, and earned her a nasty cold. Yet, she laughed nonetheless. Laughed lovely and sweet. He apologized post-haste. Bashful. Ashamed. Still, she forgave him. In retrospect, that’d been the day he’d come to love her much more than a friend. But fate is not so forgiving, and their separation stung deep and malignant as a wound ⸻ perhaps more so. Physical wounds mended with time and patience. The brunt of emotional wounds had a lifetime to foster their potential. And it’s precisely what he’d feared would happen. Once reconciled some thirteen years later, she forgave him. And again, he requests a pardon. It’s naught but apologies which he gifts her, or torment, or eves marked by worry. She gives unconditionally. He wishes to do the same. It took their reunion to rend him from a myopic, transactional relationship to war and destruction and a devilish temper.

To him, love is not overt. It’s intentionally unassuming, expressed through touch. The sweep of a strand too keen upon her brow, or a reassuring stroke to the small of her back. It's delivered through questions regarding her well-being, through attentiveness, through notes of her preferences. It's expressed through a protective glance in battle, or an assist ( akin to a dance. Poetic, albeit macabre, but harmonious nonetheless ). It's through the way he trusted her wholly with his affairs, both personal and professional. While she supports, she also challenges his ire, grounds him, reminds him of the alternatives. He needn’t be so headstrong, and throughout the years, she has reinforced his empathy, strengthened and nourished his soul.

The letter is completed, with melted wax to seal. It's melded with the pigments of woad and rouge leaning stains, not quite overtaking the default alabaster in its bleed. Two fingers press to lips, fall downward, impress atop parchment. Unseen, as an incantation, yet present. It’s the gesture which mattered most. He'd likely find her hovering about the map table of their shared chambers ⸻ her routine was predictable. She’d sift through newly delivered missives and glean any urgent matter. If she hadn’t dealt with them then he would upon his return. In that time, he hopes she will appreciate the gift in full, in the peaceful hum of shared company and thought. And, as predicted, as he emerges from those oaken doors, he is greeted by his beloved and a silken hello. She is usually the first to initiate, but he’d done so first, sinking into her approach, leaning, pressing lips flush and wanting into her own. It’s comforting. It’s sanctuary. The flutter of lashes tickle cheeks, as does her giggle ; in times like these he doesn’t feel so scorn. As they retreat to their short distance, fingers entwine with the bouquet and foreheads press. They fall into step naturally, recalling bygone days and the countless lessons for galas they never wholly got to appreciate. It’s only the creak and whispers of the Hideaway which serve as their tune. He didn’t mind. It’s a comfortable silence, a comfortable appreciation of the company they kept. He needn’t honour a day to show his gratitude, but at times he needs an arresting realization to slow down. He didn’t just live for himself anymore.

𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫. @nievea

#nievea #⸢ HERE happy valentine's let them be stupid and in love. ⸥#⸢ Me finding out Snow Daisies are poisonous like yeah that checks out ⸥#— 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐘. ╱ missives. ❜

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dude1818 · 2 years ago

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I finished The Secret Commonwealth during the week. Overall, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the main His Dark Materials trilogy or even La Belle Sauvage, but it was still fine. In large part that’s because it’s trying to tell a fairly different story than the others: HDM is written like a fairly standard kids’ fantasy adventure, even if it gets pretty dark in places, and LBS is a mix of that with more emphasis on the spy-versus-spy stuff the adults are involved in. But in TSC, Lyra is an adult, and while the stakes are just as high as before, the conflict all seems more grounded and realistic without the filter of a child’s POV

The main beats of the novel are pretty familiar if you’ve read the previous four books. Research into Dust is booming again thanks to the discovery of a plant that can be used to see it, amber spyglass-style, so the Magesterium is trying to suppress that by disappearing people again. Meanwhile Mrs Coulter’s brother is trying to hunt down Lyra to get revenge for her disappearance at the end of HDM, and he’s teamed up with the son of the guy Malcolm killed in LBS who also wants revenge. Lyra’s motivation is that she and Pan had a falling out, he’s gone to fight the philosopher that he blames for ruining Lyra’s imagination, and she’s heartbroken and trying to find him again

Lyra’s world is even more fantastical this time around. There were witches and talking bears in the first trilogy, of course, but this book focuses a lot more on things that even the average person in-universe thinks is fantasy. LBS introduced fairies and the Neverland-like fairy realm near the end, which at the time felt out of left field. TSC starts to do something with that finally, pulling back from the “church bad” messaging that was the focus of HDM to explore that maybe pure logic and reason swings the pendulum too much the other way, and maybe folk spiritualism good?

I mentioned in a previous post that I also got big queer allegory vibes from Lyra’s adventure while separated from Pan. Not everyone treats her badly, but people on the street generally avoid her, shopkeepers often won’t engage, and some people outright harass or assault her. As she moves further east, it keeps getting worse, until she arrives in a city where it’s straight up illegal to be outside during the day without a daemon. However, she does find a community of other daemon-less people, and they support each other and have a network across Europe of people and places that it’s safe to go to. I feel like there’s something there, but I don’t know nearly enough to say anything else about it

What made this book a little hard to read was how grounded all the violence felt. This is not a happy book: Lyra is on a downward spiral the entire time and it never gets any better. Pullman really had it out for her this time. The new Master of Jordan College kicked her out and her room got trashed. Pan broke up with her. She keeps getting harassed for not having a daemon. She meets up with one of Malcolm’s contacts, and their apartment is firebombed. It culminates with her being on a train with a group of soldiers who beat the shit out of her and nearly rape her. She never gets a chance to recuperate from any of this, and it just sucks

#hdm #his dark materials #the book of dust #the secret commonwealth #book review

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byneddiedingo · 1 year ago

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Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)

Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle. Screenplay: Paul Schrader. Cinematography: Michael Chapman. Art direction: Charles Rosen. Film editing: Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro. Music: Bernard Herrmann.

It's a truism that movies and dreams have much in common: We experience them in the dark; we ascribe portents and personal insights to them; they present us with a non-linear experience, in which events don't follow in logical sequence, and point of view is continually shifting. And nobody knows this better than Martin Scorsese, who gives us in Taxi Driver a story that appears to be realistic but which, the more we ponder it, proves to be dreamlike. Take the conclusion of the film, for example: After slaughtering a roomful of brothel patrons and personnel, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) attempts suicide but fails, and in a coda we see that he has become a hero, that the 12-year-old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) he has tried to rescue has returned to her parents, and that Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), whom he has frightened by stalking, now regards him as a hero, too. It is the most unlikely of "happy endings" in an era that had begun to mock such conventional resolutions. So it's no surprise to find that there are those who think that the entire sequence is a dream, or a fantasy of the dying Travis. Certainly there are things in the sequence that don't entirely jibe with a realistic interpretation, and not just the fact that Scorsese himself is not inclined to anything so square as a happy ending. The news clippings on the wall of Travis's apartment don't look like actual clippings, and the photograph of Travis included with them hardly looks like De Niro. Iris has been adamant about never returning to her parents. And Betsy seems unlikely to warm up to Travis after he shocked her by taking her to a pornographic movie. Scorsese has never endorsed, nor fully repudiated, this interpretation of the ending as a fantasy, but the screenwriter, Paul Schrader, has said that the ending brings the film full-circle, meaning that Travis's murderous loner cycle will begin all over again. I think it better to regard the whole film as a nightmare about contemporary urban loneliness, filtered through what Scorsese knows best: motion pictures. From the moment the saxophone begins playing Bernard Herrmann's theme, we are cast into the mythical realm of the film noir, a genre dear to Scorsese's heart. Cinematographer Michael Chapman turns 1970s New York City into a city of dreadful night, a neon-lighted hell full of smoke and steam, and Scorsese manipulates extras into demonic gatherings. One of the more shocking sequences takes place when Scorsese himself plays a passenger in Travis's cab, making him wait outside an apartment house and watch the silhouette of the passenger's wife on a window shade as she has a meeting with her Black lover. (The passenger uses an uglier word to describe the lover.) But the scene is not shot realistically: It should be clear to even the most naïve movie-watcher that the silhouette has been crafted with special lighting, a kind of distancing device that puts the emphasis on the film as a parable and not as a docudrama. More and more, I come to think of Taxi Driver as Scorsese's greatest film because it makes us not only reflect upon and challenge what movies are doing to us but also because it gives us a sense of modern anomie unequaled in any other film. Travis Bickles are all around us, and in America, with its laxness about weaponry and its emphasis on individual liberty, they continue to appear, whether in the form of Arthur Bremer -- the man who attacked George Wallace, whose diaries De Niro studied while creating Travis Bickle -- or John Hinckley, whose Taxi Driver-colored fantasies drove him to shoot Ronald Reagan to attract Foster's attention, or the next psychopath with a grievance whom we'll learn about after the tragic fact. But Scorsese should not be blamed -- indeed, he and De Niro should be praised as highly as possible -- for bringing Travis to our attention, for taking our nightmare and reprising it for us so effectively.

#Taxi Driver #Martin Scorsese #Robert De Niro

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thecurioustale · 5 months ago

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This is a great debate because the underlying problem is so valid.

Introducing numbers into your fiction absolutely does cause all kinds of problems, both in-world and in terms of the meta of curating and guiding the reader / viewer through your narration. Whenever you can avoid using numbers in your story, and have no strong reason and/or desire to use numbers, then I would say you can safely avoid them and spare yourself a lot of headaches!

The thing is...all the world is numbers. Or, rather, numbers describe all the world. Trying to deliberately avoid using numbers in your storytelling is like trying to deliberately avoid using weather, or food. You can do it, and you can even make it look good, but when you do you are lying. You are lying by omission. And that's not even necessarily a bad thing; half of art is careful and purposeful lies, inasmuch as all form is artificial and all narrative is imposed; but it can very easily become a bad thing, not only in the more grokkable sense of "betraying the audience" (which is itself a complex topic) but also in the subtler and more important sense of abandoning the relatable dimensionalities of verisimilitude or to use dollar-twenty-five–store words "not keeping it real." And if you're not keeping it real, you might be telling the wrong story. (It depends!)

Also, you the creator are more important than your audience, unless you're strictly in it for the likes, subscribes, and/or cash money. If you want numbers in your story then you should put them there absent a good reason not to. If it leads to internal mistakes of continuity, logic, or real-world facts, then okay. Stories are allowed to have mistakes. You should usually strive to minimize them, of course, but you should never live in fear of them.

One of the (many) reasons I write mostly science fiction and fantasy instead of "literary" fiction (lol) is that it is much less prone to mistakes. If I write about the invented Davoranjan people of Relance then it is much easier to avoid mistakes as compared to writing about, say, French-speaking Creoles in the modern world. And good thing, too, given how hemorrhoidal left-wing politics are these days about white people depicting minorities. In a world of my own making I can do no wrong except to contradict myself or betray first principles.

And this pertains to the use of numbers, too: I try to weave verisimilitude and authenticity into everything I depict in my fiction. Sometimes the subject matter is strictly realistic, like the riding and training and maintenance of horses. Sometimes the subject matter is entirely fictional, like the nature and functioning of the Twelve Powers (number alert!). But mostly it is a mix of the two, like what Sodish people typically eat in the course of a day. And through great diligence and copious research, and by being very careful, I can scoot most of the "Gotcha!" stuff out of the realm of factuality and into the realm of the fantastical, and leave most of the stuff remaining inside the factual, factual—or factual enough if you don't squint at it too closely. I wrote a scene in Galaxy Federal where Cherry is looking up at the highest clouds of a Neptunian planet, and I associated these clouds with specific colors (which are really just another form of numbers), and that's a stretch, because they might not actually appear in those colors under those conditions, but it's also going to be quite hard for anyone who isn't an expert in astronomy to even notice that it's a stretch. And, right or wrong, even they will probably appreciate that at least an effort was made.

I am very careful with "verifiable" things like starship acceleration factors, power consumption, or even the gross mass of the damn ship. And one of the ways I am careful is to not get into it unless and until I either narratively or stylistically have to or otherwise clearly want to. Not to single out the OP of this thread as being wrong, because I don't necessarily think they are wrong, but science fiction originally took root in the cultural psyche as a love of crunching the proverbial numbers, and it speaks to how far away we have gotten from that idea culturally that there can now be good-faith advice to generally avoid the use of numbers. "Hard" science fiction as it has come to be called may be less accessible to general audiences, but "soft" science fiction misses out on most of the possibilities of storytelling in the sci-fi space. The two are not mutually exclusive; I would assert they are actually complements of a greater whole: You need both to create the best stories.

Lastly, there is a sort of standalone subset problem, insinuated by the OP, of "autism." They spoke of it in terms of the readers overanalyzing the writing, but the real issue is with the creator. I don't endorse the overuse of the language of autism, but, to claim its mantle for a moment as a form of cultural shorthand, If I go back to some of my writing when I was very young, it is full of highly overly specific and deliberate numbers in a way that most people are simply not going to be able to penetrate, because too much meaning is lost in the tangible text. This is a real problem, and something that I see pop up frequently in poor writing. If you have any kind of fixation upon conceptualization through numbers, and are a creator of stories, then you have a decision to make about how accessible / penetrable you want your storytelling to be. There is nothing wrong with exulting in your numbers in all their glory, with no effort to accommodate anyone. And there is nothing wrong with trying to make those accommodations, or even in trying to compromise with your intended audience. I have chosen, as a writer, to try to contextualize my usages of numbers so that as much of their intended meaning as possible is preserved and conveyed successfully to the reader, and after decades of working at this I think I have become relatively good at it. But I haven't given up on my numbers—on the "seven Sodish meals" or the "six executive departments aboard a starship." Numbers, for me, are among the seeds that sprout ideas in the first place, among the grow-cages from which my ideas are developed, and among the descriptions used in the final text to create an immersive and coherent world, and they are also sometimes an end unto themselves.

speculative fiction writers i am going to give you a really urgent piece of advice: don't say numbers. don't give your readers any numbers. how heavy is the sword? lots. how old is that city? plenty. how big is the fort? massive. how fast is the spaceship? not very, it's secondhand.

the minute you say a number your readers can check your math and you cannot do math better than your most autistic critic. i guarantee. don't let your readers do any math. when did something happen? awhile ago. how many bullets can that gun fire? trick question, it shoots lasers, and it shoots em HARD.

you are lying to people for fun. if you let them do math at you the lie collapses and it's no fun anymore.

#The Curious Tale #Galaxy Federal #Number theory lol #Philosophy of writing

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acqui3scence · 1 year ago

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Where do i put the dreams away?

In a world where realism often dulls the sharp edges of ardor, I become a vagabond of whimsy. I dive into the abyss of daydreams, of fantasies laced with the elusive musk of idealism. It's easier, far more tender, to find solace in the arms of whimsical tales than to brave the cold, hard slaps of modernity’s version of love. Picture this - a drive under the placid veil of dusk, everything’s calm, everything’s certain, until suddenly, the brakes screech. That sudden jolt, it's harsh, it's dry, it’s a gasp lodged in the throat of the moment. It’s a shiver racing down the spine of reality, leaving you stirred, startled yet oddly exhilarated. For a fleeting second, the thrill of the unknown brushes against your soul, teasing the finality that lurks in the shadows. But then, the mundane resumes, the heartbeats lower and the world around goes back to its bland routine as though nothing ever stirred the still air. Yet, for a rebel heart in a world of unyielding conformity, the memory of that jolt lingers, haunts, and ignites the spark of unrest.

In a city where romance breathes through the whispering leaves of autumn, the soft caress of spring, the melancholy drizzle of winter, and the hopeful rays of summer, memories become a refuge, a sweet escape. Paris, with its ever-changing yet ever-romantic guise, beckons one to dance to the rhythm of nostalgia, to bend reality to the whims of the heart, to warp memories into sweet serenades. When I first stepped onto the cobblestone lanes, love, to me, was a hero waiting to be discovered in the folds of destiny. It was not chained to conventions, oh no, it was wild, it was free, it was flesh longing for flesh. However, the harsh light of reality soon dimmed the rosy hue of fantasies, leaving me in a solitude only broken by the sweet lull of imagination. Daydreams became a cozy cloak, reminiscent of the warm, comforting embrace of a mother's love, a soft place to land amidst the chaos that reality often brews.

Why then, does the heart seek the sweet chaos of fantasies? Perhaps because, despite the world mocking the feminine tendency towards ‘delirium’, it remains the faithful companion in a reality that often wears a mask of ruthlessness. This delirium is the unsung hero of our tale, a companion on a journey that often seems like a battle against the stark, cold realm of practicality. It springs from the fact that the feminine spirit, not confined by gender but by essence, thrives on creation, on giving, on nurturing. Our suffering stems from the ceaseless tug of war between the innate need to live, to discover, and to find against a world that often turns a blind eye to such tender quests.

We yearn to paint the sky with the hues of our emotions, to sculpt our desires into tangible dreams, to pen down the whispers of our heart, to laugh amidst the whirlpool of life’s absurdities. Yet, the cold logic of masculinity often fails to comprehend the symphony of emotions that play within the feminine heart. We, too, are beings of desire, of faults, of earthly and carnal yearnings, yet within this realm lies a complexity, a depth that often goes unnoticed, misunderstood. Our suffering either becomes a flaw to be fixed or a spectacle to be gawked at, never just a simple reality to be understood. Hence, we seek solace in the exclusive realm of ‘delirium’, a realm understood only by those who have felt the sweet sting of being a dreamer in a realistic world.

But here’s where the tale takes a rebellious twist. Our so-called ‘delirium’ is often the reality painted in a myriad of shades, a reality where barriers dissolve and insights are born not just of logic but of tender, raw emotion. Yet, this reality has been shackled, labelled as delusional by a world that favors cold, hard facts over the tender, nurturing touch of understanding. In the modern dance of love, where emotions are often traded for casual flings, where the gentle touch of vulnerability is replaced by the cold mask of detachment, we’re coerced into adopting a stark, unfeeling demeanor. The mantra is simple—casual is casual, and any deviation from this narrow path is dubbed delusional. God forbid if you dare to reminisce the touch, the shared laughter, the silent exchange of vulnerabilities as fingers traced paths of unspoken words on bare skin.

There is a dismissal of the tender, the intimate, championing a detachment that leaves hearts yearning for more. In a realm where physical intimacy is often shorn of emotional vulnerability, where hearts are guarded with stoic masks, the essence of love is lost. Love, a force that thrives on understanding, on giving, on sharing, finds itself at odds with in a place that celebrates detachment, that scoffs at the tender tendrils of affection. The feminine essence, with its nurturing touch, finds itself in a silent protest against a normality that often forgets the simple, tender touch of caring, of understanding, of dreaming without restraints.

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smallnetbusiness · 1 year ago

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Playing 3kh0 Games on Mac at School

School breaks and free periods allow students to unwind and have fun. With 3kh0 Games gaining popularity as a leading platform for Mac users, many students are eager to explore its exciting offerings on school computers. 3khO is widely recognized as a top destination for children to engage with various games, making it an ideal choice for students seeking entertainment. This comprehensive guide aims to provide students with the necessary steps to access and play 3kh0 Games on their Mac computers at school. Following these instructions allows students to embark on an exciting gaming adventure during their free time. With a vast collection of games available, ranging from thrilling racing experiences to captivating platformers and addictive puzzles, 3kh0 offers something for every student's gaming preference. So, let's delve into how students can unlock the potential of 3kh0 Games on their school computers and make the most of their gaming breaks.

Discover The World Of 3kh0 Games

3kh0 Games has gained popularity among Mac users, offering various gaming options to explore. Whether you crave thrilling races, challenging puzzles, or immersive adventures, 3kh0 has something to satisfy every gaming enthusiast. Let's discover the diverse range of games and genres available on 3kh0. Adrenaline-Pumping Races: Get your heart racing with high-speed races in powerful cars or bikes. Race against computer-controlled opponents or take on human challengers in thrilling multiplayer events. - Mind-Bending Puzzles: Engage your brain with an assortment of mind-bending puzzles. From classic jigsaw puzzles to complex logic challenges, these games will test your problem-solving skills and keep you entertained. - Captivating Adventures: Immerse yourself in beautiful virtual worlds filled with exciting adventures. Solve mysteries, explore enchanting landscapes, and experience thrilling storylines as you embark on epic quests. - Strategy and Simulation: Put your strategic thinking to the test with strategy and simulation games. Manage cities, build civilizations, or run businesses as you make critical decisions to succeed in these immersive simulations. - Sports Excitement: Experience the thrill of sports in virtual form. Play soccer, basketball, tennis, and more in realistic sports simulations, or enjoy casual sports-themed games for quick entertainment. - Casual Fun: Sometimes, you want to relax and have fun. 3kh0 Games offers a selection of casual games like match-3 puzzles, word games, and arcade-style challenges for enjoyable and laid-back gaming sessions. - Racing Thrills: If you need speed, 3kh0 offers a thrilling collection of racing games. From high-speed car races to intense bike challenges, these games will get your heart racing and your adrenaline pumping. - Platforming Adventures: Embark on exciting platforming adventures where you'll navigate through challenging levels, dodge obstacles, and collect rewards. Explore fantasy worlds, solve puzzles, and showcase your gaming skills in these captivating platformer games. - Puzzle Challenges: Exercise your brain with a wide variety of puzzle games available on 3khO. From classic jigsaw puzzles to intricate logic puzzles, these games keep you engaged and entertained while enhancing your problem-solving abilities. - Strategy and Simulation: Immerse yourself in strategy and simulation games that require careful planning and decision-making. Build cities, manage businesses, and conquer virtual worlds as you strategize your way to success. - Adventure Quests: Embark on epic quests and adventures in virtual worlds filled with mystery and excitement. Solve riddles, explore hidden realms, and unravel thrilling storylines in these captivating adventure games. - Sports Challenges: If you're a sports enthusiast, 3khO offers a range of sports-themed games to enjoy. Whether it's soccer, basketball, tennis, or golf, you can experience the excitement and competitiveness of your favorite sports right on your Mac computer. - Casual Fun: Sometimes, you want to relax and enjoy some casual gaming fun. 3khO has various casual games, including match-3 puzzles, word games, and arcade-style challenges, perfect for a quick gaming break at school.

Accessing 3kh0 Games On Mac Computers At School

To access and play 3kh0 games on your Mac computer at school, follow these simple steps: - Step 1: Launch a Web Browser - Open a web browser on your school computer. Safari, Google Chrome, or Firefox are popular options. - Step 2: Visit the 3kh0 Website - In the address bar, enter the URL of the 3kh0 Website. You can find the Website at https://3kh0.github.io/3kh0.github.io-replit/ or https://adfree3kh0.githubio/projects.html. - Step 3: Browse and Select a Game - Once you're on the 3kh0 Website, explore the list of available games. Take your time to find a match that piques your interest. - Step 4: Start Playing - Click on the game you wish to play. The game will load, and you can follow the on-screen instructions to dive into the gaming experience. - Note: Some schools may have restrictions regarding website access or playing games on school computers. If you encounter any issues accessing 3kh0 games, consider the following tips: - Seek Permission: Before attempting to access 3kh0 games on school computers, it's advisable to seek permission from your teachers or school administration. They may have specific rules regarding using school computers for gaming purposes. - VPNs or Proxies: If your school has restrictions, you can try using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or a proxy server to bypass the filters and access the 3kh0 Website. However, make sure to follow your school's guidelines and policies when it comes to using such tools. - Offline Versions: Some 3kh0 games may offer offline versions that can be downloaded and played on school computers without internet access. Check the game's Website or the 3kh0 platform for offline versions.

Conclusion

Unlocking the fun of 3kh0 Games on Mac computers at school provides students with an exciting opportunity to enjoy a variety of gaming experiences. With a wide range of unblocked games, students can choose from thrilling races, challenging platformers, mind-boggling puzzles, and more. Following the simple steps outlined in this guide, students can easily access and play their favorite 3kh0 games during their free time at school. However, it's essential to be aware of any restrictions or guidelines the school sets regarding internet access and gaming on school computers. Related article: The Complete Blooket Join Guide Seeking permission from teachers or school administration is always advisable to ensure compliance with school policies. So, prepare to embark on an adventure filled with fun, entertainment, and sharpening your gaming skills. Explore the world of 3kh0 games, immerse yourself in captivating gameplay, and make the most of your breaks with thrilling gaming experiences. Let the games begin! Read the full article

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space-blue · 3 months ago

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OK I'm going to take you completely seriously and answer you earnestly and without any shade of joke. I mean this:

I don't think you'll be able to cancel me for having a mild opinion on my own blog, so I didn't even consider you might be attempting this. I decided to joke back at you because your call out felt so silly to me.

But I happen to be a pretty big writer. I really enjoy writing! And I love reading! Especially scifi and fantasy. As a big reader and writer of both, I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing cold logic to a scifi or fantasy setting, no.

Fantasy can be done with clinical precision. Brandon Sanderson thrives as an author by bringing absolute scientific logic and precision to Magic, of all things. Others have brought the cold logic of biology and evolution to Dragons. And of course there's an entire realm of scifi called "Hard science fiction", which has impossible near-future science but tries to take it on as realistically as possible.

But do you know what? My post was not even like that. I just genuinely dislike the concept. It sounds ableist. It sounds negative and oppressive against people who suffer from depression. It truly makes depression into a transmissible disease.

My post was not trying to bring realism into anything, i just think the topic has rancid vibes and I wanted to bring some tongue in cheek bits to my generally negative reply.

I'm sorry you misread it as some sort of real take on a fantasy concept, but it wasn't.

Even if it were though, there's zero reason to think that realism would be an issue with hive-minds, or any topic. Even fairy farts can be tackled with cold logic. Maybe not for you, but hey, you were never my target audience.

Hive-minds have been done plenty of time in sci-fi and have been done with a fantastical slant as well as a cold, clinical one.

It doesn't matter which it is. What matter is internal logic. If I wrote a story about a human hive-mind, it would matter if I established rules and later broke them, because that would confuse my readers. It doesn't matter how cold and clinical or how cute and fantastical these rules are.

If you need recommendations for books that have cute fantasy concepts but seen in a "cold logic" way, just ask and I'll send you a reading list.

But let me ask you, don't you like discussing topics? Would you bring up the topic to your friends and drop it after 2 sentences so that you don't bring too much cold logic in? Would you be upset at your friends for trying to define what you mean by human hive-mind?

If your friend passed the joint and asked, "Whoa, man, if I join this hive-mind, do I even get to keep my sense of self?" what would you do?

Would you just go *mysterious hand gesture* "Sure. Let's not bring cold logic here"?

Or would you go "I guess it depends if the bodies are always connected in one mass that lives in all bodies, or if it's a group of individuals in perfect communication."

And if your friend replied, "Like, are you a carrot floating in the soup, a part of something bigger, or have you become the soup itself? All blended? If I got cut off from the rest of my bodies, would that single body be ME me, or would it be a tiny part of the hive-mind that's just me flavoured?"

Would you go, "Shut up shut up with your logic stop thinking about this!" or would you go, "Mmmh good question. I guess even if you are yourself in your own body, you have to have been changed and influenced by the time you've spent within the hivemind. At what moment do you stop being the person who joined? We change all the time, right? Is joining a hive-mind just a way of changing faster? Or is it more, because you would never have been able to change in that sort of way on your own or with others disconnected from you."

Like, do you not enjoy *thinking* about this stuff?

That's what I did, you see. I though about that prompt, and it told me ugly things. It doesn't have a hopeful slant. It doesn't end with "now all of you have to get therapy". It doesn't end with "you have to care for your new member"...

No, instead it makes it sound like a curse and a bummer that you even went and saved someone from killing themselves, because now you're all (all undefined numbers of you) afflicted with their disease!

I think it's negative and it sucks. I can't turn off my mind and slap flowers and sparkle on the concept just because it's

My brain likes to plot and think and analyse and make stories, and I just thought that was a mean spirited prompt that would inspire a ton of bad stories which would indirectly villify people with depression. If I were depressed and saw that on my dash I think I'd genuinely feel fucking awful.

So fuck that, I said, on my own private blog where I post anything I want regardless of your preferences.

Fuck that. My hivemind is full of ADHD and autistic catastrophes. Queers and weirdos and also two sports jocks and one uptight Oxford professor. Several of them are depressed, most are busy running a 24/7 hyperfixation farm and associated etsy shop. We are always busy with something, but the more healthy, balanced, and grass touching among us are able to counter our worst tendencies by making sure we all take our meds on time and get enough sleep and don't forget appointments.

Many people still find us horrifying because we indeed blend personalities in a fine soup and you will end being who you are to become something new, but your brain remains the purveyor of a certain output, and the hive will ensure it is healthy and taken care of. We carefully balance our selection and assimilate some boring people here and there to make sure we don't get too fabulous. We wouldn't want that much attention. Also we are actively seeking mathematicians and physicists.

Do you know what? I bet you that sounds like the opening paragraph of an inviting fantasy to a bunch of people. But if it's still cold and stupid to you, I beg you then, walk away and leave it be. It wasn't made for you.

Also if you want some good horror with Hive-Minds, read Leech by Hiron Ennes.

You are a hivemind. You have successfully talked a man down from the edge and they have, consensually, been assimilated. Bad news, now the entire hivemind is depressed.

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epickiya722 · 1 year ago

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So, they said something that really caught my attention, that it was that the unrealistic part would be that the story is breaking it's own rules, as in, being contratictory that what was stablished before, and breaking the immersion in the process. And i agree with that a lot, actually. But mha has something that i personally find really cool when it comes to the concept of quirks:

Is that they have the possibility to bend, break, and defy even the logic of it's own universe, and i find this to be super fascinating.

The story has many moments where characters acquire new ways of using their quirks, and breaking their own limits, even one they didn't even know they had before. They sometimes pay the price for that, since that also requires them to strain their abilities and bodies to a whole new level, and be really smart to use that correctly. Even some of them tried to bio-engineer themselves into accepting more quirks, having to their own not be fit for their body, or in other cases, not being able to Control their quirks at ALL.

And, i think this is one of the parts that i find most "realistic" bc when it comes to life, there is very few things that respect strict rules, specially in nature. Not even in the main story, do they know for sure the endless possibilities of quirks, bc it is not something so easy to understand. You can find outliners or make yourself one, depending on circunstance.

Ooh, definitely with you on that, Anon.

I got into checking out BNHA because of a meme, but one of the reasons I stayed is because of the quirks.

I love that quirks can range from "tame" to "that's outrageously wild" but they all have some form of limitation to them. That part makes them "realistic", and I'll explain as to why in a bit.

But real quick!

The thing with "realism" for me when it comes to BNHA and people questioning it is what they're questioning and why.

Let's be honest, like many other terms, "realistic" is so loosely used now. It's another one of those words that has many meanings to it that is has to be clear in what sense it's being used.

Some people use to water down their criticism of media for the sake of feeding their egos and trolling people. They use "realism" to criticize a fictional piece of work just because of boredom. They want to get a raise out of people. Want the attention. They nitpick at the parts that doesn't need to be questioned.

With BNHA, I get it if someone asked how Sero's quirk "realistically" would work. "Realistic" can also mean "possible". So how does Sero's quirk "possibly" work?

Honestly, I question how, too. But because this is BNHA, an anime about people having superpowers, I'm not pressed about it in the sense of "No, I must know how this works because in the real world it's not possible, that's so stupid".

Which yes, not possible in the real world, but this is a fantasy. It does not matter. It's a wacky detail, but that's what makes it amazing. For goodness sake, Horikoshi came up with Sero because he went to a convenience store.

Are you questioning how his quirk works in his world, this realm of superpowers where nearly anything is possible? Or how it works in the real world, even though it shouldn't matter because again, it's fiction?

I feel like some people should stop trying to add realism when there are already some realistic features within the story.

That's where the problem lies for me. Some people try to explain every single bit of detail in BNHA to "solve how it can and cannot be realistic" without leaving the room for the imagination. Also, again, just for the sake of being a jerk.

Yes, I'm going to question some things, but at the same time I still like to view BNHA as the superhero fantasy it is, thank you very much.

The quirks and even character design work to add the fantasy parts of BNHA. Because it's fiction, as it always have been, rule bending is allowed. Not everything of how a quirk works or even why a character has horns needs to be explained. It's a story to entertain us, not inform us of some biology lesson. I could just go and watch some documentary if I wanted that.

If people wanted to focus on the "realism" when it comes to quirks, there are the limitations and how the quirks can affect the body.

Example, we can compare ourselves to Midoriya. Not by having OFA, but by what his body goes through.

It makes sense to say "Midoriya's fingers may act up on him from time to time" because surely they do. Some of us have suffered from injuries that put us in the same position Midoriya is in. That "realistic" part of him makes him relatable. I do know people who have to wear compressions.

Another character, Aoyama. The fantasy part of him is shooting lasers out of his belly button, but the realistic part of him is his stomach issues. People do go through that in real life.

Even personalities and relationships can work to be "realistic" because again, relatable.

Someone can say they know someone like Dabi. Someone can say their dad reminds them of All Might. Hell, my relationship with my mom is similar to Midoriya and his mom.

That is realistic to me. Realistic as in "I can relate to it in my real life". Not "scientifically it's possible".

To summarize and to be clear...

When people question the "realism" of BNHA, exactly what is being questioned and what do they mean "realistic", like what meaning?

Genuinely curious or just trying to be an ass?

Does the "realism" of what is being questioned actually matter and if so, why? Is it because it makes sense to the writing and/or it's relatable? Or again, trying to critique a piece?

Personally for me, I don't care for how "realistic" BNHA or any story is if I'm enjoying it. I'm not one to question how something works "in the real world". If I'm questioning the "realism" of something I'm genuinely curious about it or it threw me off enough to go "wait a minute, wait a minute, that didn't make sense for the character or the story" (which is very, very rare for me).

Really just my two cents, that's just me. I know not everyone will feel the same and don't expect them to.

I apologize though because I was gonna write like two sentences but couldn't stop myself.

#kiya answers #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia

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howtofightwrite · 4 years ago

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Q&A: D&D by Gaslight

Not 100% writing related, but my friend – who’s very knowledgeable about military history – wants our D&D campaign to be as realistically medieval as possible while also maintaining the fantasy elements. This is explanation as to why there aren’t many female warriors/soldiers/etc, and the ones we DO encounter will be magic users, because if someone can do magic you’re going to put them on the front line. He’s a great friend and a brilliant DM, but am I wrong for having an issue with this?

No. Intentionally or not, you’re seeing someone try to justify their misogyny using logic that is internally inconsistent. The problem is really fundamental, fantasy elements, especially D&D’s, preclude medieval power structures and military strategy. It also, very transparently, exposes their misogyny, without them even realizing it.

So let’s start with that last one. The argument for excluding women from front line combat roles is that they’re unsuited to combat. This is an argument made in the real world where the list of sapient species capable of fulfilling a combat role is somewhat short. It’s also bullshit. It has no historical basis. Women have operated as frontline fighters throughout human history. Not everywhere. There have been mysogynistic cultures. But, the idea that women cannot fight, and never fought is shockingly unsupportable. I can’t remember the last time we linked, We Have Always Fought, by Kameron Hurley, so, here it is, read up, enjoy.

But, when we’re talking about your game of D&D, we’re not talking about the real world. We’re talking about a world with Orcs, Minotaurs, and other races, all of which have innate attribute bonuses to their strength and constitution. They are, quite literally, stronger and more durable than human fighters.

The inverse is also true, (while 4th and 5th edition changed this), used to be Elves had a penalty to constitution, making them less suited to frontline combat roles. Again, if someone’s trying to say, “women aren’t suitable for combat,” while gleefully signing off on male elves, that’s misogyny.

It is reasonable to have basic stat prereq stats a character would need in order serve in a military. For example, they might not be allowed to enlist if their STR, or CON scores were below 10 or 12, there’s even some realism in that, most militaries don’t want recruits who are physically or mentally infirm. If you think every stat should be at least 10, cool, easy. However, female characters would have no difficulty hitting those thresholds.

Short version: If you’re saying that women can’t serve in your D&D military, you’re also saying that humans are unfit to serve, across the board. There’s some potential worldbuiling to be had there. For example, in Dragonlance, Minotaurs are frequently employed as sailors. Their physical stat bonuses make them ideal for a rough life on the seas, and many take to it happily.

And, to be clear, those physically beefier races are pretty well distributed through the population in Forgotten Realm’s Faerun. You don’t see a lot of half-orc infantry units, in general, because of social stigmas against them, and their numbers aren’t that high, but that doesn’t play well with the idea of a medieval power structure, or really the way power tends to work in general. In any plausible, medieval, world, those half-orcs would be conscripted into military service in some capacity. This highlights something about D&D, and high fantasy in general, that is easy to overlook: this is not medieval.

Medieval Europe was shaped by a lot of factors. For our purposes, the utter lack of individuals with godlike powers is a fairly significant factor to look at.

Let’s start with a specific phrase: “if someone can do magic you’re going to put them on the front line.” This is very questionable thinking. How, exactly, are you going to convince someone who can cast Cloudkill, that you want them in an infantry role?

Warfare is not fun. It’s not an enjoyable activity. When you’re talking about a medieval conflict, a lot of your forces are going to be conscripted. So, how, exactly, do you conscript a wizard? Even at level 1, they have access to a host of dangerous abilities that makes forcing to do you want incredibly risky. This before you consider that not all magic users are wizards, and some are decidedly more dangerous to harass.

Wizards in D&D draw their magic from an education in the arcane arts. This means, many wizards actually come from academies or larger organizations. Organizations that would not appreciate having their members poached by a local despot. A local despot who would be hard pressed to survive the ire of higher level wizards and basically 5th or higher level spell.

Clerics, Paladins, Druids, and Rangers draw their spellcasting abilities from their gods. (In the case Druids and Rangers, it’s technically nature itself, but the distinction is more about the spell lists and fluff.) Ironically, if you wanted to see front line magic users, Clerics, Paladins, and Rangers are high on the list. Rangers often serve as scouts, while Clerics often serve as combat medics and Paladins are, literally, holy crusaders.

There is one more spell caster that draws power from an outside source: The Warlock. Warlocks get their power from bargaining with Demons, Dark Gods, Edlrich Horrors, or even more terrifying powers. Yeah, trying to force one of these guys fight for you sounds like a horrible idea.

There are two more magic casters in standard D&D. The Sorcerer and Bard both draw magic from within. Where the Wizard learns spells through study, or the Cleric prays to their god, the Sorcerer just kinda throws a fireball. They don’t really understand the intricacies of arcane magic, they simply “know” how to cast intuitively, much in the same way dragons do. Unironically, one common origin for a Sorcerer’s powers is a dragon somewhere in their family tree. Their magic tends to be chaotic and unpredictable, meaning they’re not a particularly good fit for any regulated military.

Personal builds aside, Bards are very similar to Sorcerers. As a player, you can make some pretty beefy builds, but as a part of the world, they don’t fit well with military campaigning. Though, a chaotic good kingdom could, plausibly, recruit and send bards to war to boost morale of their troops, that’s not really part of any campaign settings. (Incidentally, said chaotic good kingdom probably wouldn’t engage in conscription to begin with. That’s more of a lawful activity. They’d also be less likely to care about the gender of their recruits, because, again, chaotic good.)

I’m also skipping over some of the weirder classes that haven’t, necessarily, made it into 5th Edition, like the Spellsword, Favored Soul, Spirit Shaman, Archivist, or Warmage. There’s a lot of variation here. The important thing to understand moving forward is that, you can’t force a mage to fight for you, and you can’t have a fantasy version of Medieval Europe if it includes a single level 20 Wizard.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. You can’t have a fantasy version of Europe if you have any characters over ~ level 10.

Something a lot of people miss about D&D is how far up the power scale goes. Figure that your average military will never have characters above level 5. Elite forces and singular champions might get to 10 (though 8 is also a pretty reasonable ceiling for them.) The kings and warlords may get into the elite range, but they could easily be on par with the rank and file soldiers, ~level 3 – 5. And, you expect a level 12 warlock, who got their powers from bargaining with the forces of hell to just bend knee and go die for a petty little mortal?

When you start looking at character progression, after level 10, your character is, pretty much, a fantasy superhero. Your challenge rating table starts rolling over from bandits, druids, mages, and assassins, into mythical creatures, and other “big ticket” enemies. Your level 13 party shouldn’t be encountering mercenaries, they’re up to the task of going after adult dragons.

In case you thought that was just your character having the stats, the abilities that your classes unlock in the 11-20 range starts getting out of hand as well. For example, a level 11 Barbarian can, literally, be too angry to die. A level 13 monk gains the ability to speak and understand any language. They can also be understood by anyone. And then at level 15, they no longer need to eat or drink anything. I’m cherry picking, a little, but these abilities transcend the humanly possible.

This loops back to a fundamental element of D&D: The game is a power fantasy, and it’s built around that. You could not drop a level 11 character into 11th century Europe without them fundamentally altering the course of human history. They are that powerful.

When you’re creating wars in that kind of setting, saying, “I’m going to stick to medieval warfare,” doesn’t track. The short version is that you can’t have a medieval era in a conventional D&D campaign setting. The diversity of conflicting religions, backed by their own gods, mean you (probably) would not see a unified religion (or any other single body) taking control over a massive territory and forcing the society into a technological stasis.

Magic, frequently, replaces far more advanced technologies. I’ve written about this at length before, but if you have battlefield spellcasters, you now have mobile artillery, advanced communications, remote reconnaissance, and a host of other, “modern tools of warfare.” As a ruler, you now have political problem, because you need to secure the loyalty of those mages. It may be enough to secure personal loyalty from the individuals, but in larger scale warfare, you’d need the loyalty of the organization training and overseeing them. You cannot simply force to serve you, the way you could round up another batch of peasants for use as shock troops.

The, “problem,” with Forgotten Realms as a medieval setting is, it’s way too cosmopolitan. There’s a lot of physical mobility. There’s a lot of cross-racial interaction. Granted, not all interactions are positive, but you have a world that far better understood than what medieval Europe had. It’s also more technologically advanced.

Remember how I said that mages mean you have access to a bunch of modern technologies on the battlefield? Magic has also seriously impacted technological development. Firearms exist, but are vanishingly rare. This isn’t because they’re new, it’s because they’re kind of irrelevant. Magic can already do the things that made firearms revolutionary in the real world, and have been able to do that for quite some time.

While medical technology is less advanced, clerics and druids gain access to spells which will outright cure diseases at low enough levels for that to be a fairly accessible service. Even bringing someone back from the dead isn’t difficult, (though that is expensive.)

The power structures of the world tend to center around higher level characters (usually in the borderline-superhero range.) With that world in place, it’s basically impossible to recreate the real Medieval Europe with any kind of logical consistency.

There is one last part here, your friend is subverting the intended spirit of D&D. Wizards of the Coast recently published an article on diversity:

One of the explicit design goals of 5th edition D&D is to depict humanity in all its beautiful diversity by depicting characters who represent an array of ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and beliefs. We want everyone to feel at home around the game table and to see positive reflections of themselves within our products. “Human” in D&D means everyone, not just fantasy versions of northern Europeans, and the D&D community is now more diverse than it’s ever been.

The entire article is worth reading, and I encourage you to do so. However, this a takeaway, if anyone your roleplaying group is engaging behavior that makes you feel excluded, or marginalized, it’s something that needs to be addressed.

If your friend is an, “expert,” on medieval warfare, and thinks that women never fought, it seriously undercuts his research.

One of the ironies with Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla‘s release were the idiots who threw a fit over the option to play a female viking. It almost feels like a straw man example, because Ubisoft preemptively released comments on the subject:

But the fact is, and I think what’s really important, is that it was part of their conception of the world. Sagas and myths from Norse society are full of tough female characters and warriors. It was part of their idea of the world, that women and men are equally formidable in battle…

Thierry Noel

The archaeological problem with vikings is that earlier archaeologists were determine gender based on whether the individual was buried with militant goods without checking if the skeleton was actually male. Meaning, they assumed that all raiders were male, therefore, all raiders they found were male, without checking to see if that assumption was true.

The debate, now, is that quite a few women were buried with militant goods. If we take the original assumption, that means viking raids were coed. Or burying them with a sword meant something different. However, Noel is right, looking at their culture, their myths, and then saying, viking women placidly stayed at home while the men, and only the men raided, is dubious at best.

Throughout history, women have fought in warfare. Not in every nation. Not in every time. But they have fought. Saying, “but it’s not historically accurate,” has no place in the real world. To say nothing of a world of elves, dragons, wizards, and bards seducing the goddamn spiders.

-Starke

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Q&A: D&D by Gaslight was originally published on How to Fight Write.

#D&D #fightwrite answers #Starke answers #worldbuilding #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips

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smalltownfae · 3 years ago

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Book Nopes

The more I read the more I notice aspects I don't like in books and one day I will need to put together a complete list. There are exceptions of course, but some type of stories just don't seem to be my preference and I gave up on these unless someone that knows my taste recommends these types of books to me. Some of those are:

Gods among humans - I feel like this has the problem of one being too powerful to make a human victory believable for me. I also apparently don't like the perspective of the gods either because they live so long that causes detachment in the narrative and connection to others. It makes sense but I am the kind of reader that likes to feel close to the character and explore all of their emotions. Exception: "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller. There are gods but this is mostly a human story from a human perspective and I think that's why it worked for me while "Circe" by the same author didn't.

War Stories: I don't like it. I feel like the messages are too repetitive at this point, the settings are obviously devastating and not even amazing characters can make me love it. If war is just one part of the story I don't mind it much, but books that are all about that are not for me. The most successful was "The Heroes" by Joe Abercrombie because of the great character work, but even that got an ok rating.

Time travel: way too many ways to go wrong and not being fully logical. Writing these is really hard especially when the past affects the future. If I am turning off my brain sometimes I can enjoy these stories, but if I start thinking about them I often find flaws in the logic more often than it happens in other stories and that is annoying. Exception: "Kindred" by Octavia E. Butler. Here this aspect served only as a plot device to contrast the "present" with the past and give social commentary. This aspect is never fully explored or explained so the story feels more like historical fiction than scifi and that's why it worked.

Magic that feels like science (hard magic system): I like magic to have a bit of mystery to it because in my mind if magic is entirely knowable it isn’t magic anymore. There is no wonder to it. So, I don’t like magic with lots of rules and this is usually seen in High Fantasy which I am also picky with. I much prefer low fantasy stories and I wouldn’t really call Realm of the Elderlings high fantasy. I did enjoy Lord of the Rings when I read it though. I think “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel” had a bit of knowable magic plot but it was mixed with mysterious magic and therefore I enjoyed it even if I still think the book is too long and the amount and lenght of the footnotes is ridiculous.

Hard Scifi: Usually there is a lot of technobable and more focus on plot and themes than characters. It also usually involves a cold detached writing style that I am not a fan of.

Portal Fantasy: for some reason I like to keep the real world and the fantasy world separated. Fantasy in the real world can work, but I am also really picky with urban fantasy if there is a lot of magic involved. I like authors to pick one line and stay in it. If there is fantasy in the real world I want it to still feel realistic in a way and something more like magical realism. Exception: “Howl’s Moving Castle” by Diana Wynne Jones. Howl’s backstory is a portal fantasy one, but that is not the one the story focus on and I guess that is why it works for me so well.

Paranormal Horror/Mystery/Thriller: If the solution to a murder or whatever is “a ghost did it” I don’t usually love it. I like the humans to be the actual “villains” and that is the thing that scares me. I am not afraid of ghosts because I personally don’t believe in them. So, making the solution to a murder paranormal often seems like a cheap resolution to me and trying to scare me with ghosts doesn’t work. In movies, sometimes I have fun with it if the stories go deeper into the psychological meaning, but I am even pickier with books of this kind. Exception: “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. We never really see the ghosts, we are never really sure if there really is an haunting even and I like that much better than giving a face to the fear. I like the various interpretations that show up from books like these.

Contemporary Romance: Contemporary in general is an hard genre to sell for me, but contemporary romance is even worse because I don’t tend to like stories with a focus on the romance and nothing else. I like romance as a secondary plot, but not as a main plot. Other thing that bothers me is the amount of sex scenes that usually are in these books. A sex scene about the couple’s first time together is fine and can be interesting and intimate, but often there are a lot of sex scenes that do nothing plot-wise. I understand those are there for the people that simply enjoy reading about sex without needing anything else, but that is not what I like. I like everything in a book to have a purpose in terms of plot or character development. The closest thing I can say I at least enjoyed in this genre was “Boyfriend Material” by Alexis Hall.

Famous person/band focused story: I don’t care much for celebrities in real life so I also don’t usually care for fiction about those things. Exception: “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I tried other 2 books by the author and this was the only one that worked for me. I think I liked it so much because besides hollywood, it addressed race and sexuality too.

Maybe there are some other things that just don’t seem to be my cup of tea, but these are all I can remember at the moment. Let me know what are the aspects that don’t seem to agree with you in books or the genres you don’t like and if there are any exceptions.

#booklr #book nopes

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taleofblossoms · 4 years ago

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HOW COME IT'S 2021 AND MOST TEEN/YOUNG ADULTS TV SERIES ARE STILL MOSTLY WRITTEN/DIRECTED/PRODUCED BY WHITE 40+ YEAR OLD MEN?

Save by the bell reboot had it's cringe moments and that Selena Gomez comment was more than insolent but at least THEY DIDN'T DO THE LGBTQ CHARACTER DIRTY! DO YOU KNOW HOW? BY HAVING THE ACTRESS OF THE LGBTQ CHARACTER WHO IS TRANS IRL, JUST 19 YEAR OLD AND PALESTINIAN AND LEBANESE, AS A FREAKING PRODUCER ON THEIR TEENIE SHOW.

AND WHEN WILL YOU START CASTING PEOPLE CLOSER TO THE AGES THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO PORTRAY???! No offense to the actresses and actors who probably had their first bigger role with fate. But they are like 16/17 on the show but played by 25-27 year olds. Abigail's and Precious' ages are the closest but that's even marginal. Did none of you all watch skam? Did you all learn nothing from Julie Andem? I am not a teen anymore but still enjoy some shows targeted for teens like DRUCK the german skam remake and see myself a lot in those characters. But with fate I feel like they really failed to make yourself feel relatable to the characters. They just seemed so unnatural and superficial.

It's just laughable how white middle age men think they know it all. Seriously do they wake up and say let's make a teen tv show with 30+ year old white actors saying end game to everything, having sex 24/7, mentioning anything sexual whenever someone breaths, have just one poc character who is just a side character with no personality and story other than following around and being supportive of the white main lead who will act and be treated like they are Messiah and have one or two LGBTQ characters where one bullies the other but the victim is in love with them and then the bully also falls in love (those white men are probably so proud coming up with that lmao). So......my question is.....have they ever seen, heard of or talked to an actual teenager of this age?!

I am sorry for ranting about the fate series again but I forced myself to at least finish the 3rd episode and nothing changed. Still boring. And I need to include how deeply disappointed I am with their world building. Trust me I am not comparing fate to Winx anymore that hurts too much but the world in fate is just so...grey and vacuous. There is no explanation, no system, no logic to their magic. Especially the magic seemed so nonexistent and whenever someone used magic it felt like the director just remembered that they are supposed to be a fantasy show and they need to implement some bibbidi babbidi boo. They namedrop some winx planets like solaria but that's it. They don't explain how the realms and kingdoms(?) are connected and related to each other.

All of this made the series extra boring for me. If it was an original work I could have blamed that on the lack of time invested in to character design and world building but this is an adaption of a series that had a realistic fictional world (and evil minded enough villians) perfectly laid out for them and they ended up not using it to it's fullest potential.... Anyways I am going to rewatch bridgerton now.

#winx club #fate the winx saga #fate winx saga #nickelodeon #netflix #winx #DRUCK #SKAM #SKAM GERMANY

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wlw-create · 3 years ago

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The Priory of the Orange Tree

At 800 pages, this doorstop of a book is a challenge worth taking. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon contains a broad, lush fantasy world that draws inspiration from several real places and times in history (I give bonus points to any story that includes Fantasy Dejima), with a dose of magic, mystery, and dragons both allied and enemy. Ead, our heroine, is a member of the titular hidden society of mages, and she has been assigned to live undercover at the court of Queen Sabran of Inys. She must protect the Queen’s bloodline, for it may be the only thing preventing the greatest and most terrible of the dragons from returning to lay waste to the world again. All the same, dragons are beginning to awake, and people all across the world will have to overcome their differences if they are to survive.

Ead is a lesbian, and Queen Sabran is bisexual, and their slow-burn romantic subplot is a joy to read. There are lightly explicit sex scenes between the two of them, while other romances in the story (including Sabran’s marriage to a man before her relationship with Ead) are non-explicit. Shannon brings a nuanced sensuality to the writing throughout the book, and hits the intersection of “sexy” and “tasteful” with precision. The story is told from three other perspectives as well: there is a character who is still mourning the man he loved, and two additional confirmed queer characters with no love interests whose specific identities don’t come up in-text.

The book features epic-fantasy-typical death and injury, and the setting is an interesting balance from a queer/feminist perspective. On the one hand, legal/religious marriages in Inys are not restricted by gender, and many knights of the realm are women. On the other hand, the society is very attached to lineage and legitimate (monogamous) inheritance, and Queen Sabran especially is constrained by her political and religious duty to give birth to an heir. As Shannon herself put it: “There is inherent homophobia in the system of hereditary monarchy”. It would be misleading to say that the book exists in a world without sexism and homophobia--more accurately, the world has specific expressions of these things, which are different enough from our own world that the story might still be refreshing for a reader looking to avoid reading about “realistic” sexism and homophobia.

Readers who liked the Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks will certainly enjoy this book (and vice versa).

Samantha Shannon is also the author of The Bone Season series, and is planning to publish additional books in the Priory setting. She realized she was queer while writing Ead and Sabran’s love story, which warms my heart so much! You can follow Shannon on twitter, and tumblr @sshannonauthor. She lives, happily solo, in London.

#The Priory of the Orange Tree #Samantha Shannon #book #queer creator #lesbian character #bisexual character #queer character #Mod Tea #original post

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tawakkull · 3 years ago

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ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 78

Chaos and the mystical world of faith

Today, everyone breathes resentment, swallows hatred, curses all that is deemed to be an enemy with a fixed and determined passion, as if programmed for fury. The ink that flows on the pages of newspapers, the pictures that are broadcasted over the television, the electromagnetic waves that resonate on the radio scratch our ears like illomened screams emitting from a variety of places—in the mountains or on the water, in the valleys or up in the hills; they strike our eyes like photographs that make us shudder and they open wounds in our hearts. These epics of hate that we hear of day and night and that startle us, all these illomened screams, make us sick at heart, and yet the people who seek a cure for these ills are few indeed. Their thoughts go in different directions, but they always seem to arrive at the same point: money, financial prosperity, and success.

… emotions base, desire consuming The meaning that flows over from the gaze is full of contempt for the subject of God. Akif

Very few are exempt from such a turbulent point of view; no difference remains between what is collective and what is not, between capitalism and communism and no difference remains between these and liberalism. The distance in nature—between those who attach their lives to the considerations of eating and drinking, resting, and earning money, having a good time in general, and, other beings who are obliged due to the unchanging character of their nature—becomes smaller day by day. The basic differences between the two sides vanish into thin air one by one, and humanity seeks new directions, despite its own nature.

Religion, piety, morals, free thought, our own perceptions of art are thought little of; power has become so ulcerated as to be unrecognizable, fantasy has taken on the image of ideas and these disagreeable ideas are being forced upon others. Indeed, I have to say that I have a hard time understanding the inner drama of such a terrible fanaticism. Nowadays, when enlightenment has become widespread, when intellectualism is at its apex, the fact that science and ignorance should meet at the same spot, contrary to the distance that one would expect to exist between them, suggests a dark complicity and makes the existence of a serious problem obvious. Such a contradiction gives us the impression that the emotional will of some people is miles ahead of their intellectual and logical will.

I believe that in such a dark period, when opposites have become intertwined, when in different sections of society chaos is heaped upon chaos, when dark acts of different origins have darkened the face of the Earth, when what is underground reigns over what is above, when polemics and dialectics have become so popular with so many, when hearsay, especially through the use of media, is welcomed as acceptable merchandise, when the lives of others has begun to be the sustenance of our existence, when the soul of unity has been shaken and different groups are scattered everywhere, when hopes are shattered and wills are paralyzed, when souls give up the fight against desire, there is a burning need to turn toward our own spiritual sphere and listen to our own inner world, to tear ourselves from the dark atmosphere of the bodily realm and sail into the magical atmosphere of a hearty and spiritual life. Those who do not fall into lethargy and return to themselves as soon as possible will feel the magic and charm of their own inner world; the unfortunate who fail to return and remain in between, or who remain on the other side, continue to resent, hate, slander, lie, and feel contempt, they continue in the dissolution and obstinate disagreement which they have practiced until this day, and even in climates where the sun continues to shine they will dream of dark things, they will mutter dark thoughts, always seeking dark places in which to hide and dark corners in which to live.

One hopes that they would be able to feel the joy of the blessed days and nights that we experience, when showers of light reach everywhere. One hopes they too would abandon the heresy, atheism, dissension, and sedition in their hearts and that they would be able to respect the chosen understanding and stance of every single soul! Maybe one day these wishes will be fulfilled, but the selfproclaimed enemies of God, the prophets, religion and piety—once having breathed nothing but materialism, having gone into a frenzy denying divinity, and having plunged into the quicksand of anarchy and nihilism—will never be able to breathe this reviving air. Oh dear Lord, had you only made yourself known to them and released the chains from their hearts!

In every community and society there are people who are inclined to abandon their faith and there have been many times when such people have spun out of control; other communities and societies do not have such powerful places to seek refuge when faced by these abysses and weaknesses as we have. Indeed, they have thoughts which soothe, beliefs which reconcile, days and nights which tremble with joy, festivals and carnivals; but, these days, these nights, these festivals, these carnivals are devoid of any holiness. They are like fireworks, shining for a moment and then are gone, giving only instantaneous pleasure; they are ephemeral and physical, not promising anything in the way of spiritual joy. Indeed, in their worlds you cannot feel the greatness of faith to God, nor can you feel that souls are free from the boundaries of time and space; everything starts with a false and transitory happiness, and takes place in a delirium of flesh. All is then transformed into painful memories, regrettable dreams, and disappointed hopes, and finally everything simply disappears.

In this spiritual atmosphere where we are closely bound to God, every sound, every word, every action is felt like a nursery rhyme and listened to like a melody. These shower down upon us like the rain; we soak up the bounties of these showers. The moon changes its form every night, as if signaling particular times and happy hours, the sun moves to a new spot on the horizon at every dawn, awakening our feelings and thoughts in a new period of time, causing our dreams to follow it, presenting memories to us that resemble the river Kawthar, promised to us in Heaven. The past becomes like a veil of many colors draped before our eyes, the happy future is the apex of our dreams, waiting for us with open arms and we, who have been freed from the narrow confines of time, live the multiplicity of yesterdaytodaytomorrow simultaneously and, like the angels, feel all the joys of surpassing time. It is impossible for those who are not fed from the same source as we, those who do not share the same feelings and thoughts as us, to feel and understand the holy depths in which we lose ourselves or the happiness and joy that we sip like the rivers of Paradise.

Our faith, our horizons of thought, and our manner—characteristics of the fortunate, but at the same time belonging to a littlewronged nation of this part of the world—have become, through being formed and reformed in the mold of the collective personality, greatly refined and adorned with universal values; this is a situation that exists in no other community; this is so much so that those who spend time with us need not stay long to be aware of this difference. The truth is that in these differences, the holy sadness of our hearts and the enthusiasm of our souls, like water running between the rocks, is felt and heard. Indeed, those who listen to what we have to say always hear the melodies of the pain of separation voiced along with hope; they hear the notes of reunion, of the sweet and eternal search for home in our intonation and manner. Indeed, while on the one hand we murmur “Oh, cup bearer, I have burnt in the flames of love, give me a cup of water,” on the other we say “I have dipped my finger in and tasted the honey of love, give me a cup of water,” and thus we are able to turn our grief into smiles. Our tongues speak sometimes of love and sometimes of weariness; though love and weariness cause pain to others, in them we always hear, like Rumi, the poem of longing for the realm that we have left to come here. Love and weariness to us are like a plea from the tongue of the soul, stemming from a sorrowful desire for eternity. Since our beliefs and feelings take us to the magical worlds of beyond, we almost always feel sadness and joy intertwined; we hear the sounds of crying and laughing as different notes of the same melody. We respond to the troubled heaving of our breasts with smiles on our faces, as our eyes overflow with tears, our conscience takes upon a red hue with the roses of the Iram[1] gardens.

Even though it may not be easy for every individual, our connection to God is the most natural attitude that we can adopt; our relation with Him is like a spell that transforms all the moments of our life into enthusiasm and joy. Our hearts that beat with feelings toward Him fill and refill with the dream of this gaze; we are able to live through the bitterest autumns in our hearts because we have the joy of spring. Our souls adopt the most enviable attitudes with instincts of particular feelings and joy that are the result of our connection with the AllGlorious One; thus transformed, they make us feel a refreshed enthusiasm, a new opening and revelation, even at moments when we are filled with sadness and grief. Pleasure or sadness, revelation or sorrow, all these emotions undergo metamorphoses in our hearts that beat with faith and speak to us of the most natural pleasures and the most realistic expectations. It is a fact that we, too, experience interconnected moments of ease and hardship, sweet weeks and bitter days, light and darkness which come and pass, like day and night. However, we sip the unsurpassable benevolence and joys from the hands of all these tribulations, because we have our beliefs, our connection to the Just One and our hopes! Those who do not recognize the trials and pleasures to be the product of the same will writhe in neverending agony, while in our own atmosphere we see clearly that everything will be transformed into deep compassion. Taste a whole life, with its bitter and sweet facets like Kawthar, in everything that we eat and drink, at every place that we inhabit, with all the beautifully divine discoveries of our own inner world, with all of their different wavelengths, feel our sorrows shrink in the face of happiness, feel our pain melt away in pleasure and feel how our lives flow into glazed cisterns in a spectrum of colors. Our mortality is transformed into eternity; we exude smiles even when we cry.

In our world, the beliefs and the expectations that emerge from the heart of those beliefs are so intertwined with our lives that each chapter of our lives lends us the wings of the station of prayer and takes us to the gate of the Hereafter. It takes us there and lets our hearts drink of the beauties of heaven. In this way, we feel as if we are inhaling the scents of heaven. Even if we should let ourselves be swept along by our daily lives, the calls for prayer, songs that exalt God, the various sounds of prayer, the recitation of the names of God, those who give Him thanks, calling out His Uniqueness, letting this spill from the windows of the mosques, all draw us to their climate; they paint our souls with their hues, they give a tambourlike voice to our hearts, they make them sigh like a flute and excite them with the happiness of music. These sounds excite our souls and we are charmed by the mysteries pertaining to God, the charm of these mysteries which comes galloping from the depths of our inner world and which spreads to all our senses, this charm which tints the gardens of heaven in our thoughts and which flows past our lips like cascades of inspiration. Thus charmed, we stand awestruck.

This charm, this recognition of the mysteries pertaining to God, reaches a higher level on the blessed days and nights when limitless abundance and bounty are showered upon us. This is true to such an extent that everything around us ascends in a state of joy, every corner takes on a spiritual hue and the excitement of our souls, aiming at metaphysical destinations, reaches its apex, or in Sufi terms, our souls reach the highest heaven of maturity. To the degree that we can hear and listen to what is all around us, we too, rejoice like children who feel as if they are in the fair grounds of joy; thus we experience the happiness and joy of a feast day.

In such a world, the dawn flows into our houses from the doors and windows like an awaited guest; the evening comes into our private chambers like a lover and sits by us; the night clings to us with its associations of reunion with the Confidant; and in every valley hands are raised up toward Him in prayer, ready to receive the gifts that will come from Him, assuming a state of metaphysical tension with the power of the soul, sighing, saying “Hold my hand dear Confidant, hold it, for I cannot do without You.”

In such a world, the prayer roars like the booming voices of Gulbang hymns[2] and echo like the voice and breath of the divine depths; the warm solitude of the night envelopes our souls like silk; our pulses beat with the excitement of one who has received good tidings. Perhaps some of us keep singing His praises, come rain or shine, like the nightingale that breaks its heart in an effort to express the ideal rhythm for its emotions with the most touching of sounds. In a word, everyone is humming a melody with neverending agony and joy, neverfading love and excitement, listening to the shivering of their souls and letting others hear it too. Everyone sighs with the fever of love and makes other people feel it too. Yes, as they reflect on the excitement in their souls and the inspiration of their hearts, expressing themselves one last time, they become the mouthpiece for the feelings shared by all and they are able to speak of the hidden meanings that they want to speak of but fail to verbalize.

The horizon of living yesterdaytodaytomorrow at the same time with such a degree of faith and hope, of love and recognition of the mysteries that pertain to God gives such a depth to life that each heart in the orbit of the hereafter finds itself wrapped up in the melodious harmony of emotions and ideas and is freed from the limiting, stifling effects of matter. I believe that the strongest basis of all human relations, the purest source of all pleasures, and the fountain of all love, longing, attraction, and gravity is this faith and hope. Every disciple of the heart who attains this faith and hope can experience and feel the state of being outside of time, with the ability to sense all of its depths.

Indeed, to the extent that one can attain this view, one can feel existence in a different manner, evaluate things in a different way and melt in on oneself with the color, taste, aroma and accent of manifestations from the Eternal; these attributes pervade everything and people can reach a second existence with a new “birth after death.”[3] During such joyful hours, when the internal gaze is focused on that which is behind the visual scene of existence, one feels all the joys of being. One feels as if one has taken a shower in wisdom, as if one is freed from the weight of all things that are alien to one. The distant heavens shower blessings down upon these hearts, hearts thirsty for love and galloping with longing and affection; all hearts that live in fear of drying up are quenched. Celestial flowers flourish in these showers adorned with dreams!

Some of us may not be able to comprehend the state—a state which becomes a succession of struggle (to come over the darkness with its all connotation) and dawn—of these people of faith and horizon; but all these are phenomena of the heart, soul and emotions. Living through the countless revelations of life, no one but the active heroes of the dawn and of the great strife can understand this love, enthusiasm, poetry, and music poured into our souls by the Eternal One. Those who do not understand this will not be able to understand us, either. Those who remain distant to this fine and delicate life live in the darkness of this distance, while the comprehension of those who have found a position from where they can view the truth in such a way that it appears as obvious as it really is always feel this gift in all its wavelengths, sip it like the rivers of Paradise and live their earthly lives as if in Heaven.

Who knows how many more times we will speak of this neverending pleasure and joy, in the delight of a festival, of a feast day! How ever many more times we may speak of it—the faults of the speaker’s mode of expression aside—we will still listen with pleasure and try to share it with others.

[1] A place mentioned in the Qur’an (al Fajr 89:7-8), “… the city of Iram, with lofty pillars; the like of which were not produced in all the land.” [2] Hymns sung in the mosque in unison by the congregation. [3] The change communicated along these lines is not to be related to reincarnational notions.

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