Ironik

I'm just wondering out loud if a lot of people did this, hence American Gods being in the top 10. I haven't read it, so I'm not judging its worthiness, I'm just curious.

Not good ones, but yes.




I kid the other servers because I love them too. How else would I feed my alt addiction?

You know, this is an actual thing in voting, which is why there's so much back-room maneuvering to get ballots laid out so that a certain candidate's name is on the top of the list. People tend to chose the item at the top of the list rather than at the bottom. So if you're running for office, change your name to Alan Armstrong to always get voted in.

Hear hear.

When Going Rogue came out, I started taking screenshots of all the instances where someone on the writing team put a boot to English's throat and emptied sixteen hollow-points into its brain. After about 30 of those I gave it up as a fool's errand. I don't know how many times I saw things like "diffuse" instead of "defuse". Last night I saw "suspect" used where they meant to use "expect." That's not a typo, that's a basic misunderstanding of the language.

The use of "alright" alone makes me crazy. Alright isn't a word, and I don't care what some stupid "reflects human language" dictionary says. Those are the same dictionaries that have allowed people to substitute "taunt" for "taut." Sometimes the French get things right, and protecting the language on a basic level should be one of them. I find that people who use "alright" also use imaginary words like "alot".

When you finally talk to Cole as you're leaving Praetoria for Primal Earth, he uses a phrase that goes something like, "You, too, shall learn this, as well." Apparently as an edict from the Department of Redundancy Department: "Always constantly use synonyms endlessly forever."

Many of the contacts in Praetoria sound alike which causes the experience to be flat.

I'm given to understand the Devs hired someone to the writing team based on an MA arc they liked. When you hire amateurs, you get amateurish writing. Somebody at some point needs to care about this stuff.

There's a famous piece of advice a fellow gave when asked what it takes to be a professional writer: "Get dressed."

Years later I saw some romance novelist rail against this advice, ranting about how getting dressed meant going out to run errands or to a party and was the worst thing any writer could ever do. Aside from the interesting aspect of the male writer approaching it from the "breadwinner" point of view and the female writer looking at it from the "housewife" point of view, what she failed to understand were exactly those assumptions underlying the original quote. "Get dressed" means "treat writing like a real job."

What she did was miss the nuance and only saw things from her point of view.

Hugs.

Put that thing away. It's a friendly man-hug.

Ah, I thought they were following the book's format.

I've been wanting to do a Dateline-style genre picture for quite some time, using interviews and crime scene photos the way they do. The problem is getting just the right mix and choosing the right monster. Zombies, aliens and vampires are overdone (and vamps probably wouldn't show up on camera) and werewolves ends up coming across like one of those lame Monster Hunter shows.

Old Trek now looks like new Trek!

I've heard a couple people say they didn't notice them, which strikes me as odd, because they are EVERYwhere. I mean, during a massive space battle, I get it, but during breakfast? Bleh. In some shots they actually obscure the action. Maybe persistence of vision is working on more than one level in this case.

Have you ever seen those shows on 20/20 and Dateline where they interview people after a particularly horrendous crime? They do a brilliant job of building suspense and throwing in twists even though you already "know" what happened. The trick is to leave just a little bit back, then drop a whammy in there for a reversal.

Constructed correctly, WWZ could pull that same trick off admirably.

Which they stole wholesale from Star Trek: Nemesis. They threw in time travel as their "clever" twist.

Dang... I would watch that movie so often the print would wear out.

ROFL

Okay, now that was a funny word to leave out. I should post in the middle of the night more often!

Good luck getting into Steelclaw's hermit fortress. Unless you're marrying a ninja. Is she a ninja? I suppose not, otherwise how would you know if you got the ring on the right finger?

Who knew you had a creamy nougat center? When did this happen?