ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Madeline (?) » Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:00 pm

Factory Factory wrote:
Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:57 pm
I had an impossible burger. The burger was pretty veggie-heavy in the first place, but that said... It really did taste and texture like a regular old burg. If you hadn't told me, I probably wouldn't have known it wasn't beef. Not the finest burg I've ever burged, but darn good.
That’s pretty impressive. Now I’m going to see if anyone around here has one like that yet.

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Pocket (?) » Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:22 pm

OK, you know that advice people give to writers, it goes something like "Is this the most interesting event in your characters' lives? If not, why aren't you telling that story?"

This is the problem with sequels.

Often, we'd already told that story, and now the only stories that are left to tell are the less interesting ones. Sometimes—as is often the case with Pixar's "big idea" movies—the movie told not only the most interesting story about its characters but the most interesting story about its entire universe. So you get movies like Monsters University or Incredibles II that can only either dial it back or try to rehash the same themes in a slightly different context.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:49 pm

I will defend Monsters University until my deathbed because it spins a surprisingly neat story with the premise and ends up having one of the most valuable and grownup lessons I've seen in a kids movie
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by The Doctor (?) » Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:56 pm

Perrydotto wrote:
Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:49 pm
I will defend Monsters University until my deathbed because it spins a surprisingly neat story with the premise and ends up having one of the most valuable and grownup lessons I've seen in a kids movie
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Bigdog (?) » Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:17 am

Pocket wrote:
Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:22 pm
OK, you know that advice people give to writers, it goes something like "Is this the most interesting event in your characters' lives? If not, why aren't you telling that story?"

This is the problem with sequels.

Often, we'd already told that story, and now the only stories that are left to tell are the less interesting ones. Sometimes—as is often the case with Pixar's "big idea" movies—the movie told not only the most interesting story about its characters but the most interesting story about its entire universe. So you get movies like Monsters University or Incredibles II that can only either dial it back or try to rehash the same themes in a slightly different context.
I've never heard that advice given to writers and, frankly, it sounds moronic (though, to be fair, a poor enough articulation can make the best ideas sound moronic, which may be the case here).

How much poorer would we be if Terry Pratchett had decided what the most interesting event in Sam Vimes's life was and only ever told that? Just for one example. Shit, you're posting in a community that owes its entire existence to the ability of a particular set of protagonists to lend themselves to compelling, if not uniformly amazing, stories for literal years on end.

I propose the alternate advice of "make characters who have more than one episode of their lives worth reading/watching, and also don't turn it to 11 the first time around". Granted the latter may be difficult with studio suits breathing down your neck.

tl;dr: it's not a problem with sequels, it's a problem with bad writers and with Hollywood blockbusters (but I repeat myself)

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sun Jan 20, 2019 2:03 am

Lately I've been using a calligraphy pen to ink my drawings, and I have to say I'm really loving it.

Not to mention, my lineart is super THICK now :-I
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Madeline (?) » Sun Jan 20, 2019 4:43 am

Bigdog wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:17 am
I've never heard that advice given to writers and, frankly, it sounds moronic (though, to be fair, a poor enough articulation can make the best ideas sound moronic, which may be the case here).

How much poorer would we be if Terry Pratchett had decided what the most interesting event in Sam Vimes's life was and only ever told that? Just for one example. Shit, you're posting in a community that owes its entire existence to the ability of a particular set of protagonists to lend themselves to compelling, if not uniformly amazing, stories for literal years on end.

I propose the alternate advice of "make characters who have more than one episode of their lives worth reading/watching, and also don't turn it to 11 the first time around". Granted the latter may be difficult with studio suits breathing down your neck.

tl;dr: it's not a problem with sequels, it's a problem with bad writers and with Hollywood blockbusters (but I repeat myself)
I’ve never gotten that advice, not in workshops, classes, or any of the seminars I had to attend, fwiw. Not that I’m any kind of a big deal (I’m a nobody) but it’s relevant because it was my major.

Everything I was taught centered around character development. You have to satisfy the basics and know what your characters want, what they need, and what they value to start, and then you ask more sophisticated questions and start doing character notes to flesh them out a little more. But you can make a basic story by knowing those first three answers and then asking, “okay, why can’t she have what she wants?” You’ll have a simple conflict which can fuel a short story, at least.

And a well-drawn character can be involved in more than just one story. I have seen a lot of people in the sci-fi and fantasy community tell aspiring writers that they should follow the “Hollywood model” and have their characters complete their character development by the end of their trilogy or series, and that’s also terrible advice, which might explain why so many sci-fi and fantasy doorstoppers (and Hollywood movies going all the way back to the beginning of Hollywood) are fucking awful. People do change over time. It’s better storytelling to know your cast well and to focus on what they are trying to achieve in the current story.

Even if your story is intended to be a one-and-done for whatever reason, your story will still be better if you can imagine what the characters might be doing 10 years after the story ends. Characters who cease to be interesting when they achieve one goal are shallow and uninteresting in the first place.

I have strong feelings on this subject :-I

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Madeline (?) » Sun Jan 20, 2019 4:59 am

If you’re writing experimental stuff where flat characters are part of the point then disregard the above. also if you know more about writing than I do, because someone here must :-I

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Mechanical Ape (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:30 pm

At 50 degrees, neither Snow Miser nor Heat Miser are happy.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Angel Beat (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:00 pm

Just miserable?
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Mechanical Ape (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:31 pm

Yes, but at that point they’re equally miserable so at least there’s equilibrium. :good:
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Angel Beat (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:22 pm

:3:
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Octavia (?) » Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:26 pm

Mechanical Ape wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:30 pm
At 50 degrees, neither Snow Miser nor Heat Miser are happy.
It's supposed to be -2 F (-19 C) here tomorrow :terrified:
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Bigdog (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:47 am

if I entered into a relationship with an effeminate Jewish male

would that make me a girly boy's burly goy? :ponder:

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Madeline (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:04 am

Me at 16: I know everything

Me now: I know nothing and I understand less every day

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Aramek (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:25 am

Octavia wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:26 pm
It's supposed to be -2 F (-19 C) here tomorrow :terrified:
I got an least another inch of snow too, gotta do sidewalks and driveway again today!
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by The Doctor (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:33 am

Octavia wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:26 pm
It's supposed to be -2 F (-19 C) here tomorrow :terrified:
:v: sounds pretty cool.

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Fizzbuzz (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:54 am

Madeline wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:04 am
Me at 16: I know everything

Me now: I know nothing and I understand less every day
The more I learn, the more I realize how much there is to know.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Pocket (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:59 am

There's more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done.

Having the Internet helps a lot though.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Skipper (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:18 am

Madeline wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:04 am
Me at 16: I know everything

Me now: I know nothing and I understand less every day
At least now you know that you know nothing; which makes you a wiser person than anyone who fancies that they know anything, while in fact they know nothing. :wingsright:

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by minty (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:06 pm

I never knew anything at any age. :smug:

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Bigdog (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:04 pm

Madeline wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:04 am
Me at 16: I know everything

Me now: I know nothing and I understand less every day
yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world

Today I am wise, so I am posting in PPPP

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by ToastGhost (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:15 pm

Bigdog wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:04 pm
yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world

Today I am wise, so I am posting in PPPP
:pinkiewindow:
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Octavia (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:09 am

Octavia wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:26 pm
It's supposed to be -2 F (-19 C) here tomorrow :terrified:
Update:

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Frosthawk (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:41 am

Fairly brisk.

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Madeline (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:44 am

It’s windy as hell here, which means that there’s a front moving somewhere to cause trouble :flutterdear:

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Octavia (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 9:37 am

Frosthawk wrote:
Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:41 am
Fairly brisk.
The HIGH base temp on Wednesday is supposed to be -13 F (-25 C). :-I
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Factory Factory (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:12 pm

This seems like a good occasion to mention that -40 degrees is the same in both F and C scales.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:20 pm

Factory Factory wrote:
Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:12 pm
This seems like a good occasion to mention that -40 degrees is the same in both F and C scales.
Huh, really? How come?
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Orange Fluffy Sheep (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:14 pm

Perrydotto wrote:
Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:20 pm
Huh, really? How come?
That's just where they happen to meet. 0 C is water's freezing point, which is 32 in F. 0 F is an equal parts ice/saltwater mixture, because Fahrenheit was a weirdo.

100 C is water's boiling point, but 100 F was supposed to be the normal human body temperature, but Fahrenheit got it wrong. It's 98.6 F. :-I

Between having different zeroes and different magnitude to the units, they only align at -40.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Factory Factory (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:36 pm

Yeah, C = 5/9 (F - 32). For C = F, the solution to the equation is -40.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:43 pm

oooh, nifty. TIL! Thank you both!
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Mechanical Ape (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:54 pm

Octavia wrote:
Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:09 am
Update:


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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Orange Fluffy Sheep (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 10:01 pm

If you want to know why an imperial unit is weird, assume it's because some asshole tied it to a unit that makes no fucking sense to anyone but him.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Bigdog (?) » Mon Jan 28, 2019 10:32 pm

Orange Fluffy Sheep wrote:
Mon Jan 28, 2019 10:01 pm
If you want to know why an imperial unit is weird, assume it's because some asshole tied it to a unit that makes no fucking sense to anyone but him.
i always assumed imperial units were weird because they were all clones, at least early on

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by SlateSlabrock (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2019 1:06 am

Orange Fluffy Sheep wrote:
Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:14 pm
That's just where they happen to meet. 0 C is water's freezing point, which is 32 in F. 0 F is an equal parts ice/saltwater mixture, because Fahrenheit was a weirdo.
Also because the temperature of the mixture will automatically stabilize.

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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Octavia (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:26 am

I hate the imperial system for the most part. Feet, miles, tablespoons, cups, pounds, ounces, etc. are a pain to deal with and convert. But I will defend Fahrenheit to the death. 99% of what we use temperature for is the ambient air temp, and Fahrenheit provides a more accurate scale, where 0 is an extreme low that rarely gets lower and 100 is an extreme high that rarely gets higher. :argh:
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Adiwan (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:56 am

All hail the Kelvin scale that provides always positive values.
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by diribigal (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:17 am

Except if you're doing something like working with lasers and the quantum mechanical definition of temperature. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_temperature
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Re: ITT Post Your Random Thoughts

Post by Jill (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:00 pm


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