melancholic-frog

[melancholic-frog]

can I be so real with you. can I be honest. totally aside from the moral panic about women on booktok being """porn addicts""" because they're reading erotica, I think it's so fucking goofy when people act as if there needs to be some kind of societal reckoning with how tiktok books "aren't very good." like, okay? they're commercial products mass produced for entertainment. tiktok didn't invent that; you're going to have to take it up with pulp magazines and dime novels and comic books. you guys would throw up if you found out about Fanny Hill.

[melancholic-frog]

"i asked chat gpt-"

well I asked the Glow Cloud (all hail) and it emitted a low whistleing and dropped a lizard on my head.

[melancholic-frog]

I love that the M9 show is going to focus on the political aspect of the campaign more. I think the political background of Campaign 2 puts it a head and shoulders above any other in my eyes.

Because the story of the Empire is deeply realistic. An imperial monarchy pillages from neighboring countries for their own benefit, taking relics that are sacred amongst a people and perverting them for their own benefit. Taking poor children from farming towns and promising them a bright future if they manage to rise above their ranks, only to then poach them from their schools and make them into weapons for their country. No one would miss them, unlike the rich kids with rich families.

The Dynasty is a theocratic monarchy and dealing with war while their neighboring countries steal their cultural artifacts for their own gain. The war is leeching resources from them and leading them to neglect their people as a result, leaving a lot of their people to fend for themselves against the dangers of their lands.

Nearly all of Campaign 2 focuses on the dangers of systems and institutions as well as personal responsibility for people living within these systems.

Caleb's story touches on the connections between classism and nationalism, Beau's is the corruption of institutions and the ruling class, Veth's is about the dissatisfaction of ticking the boxes because you think it's what you should be doing, Jester's touches on the politics surrounding sex workers and restriction on religion within the Empire, Fjord's the mistreatment and lack of support of kids who have been orphaned and fell through the cracks, Yasha's on persecution for marrying who she loves and being taken advantage of by organizations while in a vulnerable state, and Caduceus' on the benefits of religion on a personal level.

By highlighting the the Empire, Dynasty (and Menagerie Coast), and the impact of the war and religion in every country, we get to see more of the politics that shaped these people's lives. Both why they did the things they did and how they are all a product of the systems that raised them. It adds nuance to the personal perspectives of our main heroes while also fleshing out the world they live in.

Vox Machina was a classic story of defeating monsters and gods for a brighter future, Mighty Nein is human story about the cruelty and kindness of mankind, and for that you need a fleshed out world and characters. This seems like a really good way to achieve that nuance with an eighth of the campaign runtime.

[melancholic-frog]

CITATION STYLES THUNDERDOME

[melancholic-frog]

Me: I wonder where my brother is

The Greek chorus hogging the entire couch: How quickly this one forgets where his brother has gone to go cycling. How quickly he forgets all things. We wonder what the gods will think of this indiscression. If they think anything at all.

Me: Do you guys ever take those masks off?

The Greek chorus hogging the entire couch: No. It’s a sex thing.

[melancholic-frog]

happy dashcon day to those who are able to attend!

[melancholic-frog]

Adam lived in an apartment located above the office of St. Agnes Catholic Church, a fortuitous combination that focused most of the objects of Ronan's worship into one downtown block.

[melancholic-frog]

This is going to sound particularly pretentious, but I've found you can tell when someone is genuinely a person with high standards and interesting insights, vs a poser trying to look intellectual:

Genuinely intellectual people tend to have specific likes and dislikes that are borne out over a variety of works, and also, they tend towards either a broad range of works of varying quality, or stick almost exclusively to the obscure and highbrow and pretentious. Either they exclusively attend the opera, or world music concerts, or art shows, and read classics and Booker prize shortlists and attend foreign film festivals; or, in addition to a mix of the above, they pepper in a judicious mix of middle and lowbrow works and do not apologize.

Posers often go for what I'd call "pop-prestige": Think Succession, or really much of HBO's offerings; think the more accessible fictional works by authors who have also written essay collections and have some cultural cache. But that on its own is fine. I do that; those shows and books are great. The issue is they also spend a lot of time bashing the low-brow while clinging to what is at best upper-middlebrow . This is where you get people who say "oh, I listen to everything but rap or country" or whose entire personality is hating on Taylor Swift while listening to a different mainstream pop star. This is where you get people who hate on romance novels but read fewer than ten books a year themselves, and won't touch anything that doesn't have a pre-existing fandom space for them to see and be seen. It's ultimately marked by insecurity - a paranoid and joyless "I can't outrun the bear but I can outrun the [pop music/sitcom/romance] fans" approach, in which they do, presumably, enjoy what they're doing, but they're terrified of their media consumption revealing that they're not "good enough."

Now I should be clear I am a fucking raccoon of a woman in terms of taste and frankly my happy place is in the pop-prestige realm and/or the most prestigious entries in mediums that are often seen as of inherent lesser value, like Actual Play and graphic novels and sf. I enjoy a prize-winning novel and a foreign film, but otherwise I don't really fit in either of these and I think many people are also in neither category. And that also sets off the Poser group, because the option and indeed the spectrum isn't just high/middle/low - it's "do you know what you like and are you secure in it," and someone who genuinely adores and is confident in the most common-denominator works around is happier than a Poser; and indeed, if they can argue for what they see in those works, "trashy" though they may be? Smarter as well.

[melancholic-frog]

happy birthday to adam parrish <3

[melancholic-frog]

Welcome to Aberrant Hotel!

A perfectly ordinary 3-star hotel located in [REDACTED].

We boast all-included breakfast, pool, and portal to the Otherworld (guide not provided).

Perfect for short-term and long-term stays, our diverse and welcoming staff are here to assist you throughout your stay in [REDACTED]. Deeply knowledgeable on local sites and customs, they can give you recommendations to enjoy your stay to the fullest. From local restaurants, to museums, and even The Obelisk, they know the best spots in town!

Chauffeur via centaur to and from the local airport available upon request.

Our rooms included a variety of family rooms, doubles, and singles. There are common spaces on each floor. For those on a budget, we have single rooms available that do come with the eyes in the walls that we were unable to remove.

Rooms are provided with a refrigerator, coffee maker, cable television, a shadow figure, private washrooms, and complimentary night vision goggles.

We thank you for choosing Aberrant Hotel!

[melancholic-frog]

i was one of the last few who did learn cursive in school and one of the few who actually retained it and regularly writes in cursive. i have to ask people i’m writing for if they can read cursive and most will say either no or mostly. it’s such a beautiful and relaxing way to write. we need to bring it back.

On one hand I understand not teaching cursive in school anymore, because it actually is slower than regular handwriting and almost everything is typed on a keyboard now anyways.

On the other hand, so much of our (even recent!) history was written in cursive, and having a whole generation of kids who can't read letters written by their grandparents, momentos saved by their great-grandparents, or even photo albums from theur immediate family seems like a dangerously quick way to detach us from previous generations.

And on the third, related but slightly malformed hand, I feel bad that yet another form of small, everyday art that brings joy in the middle of mundane tasks, which celebrates personality and individual style and self-expression, is about to fade into obscurity because it wasn't efficient enough for today's world to put up with.

Like... if we continue to whittle away the small arts out of every day life, what's going to be left except stark, ruthless pragmatism?

Maybe writing a grocery list is less mundane when you get to feel elegant for a moment. Maybe you're a little more proud of what you write when you see it flow together like a painting

[melancholic-frog]

when talking about AI remember the different versions:

Analytical AI, is the one that can detect cancer and save lives

Generative AI is the one that steals art to make it worse, and gives you a wrong answer every time you google something

Weird Al is the one who got his ponysona to canonically have children with a pony from my little pony

[melancholic-frog]

alright gamers tell me: what’s the game that’s the equivalent of a weighted blanket for you. it’s not necessarily a good game or a fun game but a game that gives you a sense of peace and warmth

[melancholic-frog]

from bushnell to madleen, people love assuming what a political action was supposed to achieve and calling it ineffective, when it doesnt meet their unrealistic star wars rebells ass standards. listen to the people doing it! the flotilla crew has been asking the nationals of their home countries to reach out to their governments over and over. the action is us. when someone self-immolates, when someone goes on a hunger strike, when someone chains themselves to the doors of an embassy, they know theyll be smeared, jailed, their memory disrespected. its a call to everybody else, everybody who sees to act. one person or even a dozen are not going to stop the iof, no one expects that. those acts get other people involved, it gets their states and politicians involved. its building political pressure and if the states dont act to protect their citizens, it builds international pressure on those states.

[melancholic-frog]

i always refer to my self as an ex-girl because that was so important to who i was and how i grew up. i don’t resent that part of me and i can recognize that privilege to be able to not feel super dysphoric about that. yes i am a boy that used to be a girl. was i always a boy? probably yeah. technically speaking yes. but i was also a girl and that is so important to me

trans people will literally go “i have a complicated relationship with my history with gender and sometimes see it as a gender i ‘used to be’ and i don’t really look like a cis person of either gender and i don’t think i can fit it into simple categories” and everyone will spontaneously combust

[melancholic-frog]

the only solution is to quickly acquire a new cunty outfit and enough jewelry to make it seem like a choice instead

man it will be my first time being in the middle of Pride since my shop is in the middle of the parade street. But i accidentally gave myself a bad haircut and I feel like i look like a fucking EGG. How is this single debutante supposed to fetch the fancy of the lords looking like humpty dumpty from shrek!?! 😭 I don't have a cunty enough wardrobe to make bad hair work.