pajama-nerd

[pajama-nerd]

Me: I think I'll catch up on Old Gods

Old Gods: Today's main character is the dog.

Me *preparing to GET ***WREKT*** emotionally* :

Oh. 🥹 Okay.

[pajama-nerd]

Conversations with the Hubby.

We're not caught up, btw, so please no spoilers. I have to watch the Dubs because I have ADHD and need to be doing things with my hands which also require my eyeballs, and I don't speak Japanese.

So the last thing that happened for me was the arc where Deku was off by himself and Class 1A had to pull off a multi-stage rocket to hold him still long enough to convince him to come back to the school, which... my god, I have so many feelings about that scene. It was so good. Such an intricately crafted scene.

[pajama-nerd]

Feeling cute.

Might write an alternate universe of RWBY that changes the parts of it that I felt weren't particularly well-written or supported by the narrative and potential themes later

[pajama-nerd]

Love Is Funny

He's making the mouth sounds again.

We don't care about that anymore.

What if someone else cares?

Then we fight them.

-pajama-nerd

[pajama-nerd]

I just had a guy proudly unfollow me because I said mean things about Nazis.

I took a quick scan of his page and he's an underweight, single dude that's obsessed with guns and violence and openly and proudly a pedophile.

Damn, Nazis, you just love comforting to stereotypes don't you?

[pajama-nerd]

Okay.

I can't.

They just had the main character - who is a journalist who's been doing a documentary that regularly interacts with Sacred Geometry and Demonology FOR OVER A YEAR - be confused and need clarification on Isosceles Triangles and the words 'sigil' and 'conjure' all within 30 seconds of each other.

This is a supposedly smart character who constantly needs not-terribly-complex words or concepts broken down into their most basic parts on the regular.

At this point, you're just insulting the audience. Can someone tell me what the ultimate reveal is, cause I don't want to listen to this anymore. It is not a good podcast.

-150/10. Do not listen to the Black Tapes unless you like tedium, unnecessary repetition, and being condescended to like you're five and you need to be told what a spoon is.

Fuck

Podcasting

I started listening to The Black Tapes.

I applaud their success.

The story itself seems to be going to very interesting places.

The pace and the writing are painful to endure.

And let me interrupt myself to acknowledge that my opinion means absolutely nothing. The story is finished, and also, who the fuck cares, but dear god. As a person with ADHD, having to listen to the inane back and forth filler that could have been cut in order to tell a story is agonizing.

I regularly have to pause the podcast to gird my loins to deal with inane, unnecessary filler to a story that could be going much more smoothly, much more quickly.

Some examples:

From Episode 2, Season 2

ALEX: Hello. STRAND: Hello. ALEX: Dr. Strand. STRAND: Yes. ALEX: How- are you okay? STRAND: I’m calling for an update. Did you manage to find anything about Coralee? ALEX: Where are you? STRAND: I don’t have much time. ALEX: Are you sure you’re okay? STRAND: Please? Coralee. ALEX: Okay, well, Nic was able to dig up a few things on Thomas Warren. STRAND: Yes. Good. ALEX: Well, I’m not sure about good. It turns out he’s something of an enigma. He’s worked as a lobbyist on both sides of the environmental issue, climate change and energy mainly. He splits his time between San Francisco, London, and Seattle, but he’s often…well, he travels a lot. STRAND: Were you able to find a connection between him and Coralee? ALEX: Not directly, but there was something. STRAND: What? ALEX: Nic was able to find the name of a company. STRAND: What company? ALEX: The company that paid for your residency in Seattle. STRAND: They’ve paid for me to lecture in the past. There’s nothing there. ALEX: Well…that’s not exactly true. STRAND: No? ALEX: No. The not-for-profit company listed on your schedule of employment isn’t actually the company of record, that must have been a misprint. STRAND: Unlikely. ALEX: Well, then somebody did their best to cloak the entity that was actually paying for you to be in Seattle. STRAND: What entity? ALEX: Well, that’s where it gets a bit complicated. STRAND: How? ALEX: So, Nic tracked down the name of the company and the bank they used to pay the university. STRAND: And? ALEX: And that led him down a rabbit hole through a maze of corporations. He was trying to connect everything to Deva Corporation. STRAND: That’s Thomas Warren’s company? ALEX: One of them. Yes. STRAND: But he couldn’t make the connection? ALEX: No. But he was able to find a physical address for one of the companies, the shipping arm of an import/export firm. It’s in Seattle, so I’m going to check it out as soon as I get back. STRAND: I don’t think I’ll be able to get to Seattle. At least not for a few days. You’ll let me know what you find. ALEX: Yeah, of course. (long pause) ALEX: Hello? Dr. Strand? STRAND: I’m sorry, I have to go.

This exchange takes so much longer than it needs to. Like, yes, we want this to be a dialogue and not a lecture of exposition, but this is what over-correction looks like.

It is not necessary to interrupt the exposition every sentence to get acknowledgement from the listener. Like, on the surface, it looks like active listening. The Listener is part of the conversation.

Except that Active Listening is not just the *acknowledgement of* what the Speaker has said, it's *interaction with* what the person has said, and in the case of a narrative, that interaction has to be both relevant and meaningful, which almost none of this is.

Here's a quick and dirty edit:

ALEX: Hello, Dr. Strand? STRAND: Yes, hello. ALEX: How- are you okay? STRAND: I’m calling for an update. Did you manage to find anything about Coralee? ALEX: Where are you? STRAND: I don’t have much time. Please? Coralee. ALEX: Okay, well, Nic was able to dig up a few things on Thomas Warren. It turns out he’s something of an enigma. He’s worked as a lobbyist on both sides of the environmental issue, climate change and energy mainly. He splits his time between San Francisco, London, and Seattle, but he’s often…well, he travels a lot. STRAND: Were you able to find a connection between him and Coralee? ALEX: Not directly, but there was something. Nic was able to find the name of the company that paid for your residency in Seattle. STRAND: They’ve paid for me to lecture in the past. There’s nothing there. ALEX: Well…that’s not exactly true. The not-for-profit company listed on your schedule of employment isn’t actually the company of record, that must have been a misprint. STRAND: Unlikely. ALEX: Well, then somebody did their best to cloak the entity that was actually paying for you to be in Seattle. STRAND: What entity? ALEX: Well, that’s where it gets a bit complicated. Nic tracked down the name of the company and the bank they used to pay the university. And that led him down a rabbit hole through a maze of corporations. He was trying to connect everything to Deva Corporation. STRAND: That’s Thomas Warren’s company? ALEX: One of them. Yes. He couldn’t find the connection, but he was able to find a physical address for one of the companies, the shipping arm of an import/export firm. It’s in Seattle, so I’m going to check it out as soon as I get back. STRAND: I don’t think I’ll be able to get to Seattle. At least not for a few days. You’ll let me know what you find. ALEX: Yeah, of course. (long pause) ALEX: Hello? Dr. Strand? STRAND: I’m sorry, I have to go.

This is much shorter, cuts out all the unnecessary interaction, saves time on chatter so we can get to the actual story, and doesn't make my brain feel like it's been dipped in acid.

Here's another, just two episodes later:

Episode 4, Season 2:

Nic: This was posted to a rather popular online forum. Alex: Okay, what is it? Nic: It's a countdown timer. Alex: (long pause) Oh...kay. Nic: Well it began as hexadecimal code, and when you converted that to text there was a URL that led to the countdown timer. Alex: Oh. Okay. Nic: It's counting down. Alex: Counting down to what? Nic: It's counting down from April 23rd, 2015 at 3:15 PM, to April 23rd, 2016 at 3:15 PM. Alex: Okay, that's pretty specific. Nic: It certainly is. Alex: And any idea what might be significant about that date? Nic: I don't want to say it out loud. Alex: Uh, what is it? Nic: Well, I feel like a conspiracy nut. Alex: Yeah, but now I'm really interested. Nic: (laughs) Okay, well. Alex: Jesus Nic, you're starting to freak me out a little here. Nic: Okay, well, it's not just a date. It's actually the time as well. Alex: Okay, what about it? Nic: April 23rd at 3:15 PM. Alex: Yeah! So... Nic: It's the exact date and time we heard The Unsound for the first time.

Why.

Why?

There's no reason to draw it out like that I suspect it may have been for suspense, but it did not instill in me a sense of dread, it made me want to tear my hair out because it was so unnecessary! Nic: This was posted to a rather popular online forum. Alex: Okay, what is it? Nic: It's a countdown timer. Alex: (long pause) Oh...kay. Nic: Well it began as hexadecimal code, and when you converted that to text there was a URL that led to the countdown timer. Alex: What's it counting down to? Nic: It's actually counting down *from* April 23rd, 2015 at 3:15 PM, to April 23rd, 2016 at 3:15 PM. Alex: Okay...what's the significance of that? Nic: Well... I don't know what the significance is to whoever posted it, but...I mean, that is the exact time and date that we heard the Unsound for the first time. Boom. Fixed.

Guys.

If people have to fucking struggle to get through each episode just to get to the point of your story?

You're doing a bad job.

At this point, I feel like the mystery is going to unravel and the only thing I'm going to be able to focus on is how much sooner we could have gotten there if they hadn't wasted so much time on bad formatting and terrible, stilted, prolonged dialogue.

[pajama-nerd]

Podcasting

I started listening to The Black Tapes.

I applaud their success.

The story itself seems to be going to very interesting places.

The pace and the writing are painful to endure.

And let me interrupt myself to acknowledge that my opinion means absolutely nothing. The story is finished, and also, who the fuck cares, but dear god. As a person with ADHD, having to listen to the inane back and forth filler that could have been cut in order to tell a story is agonizing.

I regularly have to pause the podcast to gird my loins to deal with inane, unnecessary filler to a story that could be going much more smoothly, much more quickly.

Some examples:

From Episode 2, Season 2

ALEX: Hello. STRAND: Hello. ALEX: Dr. Strand. STRAND: Yes. ALEX: How- are you okay? STRAND: I’m calling for an update. Did you manage to find anything about Coralee? ALEX: Where are you? STRAND: I don’t have much time. ALEX: Are you sure you’re okay? STRAND: Please? Coralee. ALEX: Okay, well, Nic was able to dig up a few things on Thomas Warren. STRAND: Yes. Good. ALEX: Well, I’m not sure about good. It turns out he’s something of an enigma. He’s worked as a lobbyist on both sides of the environmental issue, climate change and energy mainly. He splits his time between San Francisco, London, and Seattle, but he’s often…well, he travels a lot. STRAND: Were you able to find a connection between him and Coralee? ALEX: Not directly, but there was something. STRAND: What? ALEX: Nic was able to find the name of a company. STRAND: What company? ALEX: The company that paid for your residency in Seattle. STRAND: They’ve paid for me to lecture in the past. There’s nothing there. ALEX: Well…that’s not exactly true. STRAND: No? ALEX: No. The not-for-profit company listed on your schedule of employment isn’t actually the company of record, that must have been a misprint. STRAND: Unlikely. ALEX: Well, then somebody did their best to cloak the entity that was actually paying for you to be in Seattle. STRAND: What entity? ALEX: Well, that’s where it gets a bit complicated. STRAND: How? ALEX: So, Nic tracked down the name of the company and the bank they used to pay the university. STRAND: And? ALEX: And that led him down a rabbit hole through a maze of corporations. He was trying to connect everything to Deva Corporation. STRAND: That’s Thomas Warren’s company? ALEX: One of them. Yes. STRAND: But he couldn’t make the connection? ALEX: No. But he was able to find a physical address for one of the companies, the shipping arm of an import/export firm. It’s in Seattle, so I’m going to check it out as soon as I get back. STRAND: I don’t think I’ll be able to get to Seattle. At least not for a few days. You’ll let me know what you find. ALEX: Yeah, of course. (long pause) ALEX: Hello? Dr. Strand? STRAND: I’m sorry, I have to go.

This exchange takes so much longer than it needs to. Like, yes, we want this to be a dialogue and not a lecture of exposition, but this is what over-correction looks like.

It is not necessary to interrupt the exposition every sentence to get acknowledgement from the listener. Like, on the surface, it looks like active listening. The Listener is part of the conversation.

Except that Active Listening is not just the *acknowledgement of* what the Speaker has said, it's *interaction with* what the person has said, and in the case of a narrative, that interaction has to be both relevant and meaningful, which almost none of this is.

Here's a quick and dirty edit:

ALEX: Hello, Dr. Strand? STRAND: Yes, hello. ALEX: How- are you okay? STRAND: I’m calling for an update. Did you manage to find anything about Coralee? ALEX: Where are you? STRAND: I don’t have much time. Please? Coralee. ALEX: Okay, well, Nic was able to dig up a few things on Thomas Warren. It turns out he’s something of an enigma. He’s worked as a lobbyist on both sides of the environmental issue, climate change and energy mainly. He splits his time between San Francisco, London, and Seattle, but he’s often…well, he travels a lot. STRAND: Were you able to find a connection between him and Coralee? ALEX: Not directly, but there was something. Nic was able to find the name of the company that paid for your residency in Seattle. STRAND: They’ve paid for me to lecture in the past. There’s nothing there. ALEX: Well…that’s not exactly true. The not-for-profit company listed on your schedule of employment isn’t actually the company of record, that must have been a misprint. STRAND: Unlikely. ALEX: Well, then somebody did their best to cloak the entity that was actually paying for you to be in Seattle. STRAND: What entity? ALEX: Well, that’s where it gets a bit complicated. Nic tracked down the name of the company and the bank they used to pay the university. And that led him down a rabbit hole through a maze of corporations. He was trying to connect everything to Deva Corporation. STRAND: That’s Thomas Warren’s company? ALEX: One of them. Yes. He couldn’t find the connection, but he was able to find a physical address for one of the companies, the shipping arm of an import/export firm. It’s in Seattle, so I’m going to check it out as soon as I get back. STRAND: I don’t think I’ll be able to get to Seattle. At least not for a few days. You’ll let me know what you find. ALEX: Yeah, of course. (long pause) ALEX: Hello? Dr. Strand? STRAND: I’m sorry, I have to go.

This is much shorter, cuts out all the unnecessary interaction, saves time on chatter so we can get to the actual story, and doesn't make my brain feel like it's been dipped in acid.

Here's another, just two episodes later:

Episode 4, Season 2:

Nic: This was posted to a rather popular online forum. Alex: Okay, what is it? Nic: It's a countdown timer. Alex: (long pause) Oh...kay. Nic: Well it began as hexadecimal code, and when you converted that to text there was a URL that led to the countdown timer. Alex: Oh. Okay. Nic: It's counting down. Alex: Counting down to what? Nic: It's counting down from April 23rd, 2015 at 3:15 PM, to April 23rd, 2016 at 3:15 PM. Alex: Okay, that's pretty specific. Nic: It certainly is. Alex: And any idea what might be significant about that date? Nic: I don't want to say it out loud. Alex: Uh, what is it? Nic: Well, I feel like a conspiracy nut. Alex: Yeah, but now I'm really interested. Nic: (laughs) Okay, well. Alex: Jesus Nic, you're starting to freak me out a little here. Nic: Okay, well, it's not just a date. It's actually the time as well. Alex: Okay, what about it? Nic: April 23rd at 3:15 PM. Alex: Yeah! So... Nic: It's the exact date and time we heard The Unsound for the first time.

Why.

Why?

There's no reason to draw it out like that I suspect it may have been for suspense, but it did not instill in me a sense of dread, it made me want to tear my hair out because it was so unnecessary! Nic: This was posted to a rather popular online forum. Alex: Okay, what is it? Nic: It's a countdown timer. Alex: (long pause) Oh...kay. Nic: Well it began as hexadecimal code, and when you converted that to text there was a URL that led to the countdown timer. Alex: What's it counting down to? Nic: It's actually counting down *from* April 23rd, 2015 at 3:15 PM, to April 23rd, 2016 at 3:15 PM. Alex: Okay...what's the significance of that? Nic: Well... I don't know what the significance is to whoever posted it, but...I mean, that is the exact time and date that we heard the Unsound for the first time. Boom. Fixed.

Guys.

If people have to fucking struggle to get through each episode just to get to the point of your story?

You're doing a bad job.

At this point, I feel like the mystery is going to unravel and the only thing I'm going to be able to focus on is how much sooner we could have gotten there if they hadn't wasted so much time on bad formatting and terrible, stilted, prolonged dialogue.

[pajama-nerd]

One of my favorite yuri related things is actually this Japanese article I found once that was like. Directed at younger himejoshi. So I put it through google translate because I was curious and it had a bunch of tips like "if you have a friend who is also a yuri fan... maybe you can go see a movie about girls together! But REMEMBER. Be sure to let her know in advance if you want to be 😳 more than friends 😳" and I genuinely thought it was so funny and cute that it was like "WARNING: we know manga likes to string things along but you cannot do that in real life you need to make your intentions known" LMAO

[pajama-nerd]

In my head I heard a series of 'yea, boi!'s repeated in tones of increasing enthusiasm and length and it filled me with delight.

Do yourself a favor. Sound up. Enjoy.

[pajama-nerd]

[pajama-nerd]

i keep seeing the gif set so here’s the video clip

[pajama-nerd]

[pajama-nerd]

Just read the meeting and aftermath of Jonathon Strange meeting Mr. Norrell, and I gotta say...

Jonathon Strange is my Patronus.

[pajama-nerd]

have these been done yet or…

[pajama-nerd]

Made some fanfic writer achievements, might add more later

[pajama-nerd]

"I don't like the Jack Harkness test because it means it's okay to fuck Scooby Doo"

yes that's the entire damn point of the Harkness test. The Harkness Test doesn't exist to say you have to fuck Scooby Doo. The Harkness Test exists to say that it is morally/ethically fine for someone to want to fuck Scooby Doo, because Scooby Doo can give informed consent and communicate as such.

the reason you don't like it is because none of you are self-aware enough to realize how incredibly fucking puritan all of you are when it comes to fucking