#Hacking Books

[doesephs]

getting mugged by a bisexual man? ask him about his relationship with his father and the coast is clear

[1000-life-hacks]

[wigglybunfish]

Been rereading Little Women recently... or technically, properly reading it for the first time. The last time I touched this book was when I was ten, and the book I touched was a shortened chinese edition (or was it just the first half? anyway) Here are the sisters in 21 century post covid and I think Beth would've loved the groundbreaking invention that is the Hoodie

[ventique18]

Malleus: "Very well. Come forward, those who wish to return to ash."

The camera turns back to Yuu and Grim. They're trapped! But suddenly, someone who isn't Grim makes a noise...

Grim: "I heard it too! Who was that?"

???: "Ugh, my entire body hurts..."

Lilia: "Does Malleus never get tired? Oh how hard it is to pacify a dragon..."

Lilia: "Oh? Where am I? But I was just at Castle Blackscale..?"

Grim happily greets him, but Lilia's still surprised.

Lilia: "I.. woke up. So this is reality?! Did Malleus lift his magic?"

Lilia: "... Anyway, what a terrible state this lounge is in! There's rubble everywhere and the walls and floors are covered in thorns!"

Suddenly he hears a large screech!

Lilia: "This voice... Malleus?"

Grim: "The NRC guys are fighting this huuuge dragon Malleus!"

Lilia: "Oh no. I must stop Malleus at once! Flames, burn these thorns away!"

BUT HE COULD'T. HIS FLAMES DIDN'T EVEN SPIT OUT A LICK.

Lilia: "..!!! That's right, I'm already... Damn it! But, I can't just give up like this!"

He grabs a candelabra and just starts hacking away at the thorns with it.

Lilia: "I may not be able to use magic, but I can still do this much!"

Yuu: "I'll help!"

Lilia: "I mustn't let him sin any more than this! If he does, then he'll reach a point of no return, just like what happened to Maleanor! I won't let that happen!"

[thatsbelievable]

[sevenspoonfulsofsugar]

daniel, being the one and only fledgling of a 500-year-old vampire who is now the most divorced anyone has ever been, using his crazy mind powers to figure out if the guy interviewing him on local news and denigrating his career actually read his book

[happypeachsludgeflower]

So, in PIDW, there was obviously wife plots that could bring back the dead (mushroom body being one of them), and since we know Airplane is a hack that reuses concepts over and over, there’s probably multiple wife plots that could work, so like, where’s the PIDW fics where Liu Qingge somehow comes back to life, memories of Shen Jiu trying to save him intact, and goes to hunt the asshole down so he can repay his life debt, and along the way accidentally clears Shen Jiu’s name of all his crimes and now everyone is convinced Shen Qingqiu is a saint.

[missb0at]

I found out that in the dcu some fucking variant of superman actually, genuinely, punched through the fabric of reality which caused ripple effects including but not limited to Jason Todd's resurrection.

Which, first of, wtf

Second of, genuinely what the actual fuck

Third of, imagine in a certain other universe someone just opened another portal to the realms aka punched a hole into reality too :)

Cue to college Team Phantom staring at Clockwork and then Ancients who just told them that their universe apparently merged with some other one which may or may not be causing chaos on both sides of the veil

Somewhere on the Watchtower the JLD and JL are trying to figure out what is going on with all these sudden changes to.. yk... reality

Like a lot of people's paperwork is fucked up because they never existed or died in one universe. Or some people suddenly have a shit ton of blood relatives. Or some people had a counterparts in the other universe and suddenly there's two of them running around.

The afterlives aren't looking too hot either. Especially because the dcu afterlives were more like off branches of off branches of the realms and now they're suddenly in the thick of it.

And somewhere between all this mess there might be people that never existed in either universe suddenly popping up

Also the DC universe had Danny Phantom cartoon and the DP universe has DC comics. For some mysterious reason (clockwork and ghostwriter) all that information isn't available for people from the other universe

[s0fter-sin]

one of my favourite aspects of supernatural that you very rarely see in paranormal shows is that sam and dean are already versed in the world they live in. there’s no sudden discovery of ghosts and demons and now they have to learn about them along with the audience; they are born into it and already know all about it. it allows the audience to follow their personal story instead of also trying to figure out this new world and its rules

the first season is full of knowledge we never see them learn; “w*ndigoes are in the minnesota woods or- or northern michigan. i’ve never even heard of one this far west.” […] “great. well then this [his gun] is useless.” (1x02), “you don’t break a curse. you get the hell out of its way.” (1x08), d: “it’s a god. a pagan god, anyway.” […] “the annual cycle of its killings? and the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. like some kind of fertility right.” […] s: “the last meal. given to sacrificial victims. d: “yeah, i’m thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some pagan god.” (1x11)

almost every episode in the first season is a monster they’ve faced before that they then explain to the audience in a way that should feel patronising; like it’s the same speech given over and over again but instead, the audience almost feels included in the knowledge. it’s stated with such an innate confidence and comfort in said knowledge that it feels like we already knew it too; “spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. if they want inside, they just go through the walls.” […] “the claws, the speed that it moves; could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog.” (1x02), “it's biblical numerology. you know noah's ark, it rained for forty days. the number means death.” (1x04), “no no no, not the reaper, a reaper. there's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names.” […] “you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? reapers stop time. and you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why i could see it and you couldn't.” (1x12)

they already know and, at least in the first season, already have what they need to kill whatever they’re hunting; already know to salt and burn bones for spirits, fire for a w*ndigo, exorcisms for demons, a silver bullet to the heart for shapeshifters. there’s only three times in the entire first season that they run into something new to them; 1x14 when sam gets his first vision that leads him to another psychic, 1x16 when dean calls caleb for help on the sigil he put together and he tells him about daevas, and 1x20 when they find out vampires are real- and they only don’t know that bc john thought they were hunted to extinction and not worth mentioning

(there’s also technically two half instances if you count one of them knowing something the other doesn’t - sam figuring out the tulpa in 1x17 and dean already knowing about the shtriga in 1x18 - but those still rely on sam and dean having prior knowledge)

even when they’re uncertain about facing something, it’s not bc they don’t know what it is; it’s precisely bc they know what it is and acknowledge that it’ll be a difficult hunt (“i don't know, man. this isn't our normal gig. i mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. this is big. and i wish dad was here.” 1x04)

so much of the tension in paranormal shows typically comes from the main character(s) not knowing what is happening to them/the people around them and having to find out how to resolve it. supernatural is unique in that it operates more like a police procedural. the tension comes from solving the clues and identifying patterns to figure out who (what) the killer is and intercepting before they can take another victim

it’s such a different tone to go for when compared to other shows that came both before, during, and after its run. it sets sam and dean on even footing with each other since they both have the same knowledge going in, and it puts them in a place of authority usually reserved for an outside character

the shows i compare spn to most is charmed, buffy and teen wolf; every main character in those shows are brought into the paranormal world knowing nothing, putting them on the same level as the audience, and they have their mc interact with others already knowledgeable about that world in order to overcome their problem/monster of the week. the audience organically learns about this new world as the characters learn about it. it’s a sound writing strategy that prevents “as we already know”-style exposition but something that complicates it is if your world building isn’t unique or intriguing enough, this slow introduction can become boring

we’ve seen shows like these before; sitting through the same tropes of characters learning to use their powers, struggling with no longer feeling normal/relating to the regular world around them, and not knowing how much they can trust the people already involved in this new world gets repetitive. all three shows eventually reach the same level of comfort with their new world that spn starts with but if the characters aren’t enough to draw you in, you can end up dropping it before they reach that point (and often, before the overarching plot can really kick in and evolve the show beyond the villain of the week format)

it’s the superhero origin movie in tv format; dragged out and overplayed. dropping the audience into an established world of course comes with its own problems but you also have the benefit of pre-existing established character dynamics that let the audience slot in like they’ve always been there instead of just getting to know all the characters while the characters also get to know each other

sam and dean already knowing about the supernatural lets the audience immediately get to the core of the story; the conflict between sam and dean, the search for their father, and the mystery of what killed their mother

[achievementhaunterss]

its really fun that the media is deciding to focus on biden being a (healthy!) old man and spinning conspiracy theories when starting tonight U.S. student visa records will not be allowed to have a gender option that is not male or female regardless of what is on a student's passport AND any students that currently have an other gender marker on their records will be forcibly misgendered because the records will be required to be updated to this new system.

[fatherphaniel]

next time you're being mean to yourself just think 'what would phil lester say to me right now?' bc he would never treat you like that

[in-tua-deep]

I saw a murderbot daemon au where ART built murderbot a drone to act as a daemon and implies constructs are severed and yall know im a sucker for daemon aus?? But also like. daemon au where every secunit automatically comes with a minimum of one (1) drone, and at least one drone is essential to functioning. why? folks don’t know, maybe it’s storage or something. If units have multiple it’s usually as decoys for the important one

anyway obviously this drone is a daemon by another name. they don’t change shape partially bc they don’t know they can, partially bc the gov module will zap em dead if they change

It is making me think that after murderbot goes on the run it discovers its beloved drone has like. Idk. Multiple settings? Little spider drone that can skitter. Little lizard drone that can stick to walls. It can even do things like, lil cat drone that can claw up someone’s face real good (:

Ignore the people who think that this apparently means murderbot’s drone is a daemon. those people are stupid bc humans have daemons and murderbot is a CONSTRUCT and this is its DRONE thank you

but anyway yeah in a daemon au murderbot has the best and coolest drone and has its hands over its ears and is LALALALAing at top volume whenever anyone suggests it might be a daemon

[thatsbelievable]

[1000-life-hacks]

Today is release day!! The 10th anniversary edition of College Hacks is finally available on Amazon! (https://bit.ly/4bJrZgT)

This 10th anniversary edition has been fully updated to keep pace with the latest technology and trends. It introduces innovative ways to make college life easier, from leveraging AI to saving time (and money) on campus.

It also includes new chapters on health and wellness providing everyday hacks to help you maintain and improve your psychical and mental wellbeing throughout your college career.

Available on Amazon (https://bit.ly/4bJrZgT), Barnes & Noble (https://bit.ly/4iOdfzS), Target (https://bit.ly/4bXzBwk), and more.

[ogorodami]

It’s kind of funny how after all these efforts to make Aegon as unlikable and pathetic as possible (like making him a rapist when he wasn’t one in the book), he ended up being one of the very few characters worth giving a damn about in this lizard shitshow and I credit TGC for this, a 100%. His performance straight up overpowered the showrunners’ mediocrity. It really is amazing.

Mind you, I don’t like Aegon per say, but his presence in the story means something and that’s so much more than what I can say of the characters we’re actually supposed to care about.

As much as it pains me to admit, I don’t care about Alicent anymore. I don't root for her and I also don't hate her, I simply don't care. And I sure as hell don’t give a damn about Rhaenyra, her harem, or her spawn either. The twins and Helaena aren’t real characters at this point. Aemond makes no sense. Jace will never be interesting to me with or without his dumbass wig. Mysaria can fucking die and I wouldn’t notice. Daemon sucks ass as usual. Granted, he got to do it on his own terms for most of the season, but nah, who needs actual character development, back under St. Nyra’s skirts you go.

That's not to say I blame the actors, sometimes you just can’t salvage bad writing, especially one so bland, toothless, and stagnated.

I guess, Condal and Hess had such a strong hate boner for Aegon they accidentally gave his material room for the tiniest sprinkle of spice to work with, so Tom annihilated their own narrative.

[violentdelightshavevioletends]

Where do you listen to the Dramatized Fourth Wing audio?

Can you get it from audible membership (or a trial?)