traceria

[i'm confused. How did Vasher get back in the game?] [Edit: Nevermind. This thread really took off while I was away!!]

Edit: Wait..we did the same thing, The Only Joe. Let me update... Vin 12 Devotion 1 Waxillium 8 Shallan 5 Immune: Preservation Vasher (Vin had some to spare...I can't deal a killing blow to Devotion!)

Vasher 18 Vin 17 Devotion 8 Galladon 5 Waxilium 12 Shallan 3 Immune: Preservation (Edit: forgot the Preservation portion.)

I almost voted for Kaladin, but then realized it was mostly because of Syl. I'm more intrigued about what's going on with Jasnah at this point.

That's amazing!!!

This work computer is notoriously silly about what it does and doesn't block. Maybe I'll have better luck at home. I'll only rewatch something if I really, really like, it, too. The third viewing was because my husband had never seen it, and I was happy to get him to watch it and more than happy to watch along with! Now my friend, who has yet to see but one or two episodes of MLP, is making a pony with the pony generator. So addicting!

I really need to make time to listen to samples of some of the other suggestions above (Reiyeka, I'm so curious about your list!)! Some I've come across and own (I'm a CD person in addition to sticking to albums. There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when opening a new CD and reviewing the liner notes!) but others I've not! It's been awhile since I really made an effort to find new music by artists I was otherwise unfamiliar with! My husband might not be happy about this after I place an Amazon order, but too bad. Thank you all for the suggestions! @GreyPilgrim - Speaking of In Rainbows, "Nude" just started up on my ipod. I also second Arcade Fire and basically any other Decemberists album out there (maybe with the exception of their first EP, which should probably be reserved for hardcore fans as it's not that wonderful but does let you get a taste of how their sound has evolved since 2001). Agreed about OK Computer, too. *nods * I was a little late to the Radiohead bandwagon, only getting into them in 2000, but when my friend told me that Kid A was supposed to be listened to all in one go, I was wowed in a good way. I'm sure it wasn't just our local stations that made a point to play the whole thing through on air without pause. I would think Radiohead would have made a point to request stations nation/world-wide to do the same thing.

Hey, I make a mean waffle! Great grandmother's recipe and everything. I'm totally cool with Friendship & Magic but appreciate the warning. Why thank you! (Great episode!) @Leftinch - Would it make you feel better to know I've watched Trigun through three whole times? So sad...I can't see the image you posted. I'll take your word for it.

Ponified on purpose!

Bluefingers definitely needs to teach a class on managerial skills with a focus on mathematical mapping. It would be very practical. Assistant Prof = Llarimar (for having to put up with Prof. Lightsong all those years and still managing to follow something like a schedule). Running with the Warbreaker theme: Non-Verbal Communication with Professor Susebron Economics: Principles and Practices with Profs. Denth and Tonk Fah (Brilliant thread, by the way!)

Maxal, you definitely hit on a lot of good points! I really think there is a nice size yet quiet population of us who greatly prefer non-stereotypical books/movies/shows as far as our gender goes. My husband is forever grateful that I'd rather watch a "laser movie" with him 99% of the time instead of some romantically charged thing. The one thing I find working against us (females who like legit fantasy/sci-fi) is that with the popularity of things like Twilight and all the similar fiction it's pulled with it is that there still might be a stereotype that if you're female and like this kind of fiction, it's the romance disguised as [insert particular sub-genre of fantasy/sci-fi]. For example, at some point in time I was known at my old place of employment as the girl who liked fantasy/sci-fi. If I wasn't talking about Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, it was something way more obscure. Two coworkers in particular took this to mean that I would obviously like Twilight and invited me to go see the movie with them. The only thing I liked about that movie was the soundtrack. To them, though, it was only natural to assume I'd like it. It was technically in the genres I enjoyed. There's a girl I work with now who I learned really loved Harry Potter, which also helped open up fantasy to the masses. She will also sit in the lunch room and talk about all the supernatural chick-lit she reads without end. And she always asks if I've read it. And the answer is always no. But how do you not completely offend someone while still trying to be truthful? You just don't say very much in response. If we suffer for any reason as women who love legitimate fantasy/sci-fi, it's thanks to this movement and the prevalent assumption that being female means that's the type of fantasy/sci-fi we like. Couldn't be further from the truth as far as I personally am concerned. I'm sure many of the other women on this site would agree. I'm glad you mentioned Cersei, too. Yeah, she's got a father and brothers and son all involved and mixed up in her motivations, but for her it's almost more that her FAMILY (not just the males in it) is into power-grabbing. I've really enjoyed her as a villain in that series, too. I think as we see more women protagonists, we'll eventually see more good female antagonists, too. I think that will be the next step in the progression and might take some time to get there, but it will eventually come. Also, like you, I find I'm much more of a rational creature. This caused some consternation with an old roommate who very rarely made rational decisions. Nearly everything she did was driven by emotion and her feelings toward a situation or person. She'd ask for my opinion or advice outright, and I would often try to talk her down off the figurative cliff. Even giving requested advice, she never took it. My thoughts on her problems usually meant I suggested making logical and conscious decisions to work through or in spite of her sour feelings. It's nice to know there are other women out there who can not only relate to this ability to be rational but also see how it can be an advantage. I'm not heartless (as evidenced by the fact I got a little teary eyed while watching Guardians of the Galaxy last night), but most of the time I am able to make choices based less on emotion and more on logic. If there are readers like us out there, why not some female super villains, too? Edit to add: Wouldn't it be awesome if a book featured a little girl who grew up with dreams of world/universe domination instead of any of the other stereotypical things little girls are said to dream about growing up?

I'm going to text to ask the guy to bring over the movie again tonight! No more excuses. I didn't go through any program/lessons that required grading and such, but I took lessons from age 6 up through my senior year of college. I almost was a music major with piano as my focus but ended up doing mathematics instead. Go figure! The lessons in college were because I wanted some way to keep up with it. After college I just played for leisure with the occasional covering for the church pianist or doing songs at a local coffee house. How about you?

Seconded! We went to see it last night at an 8 PM showing. (What?! I know, we were surprised they had anything before midnight!) We laughed throughout the whole thing, the humor was just so well done and well placed. The action was great, the story good, and I actually got misty eyed at some point (no spoilers, just go see it). It was a FABULOUS movie. And the soundtrack was fun.

On a smaller scale than Alcatraz's talent (and apparently king of nowhere's talent), I kill computers. Somewhere I even have a little icon to go with that. The laundry list includes: - First laptop I ever owned, the screen one day started turning white after some time of being turned on. For awhile it would fix itself if you shut it down and waited a few minutes before rebooting. Eventually it really did turn into a ghost, which is what I think it wanted all along. - First desktop I had got a virus that turned all text to gobbledeegoop. Two friends were able to clear that off after figuring out the sypher to only have the fan go out immediately thereafter in a puff of smoke accompanied by a burning smell. That got replaced, and I named the computer Lazarus. Lazarus later suffered a second fan loss and recovery. At some point I allowed him to go to his eternal rest. - Current laptop is now dying. The screen loves to do this flashing thing like it wants to be a strobe light. - At my old job, I went through three computers in the six years I worked there, which is really terrible. (Edit to add the bit about king of nowhere.)

Butcher bovine perfectly. Then I'd open a steakhouse.

I love that yours is Doctor Who related! Mine is a reference to an Andrew Bird song called "Tables and Chairs" which is kind of like a silly animals at a carnival/apocalyptic version of the end of Fahrenheit 451. At least, that's how I envision it with aid of the album artwork. The lyrics are below. Tables and Chairs if we can call them friends then we can call them on their telephones and they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone and if we can call them friends then we can call holler at them down these hallowed halls just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor at all don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere or any sudden pressure change cause i know that it's starting to get warm in here and things are starting to get strange and did you, did you see how all of our friends were there and they're drinking roses from the can? and how, how i wish i, i had talked to them, and i wish they fit into the plan and we were tired of being mild we were so tired of being mild and we were tired... i know we're going to meet some day in the crumbled financial institutions of this land there will be tables and chairs there'll be pony rides and dancing bears there'll even be a band cause listen, after the fall there will be no more countries no currencies at all, we're gonna live on our wits we're gonna throw away survival kits, trade butterfly-knives for adderal and that's not all ooh-ooh, there will be snacks there will there will be snacks, there will be snacks. and we were tired of being mild, we were so tired of being mild, and we were (we were so) tired... so don't you, don't you worry about the atmosphere. On my livejournal, which is mostly friend-locked so I never actually bother to share the link, I've changed all the links and headings to be references to Andrew Bird song lyrics, so figured I might as well carry this over to the 17th Shard forums! I really wanted to reference the kittens part of the line "we let the kittens lick our hair and drank our chalky lemonade" from another of his songs called "Masterfade," but was having a hard time making it a title that didn't sound overly creepy.

Is it really horrible that I have yet to see Frozen? A friend brought the DVD over to our house for the wives to watch (me and another girl) one Friday night, but we all ended up playing a game instead, and he never brought the DVD back over. :\ Oh, how awesome would Final Fantasy or soundtrack music from Miyasaki be? Do you have any of that Leftinch? (I guess I've technically been playing piano for 27 years. Wow. Started when I was six.)

It's not epic fantasy, but the first female villains that came to mind were from the Powerpuff Girls. There are only two of them, but they seem pretty set on being evil without having it out for one particular person (like Snow White) or being sidekicks. The one girl, Princess Morbucks, does kind of need her rich father to make her villain status possible, but Sedusa just causes trouble because she wants to. She might use some other baddies to help her, but she's doing it for her own reasons. I would definitely like to see some seriously evil lady in an epic fantasy who wasn't in it just for revenge or because some dude was supporting or pushing her to it. I've got a nice evil laugh all ready for when I read her voice out loud. Why can't a girl be into world domination for no other reason but that she wants to?

How did I not come across this crazy thread ages ago?!?! You all made my morning at work! Going back to upvote all participants. XD (MLP, I love you.)

I always enjoy playing classical (and the other eras around it) way more than modern stuff. Though, Romantic composers can kick my butt these days now that I'm out of practice. I can still rock out a Bach Invention if I take a day or two to blow the dust away, even if it isn't completely up to snuff or tempo. This won't hold me back from playing Beatles songs or occasionally some Lord of the Rings music.

Whistling! Yay! I can whistle pretty well also. It helps that I like Andrew Bird so much, too, since you can both sing along and whistle along with his music. I play piano and clarinet, though my chops aren't what they used to be a few years ago. There was a time I played at church (clarinet and occasionally piano) and would regularly play/sing at a local coffee house. Now I just fiddle on my piano if I feel like it. Maybe one day I'll try to get back up to speed.

Single cat home here, but in the past I had a roommate (she doesn't could as a pet), and between the two of us there were five cats in the house. For now, we just have one fluffy scaredy cat named Shion. She will let you know bugs are there, but that's as brave as she gets, folks. We even had to dump a cat off on my parents because Shion (my husband's cat from before we got married) decided to live behind the dryer in our apartment instead of eating or using the litter when we tried to merge the cat population. If we ever have to say goodbye to her (hopefully NO time soon), we plan on getting a dog and a cat around the same time so they can be used to each other from the start. Growing up, though, we had the fortune of enjoying life through the years with two dogs, a cat, too many hermit crabs to count, 'wild' turtles (ones we found in the yard or woods and would keep for only a week), fish, and three rabbits, two of which were house trained. I do love me some animals. Here's Shion, who I've also started calling Fluffyshy (like the MLP pony Fluttershy):

Lots of good suggestions, some of which I could repeat, but instead I'll just add a few variations. If my terrible mood and feelings relate to work, I will take ten minutes to go make a cup of tea. The tea itself is nice, but often times the break used to stand there while it steeps is even more healing. If my mood is one of those uexplained things, I've figured out that for me I just need to give it time to pass. What helps in the passing is putting on music or playing music (often on the piano) that fits with the mood. When my husband first heard me do this, he was worried. I had to assure him that it really helps me to process the mood instead of brood over it, if that makes sense. Lastly, sometimes it helps me to do something nice or thoughtful for someone else. I remember one time years ago when I was just feeling super depressed one day. I went home and made a care package for a friend. Sitting on the floor putting the box together after gathering all the contents was a really cleansing experience. Oh, so that wasn't exactly last. Here's the last part: Curl up with a cat! (Sometimes they want to curl up with you, too!) (This was the day after we came home from a weekend away. She was so happy to hang out with us despite the loud Final Fantasy X music/sound happening in the room.)

I'm not quite ready to throw my vote in with any theory, though the Unmade one is currently looking the most promising (if only slightly). I just want toss out the idea that maybe there's a whole traveling ecosystem to the High Storm. Humanoids might not see much evidence of it because the lifeforms that call it home like to stay away from what we'd call civilization, with the natural destruction of the High Storm also covering any tracks. The Stormstriders could simply be one of the larger lifeforms in the ecosystem of the High Storm. Just a thought and not something I personal espouse...unless, you know, someone wants to take up this torch and manages to convince me of its likelihood.

Seconding (or thirding or whatevering) both David Eddings (specifically the Belgariad and Mallorean books) and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders book (Pern).