Orlion Blight

Warhammer 40k Marines?

Time for a fun Garfield clip!

Sometimes I think I'm a terrible person for finding the existential discomfort of others humorous... then I start laughing thinking about the existential discomfort of others!

For a pick up my mood book, you should read what I'm reading now: Positive Nihilism: My Confrontation With Heidegger by a Hartmut Lange

Girls, ewwwww....

I mean, yeah. Rothfuss and Martin would be standard complaints, and I personally think Rothfuss will never complete his trilogy. Ever. Other than that, I think all my favorite authors are pretty open about how their projects are going, and one even managed to release an excellent sci-fi novel that she promised while also doing a passion project in the form of a Mass Effect tie in novel. Maybe someone else could learn to do that *cough*. damnation this tuberculosis! And the author is Catherynne M Valente. The awesome sci-fi book was Space Opera, and you got Google for the rest.

From henceforth, all nested spoilers will be punished with a severe rasping!

I propose a ban on nested spoilers! No one has time for that rust!

I mean, you could indirectly feed meerkats. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-paso-zoo-name-a-cockroach-after-your-ex-feed-to-meerkat-valentines-day-feb-14/

I had finished The Master and Margarita a few days agone. Twas fantastic, almost the perfect novel for me! Am now reading The Devil's Dance by Hamid Ismailov.

ICE is not as popular, so breaking the law to release his stuff early doesn't matter as much

I could not stand Tad Williams for some reason. Just never clicked. Clark Ashton Smith? I just have to fit in somewhere, I have all ready read a couple of his stories and enjoyed them.

A lot of enjoyment I get out of reading comes from stylistic writing. Brandon as Cosmere all ready fails pretty spectacularly in that department, but they are fun palette cleansers for me, so I read them. Most, if not all, of his non-Cosmere stuff is YA. That seems to mean, in my experience, that the writing style is even more simplistic then his Cosmere stuff, to the point that it feels insulting. There is nothing fun about that. Not to mention that the themes are waaaay more geared to a younger audience and I am sick of YA stuff permeating culture... I'm a curmudgeon! I want more themes that are pertinent to me! I mean, the Cosmere is all ready pretty much YA, did he really have to tone down his actual YA stuff?

I would prefer something really out of left field... like Arkham Horror or Legend of the Five Rings. That way, I would have to break my "don't read non-cosmere Brandon" policy while simultaneously grousing about his decisions! And it should postpone a Stormlight novel, mwahaha!

I was once a dreamer like you... but my dreams were crushed by the State of the Sanderson 2018! Magic: The Gathering instead of Wax and Wayne 4?! What vile betrayal was this?! Now, I wander these forums, a soulless husk that feeds on the juices of freshly crushed dreams, filtered through a sieve because few things are grosser than dream pulp.

Won't happen. There's a huge difference between making minor changes and writing a whole novel, even one so devoid of aesthetic style as Brandon's. He would still need to outline, first draft, send for edits and then do the various edits that follow. 2020 if he fits it in with Stormlight (I'll believe it when I see it). 2021 more likely. As far as him writing more then other authors, there are a couple things to keep in mind: 1) He does this full time. 2) He has hired a significantly sized staff that helps him keep stuff straight, research, run stores, plans events, edits his work in house, organizes art, etc. Essentially, he is not nearly as solitary a novelist as others are. 3) His writing style is not as demanding as, say, Rothfuss or Martin's. This is actually not meant as a dig this time, it works great for what he is going for, but it is also waaaay less stressful to write than something more stylistic. It's the difference between "does this make sense and is excited?" and "could this make a reader weep for joy at its sublime nature?" Really, I think number 2 is what is most responsible for his large output, so by all means praise the man he's done the work! But thank Dragonsteel Inc as well, I don't think Brandon could keep all his rust together otherwise to write all those novels. And his family as well. They could be overly demanding, wanting to spend time with their father/husband, but they let him run free

I mean, sounds like he has objections to Sazed's knowledge being a Chekov's Gun more then a character trait. Like, "oh, it was mentioned Sazed knows a bunch about religion and stuff, and that must be important and stuff because everything has a reason/purpose in Sanderson!" We might call it "tight storytelling", and though it can be done very well, it will never feel completely organic. Also, though it serves very nicely on a pure ly escapism view, if you are wanting something more (like intriguing ideas) tight storytelling alone is not going to cut it. And let's face it, Mistborn doesn't even have as many intriguing ideas as Dark Tower (speaking of endings that are too convenient). So what we have is just the basic issue with Brandon Sanderson: it is almost purely storytelling/plot-driven. Outside of those two characteristics, you aren't going to find anything insightful about ideas of governance, geopolitics or multi-verses. Any "commentary" and world building exists principally to serve the storytelling. In other words, so that the reader can have "fun". Contrast that with Erickson, who will find any excuse to go on a diatribe and commentate on history, post modern views and whatever thought strikes him. So, at some point your friend went from reading for fun (hence why he likes Dark Tower. He read it before the change) to wanting "something else" from his reading in addition to enjoyment. I imagine edification and an expansion of his worldview. Brandon Sanderson doesn't really provide that. Or rather if he does, it is at such a low level that he does not compared with other authors. Maybe someday your friend will want a purely "fun" read, and that's when it will be best to read Brandon Sanderson. That's why I read the cosmere, because it's fun. That's also why I don't read any of Brandon Sanderson's non-cosmere stuff. Because it's not fun to me, and Brandon has little to nothing else to offer besides a fun escape.

I would say most, if not all, Netflix original programming is bad. I enjoyed Aggretsuko, but that's been made by the same company for years and Netflix only distributes it. Compare that with Castlevania or pick a Marvel show and you are plagued with bad acting, pacing issues and "but it gets good about 80 % of the way through!" defenses. Ok, I do remember enjoying season 1 of Stranger Things. Never saw season 2 because, well, I enjoyed season 1. Also, Black Mirror is shallow, pedantic, juvenile garbage. It has about as much depth as a high school sophomore smoking pot for the first time.

That's not inaccurate...

Meh. Harry Potter and the Cosmere are both garbage

Watched They Shall Not Grow Old. Really good movie, one should see it if you can (though where I'm at, it's limited and kinda stealth released... bastards! )

I have not read Proust yet, but Powell was certainly an admirer. There is even an excerpt of In Search of Lost Time in one of the books of A Dance to the Music of Time. From that excerpt, Powell's writing is not nearly as stylish. I do own a translation of Rembrance of Things Past and plan on reading it, I'm just not sure when. Then I can enter the All-England Summarize Proust Competition!

I am just going through an Anthony Powell phase. His best work is, of course, the 12 part A Dance to the Music of Time. So far, the other two novels I've read of his are fun, if a bit problematic But if you don't care too much about that, they are pretty funny comedies of manners. I would call Afternoon Men a funny The Sun Also Rises, especially if Hemingway did not take himself so seriously and believed his own hype.

I had actually lost it for a bit, but am back to reading it. So far, I like the whimsical, magic-realism aspect of it. Reminds me why I somewhat detest the current trend to "explain everything" regarding magic. It can really strip the soul out of writing when you try to turn magic into physics. I had just finished Venusburg by Anthony Powell.

I'm holding off on a re-read of Mistborn for a bit. I'm still pretty salty about the delay of Wax & Wayne 4, so it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure Don't forget "Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania" from Arcanum Unbound! That one was just really fun.