holy shit i just saw footage of the borderlands game for the first time and it looks insufferable. how did anyone like those games? they look so fucking annoying
I was referring to the orcs as the evil race from the east. And I'm not saying that is objectively the reading of Lord of the Rings, but if you want to say that the story lends itself to a pro-fascist viewpoint, its easy to do that. Its also easy to say that the story is pro-anarchist or monarchist or grill pill or whatever you want.
I think there are so many readings of the Lord of the Rings that it is possible to make it say whatever you want by picking and choosing quotes.
Its a story about an evil race of people invading from the east. Its also about how the people of the world must move past racial prejudice to defeat evil.
You can take whatever message you want from it. When I read it recently I found it funny how many characters were just saying "the West has fallen, billions must die"
Thanks! It's been five days so far and I have to say this is surprisingly easy. I get temptations every now and then but it's so much better not having weed around. But mostly I feel very satisfied about throwing out the weed, I haven't regretted it at all yet.
I sometimes find myself thinking that I'd like to get high after work, then I remember that every time I've gotten high for the past few months I've instantly regretted it. And I'd much rather spend my time talking with friends or reading a book than getting stoned and eating too much food and lying on my bed for hours
I'm reading the first serialised Witcher book, the Blood of Elves, for the first time in about three years. And it is not nearly as good as I remember.
spoiler
First of all, its kinda boring. It doesn't really follow the three act structure, Geralt and Ciri don't have a clear goal for most of the book and a lot of the word count is just made up of inconsequential chatter. I don't care about the scientist arguing with Geralt about the classifications of monsters. In the middle of the book, Geralt is just mooching about on a boat, waiting for the plot to happen to him. There is no over-arching threat, besides the villain Rience who I fail to find intimidating at all, because he gets his ass kicked every time he shows up. Its all setup about how the Elves are gonna start rebelling big time and Nilfgaard are gonna invade soon and the Four Kings are gonna start doing things real soon.
That's probably the main problem with this book, its entirely setup. Its like reading the Fellowship of the Ring, but stopping just as the Fellowship is formed. The book finishes with Ciri reflecting on her time in a temple and thinking about how Yennefer taught her magic, which is not a conclusion to anything. Yennefer appearing is payoff for her constantly being mentioned, but she's only in the final chapter so she doesn't have much time to be an endearing character. Also, as I said, no three-act structure, so the finale of the book is just Ciri and Yennefer going somewhere for some reason to do something, its all very vague. The climax of the book comes just before, when Geralt kicks Rience's ass and also the asses of four professional killers, but is then betrayed by Philippa Eilhart, who we don't know or like at all, so who cares. Philippa says "oooh Geralt, I have to betray you because I'm doing something that will be explained in future books." Most of this book is just setting up future reveals, without any internal setups and payoffs or satisfying narrative structure.
Also the characters are really not vibrant. There are loads of characters in this book, way too many for a 300 page novel that is also introducing a world and magic system. This means that anyone who isn't Geralt, Ciri, Yeneffer or Dandilion has one personality trait. Terranova is fat. Tissaia de Vries is proper. Vilgefortz is scheming. There's a scene where we're introduced to five monarchs (of the Four Kingdoms? This book desperately needs a map). There is Demawend, Henselt, Foltest, Meve and another who I can't remember. For the life of me I can't tell you a distinguishing feature of any of them apart from Meve, who is wise and strong (two whole personality traits! wow!!!). Also Geralt has sex with a 17 year old and Dandilion also had sex with her when she was even younger, so what the fuck? Why? Its so unnecessary and just makes the protagonist a pedophile for no reason at all.
Another grave sin of this book is that the world is dreadfully dull. Wow, its a medieval fantasy world based on European feudalism? With swords and spears (but no guns)? With a magic system based off the four elements? Where fake Latin exists as a scientific langauge? How fantastic, how original. The world has two good things going for it. The first is the creatures taken from Eastern European folklore like strigas, since they don't appear much in standard fantasy. That said, the Witcher does fuck all Witching in this book and these creatures barely appear. The other good thing is the use of early modern aesthetics rather than medieval. A lot of the clothes are described as 16th century, there is a focus on universities and cities and commerce and societies more intellectually developed than most of feudalism. But there are also no guns for some reason. They really wouldn't be out of place imo.
I think the biggest problem with this book is that it entirely relies on goodwill from The Last Wish, which is a prequel and a series of short stories about Geralt. That book is about him actually hunting monsters and meeting Yeneffer, and if you hadn't read it first, I think there would be absolutely nothing in the Blood of Elves to entice you to read more.
I didn't hate the book but I remembered it much more fondly than this, which is very disappointing for me
Thank you dirt owl, you are a true hero of the proletariat
Genuinely this was very sweet thank you
im gonna shake you like a magic 8 ball for calling me a peebus
im slowly approaching how i want to look. ive been losing weight and while im not super excited about gaining muscle, i prefer it to the fat. my hair also looks great, i have naturally curly textured hair and ive been cutting it in a short shag (i think? not sure about haircut names. it looks like rei ayanami's hair but not blue)
although i would like to be slimmer overall it is unfortunately not possible as far as i know. i have naturally broad shoulders and chest bones so no amount of weight loss will make me look less triangular.
waow supportive tenna?
when do we get tenna gifs. that man was made to be an emoji on hexbear.net
Its like brewing a beer that doesn't taste like piss. You're missing the point of the drink
Mm yeah I don't want to do that
My submission is maybe the most obvious, Soviet flag over the Reichstag
It can be anything, photograph, painting, meme, screenshot of CCTV footage of a CEO getting domed in the street, etc
Trump elected in landslide victory
Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire (immediately violated by Israel)
French government collapse
South Korean martial law (just a joke though)
CEO shot in the street
Romanian election results overturned
Colour revolution attempt in Georgia
Assad runs for his life
Isreali invasion of Syria
This is all in just over a month
At this rate I fully expect a Year of Four Presidents in America
My friends and I are all in our early 20s, most finishing/ out of college. A few years ago they were all liberals who either turned their nose up at the word socialism or were "apolitical".
Now, having been through a pandemic, living through a housing crisis, working in minimum wage jobs, witnessing the rise of European fascism and seeing the sheer disrespect capitalists have for us, all of them, without exception, have become or are becoming leftists. I don't even talk about politics that much with them, although they know I'm a communist. They have all voiced dissatisfaction with capitalism and named capitalism directly as the cause of their problems. Some of them openly call themselves socialist. None of them have any faith in liberals.
My main political issue now is to get them to become active in politics. I've encouraged them to join workers and tenants unions and will do that more every time I'm drunk. I try to get them to pro-Palestinian protests. I have high hopes that within a few years, I will successfully convert most of them to communism
it is never joever for the working class
It seems that despite my fears of the Iranian state being unprepared and naive, the Iranian people are more than brave enough to face the Israeli threat. The ability for humans to be strong in the face of imperialist murderers is astonishing, and the Iranian people really inspire me