methinks therefore me em

A second gift for @nonsemsical <3

Inspired by a post in which they claimed they used to sit in boxes as a child, which I thought was adorable.

hm. ok. so the queen’s thief is about a trickster who wants to go down in history but as soon as it starts happening he’s like NO NOT LIKE THAT. and also about the people he befriends against their will :)

it’s an ancient greece/byzantine era-inspired world that starts off very focused on one person and then as his significance grows it zooms out to show you more and more of what it becomes increasingly clear are history-making events of this land, gradually gaining perspective and quickly gaining layers and layers of political intrigue, all of which is connected on thematic levels to the mythology of this world

...but it all starts with a grimy teenager sitting in prison because he got busted for bragging about how good he is at stealing

you should read it if you love mythology, courtly intrigue, and ruthless politics being no match for the saving power of trusting those you love. if you don’t love slow, classic fantasy quest road trips maybe don’t start with the first book tho

featuring characters such as:

a thief who wants to be famous. what kind of thief wants to be famous for being a thief. gen that’s so dumb

a pure beam of sunshine who will commit acts of international violence

a guard who is having a very bad day

an accountant who is having an even worse day

a queen whom i love and adore with all my heart

a queen who has murdered many people whom i also love and adore with all my heart

many tired old men

I had to turn this off, but it's something that allows Windows and anyone using your device to generate text/images.

The new God of War was announced at PlayStation’s State of Play and will be the first game not centred around Kratos.

The coolest thing about the trailer that was shown was two gods who appear to be the antagonists. Sekmet from Egypt and Begtse from Mongolia.

After two games with Norse gods, and wider current culture being obsessed with all things Norse mythology, it’s pretty refreshing.

There was a part of the gameplay I didn’t care much for, and that was two(?) companion characters - The first being the Sword.

The sword seems to talk in the trailer, and I genuinely hate the trope of ‘weapon protagonist uses having a personality’. It existing as a character will no doubt push the writing into Marvel territory with insufferable quips. I’ve never seen this done well.

The second is…a cube…called Frank Phranque. Voiced by the Jack Quaid who plays Hughie in the Boys.

It’s a choice. I’m not sure if it’s a good one, but we’ll see how it plays out. Unfortunately from the gameplay shown, it’s another quippy character. I’m maybe just a bit tired of that style of writing.

But my criticism is completely offset by the unfortunately expected misogynistic ramble from fucking ‘Gamers’ who have never known the touch of a woman.

We’re already seeing shit memes flood the internet and they’ll continue long after the game’s released.

From a broad sense, it’s now more difficult to criticise the game earnestly because any initial impressions about talking weapons and…cubes…will get co-opted by people producing this shit.

'goon' -linguistic drift gave her a new meaning. i hope her new life is good for her. i miss her.

'henchman' -too gendered. can be shortened to 'hench' in a pinch, but lacks punch.

'servant' -too domestic to apply to all those who serve evil.

'underling, subordinate' -this one only works if they get off on being beneath you and/or you don't properly pay your workers.

'associate' -this one's good for grizzled mercenaries or lone agents but doesn't work good for broad swathes of an organization.

'slave' -same as underling but more intense. really fun for some of the group. unsavory for others in a way that limits the scope of the thing.

'thrall' -only really applies if you're brainwashing them and that's not something i've learned how to do en masse yet

'flunky, toady, stooge, lackey' -these are just insulting, and that isn't conducive to a healthy work environment. imagine going to work and your job title is 'stooge'.

'acolyte' -works for those that worship you, but again. lacks the scope.

'supporter, follower' -unspecific and vague

'assistant, helper, aide' -not sinister at all. just means you're doing things for me. swagless in this manner. could be good if used to describe someone who's so clearly more that as a way to emphasize their obedience via understatement, but that's only useful for a few members of the organization. and even then, 'associate' works better.

we're looking to create an AI policy, and when we were talking about this, my boss (older millennial) was genuinely shocked to hear that younger people do not (seem) to view AI positively (a la the recent commencement speakers being booed)

please rb for larger sample size!

Question 1/3

Thank you for helping with this data collection. Please rb for as big a sample as possible!

he and ilya are hanging out in the yard and some bees are buzzing around because some watermelon juice spilled on the ground earlier and shane suggests they go inside or rinse the juice off the patio and ilya teases him about being scared of little bees and shane SO nonchalantly just, "no, but i am allergic and you don't know where my epipen is"

and ilya

reblogging with my own tags because i'm also CACKLING imagining the implications of this not being specific to ilya, either. they're having a barbeque at hayden and jackie's house and hayden is good-naturedly encouraging shane to try a piece of coffee cake or something and ilya just goes, "no, bad for you"

and hayden IMMEDIATELY is on the defensive because what? you get to tell him what to eat now? where do you get o-

"no, bad for him because it has walnuts in it, pike. you want him to die? this is what you want?"

"what are you talking about?"

shane: "i'm allergic"

"??? since WHEN??"

"since always??"

"you've eaten over at my house HOW many times?? and never brought this up? the fuck, dude?"

"jackie knows"

the idea of ilya on instagram accidentally pressing like while DEEP in allergy mommy blogging territory and natalie from That Allergy Mama DMing him to be like "hi, my husband wants me to tell you he says hi and that he's a big fan and also that call against you against san francisco was bullshit." "hello, husband of natalie. also do you have any suggestions for substituting peanuts in this recipe?"

He's correct. This is excellent.

He is casting spell of car repair on it, I think.

And now it just needs a plate!

Other options are LONNNG and LOMMMG.

He's paired off against the perfect villain, his equal and opposite who has learned to cheat and swindle and con behind the language of corporate speak, "we hope and trust that our valued and loyal customers will bear with us over the coming months as we interact synergistically with changed management and our striving for excellence." It's a story about the capital-fuelled enshittification of a technology that can be good and improve the lives of thousands and how monopolies will literally strangle innovation.

Somewhere nearby a painter just finished coloring the statue of the emperor when suddenly all the paint gets removed.

Painter: Aw...

Finius: We named it "platypus", meaning flat-foot.

Ferbingetorix: On account of his feet being flat.

Candysseia: And where did he come from?

Pericles: *hands him papyrus*