Avatar

If Then Else Or

@strikeslip / strikeslip.tumblr.com

I exist. orv sideblog @ chasing-after-the-abyss Art Tag
PostsLikes
Avatar
reblogged
Avatar
the-tzimisce

average commonweal series reading experience: 50% reading the actual text of the books, 25% scrolling back to something you read a few chapters ago that suddenly has a completely new meaning in context, 25% googling minerals and chemical compounds you've never even heard of

Avatar
strikeslip

I was doing my 25% googling and I actually hit a word that google couldn't solve for me: enneachromat. I was shocked and also delighted. It clearly derives from monochromat, so then I had to go to the online etymology database to figure out the prefix, ennea-, which means nine. Then I got the joke.

#the commonweal#it was in fact a joke in context#jokes that require me to hit up the etymology dictionary!!!#the 25% googling is very real#I get the minerals but I have to google all the old middle english#there's a lot of old middle english. fylstan for example.#sometimes it's archaic greek instead because why not
Avatar
reblogged
Avatar
voyaging-too

A lot of the original Dune book consists of Paul's internal monologues. Those all needed to become dialogues to function in a movie. All internal conflict became external, Paul's internal debate was shown through his disagreements with other people. So Chani was given the role of his conscience (and his loyalty to the Fremen), she speaks out against him becoming the Prophet, she opposes the holy war. On the other side, Stilgar, Jessica and Gurney all became more overtly militant than in the book, they push Paul harder towards his fate, allowing him to push back, to express his reluctance and even refusal. This worked pretty well to show Paul's internal struggle with his "terrible purpose." (Unfortunately this choice also removed some of the inner conflicts and complexities from those characters: book!Stilgar was less religious and more shrewd, book!Gurney was himself scared of Paul's ruthlessness, and book!Jessica, despite sharing movie!Jessica's aims, was much more conflicted, more human.)

#dune#exactly this#maybe what the world needs is a four hour Dune theatrical play#Paul just gets up on stage and starts talking to the audience#alas for the Fremen: destroyed by the need to show Paul's internal conflict AND also by his actual conflict. insult and injury
Avatar
  • Dunked in several thousand tons of powdered solid despair.
  • On a battlefield, while under attack by berserkers.
  • You kill some two or three hundred of the enemy while your battalion's sorcerers figure out what to do about the despair.
  • Over half the soldiers reporting to you are dead, which means you're going to need to bring their ghosts home and explain that.
  • And the whole time you've had this battalion, there's been this mystery as to why your soldiers don't entirely trust you.
  • The best theory is that they think you're some kind of demon.
  • You're actually just a species created by a sorcerer to do things like kill two or three hundred of the enemy at a time.
  • You'd think this would be obvious to them as your soldiers are also a species created by a sorcerer, but no.
  • It's at this moment, as you're washing the blood off that you finally figure out why they didn't think you could be the particular sorcerer-made species famous for its fighting ability.
  • ...
  • ...
  • It's because you're short.
#The Commonweal#The March North#The Captain#Graydon Saunders really said “Cover that man in blood.”#Graul out there like 'Five foot something was a lot when everyone was malnourished ok?' and meanwhile the Creeks default to 6+ feet#Creeks OP#Graul are Dark Souls Characters#Good thing I'm not an art student#I am so absolutely insane about these books
Avatar
reblogged
roach-works
Avatar
thestuffedalligator

The trees lumbered across the field.

It was a weird thing to watch. When a tree settled to rest or sniff at an interesting crocus, she could almost believe that it had been rooted to the spot for years; then the huge body would raise up on spidery roots and trundle forward with stupid placidity to follow the herd. When they all had settled to rest in the morning light, it was like the field had been turned into a misty woodland in seconds.

A sapling bounded up to her and sniffed at her wrist before bounding off again, spindly roots kicking with delight.

"It's pretty simple work," said the farmer. "We let them out to get some fresh air and sunlight, check them for blight. Every so often we have to lay out some manure, but that's pretty much it."

She watched the sapling. It stumbled on its own limbs and limped into the shade of its mother.

"It's pretty similar to raising cattle," said the farmer. "We raise them up for a couple years, and when they get big enough we take them down to the slaughterhouse and have them butchered."

"Wouldn't you send them to a logging mill or something?"

"Nope."

A chickadee whirred through the air and lighted onto a branch.

"There's good money in it, too," said the farmer. "There's a lot of demand for certain cuts of tree meat."

"You mean wood?"

"Nope."

There was a blur of branches. The tree ate the chickadee.

You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.