Posts made by Auspice

@arkandel said in Book Recommendations:

Red Rising

I've been meaning to check this out for a while and hey look it's only $2 on Kindle right now. Yoink!

I had the flu two weeks ago.
Now I have (what I believe to be) strep.

This is bullshit and my cats are useless at making me tea and soup.

@arkandel said in Good TV:

I don't know if it's the consensus but I can't watch Flash any more. It's really bad. I find myself rolling my eyes at the dialogue (especially anything involving Iris...) and twiddling my thumbs waiting for the predictable plot to unfold.

In the latest episode I just stopped some time in the first twenty minutes and switched to something else.

I hate this season of Flash so far and it is all because of Iris.
I hate that character so, so much.

Joe is literally the only reason to watch at this point. Even the return of Asshole!Harrison was underwhelming.

@arkandel said in Book Recommendations:

@saosmash said in Book Recommendations:

The first series of hers that I picked up was the Broken Earth trilogy, and this is a very hard series to read -- especially on audiobook which is how I do a lot of my reading

I hope I'm not ruining @Auspice's thread (she can make sure I don't if so ) but I just wanted to ask... as someone who's not tried audiobooks, how is the experience compared to eyes-on-the-page? I'm thinking about switching up my commute routine a bit, and while podcasts work they're not the kind I need to pay constant attention to.

I have a really hard time with audiobooks. They tend to put me to sleep and I have a really hard time remembering details.

That said, they've been great for my time on the bus. It's more enjoyable than just listening to music and I don't risk motion sickness from reading.

But I do find I really don't remember as much of the book. This, however, may just be me. I have a near-eidetic visual memory. I can read a book and often recall (if I go back to it) the exact page something happened on. So my aural memory may just be shit.

But I literally cannot do other things and listen to an audio book without missing almost everything. I dunno how some people work + audio book, cook + audio book, etc., unless it's super mindless stuff.

@cupcake said in RL Anger:

@auspice Are you taking the MasterClass series? I'd like to know because I've floated the idea, and if this is the kind of treatment people get, I'll know I should pass.

I'm not, no. This is a class with my degree program.

Other than one professor early on who gave me bad grades on stories and his only feedback was 'I didn't like it.' and one who gave me a 0 despite me fixing the issue (we had to build websites and had 24 hours to fix problems; the site host had issues, I got them fixed two hours after she told me, and she still tried to give me a 0).... my teachers have been great. This is the first guy who has driven me to the point of not wanting to even try to learn / work.

@ganymede said in RL Anger:

@auspice said in RL Anger:

This man is an ass.
This wasn't just harsh criticism.

He never said a single positive thing. He cut me off constantly. He was practically yelling at me at times.

It took Phil Lord and Chris Miller almost 15 years to get a project of their own up off the ground again, and for crowds to appreciate their humor.

That said, when you're ready you should ask your instructor to put all of his criticism down into writing. And then, you should forward that onto his supervisor, along with the accounts of everyone else in your class who probably went through the exact same thing.

Abuse comes in many forms, and always breeds in darkness.

I hate that I began crying, but being cut off and snapped at every time I tried to explain myself... Especially when he'd ask me to explain and then 'NO. Stop talking and listen!' ...it just got to me and I found myself (silently) crying for a bit. I was just so frustrated.

At one point, I did manage to explain: 'I did this this way because in part 1 of the class, we were told...'
'You just misunderstood him.'
I got a good grade in that other class. I don't think would have if I had misunderstood things.

I am definitely going to be talking to my advisor about it. I accepted the phone conference because I know it's important to transition from just written criticism (which allows you time to process/react) to live (where you have to stay composed and react on the spot)... But he wasn't professional. Asking me a question and then cutting me off isn't. Ranting on at length when I've already said I understand isn't. Not being able to say even one positive thing about my work isn't.

I mean, shit, we students can lose professionalism points in our grade if we don't say at least one positive thing to our classmates in feedback/review.

So against my better judgement, I accepted my instructor's offer to go over my week 1 script (act one of a TV episode) via phone conference rather than just receive his written notes.

I figured: sure, I've got receiving harsh criticism in text down, but I should learn to handle it in person.

I wish I had listened to my gut.

This man is an ass.
This wasn't just harsh criticism.

He never said a single positive thing. He cut me off constantly. He was practically yelling at me at times.

At one point, he misheard me. I tried to correct him. He snapped: "I know." and continued on with the misunderstood stuff.

The changes he wants me to make make no sense in places. Like it turns New Girl (the show the script is a spec for) into more of a drama than a comedy.

I had a 'part 1' to this class where we did our outlines. In a class taught by someone else, but that he designed. I got a 100 on my final outline. My instructor and classmates loved it. This guy? Wants me to throw out 2/3rds and rewrite based on what he wants (which is, again, more drama than comedy).

And the final lovely thing:
I emailed him last week after I watched the lecture recording. In the recording, for all the other show options we had to write for, he had script format tweaks. 'I know in Modern Family they do this, but I want you to do that instead.' etc. But he had none for New Girl. So I emailed to ask: 'Hey, is there anything in their script formatting that I shouldn't do?'

He said no, use their format as is.

Well, part of the call was chewing me out for not tweaking my format.

I admit it, I was crying at one point. Just being cut off constantly and chewed out... That is not getting critical feedback on your work. And I wasn't even trying to forcefully stand my ground on things. I was trying to explain why I wrote things a certain way to help him better understand (since he made it clear he never read the outlines we turned in the first day of class).

I'm going to be lucky to pass this class and I'm already done caring.

@tempest said in Auspice's Playlist:

WTF is the 8th sea? Are you hiding MUs from us?

Yes.
Yes, I am.
(More like it hasn't been fully advertised yet and it's not my call to make.)

Not having my desktop (gaming) computer up and running (for need of a desk) and no social life has done wonders for my MU* life. I haven't played this many places in years.

Anyway! Updated.

@ganymede said in RL Anger:

@auspice said in RL Anger:

I will willingly offer myself in exchange for steak and booze.
Is that acceptable?

To be frank, I'm a simple sort of person, and will exchange steak and booze for someone to watch Stranger Things 2 with.

Can we watch American Gods, too? I've been meaning to watch that again.

@tinuviel said in RL Anger:

@auspice Depends on where you are, that could count as prostitution.

Look, they always say you shouldn't do what you love for free...

@ganymede said in RL Anger:

Maybe I'm just behind the curve.

I will willingly offer myself in exchange for steak and booze.
Is that acceptable?

(As for Tyson - I've always felt he's an egotistical ass, so I'm not really all that surprised.)

@tinuviel said in RL Anger:

@auspice While I'm perfectly willing to assume that such accusations are true, and it's understandable that once one series of accusations has come out more will do so... I really, really don't want to believe half of these.

What's sad about hers is that she's apparently tried bringing it up before and people didn't listen / wouldn't believe her.

I think that's a lot of why there's a flood of them right now. Women are seeing that their voices are finally being heard, so they can finally step up and say something, even if they already tried before.

@ganymede said in RL Anger:

@cupcake said in RL Anger:

Weinstein was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and it was his job to develop movies, find talent, etc. He choose to utilize that job as a way to get his rocks off at the behest of the women he knew he could take advantage of. I basically want to shove this into the face of all the people spouting that whole "they used him too" party line.

I'll bet they'd say the same thing about teachers who coerce their students to have sex with them to improve their grades. Both sides benefit, right?

Well, considering Neil DeGrasse Tyson has been accused...

I guess we'll find out!

I am about done with Hyperion, by Dan Simmons and am ordering book 2 so I can dive right into it.

It was a slow start, but that may very well be because I got it on audio book and I have issues with audio books. However, as I got into it... oh man did I get into it. Like, 'conceptualizing how I'd write a script for it' into it. Kind of wanting to write a pilot script to make it a mini series or something.

It's some good sci-fi. Lots of great setting mythology, religious references (for the folks on the boards who like that sorta thing: one of the main characters is Jewish), and really strong character development.

@ghost said in RL Anger:

It really bothers me on a human level the number of Hollywood insiders who knew about these behaviors and tendencies for years,

At the same time, you have Courtney Love and JJ Abrams both who spent years trying to bring light to Weinstein and people just ignored them.

@arkandel said in RL Anger:

@auspice Ah, yes, the people who think the Earth is essentially a flat elevator always moving upwards (and at an accelerated pace, of course) which accounts for why we don't just float into space.

Awesome.

The other explanation I've seen is that everything is just 'too heavy' to float and that's why birds, bees, butterflies, etc. can 'fly.' They're light enough.

At least with the flat earthers, they're just sort of adorably dumb. 'Well if I stare at the horizon it looks flat!!!!111'

The gravity deniers are a new level of insane in my book.

@arkandel said in RL Anger:

I guess it's not as bad as the Moon deniers.

And then you have the gravity deniers, too.