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Post by StyxD on Apr 15, 2019 22:22:47 GMT
Today I learned that there's an Italian far right politician by the name of Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini.
And yes, he's a great grandson of that Mussolini. (Sources are silent on his relation to Gaius Julius Caesar).
I'm just so impressed that the Mussolini family seemingly managed to grow their megalomania tenfold since the last century, especially considering how Benito Mussolini ended up.
I'm also super curious if he has a son, will he name him Octavio Augusto?
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 16, 2019 0:26:22 GMT
...
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Post by Horsie on Apr 16, 2019 5:56:01 GMT
Does his campaign office looks this insane?
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Post by StyxD on Apr 17, 2019 19:15:27 GMT
I'm sorry, I still can't stop laughing whenever I think of this. Gaius Julius Caesar Mussolini! I bet at night he turns into a Batman villain, "The Imperator".
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Post by Horsie on Apr 18, 2019 6:14:29 GMT
His grandfather was an Italian dictator who got lynched by partisans, and he's named after a Roman dictator who became the most famous murder victim in history. I'd be afraid to run for office if I was him.
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 18, 2019 17:19:53 GMT
Hilarious.
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Post by Canuovea on May 8, 2019 22:48:31 GMT
One of these stories has a very Harkovast feel.
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Post by StyxD on May 11, 2019 8:36:05 GMT
The one where the guy posts a long-ass dissertation about his custom world with anthro races with different cultures? I dunno, I'm guilty of this as well. I never did anything with the idea, but it just seems natural thought progression that if you create a world with many races, then each of this races gets a different culture. And if all your races are anthros, then there's naturally more of them than if you went with elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. And then it starts to get this feel you're talking about. At least I think so. Also, giant ridable jumping spiders is something that also needs to happen in Harkovast.
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Post by TempestFennac on May 11, 2019 11:19:27 GMT
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Post by Canuovea on May 12, 2019 0:07:32 GMT
Haha!
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Post by wordweaver3 on May 12, 2019 4:31:42 GMT
That dog knows a good deal when he sees it.
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Post by StyxD on Dec 15, 2019 19:46:00 GMT
Guys, I think I found something worse than FATAL. I know, this sounds like awfully hyperbolic. After all, FATAL is supposed to be the bottom of misogynistic rape fantasies (in fact, it seemed to be its raison d'etre). What more could even be done? See, for all its awfulness, there was a certain juvenile crassness to FATAL. Its authors seemed to realize that what they were writing wasn't remotely socially acceptable, and they reveled in their rape-filled world and mechanics, much like children when they first start using bad words out of their parent's earshot. It doesn't say good things about FATAL's authors, but it does make them seem like they were raised in the same contemporary society as we were. Now imagine: it's a world much like FATAL, but neither the characters nor the author seem to realize that there's anything wrong with that, and all of this is written in a tone befitting a jolly fantasy adventure like the Hobbit. You get Xanth. Xanth isn't an RPG. It's a rather old, one could even say classic by now, fantasy novel series. I've seen books from it on bookstore shelves from time to time, and it didn't really garner any of my attention. I missed a wild ride apparently. I'm writing this because I've found a sporking of the beginning of the series, and I wanted you to share my pain. I wouldn't bother if it was just a bad series, but when reading, I got a pretty unique sense of foreboding. Like this book was written by a psychopath that didn't quite get humans. I kind of wanted to give you here some juicy bits excerpts with witty comments, but my words fail to convey the dread appropriately. So go over and gawk, and lament with me. www.anamardoll.com/2011/01/index-xanth.htmlJust the book one is enough to get what I'm talking about here. Continue only for masochistic glee.
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Post by Canuovea on Dec 15, 2019 23:39:20 GMT
There was a book called "The Colour of her Panties?" What?
"This is a romance between Chlorine and the Demon Xanth, although she doesn't realize who he is or what's happening to her." That second part is a little concerning. But of course, maybe its executed well and not actually bad.
Oh god the content notes. So far, two for two on the "rape" front. Damn.
"Xanth is one of those series that is difficult to explain to newcomers because its popularity is undeniable (I myself devoured the books readily when I was a youngster) and yet they are super-rapey."
"And it's one of those things that a lot of us didn't really notice at the time (self included), I think because so much of male-authored science fiction / fantasy is rapey already. Like, for all that Xanth was rapey, it was light-hearted rapey. As opposed to grimdark rapey, see also the Dragonlance books that were, for me, the main fantasy alternative to Xanth growing up. "
Damn, how did Tolkien ever manage? Though... yes, a lot of fantasy is rapey I've noticed. May depend on how its handled? Generally, I've tried to avoid rape as a theme in both what I read and the little bits I write. There are sometimes metaphorical/symbolic parallels in terms of things like nonconsensual mind control (which to me seems super rapey even if rape isn't literally involved... and yes, there is consensual mind control, which I learned about thanks to a certain someone's input on the subject), but that's usually it if I was the one who came up with that particular part of a story. If I have to write about what someone else came up with, and it's rapey, I find myself struggling to get through it even if its mostly oblique.
But I'm not too bothered by A Song of Ice and Fire, one of the more rapey series I've read. It uses rape as a plot point, but I suppose its also built into the world. I'm aware that that shit is bad, but it isn't the same as some other stories.
And hell, light hearted rapey? That's almost more concerning because it is more insidious. GRR Martin at least doesn't make light of rape. And as fucking bullshit as "this character bad, hmm... I'll show it by having them rape someone!" is, it is better than "lighthearted main character rape, ha ha!"
Oh god. Bink and Chameleon. God. Damn. Jesus. The fucking trial. Oh gods. Fucking shit.
Just wow. Okay, that's way worse than I thought it would be.
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Post by Horsie on Dec 16, 2019 7:04:14 GMT
I got not quite halfway through and had to give it a break, this is pretty hard on the head, worse than what I expected after reading a little bit about the series when you mentioned it a little while ago.
I mentioned in a chat with Can that it seems like the author is saying rape is bad, but in the same way that kicking over someone's garbage can is bad. Maybe that's giving him too much credit, some of this stuff gives the impression that rape is bad because you could get in trouble, which in this world seems to mean you could be slightly inconvenienced.
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Post by StyxD on Dec 16, 2019 22:53:40 GMT
Thanks guys, your reactions prove it's not just me overreacting. The trial is bad, but I think the very worst stuff is how non-human women are treated in several cases. I'm not sure if I can say it's racist, since none of these races really exist, but he really lets himself go in treating these non-humans as sub-humans. and yes, there is consensual mind control I disagree. Sure, one could consent to being mind-controlled, but if it was sufficient, safewords wouldn't exist.
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