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Post by frostwolf on Apr 27, 2015 21:12:56 GMT
I noticed there is no artwork thread anymore. Or there is and I can't find it.
Anyway I think there should be one! Also with writing, fanfic or stuff to share.
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Post by frostwolf on Apr 27, 2015 21:14:56 GMT
Sadly I can't seem to share anything cause my phone is tricky...and I actually drew something while in Ireland.
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Post by Horsie on Apr 27, 2015 22:20:06 GMT
When were you in Ireland?
I've never been there, is it nice?
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Post by frostwolf on Apr 28, 2015 7:30:02 GMT
Currently in Ireland for 2 weeks for a class. In the Burren.
The place is beautiful, cold, wet, and windy. But freaking beautiful.
I'm also the first person in my family on my fathers side to return to Ireland after my ancestors departed. So it's a lot to take in.
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Post by Horsie on Apr 28, 2015 22:06:24 GMT
Nothing wrong with cold and wet, unless you have to work in it. I saw Ireland when I was staying in Scotland one time, but that's as close as I've ever been.
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Post by frostwolf on Apr 29, 2015 16:38:51 GMT
Honestly with the little time I've been here I can say Kentucky weather has nothing on Ireland and England.
Weather changes at any moment and just as quickly changes again.
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Post by Horsie on Apr 29, 2015 22:22:00 GMT
I never really noticed, but the again it's usually like that here in the Autumn, Winter, and Spring; just today it rained, the sun came out, and then the temperature dropped and it started snowing for a bit before the rain returned.
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 29, 2015 23:55:51 GMT
Same over here, except without the snow.
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Post by wordweaver3 on Apr 30, 2015 6:42:38 GMT
I'm thinking about going to the beach tomorrow and swimming in the ocean.
It rains a lot here this time of the year but it's still warm.
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Post by TempestFennac on May 21, 2015 12:22:01 GMT
I've written some book reviews for the intranet which the charity I volunteer for uses. I may as well post them here as well (I mentioned the books I've reviewed to some forum members admittedly).
Jennifer Government:
A few months ago, I read an interesting novel called Jennifer Government, which was written by a lesser known author named Max Barry. It's unusual for a dystopia novel because, rather than focussing on a government which has too much power, it goes in the opposite direction by taking place in a version of reality where a lot of Western governments (starting with the USA) privatised everything by abolishing all taxation. As a result of this, governments are only capable of enforcing a few laws which concern private property and crimes against individuals if people are able to pay them. While the book is named after one of the main protagonists (everyone in Capitalizt* countries take the last name of their employer, hence characters named Bill NRA and John Nike), it tends to split chapters pretty evenly between her and several other characters who are central to the plot, which focusses on the results of a Nike advertising campaign which involves people who bought a particular brand of ridiculously overpriced shoes being killed in an attempt to make them seem edgy.
While some of my friends have critiqued the book for having 1-dimentional main characters, I'd say this isn't really a problem. Admittedly, some of the characters don't get much development at all (one really isn't anything more than a complete sociopath and Jennifer herself is hinted to have been completely different in the past but there are few concrete details of this and it appears as though all of her developments occurred years before the book was written while being centred around her past relationship with the previously mentioned sociopath). Despite this, the book is still an interesting read which I recommend checking out if you're into this sort of story. *This is the name given to the "government" type used in countries which followed the USA's lead. Most of Europe and Cuba are described as being socialist countries and a lot of misinformation about them exists in Capitalizt countries, including the idea that any children who are born in Socialist countries with disabled siblings will have the same disabilities inflicted on them so that they are equal (this isn't actually true). The UK, Australia and Japan are mentioned as being Capitalizt during the course of the story.
Ratings: Writing Style: 8/10. Originality: 9/10. Characterisation: 7/10. Plot: 8/10.
I'll post the other 2 reviews another time. (I'll only post this one for now in case anyone thinks I should use another thread for these).
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Post by frostwolf on May 21, 2015 16:18:10 GMT
Seems the best place to put them to be honest.
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Post by Canuovea on May 21, 2015 17:06:46 GMT
What an interesting concept.
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Post by TempestFennac on May 21, 2015 17:28:13 GMT
I agree (I only found out about the book due to another friend recommending I played Nationstates; that game was basically created to promote the book).
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Post by TempestFennac on May 23, 2015 11:53:21 GMT
Here's the other 2 reviews; both are technically sci-fi novels so I think I'm justified in posting both of them at once.
The Age of Miracles:
The Age of Miracles is the debut novel of Karen Thompson Walker. It takes place in California in the present day and is written from the perspective of an 11 year old named Julia at a time when the planet's rotation starts to slow down, with predictably bad consequences. While you'd expect the concept to be interesting, the whole thing ends up being incredibly dull due to Julia having the charisma of a damp washcloth*. The 1st person perspective is also unhelpful because she barely seems to react to things. For instance, a friend decides to runaway to join a commune in the desert which is attempting to live their life based on the increasingly long days and night rather than sticking with the 24 hour clock, and Julia doesn't make any sort of internal or vocal comment in response to this at all. Then at another point, her grandfather (who is one of the only characters in the book who isn't either bland or irritating due to his conspiracy theorist tendencies and tendency to reminisce about past disasters) comments while admitting he was wrong about the slowing being somehow faked by the government for some reason that he should teach Julia how to use a gun (for obvious reasons due to the inevitable societal collapse) and her only reply is "A gun, grandpa", as if he'd suggested something completely random like teaching her how to hunt wallabies or make balloon sculptures.
Julia's tween melodramas seem to be the main focus, and the unfolding disaster is often just a catalyst for these. No explanation of what suddenly made the Earth's rotation slow down is ever given in the book (the closest we get to that is a couple of separate Hippy types suggesting it's something humans did or the Earth cleansing itself of humanity, which seems like using a bazooka to kill a fly considering how the longer days and nights, as well as gravity getting stronger, lead to plants which aren't being grown in greenhouses, and as a result wild animals, also going extinct). An attempt to colonise Mars is mentioned a couple of times but no details regarding why it failed are mentioned, even though the epilogue took place about 10 years after the most of the book (this is still probably the best part of the story due to being as depressing and nihilistic as it should be given that one day/night cycle is several weeks long by this point and the power sources humanity relies on for food are either useless or running out). Even then, it's not worth sitting through the one-dimensional characters, overly elaborate descriptions ^ of mundane things and lack of emphasis on anything that seems really interesting.
Writing Style: 3/10. Originality: 5/10. Characterisation: 2/10. Plot: 6/10.
*As far as I can gather, she at least doesn't have the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk, which I suppose is something in her favour.
^ The book's title comes from an inane paragraph where the author describes Junior High as being this just because of the rapid physical changes which puberty causes to students at this point in their lives. ___________________________________________________________________________ Sunset of Furmankind:
A little while back one of my internet friends recommended a book called Sunset of Furmankind by Ted R. Blasingame to me a while back and I finally finished it yesterday. The story takes place a few hundred years in the future, and humanity is attempting to colonise other planets in order to alleviate issues caused overpopulation and the Earth’s natural resources running out. Due to the risks involved with settling on planets which take weeks to reach via star ships, human volunteers undergo a process which makes them half-animal in order to theoretically gain an advantage when setting up outposts which are intended to determine whether Earth-like planets which appear habitable are as practical for humans as they seem.
The story revolves around a man named Brian Barrett who agreed to undergo the process as an alternative to the death penalty after he murders someone who had already become half-Cougar as part of the Anthro-Human Colonization Program (the book’s name comes from both his name being changed to Jonathan Sunset as part of him being given a new identity when he joins the program and the fact that the volunteers are known as Furmen). Due to a hatred of Furmen which mainly developed from his hatred of the man he killed, Jon’s issues with becoming one are a major focus of the book.
While there is some repetition caused by Jon’s complaints with undergoing the change and a couple of surprising plot points which crop up later in the book are dropped anticlimactically, the story as a whole is paced pretty well and relatively minor characters are fleshed out reasonably well and the overall concept is interesting. The story, as well as a sequel called Second Chance which picks up where SSoFMK ends, can be read for free on the author’s website ( trblasingame.weebly.com/online-library.html ). If you’re into this sort of story, I strongly recommend reading it if you have the chance to.
Ratings: Writing Style: 7/10. Originality: 8/10. Characterisation: 9/10. Plot: 8/10.
Second Chance gets most of the same scores as I gave SSoFMK due to basically being the same thing, but I can only give the plot 3/10 due to several plot points which should provide some sort of conflict fizzling out either anticlimactically or not going anywhere. The story as a whole lacks any real sense of danger for the most part while ending abruptly with there seemingly being no new threats for the colonists to deal with. There are a few creatures which appeared briefly which could possibly have done more as well (one potentially lethal animal pops up solely to explain why a certain species hasn't bred in large enough numbers to damage the eco system before leaving, for instance).
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Post by frostwolf on May 25, 2015 6:26:17 GMT
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