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awed-frog · 4 years

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Hey! I just finished high school and I'm about to go and study linguistics at university. I keep fluctuating between excitement and anxiety about basically everything in the future--do you have any advice for that stage of life in general? (If that's too general or you're busy or whatever, don't bother, I just felt like you might have some wisdom)

Hello and congrats on your A-levels or Maturité or whatever the name is in your country! It must be a great feeling to be done with all that stuff! And don’t worry - it’s completely normal to be all over the place right now, this is a big moment in your life!

I’m not sure my opinion will be useful to you, but here are a few thoughts.

1) The world out there is probably not as you imagined it, so be patient and flexible. Like - the subject you chose to study might not be what you’re actually interested in; if you’re moving to go to uni, the new city might be different from what you were expecting (and if you’re staying home, the relationship with your parents might not develop or change the way you wanted it to); and, most of all, life on campus is probably not going to match what you’ve been seeing over and over in movies and shows. All of that is okay. ‘Different’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘worse’. Take your time, be patient, switch your major if you have to, and above all don’t be afraid to reach out for help - talk to your tutors, professors, to other students, to the librarians, to the mental health service if you feel like you need them. Everything is new, but you’re not alone in this. Even the most famous and respected professor was once a nervous 19-yo, so they know what you’re going through and will help you out if you give them the chance to.

2) This brings me to the second thing: in uni, stuff gets messy very quickly. If you were a good student in high school, you probably got into the habit of improvising, doing assignments at the last minute, pulling all-nighters and the like. In uni, that won’t work. Go to your classes, take good notes, do the assigned reading and try to keep everything on schedule as much as possible. Never underestimate how long something will take, and if it looks like you won’t be able to complete something on time, speak with your advisor or tutor at once and work out a solution with them. In my experience, there is a lot of tolerance but professors also get annoyed by last-minute excuses.

3) Reaching out and asking for help is also a good way to stay safe, which was my third point. Not to go all mom on you, but change is always stressful, so be mindful of that. For instance, I know it’s sometimes tempting to become a whole new person when you go to uni, but if possible, don’t give up your old life all at once and/or 100%. Find a way to keep practicing your favourite sport or craft, keep in touch with high school friends, remember your parents will probably be happy to hear from you more than once a month. Holding on to what you liked of your ‘child’ self will help you a lot in managing the stress of building the adult self you’re now becoming.

4) On a related note: uni is often a time for experimenting, which is great - but while some mistakes are unavoidable, try to limit the damage. Always practice safe sex, tell your friends where you’re going to be if you go to someone’s house, keep the age difference with your sexual and romantic partners down to a reasonable number, drink in moderation (and be aware of the risks: never ever drink lots of strong alcohol in a short period of time!), do your research when it comes to drugs (my advice would be, avoid them completely - but if you don’t, please be smart about it), ask yourself if you’ll really want a quirky tattoo on your nose when you’re forty and if you moved to a new city, do some research about safety, risky areas, crime or whatever else. I know you feel all grown-up and society is pushing you to be adult and efficient and pay taxes and all that stuff, but your brain won’t be done developing until you’re 25 or so. That means your risk/reward centre is still a bit wonky, so be aware of that!

5) Finally: be curious. You have the amazing opportunity to discover a lot of new things - take advantage of it! Do your assigned reading, follow up on footnotes about other articles, pick up interesting books, go to random lectures in your free time, wander into that weird Kieślowski retrospective, try new sports or activities, take the time to meet new people. There’ll be time to binge on Netflix when you’re old; now there’s better stuff to do. Plus, you never know where the connections you make and the knowledge you gather will lead you. My entire life basically happened the way it did because I had a sudden crush on a professor and started taking his classes, and I don’t regret it for a second. One of my friends is now doing a PhD on a subject he never meant to study - he just walked into the wrong classroom during his first week, was too shy to leave and got hooked. Another one is now a theatre director - he started drama classes because he fell in love with some girl, the relationship didn’t last but still changed everything for him. I know people who switched from economics to musicology and from Latin to obstetrics, people who left for a semester abroad and never came back, people who took road trips with strangers they would later marry, and all of them are very happy about where they ended up. So while it’s good to have a plan of sorts, keep your eyes open and allow fate and serendipity to work their magic.

[And if things don’t work out: everything can be fixed. Please remember that. I know some stuff can feel like the end of the world, but as grim as it sounds, death is the only real end of the world. Everything else - everything, no matter how dramatic and traumatic and unexpected - can be fixed. And I’m sorry if this is a bit dark, but I saw many people freak out about exam results, or panic about deadlines, or feel like their lives are over because of some other reason - please stay safe and keep others safe as much as you can.

Seriously: everything can be fixed.]

Anyway - good luck and my very best wishes! Linguistics is awesome, I hope you’ll have tons of fun with it!

#ask #university #uni #college #life tips #life advice

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f-nodragonart · 6 years

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I was wondering what you thought about heavily stylized/cartoon dragons that are done well. Are there any in particular that you applaud? Cartoons are meant to be a little loose with anatomy so I was wondering which dragons caught your eye.

in general, I fuckin ADORE stylized dragons done well! despite what y’all may think, I actually prefer well-executed stylization over strict realism– I’m just strict w/ anatomy on here b/c that’s kinda my job, haha. I’m a lot more lenient when it comes to things I’m just enjoying in my personal time

now lemme think, specific examples….

I think Toothless specifically from HTTYD is a rly good example. I know I’m biased for him, but I rly do think he’s an excellent, unique design. I also say Toothless specifically and not HTTYD dragons in general b/c he differs from a lot of the other designs in certain respects that make him a lot more realistic/reasonable and generally more aesthetically pleasing to me. for example, his eyes are set solidly in his skull rather than sticking out like in the Monstrous Nightmare, and his teeth are reasonably pointed for a fish-eating creature rather than curved in all sorts of absurd directions like in the Deadly Nadder. also, since his claws are rly small and don’t seem to be used for much in the way of prey capture or climbing, it’s easy for me to just read them as stubby claws, unlike w/ other dragons’ longer “claw-toes” that obnoxiously bend on their own. beyond Toothless, I think the next-best design in HTTYD is Cloudjumper (as far as I can remember w/o looking up a whole list of all the canon species anyways, lmao)

Jake Long’s dragon forms in American Dragon always struck me as decently well-executed. I gave some deeper thoughts on them here, but basically they could be improved in terms of mass distribution and some slight consideration for underlying anatomy (hips specifically), but I still like the designs a lot

I absolutely ADORE that one style featured in Dragonology– y’know, this one. something abt the gangly bodies, loose-skin decorative frills, swoopy-swirly designs, hatch-work shading approach– it’s all so appealing! I’ve still got my gripes abt the anatomy, but I can’t help but love the designs anyways

the Wings of Fire dragons were always very pretty to me, tho I still have yet to read the books aha. that solid/sharp linework, and those vibrant palettes?? to die for honestly. while they do have some problems, something abt their designs makes it easy for me to miss their mistakes at first glance

despite how wonky the designs are, I kinda love the Dragon Booster designs. again, nostalgic bias may be at work here, but I rly do think they’ve got some fun, unique designs

scrolling thru some of my past reviews, I’m reminded that these dragons from BOTW are fuckin excellent, I’m still in love. this dragon from DOTA is also super pretty. the Dragonadopter designs were, to quote myself, surprisingly decent, and rather cute. THESE GUYS FROM WALLYKAZAM ARE ADORABLE I WOULD DIE FOR THEM. Mushu from Mulan is also p well-executed, though he doesn’t totally fit the style of the rest of the movie..

I think that’s abt all I can think of rn. other mods have any thoughts?

sidenote: before anyone asks me why Flight Rising wasn’t included, I actually don’t think I can put FR on this list in good conscience? yes, I absolutely love the FR designs, despite all their faults, but in terms of well-executed stylization? I rly can’t give them that. I think part of it is the fact that they’re stylized in a “realistic” manner– it’s easy to excuse anatomical mistakes/warping in a flat/cartoony design, but it’s a lot harder to ignore anatomy mistakes when the dragon in question has detailed muscular definition.. not only that, but even putting aside comparisons to real-world anatomy, FR just isn’t consistent in its own setting? some dragons have wings above their front leg shoulders while some don’t, some dragons have improper foreshortening while some don’t, etc. etc. thus, I can’t even rly judge it based on its own arbitrary anatomical rules

-Mod Spiral

#ask #mod spiral #reviews #kinda #anonymous

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dapperkobold · 6 years

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Review at Random: Diablo 3

Just finished the main plotline of Diablo 3, and I have some thoughts on it. If you’re settling in to hear my analysis of its in-depth systems... don’t. I just finished my first playthrough of the basic story, and while it’s a good game those in-depth systems I basically didn’t notice.

Presentation

The Diablo series of games is pretty much the iconic example of the isometric hack and slash RPG, and while not a lot wowed me the presentation is without a doubt solid. Graphics, performance, voice acting, music, UI, it’s all really solid. I never hit a bad bug, or something that was just ugly, or wonky voice acting, or any such nonsense.

You’ll spend a lot of time in dungeons, and the rest of the time in I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-a-dungeons, and each dungeon has its own unique tileset and atmosphere. Really, they clearly went the extra mile to get good graphics and environmental details, such as one point when you’re on the walls of a fort and sometimes you can look down and see a battle raging on the ground, without letting them overtake the gameplay and writing.

That said, those dungeons aren’t perfect and especially the longer ones with larger floors got a little monotonous. More on this later, but the issue is partially presentation; I realize that these dungeons are procedurally generated but having one or two kinds of halls and maybe half a dozen rooms per tileset was FAR too few. Since those tilesets are really the core of the presentation of the game, it was disappointing.

Overall, while everything was solid nothing was spectacular. Nothing really made me stop and say “that’s so pretty!” I don’t want to really force games to do that to please me, but it’s still an area that could have used improvement. Nothing even was too shocking to me, each area has a custom tileset but never really has a surprise in store. As a result I really focused on the gameplay and story instead of the presentation, which I’m all for but doesn’t really say good things about the presentation itself.

There is one more issue, though. I feel a need to address it because it has a sizable impact on the game: The always on-line connection. Now, I’m not militantly against always on-line games. I’ll sigh about it, I’ll roll my eyes about it, I’ll note a good long list of reasons why it’s a bad idea if asked, but I’ll generally only throw a snit over it if there is just NO reason to enforce an always on-line model. For example, Overwatch is so focused on online play that singleplayer is borderline unheard of, so an always on-line connection is (while still not needed from my point of view) understandable.

Diablo 3 has NO excuse.

Yes, it does have a co-op mode, yes it has challenges, BUT that’s no reason to lock the singleplayer campaign from offline access. And this has been a problem for me, Diablo 3 has the touchiest netcode of any game I have ever played. I’ve had this game for a long time (since the necromancer expansion) and only now have I gotten around to finishing it, because every time it was “but do I want to suffer the threat of it disconnecting right now?” This game has disconnected me more than any other online game I have ever played, including ones I have logged a lot more time in.

Yes, it is honestly that bad. The saving is consistent enough that I never lost a meaningful amount of progress (with one weird exception) but it was just aggravating enough for no good reason that I’d go as far as to call it this game’s fatal flaw.

Final Presentation Sore: B

A solid core, no doubt, but the not enough breadth in the tilesets and no wow factor for extra credit keeps this at an A or A-. Then the connection issues kick it down a letter grade. YES, I am that grumpy about them.

Gameplay

The real meat of this game, make no doubt, this is clearly a very deep complex and nuanced system I do not give a whit about!

...yeah.

Class mechanics seem solid. Okay. Mechanical character customization? Mainly just what you choose for your ability loadout. The famous loot? I basically just equipped up a new piece when the total + from the three broad categories was more than the total - and I was fine.

“But but but what about elemental damage, and heal on kill vs heal per attack, and intelligence vs dexterity, and thorns vs straight damage?” I didn’t care. The game did not explain how all the stats worked together, I did not need to know how the interactions worked out, I just played through and had some fun. Did this result in me making less than idea decisions? Yes. 100%. I likely would have made MORE nonideal decisions if I had all the information, that’s just the kind of person I am!

But I didn’t care, and didn’t need to care. I guess that could have a good spin on it, ‘good depth for those who care that can be ignored by those who don’t’, but I’m not sure it’s quite that true. You see, I’ve only completed one run through on Expert level, and it was pretty easy. I only died once, chasing a treasure goblin into a mass of angry super-enemies, and after that I only really gave respect to arcane enemies and other outliers that did a lot more than normal damage. For all I know that becomes massively untrue on higher difficulties, it’s possible that by clicking over to torment you suddenly need to actually know stuff to go anywhere.

That said, ‘Expert’ could have afforded to be more challenging. I basically found one loadout of skills that I used the entire way through, never changing because I never hit something that it couldn’t take on. I was playing a crusader, if it matters, but I solved basically all my issues by throwing hammers or occasionally calling down a sky laser. Ideally a ‘takes all comers’ loadout should have trouble in one situation or another, but the only time I changed was when A. I got a bit of equipment that gave a huge boost to something or B. I got a new customization option that did it better.

And I know what you’re saying. You’re saying ‘so turn up the difficulty!’ You can’t turn it up past expert on your first play-through. I would have if I could have.

It doesn’t help that basically all the enemies are interchangeable. Okay, I mean, sure some have range attacks, and some have knockback, and some cast spells, but there’s nothing I hit that made me say ‘ooh, these are trouble!’ Or ‘oh this is bad’ other than running into two groups of rares at the same time. I just tanked and threw hammers. Sometimes straight hammers, sometimes hammerangs, sometimes sky lasers, sometimes I became big so I could throw infinite hammerangs for a bit. I never found a situation that made me change up my strategy.

The only monsters I remember as being of note are the tremblers, because I thought at first they were protected from the front but they weren’t, the fat demon casters that were annoying, and the punishers from the start of the expansion act because I recognized them from Heroes of the Storm. Turns out they were just generic big enemies with hops.

Yes, maybe it is my fault for not experimenting more, but I was just never given a reason to experiment. And if the problem isn’t there at higher difficulties, why force the player to play at ‘low’ difficulties the first time through?

That said, the mechanics clearly are very in-depth, and barring when it drags on it IS A fun game, make no mistake. It’s just that it does tend to drag on.

This isn’t helped by the dungeons being large and not having much variety. Yes, I already said this above but it’s true for mechanics, too. There’s basically no puzzles or challenges of wit, just enemies, things to loot, doors, and the occasional trap. The big exception to this is a keep level where you need to activate things or defend some NPCs for a bit, but that’s the only time I remember odd mechanics other than one quick townsfolk saving bit. I seem to vaguely remember something from a prison that was slightly unusual, but I think that just boiled down to activating a thing before killing the things.

Maybe this just isn’t for me. I dunno.

Final Gameplay Score: C+

The gameply isn’t bad, or even just disappointing, just... not a big deal. It’s a little disappointing, I guess, to not have to worry about the advanced systems even a little. It was too easy and became monotonous, but (despite my gripes) it’s not a bad game. Maybe it’s just not my thing, but by the end I just didn’t care.

Writing

I had heard good things about the writing in this game. I went in with high hopes, and was... well, I was a little disappointed. It has a good plot for a non-narrative-focused game, but it wouldn’t make it in the ring if put up against gaming history’s writing heavyweights. A lot of the twists are really obvious, not a single one of the villains are the least bit trope-savy, and the logic partaken in by some of the characters is laughable.

Likely this game’s biggest saving grace is some of the character writing, however. There’s a fair amount of it scattered around and a good chunk is quality stuff. My favorite characters are, without a doubt, Lyndon the Scoundrel and Covetous Shen.

Neither of those are main characters. It’s that kind of game.

That said, I would like to take a moment to give a shoutout to whoever wrote the Crusader’s dialogue. This is how you do Lawful Good without being a pain, people. If you want to play a paladin in D&D or Pathfinder and want to know how to do it without being That One Paladin, check out the D3 Crusader.

Final Writing Score: B+

The poor plot logic is the vast majority of lost points here, but some honestly lovable characters and solid writing around the shaky plot means that it’s still enjoyable.

Overall

I mean... it’s fine?

Okay, this game is a success, and it deserves to be a success make no mistake, but it’s not amazing. The gameplay doesn’t stand out for me, the presentation doesn’t stand out for me, and while some of the character bits are good the core plot is pretty trite stuff. There was no one point where I went ‘ooh’, no one thing that grabbed me. Maybe it’s meant to be played several times, with friends, and I’d be all for playing it some more with friends, but it doesn’t really stand tall enough that I want to turn around and play it again right away.

Presentation: B

Gameplay: C+

Writing: B+

FINAL GRADE: B

It’s fine, make no mistake.

Awards:

Fatal Flaw

Get an Interior Decorator

The Most Honest Thief You Will Ever Meet

#Diablo 3 #reviews at random #Maybe I should have played a caster class #whatever #I'll try it sometime and do an add-on if I feel it warrants a change.#Humans are the only source of common sense in the diablo uniververse #no really #think about it

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literateape · 7 years

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On the Venn Diagram of Masculinity, Misogyny, And Rape

"I want you to hit me," she said breathlessly.

"Huh? Um. No. I don't do that." I said.

"Just once. Just slap me. Please?"

"No. No way."

She didn't understand why I wouldn't knock her around some in the service of her sexual pleasure. Later, I asked her what that was all about and she made it a question of my masculinity. As if not finding the fun in hitting her was somehow an indictment on what a pansy I was.

"I guess I thought you were more manly than you are." she told me on our last date of five. According to her I gave off the vibe of a "manly" guy. According to her, being "manly" included being a bit more physically aggressive with women than I was comfortable with. "I've seen you stand up to guys bigger than you in a bar so I figured..." She figured wrong but not only about me. She had her wires crossed when it came to understanding masculinity.

Most of my heroes are "manly men." My grandfather. My dad. Sylvester Stallone. Henry Rollins. Hunter S. Thompson. I suppose I balance them out with less masculine but equally badass people I consider heroes: My mother, my sister, my wife. Emma Goldman, Jodie Foster, Angela Davis. As a straight white guy from Generation X, however, the Alpha seems to be my go-to posture in most things.

To paraphrase my wife, I stink a bit of hyper-masculinity. I value the gruff old cats who talk about grit and tough love. I strive to emulate these men of a bygone era who had no truck with making excuses and saw weakness as something to avoid rather than wear as a badge of vulnerability.

This fact puts me in a bit of a quandary as our next wave of feminism is just a hair's breadth away from outright misandry in its consistent (but not entirely unwarranted) disgust with all things masculine.

Masculinity is not the same thing as misogyny. In fact, I don't think it's in the same camp at all. Masculinity, as a quality, has almost nothing to do with women. Masculinity is centered on how someone feels about himself and his place in the world. Misogyny is about power and disdain toward women. I'd even argue that one cannot be truly masculine AND genuinely misogynist at the same time although the two attitudes are so often confused as to seem one and the same.

And then there are the rapists. Rape is about control and power. Again, not in the same wheelhouse as masculinity. As I understand it, rape culture is the systemic objectification of women's bodies as property, the societal normalizing of sexual assault.

As the Venn Diagram of those who are strictly Masculine intersects with those who are Misogynist and then again intersects with those who proliferate Rape Culture, one begins to see a segment of society wholly detestable. That said, the castigation and elimination of Masculinity is not the solution to ridding the Global Tribe of these ratfuckers.

As soon as you start looking at actual human behavior things get a bit wonky.

Bill is an average guy. Average in that he is slightly overweight, is heterosexual, and is morbidly insecure and shitty when it comes to talking to women. Bill is frequently confused by the fluidity of sexuality and is often sneered at when he tries to inquire if an attractive woman is 1) heterosexual, 2) single, and 3) interested in him. Bill, like most human beings, wants to connect with a companion and have sex with her because his sock looks like a horror movie creature and doesn't laugh at his jokes.

Bill goes out into the world and sees that the women who are "hot" in the standard male gaze are dating and (assumably) having smoking sex with the guys who seem to treat them like shit. These 'dudes' and 'bros' seemed to have read that book The Game that told them to treat women with indifference and bought into the Hollywood meme that the best relationships start with acrimony and misunderstanding.

Bill confuses being masculine with being misogynist. And, in doing so, is accused of adding to the rape culture.

This confusion of how and who is universal and not limited to the Bill's of the world. All genders, all skin colors, all creeds experience this confusion and see the same images of misogynist men mistreating women and women being completely into these fucking guys.

The many synonyms for 'masculine' include virile, macho, manly, strong, strapping, rugged, robust, brawny, powerful, red-blooded, vigorous. Notice that there are no words included that connote being patronizing to women, catcalling, fetishizing, interrupting, domineering or fucking rapey. Men who are truly masculine are not de facto misogynists or rapists and real men understand the distinction.

A word of caution comes when leveling allegations of sexual assault when one feels uncomfortable, of course. Advocating that any time a woman feels uncomfortable in the presence of Bill, absent of any behaviors associated with misogyny or rapeyness, is no different from proliferating Stand Your Ground laws where someone can use lethal force if they feel threatened.

As we enter into new ground when it comes to gender fluidity and a stronger sense of feminism in society there's going to be a lot of confusion. Let's not mistake confusion with guilt.

As for the Bills of the world, shift your paradigm. No one owes you happiness or sexual fulfillment. Be masculine without entering the Venn diagram.

#defining masculinity #misogyny #rape culture #Feminism

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