[Public] Whee, lunchtime and memes
h/t hazliya! Comment to receive seven topics to post about. Here are the seven I got.
-Road trips
Road trips are such a great cultural myth in America. I wonder whether we can blame Jack Kerouac and co. for that, or whether it's older. Anyway, I always meant to go on one - who doesn't? - but have since discovered that money, real beds, and the comfortable inside of a train are much nicer. There's so much room for wacky unexpected experience when it's just you and your friends and a structurally questionable car, though.
-Female supervillains
F'ing awesome, that's what female supervillains are. I think it's a bad misconception that only men can sit in big executive chairs and dream of having a lot of money and political power. Or murder the entire population of a city. Or construct a space station with death laser and specially constructed magnets to destabilize the moon's orbit. This isn't just the province of men, nor should it be. We can be so much more than dominatrix fantasies with names and powers derived from more famous men. We can be dominatrix fantasies with a motherfucking planet killer embedded below Mars's crust. (Have they done that? I'm honestly not familiar with the career of any female supervillains. Except elenuial's Ballbreaker, who was pretty great.) Come with me and I will make weapons of you. Together we can do something that...isn't all that sexually charged, though of course you'll have plenty of personal time, I'm not an unreasonable manager here...and the world will tremble. Who knows, if we're famous enough men will start putting on stupid masks and taking masculine variations on our names as they embark on a life of comic-book shenanigans.
-Rules-lawyering in games (board, tabletop or otherwise)
I love rules. Rules are wonderful things that should be selected with care and applied consistently. Rules are what make up comprehensible systems, and comprehensible systems are tools and playgrounds and all kinds of other stuff. It is good to call out mistakes in application of the rules.
That said, when it comes to games, the idea is to have *fun*. A correction on a mistake somebody's making, that's fine. Even an extended argument on what rules are being stupid and why they're there and what alternatives are there could be fine, if everybody's into it. But sometimes you just have to say "it was too long ago to tease out the consequences," or "this doesn't make a big difference," or "this gave her a one-time advantage but I'd be happier playing through." Because really, we're trying to enjoy ourselves here.
The thought process and analytical rigor that goes into rules lawyering is fun for theoretical conversations but should have a strict two-minute timer during an actual board game.
-Improvised zombie apocalypse weapons from your home or workplace
Wow. Work is difficult because we're primarily defensively oriented. I'd like to see a zombie get through the barriers we have between the outside door and the inner lab. However, getting trapped in a lab with nothing but CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION-printed cover sheets to eat would suck. Our best shot would likely be to grab a couple of control computers and retreat to the roof.
I work mostly in RF. We don't have a lot of heavy blunt objects. What we have is 200W amplifiers and arrays of transmitters that can be focused all around a single point, allowing us to target and fry anybody coming up the stairs...or do a computer-coordinated sweep of the grounds, focusing upwards of a kilowatt of raw EM energy on our targets. That should buy us time for the techs to disassemble some of the unused masts, finally providing us with lengths of steel for hand-to-hand combat.
We only really have the one big trick, but it's a hell of a trick.
-Bodice-ripper romance novels
Hilarious. Okay, so I've only read a couple all the way through and I'm not even sure anybody's actual bodice was ripped. I'm fully in favor of erotica, though I myself prefer not to mix up "plot" and "storytelling" with "rapid warmup" - they call for different writing skillsets. Anyway, terrible romance novel passages make for hilarious reading, and good romance novel passages...um...exist, I imagine. Somewhere.
Really, the novel Rogue, co-written by Fabio and opening with a sentence about a "flame-haired wench," opened my eyes to the entertainment possibilities of this genre. I don't make time for romance novels nowadays, but I'm strangely happy they exist.
-A charity/scholarship you'd like to start
Scholarship. I am so very in favor of scholarships, because I couldn't have gone to my high school or even looked at my college without them. I wouldn't be who I am, where I am, with my earning power and my experiences and my entire life path, without scholarships. Unfortunately I don't have a very smart plan for how to select criteria on one. I got mine through math team performance, overall class-rank performance, and some vague President's Award or something that WPI assigns at its whim...gee. Maybe something to hook into the state's math competition system. For now I'm just funneling money back to my alma mater's financial aid and scholarship areas, since that takes less planning.
-What a Sith lord would wear to a red-carpet movie premiere
I'm so glad you asked! I was thinking about something disturbingly similar just a few days ago. Because...it matters.
Now, a red-carpet event is something you don't want to look back on and regret. However, simple, classic elegance is for Jedi and fools. The Sith had better go all-out.
I'm thinking a male Sith who has gone down the more scholarly/Emperor-ish/Inquisitor route should have proper floor-length robes, layered and belted, and let's go crimson with some black tracery and accessories. There should be a long elaborate hood that can't actually be pulled up over his head - this is *fashion*, not *clothing* - and tassels on his sleeves and belt. In case of Force Lightning, the electrical arcing effects around these will look awesome. Helmets for men are de rigueur nowadays, so I'm thinking a close-fitting cap with full face mask, probably in silver diatium with crimson phobium patterns to mimic the black embroidery on his robes. Red boots will be a consistent, brilliant continuation of color in case local lightning storms happen to flip the hem of his robes up.
A woman of the warrior/Darth Vader-ish/Marauder persuasion will need to keep the possibility of brutal saber fights in mind. Toward that end I'm thinking a translucent black shimmersilk gown with a plunging V-neck over a high-collar gold durasteel breastplate. The sleeves should flare a bit at the elbow to accommodate matching durasteel bracers. We'll want a simple, fitted curve around the hips, with a black and gold belt to hook her lightsabers on. The skirt is tricky: probably knee-length shimmersilk over black lace tights, paneled to allow for gymnastics, perhaps with a long train that can be quickly torn off in case of mortal combat. Then knee-high, closely fitted leather boots with some gold durasteel panels and solid, slightly weighted durasteel heels, suitable for braining a main with a single kick. For the hair, a sophisticated updo with black lace accessories. For makeup I'm thinking full-on Cleopatra black and gold eyes. Gold-foil lips would harmonize with the outfit, but a daring Sith could go for blood red instead, giving a femme focus either in the camera's eye or in the center of a matching red lightsaber whirlwind. Enormous gold dangling earrings would suit the occasion so long as they're crafted to go flying out with one hard shake of the head. Combat readiness is everything.