The General Chat thread

[Amake]

Today I wrote a short story about someone whose life is primarily composed of being abused to such a degree that she's deathly afraid to feel anything. She spends the whole story desperately lying to herself, running from her problems and being variously injured and terrified. Then she ends up completely alone.

It's the most positive, uplifting thing I've done all week.

[Drecon]

Amake: sounds... fun ... ?

[Amake]

Eh, she's not a very fun character. But it's a bit of a challenge. Never thought about how much my characters' POVs depend on what they're feeling until I wrote a character who believes she doesn't feel anything.

[viscomica]

Well I believe it's easier if you write it in third person instead of first person narrative. That way you can convey both things: what she might be feeling and the denial of feelings of any sort on her behalf.

[viscomica]

You're so cute, trying to find logic in RE5.

Actually it wasn't so bad! Obviously I prefer playing RE4 (also, Leon is there) but all in all it was a fun experience. I wouldn't try to analyse the plot, though. It was pretty awesome to play with Bebop while being in the same room yelling commands to each other and staring at the screen expecting some quick time events during the cutscenes.

[Kapol]

I forgot how much I enjoyed Argo. It's a pretty solid movie.

[General Michi]

Hey everyone! It's been a while!

So I missed Desert Bus because college.

I'm stressed because college and life in general is kinda crap.

Hopefully gong back into a norm of being with you fantastic wonderful people will help.

I swear there's no sarcasm when I say I still love you all and it really sucks for me that I've been gone for so long. <3

[Keab42]

Does anybody have an auberginequeen signal? Cos she really needs to be made aware of this: http://store.valvesoftware.com/product.php?i=CTF004

[JackSlack]

OMG you guys for serious come over to my flat and I will make you an amazing coffee got MAD beans yo.

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

So I went out for a meal tonight, however there was a powercut in the village where the restaurant was, so we had to eat the meal by candlelight.

And y'know what? I think the meal was a lot better because of it.

[Bebop Man]

You're so cute, trying to find logic in RE5.

Actually it wasn't so bad! Obviously I prefer playing RE4 (also, Leon is there) but all in all it was a fun experience. I wouldn't try to analyse the plot, though. It was pretty awesome to play with Bebop while being in the same room yelling commands to each other and staring at the screen expecting some quick time events during the cutscenes.

I *am* pretty cute though.

[Bebop Man]

Whoa, Fast & Furious's Paul Walker died in a car crash yesterday.

[My pseudonym is Ix]

Saw it on my Facebook feed today. Never exactly a focal point of my existence, but nonetheless it's sad to see him go so young.

[empath]

Well, he definitely died before he should have, but 'dying so young' still feels like a weird expression for someone almost the same age as me.

Shame for him to die...but after reading up on the details, I think it's safe to say this is literally tragic.

...but not ironic, though - almost certainly the opposite of that.


I hope it was short an relatively painless for him, though it would've been nice for him to live to see his last films get released...

[TomBrend]

I will require an explanation of how it is not ironic. I think it's highly ironic.

[empath]

A man who made his career in films featuring fast and dangerous driving, dies in a high-speed car crash.

Irony: an outcome of events CONTRARY to what was, or might have been, expected. {reference.com}

Is that better?

[Bebop Man]

Well nobody really EXPECTED him to die like THAT, did they?

[empath]

What, in the passenger seat?


Professional race car drivers - of which he was one - are STILL more likely to die in car crashes than the general public, even taking into account all the precautions and training they take. It's just statistical probability, since they're IN cars so much more often than the average person.

It's like the old joke about "Jacques Cousteau drowns in bathtub" - it's not the drowning that is ironic, it is the idea of an accomplished diver and mariner dying in circumstances that most of us would be unlikely to die from.

Now, if Paul Walker died in a car accident while filming a PSA about safe driving, THAT WOULD BE IRONIC.

Him dying in a high-speed crash in sports car on the way home from a charity fundraiser held in a race-car customizing garage,...it's a little unexpected (like ANY CAR ACCIDENT), but ultimately?





Again, I hope he didn't suffer.

[viscomica]

You're so cute, trying to find logic in RE5.

Actually it wasn't so bad! Obviously I prefer playing RE4 (also, Leon is there) but all in all it was a fun experience. I wouldn't try to analyse the plot, though. It was pretty awesome to play with Bebop while being in the same room yelling commands to each other and staring at the screen expecting some quick time events during the cutscenes.

I *am* pretty cute though.

Yes, yes you are

[Prospero101]

Hey guys, I want to lay something serious on you, if you don't mind. Is there something wrong with me if I don't particularly care when someone dies? I mean, it's the end of a human life, right? So I feel like I SHOULD care, even though I've never seen anything Paul Walker has ever done.

But I don't. At all. Is that weird?

[viscomica]

You monster! (*runs away crying*)

In a more serious note, no, it's not that weird.

[Ptangmatik]

As long as you aren't typing that with your arms soaked in blood up to the elbow, I think you're in the clear.

People die all the time, it's never a positive thing, but it'd be hard to function in society if we all took every one personally.

[Prospero101]

Are you kidding? End a life without washing my hands afterward? Who am I, Jeffrey Dahmer?

All kidding aside, I only questioned this because it feels like the entire Internet is in mourning for this guy except me.

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

It's the by-product of our neo-religious age. Instead of revering the old Saints of Peter and Paul, we now worship the idols of Hollywood and Pop. I'm not demeaning what these people do, it's just the hype and often untouchable status of these people is why they are so revered. And there's also the cynical side that could suggest that the paparazzi want us to feel sad for when a star dies, as they can milk more front pages and headlines from a corpse*.

So the fact that the media has printed this has a lot to do with it. Take any tragedy that makes national news; people will say how upset they are over someone they've never heard of, let alone know.


*For perspective, the BBC has 3 or 4 articles on this guy. I mean he was hardly a Hollywood A-lister that everyone knew. I had never heard of this guy until the news broke.

[Amake]

I liked him in the first Fast & Furious, but he wasn't no Vin Diesel.

Also, speaking of Hollywood worship, this is the most mindblowing thing I've read in like three months. Seems worth discussing, though I can't think of anything to say at the moment.