Goldengirl

Well, from the viewpoint of the living, it's not nice to die before you get to do other things you'd rather do. From the viewpoint of those close to the deceased, it's not nice losing a loved one. Not to mention that, most of the time, death is painful. You don't even have to be religious for that to be clear, and oftentimes religion doesn't necessarily change that. Some people believe so fervently that they welcome, or even induce, death. That's a rare level of faith. Death prevents people from doing good works on Earth, which is surely an inconvenience. In some religious traditions, if you think someone you loved lived an immoral life, there's reason to be sad - they could have be reincarnated as a microbe, or suffering in Dante's Inferno; likewise, if you think you aren't getting into Heaven but they are, well, that's clearly a problem too.

In my opinion, the best theodicy is the one concisely summarized by Voltaire in Candide, 'all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.' I support this particular theodicy (loosely; I'm an atheist and thus don't actually support any theodicies) as it is flatly revealing that human reason can't fathom divine motive and condition. It incorporates, I believe, Jesus' theodicy from the Gospel of John, as relayed here by SoT, but is not dependent on it. Suffering is necessary to reveal the goodness of God, but there may also be further reasons we cannot fathom; we don't always know in what ways the goodness of God is being revealed. I actually believe it was SoT who originally introduced me to Candide after I initially expressed such a viewpoint.

Thou mayest, if you so choose. I just finished a short period piece, And the hippos were boiled in their tanks co-authored by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, about the murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr. The novel is pretty forgettable, although not unenjoyable. If it weren't written by two of the greats of the Beat Generation, I wouldn't give it a second thought. As it is, it tells a fairly interesting story and simultaneously serves as a reference for the development of both authors' writing styles.

For the Avernum/Exile series, there is the convenient community-run compendium of knowledge known as the Encyclopedia Ermariana. For Avadon, the full texts of the Codex can be found here. For Geneforge, unfortunately, there's no really good central place. There have been a few attempts to create a wiki, such as here and here, but none of them really got too far off the ground. For any of the games, though, the fora are always a good place to ask and learn more. We don't bite; that's the job of the fluffy turtles.

I'll preface this by saying that I haven't seen the latest Star Trek movie yet. However, I have to say that I was really quite impressed with the last one and how it was able to bring a new feel to such an old and entrenched story. After Star Trek: Enterprise went under, I thought that the series was belly up forever. With these new movies, though, you have new fans of an old show coming in. I still hold out hope that they're enough to kickstart a new series eventually, as well. Even my older brother, the biggest Trekkie I know, supports the new movies. The alternate reality, parallel universe due to the time traveling was a really great touch, in his opinion, to allow revitalization of the older material.

Huh. 2004 for me, so about a year short of ten... Wow. It's weird to think that my presence here has outlasted all but some of my oldest friendships, and that I've partially grown up here. Well, let's hope Jeff is still cranking out good games for another ten years so the community lasts as well!

Actaeon, tell me more about the On the Road movie. I'm a big Kerouac fan and have been dying to see it. Since it's more of an indie film, though, I haven't had the chance to do so.

Be polite. That's no way to interact with a relatively new member of the community. </micromod> As for becoming a mod and getting a custom title, both come with time, luck, and favorable position in the community. The rule of thumb is to never ask for a custom title, as that's a guarantee you won't get it; this is not always the case however.

I remember getting into SubTerra just before Jeff stopped hosting them on his website, and the fora for that and the Richard White Games were scrubbed. Such a fun and quirky little puzzle game. Did you know there's now a SubTerra 2?

Fair enough. Her character is quite powerful in that she's evil in a powerful way, but in a wholly human way as well. That's one of the things I liked about the book so much, to be honest, but I can see how it'd be off-putting.

I've read some of Steinbeck's short stories and novellas (e.g. The Pearl, a pretty good one though not my favorite) but East of Eden is the only book I've read of his. That said, I liked it quite a lot; what have you got against it that creeped you out so much you had to put it down?

Moreover, the viewpoints of their faction are more or less revived in a new context by Astoria in G5.

They did get wiped out after G1 and G2. All survivors after G2 wound up joining the Rebellion; Pirik comes to mind as the rebel leader of the Illya Safehouse.

Huh. I don't feel like an oldbie, especially with such a relatively low post count.

Mix tapes (more often CD's) are still a thing, though mix playlists are more a thing now and will continue on that trajectory. People love to show how diverse and "good" their taste in music is, and so they'll continue mashing together compositions like Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" with Kid Cudi's "Mr. Solo Dolo pt. 2" to create some very interesting combinations.

When I say I listen to all genres of music, I mean it. Even country and rap, the traditional exclusions, and even the more obscure things like the occasional Gregorian chant. My preferred music, though, changes based on my mood, and usually alternates between pop while I'm in the car; indie rock/pop if I'm cheery; EDM if I want to dance or am excited; classical, punk, or alternative rock if I'm angry or enthused; and anything else if the mood strikes me.

My thought is that civil war (maybe not among all nations of the Pact) is going to erupt. That would indicate further success for the conspiracy workers.

The Avernum series is a remake of the Exile series, so if you have Avernum 3 it's the same thing.

The first Geneforge game lends itself to a spacey, eerie, and haunting music to fit with the mood and atmosphere of exploring a dangerous island. The second Exile/Avernum game lends itself towards some of that same musical genre in the passage to Vahnatai lands, but also to epic battle music fighting the war. Nethergate, of course, lends itself to very good Celtic and Roman inspired music. These would be my suggestions.

This isn't my first time reading Foucault, necessarily. I've read plenty of secondary sources on his writing and his theories about biopolitics and biopower. I've also read a few of his lectures, quite enjoying them, especially "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History". Aside from Derrida, I'd recommend Giorgio Agamben's Homo Sacer as a good text for anyone interested in Foucauldian thought.

Indeed. The object of the verb was prison, where underworld is an adjective specifying the type of prison. He certainly didn't create the caves though, you're right.

Scumbag Hawthorne: Create an underworld prison filled with monsters

Congratulations! You proved it can be done, after all. Well done.

Still reading Karamazov, and it astounds me how I've read so much but still haven't gone far, in terms of page numbers out of the total or in terms of plot action. With so much exposition and background, though, I'm fine with it. Anyway, I've been reading other books for class which I have finished. The first is E.P. Thompson's Making of the English working class which focuses on the development of class identity in a positive sense, rather than a more passive and inactive class. The major element I chose to analyze through Thompson's book was the creation of a sense of agency in the working class in the time period (~pre-American Revolution - ~1840's). Having finished this decidedly Marxist perspective, I'm moving on to one of my favorite theorists, an eminent and seminal postmodernist - Michel Foucault. His work, Discipline and Punish, is what I've just started. I'll post my reaction when I finish.

The original creations, as they're in the research process, may have been made from stock creations like that, but once that process is done it is assured that the Shaping occurs from scratch.