Raithe

That's exactly how I would describe it too, except I just could'nt stand the All American High cast. Too 'plastic' for my taste and the show was a little too saturated with tired fantasy tropes. It's very Divergence, Maze Runner, Hunger Games teenage-drama/angst. It's interesting how you can look back at it really. When the first Shannara book came out it was the early 70's and you had that big resurgence of new fantasy authors coming out with their variants of Lord of the Rings. Brooks was rough around the edges with the first few, but he did have that slight twist that what appeared to be your standard fantasy world developed over time and turned out to be a post-apocalyptic far future Earth. Humanity having evolved into the different species (elf, dwarf, troll, etc) but still all having that background connection. It's been a decade or so since I actually read them, but the magic system itself was that touch skewed from the normal as well. The first trilogy as such was more wrapped around your standard fantasy style but at heart was a lot of coming of age adventures for teenagers. So it makes sense that a lot of the cast in the show fit into that kind of casting group. Plus, the heavy focus of elves in the 2nd book (which they're using as the basis for the series) tends to go with the "lots of pretty people" to play them. It's rare for any version of elves not to be considered more attractive than human norm. Heh, if you look back at it, Brooks wrote a lot of those standard YA dystopian future tropes before they became a thing and got hammered into us with the recent book-to-film adaptions. So while you can look at it and see all those "tired tropes", he was actually sort of there first (if you don't get bogged in the LoTR inspirations).

Well the level of smug snark on that did get a bit too much. Which is why I only shared the first 11 translations of the lot. However, while I will say that its bit extreme in the views of Sjw translations in general, I also have to say I have encountered some people who did epitomise that slightly wacky level of meaning when they use those terms.

theAtlantic - Why the British tell better children's stories

I think the description I heard was "It's like someone shot Lord of the Rings with the cast from one of the CW's high school dramas.. and it somehow works regardless."

Is it me or is it partly a case of, they've made FO4 so open, that there's no actual consequences to most things? Apart from the relatively binary options of which half video plays at the "end point". You have all the options for exploration and wandering, but there's no options or outright consequences to any story or character stuff.

Common SJW phrases translated (this one's for Bruce) Have you ever looked at an SJW and wondered “just what is this idiot trying to tell me?” Or, have you perhaps contemplated the intellectual musings of a Tumblrista and wondered “what in the everlasting **** is this person actually saying?” Well, wonder no more. Your friendly neighborhood Lord High Inquisitor of Capitalism has provided these translations from Communese into modern American English. For my friends of British persuasion, just add an occasional pointless “u” into words like color, in order to translate into the Queen’s. 1. “Let’s have a Conversation.” The direct translation for this is “your opinion hurts my feelings and you need to change it.” But this fails to capture the essence of the phrase. When an SJW says this, what they really mean is that you have departed from the traditional narrative, and you are being warned that your non-conforming opinion needs to be changed immediately. Failure to do so will result in denunciation and accusations of racism, sexism, etc… Having a conversation means agreeing with the SJW on all particulars. 2. “Educate yourself!” Directly translated, this is “I can’t understand why you don’t agree with the accepted narrative.” But again, there are nuances here. This can be considered a final warning before denunciation and attempts to attack your character. The SJW is warning you that there will be consequences if you don’t agree with the politically correct narrative. Perhaps they will try to get you fired, or dox you, or some other form of unpleasantness. The subtle translation is “obey the dictates of Social Justice or else!” Educate Yourself = Listen & Believe = Turn off your brain so that we can fill it with as much Taco Bell-derived intellectual sewage as humanly possible. 3. You are a Racist!” You’re white. And probably male, cis-gendered, and straight. Remember, all white men are racists, and any accusation of racism is prima facie evidence of guilt. Progressive white men can be exempted by proclamation by the SocJus community. But this exemption can be revoked at any time, in which case you revert to being a racist. 4. “You’re a Misogynist!” You’re white. And probably male, cis-gendered, and straight. Remember, all white men are sexists, and any accusation of sexism is prima facie evidence of guilt. Progressive white men can be exempted by proclamation by the SocJus community. But this exemption can be revoked at any time, in which case you revert to being a sexist. 5. “You’re an Islamophobe!” You have common sense, which is, of course, a violation of accepted SocJus norms. The only sense you are allowed to have is fed to you by the media. When the media tells you Islam is good and Christianity is evil, you must accept this with no further discussion or demands for evidence. 6. “I can’t be a racist because racism equals privilege plus discrimination.” This means the SJW is a racist and hates white people. Bahar Mustafa, a woman of Turkish ethnicity famously proclaimed that her Turkish heritage meant that she could never be a racist. My Armenian ancestors would disagree, of course. But college feminists are far more oppressed than people thrown into rail cars, shot, beaten to death, and/or crucified. Totally doesn’t count. Why, look at those Armenians oppressing the poor Turks. 7. “That’s Triggering!” Directly translated, this statement means roughly: “waaaaaaaah waaah waaaaaaaaaah!” A more nuanced translation would be “this made me cry, and I will throw a temper tantrum unless you make it go away.” 8. “We need a Safe Space!” The SJW wishes to re-institute segregation along racial and ethnic lines. Members of the KKK are currently kicking themselves for not thinking of this idea first. “Damnit,” says the Grand Wizard Dragon of Podunk, “if only we called Jim Crow ‘Safe Spaces for People of Color’ we could have pulled it off…” Don’t worry, I’m sure the guys with torches, crosses, and pointy hats will be happy to provide them for you. 9. “Sexuality is Sacred!” When the dog humps the couch and manages to get himself off, you are required to give thanks to the environmentally-friendly, non-judgmental, transsexual, ethnic Goddess of Fedora-wearing neckbeards. Femen protesters, of course, can run around buck naked, touching themselves, and this is no big deal. The SJW is really saying that if you are not an SJW, all sex is rape and therefore you are a rapist. Of course, male SJWs never have sex with women anyway, so de facto, the SJW is saying that all heterosexual activity is rape. 10. “This is an example of Rape Culture!” It’s something that normal human beings have been doing since the dawn of time, or creation, or whatever. This may mean having sex, reproducing, looking at attractive members of the opposite sex, etc… Usually, however, this is a specific reference to anything which depicts a beautiful or attractive woman in any way that would interest men. Wearing a bikini on a magazine cover, for instance. A direct translation would be “I saw a woman more attractive than my lard-filled, unshaven rear-end, and this hurts my feelings.” 11. “I am oppressed.” Generally uttered by upper-middle class white SJWs, but can occasionally be spoken by wealthy members of other ethnicities. What it really means is “I feel threatened by the peasantry.” It is a variant of the famous phrase attributed to Marie Antoinette: “let them eat cake.” She was a woman, therefore she was more oppressed than the white guy cleaning **** out of the sewer. Let him eat cake.

What was your favorite prop or costume from the “Harry Potter” films? I love the progression from young actors who are very sweet to adult actors who focus on craft and technicality to older actors who give zero f***s.

For those Trekkies out there..

The combination of Rifleman, Sneak, Ninja and Mr Sandman used in combination with silenced weapons works quite well. Especially with a silenced Gauss Rifle...

What, it's simple Latin isn't it?

pcgamer - Deus Ex Mankind: Power and choice in cyberpunk Prague

Heh. I got an email with the "You have been selected to attend a pre-selection Interview", and I have to admit that there's something about that phrase that amuses me. Of course, the fun thing is that it included a "please bring all schooling qualification certificates with you." I'm like "okay, I know where my certificates from university are, but it's been nearly 20 years since my school GSCE's and then my college ones..." So I foresee some time digging around in vain hopes of figuring out just where those ones might be.

The first two episodes of the new season of Galavant. Cheerfully amusing , overblown, and somewhat like watching your very drunk friends singing at the karaoke bar. It's not going to win any awards, but they sell the performance so damn well. Getting trapped in "The Enchanted Forest" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBN7FB7PsGE&

One reason the learning styles myth persists

On that general interest.. io9 - Joss Whedon explains how the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more separate than you'd think

I think what is surprising me somewhat is the sudden spate of game editorials that relate to the whole "Fallout 4 reminds me that no crpg really has roleplaying, but the whole being able to engage some wild animals and run over there so that the raiders get into a fight with them, which causes the group of gunners over here to be involved is very roleplaying and combined with the environmental storytelling is amazingly roleplayerish." Or how while playing the game the fact that in their head they come up with a complete narrative of them shooting at Brotherhood of Steel because they know their character has a distrust of authority, and the way that they respond by shooting back and giving the editorial writer even more narrative creation in their head makes Fallout 4 a great game. A game that inspired imagination is good. A game that has no depth of storyline or characters on its own where you have to create everything in your head.. seems to me as not actually being that great.

Okay, this amused me..

Is that cat playing "The Floor is Lava!" ?

The Sherlock Christmas special was an interesting twist of why they had a Victorian episode...