Fabulous! Thanks very much for this

I’m two expeditions behind because I’ve been reestablishing bases ever since the universal reboot, but I’m bookmarking this for when I can start fishing- soon!

Ready Tortellini Featuring Mushrooms

Meh

I’d rather hear a human’s perspective

Last summer I went through all 15 Wheel of Time books (late June through November), so this summer I was excited to read Malazan. To be honest it’s been more of a chore than I’d hoped.

I love the magic system, the banter is SO good. Characters just keep dying and then coming back; it’s got a lot going for it. The many, many different races, the 300,000+ years of history in the backstory…

It’s just a shame that it’s burdened by the issues I mentioned earlier; and more. And sooo many more.

While your points about the patronage system and its weaknesses are valid, you’re writing off several centuries worth of legitimate human endeavor because the systems that enabled it were dodgy. Guess what though? That’s literally all of history, dodgy AF, featuring an intrepid cast of characters more awful the deeper you look. That doesn’t make the art or music worth writing off though.

But honestly:

What is interesting though is the fact that AI art, and the LAION-5B dataset used to train the models is a true and earnest reflection of sorts of what images today really are

“Earnest” is definitely not the word you’re looking for. Derivative, maybe, because you said it yourself, they’re reflections; and as such, they’re going to reflect what images of today are; like you said. That makes them derivative, and I feel a vast artificiality that makes my heart sink when I look at the vast majority of them.

Choosing machine-created art over historical art is choosing a passing fad over centuries of culture. It’s your right; but to write off history with a wave of the hand means you’re missing out on truly expanding your horizons.

Expanding ones horizons absolutely does and should include art history, which is a part of human history.

Love the name and shame. Everyone needs to know about this guy

Yeah, you ain’t gonna make it through the series then, all there is to it. Because I’m okay with his writing style and still get constantly annoyed at things. Book 2 is too depressing, with a dark ending that you see coming for 500+ pages and is entirely unsatisfying when you finally get there. Some of the battles in book 3 go on waaay too long.

He also keeps trying to trigger his readers. I’ve never seen such a display of triggers in anything I’ve ever read, and I am getting annoyed with how often he’s trying to get a rise out of me.

That’s not to say that the series is without it’s strengths and its charms, but it’s both the Best and Worst of modern fantasy. And don’t even get me started with characters suddenly and abruptly turning into Dragons

I’m on Book 4 of the Malazan series by Steven Erikson, “House of Chains”. It’s definitely better than the depressing #2 or the rather erratic #3.

#malazanSummerContinues

Full brim, white and beige. Classy AF

I’ve heard of Ohio, so I can confirm that others have witnessed this

I remember in the 80’s when this Ad was everywhere, on billboards and bus benches and magazines and newspapers. Pretty sure it won some awards.

The TV commercial version was the same woman smiling, just a slow zoom in towards her smiling face, but there was this quiet static in the background with eerie footsteps coming closer for about 15 seconds before the audio dropped to total silence for a few seconds, then a narrator (James Earl Jones-style) said the motto, and the woman said the bit about the free fries, followed by another 5 seconds of silence while she kept smiling; but the smile was cracking, fading, her face muscles unable or unwilling to hold the pose until they suddenly dropped into a look of terror right as the commercial ended.

The 80’s were weird, bro

Is… Is this a true story?

Hats are back

Fashion has declared it to be so

…I am fashion, for the first and only time ever.

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

Saw this one so many times when I was younger

This at last explains why the Enterprise is a leaky sieve where anyone can beam onboard at any time

Fishing at last!

But will I ever be able to kayak?

Gerome is fantastic

There is no way around light speed and conservation of momentum.

That we know of, yet. We haven’t even had particle accelerators for a hundred years; let’s give it at least 500 years of scientific research and discoveries before we say definitively that we absolutely know, without any doubts, that there’s no way around conservation of momentum.

I ain’t saying there is a way; just that we are very young, and very immature.

Anyone who buys into Will.I.Am’s hype is automatically the wrong person to run anything more than a lemonade stand