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The front page is a poorly-cycling flame animation, three rotating hand grenades and an "under construction" animation. There is a guest book, and a visitor counter w/ a highly aspirational number of digits
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# ? Jun 26, 2023 10:46 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:17 |
We are part of a web ring
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# ? Jun 26, 2023 12:55 |
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Yowzers that cover brings me back.
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# ? Jun 26, 2023 16:14 |
quote:CHAPTER I I really like how so drat imposing the the description of Huitzilopoctli is. This series is making me want to run a game of Scion. We're starting just a few seconds before the last book ended, so this chapter isn't really giving us new information, but we do get a sense of how Christopher is different than David. His internal monologue isn't as sarcastic and jokey as he came across in book one when David was narrating, but it's no where near as mopey and self serious as David's narration was.
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# ? Jun 26, 2023 18:27 |
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Interesting, there's absolutely ZERO recap of anything that happened in the first book - no "here's the setting and basic concept", the narration mentions names like April and David and Jalil but doesn't cover who they are at all, you're just very clearly intended to have read the first book, ideally right before starting the second book, and you have to know what the gently caress is going on because we're charging the aztecs and you better keep up, buddy.
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# ? Jun 27, 2023 00:48 |
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Late to this discussion on this one but re: David's attraction to the Viking lifestyle and April's strong disagreement, I think I saw David's point when I was a teenager myself but now I couldn't agree more strongly with April. (Also agree with everyone saying what a '90s vibe it has - it immediately reminded me of Fight Club.) It's definitely intended to underscore how deeply frustrated David is with his "real" life and his perception of his own masculinity, and how he isn't able to even properly realise that let alone articulate it. David's character aside and the '90s vibe aside, it is obviously also a real thing that a lot of real young men feel - the dissatisfaction with the concept of a comfortable but predictable first world suburban existence and a vague notion that things were better in the old days. It's nonsense, of course, because if you want "adventure" you are more well placed to seek it out in a broader variety of flavours than at any point in human history. There's nothing stopping David or any other teenager today from joining the Marines or doing the Dakar rally or working in Antarctica or becoming an astronaut, etc etc.
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# ? Jun 27, 2023 08:15 |
I feel it goes beyond adventure into just like enrichment. Because capitalism forces us to spend so much of our day away at work, toiling for others, we have no time for ourselves, because that free time is now for getting chores done. Again to go back to my lockdown experience, not having to work while having my bills paid for those 7 months was amazing. I cleaned my house, cooked full dinners for my family, baked every couple days. And all while exercising as much as my recovery from heart surgery allowed. It wasn't particularly adventurous, but it was fulfilling in a way had not experienced previously as an adult. Having thay sort of ennui towards modern American life isn't the sole province of adrenaline junkies. But yeah at the exact same time yearing for a blood soaked viking life style is not the answer! Chapter 2 coming later today depending on of I nap after work this morning or not.
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# ? Jun 27, 2023 15:17 |
quote:CHAPTER II Short chapter, but hey, here's the recap! Chris seems to have a bit more information than we got in book 1. Did we know Ka Anor was not just a god, but a god eating god?
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# ? Jun 27, 2023 20:42 |
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Alright yeah there's the summary I was expecting in the first chapter. It's neat that it's in Chris's voice - I hate reading the words "A freaky piece of work, but with a B-plus face and an A-plus body" but it's a succinct bit of characterization for Chris.
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# ? Jun 27, 2023 23:35 |
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Soonmot posted:I feel it goes beyond adventure into just like enrichment. Because capitalism forces us to spend so much of our day away at work, toiling for others, we have no time for ourselves, because that free time is now for getting chores done. Feudalism of course also involves spending much of your day toiling away for others, though it's arguable that in a small Viking clan - going towards your point of "enrichment" - you feel like a member of a community where you have standing, where the fruits of your endeavours are perhaps more visible, where for better or worse you know your place in things; as opposed to the global capitalist model where you are (generally) toiling away for corporate shareholders who probably don't even live in the same country. For David I think it is very much the Rachel-esque adrenaline rush, since the Vikings' cause isn't really his cause. (Ironically if it's adventure and meaning/purpose that he wants, he's already at the start of that anyway with the school lawn strategy meeting, never mind the Vikings: stay alive, find Senna, find a way home which they've correctly figured out is more likely to happen in Everworld than the "real" world.) Soonmot posted:Short chapter, but hey, here's the recap! Chris seems to have a bit more information than we got in book 1. Did we know Ka Anor was not just a god, but a god eating god? I remember this from the original series but no, I don't think we did know that at this point. Also Chris describes the Hetwan as coming from elsewhere in the galaxy - did we even know they were aliens as opposed to weird gross monsters, or is he speculating?
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# ? Jun 28, 2023 08:52 |
I'm not sure. I think we guessed that but I don't remember the text stating it.
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# ? Jun 29, 2023 02:00 |
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I think the Vikings called Ka Anor and the Hetwan aliens at one point in book one so this might be just codifying that with Christopher's extrapolations. Or its some not super tightly edited recap info that gives away a bit more than it should.
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# ? Jun 29, 2023 02:10 |
quote:CHAPTER III Their special power is parody songs.
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# ? Jun 29, 2023 02:42 |
quote:CHAPTER IV Holy poo poo, mash F for Olaf drat!
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# ? Jun 30, 2023 00:55 |
F That was unexpected
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# ? Jun 30, 2023 02:07 |
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He lasted longer than I thought he would, at least.
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# ? Jun 30, 2023 02:30 |
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Yeah that was pretty much every supporting character with a name gruesomely killed in a single page.
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# ? Jun 30, 2023 02:51 |
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See David, it sucks to be a viking, too.
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# ? Jun 30, 2023 20:16 |
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Chopped off a god's arm, Ax would be proud.
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# ? Jun 30, 2023 22:01 |
/\/\/\/\ hell yeah, god catchquote:
Not a good look for Huitz here. Blood pyramid, starving people. David called out as a mopey bitch, but Christopher getting off easy on some solid racism.
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# ? Jul 1, 2023 03:52 |
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This reminds me that a highlight of Sean Bean doing the tech and wonder quotes for Civilization 6 is hearing Huitzilopoctli pronounced as hootchly o pootchly. Not that I could do any better, obvs...
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# ? Jul 1, 2023 09:23 |
quote:
Am I the only one having a hard time trusting Christopher's descriptions. How much is he exaggerating? Was the raiding party really in the thousands? Also, you know these kids are from the suburbs because locals don't go to Navy Pier, not even in the 90s lol
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# ? Jul 2, 2023 03:15 |
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Have I missed something or does Jalil have no connection to Senna (that we know of)?quote:I settled in slowly because right about then it occurred to me that the baths might not be baths. Also maybe I'm dumb and missing something obvious but... what was he worried they were going to turn out to be here?
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# ? Jul 2, 2023 08:29 |
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freebooter posted:Have I missed something or does Jalil have no connection to Senna (that we know of)? We still don't know about any connection between Jalil and Senna beyond him being part of the Everworld group.
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# ? Jul 2, 2023 10:11 |
freebooter posted:Have I missed something or does Jalil have no connection to Senna (that we know of)? I wondered about both of those as well.
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# ? Jul 2, 2023 12:32 |
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cooking pots?
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# ? Jul 3, 2023 03:52 |
quote:
goddamn, what age range were these books for, just making the implied sexual assault explicit a bit. Also cool to see how self interested, even in his own words, Christopher is, even when it affects “himself” in Everworld. Sure, bizzaro chris can get his heart ripped out and eaten, real Chris is fine.
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# ? Jul 3, 2023 18:06 |
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I feel even if their body is physically rested, snapping off into another world where you're awake so that your mind is constantly conscious would be very mentally exhausting? (Although even if the time differences don't line up I suppose theoretically, a third of the time the Real Them will be asleep too.)
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# ? Jul 4, 2023 05:44 |
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And here we're really starting to see Christopher's deal. He instinctively lashes out at others when he's under stress and will go for really low blows and just generally be incredibly lovely. Like he's in a life or death situation where the other 3 Earth people are just about the only people he can even remotely count on and he's already started throwing out racist barbs and implying sexual assault.
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# ? Jul 4, 2023 09:27 |
quote:CHAPTER VIII
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# ? Jul 5, 2023 02:47 |
quote:CHAPTER IX Take a shot everytime there's a 90 reference.
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# ? Jul 6, 2023 03:03 |
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David had his problems but boy how do I think Christopher here is a jackass.
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# ? Jul 6, 2023 22:30 |
Malpais Legate posted:David had his problems but boy how do I think Christopher here is a jackass. 100%
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# ? Jul 6, 2023 22:51 |
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I mean, I'm not saying I want him to get eaten by a god, but
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# ? Jul 6, 2023 23:29 |
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Yeah Christopher is, to put it politely, a very authentic strain of ‘90s highschooler
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# ? Jul 7, 2023 01:49 |
quote:CHAPTER X
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# ? Jul 7, 2023 03:39 |
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Why don't they just morph?
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# ? Jul 7, 2023 08:10 |
I'm actually pretty amazed that our kids DON'T have any powers yet. They're just "modern" teens in a weird world. Also love that Cinemax was called out for softcore, but it loses points for not being called Skinemax
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# ? Jul 7, 2023 13:34 |
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One of them has to get Mjolnir and start throwing that around, right? There's got to be some sort of supernatural heroic destinies coming for them or something. Not that I'd complain if it's subverted and they're just four kids way out of their depth, but yeah, the lack of "powers" is suspicious.
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# ? Jul 7, 2023 14:22 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:17 |
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I can clearly how david can be set up for some kind of redemptive arc where he has some realization about the nature of manliness etc but i’m super curious now to see what kind of character growth there is for somebody whose archetype is “exceptionally lovely teenager in the 90s”
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# ? Jul 7, 2023 14:34 |