Chemslayer's recent activity
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
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Comment on Best of Humble Bundle: Beamdog & Owlcat: RPG Masters (pay what you want and help charity) in ~games
Chemslayer Link ParentAh yes, shoulda been more careful with the auto-gen title. Man, I remember the days of literal 1 cent humble bundles (or $1 for steam keys haha)Ah yes, shoulda been more careful with the auto-gen title. Man, I remember the days of literal 1 cent humble bundles (or $1 for steam keys haha)
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Comment on Humble Bundle Books: (Almost) the entirety of Discworld for $16 in ~books
Chemslayer Link ParentMake sure you check out this other thread I posted not too long ago about other places to get e-book bundles! While several people kind of ignored the post and suggested pirate sites, there were...Make sure you check out this other thread I posted not too long ago about other places to get e-book bundles! While several people kind of ignored the post and suggested pirate sites, there were quite a few good suggestions! Humble still has the most consistently high quality ones so far, but I've nabbed a few interesting bits from other sites since
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Chemslayer Link ParentHa! I look forward to necro-ing that year old thread, thanks for the shout!Ha! I look forward to necro-ing that year old thread, thanks for the shout!
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Comment on Humble Bundle Books: (Almost) the entirety of Discworld for $16 in ~books
Chemslayer Link ParentHonestly, while I also hate DRM, I can understand having some, as unfortunately the grand majority of consumers don't care about the ethics of supporting artists etc, and just want it however is...Honestly, while I also hate DRM, I can understand having some, as unfortunately the grand majority of consumers don't care about the ethics of supporting artists etc, and just want it however is cheapest and easiest. That being said, I still think a DRM-free world would function just fine, but I can see how business types would get nervous.
DRM-lite I find is a good compromise. It has some barrier to entry, but it's so small. So Adobe-DRM gets a pass from me, while still allowing publishers and storefronts to point and say "see we're making sure it's protected!". What I cannot tolerate is things like Amazon, where they continue to go out of their way to patch even extremely roundabout methods to jailbreak books; this does nothing to dedicated pirates, who will find a way anyway, but greatly hurts casual book archivists, who just want to ensure they can read their own books forever. They've constantly broken the gentleman's agreement to not be too harsh on the DRM, which is why I broke up with them and don't buy any books anymore.
All that being said, I always like to buy my books, even for dead authors etc, it just feels more legitimate for me. But I do not turn up my nose at anyone pirating for pretty much any reason; the landscape is fucked, and I'm not gonna fight any little guys when there's corps polluting it constantly.
For my ebooks, I basically use the judgement that if I would reasonably lend you a physical book, I have no issue "lending" you my digital books. I keep all of mine in a regularly backed-up Google drive, and share with my housemates openly. And then there's cases like this, where I'll give you the DRM free versions with your purchase (basically just saving you time to learn how to do that, you're still buying the bundle after all), or in the case of completely unreasonable nonsense like region blocking circumventing that bs, while having the benefit of more money going to charities too.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Chemslayer LinkThe City We Became by N K Jemisin. Overview: When Cities get old enough, they become actual metaphysical creatures, with a human avatar. New York gets born this way, but because NY is NY, it gets...The City We Became by N K Jemisin.
Overview: When Cities get old enough, they become actual metaphysical creatures, with a human avatar. New York gets born this way, but because NY is NY, it gets six avatars instead of the usual one, one for NY and one for each of the 5 boroughs. Also, there's an evil thing that tries to eat baby cities!
I'm about 70% of the way through, and it's been fun so far. I wish I had more knowledge of NYC (I've never even been there), as there's obviously a lot of emphasis placed on the cultures and soul of the city and it's various boroughs that I am only passingly familiar with, but even then it's continued to be great and has some good commentary.
[As a side-note not related to the book itself necessarily: there's a much larger proportion of BIPOC/queer/otherwise marginalized characters, especially main characters, and Im finding myself still being surprised by this. It's just a marker of my white privilege that I'm used to most characters being white/straight coded, or if they are something else it's more a footnote rather than core to how they act. I'm going to try and read more black/BIPOC/queer authors to work on this myself.]Related to the sidenote above, a housemate and I are working through Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad, the workbook for people with white privilege to help unpack and work on stuff. We're both white dudes, so there's been a lot so far. We're only a few chapters in at this point. Happy to discuss chapters with any peeps who want to work on it together, if there's interest.
The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. Picked this one up as I'm generally aware of the situation in Palestine, but realized I didn't know any of the history or details, so I googled some reading lists and picked this one. Only halfway through the first chapter and I've already learned a lot (I thought Israel was a post WWII invention, but turns out it's been cooking since the late 1800s). Heavily detailed and footnoted historical account. It is political (as any history book must be), but I think it does a fair job of presenting the historical complications and pressures that led to the situation today. (Or, again, to the 1920s so far, as that's what I've read).
In lighter news in comic land, I'm reading some Cyberpunk comics I got off the Humble Bundle still running. Trauma Team by Cullen Bunn et al was a really captivating read, it's real short (less than 100 comic pages) but it really captures the feel and hopelessness that makes cyberpunk (the genre) so interesting to me. Neat to see more Trauma Team too, as you barely get to view them in the game, and they are one of the more interesting corporate-dystopia aspects imo.
In Manga Land, working my way through Lone Wolf and Cub on volume 11. This is a beautiful series, it really drips with subtle and complex feelings and characters, would highly recommend. [One trigger warning: the series does feature many instances and depictions of sexual assault and rape, always at women. The main character never does, and it's never glorified, exclusively done by evil dudes to show how evil and awful they are, but it is there, so if that's something you can't see you may want to steer clear.]
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Comment on Humble Comics Bundle: The Witcher + Cyberpunk by Dark Horse in ~comics
Chemslayer Link ParentDecided to pick it up based on your recommendation, only read trauma team so far but that was really good! If even a few others of these are the same quality I'll consider it highly worth the...Decided to pick it up based on your recommendation, only read trauma team so far but that was really good! If even a few others of these are the same quality I'll consider it highly worth the money. Thanks for giving your input!
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Comment on Best of Humble Bundle: Beamdog & Owlcat: RPG Masters (pay what you want and help charity) in ~games
Chemslayer LinkPosting here, the only game I have personal experience with is Rogue Trader (you can sniff through my recent posts to see how I feel, its very good). Worth noting that Rogue Trader can currently...Posting here, the only game I have personal experience with is Rogue Trader (you can sniff through my recent posts to see how I feel, its very good). Worth noting that Rogue Trader can currently be had elsewhere for $14 right now, so if that's all you want you should probably just grab that alone, but I've heard good things about the other games here and if other people can endorse this is probably an amazing bundle.
Note that this doesn't come with the season pass (aka the first two DLCs), which I'd highly recommend, maybe for $7 at that cheap shark link?
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Best of Humble Bundle: Beamdog & Owlcat: RPG Masters (pay what you want and help charity)
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Comment on Humble Bundle Books: (Almost) the entirety of Discworld for $16 in ~books
Chemslayer Link ParentIt's a fantasy world (magic, heroes, etc), but it doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's full of dry-wit British style, clever wordplay, and absurd but fun characters. The setting has defined...It's a fantasy world (magic, heroes, etc), but it doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's full of dry-wit British style, clever wordplay, and absurd but fun characters. The setting has defined structures and rules, but also the rules are never allowed to get in the way of telling a fun story. It subverts traditional fantasy tropes in lots of interesting ways. And the series has many bits of morality and wisdom that comment on our society as a whole (the "$50 boots vs $10 boots theory" about how being poor is way more expensive than being rich, is from one of these books). They are light and easy reads; the stakes are never high, even when they are world-shattering, because the tone of the world is just set up to be humorous. But they still maintain compelling narratives.
Note that there's several "sub-series" within the series, and you can ready any book in almost any order. If you do decide to read in published order like I did, note the first book is way weirder, as it was essentially him just writing a bunch of random goofs, before deciding apparently that the setting had real legs and making the rest of his books have actual coherence. (I really enjoyed that first book still but it is very random)
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Comment on Humble Bundle Books: (Almost) the entirety of Discworld for $16 in ~books
Chemslayer (edited )Link ParentFuck em. If you live in the UK or somewhere else that's region locked, DM me and I can give you the books. I ask that you give $16 to a charity of your choice, but I won't ask for any proof or...- Exemplary
Fuck em. If you live in the UK or somewhere else that's region locked, DM me and I can give you the books. I ask that you give $16 to a charity of your choice, but I won't ask for any proof or anything, NOTAFLOF. Edit: to be clear, this is an available offer for anyone affected, not just the person I replied to. Region-locking books from a dead author has actually made me mad, the greed of it all
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Comment on Humble Bundle Books: (Almost) the entirety of Discworld for $16 in ~books
Chemslayer (edited )Link Parent/offtopic Fun personal fact: this bundle in its original run is what taught me about Calibre, and De-DRM'ing my ebooks, in the first place! I purchased the bundle, was very upset upon learning I.../offtopic
Fun personal fact: this bundle in its original run is what taught me about Calibre, and De-DRM'ing my ebooks, in the first place! I purchased the bundle, was very upset upon learning I couldn't use them on my Kindle, and some googling later I'm now an e-book
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Comment on Humble Bundle Books: (Almost) the entirety of Discworld for $16 in ~books
Chemslayer LinkHumble brought back this amazing Bundle! Discworld is one of the best silly fantasy genres, I've been reading them in published order over the years and just recently finished book 8 and have...Humble brought back this amazing Bundle! Discworld is one of the best silly fantasy genres, I've been reading them in published order over the years and just recently finished book 8 and have enjoyed all of them immensely. The entire series for the cost of a burrito bowl may very well be the best ROI on art you will ever get!
Note a few quirks of the bundle:
It is missing two books, The Last Hero (which is a coffee-table picture book and doesn't seem to have any available e-book version), and Raising Steam (inexplicably, as it seems to be just another discworld book?). So if you want to be a completionist you gotta do a teeny bit more work/purchasing.
Second, this bundle uses Kobo DRM, which means you have to use one of their readers/apps or AdobeDRM. Thankfully, AdobeDRM is so easy to break as to be almost trivial, happy to give any tutorials if people want it. (Or, if you are a busy boy without that kind of time, DM me with a proof of purchase and I'm happy to share my Drive link of the books I've already cleaned).
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Humble Bundle Books: (Almost) the entirety of Discworld for $16
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Comment on Digital comics store Sweet Shop will feature Image Comics in ~comics
Chemslayer Link ParentOh dang you said so many of my favorite words! Thanks for the tag, I'm going to check this out tomorrow for sureOh dang you said so many of my favorite words! Thanks for the tag, I'm going to check this out tomorrow for sure
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Chemslayer (edited )LinkMewgenics! I love rogue likes, but turn-based tactics are my least favorite of them, and I had essentially no interest in the breeding mechanics etc. I got the game because Binding of Isaac is my...Mewgenics! I love rogue likes, but turn-based tactics are my least favorite of them, and I had essentially no interest in the breeding mechanics etc. I got the game because Binding of Isaac is my all-timer, so my goodwill from that earned this at least a look.
And I'm so glad I did, because this game is amazing! The humor is, as another Tildes-r put it, "irreverent beyond offense" (I really should go back and find their handle if I'm gonna keep quoting them ha), and I gotten several good laughs so far and well as some grins at the cheeky references etc.
The gameplay itself has been surprisingly deep, but also does a good job of keeping you from analysis paralysis by limiting your options, keeping you in that "work with what you get" gameplay I love about Isaac. The equipment strikes a good balance between finesse without being clunky, the existence of classes adds great direction and variety, and the stats are blessedly simple to understand and prioritize. There's also a ton of content: I'm only 15 or so hours in and there's already at least 4 distinct paths, with alternates within those, and seemingly more being teased. I also like that you have the option to opt-out of a run early after each boss, gives you a nice choice for when a run isn't quite coming together without just committing seppuku or holding R.
The breeding/cat collection gets overwhelming, but I think it does a good job of making me apathetic to all these damn cats. I do try to keep "good" cats to hopefully breed, but at some point I decide there's too many dang felines and throw 4 into a box to go on whatever adventure, if they live great if they die hey less to think about. The cat sprites, and their many varied meows and names, add charm. I especially love that anything you equip to a cat actually shows on them, so you end up with some goofy dudes wearing a cardboard hat and a Jason hockey mask.
Overall highly recommended! Time will tell if it has the staying power of Isaac, but for now the game is goofy and immature humor overlaid with a well-thought mechanical tactics game.
Edit: Found @Deimos! https://ibb.co/DDwvjNtB maybe the god of fear, but given all the Internet references maybe our Tildes Benevolent Dictator?
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Comment on E-ink tablet recommendations for note taking in ~tech
Chemslayer (edited )LinkI got the Boox AirNote 5C in November to replace my gen 1 Kindle Scribe, I wanted color for reading comics, but also I wanted better note-taking for my job (where I weekly go to sites and take...I got the Boox AirNote 5C in November to replace my gen 1 Kindle Scribe, I wanted color for reading comics, but also I wanted better note-taking for my job (where I weekly go to sites and take measurements, counts, tallys, etc). Highly enjoyed on the book side all around.
On the notes side, it has been a great device. The pen it comes with is kinda bad, not terrible but feels very cheap. I stole my pen from my scribe, and when I lost that got a knockoff from Amazon for $30, and that has worked great. The notes has tons of options, including the usual ability to highlight, erase, draw shapes, copy, etc. The killer feature for me was the ability to make custom templates, from any arbitrary PDF, so I was able to use text boxes to list my usual suspects and can now just fill in items repeatedly rather than writing "cabinets" again on every page.
It is also easy to share your notes from the device. Besides being android (and having access to all the android apps), you can export and share from the native notes app in tons of ways, including my favorite via Bluetooth! It's convenient to not need an Internet or server connection to get my notes like the kindle did.
Side-note: one issue panned about the device is shorter battery life, usually a day or two before needing charging (as opposed to most e readers which can go weeks). I encountered this at first, but found an easy fix: simply turning off the wifi and Bluetooth massively boosted the battery to a week+. Now I just turn them on when I need to transfer files, and things work great. Edit: Note that I'm a heavy user, I read tons, and switch books often, so it's doing a lot of loading and being on. An occasional reader/note taker will probably get an even longer battery life than I do
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Comment on Humble Comics Bundle: The Witcher + Cyberpunk by Dark Horse in ~comics
Chemslayer LinkComics bundle! Posting so people know, but also to ask if anyone has read/can recommend any of this? I enjoyed my time in Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and am generally a fan of cyberpunk as a...Comics bundle! Posting so people know, but also to ask if anyone has read/can recommend any of this? I enjoyed my time in Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and am generally a fan of cyberpunk as a genre, but I have heard actually nothing about these before which gives me pause. Would be interested to hear people's experiences/reviews!
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Humble Comics Bundle: The Witcher + Cyberpunk by Dark Horse
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Comment on Mewgenics | Review trailer in ~games
Chemslayer (edited )Link ParentHuh, that's an interesting thought-piece. To start, I don't actually recognize anyone listed in the article (and I didn't look at the full list). It's an interesting test case for the classic...Huh, that's an interesting thought-piece. To start, I don't actually recognize anyone listed in the article (and I didn't look at the full list).
It's an interesting test case for the classic "separate the art from the artist" debate. On the one hand, I can imagine several notable people who I would be appalled to have included in art I want to enjoy, and usually fall on the "can't separate art from artist as long as artist is benefiting (whether financially or socially)". But in a case like this, donating a meow in a sea of hundreds, barely qualifies, and I can't really see how the voice in question really benefits at all (I can't imagine they were paid, or if they were it was probably a small lump sum and not ongoing royalties), and even if their voice is recognized it doesn't really platform their ideas the same way inclusion in a podcast or something would.
I do think McMillen is kinda weird/suspect for taking such a "controversy-centrist" stance on it, but I already know he's weird, and as someone else in the thread here said I feel like his schitck is "irreverence beyond offense", so that kinda lines up.
Ultimately I'm trying to imagine if there was a person bad/evil enough to make this an issue for me, but I can't really think of it. A few people would rankle my nose a little to know they were included, but again the chance of me ever actually recognizing them by their meow is essentially nil, so my actual enjoyment isn't really impacted.
Anyway, that's all to say this is so tiny, and I can't imagine it's actually controversial in any real way (even the VAs in question actually consented to their arch-nemeses being in the game with them as mentioned in the article), but is interesting to think about and analyze with my own values. Now I kinda want to look at the list and see if there's anyone I would recognize, and try to listen for their cat haha
Edit: Recognize Tom Cardy, The Professor (assuming it's the mtg one), and of course Northernlion, who I'm surprised is on the list! Obviously he built a career around BoI, but given he didn't even remember the release date for Mewgenics I didn't expect him to be in it
I've loved the series, I'm currently caught up on Stormlight and it's also the only Sanderson I've read. Imo the books don't have prose that's anything special, it's fine as you've noted but I wouldn't call any of it particularly clever wordplay or evocative imagery. Where the series stands out to me is in the character design and development, especially over the course of the books, and the mystery/world building that gets doled out. I became highly invested in the characters and figuring out what was going on and what was happening as the series continued.