Compromise and Conceit
Infernal adventuring…
Category: Plain old conceit
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I spent today engaged in a profane and sacrilegious ritual such as would incur the wrath even of the Old Ones[1]: Installing Windows 7 on my 20″ iMac, which only has Mac OS 10.4 on it. I leave it to you, dear reader, to judge whether or not the greatest profanity lies in the act…
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Writing about Torchwood made me think of a conversation I had with a colleague about the show. She is your classic role-playing nerd, computer geek and all round otaku. When I mentioned – somewhat breathlessly – to her that I had watched 5 episodes of amazing Torchwoody goodness, she immediately launched into a tirade on…
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I stumbled on this story at a blog I’ve never read before, and – though not surprised – was profoundly horrified at the content of the deception it involved. Truly, the possibilities for nastiness on the internet are endless, and the ingenuity of people in ferreting them out to be admired and pitied simultaneously. Also,…
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This is a complete departure from normal programming on this blog, for which I apologise unreservedly, but it seems coherent with recent posts (which are on topic) and, as an Australian of British descent living in the heart of “multicultural” london, I feel I actually do have something to say on the topic of why, exactly,…
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In response to the recent stoush over Tolkien, race and conservatism, I did a little more research on Tolkien’s racial theories and their similarities to other eugenic and racial theories floating about in the interwar period. I don’t have my primary or secondary sources with me, because my Tolkien Bestiary is in a box in…
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In the interview linked to below, China Mieville claims that high fantasy is conservative, and that due to its prominence the fantasy genre in general is judged as conservative by critics. This seems pretty uncontroversial to me, but over at Monsters and Manuals this claim was disputed as a shallow interpretation of Tolkien and of…
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This isn’t really about China Mieville vs. Tolkien at all, but about me vs. the chap Mr. Noisms over at Monsters and Manuals, who has put up a post attacking Mieville’s view of Tolkien and fantasy. This gives me a chance to indulge in a pastime I really enjoy – faux literary criticism – and…
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Goddamn! The things one has to do just to get an argument these days! This is a response to my friend’s response to my previous post about Feng Shui’s 2056 dystopia. In essence, Paul objects to everything I say on principle, which makes it easy to argue with him. I just need to disagree with…
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The Core Mechanic has a post up about the things he does when he is DMing, which is a good thing to learn from others. I do quite a few of the things he does, but here is my list of noteworthy things I do: drink beer, eat takeaway, not always pizza railroad PCs (ah…
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This is another off-topic rant which I’m going to cross-post with my other blog, because I’m a grump after watching a fortnight of insane british racism. The Guardian is the UK’s supposedly intellectual, left-wing newspaper, ostensibly well-respected internationally for its quality. Unfortunately it is in reality a propaganda organ for the labour party (who are…
Compromise and Conceit 