General purpose entry

I keep wanting to post, but I have nothing of import to say. So hi, I'm fine. Bored, but fine. See ya.

Some quotes, gleaned from past entries, which I find useful and sometimes inspiring

"Fire burns, ale burns, love burns, politics burns. But cold were life without them." - Rihanssu (Romulan) Proverb*

How many English majors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Six: One to screw in the light bulb, one to write an epic poem about it, and four to debate the hidden themes in the line "A flash, then darkness" for 450 years.
- Question asked by edgylesjr and my answer

The universe is just there; that's the only way a Fedaykin can view it and remain the master of his senses. The universe neither threatens nor promises. It holds things beyond our sway: the fall of a meteor, the eruption of a spiceblow, growing old and dying. These are the realities of this universe and they must be faced regardless of how you feel about them. You cannot fend off such realities with words. They will come at you in their own wordless way and then, then you will understand what is meant by "life and death." Understanding this, you will be filled with joy.
--Muad'Dib to his Fedaykin, Dune

* LONG LIVE DUANE'S RIHANSSU!

On RPG characters and the "hawtness" of same...

From funwithrage, who is one of five people whose gift of snark approaches the sheer power of my own:

... yes, most RPG characters are on the attractive side of average. So are most heroic characters in television and novels--the closest you get to unattractive without it being a plot point is generally someone like Jonathan or Andrew from "Buffy" or Tigh from BSG. There's a certain amount of escapism involved with all these mediums, which I don't think is a bad thing, and unless you particularly want to explore something related to being unattractive, there's no reason to relive sixth grade. Nor, barring a sort of strict realism which I veer away from in games in general because oh my God the squalor, is there a reason to freak out that a certain percentage of your world must be ugly. Realize that the game operates on the Cinematic Charisma Curve and relax.

In other news: heroes in movies dodge bullets that would totally hit them in real life, people's bathroom habits rarely appear in fiction, and nobody in porn ever accidentally slams his or her head into the wall at a crucial moment. If you want to create something different from cinematic standards, that's cool--but it doesn't mean that people who follow those standards suck, nor does it mean that anyone's obligated to like your stuff *because* it's different. Sheesh.

And that, folks, is why I cringe whenever I hear folks say things like "Why are all RPG characters pretty? Aren't there any ugly people on the planet?" Yes, there are. And they're doing what they normally do. Not every NPC is hot, though in certain games it's de rigeur for them to be so (in Cyberpunk, for example, the text makes a point of mentioning that anyone with money is hot, because plastic surgery is just that good in 2020). But PCs tend to be super-attractive, partly because most players (like most people, in general) are not, but also because it's an archetype we all understand on a gut level.

In superhero fiction, folks are hot for two reasons. First, because it is, at heart, a symbolic medium, and heroes are always hot, going back to Homer and other ancient epics. Second, these are characters who's lives depend on their bodies and the abilities that come from them. With rare exceptions, these folks need to be trim, taut, fighting machines. Sure, there's the occasional fat or unattractive hero, but in general? Hot City.

This is also why attractive villains in fiction are so creepy to so many people. The beautiful man who happens to be Evil as Frack is an archetype that we all understand and respond to positively and negatively at the same time. When those who wrote the Book of Revelation described the anti-christ, they didn't describe an evil and disgusting demon, but a charismatic and attractive man who will disarm the world with that attractiveness. I don't have to believe in it to recognize the creep factor involved.

And in the end, the plain truth is that most of us don't want to watch ugly people all the time. Actors like Danny DeVito and Dennis Franz are the exception because, on the whole, most people want pretty people in their movies and TV. Does that create some problematic attitudes in the public? Probably, yes. But once you grow up, you ought to be able to understand that TV Reality and Reality are not the same, and never will be.