site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   Edited 1yr ago   2738 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 6, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

4
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

So the bugfix I researched for the Sergei Kislev's 8088 Bios project finally got merged in. I'm pretty happy about that, and feel rather vindicated over the know-it-all elsewhere who kept insisting I was dead wrong and ignorant about how things "really" worked.

I've been watching Cabinet of Curiosities, and I'm really enjoying it. Minus the two episodes very loosely based on HP Lovecraft stories. The first few episodes felt almost like Tales from the Crypt style morality tales, where asshole main characters get what they deserve. Things get switched up pretty hard with The Outside where Kate Micucci falls victim to conspicuous consumption. After that come the HP Lovecraft episodes which by and large I felt didn't understand Lovecraft one iota. I watched The Viewing last night and was utterly blown away. Perhaps it was a case of style over substance, but holy shit was it's style ever amazing. Probably watch the last episode tonight.

I keep going back to the Lovecraft episodes though. They were just... they didn't understand what made Lovecraft scary at all. The first one, ostensibly based on "Pickman's Model" was more a pastiche of many disparate Lovecraft themes, that entirely failed to gel together and was mostly used for shock value. The other, "Dreams in the Witch House" I thought was better adapted by a Masters of Horror episode. The Netflix version added all these extra subplots for love and camaraderie. Everyone knows in Lovecraft's world, there are no allies. The dilemma characters find themselves in utterly alienates them from the rest of humanity. There are only people who don't believe you, and entities which make things worse. The only people who believe you were driven mad and are utterly ineffectual and of no help what so ever. The isolation and hopelessness is what gives his stories their bite. You can't give the characters a posse who rally around them.

It's Kisilev btw, you keep misspelling his surname.

You say that, but when I check his github it's Kiselev. But so noted.

Muphry's Law strikes again LOL.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats