Jun 2010 Archive, part c

It could toast the whole town!

Welcome! Have a staple gun filled with semi-colons; they're handy.

Have a panda that eats, shoots and leaves! (For all your grammatical needs.)

That's a baby hawk. Not only is it adorable, it can eat your face! Feed it mice and Sues.

Fair winds!

Hello and welcome to the PPC Posting Board! Have some chocolate, won't you?

:)

Oh, you want a present? Er....
Here! Take this stick for poking canon back into shape.

Have a pet cat. You may name her whatever you wish.

Have a welcoming hug or glomp, your choice.

They have bumper stickers somewhere at the entrance *waves around* and I still have to think of something to give to newbies. So for now, a batch of PPC cookies.
Look, there's a mini-Balrog cookie, and a S.O. cookie, and a CAD cookie, and...

Anyway, welcome!
Do be aware that Boarders and Agents alike like shiny new things, and you might be a little overwhelmed.

Take a gun. Sometimes, only armour-piercing bullets will kill Sues. They tends to be quite nasty people, that's why we have to kill them.

*gives Ms_Draca a PPC bumper sticker*

Welcome to the board!

Lovely to meet you :)

Best suggestion about the register/login function is to forget about it; it's notoriously useless. Most people around here just type their name every time - it saves a lot of fuss and trouble. There's actually a section on it in our FAQ: For the Board. Which is a Link! And therefore a perfect way to introduce you to...


THE LINKS!

Which, if you don't know from your lurking, are the lot of 'Go Read This Now Please' urls that we throw at every newbie since they actually do give Useful Information. In relative order of sensible-reading-ness, they are:

* The Original PPC Series, which we assume you've already read.
* The List of Killed Badfic, which will direct you to a large number of non-Original PPC Missions.

The Board:
* The Board Constitution
* The FAQ: For the Board

The Wiki:
* We have our very own PPC Wiki
* The very-important-to-read-before-requesting-Permission Permission article
* Our (my!) Guide To The PPC
* The Mission Writing Guide
* The Slash-Sporking Guide
* The FAQ: For Newbies.
When you are ready to edit the wiki, make sure to read Neshomeh's excellent editing tutorial.

And finally, but very usefully,
* The List of Everything PPC

Feed it only Generic Meat!

Welcome! I present you with your very own Frying Pan of DOOM^tm, useful for hitting Author Wraiths and incoherent spammers over the head, as well as for cooking with. I'd wash it first, though, if you plan on cooking something if you've used it as a weapon recently. Agents Ian and Lee send their regards, along with a large batch of freshly baked cookies in your choice of flavor.

Have a rain forest dragon. They're tiny, so they can fly through the thick canopy more easily. Except they don't really fly, they just glide on a membrane of skin between their legs. They also don't breathe fire, because forest fires are bad. (This dragon may actually be a lizard.)

Hello! Have a seventeen foot long, multicolored, wool, knit scarf (curly wig not included), and a bag of jelly babies.

Please use them IRresponsibly!

So...what fandoms do you follow?

Hello and welcome to the community! Here, have this grenade that's about to go off-

JUST KIDDING! Have this unspecific thing instead! It can be anything you want it to be, provided you've got the imagination!

I was wondering the same thing about mini-Rancors, but considering we don't even have an OFU posted anymore...

Also, could someone explain why they're mini-Aragogs, not mini-Acromantulas?

There's a link to it on the mini-Aragog page on the wiki, but it seems to be dead. I'm not sure who's managing them now. I have the vague impression that it might be Cassie, but I'm not sure.

Maybe Meir Brin has one? As the headmistress of the HFA?

Okay, so there's a big chance that I'm going to be able to go. However, the dates are an important factor in getting airplane tickets, hotel rooms, etc. Also, this is sort of going to be a side trip in a larger trip for me.

The date slot has sort of been left open for sometime in the middle of the week that VM will be in Seattle. So I'm going to throw out the 4th (and 5th if this turns out to be two days as was referenced in VM's lj).

I don't want to sound pushy, but with getting off of work and finding the best prices for everything, I would definitely appreciate a set date soon.

Thanks,
Gen

whoops

I would certainly LOVE to come, but... Yeah. No can do.

Hey, all. I'm currently without a car, so if it would be possible to carpool with someone who lives in the Everett/Mukilteo/Lynnwood area (or thereabouts), I'd be more than happy to chip in some gas money and stuff.

By weirdest building, do you mean EMP?

I'm totally there, though. I mean, honestly, it's just a ferry ride away. :D Huzzah.

Wow, how many PPCers are in/around the Seattle area? This is quite exciting! I know I've mostly just been a lurker, but I do live in Tacoma and it would be awesome to actually meet some people face to face. My days off work are Tuesday and Wednesday (and possibly Monday).

As you know, I said in the chat that I'd try to make it. :D Anyways, right now any date during that time would work because I'll be home then.

I'll let you know if I can go for sure sometime soon.

Anyway, sadly I live on the opposite site of the planet. Any UK or generally Europe gathering I would be happy to participate in.

Oo, when we go to Pike Place,I'm definitely getting hum bao. There's a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant under the Market that serves some of the best hum bao I've ever had.

As far as I know, I'm free during the entirety of August, though either the Sixth or the Seventh would be the best, since that's on a weekend and least likely (hopefully) to conflict with anyone's schedules.

Just wanted to keep the running gag going. This seems interesting; I'll certainly make the attempt to get there.

I get back on the 8th. -sigh- (Not that I'd be able to go anyway... It's off to college with anamia, and the parental units probably wouldn't sanction (read: pay for) a trip across the country right before the start of the semester.)

Anyone in the general area of Colorado, by chance? Or able to get to said general area? Or willing to pay for me to go somewhere else? -grins-

--anamia, who clearly just needs to give up and get a job.

But Google Maps tells me it's only 37 days and 13 hours by walking! If I started now...

We'll be mocking the weirdest building in the world. Not the empty space. Really.

I'm at http://cyborgphilosopher.deviantart.com/ if you're interested.

Those are very nice, indeed.

...I'll ask here: what happens if agents fail a mission (they don't collect sufficient charges before killing the sue, or miss things and return, for example)?
Sorry if this is a silly question.

If you read the FAQ: for Newbies, you'll find more details there. If it's not clear enough, let us know and we'll edit it - that's why we created the article in the first place.

Some of the fics on the Claimed Badfic page are listed with permission pending.

Neshomeh: Anyway, like I said, I wasn't here, so I can only base my opinions on what I'm told. And I agree with Sedri that perma-banning should be reserved for extreme situations.
Makari: I think Max tested the patient people's reserves. I don't remember the egregious stuff, just a lot of capslocky spam about inner turmoil. Which is fine some places.
July: Yeah.
July: The thing is, that night, I was being sorely annoyed, I will admit that, I asked Trojie to come in to deal with it before I lost me temper and to try and talk with him.
Neshomeh: And did she?
July: He angsted about his permission being denied, said he didn't listen to what anyone had told him about said permission writing example even when they all said it was a bad idea, basically showing he had no respect for other's opinions when given and didn't care about what sort of result would be got, that he used it even though he knew it wasn't something permission givers would like while trojie tried to reason with him.
July: After that, he started to insinuate that we all sucked, that he might as well leave this morass that was the PPC, etc, and that he was going to leave forever.
July: At which point I told him I'd help him with that and then I banned him from the chat.
July: While I agree that the actions do come off as an abuse of power (and likely are) I'm not going to get involved with the 'should he be unbanned or not' in the sense of 'yes he should be unbanned' or 'no he should not be unbanned'.
July: I'm going to leave it up to someone else because I don't want to be involved in this case due to my earlier actions.

Makari: Can we have a medium? Like a probationary period or something?


Neshomeh: You need to at least explain all that to the Board at large, then, so other people can make an informed decision. From what it looks like, no one's going to say any more on the subject without more information.

...Is anything going to happen?

Sean!

You should come back.

People should let you back.

Uh... right, so let me slip out of Delirium-esque mode.

The chatroom is something that we haven't really had to deal with, authority-wise, in PPC history. I think it's because the Wiki makes things really easy to find; in the past, the chatroom was only used when someone linked to it, pretty much at random, in the 'Board, and I only remember two or three times when there were more than four or five people in at once, and they were all relative oldbies and one of those was a conference on who should be nominated for a PG.

Anyway. It's like the Wiki. A new thing, and one for which we might have to have slightly different-from-the-Board rules.

I'm definitely with Sedri on the PGs not necessarily being the ones to ban and unban people-- for one, the only two PGs who are on the chat that often (off the top of my head; I can never think of the whole list) are Techno_Dann and Neshomeh. And they're not omnipresent-- for that matter, neither is July. It's a frustrating conundrum, since with the PPC getting more and more exposure lately, I don't feel comfortable just leaving it with no authority figures at all, like we (mostly) have on the 'Board.

Anyway. I disagree with perma-bans on general principle, except for people who really deserve them. In the past, the really twitch-worthy people kind of faded off the 'Board after a while, when they got the hints or made themselves so blatantlly trollish they couldn't stay. And I'd hope that'll happen in the chatroom-- but we can't really depend on it. So I think we should be patient with people, and issue a lot of warnings (yes, I know, there were), and if people come sneaking back in to notably NOT cause trouble, I think they shouldn't be publicly shamed for it.

So what we need, in short, is a compromise. PGs, on the 'Board, are here to grant permission for spin-offs, officially, and nothing else. But I think we're all kidding ourselves if we deny that their opinions have no clout, sway, or other sorts of weight synonyms. They should probably be -consulted- on a perma-ban. I don't know how that would work, outside of a 'Board-post, and that seems needlessly... spectacle-ish. Because we'd need transcripts to verify, or something, and it, just. That would get messy.

Yeah. All points raised have been valid; now we just need to find something that works for all parties, because I feel like this is going to keep coming up if we just ignore it.

(Again: I'm in favor of using bans VERY sparingly and with absolute leniency wherever possible. Anyway. Yeah. Thank you for your time! :D We now resume our regularly scheduled program of gibberish, nonsense, and tomfoolery.)

If I'm not supposed to be posting this here, you all have the right to facepalm at me. Okay?

But I'd suggest that our pseudo-alcoholic Bleeproducts (synthesised alcohol, if I recall correctly, to avoid explosions) only cause inebriation if it would be funny. Otherwise, they just numb the pain and allow the Agets to get on with their jobs as normal.

Of course, Bleepsinthe has a massive effect in any case, and that's the strongest stuff I'm currently aware of.

Take a look at the wiki article.

As far as I know, yes. I doubt agents would mix the two if there weren't inebriating side-effects.

They mess with Hook? Oh, hell no.

*starts looking thoughtfully at the 'Sue, wondering what would be the most painful yet canon death for her*

and before applying for permission to send agents into badfic and start protecting. The word you want to use is canon, not cannon.

Canon is what we protect.
Cannon is what we like to shoot Sues with, or from, depending what's funnier.

I don't think I've seen either Hook or the new film, but it sounds bad. Anyone who doesn't know the difference between a word and a number is bad news in my book and gives me unfortunate flashbacks to My Immortal. Not that I got past the third paragraph of that mess...

--anamia

Some people consider PPC/insanity as a teenage phase. Humphenpuffly.

Welcome back! I missed you and your crazy Clover-lusting shenanigans. ^_^

Does this mean that Kiwi is coming back, too? Red Tales kinda ate you both, as I recall--but that's okay, because RT is awesome. (Unfortunately, I know nothing about Zeldaverse, so I'll just second Barid's comments about your LoZ comic, since I trust his judgement. [Barid is my fiance.])

~Neshomeh, who would have said something sooner, but was on vacation.

Fair winds!

Three years? Wow. And I've been here three weeks.

I'm not sure what the clover joke is, but I will send you a few bees to go with it. Don't worry, they're very friendly and will only sting Mary Sues. (They also have magical regeneration powers so they don't die when they sting.)

We're still here, and still killing things, and all that.

Also, linkage to the aforementioned webcomic?

I'm relatively new, so you won't know me. But "Hi!" nonetheless! Have a pet cat. You may name her whatever you wish.

Welcome back, O Clover-lusting one!

It has indeed been a long time since the Montreal gathering and our snow drawings and photoshoots for PlayEnt magazine!

Great to see you're back, have a welcome back cheese platter and a pet porpoise.

Elcalion, joyous

Let there be dancing in the streets and drinking Bleepka in the saloons! I only joined the PPC this year, but I welcome any chance to celebrate good news.

I'm a newbie, so you won't know me. But it's always good to meet someone new, especially a fellow supporter of good writing.

So, help yourself to a venomous arthropod and an unpublished novel! (There's also a llama badge waiting for you at deviantART.)

It's life-size. And fluffy. Makes for a good pillow, bed, or house, depending on your preference.

Lovely to meet you! I only joined the Board in late 2007, so I don't think we ever met, but so what? Hello! :)

*bowage to the Returning Oldbie* You have my respect for being such an oldbie, o adorer of vegetation.

:P

Now I've got the required awe and respect out of the way, here, have a bag of pebbles and a Random Shiny Object as a welcome-back gift! They're good for distracting Sues, and even oneself!

Feed it only Generic Meat and some Honey.

My name is Barid, but mostly I go by Barid (no relation to Agent Barid).

I am also a fan of anime, videogames and music. I will have to look over your LoZ comic, as that is one of my favorite videogame series of all time.

Haven't seen you around the internets in a while. I remember when you and Kiwi were working on Red's Tales. :D

Anyways, here's a panda that eats, shoots and leaves (for all your grammatical needs).

Yup, looks like a match.

Good to see/meet you. ;)

You have missed much going on over here.

If it was Chelonianmobile on devArt, that was me. Nice to see you back here.

Hello! Have a seventeen foot long, multicolored, wool, knit scarf (curly wig not included), and a bag of jelly babies.

In honor of you being an oldbie, I won't tell you to use it IRresponsibly!

Well, I don't know you, seeing as I'm a relative newbie, but anyway:
WELCOME BACK! And can you explain that with the Clover? I didn't quite get it...
Anyway... I also commented on DeviantArt, and I offer you some Welcome back tattoo designs to choose from, if you want to. Some you can see on my DeviantArt-account (shamelessly hinting...), so yeah.
Nice to get to know you!

Here, take this live gre-Oh what the heck, you aren't gonna fall for it...

Have this unspecific thing. It can be anything, provided you have the imagination to use it.

The reason that equation doesn't work is:

Sauron>Gandalf
Sauron gives strength 2 mortal
Witch King>Gandalf

The correct theory would be:
Sauron>Gandalf
Sauron = Witch King
Witch King> Gandalf.

Which isn't true. That is why the equation suck.



gosh, Boromir as a glaurunging VIKING... Valar help us

As the people who were around here when they announced that he would produce The Hobbit probably already know. (There were Big Nos involved.)

Don't watch his idea of what The Lord of the Rings should be like. You are much happier not knowing. The only really good thing that you'll miss is Christopher Lee as Saruman, and you can probably watch those scenes on YouTube.

The really WTF thing for me when I was watching Those Glaurunging Movies was having Sauron as a giant, flaming eye atop Barad-dur. I have no idea what they were thinking. And believe me, it isn't just Denethor's death that's ruined; it's his entire character. And don't get me started on Gimli, Faramir, Treebeard ... [several hours elapse] ... Frodo, Merry, Aragorn, Elrond ...

When I first saw it, I was thinking, "Oh, I see, so that's how they're going to get around that."

Realistically showing someone burning to death can get pretty gruesome; and the thought had popped into my mind occasionally about how they were going to manage that scene. LotR isn't supposed to be a horror movie; and being that graphic would probably have been a bit jarring.

I did not expect them to turn Denethor into a fireball of death. I expected them to either focus on the rescue of Faramir, or to have Denethor set the pyre on fire and then commit suicide some other way.

It really didn't upset me all that much that they decided to go the special-effects route. Gimli being turned into comic relief, on the other hand...

... what I find interesting about this is how far Denethor can run on fire!
I mean, he goes all the distance from Rath Dinen on the sixth level (if I'm not mistaken) to the spire on the seventh to drop from it? That's how far, a few hundred yards? And that's without loosing the sense of direction due to panic.
It does make the scene somewhat humourous in my eyes...

I remember watching that part going "Huh?" I only watch those movies for the battle sequences, because they are fun. But the part I really hate is when Gollum frames Sam and Frodo believes him. I mean seriously? Way to mess that relationship up, thanks filmmakers.

But, yeah, agreed on the Flaming Denethor thing. What were they thinking?

(on an almost completely different note: the Princess Bride Movie does capture the spirit of the book brilliantly!)

I would think it's a Gorillaz Mini, because it's in a Gorillaz fic. It was mentioned at some point earlier that a misspelling of the name of a city in France in a Les Mis fic would make a Les Mis Mini, even though the city is also a real world location. It seems to me Gorillaz would follow the same logic with the real performers its universe "borrows."

I also like Barid's and Miah's ideas, too, though.

I think I once it saw suggested that real people minis should be something unlike their real person counterpart. The ideas I remember seeing were mini-movie cameras for actors, mini-microphones for singers, etc. YMMV.

Since Tupak was a real person, misspelling his name would create a real person Mini. However, since you are in a Gorillaz fic, it could be a cartoon version of the real person in question.

... If I remember correctly, usually the first to find a Mini in a Continuum decides what they look like. Or don't they?
Anyway, maybe the mini is half cartoon, half Real World, seeing as the Continuum seems to be both, from what I can guess from your post? (I don't know it, so no idea.) As to what kind of Mini... No idea there, sorry...
I hope this helps somewhat, at least...

That was a good read. I'm glad Teek's reunion is going well.

I'm confused, though: I was always under the impression that college and university had the same definition both sides of the Atlantic, just different colloquialisms when referring to studies of that level. What I mean is, a university is a collection of colleges by definition, but colleges can exist independently. Whether the college you attend is part of a university or not, it's still post-regular-school studies in pursuit of a degree. In the U.S., we call it "college" whether your college is part of a university or not; in the U.K., they call it "university" or "uni" no matter what. Is that wrong? Did I make sense explaining it? O.o

~Neshomeh

That was nice. I liked interactions between all the agents.

It reminds me that I need to nail down the family issue for Cali.

I really liked it.

It's nice!
I like the bit about Newtonian laws of motion and Narrative Laws of Comedy, that line made me laugh very hard.

Anyway... really nice work, and yay! Teek is finally reconciled with her family... *sniff*

JUSS/YESSUH! We could use some good Brian Jacques fic.

There is no way to rescue drafts - this is why I always type things up in a word document and copy-paste them in later.

In any case, I'm glad you managed to rewrite it from memory. Funny thing is, I often find that drafts come out better if they're written out again without a document to refer to. Glad to hear you've got Permission :)

... this seems to have resolved itself.
So then: Congratulations on your Permission, and a hug!
*hugs*

After a brief meltdown, I did my best to reconstruct my piece from memory; it was a lot easier the second time. Many, many thanks for the support; it helped a lot.

On to the necessary info:
Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn is an ex-Sue from a Howl's Moving Castle badfic who has spent the last four years as a test subject at the Department of Mary-Sue Experiments and Research. She was made an Agent in late 2008 due to a shortage of them after the earlier invasions (which she slept through after testing an overly-strong sedative.)

She is insecure and constantly terrified of reverting to Suedom, and automatically assumes that any friendliness or affection is a result of lingering Sueness. As a result, she tries to be unpleasant in order to manufacture character flaws (but occasionally forgets and has a normal conversation.) This naturally makes her hard to work with.

Appearance: She was a generic Sue, but keeps her hair hacked short and (very badly) dyed brown. It looks awful. She also dresses entirely in PPC uniforms meant for people twice her size, so as to hide her extremely Sueish body. Her eyes are a peculiar blue, although they have gotten less improbable due to heavy Logicillin treatments.

Weapons: Generic knives or guns, depending on canon. Pitting her against a warrior Sue would be a Bad Idea.

Kimmie
Kimmie is a former bit-character; she was originally a lady-in-waiting attending a Code Geass Princess!Sue. That particular fic involved so many Sues and Stus that the agents had run out of inventive murder methods by the time they got to her, so she was dragged to FicPsych. There she acquired the personality of an amiable fratboy (loves beer, loves sex, loves video games, loves machines, and loves the actual act of brawling, but not the arguing part that generally precedes it). However, she still likes makeup, perfume, and feminine clothing.

Appearance: She is short, skinny, and has long purple hair (which is not only canonical but fairly common). In terms of dress and posture, she looks like a polite and innocent girl of about sixteen. Her eyes are an unremarkable gray.

Weapons: Same as above, with the addition of a white, ruffle-edged umbrella in some canons.

The rewritten intro piece is here, and I figured I'd start them off with A Fangirl Invasion.

Oh, and both of them will probably be in Floaters, at least for the time being.

owww that hurts. BEAR HUG

Have a toucan. Cage not included.

Have a pet cat. You may name her whatever you wish.

Hello! Have a seventeen foot long, multicolored, wool, knit scarf (curly wig not included), and a bag of jelly babies.

Please use them IRresponsibly!

A batch of freshly baked cookies...

How long has it been since you've last been here? Anyways, here's your standard Frying Pan of DOOM^tm, as well as a box of homemade fudge in your choice of flavor(s).

Fair winds!

Generally, breaking the fourth wall to speak to the reader directly isn't that good an idea; but quite a few good stories are written in a style that suggests the author is a storyteller, rather than simply an observer. For example, C. S. Lewis in The Silver Chair:

"After the meal they had tea, in tins (as you've seen men having it who are working on the road), and Puddleglum had a good many sips out of a square black bottle. He offered the children some of it, but they thought it very nasty."

It's not jarring; and it matches the tone of the story. The problem with author's notes isn't that they break the fourth wall; it's that they do so in a story that hasn't established that this is okay, either because the story is written as though it were being told by a storyteller

The other condition under which I've seen "good" author's notes is in a story that has already established a reputation for fourth-wall breaking for the purpose of humor. I remember, for example, a very silly story in which the author actually interacted with his characters; in that story, the characters heard the author's notes and responded to them. In general, though, that style only seems to match with humor and parody, and can't be used in stories that don't have some significant humorous element.

No, I haven't. But these are good! Thanks for sharing!

That author gets away with it for two reasons: One, it's funny, and two, it occupies a clear space in the text that doesn't distract from the story.

The problem with most in-text author's notes is that they come out of nowhere and distract from the story, often without saying anything useful. The general rule is, if it's really important, it should be included in the narrative. If it isn't really important, it can wait until the end of the chapter.

~Neshomeh, who has never used author's notes except at the beginning of the story on ff.net or at the end in other places.

I used to write in-story author's notes... but after a while I moved on to annotations and end chapter notes instead.

I actually used intext ANs on occasion. Then I came here and found out it was seen as bad form to do so.
So now I'm going to use endnotes instead.

You don't really need permission, unless you want any of the ones that are specifically mine. Without them, there's still Dr. Freedenberg, Head Nurse Suzine, Nathonea, Parwill, and Immac. Also, feel free to make up new nurses. They were left understaffed after the invasion.

That said, though, I guess Nurse Elms might be useful to you, what with her D&D background. All I can tell you about her is that she began life as a Generic Tavern Wench with a Sueish name, but after being in enough fights (no doubt caused by those pesky adventurers) she picked up some levels and somehow ended up in the PPC. Since people who work in bars always have a talent for listening to people and giving advice, she went to FicPsych. For characterization, I guess you have to read Gestalt Therapy, since that's the only time she's appeared so far.

Anyway, feel free to use her, and let me know if there are any others of mine you want. {= )

~Neshomeh

...FicPsych characters are free-range, much like Doctors Freedenberg and Fitzgerald. Still, I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. And is that Not!Todd I see? I can't wait to see his missions. *grin*

Does the Barbarian have a habit of taking the corpes of his enemies and carry them around?
Our minotaur player does this, he once carried a bandoleer of rat bodies.

I just wanted to say that, I can't really help on the nurse front, although the Wiki has a list here: http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/FicPsych_Personnel

Seriously? Link. I may take it on, although I'm not up-to-date on those continuums any more.
If not, I'll beta yours as I said earlier.

I'll Beta, but you'll have to send me your fics by email or on LJ.

You're spamming the Board with all these new threads. Please keep all your questions to one thread.

He was killed off in Tawaki's stories to kick off Macrovirus Plague story arc.

As far as I'm aware, their writer(s) never got Permission, so they're not officially part of the PPC. Also, there are some problems with them, which are discussed here and here. If you know who made them, you should direct them here so we can sort it out.

And, again, don't post so many new threads at once. It knocks other threads off the first page, so it's kinda rude.

~Neshomeh

We like to see brief descriptions of the agents in the Permission request, since they're a big part of what we're granting Permission for. In this case, they don't even appear in your writing sample, so it's important to include the bios here.

~Neshomeh

People being used to normal message boards, they naturally don't realize that making multiple topics can be annoying. Maybe a note about posting in current topics when possible could be put on the top of this board, where people could see it? Something like, "To avoid scrolling too many topics off the front page, please post replies rather than new topics when possible."

I think Calista has all the main points covered. Personally, I became tired of all the debates and went out and read all the Twilight books to decide for myself. I don't hate them. There are some aspects that I quite like and a few moments that are truly funny, but I'm not a fan. No one has lynched me yet. If anyone does like such fandoms, no one around here will look down on them for it, though they'll never get much agreement.

Also, I don't think I've welcomed you yet. Welcome! Here's a pocketknife with flamethrower. :)

*shakes finger* One reminder = enough, really!

Right. Eragon. Well, basically, it's simply not very well-written. The plot is predictable, the characters are flat, and the writing itself tends toward the urple. Eragon himself is a pretty standard Marty-Stu (and a self-insert on top of it), without the redeeming elements that make many Canon Sues less annoying than they could be. Many of us could, and have, written better stories; and all of us have read a great many better stories.

It's a bit like the way a professional chef might react if someone walked into his restaurant and asked him to make them a hamburger "just like the ones they serve at McDonald's."

first off, sorry for my gramatical errors. this is from my moble. only way i can get on. secondly, you really are a noob. dont be stupid. you are pissin alot of people off by moving their posts, which are much more important, to another page. but you already know this because you were told when you posted last time. please stop.

now to the regulars. sorry its been so long. i was very busy graduating from high school. now im back. hope i can get back in touch with y'all. how was boston by the way? sorry i couldnt make it (graduating). what did i miss?

This Board uses an old system. The messages do not refresh to the top when they receive a new post. People consider it rather impolite to post more than one new thread every couple of days. You've got seven so far, with two new ones after people very politely pointed out that you should stop posting so many so quickly.

So anyway, nice to meet you. Glad you are here, but please stop making new threads for a couple of days. If you want to make more posts add them as a reply to one of the seven you already have.

(Sorry if I am over stepping my non-oldbie, non-PG bounds here. I just thought more bluntness would help.)

As to Eragon, I believe the wiki explains why we don't much care for him. http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/Eragon
The intro quote on the page goes very far in explaining my problem with Eragon.

Twilight is just creepy. Since when has stalking been a legitimate element in romance?

As Neshomeh has pointed out, it pushes old threads off the front page.

From what I saw, they were taking LotR literally (as a manuscript written in Middle Earth, by Middle Earth historians, rather than a fantasy novel by a contemporary of CS Lewis). It's not so much talking about Tolkien's views as it's theorizing about political machinations in M-E.

I especially liked the section on Tom Bombadil. Isn't /anyone/ going to say he's a Time Lord? And the theory that Tom = Angmar, while a bit implausible, certainly did seem to have some literary backing.

On the other hand, I'm biased. It's the first place I've ever seen someone else take the view that M-E is Earth's distant distant /distant/ past, rather than an alternate dimension. Huh. It seemed fairly obvious to me...

Some of them were funny (I noticed one of them linked to the Tolkien Sarcasm theories page on the Flying Moose of Nargothrond website, which certainly brings back memories - I used to read that website heaps back in my pre-PPC days).

Others, less so. The "Blue Wizards founded Judaism and Zoroastrianism" and the "Zionist Dwarves" I didn't think were particularly funny.

And yes, I too found the phrase "tiny hobbit skeletons" kind of funny.

Elcalion

And I'm a die-hard Tolkien fan.

Especially the first one, which looks to have had some serious time spent on it. It flits gently from modern buzzword to obscure literary reference, all with an air of subtle sarcasm. It's a beautiful parody, almost Colbert-esque, albeit from the other side of the political aisle.

Hey, my fandom's WMG page broke the server, resulting in it being split in two. It's so long it took me several hours to read it.

At least the LotR WMG page is short, has decent spelling and grammar and doesn't have various people trying to justify their often conflicting, and occasionally completely OOC, ships.

To be fair, I don't know nearly as much Tolkien as most of you lot do. But it seems like this WMG page has much fewer intentionally silly theories than most of them do.

I think the first thing is hilarious. "He who controls the pipeweed controls the economy!" I love it. And they spin it out so well. {X D

As for the others, I'm not actually sure which ones you're referring to, but most of the other threads I looked at also made me laugh. It's all total BS and everyone knows it, so it's funny. {= ) And actually, a few even made sense.

As for Tolkien's political views, he specifically stated that LotR was not meant as an allegory--I think he also added that he disliked allegory--so anyone making that sort of accusation can be safely laughed at and/or ignored.

~Neshomeh

Especially the ones giving the Jedi the Ron the Death Eater treatment. Honestly, they're flawed, not Complete Monsters.

PS: Sorry if I offended anyone from Tv.Tropes. I actually hate making these kinds of posts, as it means that I've misplaced my self-control somewhere. I'll be all right after I get some sleep.

It's not worth my time.

Probably because you can write present effectively, not because the Suethor could.

Though as a writer of PPC missions and of stories in present tense, I take some offense that writing in present tense is a charge.

Present tense may not be your cup of tea, but as long as the author manages to keep their tenses straight (and doesn't mix randomly with past tense), present tense is acceptable for writing stories.

I liked Lee in a dress. That was funny.

Is he from Tlotoxl? Where did you find him?

The Adoption Agency'll look after Flui and Khazad-Dym unless anyone wants to adopt them. Who's Flui a mini of, though? o_O

I just made a post about minis on the wiki talk page. People are frequently asking about where to find lists of existing minis. I thought it might be good to make a Mini List page. Maybe one page for each type of fic we frequently encounter to keep the pages from being too long--books, movies, TV, comics, video games. The lists could be added to easily when agents encounter them, and who has adopted them would be easy to keep track of as well.

The most popular minis (mini-Balrogs) would dominate the list, so maybe just a link in their slot to wherever their list is being kept. I know people already maintain lists for some popular minis, but it was an issue just a few days ago, with no one really knowing where to look. Even if the lists were never copied over to the wiki, it would be nice to get the links collected onto it.

I think it would be the most beneficial for fandoms where the number of minis is small.

Opinions?

It looks like Sedri was waiting for more input (and time) in the previous thread, so here's my input:

I'm a bit dubious, too. No offense to Elorie, but the story doesn't look beta'ed much beyond spelling to me. Also, you had a chance to fix the issues in this repeated post, and there are still issues. That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. I know you have some personal challenges with grammar, but what that means is you have to work extra-hard to overcome them, not that we can let the problems slide. You're going to need a really committed beta--it looks like Pretzel volunteered, so that's good--but the final state of the writing is still your responsibility, not hers or anyone else's.

As for the characters, I seem to recall some concerns about Centurio being overpowered, and your sample doesn't show any signs of the humorous interactions we've been expecting. Basically, it's just Centurio bossing Joseph around and Joseph going along with it. If that's how the missions are going to end up, they're not going to be very interesting.

If you think you can overcome all of those doubts, then I'm willing to give you the chance, but it's an awful lot of doubt.

~Neshomeh + $0.02

And while I'm done at 2, transit times from the island will make it nigh impossible.

While I hate to demand that everything be rearranged for my convenience, I would very much like to be able to attend. ^^; The fourth and the sixth are I believe the only dates in the target frame that I work; are any of the others viable? ...maybe a weekend?

We're meeting in Seattle Center, right? I'll have to remember to grab a pocket-map at some point.

Of course, lots of things could change between now and then, but as far as I know, I'll be able to attend.

I like them, especially your drawing style, but I feel like the Assassin and the Bad Slasher are a bit overwhelmed with the various bits and bobs of weaponry, gadgets, and the like.

"A nourishing, oily mist of complex, and rather implausible, organonarrative compounds." Hormones, perhaps? Sues tend not to exist in brains capable of much logical thought, which Lustin certainly seems to hinder. It's especially applicable if you follow the theory that authors have a fundamental difference from non-authors, a sort of "narrative complex" if you will... I forget where I found this theory, but it certainly sounded plausible.

If the Sueness of a character is determined by the amount of nGlitter over the amount of cGlitter, then couldn't this be a theory of all OCs, including canons? Good OCs are simply Sue-like organisms with a high amount of nGlitter, and therefore less cGlitter and "speshulness". Although, there would be a threshold where the amount of nGlitter overwhelms the amount of cGlitter, turning the OC into a boring lump of matter with no individuality whatsoever, good for little more than a bit part.

On the other hand, my theory has some vaguely blasphemous principles--it suggests that some of the best canons (Tolkien, for example) are merely populated with relatives of the creatures we despise, only differentiated by a chemical imbalance. Ah well--such is science.

On the other hand, there would be a defining point at which the amount of nGlitter over the amount of cGlitter is too small, and we could clearly define "This is a Sue," "This is not a Sue." Ah, that would be glorious...

The Suvion is a Quasiparticle, not a pseudoparticle.

Congratulations!

If not, I propose that a page be made using this magnificently-written thesis.

Bravo, Mr Eldritch. Bravo indeed.

I think this works really well. It explains everything from the variance in Sue-species to Sue-wraiths to how writers call them into being. I love the application of faux-science, and yes, I think you get points for using "meme" and "memetic" properly. ^_^

I'm not sure about Suvians having any original homeworld, though. I feel that the potential for them exists everywhere, but the concentration of Canon Energy generated by Authors on World One is why so many come from here.

I wonder, though, how the element Narrativium might play into this theory. Is that perhaps another name for the Canon Energy you describe? Or not, since Suvians could be said to produce very low levels of Narrativium by causing the existence of stories? Or is that just a side effect, not something they actually do?

~Neshomeh

This theory is pretty good, I think, and also rather complex too. Nice work.

However, I'm afraid its mechanics wouldn't work very well with the PPC continuum.

Interesting. And somehow - I don't know. But to me at least, it makes sense if you ignore a few laws of physics, accept the Suvion, and live in HQ. I do not really think this theory would be considered seriously in World One, but aside from that... ?
Nice! :)

I appear to have been the first person on the Internet to use the term "ontovore."

Is this our most prolific PPCer yet? I'm jealous as heck, I thought I had a pretty good amount done. (Technically I'm only on my eleventh, but that's if you count That Series as all one mission. Still only twenty-odd if you don't. So I'm still jealous.)

That was a rough mission for her. Very nice.

And nice mission.

...Same as a certain someone understanding no "no".

This is another brilliant example of why rape (or non-con) is not a good plot device. Especially trivializing it!
AARGH!
...
Sorry. I needed that. Anyway, does anyone happen to have some Bleeprin? Or failing that, a saw to open my skull? I need to scrub my brain... *whimpers*

Flaming BLOODY Denethor. (I love that curse.) Damn the Potterverse and all its fangirls to the eleventy-first level of hell! Water-goblins chew their bones and revenants devour their souls for breakfast!

No offense to those who categorize themselves as fangirls but do not write badfic. But eurgh. Potterverse is among the worst sectors of the Pit, easily rivaling LOTR. I... eurgh.

Sorry about my ranting. I get like that sometimes. Iiiigh. What's terrible is that it actually has potential to be a decent fanfiction... Ah, the travesty.

Owwwwwie. :(

Now, who's going to kill it? Trojie's out of town and Pads... I think she said her brain's fried. Who else around here does Potterverse Bad Slash?

Laughed a whole minute after reading them! Nice work!

Those are quite funny. I especially love rule number 10. And "There is NO CURE FOR SPARKLY-AIDS."

Nice list. :D

This is something very useful, since those rules are very important.

And funny, too. Exactly what we need in the PPC.

And very pragmatic. Are you going to put it up at the wiki, by any chance?

I'll live to regret this, but okay.
Is there an RL version of Bleep products?

Nice mission. Congrats on saving the Spartans. :D

I like your characters. Xericka even got some funny lines in there.

I don't know the fandom, but I had to note that the phrase "fan service gel" nearly made me spray water over my keyboard!

Good for you! Yeah, I wouldn't survive two paragraphs without the wiki.

I have so far had two people tell me that they did not want me to add mission links to their agents' pages. I have made note of their names and will not do so.

One thing, though: I had no way of knowing which people they were, in advance.

Obviously, user pages should only be edited by the actual users; but agents are different, since their missions are part of the PPC canon and should be preserved. Many agents whose missions I posted were the creation of Boarders who hadn't been around in a long while, and others belong to people who don't use wikis much. The vast majority of agents can be tagged "Inactive"; and if we don't want their missions lost to the mists of time, they have to be listed. The pre-Wiki ones even had to have pages created for them, usually very simple ones just listing their partner, department, author, and home page, or else a copy-and-paste of the profile they had on their web sites.

For an active agent with an up-to-date page, the only editing that ever needs to be done by anyone other than the agent's author is adding mission links. But, as I said, I couldn't tell who objected to my adding them, nor for that matter who was still around, or around often enough, to edit the page themselves.

My suggestion is that anyone who does not want others adding missions to their agents' pages should put a small note on those pages, stating their preference.

Nice work! That must have been a lot to do! Thank you for doing that!
Have some "Thank you!" cake with extra icing on it spelling out a big THANK YOU!

That was a project of epic proportions, and you did brilliantly. Kudos to you!

I too noticed how much work you were putting in (particularly when it was only your name showing up on the recent changes page). I didn't worry so much about what you were doing to the wiki, that seemed pretty clear, but whether you weren't neglecting your RL.

As for the question alluded to in this message's subject:
I've a question I asked a while ago on the talk page of the Unclaimed badfic page. Perhaps no one noticed because of the above mentioned reason. My question was whether it was a good idea to remove fic from the Unclaimed list if it had been on that list for more than 18 months. It would keep the list (more) manageable, and I figure if it hasn't been claimed in 18 months, it may never be.

I've also checked between the current list and the list on 1 Jan 2009 (roughly 18 months ago), and saw that 65 fics had been on the list for more than 18 months. Less than 20 fics that were on the list on 1 Jan 2009 had been taken off the list, and almost half because their link was dead.

I don't think the Unclaimed badfic list should be a place holder for badfic (we've got FFnet for that). It should be a place were PPC'ers can report badfic that they for whatever reason can't write a mission on themselves. If the badfic is still there after a prolonged period of time, apparently no one else can or wants to write a mission about it, and perhaps it would be best to just let the badfic get lost in oblivion (i.e. remove it from the Unclaimed list).

Any comments? Yay, Nay?

*looks at various and sundry random objects*

These should come in handy.

(Muahaha...)

This is just me being me. Seriously. I think, therefore I organize.

Fair winds! See you at the Tall Ships Races! (because this ship IS going to participate, no matter what)

I think I love you.

I too had noticed the problem with organization and missing missions on certain pages, but unfortunately I got absorbed in a new project before I could get around to doing anything about it.

Here's to hoping folks actually follow your guide.

Have several "Wow! Well done!"s and a Random Artefact of Rassilon for your troubles.

Looks like you've done a lot of hard work. Most impressive!

Have a free-range chicken and a Wiki Tiki (I don't know what that last thing is; just pretend it rhymes).

I too have been watching closely and was initially suspicious of the unknown username, and although I remain an edit-vulture who picks on just about any page that comes up in the Recent Activity screen, I thoroughly approve of the effort you've made.

I suspect that there may still be more out there, hiding, but perhaps it will come to light in time.

Congratulations!

~Neshomeh

That is absolutely amazing. Here, have brand-new copies of all of the Metal Gear games.

I have really enjoyed the changes and extended linking. I think my favorite part has been the adding example missions to the various concepts pages.

And I am impressed.

I admit, I wasn't entirely sure what you were doing until this post, and when you started I was wondering what upstart little newbie was making so many changes (and I mean that kindly, I assure you ;p ), as your wiki user name is different than your Board name, but really, looking at this now... Well. Very, very good job.

(...Particularly since I know I'm a bit lax about some of these things. I still haven't updated the Killed Badfic page with my missions' textual victims. Must get around to that...)

Also, I completely understand your need to organise and categorise everything - I do the same with files on my computer. Ten or twenty thousand of them at last count, and they're all filed down to a pin. Messiness makes my fingers itch, but I never had the time or energy to make more than a few minor changes on the wiki.

So in case you haven't noticed, I most thoroughly approve. I think you deserve a party. Or at least a whole bunch of gifts. Here! Have a Capillary Towel, a Transdimensional Pocket Knife, a Bag, and a a few bricks of chocolate. :)

Lots of the canons we protect have conflicting details; I guess that the other organizations could theoretically exist as separate Word Worlds. I don't think it makes a fic count as killed if a non-PPC group sporked it, though (although that would get Naga Eyes out of our hair).

The Official Fanfiction Universities are, generally speaking - Jay and Acacia had a little holiday over at OFUM, and the PPC was at least mentioned in Miss Cam's work, so that's definitely part of our universe, but there are some that are incompatible, so I think those are generally ignored. To each their own.

In the Redwall section of the Pit, there are a few writers who write "Suebashers", where their Author Avatar goes in and takes down a usually ridiculously over-the-top Sue. More often then not, we make crossovers in which our Avatars interact and collaborate. It's all good fun. Personally, I'm making it so that my "Sueslayer" is aware of the PPC and often interacts with my agents, but I think it's really up to the sporker. Remember, we operate under the Rule of Cool and the Rule of Funny.

Ah Huckleberry Finn and Lord of the Rings crossover? People come up with stuff, unbelievable...
I mean, where are any connections? And from what I have read, it's not that properly done... A case for Improbable Crossovers?

Frodo is a well-fed Hobbit. Huckleberry Finn is supposed to be skinny and malnourished.

What....

Just what...

Also my first thought after that was. Nightcrawler bamfs him to Earth?!

Yeah, I'm pretty confused too.

Which is definitely for the best. How DARE they attempt to ruin Batman!

...with fire, if possible. Explosives and/or lasers would also be acceptable.

Yay! And applause to your agents to endure this monstrosity of badfic! Poor Holmes, what happened to your integrity, moral values, character... *weeps*

Since Kelok and Unger did their second mission in a bad parody fic, I am giving this one to make up for the bad one.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5697779/1/So_Ludicrously_Silly

It is a crossover of Sherlock Holmes and Monty Python, and the title "So Ludicrously Silly" really says it all.

Enjoy.

Miah
Mission Plug and Beta Request

Plug for Kelok and Unger's first mission. Sherlock Holmes.

Warnings: The original fic is NSFW, NSFB. It contains character replacement, graphic descriptions of bloody murder with no remorse, and violent sex between two males. The mission is also NSFW and NSFB after the agents step through the portal into the fic due to the nature of the original.


http://miah-arthur.livejournal.com/8459.html Devil of a Time


Also would like to request a Beta for their second mission.

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=17x6D3GwszF0yY9Z9Ukdk6M_FTRBGtlzjLVjpQfhRf5U&hl=en&authkey=CMbR-8UJ

There is some shooting and injuries in this mission, but it should be Safe for Work.

Nice idea for agents! Anyway: Here's a celebratory cake for your agents, and aside from that... May you deal with plenty of badfic and free the multiverse of it.

The fic Jane was rescued from is real. There was, indeed, a Maia!Sue who was Aragorn's daughter, and she did indeed have a friend who was a four-way hybrid of Middle-earth's major races. Add their habit of popping in and out of modern Earth, and you have one major headache.

It was written by two of my friends, who are almost certainly past their Sue stages by now. Intelligently, they never posted their creation.

Of course, I can't be one to talk; having once written a Mary Sue who was the supergenius daughter of the Ellimist (Animorphs). She became a Controller, overpowered her own Yeerk and became an estreen fighter pilot who eventually gained the Q-like power to change reality itself. Next to that, Maiar and four-way hybrids look downright tame.

Thanks so much for the input, Neshomeh! I was a bit worried I wouldn't get FicPsych right. I guess I hadn't anything to worry about!

I get the feeling they're going to miss Jason. You make a good point: it's not the best place for hallucinogenic Plants. ^^; Plus, he just seems an all-around nice guy.

FicPsych: *throws Jason a going-away--no-really-we-don't-want-to-see-you-here-as-a-patient party* *for five years of sorta-hard work, gifts him with five months' worth of Bleeprin, his own coffee pot, and possibly his tranq gun and darts if that works for his author*

... I suspect they also hate me for starting the whole "badfic recruit needs a personality" trend, though. I'm sure their workload has doubled since Ilraen first got the treatment. Oh well!

Enjoy your Permission. ^^

~Neshomeh, trend-setter.

Good job! I thought your writing sample was very well done.

...and now I'm just teasing you the way I was teased when I applied. Dragging out the moment. Permission Granted!

Your agents are original and sound like fun, and your writing sample not only drew me in, but made me laugh. I like that little touch about Jane possibly being the only agent to study the manual, and given Jason's lack of field experience, I look forward to seeing him go insane. Just a little. ;)

Now, that said - go forth and write!

Just send it to code.name.schroeter@gmail.com.

You can send to me by clicking my name.
If that doesn't work: slobel42@live.co.uk

Yeah, sure, why not? I need to get back into the swing of things,and what better way?

D'you have a link to a Google Doc or something, or will you be needing my Email address?

Script format! Make it go away... *whimpers*

Last I heard, people aren't supposed to post stories in script format. Precisely because of the reactions we're seeing here, I assume.

~Neshomeh

My description was "The IRC roleplay conversation from hell, now with 20% more hallucinogens!"

I... guh... what...

Why on earth did I read the entire thing through? I could hear my brain cells scream as they died...

Think Nostalgia Chick's reaction to the final battle scene in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, and you pretty much have an idea of what my brain did while reading this.

If I were a wolf, I'd be growling over my kill-to-be right now.

...Hoo boy. Nearly a full-cast exorcism, navigating Generic Surface, an emergency trip to Medical, and since Odin has developed a personality, emotions and lips, I think I get to kill a giant mecha character replacement that can shoot lightning around. This'll be a challenge of a mission.

Now, I know that Legolas would normally speak a certain type, but I dunno if the author of this fic even knows/cares. Although, it's nice to see the author is trying.

On second thought, vines of lust?!? Do I even want to know?!

...what I can make of this. I'm not really fluent, either, but a hardcore Tolkien fanatic, and I hate the butchering of Elven languages. Now this is what I came up with:

"pen velui": "pen" is a pronoun, meaning simply "one/someone". "velui" is put together from "mel" (lenition makes it "vel" after some nouns and pronouns - debatable in this case), which means "to love" or and the suffix "-ui" which may be added to a word to create an adjective denoting attribute or ability. So basically: "Someone loved/loveable"
"roch neth/roch-neth": "roch" is "horse". A hyphen is not supposed to be there, for as far as I remember, Tolkien never used hyphens in any of the Elvish languages. Should I be wrong, please correct me. "neth" means "young/girl/sister". So it could be translated as "young horse".
"Ihaes": No idea. Found nothing in either Quenya or Sindarin dictionaries.
"Gûren": There is "gûr" in Sindarin, meaning "death" and "heart", though the latter in the moral sense. The "-en" suffix roughly translates as "my". Altought the accent above the u would vanish is the composition of "guren": "my heart/death".
"Maer fuin": "Maer" is an adjective to mean "useful, good", and "fuin" translates as "night, gloom, darkness". So: "Useful gloom"?
"Erfier": The prefix "er-" means "alone, one", and "fier" is made up. It should be "fíreb" meaning "mortal", or "fair" meaning "mortal man".

I may not be right on eerything here, and I welcome any and all corrections. For translation purposes I used the Hiswelóke Dictionary. Anyway, I hope this helps, Honu_Wahine!

Not that I wouldn't like to learn; it's a very cool language, and I'm a nerd like that. -ahem- Anyway. From what little I know and have seen, umlauts in Elvish only appear over E's, and *only* when that E is at the end of a word, as a reminder that yes, it is pronounced, as in Manwë, Olwë, and a third of the rest of the cast of the Silmarillion. And I've never seen the U-accent (û) in anything but Dwarvish.

I think, in this case, the author was too lazy to find real Elvish (which technically would be Quenya or Sindarin, not Elvish, but I'm generalizing) but wanted to make ser fic look fancy with speshul languages, so instead se just made up some cool-looking arrangements of letters and accents. I used to do that myself... Then I figured it out. Now I'm working on my own languages. :3

I'm gonna try it now!

Loved the Snow Miser reference.

Also, Broom/Bella. New pairing. :D

*blinks*
Well...
It's funny! Eeyore... *chuckles* But on the other hand - wouldn't Bella make him more depressed? If you go by New Moon and her character therein? Poor Eeyore, he needs someone to cheer him up a little, methinks, not make him even more sad...

...and raise you 5 Reasons We Love Harry Potter More Than Twilight

But, unlike most of the people on that list, Aquaman is married! To a very jealous woman who can tear tanks apart with her bare oh I see...

Eeyore: Thanks for noticing me.
Bella: Sorry for making you think about me.

NPR gets super bonus points for reminding me of those Miser songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yon2YuXssvo

I love NPR. On top of that awesome, hilarious list, they threw in a Unitarian joke. ^___^

~Neshomeh, Unitarian Universalist

The following links are not a comment directed at Pretzel, just something art-related that I thought would fit better here than on a new thread:

Understanding Your Style: Symbols, Design Pattern, and Anti-Pattern, Parts One and Two, by =whitetrashpalace.

I found it very interesting since it deals with concepts we also see in writing, and thought it might be interesting and maybe helpful to many of us here who also draw.

And, Pretzel, the drawing is cute. A higher scan and/or save resolution would do wonders for the image quality, but the composition (the way the eye is led across the image) is really engaging. It's like following the path Lee just took down the corridors to where she is now. Very nice!

One easy way to make your images more striking is to not be afraid to use really dark darks and light lights. The darkest spots on any face, for example, are the pupils of the eyes, the nostrils, and the line between the lips. Don't be afraid to make those really black. Also, a little spot of white in the pupil really brings the eyes to life. You'll be amazed what a difference that alone can make. {= )

~Neshomeh, who isn't quite sure when she figured that trick out.

I learned perspective drawing when I was little (I haven't got the creativity to use it well, though). It was actually pretty easy. Just now I googled "Perspective Drawing" and came up with a handful of guides on the first page. The basic principle is that you kind of imagine a grid of lines across your world; one set (the set that goes from the viewer into the distance) converges at the vanishing point, and the second set is straight up and down and across. So the door in your corridor would have straight up and down sides, and the top and bottom would be lines that go to the vanishing point. It's kind of hard to explain without pictures. *points to Google* But really not hard to learn, like I said. My sixth grade art class did fine with it.

HQ is probably one of the only places where skewed perspective wouldn't look out of place, though!

It looks good!
Maybe the lines are somewhat unclear, but hey! I like it.
And the perspective: I find it completely acceptable, given what HQ is like...
Anyway... Nice work!

That's not bad. I agree that the perspective in HQ probably does look like that.

Due to the fact HQ has never seemed to conform to standard rules of geometry, I find the perspective in the sketch perfectly acceptable! :D