Saturday, June 28, 2014

Write Club: Fiction Personality Tests

Hey y'all.  So as a fan of Starcraft, some years ago I created a personality test to determine what sort of person someone was when they told me their favorite Starcraft characters.  I refined the test after the first few attempts, so I ended up with this as my final request for information.

Favorite race
Most hated race (say none if you don't hate any)
Three favorite characters
Three least favorite characters

I also requested that if they didn't hate or really like three characters, then to only put two when that's the case.  This test hinges on people's real opinions, and having them shove in an extra character or leave out one that they really like skews the results.  Also, everyone has a favorite race, or otherwise they're probably not a big enough fan to have a favorite, and thus the analysis wouldn't have a point.

Why am I telling you about this?  Because I think it's something that anyone who is either psychologically inclined or literature-minded can do, provided they know enough about the universe in question -- which in this case is Starcraft.  Other universes can be used instead, so long as they're deep enough and you're familiar enough with the characters in them.

What I like about the Starcraft universe is that every character is deeply flawed in some way, so people automatically reveal their insecurities by telling me their favorites.  Hee hee...

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Nitpickery: Volition Agent

Hey y'all.  So I got in a free book on a facebook contest.  It's called Volition Agent.



I call it terrible.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Me and Aldaris (31): Stayover in Korea

Lee Cheonha poked her finger through the open wire door of the hamster cage.  She gently pushed in a small sunflower seed, slowly offering the gift to the small, bewiskered critter inside.  Pappa had been through all this before.  He knew what it meant to smell the scent of his new owner, and he hauled his pleasantly plump self through the pine bedding to go get his treat.  He didn't so much as shudder when one of Cheonha's fingers rubbed his soft little ears.

"Good boy, Pappa," Cheonha giggled.  "You are a very good hamster.  I will bring you carrots when I get home from work tonight."

"You feed that thing too much, Cheonha.  You're going to spoil it.  Besides, I thought we were meeting to do our english homework."

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Nitpickery: Rurouni Kenshin

Hey y'all.  So I was working some overnights in my bookstore to shift the shelves around, and we'd have lunch breaks (where I work we always call food breaks "lunch"), and we'd bought in some manga.  Now, I want to like Japanese comics, but the trouble is, many of them are just so dang weird and some outright demented.  That, and I'm not interested in looking at panty shots or girls with boobs too big to walk straight. Seriously, Japan, what's up with that?  Well, not that American comics are much better in that regard, but at least our superhero sluts are in proportion, and also of legal age.

Whatever, that's a debate I'll leave for another day.  I'll just say for now that the only manga I've really cared for to this point is Azumanga Daioh, Yotsuba to, Hollow Fields, and Sarasah.  Thing is, one of those is written by a European, two are by the same guy, and the last is Korean manhwa.  It's kinda hard to recommend a manga when that's my entire knowledge of the genre.  Well, I've seen the Lucky Star anime, but that was boring.

So anyway, during one of my lunch breaks, I picked up Fushigi Yuugi.  Well, too much rape, nudity, and mysticism meant that it was a no.  Seriously, Japan, nudity with school age girls?  Okay, fine, I'll stop blaming a whole country for one artist's perversion.  Moving on...

What did I try next?  Rurouni Kenshin, by Nobuhiro Watsuki!



Friday, June 6, 2014