Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

…well, I’m gonna be smug about it anyhow.

Anyhow, in the last several years, I have…well, I haven’t done a whole lot. I went to my local community college, and I did reasonably well there. In fact, it helped me finally get treatment for my depression and anxiety, which has done me the very world of good in several different ways. I’m still not much of a writer, though, and when I looked at my article here I cringed hard enough to sprain something :V

I’ll probably continue my education, but I’m not sure where. Do I stay local, with my local safety net, or do I venture forth like Grown Adults are generally supposed to have done as soon as they’re legally able? I have no idea.

Also, my home state legalized pot, so I’m going to be at least fifteen percent likelier to giggle at silly things and tell you all about my stupid ideas. I apologize in advance.

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Ehhhh. They ordered new episodes, but the showrunner, Dan Harmon, was replaced, and a lot of writers are gone. I don’t have much confidence in the upcoming season, to be honest, especially after the awesome stuff this season did. Ultimately it might have been better if it had been cancelled.

So I dunno if this is the darkest timeline, as such, but it’s getting there.

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wtf, ffs

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the fuck?

What.

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On the subject of characterization: Remember the Cat who still did things, well, like a cat, and the droll or humorous juxtaposition of feline behavior and thought with that of a human? Remember the Kryten who slowly built a personality for himself apart from cleaning things? One of my problems with VIII is that you see neither of these two characters. (Yes, there’s an argument to be made that the Cat’s characterization had been going downhill for several series at this point, but I feel that VIII represents a real nadir.) In VIII, we get a cheap-fashion-related-punchline dispenser who is occasionally Dwayne Dibbley, and a shrieking, clingy, needy housemaid who, we are occasionally reminded, is a robot. (And a robot with a penis, haw haw haw guffaw chuckle.) Lister and Rimmer were quite a bit off as well, as has been explained above, but there wasn’t a single major character spared this sort of distortion and simplification.

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:-D

Hodor, hodor ^_~ .

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>NORMAN LOVETT – THE ULTIMATE DISASTER MOVIE!

This summer…he will get his ball back. Or die trying.

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Speaking of videogames! I found a copy of Electroplankton at GameStop during the summer, for a bit less than twenty bucks. You can make some pretty gorgeous music with it.

I find it’s best with headphones.

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-A few months ago I started visiting my local comic book shop on a semi-regular basis. I went in looking for Atomic Robo–which, don’t get me wrong, is an awesome comic and one I strongly recommend–and I came out with that and the first volume of Transmetropolitan. I now have all ten volumes and I’ve begun to seriously suspect that Warren Ellis is my new favorite comics writer.

I also got some other stuff–some Fables, for example, some Bone, Alan Moore’s From Hell, and a lot more–but Transmet is what well and truly sucked me in, and got me fully interested in a form of storytelling that I’d only hesitantly explored before. (It helped that I was buying local, from a guy who knows his stuff. He offered “money-back guarantees” on all of the above, confident in the knowledge that I probably wouldn’t need them.)

-My taste in music tends to be a bit eclectic, and I tend to get bored and leap onto something else pretty quickly (with the exception of a few stalwarts in my music collection, like the Flaming Lips). For example, just this year I bought and/or downloaded work by Daft Punk, Childish Gambino, David Bowie, Owen Pallett, Radiohead, the Olivia Tremor Control, Talking Heads, the White Stripes, Raphael Saadiq,and Electric Six. The last thing I listened to was an EP from a French electroswing outfit called Caravan Palace.

-My parents would probably be better equipped to answer this on than I am, since I don’t really watch a huge number of films these days. (I want to go see that Muppets movie, but a trip to the theater is fairly expensive these days.)

-I do loves me some vidjagames, though. I’ve been playing the hell out of Golden Sun DS and a game called Nostalgia, along with the DS Castlevania titles. I particularly recommend Portrait of Ruin, magic-frying everything in your path as Charlotte (or making heavy use of your stylus as the Sisters, in a New Game +). I also quite like Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies for its attention to the details (and the number and creativity of all its many, many puns).

–Community. No, seriously, Community. Why don’t more people watch this show? I mean, it’s wonderful. Same goes for Parks and Recreation, which is as sweet as it is hilarious, and God is it ever hilarious. Ken Burns’ documentary on Prohibition is also pretty neato (particularly its soundtrack, which I really wish I could buy somewhere but haven’t been able to find).

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Actually, I think the title says all that needs to be said. As in “oh, it’s Norman Lovett. Again.”

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Its [sic] just *got* to be shit though hasnt [sic again] it? Holly (the guy) isnt [very sic indeed] in it either…

:( .

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Everypony’s dead, Dave.

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You mean “s***” and “f***”. Darn it, man, think of the children!

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You know who I don’t trust? The Welsh. Them and their not-enough-vowel-using language…

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Indubitably.

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And now I expect you see what I meant by Tywin Lannister being the biggest fucking asshole, right? I mean, I know Sansa’s kind of a twit (after all, she’s a teenager), but nevertheless…neither party in that arrangement deserved what happened to them. And that’s not even the most important one of its kind in the book!

On the bright side, however, his final scene, with Tyrion–not to spoil things for others, but I suppose you could call it “gut-wrenching”, huh?

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Clash of Kings is probably Tyrion Lannister’s finest hour in the series so far, and the book that cemented his place in my personal list of The Best Characters Ever. That said, a bit of warning, in as not-spoilery a way as I can possibly express it: I’m working through Storm of Swords, which comes after, and, well…Tywin Lannister is the biggest fucking asshole, is all I’ll say of it.

For what it’s worth, however, in the second book Catelyn does actually go and do stuff. Also: You meet Stannis yet? He’s pretty assholish too, although not much more than about .6 Joffreys on the Song of Ice and Fire Assholishness Scale that is totally serious and which I really didn’t just now make up.

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PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE INSULT CASTING ASPERSIONS ON THE INTELLIGENCE, ATTRACTIVENESS AND SEX LIFE OF EVERY OTHER PARTICIPANT IN THE THREAD.

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REBUTTAL OF THE NEXT COMMENT.

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I can see an Ace spinoff being enjoyable for maybe even as long as two or three minutes, given a sufficiently talented writing staff. After that, I suspect it would, at best, become “too much of a good thing”.

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What the hell are “Red Dwarf extremists” anyway? Do we have, like, Molotov cocktails to throw, slogans to write on walls, thousand-page manifestos, things like that?

Anyway, sounds like he’s staking his future on making millions off his tell-all, ‘cos I’d be willing to bet that this “I’m not bitter, I just Google-stalk my online detractors so I can yell at them over their phone” does very little to inspire confidence in any future employers of his.

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YOU GUYS YOU GUYS YOU GUYS

THEY CAST STANNIS AND MELISANDRE

AND BRIENNE OF TARTH AND MARGAERY TYRELL

AND…well, I’m a teensy bit bummed it’s not Chris Eccleston, but NEVERTHELESS THIS IS PRETTY AWESOME NEWS GUYS

WOOOOOOOOO

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In the interest of full disclosure, it’s not like I made those .gifs or anything; I just saw them on another one of my favorite messageboards and decided that I really liked seeing Joffrey Baratheon getting backhanded over and over and over again.

While on one level it must kind of suck to know that you’re widely considered to have the perfect face to convey total assholishness, in the business of acting that might be turned to your advantage–after all, there’ll always be a need for villains…

edit: I almost forgot! Are any of you Game of Thrones nerds also Arrested Development nerds? If so, you guys might just go for Arrested Westeros. Some of these are pretty inspired, actually.

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Here, let me make everyone happy with a couple of scenes of Tyrion keeping his Imp hand strong on Joffrey’s head:

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g57/baramosnet/tyrionslap.gif

http://oi56.tinypic.com/290r8m0.jpg

Downright hypnotic, aren’t they?

(It almost makes me feel bad for the actor playing Joff, though–you can kind of see him flinch just before the hand connects. By the end of the second season, that kid’s gonna have a permanent dent in his head in the shape of Peter Dinklage’s fist.)

edit: Okay, so these are links instead of images because for some reason, these wouldn’t show up when I tried using the tag.

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Jaime… really? The man who tried to kill a child for witnessing him shagging his own sister? :o/ Granted, I’ve not read the books, but I’m not really sure that you can really redeem yourself after that.

I know–I was every bit as skeptical as you are about developing sympathy for a child-crippling sisterfucker, but the more you get into his head, the more you get to see the reasons why he does as he does, like ChrisM explained.

For what it’s worth, (VERY MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD) he and Tyrion are pretty close. (Well, up to a point.)

I seriously cannot wait until someone punches Joffrey in the face. I’d happily watch a whole episode of just that.

Y’know, I think I have a couple of .gifs and .jpegs that would be right up your metaphorical alley, if you want me to post them for you =D .

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It’s ok, it was more fake rage than anything. I’m happy he’s still around!

Okey-dokey! I blame the limitations of text-based communication online; when I’m not sure of the nuances of a statement, I err on the side of trying not to be an asshole. (Occasionally I even succeed!)

And I’m every bit as glad as you that Tyrion’s still around. He really is just the awesomest. (I read somewhere that he’s one of the author’s favorites, too. It kind of shows, but not in a bad way.) I don’t think it would be spoiling to say that Jaime has his cool moments as well, but I still think Tyrion’s the best by miles.

A question: Do we have spoiler tags somewhere, and they’re just not listed with the others, or is that something only you fine folks who run the place get to use?

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I apologize; feel free to delete or edit it somehow.

I just thought it was good to find out–just like some people will doubtless be pleased to find out about the explicit sex scene between Hodor and Sirius Black, presided over by a strange new character named “Jorge Q. Q. Blartin”…

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I just got A Dance with Dragons today. I suppose ways exist to make me happier than I am right now, but I bet they all involve mood-altering substances.

Also! The very first chapter is a Tyrion chapter.

Joy.

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The Olivia Tremor Control’s “Define a Transparent Dream” and “Jumping Fences“. Not bad if you like some nice psychedelic rock. (God I hope those links work for people outside the U.S.)

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As it happens, I just picked this up a day or two ago, along with an interesting-looking game called Spiral Knights. I’m not able to be on as often as I’d like, but when I am, I go by Romanadvoratrelundar.

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Jon himself is about fourteen, though, if I recall correctly, and I think Robb’s about the same age. That might be where you got confused, there.

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What? I don’t think he ever says anything about Cersei’s age, but she’s definitely older than that. F’rex, she was married off to Robert Baratheon not long after the whole brouhaha with getting rid of the Targaryens (I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to tell you that in book 3, A Clash of Kings, she’s supposed to be I think fifteen when that happens), and that was nearly twenty years before the events in Game of Thrones.

Joffrey’s around twelve, though. And quite the little shit for his age, too. He’s downright precocious in his shititude.

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Yeah. According to things I’ve read on the interbuttz, the characters started out so young because George R. R. Martin intended to include a time skip of a few years, in order for the lil’ badasses like Arya and Danaerys to sort of grow into their awesomeness. But when he tried to actually write that, he couldn’t make it work–which is why their TV counterparts are older: ‘cos he kind of regrets making them so young in the first place. At least, that’s what I’ve heard…

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>link

Ah. So she can proclaim, at the end of the scene in the beginning of Clash of Kings with the failed attempt on her life, just how much she’s not bovvered by poison?

…God, that was awful. I’ll just show myself out.

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Y’know, I wasn’t initially in favor of it, but the more I see Chris Eccleston recommended for the role of Stannis, the more I can get behind it. He has a fine scowly-face, which is absolutely vital for Stannis.

But what about Melisandre? And Davos Seaworth, come to that. He’s kind of cool.

I can’t really think of anyone for the Greyjoys, except to suggest that they look for people skilled at playing awful, horrible, eminently punchable people, just as they are in the books. (I think Theon’s not quite as bad as Joffrey, but it’s a close thing.)

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I don’t have that fancy-pants cable teevee, but I’ve read the books–in fact, for my birthday a few days ago, I got a box set of all the published series so far and a pre-order for A Dance with Dragons. I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say that it really only gets more awesome from here.

Favorite characters, anyone? I think mine’s Tyrion–he’s a bit, not much but a bit, like a smaller Edmund Blackadder. Arya and Danaerys are also pretty super.

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What an unprofessional doddering old fart he has become.

Or maybe he was always an unprofessional doddering old fart.

Hey, now, be fair! He hasn’t always been old.

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yup. Kryten ended up shouldering most of the expository load for that series, which sort of sidelined Holly for the most part.

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“Parallel Universe” should almost certainly include the Cat staring almost perfectly down the barrel of the camera, the respective looks on Arnold and Arlene’s faces as the latter grabs the former’s behind; and maybe, if you can, Dave and Deb sharing a bed. Oh, and also a lipstick-covered Holly with Hilly, and little skutters.

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It goes with his almost uncanny ability to make friends wherever he goes.

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Guys. Guys.

Community, you guys.

Seriously. Perhaps I come from a place of bias in saying this, because Community is now one of my favorite shows that ever was, but I think its theme song is pretty catchy, and suits the show perfectly.

Also, for what it’s worth mentioning, I enjoy both the theme to Conan O’Brien’s sadly brief stint on the Tonight Show and the theme to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

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Hey now. Norm can write his spiteful, petulant book-length tantrum quickly, or he can do it well; but he can’t do both. Have you no appreciation of craft?

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>I had a brie and cranberry sandwich for lunch.

That sounds extremely yummy. (I haven’t had lunch yet.) I expect I have brie around somewhere, but, alas, no cranberries.

Anyway! I’ve finally gotten around to getting into college. It’s just community college at this point, but my grandfather used to teach there, and as an institution it’s pretty good. And all of this at the exceedingly tender age of twenty-five, too. I’m growing up so fast…

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1. That Kryten head looks cross-eyed. It’s excellent in every other respect, of course, but he’s still looking squarely at the tip of his own nose, as far as I can tell.

2. A link, possibly relevant to the subject of “rock, paper, scissors”.

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Change “Florida” to “eastern Washington state” and you’ve got yourself a great idea there, Phil.

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Taken on its own merits, Norm’s Twitter page is barren enough that I kind of wonder why Norm bothered to join. It feels more than a bit redundant to me, given that he doesn’t seem to have much of an online presence at all.

On the bright side, it let me find Stephen Fry’s Twitter page. (Okay, maybe I could have searched for it. But I’m not on Twitter, and I’m lazy.) So…that’s something, I guess.

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Oooooo, Belzoni! This long-time Ancient Egypt/archaeology/ancient history geek thanks you so very much for that link, Ridley.

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Lovely site, which is going right into my bookmarks. I look forward to your future reviews and articles on whether Moffat-led Doctor Who is transcendently, mind-bogglingly awesome or merely overwhelmingly awesome.

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No, guys, Romana if it’s a girl. Romana.

And I dunno about the rest of you, but out of the names performingmonkey suggested, I personally kind of like Sylvester as a boy’s name. Or Patrick. So I’m seconding those.

(Also, it’s spelled Jon. Just sayin’.)

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May I suggest the name Arlene? =P

But seriously, congratulations ^_^ .

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