Post What's on Your Mind

[Dr. Funk]

I got a new job.

After being a short order cook at the same place for nearly 9 years I finally decided to move on, now I work for an HVAC distributor in their warehouse.

It's not particularly glamorous work but I actually get a steady 40 hours a week with three weeks of paid vacation, company provided health insurance, and a 401k.

I think that makes me a real adult now.

 

[coyotecraft]

I'm getting into a new genre of fiction. It's broadly "occult" but I think there's a substantial body of work that could be called a subgenre. I'm don't know what it would be named, but it deals with someone falling in with a cult/coven or just being initiated or witnessing ceremonies or sacrifices.
Under "occult" it would be distinguished from psychic detectives, hauntings, and gothic monster romances with vampires and werewolves. lol.

I watched "The devil rides out" an old movie with a young Christopher Lee playing a good guy who's trying to save his godson or someone from joining a cult and selling his soul to the devil. It's not as cheesy as this one church's anti DnD comic. But more religious than "The Craft".
There's a book I read back in high school about a girl that got lured into a cult, I can't remember the title, but I remember they wanted her to kill her cat. It's funny 'cause you're suppose to "save the cat" in ACT 1 so the audience empathize with the protagonist, but here it's peer pressure to kill the cat in the finale.
The PS1 game Vagrant Story is kinda cult-ish. There's a city fostering "The Dark" and a ritual to pass on, well, the keys to the city basically and control of the dark. It's heavily implied that is in the same universe as Final Fantasy XII, and "the dark" is the magical mist which is a conduit for magicks and spirits.

If I had to outline the genre conventions I'd say the thing they all have in common is a power struggle between leaders and or among cult members. And probably the salvation or redemption of a soul, of an initiate or Human Sacrifice.

I never realized I had a taste for stories like these. I think it might be related to my obsession with Animorphs from when I was a kid. There wasn't a cult. But there was youth group that was a front for a parasitic alien invasion. It's similar in a lot of ways.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

There's a series on Netflix called The Order. Have you seen it? It's cheesy and there's goofy comedy. But it is definitely of the joining-a-cult subgenre that covers initiations, discovering the cult's secrets, and power struggles within the cult.

Is there a trend in occult fiction where the teenage or college-age protagonists have goofy comedic sidekicks?

Speaking of psychic detectives, I remember perusing Netflix one day and shaking my head at all the super-detective series there. There are genius detectives and superhero detectives and detectives who can talk to dead people. I just thought, "Enough with the detective work! Can you make a story about someone with extraordinary ability who does something besides solving crimes?"

 

[coyotecraft]

Haven't seen it yet.
The Magicians is starting it's 5th season on syfy this month. It's deviating pretty far from the books at this point because they were only a trilogy. The first season had an interesting split between the Magic College and the rejects called "Hedge witches" that study magic in their own way. As the series continued the hedge witches became less like a cult and more like a subversive back channel, black market kind of thing. Everyone just wants to be connected or plugged in (to magic), like it's a drug.
Drugs and cults seem to go together. There's this book I'm reading right now, the cult is just pretend spirituality (Possibly a hallucination of an unreliable narrator as well). There's no magic but they go through all these rituals just so to get high together. Why do any of the rituals at all? When they hate each other too. At that point it's less occult and more anthropology.

 

[Xilef]

I'm eager to post in the "What are you working on?" thread. Just need tomorrow to arrive (and be well enough to go in for my first day).

Also, a load of new anime series for my 'favourite' animes appeared from nowhere.

 

[Fayte]

so today (after 2 years) I found out that my credit card has a referral link and I get rewarded if people use my link and get approved for a credit card so if anyone is interested in getting a new credit card then here’s the link: https://capital.one/2sICNLg

Also, since I’m not ridiculously ill anymore I’m going back to working on all the different side hustles I was doing before I got sick.

 

[Xilef]

Yo I got myself a Microsoft email address now :shades:

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Someone on a Facebook RPG design group had a question about what to name a key event in his communist-utopia setting. It would have been fine if that's all he wanted to do, but then he had to bloviate on how cyberpunk is the dystopian future waiting for us if we let Republican policies proceed, and our future utopia can be created by rising up against the rich, and whatever. And then I had to educate everyone, and I realize that I'm living in some kind of bizarro reality where there are actually people who think that the French Revolution was a great idea! Robespierre, Reign of Terror, Temple of Reason, and the rise of Napoleon. Do people not learn about this stuff in school?

As for revolutionaries killing the rich and taking their stuff, I listed Zimbabwe and Haiti as prime exhibits in what happens down that path. And the reactions were like "lol postcolonialism duh." I challenged everyone to name one instance where their people's revolutions didn't result in a total shitshow, and they listed France (!!! see above!) and Cuba, where people are so desperate to flee that they'll set sail in a bathtub if they think it can reach Florida.

Freaking pinkos, man. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

 

[Xilef]

You are aware that a majority of French people celebrate Napoleon as a hero? And it's a majority that believe the French Revolution was a great idea?

The opinions on Cuba are currently changing now that US propaganda has relaxed a lot. I believe US propaganda likely still has a strong influence on the opinion on Cuba for majority of US citizens, but outside of the US views are changing to be more sympathetic as people learn and read about what happened.

The general opinion of the younger generation in developed countries are trending towards socialist ideals.

 

[coyotecraft]

I should probably take something for this headache before I kill something dead.

 

[Ellie]

One day I will progress beyond this.

TodaY IS not that day.

 

[Fayte]

I spent all day working on my website which is extremely hard for someone that has no idea how to code in html or css... but I made tremendous progress and I’m super happy/proud. There’s literally 2 things I’d like to change/fix but google isn’t telling me how so I give up. Think I’m just gonna go live with it now.

 

[coyotecraft]

My headache is gone but I have no chill today.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Xilef: Yeah, I guess I had forgotten that Napoleon is a national hero, and that the French don't see him as one of the world's bloodiest dictators. I get that people learn about the French Revolution, liberty, fraternity, and all that. But seriously, when I asked for a revolution that didn't turn into a shitshow, I think of the French Revolution as the quintessential revolutionary shitshow and I'm still surprised that other people don't see it the same way.

Coyote: I'm not a doctor and I know nothing about your medical history. Are you drinking enough water? Getting enough sleep and exercise? Spending some time outside, focusing your eyes on something farther away than a computer monitor? I'm not doing any of the above, but it might help you. How do you respond to aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen? They don't do a thing for me, but I imagine they must help other people.

Do any of you get headaches, then you take double the recommended dose of Advil, and you still have a headache? That's me. I've pretty much stopped taking painkillers because I always seem to hurt just as much after taking them as before. I do take Tylenol for a fever though. That usually makes me feel better.

Amy: Looks good so far. Let that day be soon.

Fayte: Are you doing all of your website by hand, or are you using a template or anything? I installed Wordpress on my web server. I still don't know anything about CSS or PHP and I wouldn't be able to customize much, but I think it looks good enough for my needs. What's your website's address?

 

[coyotecraft]

I know I got a lot of tension in my neck. I took some magnesium. Burning frankincense. Meditating.
I haven't been sleeping well all month. I'm pretty sure I'm hydrated and healthy otherwise.

 

[Fayte]

Fayte: Are you doing all of your website by hand, or are you using a template or anything? I installed Wordpress on my web server. I still don't know anything about CSS or PHP and I wouldn't be able to customize much, but I think it looks good enough for my needs. What's your website's address?

I bought a theme and I’m using that. my website is http://www.kickinsteals.com I just want to remove all of the information shown outside of the title of the post from the homepage. Outside from that it’s all set and good to go. I’m going to try and play around with it today but I literally have no idea what I’m doing.

 

[ZenVirZan]

I NEED GEORGE NEWBERN AS SEPHIROTH

THE GREATEST ENGLISH CASTING HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM US FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

 

[Ellie]

What's happened? Other than me posting about making an MMORPG again?

There are 838 people online. 6 members, 0 hidden and 832 lurkers. The most ever online was 1214 on 15 Jan 2020, 22:26.

That's double our previous.

 

[Jason]

Well fuck... o.O

 

[Jason]

Actual guess though; The RPG Maker games were on sale on Steam over Christmas/New year... maybe a bunch of scrubs scouring the internet for resources?