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like i profoundly don’t relate to the fandom idiom of “i love characters who are losers who suck so bad at everything”…well i don’t…that sounds dull…

#might enjoy a character with that profile because their emotional problems are just that compelling #but it’s not the source of interest #in itself #and it’s baffling to me that so many people think sucking is interesting

bvs: shows you all the exact reasons why this version of batman like all movie versions is unique to himself batman fans: why is he different

#again as a batman fan #i always have to laugh #and nerds acting like the essence of the snyderverse being its own cinematic universe and an adaptation mind you #doesn't make it an elseworld story #in itself #is just ridiculous logic man

One of the many things I am somewhat insane over: Pet and Athelas' contrasting POVs of her decision to banish him from her presence.

Pet on the left, Athelas on the right:

I mean. FIRST of all there's how well they read each other. That Athelas knew she wouldn't stick to it if he really made an effort to change her mind and is now planning to exploit that. SIR. That she knew he wouldn't come back, and he did in fact deliberately bar himself from returning for five years because he didn't trust himself around her.

But then there's the contrast of her motives as discussed in these two places.

You've got Pet's mixed and uncertain "why did I say that? I don't know. Maybe to hurt him. Maybe for his sake." She doesn't know! She doesn't trust herself to know!

And then you get Athelas' POV, and it has quietly picked out the kindest, most compassionate possibility she considered and accepts it as the entire story. His perspective isn't even "she had a right to do it," it's "this came from a place of care and I know it."

Just. augh. the way he believes in her intentions even more than she does. The way that even at his worst and most selfish, in these books, he never thinks the slightest negative thought about her. It's A Lot.

#between spoilers #behind spoilers #(only for the first chapter or so of the first book but still)#like going back over the start of this book is wild because i forget how garbage he is at this point (affectionately)#man has so many things wrong with him and he is actively embracing several of them #but ALSO he is so soft about pet all of the time. start to finish #city between #w. r. gingell #...also #'Athelas knew his Pet'#hngh #that possessive is Getting To Me #in itself #and ALSO personally for the echo of holmes on the two (2) occasions he calls watson 'my watson' without the 'dear'#both of which are also in the context of 'knowing' ('i thought i knew my watson' and 'i ought to know my watson by this time')#and both of which are Important. to me #the sense of the person both as Your Person (no other qualifiers!) and as a subject to be learned and to gain expertise in

i've lost it already but it turns out that post that says 'i'm not disabled i just have elaborate ways of doing things that take up a lot of energy and end up just approximating what things should be like' is rolling around my brain saying hello HELLO

#i know i'm disabled but ouch #also snappier phrasing #which #in itself #yeah

My opinions on genAI are too complex to write in a snappy tumblr post BUT if my university just, say, updated its AI policy and released its OWN AI PROGRAM

And also values its reputation as an academic and research university (I hope)

And generally wants its student body to do Good Academic Work

Then THIS

Is a WILD thing to say when the AI is supposedly SPECIFICALLY FOR THE STUDENT BODY

"Oh yeah we released a new does-work-in-an-academic-setting machine"

"It's just got a significant error rate and shouldn't be trusted lol"

"lmao"

"Also we're laying off a bunch of staff and instituting budget cuts university wide"

"But tuition's still 50k a semester"

"ppppbpbbptpbpbpbpbpttttt"

#I'm actually pretty interested in llms as tools and ways of experimenting with information #but the amount to which they!ve been embraced as search engines is quite annoying #and imo promotes disinterest in the /act/ of searching for and making connections a #between pieces of information #which is basically my entire field's research component #(not that I believe they're making the kids stupid or smth)#(I remember the moral panic about iphones and I'm not gonna believe that gpt kills braincells or whatever)#if anything I wish there was a way to teach that research #in itself #could be a fun and rewarding thing--that the journey of finding and interpreting information #free of external interpretation #bias #or potential censorship #is worthwhile #but given that both the school system and internet have seen a fair amount of enshittification #yes I believe that the hyper-standardization of academia is harmful to passion)#I can also see why students are drawn to easy #and seemingly well-articulated information which doesn't require additional work.#the big issue for me is that we can't see the innards. we don't get to make choices about the nature of the program beyond prompting it.#it imposes a surprising passivity upon students #when the best research is often active to the point of disruption #also yes I know that saying the ai can be untrustworthy is not some blanket condemnation of its functionality #but #it' still frustrating to see people get so excited about something which is known for lying to users enough that it's an accepted caveat #at least in historical research we're taught /how/ to critically process and analyze text!

I don't mean to deny that there's bad writing around, but I think some of the things denounced as bad or awkward writing are just ... characterization?

Dialogue in particular can be awkward when a character is awkward or at least not much of a people person. Sometimes characters aren't especially articulate or eloquent! That's fine!

There's a point at which it can be jarring or "off" even for the character. Or it can be in-character, but still taken so far that it's (unintentionally) aggravating; generally fiction aims to be somewhat life-like, not documentary. But there's got to be some accommodation of character. They should have distinct voices, after all.

Also, there's something related to this issue of examining lines or dialogue in isolation from context, characterization, etc, I think. It's pretty common and useful to quote characters' dialogue to substantiate some position or another. It's not bad per se, but I think it's important not to be uncritical about it.

Sometimes characters aren't completely self-aware, after all (IMO this should be most of the time, in fact!). Sometimes they're wrong. Something they exaggerate out of guilt or self-aggrandizement or some other reason. Sometimes they flat-out lie.

And I think we sometimes look at dialogue (or even narration) that contradicts something else and are like, look, an inconsistency! Bad! But often, it's because the character was wrong, whether about their own motives or something external to themself. Or lying. That's not necessarily bad writing. Sometimes it's just verisimilitude.

#anghraine babbles #anghraine rants #general fanwank #i love me a good close reading but nvm unreliable narrators; sometimes we don't even get a consideration of unreliable /dialogue/#and credibly awkward dialogue from characters it suits is ... fine actually #in itself

*Wednesday, Enid, Yoko & Bianca walk through the halls of Nevermore*

Wednesday: "Did the teacher say where to meet them? Or do we just walk aimlessly around searching for them?"

Bianca: *looking around*

Yoko: "I can't remember where the teacher said to go"

One of the many things I am somewhat insane over: Pet and Athelas' contrasting POVs of her decision to banish him from her presence.

Pet on the left, Athelas on the right:

But then there's the contrast of her motives as discussed in these two places.

You've got Pet's mixed and uncertain "why did I say that? I don't know. Maybe to hurt him. Maybe for his sake." She doesn't know! She doesn't trust herself to know!

#in itself

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