"[W]e physicists interpret existences as something like a symptom of wave-function collapse, some quantum illusion to exploit, a brief fermata of indeterminacy, but I prefer to think of myself and all my selves as the falling star, every permutation of every choice I’ve ever made and ever will make existing in every moment, forever. ‘Merrily, merrily’—isn’t that what the truest sailors say? Nothing blinks out, nothing ends. Everything exists, always exists. Life is but a dream, Shannon. Self is the only illusion.”
Ok but what if Uncle Colm narrated the Hobbit... I don't think you'd actually have to change anything lol
Colm: ...As I was saying, the mother of this hobbit —of Bilbo Baggins, that is—was the famous Belladonna Took, one of the three remarkable daughters of the Old Took, head of the hobbits who lived across The Water, the small river that ran at the foot of The Hill. It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That was, of course, absurd, but certainly there was still something not entirely hobbitlike about them...
"But what would it be to cast out into space creations that had no eyes to see it and no heart to fear or exult in it? [...] So strenuously unrobotic is the astronaut's heart that it leaves the earth's atmosphere and it presses out - gravity stops pressing in and the counterweight of the heart starts pressing out, as if suddenly aware it is part of an animal, alive and feeling. An animal that does not just bear witness, but loves what it witnesses."
working in an office is just like being in a horse movie except the horse is a printer. im the only one in the office who can make it work and its because the printer and i have a special bond. its a wild and untamable spirit and we are going to win the big race
anyone else thinking about effie spending 24 years watching haymitch completely fall apart. effie, who met haymitch by accident, who knows exactly what kind of person he is, who sees him every year on his birthday for 24 years and each year he’s drunker, each year he’s angrier, each year he’s faster to give up. and then they get katniss and peeta. peeta, who is kind and open and understanding, who refuses to give up on haymitch. and katniss, who is so much like haymitch at 16 that it hurts. and over the few days they’re together, effie watches haymitch come back to life. watches him try. watches him have hope. and then they get to keep not one but both of those kids. they get to come home. and then, less then a year later, effie pulls haymitch’s name at the reaping.
Effie is actually not fanservice because she is important to the theme of propaganda in SOTR
Effie is 100% brainwashed AND YET she still hasn't lost her humanity. She believes propaganda completely AND YET she doesn't use it as an excuse to abuse people. Throughout the book, the tributes are constantly dehumanised. But Effie doesn't treat Haymitch that way. She helps the team. She's there for him in the launch room- which Drusilla and so many Capitol citizens would never do.
So there really is no excuse for abusing people, not even "I was lied to" or "i thought i was in the right" or "I was fed propaganda"
You still choose how you interact with people around you and how you treat them.
This is absolutely my thoughts!!! Her character is a perfect example of genuinely kind and empathetic people who just completely miss the real problems that those around them are suffering.
Like, she absolutely could have and should have done more to educate herself on that suffering (especially all those years when she is assigned to district 12) but she still serves as a great example of how a “good” person can be wrong and support a horrible regime.
And a great example of how terrifying that kind of person can be. She's kind and empathetic, she sees Haymitch as a human - but is also 100% bought in that his suffering is the noble sacrifice that allows society to function. He should be honored/respected for his sacrifice, but never spared.
Fan service or not, I think giving us Effie here also gives more context to her character in Catching Fire. Her slow realization that this is wrong but not really knowing what to do or how to articulate it has more depth when we see how she's rationalized living this way.
i love how suzanne just gives us a little treat by mentioning the katniss plant every book. like here u go. ik u miss our girl. she's fine. enjoy lowercase katniss
Okay but it’s fucking brilliant that one of the themes of the book was about the distortion of history.
Usually prequels are a dangerous thing to write because unless they’re planned out well in advance, they risk contradicting lore in the main series. Even still, we knew barely anything about Haymitch’s games. They were the perfect stomping ground for new information, with a rough series of events but without a close temporal connection to the main books.
But though she had this freedom and safety net, while she could have just written a story that aligned with what we knew, Collins leaned into the idea of contradicting past lore head on and made it the damn thesis of the book; that yeah, actually, it did play out entirely differently from how the characters saw it, and yes that contradicts what you were told, that’s the point.
We didn’t really know what happened in the 50th games until we read it from Haymitch’s perspective, because what little information we did have was spliced up and edited. The video evidence was processed through the Capital, and twisted to serve their purposes.
Tackling that idea of history being written by those in power with a notoriously inconsistent medium? Goddamn, writer that you are, Suzanne Collins.
Huge pet peeve in video games is when you can’t hold your breath underwater for very long or it takes a good while to regain your breath above water. Unrealistic. Like my condolences to the devs for your lack of breath support but that just could not be me…
Book number 3 goes to spot #20 A short story, one with less than 5,000 words. I read the whole collection of short stories, Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, which certainly contained stories under 5000 words lol.
Why this book: This was part of my sci-fi language wishlist for books that use linguistics/language as a central theme or plot point. When I realized this had the story that the movie Arrival was based on, I was even more excited to read this collection.
Why this category: Last time I did this challenge, I got really hung up on trying to figure out how many words various books had. Kinda not caring as much this time, haha. Are there short stories? Sweet, probably under or about 5000 words I bet.
What did I think: This was an excellent collection of stories. I had two favorites. First, Division by Zero. Short stories are such magic - so few words and I care so much about Renee and her work and Carl and his poor choices lol. Second, Hell is the Absence of God. Good world-building, I easily identified with the main character and his ambivalence towards religion and belief. The ending of this, *chef's kiss*. I always enjoy a good ironic story about how cruel love/devotion can be.
Stories of Your Life was also great. I enjoyed Arrival, but I liked what the short story focused on instead of creating some wild threat to humanity. I also liked that there were more humans who understood the alien writing system - and more humans therefore who were going to experience this new way of seeing the universe with this "simultaneous consciousness."
My least favorite was probably 72 Letters - neat idea with industrializing the golem. But I felt like it got really bogged down in building the world and explaining the minutiae of making golems. It's a short story, you don't need to spend that many words suspending my believe. Let's hear more about the Kabbalist, the cultural impact of the golems, and what the elite British wind up doing when the plan comes to fruition. Overall though, great collection of stories and definitely recommend.
A quote or two:
"What he insists on is that they not love God under a misapprehension, that if they wish to love God, they be prepared to do so no matter what His intentions. God is not just, God is not kind, God is not merciful, and understanding that is essential to true devotion." ~ Hell is the Absence of God
"-'No one could actually experience such a thing; it's like believing six impossible things efore breakfast.' -'How would you know what I can experienced?'" ~ Division by Zero
"Brain damage is never a good idea, no matter what your friends say." ~ Liking What You See: A Documentary
Next books: On my Discworld journey, I finished Jingo and started Last Continent. I'm excited to see how many categories I can shove Discworld into lol. My kiddo recently started The Giver at school, and I finished that during a long night at the hospital. I had never read it before. I also still have Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky in the wings.
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