Thank you for tearing me open

[sovay]

I am in between doctor's appointments of the day. Have some links.

1. On the phenomenon of comparisons that disappear up their own context-flattening pop-culture references: Rosa Lyster, "This essay is just Harry Potter for people who think comparing things to Harry Potter is stupid." "What does describing Machiavelli as an incel do other than indicate that you know what an incel is, vaguely, and you have read something somewhere about Machiavelli not being too keen on women?"

2. I am feeling bitten by this comic because in second grade my Halloween costume was Gene Kelly's umbrella from Singin' in the Rain (1952). I was very proud of it.

3. I had never heard of Cosmic Wimpout until spatch mentioned it last night. I don't even normally play dice games. The FAQ are delightful. "Generally, we follow the direction of the path of the scoreboard. If you are not using a scoreboard, it's up to you, as we can't remember how we used to do it."

4. I still haven't managed to see The Lighthouse (2019), but I am already here for this female-forward maritime neo-noir. I would put that poster on my wall. I might still if I can get it.

5. I legitimately thought this was fanart for Machineries of Empire until I counted the number of eyes.

P.S. Any necklace with a spider motif and uranium glass really belongs in modern-day Paradys.

Comments

[rosefox]

I played Cosmic Wimpout at summer camp! I still have my Cosmic dice. There wasn't enough room inside the cabin to run around yelling "WHOO WHOO HERE COMES THE TRAIN" after Train Wrecks, so you had to run around the outside of the cabin, which was very entertaining for the people who weren't doing it.

[sovay]

There wasn't enough room inside the cabin to run around yelling "WHOO WHOO HERE COMES THE TRAIN" after Train Wrecks, so you had to run around the outside of the cabin, which was very entertaining for the people who weren't doing it.

That seems entirely in keeping with the spirit of the game.

[cynthia1960]

I wish I lived in a timeline where I didn't have to be aware of incels and their violence.

[sovay]

I wish I lived in a timeline where I didn't have to be aware of incels and their violence.

It would be nice if they were not a phenomenon, yes.

(The article is not dismissive of the need to know about incels; it is frustrated with the rhetorical device of x-is-just-y-for-z because it is indifferent to context and so often does not illuminate either of the things being compared so much as it just sounds snappy for a minute, which I think is a fair criticism.)

[landofnowhere]

Isaac Newton the original incel? Really? Anyone who claims that either knows something about Newton that I was totally unaware of, or thinks it's okay to make fun of male virgins if you call them "incels".

[sovay]

Anyone who claims that either knows something about Newton that I was totally unaware of,

Same. If anything, I'd have thought people would be arguing over whether he was ace or not.

or thinks it's okay to make fun of male virgins if you call them "incels".

I hope people are not doing that. I know quite a lot of people who are unhappy not being in relationships, but that is not, the entire point of having this distinction, the same as being an incel.

[isis]

I vaguely remember playing Cosmic Wimpout ages ago, when I was involved in Markland (like the SCA, only local to my area) in college.

[sovay]

I vaguely remember playing Cosmic Wimpout ages ago, when I was involved in Markland (like the SCA, only local to my area) in college.

spatch played it as a college student in Western Mass., where it seems to be regionally popular. It feels like something I should have encountered in college. I am now invested in at least watching it played once.

[cynthia1960]

Definitely a fair assessment.

[nineweaving]

...in second grade my Halloween costume was Gene Kelly's umbrella from Singin' in the Rain (1952).

Awwwwww.


I was very proud of it.

And rightly so.

Nine

[sovay]

And rightly so.

Thank you!

[landofnowhere]

Yes, I've heard the ace/gay theories too, which sound entirely plausible. Newton was certainly a jerk to various of his contemporaries, but I don't think we know anything about Newton's attitude or behavior towards any women other than his mother, so it's really puzzling.

(And unfortunately the "don't read the comments section" parts of the internet have plenty of people who don't see any problem with making fun of male virgins at all.)

[redbird]

I think my Wimpout dice are in the storage unit (which is a subset of "in a box somewhere" at this stage of our slow move/unpacking). It's been a long time since I used them.

A lot of our Cosmic Wimpout games were played with most of the players stoned, which may have been the origin of the "Yale 2-point rule," that once per game you could have an extra--and completely useless--two points if you really really wanted them.

That this fit well with the game as a whole may ay a lot about the game, or the players, for those of you who haven't played it.

[gwynnega]

I love that Halloween costume comic. I hope you have a photo of yourself in your second grade Halloween costume. That is a wonderful costume idea.

[alexxkay]

One of the greatest friendships of my life is due, in part, to Cosmic Wimpout. He and I passed each other on the Brandeis campus. I noticed his Cosmic Wimpout t-shirt. He noticed my SCA t-shirt. We went about 5 more paces, then, with perfect comic unison, each stopped, turned, and said, "I should know you!"

(We spent much more time playing Cosmic Encounter than CW in the long run :-)

[lauradi7dw]

"Clear the tracks!"

[lauradi7dw]

South Hadley was Planetary Headquarters for CW (I did not make that up). I'm not much of a game player, but at the behest of a friend, I did dutifully stick a cosmic wimpout sticker on every tollbooth I drove through.

[sovay]

I hope you have a photo of yourself in your second grade Halloween costume. That is a wonderful costume idea.

Thank you! My parents almost certainly have pictures.

(Should they ever be uncovered, I shall try to scan one for you.)

[sovay]

South Hadley was Planetary Headquarters for CW (I did not make that up).

I believe it and am charmed.

[sovay]

That this fit well with the game as a whole may say a lot about the game, or the players, for those of you who haven't played it.

It matches what I gathered from the website, yes. But it also looked like a game that could be improvised sober, and I value those.

[sovay]

(We spent much more time playing Cosmic Encounter than CW in the long run :-)

That just makes the story better.

Mazel tov!

[asakiyume]

That *does* look like fanart for Machineries of Empire~

[sovay]

That *does* look like fanart for Machineries of Empire~

You see why I had to count the eyes!

[kore]

If anything, I'd have thought people would be arguing over whether he was ace or not.

Yeah, the impression I have of Newton is he thought sex would have distracted him from the Principia. And that he pretty much thought food was also a distraction (that story about him and his cat!).

[thisbluespirit]

That would be a very cool poster to have! (I hope the film lives up to it.)

And I don't think I'd be quite ready to wear uranium glass, lol.

[osprey_archer]

Blow the Man Down looks AMAZING.

[sovay]

That would be a very cool poster to have! (I hope the film lives up to it.)

It seems to have gotten good festival reviews! And it was filmed in Maine, which automatically makes me warm to it.

And I don't think I'd be quite ready to wear uranium glass, lol.

Since the internet tells me it didn't fall out of fashion until the mid-twentieth century when uranium became strategically important, I'm wondering if any of the antique glass I grew up around was mildly radioactive. I don't remember anything that looks like those luminous drops, but it does seem to have come in different colors.

[sovay]

Blow the Man Down looks AMAZING.

I'm really hoping!

[coraline]

I'm totally charmed by being a very specific umbrella from a movie.... how did you decide that that's what you wanted to be??

[moon_custafer]

There’s a short Big Finish Doctor Who drama in which the Doctor makes the mistake of pulling out a handful of coins from different centuries and planets while trying to pay a tavern bill in late seventeenth-century England, and ends up under arrest and being questioned by Newton in his capacity as Master of the Mint. As played by David Warner, Sir Isaac is fiercely convinced of the rightness of his cause, but also smart enough to realize this is no ordinary case of coining, nor do the coins from the future make sense as “Catholic propaganda” since while it might benefit them to posit the existence of a future Irish Republic allied with Europe, it makes less sense to convince people of a second English monarch named Elizabeth; moreover the off-world coins make no sense unless they are real, and therefore the Doctor must actually be a time traveller and extra-terrestrial, and this conclusion is giving him a theological headache. I think he finally just kicks the Doctor back into the TARDIS and tells him to leave.

[moon_custafer]

I get especially annoyed by things like “The Countess of Castiglione was basically the Paris Hilton of her day,” as I think it both inaccurate (to the best of my knowledge Paris Hilton was never sent as an unofficial diplomat to represent US interests abroad) and tends to be said in a tone that implicitly dismisses the capacities of both women.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm wondering if any of the antique glass I grew up around was mildly radioactive. I don't remember anything that looks like those luminous drops, but it does seem to have come in different colors.

I don't think there was any luminous glass in my vicinity, but I myself glow anyway due to having briefly worked in a nuclear power station. :-D

That necklace is one of collection I should probably bookmark and make into a proper collection called cool 'Sapphire and Steel prompts'.

[sovay]

but I myself glow anyway due to having briefly worked in a nuclear power station.

That is extremely neat, providing it does you no harm.

That necklace is one of collection I should probably bookmark and make into a proper collection called cool 'Sapphire and Steel prompts'.

YES DO IT.

(It's radioactive; I suggest the transuranics.)

[sovay]

I'm totally charmed by being a very specific umbrella from a movie.... how did you decide that that's what you wanted to be??

I loved Singin' in the Rain!

(Why an umbrella and not a human character? I have no idea. I could not run convincingly up a wall.)

[sovay]

I get especially annoyed by things like “The Countess of Castiglione was basically the Paris Hilton of her day,” as I think it both inaccurate (to the best of my knowledge Paris Hilton was never sent as an unofficial diplomat to represent US interests abroad) and tends to be said in a tone that implicitly dismisses the capacities of both women.

It's very reductive. I much prefer modern AUs.

[thisbluespirit]

YES DO IT.

I did it. Although I didn't call it anything, I just tagged it inspiration and Sapphire&steel.

It's radioactive; I suggest the transuranics.

It's supposed to be harmless and worn by people, so that seems like worrying overkill! Maybe someone like Lead instead?

[brigdh]

I've been excited for "Blow the Man Down" since I first heard about it a month or two ago, but I hadn't seen that poster before and now I'm even more excited! (Also, "The Lighthouse" was stranger than I expected, and I'll be very interested to see what you think of it.)

I love the not-fanart too!

I found the article about "x is just y" interesting, but I'm not sure it's as new a phenomenon as the author argues. I was just reading a 1986 novel earlier today, and one character told another (a private detective): "Back east you must be considered the David Susskind of your profession." 30ish years isn't a hugely long historical timeline, but I suspect people understanding concepts by comparing them to other concepts is a fairly fundamental part of human nature, even if it flattens the distinctions.

[sovay]

I've been excited for "Blow the Man Down" since I first heard about it a month or two ago, but I hadn't seen that poster before and now I'm even more excited!

I suspect it won't really have sirens in it, but I can hope!

(Also, "The Lighthouse" was stranger than I expected, and I'll be very interested to see what you think of it.)

I'm really hoping to see it before it leaves theaters. I loved The Witch.

30ish years isn't a hugely long historical timeline, but I suspect people understanding concepts by comparing them to other concepts is a fairly fundamental part of human nature, even if it flattens the distinctions.

I think that's immemorial—look at the phrase "Napoleon of crime." That's bringing a reference from the past into the present, though, and I do feel that something like "Nietzsche was the original incel" is different in that it projects a specifically contemporary concept into the past and expects it to be read meaningfully. It may not be new, either, but I agreed with the author that it feels like it's suddenly everywhere.