Zompist Bboard Again

That said, were Arthurian stories elite? I was under the impression they were genuinely popular culture, consumed by a fairly broad range of the population. They're all over our memories of medieval times, but we know little about the 90% of the population that was peasants-- especially their oral ...

bradrn wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 7:21 am Reading this thread, I’m somewhat surprised to see that no-one’s yet mentioned the Arthurian stories.

The original question was about popular culture. Of course there has always been elite culture. There are oral epics, but so far as I know the Arthurian stories were never that.

But even if we get past the current disaster, the wisdom of relying on a single major funding source is now in question. But if you look at governance rather than power, the same perverse takeover problem arises at every level. Smaller administrations are particularly prone to it. It's easier to fi...

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Mar 27, 2025 4:53 pm Sure, but I'd say most science-fiction contains at least some elements that are closer to fantasy.

That's one reason some people prefer to call it "speculative fiction." Or, as I do, just SF.

To be clear, I never meant to imply to Raphael anything like, ‘just chop it in half and exhibit it as a short story’ — I meant something more like, ‘consider whether it would work better as a short story and rewrite it with that aim if so’. Definitely a question worth asking. As is Ares Land's sugg...

The chilling part is that issuing an EO on voting requirements carries the implicit threat that Trump will cut off Federal funds to states which don't toe the line. However, he's really playing with fire if he takes that route, because if the blue states that primarily fund the Federal government d...

The caveat is that novels are easier to write, because you have so much more leeway for digressions or episodes or changes of pace. A short story should generally be more focused-- it's really a more advanced form of storytelling. Admittedly I’m no writer, but I’m not convinced that novels are ‘eas...

If you find you can't fill 10 pages with plot, that's a sign that you won't be able to fill 250 pages either— you need more things to happen. On the other hand, it might make a good short story (a format to which I’m very partial). This is good advice, with a caveat. :) Maybe you have 60 pages of s...

I suggested you read Forster's Aspects of the Novel , and the chapter on Plot is relevant here. And note, this stuff is hard . Ideally the plot and the character arcs look effortless— things happen, characters change in response, and it feels like real life. But as Forster notes, characters often d...

For some writers, what helps with this sort of thing is writing what movie people call a treatment. Think of it as an plot synopsis (such as you might find on Wikipedia), but about 6 to 10 pages long. No dialog, focus on plot. It should be detailed enough that you can't get by with something like &q...

It's worth a shot to see if there's still one or two lawmakers in the GOP who retains a nodding acquaintance with the notion of principles. Slim pickings. It might be relevant that 3 Republicans voted against approving Hegseth– Collins, Murkowski, and McConnell— forcing Vance to cast the deciding v...

If I tell someone "substitute X for Y", does that mean that I want the final outcome to contain X or to contain Y? (Concrete example: "Substitute regular mayo for chipotle mayo.") I think I'd expect it to contain X. But I wouldn't be shocked by the opposite. Pragmatically, I'd g...

and there has to absolutely have been annoying, extremely dedicated fans of painters, writers, sculptors, people getting into fights over Aristophane's last play or whatever, and how the fact that these dreadful gothic pointy things are barbaric departures from proper romanic architecture, [...] Of...

BGMan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 25, 2025 9:45 am The excerpt from Koi Ɣanai... was that a stand-up comedy routine that he or a friend wrote down?

It is rather written like stand-up comedy, yes. No bio yet for the man, though.

keenir wrote: ↑Mon Mar 24, 2025 4:21 pm as it is, it seems more like Malloc is engaging in volunteer or charity actions...or is pro bono more accurate a term? not sure what fits best.

pro malō would be more accurate

Turkey's main opposition leader is jailed and there are hundreds of thousands on the streets for days despite a ban on demonstrations. I can only look on with envy. (Of course, the US news media is hardly reporting on this, but that's another rant.) Quite. We need that energy here. Unfortunately it...

I'm sure you've heard the truism that dystopia is where what's already happening to POC happens to white people. [...] But I really can't recommend that anyone visit the USA right now. Seconded. We have family who are thinking about visits, and I'm trying to discourage them. It's absolutely absurd ...

Unrelated: has anyone ever done serious research into what might be called the "experience paradox"? What I mean is this: few people would like the idea of being treated by inexperienced doctors when they're ill. But if inexperienced doctors don't get to treat patients, how is the next ge...

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 12:43 pm Does anyone know what the character limit for ZBB posts is?

60,000 characters, according to the admin pages.

Education is handled at the state level here, and plenty of states are already run by Republicans. Yet they haven't eliminated public schools, far from it. Republicans have openly allied with Christian nationalists, but they have not been indistinguishable from them so far. Christian nationalists a...