Suchian Musings And Ramblings About General Designs Involving Notable Estuaries

Ali_Roz

Spoiler:

I am not (metaphorically) comfortable in my own skin/mind, and I neither wish nor feel-like-I-deserve to be so, despite the valiant efforts of the people in my life.  The best I can explain is to say that over years a deep sense of internalized guilt has at best become-very-good-at-mimicking-my-sense-of-right-and-wrong and at worst may have made-itself-inextricable-from-such.  I suppose a hairshirt is an apt metaphor for the self-loathing I've developed to resolve this: a (to a small degree) hidden discomfort that becomes familiar (but never pleasant) and which is less scary to the person in question than the-idea-of-going-without-it is, but which does not, in fact, accomplish anything worthy or good.

Discomfort is a natural part of life, and one which we have all been constantly subjected to for the last couple of years, so this mostly hides amongst the background radiation of despair the world is feeling, which means I am able to function normally and properly (or, at least as well as could reasonably be expected, which is close enough to "okay" to be acceptable).  Being unable to accept "for my own mental health" as a valid reason still leaves me more than enough reasons to do almost all of the things which "for my own mental health" would demand.  In most cases, that is...

The problem is politics, or, rather, my desire to disengage from it.  If it's a dereliction of duty and a-thing-of-privilege to not care about the issues that affect so many people, and the only reason anyone gives/accepts as valid for doing so is "for my own mental health", then I'm left without a way out (or, at least, one that doesn't involve feeding that sense of internalized guilt).  I know it's not equivalent and I ought not to think so, but I envy atheists and agnostics their ability to opt out of a-thing-that-matters-to-billions-of-people and do so in a way which is socially accepted as not needing justification.

Ali_Roz

Oh snap, that was NOT meant to be a pejitoppa!

Princess Alice

Spoiler:

For what it's worth, I, as an atheist, feel a duty to fight oppression even when that oppression is based on someone's religious beliefs. I oppose Islamophobia, for example, and I've stuck up for my pagan friends when they've been mistreated for their beliefs.

In the hypothetical situation where a Christian was oppressed solely for being a Christian, I would fight against that, too, but that's not really something that happens in present-day America.

Ali_Roz

Spoiler:

I appreciate that sentiment; it means a lot to me.

To clarify, what's troubling me, well, it isn't a thing of rights/oppression/persecution but of mentality (it's having-a-headspace-where-you-can-opt-out-without-needing-to-justify-it that I lack).

Also to clarify, the distressing politics are more local than you're likely thinking. I find it very apt that we speak of a culture war and battlefield states, and during the recent midterm election my state was bombarded by political advertisements, most of which was paid for by PACs and out-of-state forces.
The prospect of Utah becoming a battlefield state terrifies me, I'd be constantly in that situation which I have no good escape from.

glennmagusharvey

Spoiler:

I think that I've been able to avoid most of the political ads simply by not watching TV, either not listening to the radio or only listening to NPR, and browsing the internet with an adblocker.

That said, that requires not watching TV and only listening to NPR only occasionally and browsing the internet with an adblocker.  The third might be easiest.

Ali_Roz

Just saw the Matilda Musical (the one on Netflix) with my sisters.  Nice try, Minchin, but I managed to hate it.

It helps that the desires for rights, freedom, and self-determination are way less sympathetic motives to me now than they were when I was a child; and it's harder to feel bad for Matilda's book-loving not being encouraged when she at least lives in a universe where libraries and bookstores are still thriving.

Ali_Roz

Also any story with a "question authority" message is going to have a much harder time landing with me after the last few years.

Also double middle fingers for including live-action book-abuse, musical.  That was not okay when I was a li'l Rozzy reading the book, nor when I was a slightly-less-little Rozzy watching the 1998 movie (though obviously not in 1998, I'd have been too young then), and kudos for my sisters for skipping that scene in this version, but curses on everyone involved with the musical for its inclusion in the first place.

Ali_Roz

It's probably the most aggressively Central Avenue thing I've seen in a long time, and that's not a complaint, it just means I am pretty darn dissonant with the vibe this is going for.

The Trunchbull's song is amazingly bonkers, though of all characters she ought to be above such things as singing (the again, hypocrisy is also very on-brand for the character), and the alphabet song is very close to being a certified alphabet banger but it flubs on the letter V ("revealed") and is thus an epic fail rather than an epic win.

Also none of the babies in the beginning of the movie are anywhere near as cute or as amazing as my nephew (I don't think I've mentioned my nephew here, he's about seven months old and I'm so proud of my brother and my sister-in-law and I'm sad that their multi-day Christmas visit is over, and also my nephew is the best thing about this year and my family being together for the last few days is a greater blessing than words can say and this year or at least a few weeks of it would have been unbearable without holidays and family).

Princess Alice

Ali_Roz said:

It's probably the most aggressively Central Avenue thing I've seen in a long time, and that's not a complaint, it just means I am pretty darn dissonant with the vibe this is going for.

I smiled.

I like that you and I can care for and respect each other despite having almost polar opposite worldviews.

Ali_Roz

Pseudosuchians have five digits on the front limb-ends but four digits on the back limb-ends, dig holes, and are often misidentified as lizards.  Lagomorphs have five digits on the front limb-ends but four digits on the back limb-ends, dig holes, and are often misidentified as rodents.  The fact that these two aren't confused more often is honestly kind of surprising.

Ali_Roz

Pikas have disappeared from 1/3 of where they could be found in 2011 and the remaining habitats they can survive in are dwindling due to climactic changes.  The Gharial population has decreased by 98% since the 1940s.  Both are the most distinct-in-silhouette of their respective groups, and yet nobody confuses the two.

Ali_Roz

"Using actual names would collapse this sequence like a bubble, and using fake names would shatter this sequence like glass, so a stable hemi-falsity resolves nearer to the echoing end of the derivative-original spectrum, therefore, I shall be The Stranger, and you The Young Hero." said the stranger to the young hero.

"Sir, this is a Wendy's." said the young hero.

"You couldn't possibl-The Wanderer, of course, he gave you those words, this smells of his meddling-but I am no lesser being, to be unsent and unsummoned by the ancient words." said the stranger.

Ali_Roz

So, A Charlie Brown Christmas.  

My generation, luckily, grew up with VHS tapes.  Previously (according to my parents and that one commercial* that lives rent-free in my head), Peanuts specials were events-if you missed one, you had to wait a full year for it to come by again, a gut-punch of childhood disappointment worthy of Charlie Brown.  The fact that the specials still aired during my childhood, and the fact that the closest thing I had to a Peanuts videotape collection was the commercials for such that came on other tapes, didn't matter all that much to this little narrative, because the possibility of someday owning A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving counts for a lot, and the possibility of taping it when it airs also counts for a lot.

However, it has recently come to my attention that, for the first time since 1965, a Christmas has come and gone without A Charlie Brown Christmas being aired on television, due to Apple (of all companies) owning the rights and putting it on their (ugh) streaming service.  This almost happened in 2021, but PBS came in clutch (how this happened, Anonus probably knows).

It has also come to my attention that several of the major-companies-who-own-streaming-services do not allow physical copies of their stuff to be made anymore.

So, as my nephew grows up, I'll be able to explain to him how different this Peanuts Special Availability Situation was in my day.  

Something once (relatively) available to the public (or at least a large section of it) has been made exclusive.  

You can't actually see A Charlie Brown Christmas on television.  You can't actually own a copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas (unless you already have one, or you buy one from someone who has one, but you know what I mean).

Look, I do not pirate things, not since my youthful criminal days in middle school, those days of watching anime on youtube (often on school computers) and having an iPod Nano full of music I ought to have paid for but didn't.  I stopped as I got mature enough to realize that such things were wrong and would end up giving viruses to electronics (not soon enough to save said electronics, though, R.I.P. old iPod and also old computer).    But dang it, Apple also copy-struck the internet archive of the original 1965 print, which previous copyright holders accepted, so if I want to watch it I either have to buy their crappy service (which I refuse), or risk my computer (which I refuse), and the same applies to basically everyone else.  It feels like a cultural loss, you know.

Gah.  This new technology is such a step down from the old tape days.

*(for those of you who don't remember VHS, the commercials were skippable by fast-forwarding, but watching them was just part of the show, and some movies are not as well-remembered as the commercials that they came with).

Imipolex G

It's ironic, we used to tape shows off of TV back in the day and would sometimes pause the tape during commercials, so as to skip over them. But nowadays the commercials are literally the only reason I might want to watch one of those tapes.

Ali_Roz

Slay the Spire is a very fun game; it is impressively well-made and I can't find anything of which to disapprove from a moral standpoint.  The worldbuilding is evocative and vague in a way that reminds me of nothing so much as dimly-remembered short stories from the paperback compilations I never seemed to be able to find again upon returning with more money.

However, it is automatically disqualified from being a good game for having-upwards-of-zero-multi-stage-boss-fights, which I say is a heinous game-design sin.

Ali_Roz

It's always a good feeling when you disliked something as a child, and then as an adult, with more understanding and context, realize that you were entirely right and your thought processes on the matter are more or less the same except now even people who are younger than you roll their eyes at you.

Me in 2005: They should ban the PS2 Shadow the Hedgehog game for having swears.

Me in 2023: They should ban the PS2 Shadow the Hedgehog game for having Andrew Rannels.

AlirozTheConfused

You're forgetting the parts in between when I was mature enough to understand the importance of freedom of speech, the forbidden-fruit-appeal uselessness of banning most types of media (as opposed to teaching people how to discern what is worth engaging in), and the important fact that the 2006 game was worse because it had kissing.

To be fair, though, the PS2 Shadow the Hedgehog game ought not to exist.  The PS2 killed the Dreamcast, so that's just messed up.

Aliroz

You doinks, I ought to slap you both upside the head.  The real reason the PS2 Shadow the Hedgehog game ought not to exist is that nobody has ever or can ever have fun playing it, and at least the 2006 game gave us a legendary LP.

Ali_Roz

Amnyways,

So,

Sit down everyone, it's time for EXPOSITION.

Ali_Roz

So, one of the things you need to understand about the Oz books by L. Frank Baum is that continuity is not one of Baum's strong suits, and another one of the things you need to understand is that long before the 1939 film, there were multiple stage adaptations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, many of these stage versions were written by Baum himself (some of them as travelling roadshows), and a good chunk of them are lost media now but were anything but lost back in the day when they were the defining fiction of a generation of American children. 

The backstory of Oz, especially of the in-universe decades before Dorothy arrives via house-tornado, has multiple iterations and versions, with elements fading or gaining prominence in almost a survival-of-the-fittest thing, but it never gets far enough from what-we-can-get-from-the-1900-book that you can say what was always-in-Baum's-Head-but-didn't-make-it-to-page-in-1900 and what was clearly-made-up-later.  The stage versions made contributions to the canon which appear in the second book and later, and there is dialogue in the second book which was clearly made so that two specific real-life actors can have a comedy bit because Baum enjoys their chemistry and knows that this sequel is going to become a stage show as well.

As far as I can tell, the broad "strokes" significant past events that concern us, Dorothy, and everyone on the yellow brick road to the Emerald City are as follows:

1: There was a royal family that ruled the land of Oz, they ruled wisely and well, but were deposed, and the Wizard is in charge now.  The only one whose fate is not verified, the baby princess, disappeared.  She would be Dorothy's age, though.

2: Four wicked witches claimed dominion of the lands, each one claiming one cardinal direction.  The Wicked Witches of North and South got PWND, respectively, by the good witches who we know as the (not-named?) Good Witch of the North and  Glinda the Good Witch of the South.  This PWNAGE took most of their strength/power/ability, so the Good Witches cannot defeat the remaining two Wicked Witches:  It takes almost all of what they have to protect their respective lands and people in the South and North.  Thus, a stalemate exists between the two Good and two Wicked Witches.  As of right now, it's far too risky for any of the witches to directly break this stalemate, it risks not just herself but her control of her lands.

2a: There was, in fact, a genuine attempt to liberate the West.  It was costly, and failed, as it was repelled by the Flying Monkeys.  (Before you criticize such interventionism, remember that those under the dominion of the Wicked Witches are enslaved and any rebellion they attempt is crushed because in Baum's writing witches are absolute powerhouses).

3: Glinda the Good Witch of the South has a magical book that contains everything that happens in Oz, so she can look up what you do and say.  The problem is that she can't read everything all at the same time, or, in other words, having the information available doesn't mean that you're aware of it, or know its significance.  The other problem is that Glinda, like almost everybody in Oz with one exception, speaks English and only English, and anything said or thought in any other language is written in the book untranslated.  The Wizard can read, write, and speak in several languages.

3a: The Wizard is from the mysterious faraway land of Kansas.  So is Dorothy!

Ali_Roz

While not all these are established or said in every iteration, they're pretty much never directly contradicted.  Even when they're not in the content, they work as the context to, as far as I can tell, every single iteration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with one major exception:

The 1939 MGM movie.

Ali_Roz

So, on this adventure through Oz, the first Witch that Dorothy meets (okay, pedants) talks to is the Good Witch of the North.  On this same adventure, the final witch that Dorothy talks to is Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.  People paying attention will have noticed that these are not the same.  MGM combines the characters into one, and it messes all sorts of things up.

First off, the Good Witch with the magic book of information is supposed to be South, not North.  This is important, because North doesn't actually know that the slippers can take Dorothy back to Kansas.  North gives Dorothy all the relevant information, advice, and help she can (including giving her a kiss on the forehead to leave a silver 'O' mark of protection, a you-mess-with-this-person-you-mess-with-ME signifier").  South gives Dorothy all the relevant information, advice, and help she can.  Making them into one character turns the new "Glinda The Good Witch Of The North" into someone who knows how Dorothy can get back to Kansas right from the start and doesn't tell her.

It also muddles what I think is an important point, that North has never met The Wizard Oz (when Dorothy asks whether Oz is a good man {and not just a great wizard}, North says she cannot say because she has never even seen him).  By the time Dorothy meets Glinda, the story is essentially over and important things have been learned (especially about the Wizard), but I really would like to see what the conversation would be if Dorothy had met Glinda first and asked her whether Oz is a good man.  In other words, North says that Oz is mysterious and unknown to her, but North vouches for South's character; in the end, it is South, not Oz, who gives Dorothy the last hug and help to get home.  Combining the characters makes the combined "Glinda the Good Witch of the North" pointing Dorothy in the Wizard's direction feel kind of off, more of a trickster mentor like Athena and less of a straight-up-on-the-level-Big-Good like Galadriel.

Ali_Roz

(For the sake of not spoiling books over a century old, I'm restricting myself to the events of The Wonderful WIzard of Oz and its versions.  Seriously, the sequels are really good and you all should read at least the first couple of them)

Ali_Roz

I love how many important things aren't quite covered in those broad strokes, and the worldbuilding opportunities there.  

L. Frank Baum's worldbuilding is inconsistent in a lot of ways, but it allows him to keep the reader guessing, to keep a sense of genuine wonder and freshness-in-fantasy (there isn't a word for what I mean here) that strangely feels more "realistic" in its messiness.  It's kind of like how real life has different narratives of the same events, and if you go far enough back, there's a point before history became separate from myth, and things seem inconsistent because we're working from fragmentary information compiled from multiple sources, except in Oz people are more chill about a lot of things and a lot less skeptical.

I mean, I love Sanderson's work, and how you can always tell that he's figured out the end from before the beginning, and everything is super tight and consistent, but it means he can't really go off the rails and take full advantage of the audience's suspension of disbelief.

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

"She was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it was, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder what had happened; and Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whined dismally. Dorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was it dark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the little room. She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran and opened the door."

Colors added by me, because I like colors and I like this paragraph (and this chapter) a lot

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

The little girl gave a cry of amazement and looked about her, her eyes growing bigger and bigger at the wonderful sights she saw.

The cyclone had set the house down very gently-for a cyclone-in the midst of a country of marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling along between green banks, and murmuring in a voice very grateful to a little girl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.

Honestly, this paragraph is worthy of Kenneth Grahame, or Tolkien or Milne or Lewis or MacDonald.

Ali_Roz

L. Frank Baum said:

While she stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights, she noticed coming toward her a group of the queerest people she had ever seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had always been used to; but neither were they very small. In fact, they seemed about as tall as Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although they were, so far as looks go, many years older. 

I like how these sentences put the point of interest at the end.  Usually, that's not as easy in English as it seems.  I remember reading that that's one of the reasons it's hard to translate Kafka, he has a tendency to do that very thing in German.  Font-fun added by me, because I like messing with fonts.

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

Three were men and one a woman, and all were oddly dressed. They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The hats of the men were blue; the little woman’s hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders. Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds. The men were dressed in blue, of the same shade as their hats, and wore well-polished boots with a deep roll of blue at the tops. The men, Dorothy thought, were about as old as Uncle Henry, for two of them had beards. But the little woman was doubtless much older. Her face was covered with wrinkles, her hair was nearly white, and she walked rather stiffly.

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

When these people drew near the house where Dorothy was standing in the doorway, they paused and whispered among themselves, as if afraid to come farther. But the little old woman walked up to Dorothy, made a low bow and said, in a sweet voice:

“You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins. We are so grateful to you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and for setting our people free from bondage.”

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

Dorothy listened to this speech with wonder. What could the little woman possibly mean by calling her a sorceress, and saying she had killed the Wicked Witch of the East? Dorothy was an innocent, harmless little girl, who had been carried by a cyclone many miles from home; and she had never killed anything in all her life.

But the little woman evidently expected her to answer; so Dorothy said, with hesitation, "You are very kind, but there must be some mistake. I have not killed anything."

"Your house did, anyway," replied the little old woman, with a laugh, "and that is the same thing. See!" she continued, pointing to the corner of the house. "There are her two feet, still sticking out from under a block of wood."

Dorothy looked, and gave a little cry of fright. There, indeed, just under the corner of the great beam the house rested on, two feet were sticking out, shod in silver shoes with pointed toes.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried Dorothy, clasping her hands together in dismay. "The house must have fallen on her. Whatever shall we do?"

I think Wonderland's Alice would have said something about the sheer improbability of landing on that specific spot. I'm not as much an expert on the matter as CentralAvenue, though. Anne Shirley would be traumatized and Wendy Darling would be checking on her brothers and on the house, for sure.

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

"But who was she?" asked Dorothy.

"She was the Wicked Witch of the East, as I said," answered the little woman. "She has held all the Munchkins in bondage for many years, making them slave for her night and day. Now they are all set free, and are grateful to you for the favor."

"Who are the Munchkins?" inquired Dorothy.

"They are the people who live in this land of the East where the Wicked Witch ruled."

"Are you a Munchkin?" asked Dorothy.

"No, but I am their friend, although I live in the land of the North. When they saw the Witch of the East was dead the Munchkins sent a swift messenger to me, and I came at once. I am the Witch of the North."

"Oh, gracious!" cried Dorothy. "Are you a real witch?"

"Yes, indeed," answered the little woman. "But I am a good witch, and the people love me. I am not as powerful as the Wicked Witch was who ruled here, or I should have set the people free myself."

Portly freedom-loving magical powerhouse authority-figure hatmaster shorty friendly grandma vibes are the best vibes.

Ali_Roz

Not sure if this is subtext or just my headcanon, but I don't think the Good Witch of the North has spent the last however-long-it-was passively accepting the plight of the Munchkins and only maintaining the safety of her own domain, any more than the Wicked Witch of the East just sat around content to restrict her cruelty to her own domain, and I don't think the Munchkins are entirely passive in all this.  

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

"But I thought all witches were wicked," said the girl, who was half frightened at facing a real witch. "Oh, no, that is a great mistake. There were only four witches in all the Land of Oz, and two of them, those who live in the North and the South, are good witches. I know this is true, for I am one of them myself, and cannot be mistaken. Those who dwelt in the East and the West were, indeed, wicked witches; but now that you have killed one of them, there is but one Wicked Witch in all the Land of Oz—the one who lives in the West."

"But," said Dorothy, after a moment’s thought, "Aunt Em has told me that the witches were all dead years and years ago."

"Who is Aunt Em?" inquired the little old woman.

"She is my aunt who lives in Kansas, where I came from."

The Witch of the North seemed to think for a time, with her head bowed and her eyes upon the ground. Then she looked up and said, "I do not know where Kansas is, for I have never heard that country mentioned before. But tell me, is it a civilized country?"

"Oh, yes," replied Dorothy.

"Then that accounts for it. In the civilized countries I believe there are no witches left, nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor magicians. But, you see, the Land of Oz has never been civilized, for we are cut off from all the rest of the world. Therefore we still have witches and wizards amongst us."

I love how L. Frank Baum deftly avoids an Among Us here.  The letters S and T really came in clutch.

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

"Who are the wizards?" asked Dorothy.

"Oz himself is the Great Wizard," answered the Witch, sinking her voice to a whisper. "He is more powerful than all the rest of us together. He lives in the City of Emeralds."

Dorothy was going to ask another question, but just then the Munchkins, who had been standing silently by, gave a loud shout and pointed to the corner of the house where the Wicked Witch had been lying.

"What is it?" asked the little old woman, and looked, and began to laugh. The feet of the dead Witch had disappeared entirely, and nothing was left but the silver shoes.

"She was so old," explained the Witch of the North, "that she dried up quickly in the sun. That is the end of her. But the silver shoes are yours, and you shall have them to wear." She reached down and picked up the shoes, and after shaking the dust out of them handed them to Dorothy.

"The Witch of the East was proud of those silver shoes," said one of the Munchkins, "and there is some charm connected with them; but what it is we never knew."

Dorothy carried the shoes into the house and placed them on the table. Then she came out again to the Munchkins and said:

"I am anxious to get back to my aunt and uncle, for I am sure they will worry about me. Can you help me find my way?"

Dorothy is a girl after my own heart.

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

The Munchkins and the Witch first looked at one another, and then at Dorothy, and then shook their heads.

"At the East, not far from here," said one, "there is a great desert, and none could live to cross it."

"It is the same at the South," said another, "for I have been there and seen it. The South is the country of the Quadlings."

"I am told," said the third man, "that it is the same at the West. And that country, where the Winkies live, is ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West, who would make you her slave if you passed her way."

"The North is my home," said the old lady, "and at its edge is the same great desert that surrounds this Land of Oz. I’m afraid, my dear, you will have to live with us."

Dorothy began to sob at this, for she felt lonely among all these strange people...

I know Alice in Wonderland is the favorite neurodivergent metaphor for being alone around people whose thoughts make no sense to you, but this loneliness-among-strange-people-who-are-trying-their-best-to-take-care-of-you-but-this-just-is-not-the-world-you-were-meant-for hits very close to home as well, and expresses an ache in my soul. Add to that the realization of separation-from-family-so-now-you're-without-the-ones-who-have-always-cared-for-you, and honestly Dorothy deals with this better than I would.

Okay, okay, I'm going to spoil one important thing here so this doesn't end up too sad:

Spoiler:

In the later books, Dorothy and her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry move permanently to Oz, living there by choice and this gives me hope that there is not just one world that can be home, not just one home that can be loved, and not just one place you can belong.

Ali_Roz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

Dorothy began to sob at this, for she felt lonely among all these strange people. Her tears seemed to grieve the kind-hearted Munchkins, for they immediately took out their handkerchiefs and began to weep also. As for the little old woman, she took off her cap and balanced the point on the end of her nose, while she counted "One, two, three" in a solemn voice. At once the cap changed to a slate, on which was written in big, white chalk marks:

"LET DOROTHY GO TO THE CITY OF EMERALDS""

This bit of magic is never explained. Is the cap/slate offering advice/truth, is it functioning as a communication device (if so, who is on the other end?), is it the input function and The Witch of the North is the main character of a text-adventure. As a hatperson, I feel like I really ought to understand this more than I do.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

The little old woman took the slate from her nose, and having read the words on it, asked, "Is your name Dorothy, my dear?"

"Yes," answered the child, looking up and drying her tears.

"Then you must go to the City of Emeralds. Perhaps Oz will help you."

"Where is this city?" asked Dorothy.

"It is exactly in the center of the country, and is ruled by Oz, the Great Wizard I told you of."

"Is he a good man?" inquired the girl anxiously.

"He is a good Wizard. Whether he is a man or not I cannot tell, for I have never seen him."

"How can I get there?" asked Dorothy.

"You must walk. It is a long journey, through a country that is sometimes pleasant and sometimes dark and terrible. However, I will use all the magic arts I know of to keep you from harm."

"Won’t you go with me?" pleaded the girl, who had begun to look upon the little old woman as her only friend.

"No, I cannot do that," she replied, "but I will give you my kiss, and no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North."

She came close to Dorothy and kissed her gently on the forehead. Where her lips touched the girl they left a round, shining mark, as Dorothy found out soon after.

You know, that's hardcore in a Sam Vimes or Granny Weatherwax "the very world has learned not to cross me" kind of way. It's also obviously something that works better in writing than in a visual medium, because having Dorothy go with a shining mark on her forehead would be honestly just kind of distracting.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 2 said:

"The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick," said the Witch, "so you cannot miss it. When you get to Oz do not be afraid of him, but tell your story and ask him to help you. Good-bye, my dear."

The three Munchkins bowed low to her and wished her a pleasant journey, after which they walked away through the trees. The Witch gave Dorothy a friendly little nod, whirled around on her left heel three times, and straightway disappeared, much to the surprise of little Toto, who barked after her loudly enough when she had gone, because he had been afraid even to growl while she stood by.

But Dorothy, knowing her to be a witch, had expected her to disappear in just that way, and was not surprised in the least.

Lol @ me just including the entire text of the chapter when I intended to just have my favorite paragraphs because I really like this book and I like this chapter. It's also (in my opinion) the crucial point of divergence between book and 1939 movie, between something-such-that-I-have-never-met-anyone-else-who-has-read-it and even-the-people-of-the-North-Sentinel-Islands-have-probably-seen-it-a-million-times.

Semi-Related:  One of these years I'm going to wordvomit all about Figgs and Phantoms, which is a book only Odradek and I have ever read.

Ali_Roz

One of these days I'll get Centie or someone to read the Oz books and at least some of the works of George MacDonald.  Probably that'll happen at about the time I read the books people recommend to me.  (Then again, I'm in charge of whether I actually go and read the books people recommend to me...). 

Also, I need to get back into Girl Genius before it dies (why do my old webcomics that I stopped reading years ago keep dying on me!).

Additionally, Darth Revan was ahead of his or her time, and tried to show us all the true value of perpetually wearing masks, while Darth Nihilus contributed to the galaxy by reducing the number of disease vectors, remember, as you eat your cookies, that the dark side is all about SITH:  Staying In The Home  (I am totally making this silliness because I got sick for the first time in years a couple days ago and have been playing KOTOR2).

Princess Alice

I actually downloaded the first Oz book a couple days ago, but I haven’t started it yet, because I’ve got way too many books I’m already halfway through reading, including The Light Princess, which you recommended me some time ago

my particular flavor of AuDHD makes it much easier to start a book than to finish it, unfortunately

that’s actually a major reason why I started reading primarily on a Kindle—having the ability to switch back and forth between several books on one device makes me a lot more likely to finish any of them than if I had to physically swap between paper books

Ali_Roz

My grandma reads a lot on her Kindle, and so do many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins (on their respective kindles). The accessibility is really a boon, but it's as credit cards to a dragon to me.  Not my treasure (that doesn't mean it can't be yours).

Ali_Roz

I like the root "tide" as in "time", in words like "eventide".

Ali_Roz

A computer getting old and dying is sad.  To watch the thing get slow, struggle to do what it once did effortlessly, and eventually succumb to the inevitable, is un-happy-fying in a way best compared to a good dog or perhaps a good horse (though, what files are important on a computer can be put on external storage and moved and saved).

Your parents insisting that the hand-me-down-they're-giving-you-to-replace-it is better and you'll love it does not console, not because yours wasn't a hand-me-down, but because in five years this new one will be five years older, and in ten years it will be ten years older, and what's the point if you have to be in this situation again.

Ali_Roz

The worst part is the prospect of it being recycled.  That's not how it ought to end, taken apart and the pieces harvested.

No, it ought to end up in the canyon, tied to a tree, with you whispering a few last words to it before shooting it.

Ali_Roz

Or, perhaps, it ought to be anointed with the rare oils and wrapped in the treated linen, then placed in the hidden tomb so you can take it to the next life because evidently this works by freaking ancient Egyptian afterlife rules for some reason.

How it actually ends is unplugged and gathering dust in a closet in my room, a sort of cryostasis for a thing not quite dead, because I am sentimental as beans.

Smartphones, however, I do not mourn, nor name.

Odradek

Ali_Roz said:

A computer getting old and dying is sad.  To watch the thing get slow, struggle to do what it once did effortlessly, and eventually succumb to the inevitable, is un-happy-fying in a way best compared to a good dog or perhaps a good horse (though, what files are important on a computer can be put on external storage and moved and saved).

Your parents insisting that the hand-me-down-they're-giving-you-to-replace-it is better and you'll love it does not console, not because yours wasn't a hand-me-down, but because in five years this new one will be five years older, and in ten years it will be ten years older, and what's the point if you have to be in this situation again.

Ali_Roz

Yeah, I'm not watching that childhood trauma again.

Ali_Roz

You know, I probably shouldn't relate to Miko Miyazaki from The Order of The Stick as much as I do.

I mean, I didn't when I was younger.

Rich Burlew really messed things up when he had that one character from the early days of the strip return, thus making it impossible to pretend that the first hundred or so strips don't count.

Ali_Roz

See, in the end, the world Burlew writes is one with no love for people like me--the unreasonable, uptight, unyielding, casually cruel, ignorant, devoted, vigilant, not-particularly-interesting, Lawful-aligned killjoys who aren't in on the joke, whose ethos is less important to the story than the overabundance of pathos and lack of logos.

To Burlew, It's the meek who inherit the earth, the kind, the ones of good cheer, who care more about people than words, without big ideas of how things Ought to Be, the ones who are worthy to determine the fate of the world because they don't put things like "The Fate of the World" ahead of "this person in front of me who needs help".

Heck, he has more sympathy for villains and comedic sociopaths than for the hypocritical and judgmental--it doesn't seem to matter how many bodies one leaves in one's wake so long as one makes for interesting dialogue and punchlines.

Agathe Black

That is true, yes.

Ali_Roz

Sorry, but I do not understand to what part you are referring with that "that", Agathe.

Ali_Roz

The Guile Hero Guide:

1: My childhood best friend who has been on my side since I first swore vengeance upon the Evil Overlord will only know half of my plans, in case he or she ever gets captured.

2: All sidekicks, allies, and other assets will be, at minimum, taught how to whistle, how to tie and untie multiple common knots, basic escape artistry, morse code, and at least one variety of old-timey shorthand.

3: If shapeshifters exist, I will endeavor to learn as much about them and any possible means of identifying them as possible, and if people cannot be routinely verified to not be imposters, then any urgent messages they might have are not so urgent that they must be told to me personally, and nobody is to be considered above suspicion as a source of information.

4:  If I capture a villain's laptop, I WILL NOT plug it into a local network, no matter how "Secure" the resident tech-genius says it is.

5:  Important information will be written down, on paper--you can't hack paper.

6: Important information will not be stored all in one place, but in several caches, such that the discovery of one cache by the Evil Overlord will not lead to disaster.  As inconvenient as this may be for the next generation attempting to continue-my-work-and-depose-the-Evil-Overlord, piecing it all together builds character.