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MadGastronomer
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« Reply #75 on: February 23, 2008, 04:45:58 pm » |
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I didn't have a problem with it on the first read; subsequent reading brought out my inner pedant, though.
Since I'm the only one who seemed to be bothered by it, I'd say it was successful.
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lunarsara
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« Reply #76 on: February 23, 2008, 05:03:50 pm » |
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MG, I think maybe Reyes is talking about the host having control over the parasite (not itself). That doesn't happen in nature as far as I know. You have no control over your tapeworm, it's gonna eat the stuff you're swallowing with no regard to your desires. But beta's seem to have direct control over their anomaloid abilites. So i believe that the host is in control. They are just given more power than they, or maybe anyone, should have.
Maybe the gamma thinks they're in control but the anomaly is pushing them beyond anything they would or could do left to their own devices. This is not unheard of: mood altering drugs, and even alcohol, change people's boundaries. The smoker-killing nurse could have gone on her rampage with her hands, strangling her victims, or with a gun, but she didn't. Something stopped her. Until she converted. I think the anomaly used her disgust with smokers to get in, then intensified that disgust and anger to psychotic levels, like finding a small crack in wall and filling it with explosives to blow it into a huge gaping hole. [ok, bunches of posts happened while I was writing this... posting before I catch up, sorry if I repeat someone else] |
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lunarsara
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« Reply #77 on: February 23, 2008, 05:11:25 pm » |
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Yah. The bit where he was like, okay, fuck, parasites manipulate their host in ways that make it probable that more parasites will be produced?
And what opens people up to both garden-variety psychosis and to the anomaly?
Trauma.
What do those infected by the anomaly do anything to create?
Trauma.
I'm not saying he's right, mind you. It's no more likely a theory than the feeding-off-suffering one I've seen bandied about the BBS here. But it creeped me out when he said it. *g*
I actually wanted to challenge him on this but I decided I don't know enough yet. I thought gammas did their best to kill those potential hosts, not just traumatize them. Maybe I haven't seen enough gammas yet. It was a creepy entry. I was hoping there would be more discussion in comments. |
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MadGastronomer
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« Reply #78 on: February 23, 2008, 05:26:45 pm » |
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That one was fourth-wall-locked, as noted by the [locked] in the title. They can't talk about anomaly stuff openly online, so they believe that those posts are locked, and those of us playing along at home can't read them. Commenting on those posts would be breaking the fourth wall, and not cool. Even in a locked post, though, they're going to be very careful about how explicitly they discuss it.
I also think the gammas are mostly out to kill their victims, but maybe the intended trauma isn't to the victims, but the the people around them.
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #79 on: February 23, 2008, 05:32:46 pm » |
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No. Gammas don't necessarily just kill.
And there's always the survivors to think of.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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MadGastronomer
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« Reply #80 on: February 23, 2008, 05:37:41 pm » |
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No. Gammas don't necessarily just kill.
No, sometimes they only eat part of the dog... And sometimes they get writer to traumatize innocent readers with those images...  |
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #81 on: February 23, 2008, 05:56:39 pm » |
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Yeah, you think you feel bad.
Imagine what wakes Stephen Reyes up at night.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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MadGastronomer
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« Reply #82 on: February 23, 2008, 06:00:54 pm » |
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Thank you, I think I won't.
But that won't lessen my sympathy for him.
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #83 on: February 23, 2008, 06:05:52 pm » |
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Emma said to me once, when I was struggling with the character--"It's a hard job, being Stephen Reyes."
...yeah.
And you're the guy who has to shoot the dog.
And nobody appreciates it, either.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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chk
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« Reply #84 on: February 23, 2008, 06:43:15 pm » |
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Oh, gawd, SGA did one of those last night and it made me cringe.
Hey! Some of us north of the border haven't seen it yet...  |
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chk
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« Reply #85 on: February 23, 2008, 06:45:20 pm » |
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That one was fourth-wall-locked, as noted by the [locked] in the title. They can't talk about anomaly stuff openly online, so they believe that those posts are locked, and those of us playing along at home can't read them. Commenting on those posts would be breaking the fourth wall, and not cool. Even in a locked post, though, they're going to be very careful about how explicitly they discuss it.
Unless one were to somehow become an insider. (I do have Canadian security clearance... |
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CJ
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« Reply #86 on: February 23, 2008, 06:54:50 pm » |
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Oh, gawd, SGA did one of those last night and it made me cringe.
Hey! Some of us north of the border haven't seen it yet... It's a good episode! It just has one -really- bad line. But that's early on in the ep! |
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"We all ended up somewhere with our various uncertain lives flapping about us in tatters and our pockets full of foreign coins."
K. E. Gordon - The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Eager, the Innocent and the Doomed
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will shetterly
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« Reply #87 on: February 23, 2008, 07:06:02 pm » |
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No, sometimes they only eat part of the dog...
Ooh! Now remembering one of my favorite jokes, the one about the pig with the peg leg. |
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #88 on: February 23, 2008, 07:06:49 pm » |
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A pig like this, you don't eat all at once!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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Barton Fender
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« Reply #89 on: February 23, 2008, 07:32:23 pm » |
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No, sometimes they only eat part of the dog...
Ooh! Now remembering one of my favorite jokes, the one about the pig with the peg leg. I love that joke! |
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"Its not the age its the mileage" - I. Jones
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