If you want to rectify this, LMK.
1 Like
Oh, I totally could watch it, if I so desired; I’m practically a maven at finding what I want online, but thanks.
I’m just not very inclined; usually the more popular something is with the general masses, the less enthusiastic I am about it.
Besides, Doctor Who is more than enough epic fictional escapism for right now; I’m still trying to wrap my head around the River Song dynamic even as I attempt to get caught up to the current season…
2 Likes
I drug my feet for the longest time. I was like, “eh, I got enough to watch.”
But someone made me sit down and watch 2 or 3 and I sighed and said, welp, guess we are doing this…
I truly LOVE Doctor Who ever since I was a kid. Loved the weird aliens and monsters. The new Doctor can get a little TOO silly and contrived plots. It seems like some seasons are better than others. Too often there Deus Ex Machina is too much or the brilliant save or tragic problem TOO unbelievable. But when it clicks, it is the best Sci-Fi on TV.
5 Likes
The very long history of the show (50+ years!) is partly why it took me so long to start watching, not to mention what I said earlier about shows being ‘too popular’ (the Dr Who fandom is daunting.)
That said, the contrived silliness is kinda essential for me right now; as I was discussing with @LutherBlisset, I need the escapism to help relax.
That said, certain seasons/series are definitely stronger than others…
3 Likes
I think i missed the part where there’s any reason to expect a map from a medieval fantasy world to be realistic or accurate in any way?
7 Likes
They have us surrounded!
6 Likes
We might just be a “small blue dot,” but we’re not alone.
3 Likes
As I am currently reading Bleak House, I miss said silliness. But Pride and Predjudice and Zombies wasn’t appealing, really.
2 Likes
Someone said that it was?
O_O
That just sounds like a bad idea, from ‘jump.’
I can do Doctor Who-level silliness, but once people start turning Abe Lincoln into a vampire hunter and the like, I simply cannot deal.
2 Likes
Might you have an ulterior motive for being anti vampire hunter? 
4 Likes
I’m not anti-slayer, just anti-stupid.
Van Helsing is my girl; I hope like hell they’ve renewed the series for a second season.
3 Likes
Wow. Not very good. Hope they get better at it.
1 Like
It’s a great example of what you can do with a map other than geography, this one is symbolic :
3 Likes
I don’t want to spoil you, it’s a major plot point.
2 Likes
When I want to create a fictional map, I base it on how the bubbles aggregate on top of a glass of beer. British-style ales work well, not too foamy, but the bubbles are relatively stable and aggregate in interesting shapes. Ales from northern France, too.
The real world has towns with names like Pimpri-Chinchwad and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. It seems a bit silly to pass on a good book because its names don’t sound euphonious to your provincial ear.
2 Likes
I need some way to decide which of the world’s (approximately) 20 billion books not to read.
Is your plan to read them all?
1 Like
I based one on a pattern of blistered burn marks on my fingers. Looked really good.
If I didn’t have to go to stupid work and suchlike, I’d have a stab at it.
2 Likes
I can understand the frustration, as you’re a geologist, but aren’t fantasy maps more akin to ancient/pre-modern/early modern maps, which weren’t terribly accurate, because in reality, that wasn’t their core purpose often times? Much fantasy is set in a period that’s more akin to the Medieval/early modern period in our own world history (even when it’s clearly not set in our world, as is the case for Game of Thrones).
Medieval and early modern maps can tell us a whole bunch about the world they were produced in and how the people making the maps were imaging the world. But we wouldn’t try and navigate by them today. I always like to show one of Muhammad Al-Idrisi’s maps from the 12th century at the beginning of each semester, in part because it’s cool and in part because it shows how people were concerned with the happenings of the Mediterranean and North Africa - it gives us a glimpse into a completely different world view, I think:
4 Likes
