Random Rants 79: [Impassionating Intensifies]

[Broken_Erika]

The weather here in Minnesota - and for the rest of the week - is infuriating me. It isn't going to be that hot - high70s to low 80s - but the humidity killing me. If I open the windows and use the fan I just start sweating and feel all hot and sticky so I turn the A/C on and while that works, I feel slightly guilty turning the AC on and adding to my electric bill when it isn't that hot outside.

Get yourself a dehumidifier.

 

[Farm Boy]

Oscillating fan and a tee shirt goes a surprisingly long way, but yah, it's a shower to go out sort of weather.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Kitties don't like fireworks.....

 

[Hygro]

I just realized the other day that I have partial aphantasia. My mind's eye creates extremely blurry pictures where most of the image is either cloudy or outright missing.

And apparently most people can see the whole picture just fine.

I feel like I just found out that most people in the world can fly except me.

I saw that series of reddit TIFUs. I think it’s quite exaggerated how much people visualize. I think our minds only hold the image as far as we need to grasp what we’re thinking.

 

[Arakhor]

I just realized the other day that I have partial aphantasia. My mind's eye creates extremely blurry pictures where most of the image is either cloudy or outright missing.

I have something similar, in that I don't remember what people look like, rather general details of a recent photo of them. I doubt anyone would be able to pick anyone out of a crowd based on my description of the missing person.

In other news, 1.5m-thick ice has fallen all at once in Guadalajara, in Mexico. That's not alarming in the slightest...

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Rant: I don't know what combination of foods I managed to eat to accomplish this, but I managed to get both diarrhea and constipation at the same time.

 

[Snerk]

Rant: I don't know what combination of foods I managed to eat to accomplish this, but I managed to get both diarrhea and constipation at the same time.

Achievement unlocked: double trouble.

 

[Arakhor]

I would ask how that is even possible, but I don't want to hear the details.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I would ask how that is even possible, but I don't want to hear the details.

It's very uncomfortable.

 

[Takhisis]

A malfunctioning batch of U-No-Poo, possibly past its best-before date, I suspect.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I wanted to see the Canada Day fireworks tonight, but it's raining and foggy (and cold). No way am I standing out in this weather just to watch that. Assuming they don't cancel them, that is. Charlottetown already moved theirs until tomorrow night.

What good are Canada Day fireworks if you don't have them on Canada Day?

 

[CKS]

I guess that depends on whether you want to celebrate Canada Day or watch fireworks.

Our neighbors have already started with the 4th of July fireworks - we heard explosions for about an hour and a half last night. The kids are not really fond of the noise, but my son does like the light show (which we could not see last night).

 

[Takhisis]

The media are flooded with info on this total solar eclipse and the eclipse won't even be happening here.

It's still a change from football saturation, except for the fact that football is football.

 

[Farm Boy]

I would ask how that is even possible, but I don't want to hear the details.

Oh, enough cheese and enough beer and one can work miracles.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The media are flooded with info on this total solar eclipse and the eclipse won't even be happening here.

That sucks. I saw it was hitting Chile/the west of Argentina and hoped you would get to see it.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Do you imagine what you read? I don't/can't. I can only create an image in my head if I stop and focus. The second I stop, it's gone.

Which means overly descriptive writing is just frustrating to me instead of alluring.

One of the reasons I re-read books is to fix my mind's eye images in my memory so that the next re-read is more like watching a TV show.

That works with my own writing as well, btw. I'm constantly rerunning scenes in my head, so they eventually settle into a setting that's firmed up enough to consider "canon" even if they're not in the original source material.

Some of the ideas I have for Kingmaker are fixed to the point where I take the setting for granted and have started adding music. As to where the music comes from... let's just say that it's a mix of Enya, Will Millar's Celtic music, a song or two from the Irish Rovers, and some really nice music from some of my other games (I'm still wondering why there's Celtic music included in the sound track of a game that's based on Greek mythology, but I love it so much that I've decided to mentally include it in my story).

I try, but I usually give up pretty quickly, or use imagery I've already seen. If a character's being described, my brain might use the image of someone I've already seen, or might make up some bizarre new appearance that doesn't really match the description, is blurry and with large parts missing, and sometimes just strange.

If the author is describing the layout of an area, I usually get frustrated and just quit imagining after a little bit. Like you say, descriptive writing is just frustrating.

It helps if the author is aware of who their potential audience is likely to be. For example, you don't need a lot of descriptive imagery in a Star Trek tie-in novel because the source material is ubiquitous (at least it is in North America). There's no need to describe a starship, uniforms, equipment, or even the planet Vulcan. We've seen it hundreds of times on TV and there's no shortage of photos, artwork, and screenshots available.

But for a novel like Cyteen (by C.J. Cherryh), try imagining a community of superdedicated research scientists, all working on various aspects of genetic engineering and cloning, on a planet that will kill them with hideous cancers if they get so much as a whiff of natural air. But they don't live under a dome because their science has developed "precip towers" that make a kind of barrier that keeps native air out of the colony areas so people can walk around outside without need of suits or other breathing apparatus.

Cherryh has to use descriptive language, but she also respects her audience's ability to imagine a place like this. Cyteen qualifies as "hard science fiction" because there's so much focus on the science. People looking for a casual read where they already have commercial images to look at so they don't have to imagine anything would be frustrated with trying to read Cyteen and its sequel, Regenesis.

Cherryh is so good at describing places in her Alliance-Union novels that one reviewer said it was like Cherryh herself had served on one or more of these ships - ships that couldn't exist for several centuries.

I saw that series of reddit TIFUs. I think it’s quite exaggerated how much people visualize. I think our minds only hold the image as far as we need to grasp what we’re thinking.

It depends on how involved a person gets. Didn't someone say fairly recently in another thread that CFCOT is populated by people who mostly live in our own heads? We visualize things we read as much or as little as is normal for us (the individual).

I wanted to see the Canada Day fireworks tonight, but it's raining and foggy (and cold). No way am I standing out in this weather just to watch that. Assuming they don't cancel them, that is. Charlottetown already moved theirs until tomorrow night.

What good are Canada Day fireworks if you don't have them on Canada Day?

It rained here, too, but the annual Folk Festival still went on and I heard the fireworks at the usual time (11 pm). I didn't bother trying to find a place to watch them, since July 1 is the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo (July session) and I needed to get registered and do my words for the day.

Maddy noticed, though. Fireworks bother her somewhat (it's the booming noise that scares her), so I make sure to remain very calm so she feels safe.

The media are flooded with info on this total solar eclipse and the eclipse won't even be happening here.

Solar eclipses can be viewed online now, on various astronomical websites. Obviously it's not as cool as watching them in person, but this is a way so everyone can see them.

 

[AdamCrock]

Do you imagine what you read? I don't/can't. I can only create an image in my head if I stop and focus. The second I stop, it's gone.

Which means overly descriptive writing is just frustrating to me instead of alluring.

It is the reason why I am such a slow reader. I need to picture everything in my head because otherwise I don't get it. I dont like descriptive writing because i need to read it very carefuly - so when it's too much I get frustrated. I have problems somewhat to synchronize reading and imagining and oftentimes my imagination runs ahead of the text and I need to re-read some pages back. In fact I very often need to go back especially when the plot is thick, when there are many persons to imagine or there is a ciminal puzzle to solve

 

[Hygro]

The media are flooded with info on this total solar eclipse and the eclipse won't even be happening here.

It's still a change from football saturation, except for the fact that football is football.

You gotta go dude you have to do it.

 

[Farm Boy]

Solar nerds were the politest 2 hour traffic jam I was ever in.

 

[Takhisis]

That sucks. I saw it was hitting Chile/the west of Argentina and hoped you would get to see it.

You win some, you lose some. I still haven't run out of bubble wrap.

Anyway with this awful overcast nothing would be visible.

Solar eclipses can be viewed online now, on various astronomical websites. Obviously it's not as cool as watching them in person, but this is a way so everyone can see them.

It's on the telly, but I'm beginning to think that TV presenters should be shot on sight.

You gotta go dude you have to do it.

I already got the one… last year? when the moon blacked out and became a red thing and it was awesome.

Anyway, the important thing today is Argentina v. Brazil. I know you 'Muricans don't really understand the concept of national sports teams, but you should try this football thing if you visit the country.