What Are You Reading?

[TheEconomist]

It's sort of like when people say "you can't possibly know if you'll like a guy if you don't go out with him."

What you're doing is more like having a bad dating experience with a basketball player (the starcraft books you've read) and then assuming all basketball players (all the starcraft books you haven't read) are bad for you because the share the common trait of basketball (being in the starcraft universe). You see, in your example, you know very little about the guy except for very superficial traits, kind of like you know very little about the books except what is in the blurb and what you can infer from other books in the universe. You can say it's not worth the risk because the basketball player might hurt you (the book might be bad) but you can't say that the basketball players you haven't dated (the books you haven't read) are bad.

Again, all semantics and arguing about trivial word usages and nuances. We aren't really disagreeing so on to the next.

Eh, it's not so much trust as I've been scared off, to some degree. Purely emotional reaction.

We're talking here about you taking the word of Turalyon that DTS started some of the problems in SC2. So, emotions have nothing to do with it since we're debating a fact based on the available information. You being understandably scared off is only of relevance to whether you will read the book or not, not whether you believe that Christie Golden single handedly killed StarCraft which requires backing up with facts, not feelings.

[Nissa]

Econ, ....what are you even saying? Your second comments make no sense, and it feels like you're attributing an argument to me I'm not participating in. All I'm saying is that someone commented and said that the DT Saga led to SC2. Whether this claim is true or not, the fact that someone would say it does not speak well of the saga. Now can we please drop that topic? You're weirdin' me out.


Would you be a doll and answer the question I asked? It wasn't sarcastic, I really do want to know where the Xel'Naga egg thing came from, if not from Shadow of the Xel'Naga. :P


I made it to page 183 of Firstborn, and well....all of my negativity is justified. Not so much the SC2 comment, but yeah, it's pretty bad. The narrative repeatedly describes already described characters, the author constantly tries to tell the reader how to feel without showing it....I have literally just read an amateur novel that was so much more intriguing than this. And far less creepy. And that novel involved a guy using mental control of a girl to look at her naked.

[TheEconomist]

Someone already mentioned that the DT Saga is responsible for SC2, and so now I'm expecting the worst.

I'm referring to this statement. Just saying that you can't blame an author who was told what to write for the mistakes of the people in charge of the story development. Other than that, all I said was that the fact that Christie had to constantly change large portions of the book at the whims of Blizzard shows that she was not in control of the story making process enough to be blamed for it.

I really do want to know where the Xel'Naga egg thing came from, if not from Shadow of the Xel'Naga. :P

Probably from a crack pipe or the voices in Metzen's head. I don't know. Like I said, Shadow of the Xel'Naga is the only place I've seen it really attempted to be fleshed out other than some artwork and some early developer comments or something. The first I heard about it was somewhere on infoceptor.net in the early 2000's, before the release of the books, when we were speculating on what it meant for the universe. So that doesn't mean "Gabriel Mesta" created the lore itself as was hinted at when you stated that the book was referencing SOTX and not referencing the lore itself.

In a nutshell, all I'm saying is that the blame rests on Blizzard, not the authors, who are only responsible for the shitty/bad/mediocre writing, not the stupid story arcs.

Now can we please drop that topic? You're weirdin' me out.

I've been trying to drop it for several posts now. You keep coming back to it though.

[Nissa]

Economist, in a word.

[TheEconomist]

I use bad books as examples. That, and I love nitpickery.

Hypocrite. How very Khristian of you.

I tried to stop it but you kept being like "I'm all iNtuitive and shit! AND OH YEAH BE A DOLL AND LATCH ON AD NAUSEUM TO THIS USELESS ARGUMENT YOU TRIED TO MOVE PAST"

But, I digress. Let's try again on something else. Like, say, I dunno, a book you actually like?

This is all semantics and basically debating about absolutely nothing.

This is a waste of time so on to the next.

Again, all semantics and arguing about trivial word usages and nuances. Can we move on now?

I've been trying to drop it for several posts now. You keep coming back to it though.

Would you be a doll and answer the question I asked?

[Nissa]

Econ, I love ya, but if you were really interested in dropping a topic, you wouldn't be trying to prove a point like this.

When I asked you to answer the question, it was only for the source of the whole Xel'Nagan energy being thing, it wasn't for anything else.

Are you still mad at me for not liking Neil Patrick Harris?

[TheEconomist]

if you were really interested in dropping a topic, you wouldn't be trying to prove a point like this.

If you were really interested in dropping a topic, you wouldn't keep bringing it up.

Are you still mad at me for not liking Neil Patrick Harris?

Not sure I can think of a phrase to adequately describe the sheer ataraxia I feel towards the whole thing.

No need for me to be so polite from now on so feel free to continue to talk to yourself about your beloved nitpickings. On to contemplating the real problems of the world.

[Nissa]

*cries*

Oh Econ, I wasn't trying to piss you off. I was just....well, odded out by you making really elaborate, complex posts that didn't seem to have much to do with what I said. I clearly didn't understand what you were saying.

Please understand that anything I said was meant in humor or in the tone we've always been discussing Starcraft things. I don't feel the need to be right, I just don't want to argue with someone who I really think is cool.

[TheEconomist]

Well, that's nice to hear at least.

But, again, let's just move on. What books do you like?

[Nissa]

I like.....nothing. Every book ever sucks.

Just kidding. I really love most anything written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, as he has great narrative. The Gulag Archipelago is perhaps the 20th century's greatest book. Life after Life by Ray Moody is real good, as it's a doctor's research about what people see when they die but are recussitated by doctors. Ethnic America by Thomas Sowell is pretty good too, as it's a no-holds-barred story of how each ethnicity was treated as they made it to America. Dude, as an economist, you really should read it. It talks about how social circumstance leads to economic perspective, and you'd probably be all over that.