Oh those pet peeves

[Büge]

Chris Sims had a pretty good line the other day about DC's attempts to establish itself as Grown Up by constantly tearing dudes' arms off as the equivalent of a fourteen-year-old trying to buy cigarettes while his voice cracks. It's not a simile I'd thought of but it's the basic point I've been making for...well, since before I was a fourteen-year-old myself.

And yet, other times it feels like someone's dad trying to be "hip" and "with it" and "down with the posse" by letting his son have a six pack of beer. He knows it's stupid but he does it anyway to try to look cool to the kids.

[Thad]

Haha, well I was mostly referring to it in the context of original works (i.e., not brobdingnagian Two). I am generally in agreement with you re:Grim and Gritty, but for some reason it feels harder for me to justify this feeling with a lot of the original stuff, mainly because their narrative assumptions may be different? (Hence why it's just a pet peeve.) Maybe I am just more sensitive to this kind of thing, I dunno.

Well, it depends -- I never got around to reading Irredeemable (past the first issue) but I like Mark Waid and I bet it was pretty good.

Speaking more generally, well, on the one hand I can understand why people imitate stuff that's financially successful, but on the other it's always a shame to see something so creatively bankrupt.

Then again, Fantagraphics publishes porn so it can afford to publish some of the very best fucking comics that have ever been made. If creative bankruptcy keeps you out of actual bankruptcy so that you can do the shit you really want to, then that's a win.

[Lottel]

I got in an argument at work about Batman. They were talking about their favourite Jokers and that led to favourite Batmen.
"I really loved Brave and the Bold's Batman. And it's Joker. And it's... everything."
"Brave and the Bold? Isn't that the... silly one?" followed shortly by "The closer Batman gets to being the Punisher but with better villains, the better."

[Mongrel]

As always, there are few programs I hate more than MS word. The worst is its unabashed penchant for inserting or changing formatting no matter what the fuck anyone does to it and no matter that you never asked for it.

I understand the maxim of garbage in garbage out, but the outputs on this thing have always been so goddamned counterintuitive that it's practically impossible to see where you've gone wrong. Or even what functionality is being used.

I've never quite understood who MS Word was designed for because it sure as fuck isn't the majority of average users.

[Disposable Ninja]

there needs to be a law against having advertisements that play before an internet video that are as long as or longer than the actual video itself.

[Thad]

STOP SAYING "QUADRILOGY", YOU ASSHOLES.

[Rico]

It's apparently been around since at least 1865, though. I didn't expect that.

[Mongrel]

Is there even a grammatically proper term for that?

[Brantly B.]

It's "tetralogy", apparently, but I've never heard that term used even once.

[Mongrel]

Oh okay. I'd forgotten that, but I have definitely heard that before.

[Classic]

It's a little fucked up that I kind of assumed trilogy was Latin, but it's Greek. If you remember it's all Greek it makes more sense. No?

[Brantly B.]

It's tricky because tri- can be either a Greek or a Latin root, but trilogy depends on the Greek word logos for story, so it's Greek. If it were Latin it'd be a terfabula or something else that sounds like an orgasm-induced heart attack.

All of which makes "quadrilogy" bad Latin and bad Greek, but really excellent English.

[nosimpleway]

Polyamory is wrong!

It should be polyphilia or multiamory, but mixing Greek and Latin roots? Wrong!

[Cthulhu-chan]

This is English, mothafucka, I'll say whatever I wanna do!

[Thad]

ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER. DO. YOU. SPEAK. IT?

[sei]

So... what is this stupid new trend where people are saying that leaving voicemails is outmoded and "rude" and that they will summarily ignore any voicemails left for them, possibly for hours, possibly forever. Apparently the "correct" thing to do is to leave a text.

I mean, I've done the thing where I try to call someone, don't get an answer and quickly leave a text message instead of a voicemail often enough myself, but seriously? It's now rude to leave voicemails? WTF?

Shut up and text, grandpa.

They want something short and to the point, which can be read quickly. Listening takes longer. VMs also are worse at preventing the "Hi, it's Mongrel, how are you... I'm calling because..." tedious-social-protocol-laden bullshit that wastes time by standing between me and the actual message.

That said, Google Voice lets people read a lot of VMs well enough to get what's going on.

As always, there are few programs I hate more than MS word.

wait until you try libre office

[Mongrel]

I don't have a problem with people preferring texts or whatever. I have a problem with people who actually think it's outright RUDE for people to DARE to leave a voicemail.

Like, I'm sorry, no, that it's not actually a common social more yet. Sure! Maybe it will be in the future after all the currently-alive parents and grandparents are dead! But for now, as far as I know most of society does not find voicemails to be inherently rude, no matter how impatient the recipient might be. Getting huffy about it seems pretty damned juvenile.

[sei]

People generalizing niche preferences into societal social protocol are up their own butts.

did i use the right pronoun in that sentence

[Mongrel]

It was funny to me, more than anything. Watching as twenty-somethings complained heartily about how "He left a VOICEMAIL instead of texting, now that's just RUDE!".

Well, by funny I mean depressing - because you realize the root is that (as you also pointed out) people wanted their communication in the most easily-digestible form, and that taking the extra ten seconds or whatever to actually listen to another human being's voice was not worth the ENORMOUS EFFORT involved.

[Blossom]

I dunno, many people can read in 3-5 seconds what it takes a full minute to say out loud, even assuming it's all perfectly audible and they don't have to rewind/replay it a bunch. Especially if you're leaving a number or address or something.

It's also sort of a pain because, if I see a missed call from you, my immediate reaction is not to call my voicemail, it's to call you back and ask what's up.