Roy Tang

Programmer, engineer, scientist, critic, gamer, dreamer, and kid-at-heart.

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Sep 2015

Jul 2015

  • Repost from montrealwizard:

    island-delver-go:

    wizardsofmontreal:

    007 License to Kill Target Creature

    I hope I haven’t done the rules a total injustice! I THINK this is the basic rules right? They are so much more nuanced and complex than this, BUT hey, I think it might be enough to loosely follow.

    I had a rad time at the Friday Night Magic draft at chezgeeks last friday. I’ll try do a lil mini recap of it! WOO!

    My niece has mentioned wanting to learn to play but declines every time I offer to teach her. This is a good primer

    island-delver-go: wizardsofmontreal: 007 License to Kill Target CreatureI hope I haven’t done the rules a total injustice! I THINK this is the basic rules right? They are so much more nuanced and complex than this, BUT hey, I think it might be enough to loosely follow. I had a rad time at the Friday Night Magic draft at chezgeeks last friday. I’ll try do a lil mini recap of it! WOO!
    island-delver-go: wizardsofmontreal: 007 License to Kill Target CreatureI hope I haven’t done the rules a total injustice! I THINK this is the basic rules right? They are so much more nuanced and complex than this, BUT hey, I think it might be enough to loosely follow. I had a rad time at the Friday Night Magic draft at chezgeeks last friday. I’ll try do a lil mini recap of it! WOO!
    island-delver-go: wizardsofmontreal: 007 License to Kill Target CreatureI hope I haven’t done the rules a total injustice! I THINK this is the basic rules right? They are so much more nuanced and complex than this, BUT hey, I think it might be enough to loosely follow. I had a rad time at the Friday Night Magic draft at chezgeeks last friday. I’ll try do a lil mini recap of it! WOO!
    Posted by under notes at
    Also on: tumblr / 0

Jun 2015

May 2015

Apr 2015

Mar 2015

Feb 2015

  • Repost from kellysue:

    This is an excellent writing advice from Chuck Palahniuk. This was first seen on tumblr. Unfortunately, when I clicked on the link, it no longer existed.

    But, I still think it’s worth sharing.

    writingadvice: by Chuck Palahniuk

    In six seconds, you’ll hate me.
    But in six months, you’ll be a better writer.

    From this point forward—at least for the next half year—you may not
    use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands,
    Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred
    others you love to use.

    The list should also include: Loves and Hates.
    And it should include: Is and Has, but we’ll get to those later.

    Until some time around Christmas, you can’t write: Kenny wondered if Monica didn’t like him going out at night…”

    Instead, you’ll have to Un-pack that to something like: “The
    mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until he’d
    had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking
    sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, she’d
    only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his.”

    Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present
    the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character
    wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader
    wants it.

    Instead of saying: “Adam knew Gwen liked him.” You’ll have
    to say: “Between classes, Gwen had always leaned on his locker when he’d
    go to open it. She’s roll her eyes and shove off with one foot,
    leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the
    smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her
    butt. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again.”

    In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling.

    Typically,
    writers use these “thought” verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (In
    this form, you can call them “Thesis Statements” and I’ll rail against
    those, later). In a way, they state the intention of the paragraph. And
    what follows, illustrates them.

    For example:
    “Brenda knew she’d never make the deadline. Traffic
    was backed up from the bridge, past the first eight or nine exits. Her
    cell phone battery was dead. At home, the dogs would need to go out, or
    there would be a mess to clean up. Plus, she’d promised to water the
    plants for her neighbor…”

    Do you see how the opening “thesis statement” steals the thunder of what follows? Don’t do it.

    If nothing else, cut the opening sentence and place it after all the others. Better yet, transplant it and change it to: Brenda would never make the deadline.

    Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your
    story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions
    and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking
    and knowing. And loving and hating.

    Don’t tell your reader: “Lisa hated Tom.”

    Instead, make your case like a lawyer in court, detail by detail.

    Present each piece of evidence. For example:
    “During roll call,
    in the breath after the teacher said Tom’s name, in that moment before
    he could answer, right then, Lisa would whisper-shout ‘Butt Wipe,’ just
    as Tom was saying, ‘Here’.”

    One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing,
    you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your
    character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary
    character starts thinking or worrying or wondering.

    For example: Waiting for the bus, Mark started to worry about how long the trip would take…”

    A better break-down might be: “The schedule said the bus would come
    by at noon, but Mark’s watch said it was already 11:57. You could see
    all the way down the road, as far as the Mall, and not see a bus. No
    doubt, the driver was parked at the turn-around, the far end of the
    line, taking a nap. The driver was kicked back, asleep, and Mark was
    going to be late. Or worse, the driver was drinking, and he’d pull up
    drunk and charge Mark seventy-five cents for death in a fiery traffic
    accident…”

    A character alone must lapse into fantasy or memory, but even then
    you can’t use “thought” verbs or any of their abstract relatives.

    Oh, and you can just forget about using the verbs forget and remember.

    No more transitions such as: “Wanda remembered how Nelson used to brush her hair.”

    Instead: “Back in their sophomore year, Nelson used to brush her hair with smooth, long strokes of his hand.”

    Again, Un-pack. Don’t take short-cuts.

    Better yet, get your character with another character, fast.
    Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and
    words show their thoughts. You—stay out of their heads.

    And while you’re avoiding “thought” verbs, be very wary about using the bland verbs “is” and “have.”

    For example:
    “Ann’s eyes are blue.”

    “Ann has blue eyes.”

    Versus:

    “Ann coughed and waved one hand past her face, clearing the cigarette smoke from her eyes, blue eyes, before she smiled…”

    Instead of bland “is” and “has” statements, try burying your details
    of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most
    basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it.

    And forever after, once you’ve learned to Un-pack your characters,
    you’ll hate the lazy writer who settles for: “Jim sat beside the
    telephone, wondering why Amanda didn’t call.”

    Please. For now, hate me all you want, but don’t use thought verbs. After Christmas, go crazy, but I’d bet money you won’t.

    (…)

    For this month’s homework, pick through your writing and circle every “thought” verb. Then, find some way to eliminate it. Kill it by Un-packing it.

    Then, pick through some published fiction and do the same thing. Be ruthless.

    “Marty imagined fish, jumping in the moonlight…”

    “Nancy recalled the way the wine tasted…”

    “Larry knew he was a dead man…”

    Find them. After that, find a way to re-write them. Make them stronger.

    –

    Thanks Hiraku! (via

    wingedbeastie

    )

    This reminded me of the process of drawing narrative without a narrative voice or thought bubble.

    (via d-pi)

    Posted by under notes at #quotes
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0

Jan 2015

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May 2014

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Mar 2014

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Dec 2013

Nov 2013

  • Repost from eyesofamaranthine:

    eyesofamaranthine:

    X-Men 50th Anniversary ± 30 X-Men Through The Decades

    eyesofamaranthine: X-Men 50th Anniversary ± 30 X-Men Through The Decades
    eyesofamaranthine: X-Men 50th Anniversary ± 30 X-Men Through The Decades
    eyesofamaranthine: X-Men 50th Anniversary ± 30 X-Men Through The Decades
    eyesofamaranthine: X-Men 50th Anniversary ± 30 X-Men Through The Decades
    eyesofamaranthine: X-Men 50th Anniversary ± 30 X-Men Through The Decades
    eyesofamaranthine: X-Men 50th Anniversary ± 30 X-Men Through The Decades
    Posted by under notes at
    Also on: tumblr twitter tumblr twitter / 0
  • Repost from jl8comic:

    jl8comic:

    EDIT: On the original image, I mistyped Haiyan as Haiya. That has been corrected, and everyone who’s already purchased the image set should be able to just go and re-download it.

    As many of you know, the Philippines were absolutely ravaged this past weekend by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). The death toll is expected to surpass 10,000. Beyond that, millions are without food, water, shelter. A state of calamity has been issued. Things are grim.

    What many of you may NOT know, is that the Philippines is the second-largest readership of JL8, only surpassed by the US. Not that I wouldn’t step in for a tragedy of this magnitude regardless, but as such, it hits a little bit closer to home than most.

    All that being said, I’m offering a wallpaper/cover photo bundle pack at my webstore for purchase. All proceeds will be donated to UNICEF Philippines, whose goal is to primarily assist the children affected by this disaster.

    Obviously, the timeline photo has been posted up right here, and you can use it if you want without donating anything, and that’s fine. If you do, though, I ask that you include the information for donating when you do post it, so that others may find a way to give.

    The wallpaper and cover photo can be found here.

    Also, the original art will be on auction here.

    Thanks guys.

    -Yale

    jl8comic: EDIT: On the original image, I mistyped Haiyan as Haiya. That has been corrected, and everyone who’s already purchased the image set should be able to just go and re-download it. As many of you know, the Philippines were absolutely ravaged this past weekend by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). The death toll is expected to surpass 10,000. Beyond that, millions are without food, water, shelter. A state of calamity has been issued.
    Posted by under notes at
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0
  • Repost from textsfromsuperheroes.com:

    textsfromsuperheroes:

    The best of Thor on Texts from Superheroes.

    textsfromsuperheroes: The best of Thor on Texts from Superheroes.
    textsfromsuperheroes: The best of Thor on Texts from Superheroes.
    textsfromsuperheroes: The best of Thor on Texts from Superheroes.
    textsfromsuperheroes: The best of Thor on Texts from Superheroes.
    textsfromsuperheroes: The best of Thor on Texts from Superheroes.
    textsfromsuperheroes: The best of Thor on Texts from Superheroes.
    Posted by under notes at
    Also on: tumblr / 0
  • Repost from oliviacirce:

    After learning my flight was detained 4 hours,
    I heard the announcement:
    If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic,
    Please come to the gate immediately.

    Well—one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there.
    An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress,
    Just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly.
    Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her
    Problem? we told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she
    Did this.

    I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.
    Shu dow-a, shu- biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick,
    Sho bit se-wee?

    The minute she heard any words she knew—however poorly used—
    She stopped crying.

    She thought our flight had been canceled entirely.
    She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the
    Following day. I said no, no, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late,

    Who is picking you up? Let’s call him and tell him.
    We called her son and I spoke with him in English.
    I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and
    Would ride next to her—Southwest.

    She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it.

    Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and
    Found out of course they had ten shared friends.

    Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian
    Poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours.

    She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering
    Questions.

    She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies—little powdered
    Sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts—out of her bag—
    And was offering them to all the women at the gate.

    To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a
    Sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler from California,
    The lovely woman from Laredo—we were all covered with the same
    Powdered sugar. And smiling. There are no better cookies.

    And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge coolers—
    Non-alcoholic—and the two little girls for our flight, one African
    American, one Mexican American—ran around serving us all apple juice
    And lemonade and they were covered with powdered sugar too.

    And I noticed my new best friend—by now we were holding hands—
    Had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing,

    With green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always
    Carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.

    And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought,
    This is the world I want to live in. The shared world.

    Not a single person in this gate—once the crying of confusion stopped
    —has seemed apprehensive about any other person.

    They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too.
    This can still happen anywhere.

    Not everything is lost.

    –Naomi Shihab Nye (b. 1952), “Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal.” I think this poem may be making the rounds, this week, but that’s as it should be.  (via oliviacirce)

    When I lose hope in the world, I remember this poem.

    (via bookoisseur)

    Posted by under notes at #quotes
    Also on: tumblr / 0

Oct 2013

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