I just want to say that I broke my ankle in a mosh pit at a High on Fire show in August. One plate and 12 screws later, it's the only show that has literally and objectively made me more metal as a person.

You're right, thanks. I think I mentally conflated them because IIRC Foyle pretends to be much more damaged than he actually is? And there's definitely some sort of demented Florence Nightingale thing going on there.

It would be very silly to outright condemn a work of the past for not adhering to modern sensibilities, but that doesn't mean that we can't still criticize it and examine its failings. I'm extremely hesitant to praise an author for a poor handling of an issue simply because it's ahead of its time. It may have been…

Yes, I agree 100%. It just feels as if they're ill-equipped to handle or discuss it. At best, it's treated seriously and not just as a motivation for someone's quest for revenge etc…. but that's it, really.

I definitely wouldn't say it's handled WELL, least of all from the POV of a modern reader. Like I said, bare minimum. There's clearly some recognition that it's a big deal, but Bester also doesn't really have the gumption to deal with what that means. It's all very convenient, and the story moves on ASAP.

FWIW, while the rape isn't really called out at the time it occurs in the story, when the character appears again it is addressed directly (if fleetingly, per my criticisms above):

I don't think you're ever meant to feel sorry for Foyle, least of all for the rape. He's consistently portrayed as an awful brutish weirdo, albeit one who remakes himself/is remade by circumstance (this is a common theme in Bester's work, it's also a major element in The Demolished Man). But the themes of the book are…

Prepare thineselves for a bunch of awkward blog posts analyzing the scene in the book where Foyle terrorizes and then violently rapes his caretaker.

I'm interested in this, but I also read the first book when it came out and found it REALLY derivative and kind of generic. Specifically the two male leads felt like the same character, except (IIRC) one was always talking about being a LOOSE CANNON and the other was always STICKIN' TO THE RULES. I was a bit shocked…

I actually think Zuckuss' Prius and IG-88's '57 Chevy are the best. The autotuned refrain of the IG-88 one is really good, in particular.

You're not wrong, Darksaber is a terrible book. I remember there was a part where GENERAL CRIX MADINE!!!!! (see, how topical!) is releasing a little spy drone moth thing into the wild to spy on an Imperial Base, and he's like waxing poetic about the fragility of life and, presumably, robot moths?

Only if it's done by that skinny guy with the glasses who they always seem to send on the worst assignments. I'm pretty sure they're just out to see how much abuse they can put him through before he snaps and starts wearing turtlenecks and hosting a cooking show, like Mo Rocca.

It seems like they only show up when you're sneaking and within [Caution] range. I play sniper style, too. You could always use the old cheesy standby: walking around mashing the VATS button periodically to see if it locks onto anything.

Yes! That's a brilliant move. Although… it does remind of one of the TOTALLY BONEHEADED things that they added to FO4: the detailed compass icons for undiscovered locations.

The older games had at least one area that was like that. Fallout had The Glow, which was a subterranean bunker where the FEV (Supermutant) virus was created, and which was absolutely LOUSY with radiation. If you didn't load up on rad chems before you went in, you'd get a fatal dose of radiation. (That's actually…

Damn, you've got what could easily be several MONTHS of gaming ahead of you, depending on how much you play.

You nailed it exactly. It's the thing that was missing from the rest of the game, up 'til that point. I just felt like I was in a really crappy, dirty city — it didn't feel like science fiction. (At times, with how many ghouls there are everywhere now, it actually felt more like a Walking Dead game than Fallout.)

My favorite FO4 experience is also the moment when the game finally "clicked" for me. I was a bit let down by the game initially; it felt (and to an extent still does) like FO3 with some really nice mods installed. It just didn't feel like it brought anything new to the table, besides a reworked perk system, the…

Oh boy, Across the Universe. Yeah that film had nothing at all going for it apart from the Beatles license. Bland or just plain boring plot, generic characters, the five or six most obvious 1960s references, and honestly I didn't even find the visuals especially engrossing. That's one of those films where I did the…

I've been sitting here trying to write out something that explains why I hate the original film as much as I do, but there's almost too much to unpack. It's probably quicker for me to just say that the original completely misunderstood or ignored everything even remotely good about the original book AND all subsequent…