“Creep,” Radiohead
Songwriters: Mike Hazlewood / Albert Hammond / Colin Greenwood / Jonathan Greenwood / Edward O’brien / Philip Selway / Thomas Yorke
When you were here before
Couldn’t look you in the eye
You’re just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
And I wish I was special
You’re so fuckin’ special
But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo.
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here.
I don’t care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice
When I’m not around
You’re so fuckin’ special
I wish I was special
But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo.
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here.
She’s running out again,
She’s running out
She’s run run run run
Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You’re so fuckin’ special
I wish I was special
But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo,
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here.
I don’t belong here.
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At the high school spring concert at James’ school, one of the seniors did an arrangement of this piece as his senior project (with some minor bowdlerization of the lyrics). I thought it was emblematic of teen angst (as I still recall it mumblety decades later), which sometimes bubbles up for some of our characters (Alycia in particular, but not exclusively by any means).
So whenever anyone brings up the molecular lathe, I always think about it working similar to this game (Opus Magnum, which is a personal favorite). Setup an assembly line, feed in a lot of simple carbon (or essential salts, due to this game being alchemy-based) and let it work for a while and you come back to all sorts of interesting things (sadly not always what you wanted, due to mistakes you made along the way).
Looks like Secrets of AEGIS is finally out for people who didn’t back the Kickstarter. Quite a nice read. The Agents of AEGIS playset sounds particularly interesting.
Recently read the digital version of Tom King’s Vision limited series, and was so wowed that I purchased the hardcover just so I could have it and/or loan it out to others. Gripping, understated-yet-Shakespearean-epic psychodrama about the Vision building a normal family, living in a normal suburban house, and trying to have a normal life … and how it all spirals into madness, murder, and pathos.
Very cool story, and while it’s absolutely not anything that meshes with the Newmans, if Alycia read comics, she’d be even more wide-eyed over this (even though, ultimately, it’s parable of any human striving for normalcy).
So Aaron Diaz (creator of Dresden Codak [If you don’t already read it I recommend it, though with plenty of asterisks*.]) posted a breakdown of main character Kimiko Ross’ cybernetic enhancements and as soon as I read nanofiber tendons, my first thought was “hmm, probably not too dissimilar from the Newman girls, save for the digital/analog bridge.”
* It’s good. It delves into deep concepts that I’m not sure anyone follows with 100% accuracy (at least not without having to do some research). There’s the loosest of continuity which can drive you crazy (which is why I recommend the one-shots over the serialized stories). And the author is an epic perfectionist which helps makes his work come out at a glacial pace (and I wouldn’t know anything about that). But when it’s on point, it’s on point.
One of these days I’ll take vacation enough to read the whole series with all the attention it deserves, and maybe then I’ll grok half of it.
I’ve been very thorough about basing almost all the Newman tech on what’s at least possible, and assuming Leo’s power includes “overcome engineering challenges in a given scientific field” (the sole exception is their power supply). Dresden Codak has done its freakin’ homework way more than I have, and I’ve leeched off its ideas from time to time. And other times, we both drink from the same well.
Even from that far back, that’s pretty good. The current human dead-lift record is about 457 kg. 85 times that is about 40 tons, which is the stated figure for Aria and Summer to lift. Kimiko’s quoted at 8 tons in the second link, which makes sense if you build a multi-purpose limb. Leo didn’t: his girls are solid muscle and armor, no implant tools or other fanciness. The built-in levitation system drops that a bit, but not much. Similarly, the carbon allotropes I’ve described really can carry that much strain, and more.
Running speed is interesting, because longer legs contribute a lot more than sheer power of muscular contraction. If you can do it, it’s better to move in a series of jumps or forward leaps - watch a cheetah in slow motion for example. Summer can’t run like a cheetah, but we have Aria jumping grasshopper-style to move quickly, and she could probably hit 100 km/h or better in doing so.
And of course, “technology is shaped by philosophy and vice versa, it’s all connected” has been my entire god damn character.
The stuff is “25 times the strength of Kevlar”. I f’in love science.
I’m a regular Ars reader, so I’d read it earlier in the day. How telling is that it immediately made me think of this game before all the cool engineering applications?
I expect it will be very cool once they figure out how to make the strands longer that centimeter scale. A long, flexible, strong material with some of the best thermal conductivity in material science and (presumably) good electrical conductivity? Yeah, some interesting stuff is going to get made of that.
* I say presumably because of what I suspect, given my passing knowledge of material science. I imagine it’s a lot closer in conductivity to graphene than a diamond. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
I suspect the nature of various disabilities that require a wheelchair make different types and models more practical. But the idea of movement through core exercise is pretty darned nifty.
Has a strong DC tilt since this is a young justice podcast, but the analysis of mythology, superhero acts, and the Teen experience is really good, especially from the guest speaker.
Has a strong DC tilt since this is a young justice podcast, but the analysis of mythology, superhero acts, and the Teen experience is really good, especially from the guest speaker.
Doyce thanks for the link. This really hit me in my mythology fanboy-isms when they started to talk about Jason and Argonauts as my favorite podcast (Myths & Legends) made the same comparison (calling it an Avengers-style team-up). When I finally get to watching Young Justice I’ll have to keep an eye out for all the allusions to Greece legends that they mentioned (not surprised that there would be, creator Greg Weisman also headed up Gargoyles back in the 90’s and if you knew your Shakespeare you were in for a lot of nods, allusions, and misdirections).
