gdp's Comments

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Reaper Man': Part 1

Fri, 22 May 2015 15:12:17 +0000

Znex vf tbvat gb pbzohfg uvzfrys jura jr trg gb Guvrs bs Gvzr, vfa'g ur?

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Reaper Man': Part 1

Fri, 22 May 2015 15:11:19 +0000

1000000000000000% agree. There are books before this one that I enjoy, mainly the Witches books we've read, but I. Freaking. Love. Reaper. Man. It's just.......ugh, it's just so GOOD.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 9

Fri, 15 May 2015 17:58:43 +0000

Instead of Yarrun Firetamer learning his magics from his father, his father writes the magic into his back and that's why he's so furious at Daja for doing the fire magic instinctively.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 9

Fri, 15 May 2015 17:57:22 +0000

Adding Battle Magic spoilers bc why not V guvax vg'f nyfb jbegu cbvagvat bhg gung Oevne, ng ntr 18, vf ernql gb chg uvf fgnzc ba gur jbeyq va n ovt jnl. Ur'f fbzrjung xabja ng guvf cbvag sbe uvf gerrf, ohg uvf jbex va gur Lnawvat jne vf zntvpnyyl renfrq sebz rirelbar'f zrzbel. Ebfrgubea'f orra gryyvat uvz fvapr ur jnf gra gung ur pbhyq or n jbeyq snzbhf tneqrare; abg arprffnevyl gb srrq uvf rtb, ohg whfg va n ab-abafrafr jul-ner-lbh-fperjvat-nebhaq-jura-lbh-pbhyq-or xvaqn jnl. Orerarar vf n irel, irel rnfl jnl sbe uvz gb npghnyyl orpbzr gung jbeyq snzbhf tneqrare. Vg'f abg fbzrguvat gung vf ernyyl nccnerag va gur grkg, ohg vg'f n urnqpnaba bs zvar gung Oevne vf pbafgnagyl gelvat gb cebir ur'f nfpraqrq sebz gur fgerrgf, naq orvat tvira n serr gvpxrg gb qrfvta gur RZCERFF BS ANZBEA'F TNEQRAF jbhyq or n uhtr yher, naq bar gung srrqf evtug vagb uvf fhopbafpvbhf qrfverf naq nakvrgvrf.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 9

Fri, 15 May 2015 17:49:13 +0000

Honestly, I really prefer that the Rosethorn scene is offpage. I mean, yes, OBVIOUSLY it would be the height of awesome to see Rosethorn be wrapped in righteous fury like a torch etc etc... ...but in reality, I don't think she really went in and ate him alive. Rosethorn may be prickly and demanding, but she's also a professional. She's a great mage and an authority, but she's also a religious dedicate. I bet the conversation was really more along the lines of her (firmly and unbrookingly) (yes i made that word up I dont' care) informing Jebilu that yes, there is a Winding Circle/Lightsbridge official here, do your duty. But she wouldn't actually be insulting and rude to him unless he, like, attacked her. It's one of those things I've learned as I grew up and became a professional myself; yeah, it might feel really good to treat adults like children when you're right and they're wrong, but it unfailingly makes the situation worse.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 7

Mon, 11 May 2015 16:16:44 +0000

At a certain point, you have to decide whether you're criticizing fat people being stereotyped, or villainous characters being fat. The presence of a main character (and a massively beloved one, at that!) who has fatness as a key part of her characterization, and not just as a "oh well we'll make her fat so she isn't a mary sue" does a lot to say the author ISN'T stereotyping. It's one of the (few) ways I think Doylist analysis trumps Watsonian.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 7

Mon, 11 May 2015 15:50:17 +0000

It is definitely worth mentioning that Tris has, from the very start, been explicitly described as chubby, fat, and overweight.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 6

Fri, 8 May 2015 13:41:04 +0000

Gur rknpg cuenfr hfrq sbe tynff zntvp vf "zvqqyvat ener". Jung'f shaal vf, gung nyjnlf znqr cresrpg frafr gb zr: vg'f enere guna pbzzba nzovrag zntvp, yvxr jrngure zntvp, ohg zber pbzzba guna ener nzovrag zntvp, yvxr qnapr zntvp. Naq Xrgu npgf yvxr gur cuenfr vf whfg pbzcyrgryl bcndhr naq unf ab zrnavat ng nyy. V nyjnlf tbg n ynhtu bhg bs gung. V oryvrir jrngure zntvp va trareny vf cerggl pbzzba, ohg fxvyyrq yvtugavat zntrf ner ener (va ab fznyy cneg orpnhfr gurl nyy trg oybjrq hc).

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 5

Wed, 6 May 2015 16:02:46 +0000

OH OH OH I HAD ANOTHER THOUGHT but it's spoilery. Fb, jr arire frr Ebfrgubea tb hc ntnvafg Mranqvn. Yvxr, V qba'g rira guvax gurl rire zrrg snpr gb snpr. Fur tbrf naq rngf Fgbarfyvpre nyvir, naq Oevne znxrf shaal pbzzragf nobhg ubj fur unfa'g unq n punapr gb ireonyyl rivfprengr fbzrbar va zbaguf naq vg'f terng orpnhfr Ebfrgubea vf gur orfg rgp rgp. V xvaq bs guvax vs Ebfrgubea QVQ gel gb unir vg bhg jvgu Mranqvn, fur'q...creuncf abg ybfr, ohg fur qrsvavgryl jbhyqa'g jnyx bhg, urnq uvtu naq ivpgbevbhf. Mranqvn unf gbb zhpu cevivyrtr naq cbjre; rira Ebfrgubea'f fgnghf nf n snzrq terng zntr jbhyqa'g snmr ure. V nyfb qba'g guvax Ebfrgubea jbhyq tb qbja Oevne'f cngu bs qrfgeblvat ure ragver rfgngr; fur'f n yvggyr zber nggnpurq gb gur fgnghf dhb guna ur vf. Vg'f na vagrerfgvat gubhtug, gung Ebfrgubea bayl "tbrf nsgre" gubfr fur unf rfgnoyvfurq cbjre bire. Fur bhgenaxf Fgbarfyvpre va rirel jnl. Fur'f nyfb cerggl zhpu va gur evtug; ur'f nggrzcgvat gb qhpx bhg bs uvf erfcbafvovyvgvrf naq vf nyfb n cerggl funql punenpgre va uvf bja evtug, naq fur'f n gbgnyyl yrtvgvzngr nhgubevgl svther bire uvz. V'z abg gelvat gb cnvag bhe orybirq Ebfrgubea nf n ohyyl, fvapr V guvax GC tbrf gb terng rkgrag gb fubj Ebfrgubea vf pbafpvbhf bs ure cbjre, obgu zntvpny naq crefbanyvgl jvfr. Ohg vg'f vagrerfgvat.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 5

Tue, 5 May 2015 15:37:21 +0000

I mean, he said "we did it once by accident". Pretty clear statement. I guess it could mean like Shmaylor said, they made it work after a lot of trial and error.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 5

Tue, 5 May 2015 15:02:51 +0000

Yeah, Evvy's success never bothered me, since it's in her wheelhouse, so to speak. Tris and Daja were both kind of coming at the problem from a weird angle, so to speak; it works, but it definitely doesn't play to their strengths.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 5

Tue, 5 May 2015 14:41:34 +0000

I've always felt like this chapter had a bit of a retcon in it. They didn't make Sandry's lamp by accident....they sat there on the porch and worked on it for a long time. Tris couldn't do it by herself because they were so weak after the earthquake, so Daja and Briar had to help. I always wondered why the "accident" line was thrown in here. It always reminds me of when I'd be so disappointed that kids shows weren't serialized; as a kid I craved plot arcs in television shows, and lived for multi-part episodes of Power Rangers. When I was twelve, we moved someplace that, for whatever reason, had Cartoon Network as part of the basic cable (or, I guess, my parents maybe picked a cable package that had Cartoon Network in it?) and suddenly Toonami was a thing and I got to experience anime and shows with serialization and arcs and I was absolutely hooked. Sailor Moon, Beast Wars, Ronin Warriors, Tenchi Muyo, all these terrible, terrible dubs that I absolutely loved. Although, I never got into DBZ. But yeah, anyway, that throwaway line has always been a little disappointing to me.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 4

Sat, 2 May 2015 21:50:36 +0000

Maybe, when Mark's settled in, we can commission some one-off reviews of Animorphs. Just the good ones, not all seventy bajillion. V'q cnl zbarl gb jngpu uvz ernq gur puncgre va gur svefg Zrtnzbecuf jurer Znepb vf qevivat gur gehpx. "QB LBH WHFG UNGR GENFU PNAF?!"

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 4

Fri, 1 May 2015 22:31:35 +0000

You're totally right. Monolithing (is that a word? I made it one) is incredibly easy to do, and it's something that I know I still struggle with, so how could I blame the kids for doing the same thing to me? And yeah, I agree with you that zero tolerance policies just make the whole situation worse. They're just totally coming from a place of "what else can we do?", at least in the districts where I've worked. I'm sure there are places that said "Fuck it just don't let anyone do anything" and let the chips fall. It's demoralizing when you WANT to help, but without being reached out to, there's nothing you can do. You can sit a kid down a hundred times and ask "are you sure you don't need to tell us something?" and even if they have a bruise on their face, they'll insist til the sun goes down they fell. It's not their fault, of course, it's just how humans work. I think that's a huge part of why teachers burn out so fast. Most people who go into teaching (at least in my experience) genuinely want to help, but there's times when you KNOW something's up, but you can't do anything. It's easy to blame the kids for that - "If you'd just tell me, I can do something about it!" but that's not productive. I wish there was an easy answer.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 4

Fri, 1 May 2015 18:15:01 +0000

Okay, possibly going to make a fool of myself here. Big disclaimer: I am white, male, gay, middle class, grew up in a home that wasn't technically rich but let's be real it was, never had to deal with gangs in any way shape or form as a kid. Absolutely open to people telling me I'm totally wrong about what I'm about to say. Not trying to mansplain or whitesplain or whatever. I'm a teacher in a smallish town. It's too far out to be considered a suburb of Austin, TX, but in the next ten years, it's going to be one. The town has experienced a huge influx of Hispanic and Mexican (it is my understand those are not the same thing, again, totally white here) families moving in, and the school district suddenly has to deal with a HUGE culture shock. They are, by and large, doing it fairly well, with a lot of compassion and communication, but it's really hard. The kids actively refuse to talk about it, and will straight up lie to you if you try and have a conversation about it. I absolutely understand where these zero-tolerance policies come from, because I wonder, on a regular basis, if a minor pushing match is going to suddenly escalate into a knife fight. It's impossible to get any information from the kids, and it's especially impossible to get any from their parents. I have had so many parent-teacher conferences where the parents refuse to acknowledge there's any sort of problem, what am I talking about, my son didn't have a knife at school. I'm not trying to defend your school district, Mark. Lord knows there's millions of examples of white people with good intentions making things worse for non-white people, and I definitely don't want to erase that. I just want to share my thoughts on the issue, I guess. If I could press a button that put up a magic forcefield that made violence impossible in a school, damn straight I'd push it. (Animorphs spoilers: erzrzore gur jrveq obbx jvgu gur fhoznevar jurer ivbyrapr jnf vzcbffvoyr? V org zbarl gur tubfg jevgre gurer jnf ng yrnfg n fhofgvghgr grnpure.)

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 2

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 15:08:01 +0000

V qba'g oryvrir jr rire npghnyyl frr Fxlsver jbex nal zntvp. V'z npghnyyl nffhzvat gur ryrzragny zntrf (bs juvpu jr frr inavfuvatyl srj; gur Nve qrqvpngrf gung serrmr Oevne naq Zleeugvqr ner gur bayl barf V pna guvax bs bss gur gbc bs zl urnq) ner npnqrzvp zntrf. V unir ab erny ernfba gb nffhzr gung, abj gung V'z glcvat vg bhg. Ernyyl naq gehyl, V guvax gur qrsvavgvbaf bs "npnqrzvp" naq "nzovrag" ner npghnyyl snveyl vapbafvfgrag guebhtubhg gur frevrf.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 2

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 15:01:19 +0000

Qb lbh xabj jung gur zntvpny ehar sbe qvfpbeq vf? ununun ybbx jung V qvq gb nyy lbhe srryvatf unununun

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 2

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 14:54:29 +0000

It obviously will contain a lot of spoilers, but the book itself contains a glossary in the back just like the Beka Cooper books did.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 2

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 15:16:53 +0000

Same spoilers (and, actually, you may not want to decode, Mairead, since I'm discussing the book you skipped): Pbyq Sver, vagrerfgvatyl, qbrf abg ernyyl unir nal zrnavatshy CBIf sebz gur gjvaf. Nygubhtu lbhe vqrn nobhg gur bccbfvgr-crefbanyvgl vf vagrerfgvat naq bar V'q arire pbafvqrerq; Wbel naq Avn ner bccbfvgrf bs rnpu bgure va n ybg bs jnlf, naq obgu eryngr gb Qnwn irel qvssreragyl. Avn eryngrf gb Qnwn'f zrgvphybhfarff naq cynaavat fvqr, juvyr Wbel eryngrf gb ure fanc-qrpvfvba-znxvat naq ybir bs npgvba. (Mairead safe from here, but still spoilers for Circle Opens): V guvax GC qvq n cerggl tbbq wbo znxvat gur inevbhf "jr trg gur arj zntrf grnpuref" cybgf qvssrerag. Fnaqel grnpurf Cnfpb orpnhfr ur'f n Fhcre Fcrfuhy Fabsynx. Oevne svaqf n fgbar zntr gb grnpu Riil snveyl rnfvyl, ohg fur ershfrf orpnhfr ur'f Gur Jbefg (gz). Naq Xrgu qbrfa'g arrq nal uryc jvgu tynff zntvp, vg'f gur pbzovangvba bs yvtugavat naq tynff naq svthevat bhg gur jrveq jnl uvf cbjre jbexf gung Gevf urycf uvz jvgu, naq gung'f (nf V erpnyy) n irel fubeg-grez grnpuvat eryngvbafuvc, fvapr ur qbrfa'g arrq gb yrnea gb zrqvgngr. Qbrfa'g ur fgnl va Gunevbf jura Gevf, Tynxv, naq Avxb yrnir?

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Street Magic': Chapter 2

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 15:09:45 +0000

Spoilers for Melting Stones: Ohooyrfdhrnx be jungrire gur Jngre Grzcyr qrqvpngr gung tbrf jvgu gurz gb gur vfynaq unf n fprar jurer ur jnyxf guebhtu gur evire naq gnyxf gb gur svfu, V oryvrir. Znlor gung'f na ryrzragny guvat? V nyjnlf tbg gur vzcerffvba gur ryrzragny zntrf yvxr Fxlsver jrer abg nzovrag zntrf, fvapr gurl hfrq guvatf yvxr gung pbccre punva.