FYI the name Dennis is derived from Dionysus. That is all.
this means…denny’s….
I mean have you ever been in a denny’s parking lot after 2 AM because the etymological ancestry makes perfect sense
hot new Hellenic Polytheist trend: initiate yourself into the Dionysian Mysteries by chugging three liters of grape soda while dancing naked in Denny’s at midnight
Hiveswap “Act 1″ will apparently be coming out in Jan 2017, which reminds me that I have no interest in playing it because the lead writer is that cohen ghost guy from twitter and I find him (or at least his twitter) obnoxious
I realize this probably isn’t a good or interesting post – it’s just that when I dislike a widely liked thing, I feel some mental discomfort whenever I think about that thing, and voicing that opinion releases some of the tension (by showing, typically, that the opinion is more-or-less “okay” to have, etc.)
I just read the most recent Unsong chapter, “American Pie”. In it, @slatestarscratchpad argues that the titular song is actually full of coded hints referring to the Christian interpretation of Jewish history. It’s a pretty convincing argument, but of course we all know it can’t really be what Don McLean intended, because we all know that the song American Pie is actually about Homestuck. Since it was written in 1971, its composition would have had to violate the rules of normal causality, another reference to one of Homestuck’s main themes.
American Pie is very long (a reference to Homestuck’s famous interminability), so to spare you a very excessive exegesis I will restrict my commentary in this post to a single verse, verse 4, which deals solely with the famous End of Act 5 animation [S] Cascade (the final verse requires little exegesis, being a very straightforward description of the experience of reading Act 6).
(Exegetical format: lyrics are in bold, and followed individually by bracketed [commentary].)
There we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
[This is fairly self-explanatory. Note the triple meaning of the word “generation”: the four players constitute the entirety of their generation of the human race, as well as the entirety of the larger-scale ‘generation’ that is the human race. But “generation” can also mean “creation”, suggesting the cosmogonical role of the players. Finally, note the allusion to ‘space’; the space player, Jade, uses the powers granted by her aspect to orchestrate the end of Cascade, which leaves her and John in an unmoored craft traveling endlessly through the void, which recalls the actual television show ‘Lost In Space’]
With no time left to start again
[“starting again” obviously refers to the Scratch. In the Outer Ring where the Tumor is detonated, there is literally no meaningful time or chronology relative to the rest of the story. And if we take “time” to refer to Dave, the Time player, this is clearly a reference to his self-sacrifice in detonating the Tumor, which ensures that he will not be around to witness or participate in the “restarted” game.]
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
[Jack Noir abandons his usual stiffness and attacks WV, AR, and PM in a complex string of acrobatics, performed in rapid succession.]
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
[In this flash, and only in this flash, Jack plants himself in the center of a conflagaration, both figurative and literal. The termination of his rapid voyage through space is on Earth, where he witnesses CHECK THIS the fiery explosion of the Frog Temple, and then is actually impaled by PM’s sword. If we accept PM’s obvious identification with an angel – a white, heroic, eventually (in the course of the flash) winged figure that vanquishes evil with a sword – then the sword can be identified with the biblical flaming sword of the angel Gabriel, strengthening the symbolic linkage. The “candlestick” can also be interpreted as a reference to the somewhat similarly-shaped pod in which Jack inters himself and then emerges.]
‘Cause fire is the devil’s only friend
[The Devil – the cunning fiend and tempter who maneuvers human beings into wickedness – is clearly in part a reference to Doc Scratch, whose very name is derived from “Old Scratch”, an old-fashioned epithet for the devil. However, the other facet of the Devil is an agent of chaos and terror, the primordial source of all evil, a deranged demon. This could only be Lord English, who is even frequently referred to as a “demon” – a denizen of Hell. For the purposes of the story, especially up to this point, the two are effectively one agent, since Lord English has effected all of his will thus far through the vessel of Doc Scratch. Scratch/English’s only goal is the scratch, the destruction, and the detonation which will together enable Lord English’s entry into the universe. His ends which are fulfilled in this flash are the scratch of the Beat Mesa in the fires of LOHAC, the firing of Jack Slick’s cueball-like pistol, and the ignition of the fiery Green Sun in the Furthest Ring. By the end of the flash, all of the pawns in Scratch’s master plan have died or turned against him, leaving only the plan’s fulfillment itself on his side. And in every sense, his will here is fulfilled by fire.]
And as I watched him on the stage My hands were clenched in fists of rage
[The use of the word “rage”, as well as the reference to a performer (such as a clown), indicate, of course, that these lines are in reference to Gamzee, the Bard of Rage. Therefore, the word “rage” in this context should be interpreted in the broader sense of its meaning as an aspect. Per bladekindeyewear: “Rage may actually represent cruel, frustrating resignation, at reality or the appearance thereof. (Or, more clearly: […] Rage is how one’s perception of them is narrowed considerably through anger and fear. Or simply how our mental filters keep us blind to what’s right under our noses… Rage is how we all walk through life with our eyes half-lidded.)” It is also important to note the semantic ambiguity in the phrase “my hands were clenched in fists of rage”. Normally a sentence like this would mean something like “rage compelled me to clench my hands into fists”. However, it could just as easily mean “my hands were held firmly in the metaphorical grip of rage itself”. Furthermore, aside from alluding to Gamzee as a clown/performer, the “stage” can also be more literally interpreted as the “stage” on which all of the events of the flash play out, as indicate by the closing curtains at the end of the flash. In that case, these lines could be interpreted as being from Gamzee’s perspective – that is, he observes all of the events of Cascade as they unfold, on his laptop, but his behavior is fully determined by his fugue-like state of “rage” – both resignation to the inevitability of the outcome (a major theme in Homestuck in general, and in [S] Cascade specifically), and immersion in his own aspect as it twists and distorts his usual personality.]
No angel born in Hell Could break that Satan’s spell
[Again, taking PM to be the obvious signified of references to an “angel”, these lines emphasize the cosmic inevitability of the events in Cascade. Even PM’s virtuous actions cannot thwart the preordained success of Doc Scratch’s plan. Note that only the word “Satan” is used, derived from the Hebrew שָּׂטָן Ha-Satan, meaning “one who obstructs” (originally a loyal angel sent to earth in order to test the virtue of mortals); this references both the literal and figurative obstructive opacity of Doc Scratch/the cueball, as well as his roll as a tempter and deceiver (which is revealed at the end of Cascade). Therefore, the word “Satan” (as opposed to simply “Devil”) in this context can be interpreted as referring solely to Doc Scratch. Lord English’s “spell” was, of course, eventually “broken”.]
And as the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite
[[S] Cascade is a litany of sacrifices and, as mentioned earlier, flames. (As a side note, the reference to a “rite” can be construed as an allusion to the sacrificial detonation of the sacred Frog Temple, but admittedly this is a little bit far-fetched. More likely, McLean was simply referring to the general theme of solemn sacrifice in [S] Cascade). The most important referent here is the self-annihilating ignition of the Green Sun, which ties into the next line…]
I saw Satan laughing with delight
[McLean is engaging in some poetic exaggeration here, but there is an undeniably mirthful cruelty in Doc Scratch’s message to Gamzee: “S u c k e r s.” See the notes above regarding references to the Devil, and “Satan” specifically.]
The day the music died
[As in many other instances in the song, this phrase is a reference to a Scratch. Specifically, it alludes to the literal destruction of music – Dave’s scratching of the “record” (i.e., the Beat Mesa), which is the central and synchronizing event which establishes the circumstantial simultaneity of the chornologically distant events in [S] Cascade.]
My verbal brain noise really likes the line “turning and turning in the widening gyre” – it somehow came up with the phrase “Widening Gyrestuck” (on the analogy of “Homestuck”) years ago and still spits it at me from time to time
While I’m thinking back on my days of very-serious-Homestuck-effortposting: anyone know what happened to Vanymstorm? On the MSPA Forums I remember him being blunt and abrasive but also scarily brilliant at understanding Homestuck (IIRC he was the first person on the forum to come up with the “Dirk and Roxy live in the future” theory, later popularized by @ahpoordogsbody on tumblr). Like, dude is clearly some sort of genius or something
A Google search for “vanymstorm” turns up all of 7 results, several associated with blog comments from 4+ years ago
Still not far in Wizardy Herbert, but: one thing that’s interesting about it is how extensively Homestuck-y it is, in elements ranging from the tropes to the little jokes to the verbose sardonic narrator to some very specific images that were clearly recycled from WH in HS. For instance, early on there’s an exchange between a clever teen girl and a smug eldritch being which clearly derives from the same template as the Rose-Scratch exchanges (the eldritch being even tells her about how much nastier his “employer” is)
(Although things like that don’t necessarily imply any deep connection between the two – I often start out with individual scenes or images that appeal to me and then write plots around them, and I can imagine Hussie deciding to re-use such a plot kernel once it became clear he was never going to return to WH)
I shouldn’t really be surprised, since Hussie says much the same thing in the Formspring answer where he talked about WH:
All the wizard stuff in Rose’s house, and her wizardfic writing in general, was mostly imported from my own absurd wizardfic I wrote some years ago, a pretty healthy sized book I never quite finished. It was called Wizardy Herbert, and was a very flippantly satirical story about kids and magic, starting out as what seemed like an unapologetic Harry Potter spoof revolving around a magical summer camp instead of a school, and then quickly launching off the plot deep end into some very convoluted stuff of Homestuckian proportions. In fact, there are many ideas mined from this story and injected into Homestuck. Any time you read anything about magic being stupid or not being real or anything like that, that’s Wizardy Herbert talking. Zazzerpan and his full Complacency were minor characters in WH. WH is actually extremely similar to HS, in terms of the nature of the dialogue, the blend of utter silliness and dramatic seriousness, and complexity. It feels like such a similar thing to me, this might be the main reason why I’ll never quite finish it.
What I like about this is that it weighs against the familiar idea that HS was just a spiritual successor to Problem Sleuth at the start, that all of its eventual distinguishing characteristics arose as part of a gradual and unplanned evolution from that starting point, and that one can’t really understand HS unless one sees it as fundamentally a “work of MSPA” (which – in the worst versions of this line of thought – is something the kids these days with their grey facepaint just don’t understand)
(If you’re wondering “are there really people who talk about this kind of thing seriously?”, the answer is yes, for better or for worse)
On the plane, I started reading Wizardy Herbert (old, unfinished novel by Andrew Hussie, never deliberately shown to the world, but was leaked and is now a cat that’s out of the bag) on @ahpoordogsbody‘s advice, and it’s … really surprisingly good? I’m like 10% of the way through, so the plot hasn’t really started yet, I’m just talking about how it reads on the page
I mean it has the problems you’d expect from a novel by Andrew Hussie – it is basically written in the voice of the Homestuck narrator, page after page after page, with all of the non-stop (sometimes tiresome) irony, non-stop wonderfully silly similes that no editor in the world would be able to tolerate, plenty of awkward phrasing, etc.
But also, by the same token, it’s just this torrent of Hussie text that makes a joke in nearly every line, and a lot of the jokes connect. And sometimes there are perfect little moments:
Emerging from rags was a chubby, smiling head with twinkling eyes and
a greasy beard which had achieved dominance over the face long ago, and now only
sought to make a perpetual and ostentatious show of military strength.
“I’m glad I travel light,” said Beatrix with a wry optimism regarding the
incineration of their belongings.
Elwin Thundleshick was a shallow bastard of a man, a man of dodgy morals and
renowned pettiness.
“Thundleshick? Come on, dear. He’s just an eccentric.”
“The man’s a horse’s asshole!” snapped Donna, momentarily forgetting she was in a children’s book.
honestly one of the most realistic parts of homestuck is when the characters forget or mess up their html when trying to chat
Relatedly, the underlining in the Spritelogs is apparently not just html but a “game feature” that the sprites experience subjectively as a certain way of speaking, which was revealed in one of my favorite little moments in the comic:
I imagine I’m just reinventing a well-worn fandom trope here but I am seeing all these superficial-yet-persistent similarities between Ronan Lynch and Dave Strider
(Isn’t being raised by parents, strained relationship with his brother involving lots of fighting, house full of weird and sometimes dangerous junk, associated with corvids, “insufferable prick” exterior which hides character depth eventually explored in the story)
