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Two things, actually.
1) Philosophy-wise — hell, common-sense-wise — demanding that someone will adhere to a certain principle, be it human or civil rights or anything else, while not adhering to it yourself is textbook hypocrisy.
2) Reality-wise... America is a ...ed-up place. Democratic, my foot. I'm glad I don't live there.

So chances are most of the non-Mormon Christians would flee to the Tex-Mex Republic--love that name--but I'm guessing at least a few would band together. Here's that country. ^_^

It's called Antemurale Christianitatis, or just Antemurale. It originated in Kentucky, then migrated south to Alabama, and now stretches across Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Antemurale has had some troubles in the past with leadership. Everyone could agree that they needed some kind of government, but no one could agree on what it should be. Finally, they decided to split themselves up by denomination and then arrange themselves like the America of old, with each denomination acting like a state within the Union.

Antemurale largely carries on the industries of the states they occupy, but there's been an astonishing upswing in conversion to the Amish way of life, so they're also known for their excellent cabins and cabinets.

-Alleb, who could not resist

Look at Dragonball Evolution!
That was a good adaptation!

We all liked that one, right?
It was a great adaptation.

I'm picturing something like what happened with the "Ender's Game" movie, if anyone remembers that. The short version is that it was a thing, and it was absolutely awful.

Maybe it'll even be as bad as the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. *Shudders*

I am not seeking to continue this discussion; I just want to point out that your wording led to me replying as I did.

The fact that you specifically used the word "sin" immediately implied a moral dimension. Had you framed your argument as a purely scientific one (e.g., "Sexual orientation is as immutable as race"), or even as a philosophical one (e.g., "I think it is just as bigoted to be homophobic as it is to be racist), I might not have resorted to the Bible. But since you specifically spoke of sin, then IMO, I had no choice but to resort to the standard by which sin is defined.

tl;dr: Please be more careful in your wording. You used religious wording; you got a Biblical argument. (Please pardon my bluntness, but I do not know how I could word this tl;dr summary any more diplomatically.)

In particular, the focus on the special effects in the trailer, as opposed to the characters, is kind of worrying for me; we only see Ed and Al, and Ed (I believe) is the only one who has any lines. Plus... I know we didn't see much of his acting, and the only part we did was intended to be a quieter scene, but Ed just seemed kind of flat to me. I love how expressive the characters were in the original, and I'm afraid that in an effort to make it more "serious," Ed will lose his cocky attitude.

Also, I get toning down the colors when transitioning from animated to live-action to some degree, but Ed's coat just looks wrong to me. It's such a popular cosplay item that I think it would have been in their best interest to copy it more accurately.

I wait with skepticism that serves a defense against crushed hype. A certain prospective agent waits, and eschews the skepticism in favor of optimism. Or maybe he just doesn't feel like putting up the walls. :P

My first impulse was excitement, but then I started thinking about how much plot there is, and wondering how on earth they're going to cram it into a standard feature film. Or even a non-standard one. I can think of a bit of filler we could do without, but not too terribly much.

Oh well, we'll see. And in the meantime, I really need to finish that FMA x HP crossover mission I'm working on. Good thing I've got vacation coming up.

~Neshomeh

I've been to Bielefeld. I know it doesn't exist.

... forgot to revise the maps to reflect the conquests of xxx3.

hS

To go bother my friend who's in Classical Studies and ask him whether he had the chance to read Agricola in the original language and whether he has any interesting insights into this particular passage.

... So there is. And I did miss it. Phooey. {X D I figured you'd know exactly what was going on, though.

My process for translation started with basic personality, including stuff like sarcasm, misanthropy, being a know-it-all, a touch of vanity, etc. Then it gets into interests. Nume Prime is a sci-fi and fantasy geek, but they don't have Star Trek and LotR in Nosgoth, so I had to go for something else. History geek is close, and giving him an interest in the Hylden's corruption also gave me a reason for him to join the PPC: he's interested in undoing said corruption. This also ties into one of Nume's stealth traits, which is that he is a protector. He doesn't show it overtly, but he loves Middle-earth, Trek, etc. If he didn't, he wouldn't be doing this job despite all his bitching about it.

The squick intolerance could easily still be a thing, abetted by the fact that Nosgoth vamps are sterile and only "reproduce" by passing the blood curse on to humans. (Not that I imagine Shimon would have any interest in doing that, either.) He could also still have his eidetic memory, though the Bleep habit could prove tricky if the Razielim are avian enough to be allergic to it. Still, there is still that pesky need to drink blood in order to avoid withering away and dying. I don't imagine he enjoys having to do that.

Aaand I am just about out of time, so more later. Any specific questions I can address?

~Neshomeh

It’s actually a fake, you know? The conspiracy, I mean, not the town. Or maybe pretending that Bielefeld doesn’t exist is the conspiracy.

I personally know somebody whose cousin’s fiancée knows somebody who’s born in Bielefeld.

HG

Sigh. I begin to understand why my lawyer friend drinks so much.

Well, we still don't have to stand for it. If they're allowed their speech, we're allowed ours, and we'll just have to be louder and more persistent.

~Neshomeh

Seriously, you didn't spot the acrostic? I am sorely disappointed in you, Neshomeh.

As for Shimon == Nume... interesting. I guess what I want to ask is, other than 'acting like he's better than you', what did you do to make Shimon Nume? This doubles up as another question: what do you think separates Nume from, say, the Notary, or early Agent hS - other than species? What makes him unique among the arrogant quarter of HQ?

(I ask this for both our sakes - yours because I think getting your thought process written down will help you understand it, and mine because I'm fed up of all my characters converging on 'snarky-but-friendly one-liners' and would love some advice on how to separate them - again, other than species and circumstance.)

hS

I'm a little sad there wasn't more of a response—I was curious!—but I get that anonymous posting freaks people out. Oh well. Thanks, hS and Tira, for being good sports. {= )

Now, follow-up question: another part of my challenge was to write Nume as a Nosgothic vampire. I figured that was easy; personality-wise, he's already halfway there. I had to adjust his background and speech patterns, of course, but still. Now that you know, do you see it?

~Neshomeh

The thing about the Roman Empire is that virtually everyone lost to them. They were really, really good at what they did. But that doesn't mean people weren't right to try.

Of course, we in Britain have a pretty weird view of our various conquerors: they tend to turn into the heroes of the next round of conquests. We all cheer on Boudicca when she burns London, but add another 300-400 years and:

When Rome fell, like a writhen oak
That age had sapped and cankered at the root
Resisting from her topmost bough there broke
The miracle of one unwithering shoot.

Romano-British Arthur becomes the hero against the Saxons. And then the Saxons become the heroes against the Vikings and the Normans. Even the Norman kings end up as heroes against Cromwell and his Parliamentarians (debatably). We're an odd country. Comes of being an island - whoever occupies a chunk of Great Britain for more than a hundred years becomes our people, and British, whoever they started out as.

Which is why the current far-right craze for Britishness makes about as much sense as... as King Arthur in full plate armour. IE, none.

~

Regarding the translation: it varies. Remember 'desert' means 'deserted', in the final analysis. 'Wasteland' is another popular variant. But Terry Pratchett used 'desert', so that's self-evidently the best. ^_~

hS

I did read De vita Agricolae, but the (Hebrew) translation I read refers to that word as "desolation".
Of course, Calgacus kinda lost, didn't he? The Roman Empire fell just short of three hundred years after he lost Mons Graupius.

I know if there's a thread I have a particular stake in, I'll follow it all the way to the top of the second page. But maybe that's just me.

--Key, catching up on recent posts she missed

Which is often bundled with the Germania, apparently. Here. It's the end of paragraph 30 (translated 'solitude' instead of 'desert' in this version).

It's part of a speech by the British (Scottish, indeed) chieftain Calgacus to his men, denouncing the Romans and rallying them to battle against the Roman invasion.

"These plunderers of the world, after exhausting the land by their devastations, are rifling the ocean: stimulated by avarice, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor; unsatiated by the East and by the West: the only people who behold wealth and indigence with equal avidity. To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."

So yeah, Britain stands against the capitalist Dystopia, hoping that Calgacus was right when he said: "Terror and dread alone are the weak bonds of attachment; which once broken, they who cease to fear will begin to hate."

I'm not sure if Scapegrace realised quite how apt a speech about how the Dystopia's rule of fear will prove its own undoing was, but I wouldn't put it past her. ^_^

hS