Takuta-Nui

Chapter 3: I think the most interesting parts were Bhukasa's dream-vision and the single-sense-being... both were so delightfully curious and abstract. It's the kind of thing where you can bury meaning within meaning and still have fun with nonsense concepts and descriptions.The single-sense-being is definitely less easily deciphered. The only thing I'm certain of is that it's being teleported from place to place. And I'm reminded of Dalu's sensory increasing power too. But it may not be a power because I suspect "being" is purposely misleading here. It may actually be more of a phenomenon. That's as far as I've gotten in my speculation, though.When reading Bhukasa's dream-vision scenes I totally felt trippy. =P I guess now that he knows the wood of his ship came from his homeland, he might be able to figure out a way to track it down using his power. Like absorbing some energy from the wood, and then using it as a dowsing beacon to guide him toward where there's more of that energy. I've been playing Skyward Sword (Zelda) and the dowsing ability in the game gave me this idea, heh.Chapter 4: The lopped off handle on Bhukasa's ship surely has some importance since it got so much attention, and there wasn't a definite resolution... Then again, this could just be a distraction. I can't help but wonder if there is a Kuambu or agent underneath the boat right now rather than a sea Rahi like he thought.Enjoyed the politics of the meeting; you know me. I actually think it would be really cool if you designed those tablets yourself and posted them in the Tapestry of Time so that we have a near-complete compendium of the Rahunga. I don't recall you making a database like this already. Then you could fill in the blanks in accordance with when it occurs in-story. Just an idea. =)

Chapter 2: Liking the emphasis on Lewa's perspective now. He definitely has played a large role compared to the other Toa so far in the Paracosmos, which suggests the acceleration of a divergence. The Unknown's warnings are altering his personality and worldview... while helping him avoid the darkturning, they may actually be causing him to take on a darker attitude due to caution and suspicion. Ironic.Forgot about the zoocraft too! It must truly be enormous to hold a whole city's rubble. A bit sad we never got to see the city as a whole, but there are always flashbacks. Now they're actually going to the original Cosmos? Don't think that's happened before for any of our non-Unknown characters, and I don't recall if this is a regular thing for the Unknown to do. Caroha said it rather casually so I'm unsure, heh.Little do the Kriitunga know that the very same Toa are returning... be interesting to see what happens. Krohlaba looks to be an appropriate conflict between his people and the Toa/Matoran/Bhukasa. The locus at which the two sides meet.

Hey there! You know you're a good writer when a third year student steps down from everything except reviewing your story, even if it's a bit late. ;)Prologue: I've missed your impeccable ability to make my heart race. I'm right there with Bhukasa as he gives orders and jumps up to the crow's nest and so on. I'm glad I remember so much: having to re-read part of Twisted Island due to a server disruption a couple years ago probably helps my memory. But good sum-up at the end, I had forgotten about Caroha until the name was mentioned.The black hatch at the bottom of the ship was rather reminiscent of LOST, wasn't it? =P Now that I've watched the entire series, I'm able to catch these fan allusions more easily.Posting this now, but gonna edit with each chapter review until someone else posts. Don't want to create a huge review post that'll scare people as they scroll.Edit 1: Chapter 1.This was all about establishing the principle of the Kuambu - reputation makes the enemy! I quite liked the Poem to the Prisoner as I'm going to call it. Seems like they place great emphasis on 'form,' as in their behaviour and initial impressions. Reciting that to prisoners (assuming they aren't treating Niaka differently) plus the imposing ships and the admittedly elegant way of sinking the ferryboat all suggests a practiced decorum aimed toward what we humans would call 'class.' They're classy villains, in short. =PGood to see more familiar characters too. Niaka's group has the sort of attitude that the Matoran in my Universes always had, with some dimensions going as far as manifest destiny and supremacist conquerors. Proving yourself is always a fun theme to play with.

It's almost here! I actually named one of my study room bookings "Endless Blue" cuz it was on my mind. Game sounds great too. Any chance it'll be playable on Mac? With the new Mac App Store it's possible that the program used to play it on PCs has been redesigned for Macs now... can you offer any details on this?

Hear, hear! I know ALL about conciseness. I never really realized it before I started working with customers at Apple, but it's different in person than on the internet. On a computer, you're anonymous and nobody knows you're writing - nobody's waiting for you to finish. But in person, there seems to be a increasing social expectation to speak faster, get to the point more quickly, and be more concise overall. My mother remarked on this a while ago when she got her iPhone and noticed how compressed text messages could be. She's made a good observation, because when it comes to me, being Deaf and dealing primarily with excited or impatient customers via writing or typing, it's incredibly important to be concise. I've learned some really good skills for developing phrases and "twists of words" that get a relatively complex point right across in a way that's almost instinctive. Much like what you said about relaxing yourself and reading under the assumption that they're speaking in Plain English. Totally can appreciate your professor comments, too! My university is actually going through a huge debate about whether papers should be permitted to use the "I" construct. Half of my profs prefer the neutral "ivory tower" lack of reference to the author, and the other half argue it makes no sense to write an argument that comes from one's opinion without using "I." I personally prefer the latter - it just makes sense and makes the argument much stronger! Anyhoo, this hardly was a study break for me, but still worthwhile.

I can definitely agree with this. I think I've said it before, but as a Deaf and gay person, I encounter a lot of negative labelling. Such as "Deaf means you don't know English as well," or "Gay means [fill in the rest]." With Deafness, though, it's not so much negative as it is meant to be sympathetic. But that's another type of negative labelling: when a person thinks that they need to be sympathetic to another person, they may only end up offending that person because that person does not think they need any sympathy. This usually stems from the misconception that Deafness automatically equals disability when it's so much more than that, and the disability aspect becomes so insignificant. To us Deaf, it's all about our language and the culture we've developed, and our unique worldviews as Deaf people in hearing society. We don't need sympathy for being a language minority! Projecting sympathy even when it seems appropriate can come off quite badly because it can seem like the receiver is being pushed into a category of pity. That kind of labelling becomes very negative and often creates a sort of "I don't need your pity, why are you assuming I'm a lesser person than you?" reaction. I honestly haven't met anyone who actually "hates" Deaf people or feels a strong visceral emotional reaction to it. But that doesn't mean I can't be labelled negatively. Sympathy, however well-meaning it is, can be deeply damaging. Just consider how it feels when I have to apply for scholarships that treat me as a disabled person because there are no scholarships specifically for Deaf people who naturally have a harder time making money since they can't help but speak a different language. That kind of mistaken labelling has become a source of great anguish and frustration in the Deaf community. It certainly can be used as part of the explanation why Deaf people often come off as isolated and unfriendly - because they assume that they're going to be labelled wrongly by you. That ties into your observation of how negative labelling can cause suffering in others and then come around as more suffering for you. Society in general suffers a little more than necessary because it doesn't realize that it's trying to solve a problem - underdeveloped and financially impoverished Deaf communities - the wrong way. Money from taxes are put in the wrong places for the wrong purposes. And it's all because of misplaced sympathy. Yep... just something to add to what you were saying.

I'm not disappointed at all. I can imagine you went through a similar thought process as I did when I decided to end This World as quickly as possible. Then again, it's different because I knew I couldn't go into university still having the burning need to conclude the series by writing it out in full - so I compromised and wrote summaries instead. Kind of unfortunate for me and my readers, but I think I made the right decision because it's given me room to start thinking about a new epic - a standalone that I think could really turn out well. I'm still looking forward to your upcoming epics! And let me know when you've read the other This World books.

Haha, they spelled it very close to "bonsai." Congrats anyway! It's always great to get some recognition and know that others, probably kids, are being inspired by your work.

[listens fairly to your blog entry] I honestly don't instinctively disagree with what you're saying. It all seems very rational and appropriate, and quite insightful too. I think I have fundamentally been a good listener throughout my life with few exceptions. This makes sense because I live in a language minority, and on top of that, I usually have to rely on textual English or English-to-ASL interpretation since I can't actually learn to hear the majority language myself. Listening, for me, is a greater challenge because of those two modes of information I primarily receive through. The first one, textual English, is easier because it's in a single language which both parties understand, and in some ways I believe it's actually a better way to listen to another person than with ears and voices. Writing or typing is slower, so we are forced to take longer to hold the same conversation that could be spoken more quickly. This gives everybody more time to think and get over initial knee-##### reactions. On the other hand, it's harder because many people I meet are uncomfortable at first to communicate in that medium. They've talked and talked all their lives, and now they have to put that in text so we can communicate. Most people usually are able to get over it and end up seeing how it's really not that different and even can be better than speaking. But some people simply can't get past that conceptual hurdle and I end up being cut off from them. Plus, when I do enter a successful text-based conversation, it's still challenging because they often aren't used to it, and to "save time," they'll write in clipped English. Like, instead of "I would like to know the price of this iPhone" (an example from work at my Apple Store), they'll write "iPhone $?" And that has no emotion in it, so I can't easily tell what they're thinking or what exactly they might want. Some people seem to even have their own code prepared for these kinds of situations that I can't even begin to decipher! Sometimes it's really hard to listen properly because the person simply isn't meeting me halfway. All of that is why I highly value and appreciate interpreters whenever they're present. They're professionally trained to translate the complete meaning and emotion of spoken English into its equivalent in ASL. This makes my job of listening so much easier, but it also does pose a new challenge. If I want to listen well, it follows that I have to listen and understand them in the language they are speaking. Since I'm receiving an ASL version, even if it is highly accurate, I've developed the habit of re-translating it into English in my head. If that seems easy, well... Try listening to French or whatever language is available to you, and then simultaneously holding the foreign-language version in your head alongside the English translation. Since I'm initially understanding the person in ASL and then re-translating it back into English, that's a close comparison to what you're doing. So yeah, listening may well be the hardest part for me because it's the one big barrier of communication I face daily. Once that barrier's resolved, everything else is pretty much "normal" from then on. Great article... really made me think.

You're slowly catching up, bones! =P Gotta say, I like the look of that Pahrak-Kal mutant. Plasma cannon, anyone? Nuhvok-Kal is a pretty good looking mutant. It's not that there's anything extraordinarily special about it, but it's just got a good build. Kohrak-Kal is basically beefed up, but the extra blue spikes with the white claws make him look super nasty. Sorta suggests that his sonic power could be skewed toward really piercing sounds and not just regular sonic blasts. Gahlok-Kal I honestly laughed a bit inside cuz it looks almost comical. But I can see why this one was picked - while all the others are similarly mechanical, it looks like this Kal has a lot more muscle and bulk, so it'd be the brawny powerhouse. Tahnok-Kal I'm not really seeing the appeal, but maybe the choices were limited. Nice combining Axonn hands with back-of-palm shields, though. Lehvak-Kal seems like a really good emotional build. His skinny and almost emaciated frame echoes his vacuum power. Can't wait to see these guys in action.

Sounds great! I can't wait for it to start. This will probably be a refreshing change of pace; at least, the smaller cast will help readers focus on other things.

That's an evasive answer, I think. Okay, so it gets reports on the front page because it has official contests. But you don't answer why the EM deserves official contests when other writings of other members don't. ~B~ I think that would be because the EM is an official part of BZPower. It's regulated by Staff and is meant to inspire and provoke discussion, which means it needs as much exposure as possible. Like bonesiii said, this isn't exclusive to the EM, of course. Single short stories or epics by individuals could do more inspiring than the whole season collection of Cipher Chronicles! So while other people certainly are just as deserving for this kind of advertising, the fact that the EM is official and regulated by Staff gives it special status. Don't take this to say that I'm content for it to be that way. bones is right about there being the need for a system to give other writers more recognition. Perhaps after I've become more experienced as a leader of the EM, I could help construct this system. And, in the spirit of the EM, input is always welcome. By the way, I kept thinking 'European Union' when I saw 'EU.' Darn my obsession with politics.

Beginning shows that some, at least, have a lot of respect for Hujo. That's nice! Especially compared to Twisted Island's char development, it looks like he's overcome enough personal obstacles to be able to command genuine trust and respect. Love how the insane Turaga's just embarrassing everybody, and twice has made an Unknown react in spite. I think the blue object is a camera PLUS something else... because a camera is obvious. And if the Trickster really is all he's made up to be in this story, then the other feature must be related to the camera in a very roundabout way. Or maybe it really is just a camera. Or maybe it's a camera not meant for monitoring. Hee hee.

You know how to write insanity. Dume's sudden and frankly terrifying transformations from calm to rage toward Surkahi was a good reminder of a couple real-life situations. But he's still smart! Soooo curious what he's planning. It's all so weird and seemingly unconnected, I think if they all end up being connected it's going to be one of the best puzzles I've ever read. At the beginning, I liked the mention of Taureko taking 'mental snapshots.' I don't think I've come across that kind of psychological phenomenon before - closest I can think of is incredibly heightened senses when there's danger. Does this actually happen? Moving on to Chapter 9 now...

Excited, flattered, and just plain feeling good.

I'm quite excited about Cap'n Gar-Korr, what with the sign language. I don't know how much the creator knows about sign language, so I will make this offer just in case: if you want to be able to describe his signing and be able to write with a good understanding of what sign language really involves, then don't hesitate to ask me. My first and third languages were Signed Exact English and American Sign Language respectively, so I have a lot of experience with the opposite ends of the "signing spectrum." SEE was invented by hearing people and thus is very artificial, but ASL evolved naturally in Deaf society. Perhaps Can'n Gar-Korr's sign language would be a bit in between since he invented it, but probably has been refining it over the years. Really cool! I'm excited. And that's right, I don't think I actually made the connection between Caroha and the multitude of blue characters. Or maybe I did; can't remember well.

I believe 'gelatinous' is spelled with one e and one a. Bahahaha. Raogahk appears! I had not imagined his head that way, but it is a very creative concept. Now that I look at the Visorak body piece you mentioned, it does make an intimidating face that way. And I assume because all Goulmaru (right plural spelling?) have heads like that, sonic blasts are a standard power. Cool Kanoka arrow concept too. And finally that heart-thumping scene with Hujo is over... sheesh, you did a good job on that.

Woo, new info! I might be the only one here who's more interested in that than the contest. But that 'Competition' is ludicrous because it's so believable, wow. She must have a playful side we really haven't seen much of yet. And the Trickster's backstory sounds like it'll be really interesting...

I see no reason why Dume shouldn't have become more nuts in the Paracosmos than in canon. There, I think he was just a bit depressed and unhappy about the changed circumstances (Matoran demanding more say in affairs, having to work with Turaga, etc.). But that chase was unbelievable. Even though it was something like three pages, it didn't feel slow at all to me. Every word carried me on swiftly to the next, and when I paused and reread, it was only because I didn't want to miss any detail. The Songsphere bubble strategy was a neat solution - however, I can't help but wonder if you could have given the reader more stuff to possibly predict that. Maybe in the earlier chapter or something... but I kinda felt like I was being fed this solution instead of participating. Then again, it was an unavoidably fast-paced scene and there may have been no way to help the reader keep up with Hujo. The first real glimpse of the Unseen... Oh, and it's starting to sound like Dume's about to launch into ritual of 'double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.' XD

Looking forward to the next batch, guys!

I was reminded of Pirates of the Caribbean's 'Dead Man's Chest' (or 'World's Edge') - with the Flying Dutchman's big spoke wheel that summoned the kraken. While giant squid certainly do exist in the MU, I doubt one is going to show up in this story. Very curious about what exactly that did. And the Unseen just keeps getting scarier. Phew... I think your gothic writing is at its best here.

Okay, well. That was a very weird chapter with Dume. I know there might be clues as to what he's going on about in earlier chapters, but I don't have the time to look for them, sadly. So I'll just enjoy the slow reveal of this plan - apparently the only plan they have left. Scenes with Hujo were cool and creepy. The descriptions and the implications were meshed together really well, and when he was thinking about going into the pipes, I recalled just about every nightmare I've had about turning around to see something right behind me. Yeek. I had completely forgotten about this series, so it's great that it's back. Hope there's a few more regular updates.

Sounds good about the Paracosmos! I'm very glad you're making an effort to reduce the amount of character and plot confusion that has tended to occur in your stories. If I may add, in case you haven't thought of it before: if you're picking up a thread that hasn't been written about in the last 2 or 3 chapters, then consider starting it with a quick summary of what has just gone before. From a char's POV, of course - no need for formal summaries. Looking forward to reviewing more BP, as well as Tyrants voting!