Bay 12 Games Forum

:I

Pixels are a lot of work.

The key word is "relatively" :I

Almost all art creation is a lot of work, especially if you want it to look good, but that doesn't mean some methods aren't easier to get into than others. If I wanted to do some basic sprite work, I could... like, kick open paint. If I wanted to do basic vectoring stuff, I wouldn't even know where the blazes to start. Well, beyond googling more info, anyway.

Would anyone be so kind and sum up for me what the Starbound hate is all about?

Some minor PR snafus blown out of proportion and slower than expected development, mostly. You can read through the last few dozen pages of the starbound thread if you want to see folks embarrassing themselves kicking a horse corpse over the subject. I'd recommend not.

... I like the Gregorian chant stuff, m'self. And E Nomine's rendition of the Lord's Prayer >_>

More locally, some of the more african influenced american-side gospel is pretty damn pumpin'. Like, church don't just sing, they gotta' get up and dance, too, sorta' stuff. Can be nice. Joyful, y'know?

It's not like the stuff as a whole is dead to me, personally, it's just that most of the stuff I actually hear on the ground (and on the radio, because gods fuck radio gospel in this area is just horrific. Also prolific, which makes it worse.) is kinda' shit. Have to drive, like, hours to run into good stuff. Or hop the pond.

That is the next logical step, yes. It's also pretty good. Just take every base grain/starch you have access to, prepare them in a way they work together well enough, and shove them in a bowl.

Usually just do mac and cheese when I go that route, because it's both cheap and easy to make, but other stuff works just fine. Thin noodles, lasagna type stuff, whatever. Rice + potato + pasta = also good.

This just adds to my impression that you've only ever noticed the huge, scummier churches. For every one like that, there are hundreds like the last few I've been at: main church building, *maybe* a separate hall, some kind of basic sound system, and very little else.

Yeaaaah... I'll just note that about the only thing bigger than the churches in my area are, maybe, the schools. There's something like two or three "small" churches (which are still, y'know, roughly as large as the local city hall*), but every single one of the other (upwards a dozen or so) churches are friggin' gigantic compared to the majority of other buildings in the area. And almost every single one I've actually been inside is among the best maintained buildings in the area. Usually better kept and equipped than the goddamn schools. You go into the larger areas nearby and half the bloody things are practically friggin' complexes.

I've never actually been in one of the genuinely scum-bastard churches -- all my on the ground experience has been in what amounts to "small" rural ones. Seen the inside of the bigger ones in passing on TV, but that's about it.

*Which, being fair, isn't the biggest thing in the world. It's a small, rural, town. Two caution lights sort of place.

It's called donations, neo. There's differing levels of non-profits, in regards to taxation in the US.

But nah, beyond that churches "sell" (what amounts to) entertainment and social venues and such, and they're in roughly the same position as stuff like PACs, in regards to spreading messages and junk. Plenty make some portion of bank off running marriage ceremonies and renting facilities and education and whatnot, too.

It's not like they would suddenly stop being able to function if the gov't stopped feeding them cash (beyond what is fair given genuine charity service, anyway). They might be able to afford less fuckoff huge buildings and grotesquely expensive TV shows and such, but... I'm not calling that a loss.

The majority of churches are non-profit; I'd say you just notice the ones that aren't.

Not quite. It may just be a USA thing, I'unno, but the financial side of even non-profit churches in the US is often... kinda' scummy. There's a lot of shit involving taxes and frank abuse of what counts as charity to milk cash from taxpayers. And that's not even including the churches that are non-profit in the same way some hospitals are (which is to say, in name only).

Let's just say there's a lot of churches in the states that are siphoning money from the public to keep themselves running. It's honestly kinda' fucked up, especially when many of them are using strictly "spiritual" services to qualify as a charitable non-profit. Which really shouldn't goddamn fly, but whatever.

When it comes to the material side of things, the christian religion (mind you, most others, as well) in general has pretty much always been a bit... well, not on the up and up. Insofar as I'm aware.

Quote from: Arx on October 21, 2014, 12:35:49 am

Also partly because singing together is fun and a great way to build community spirit.

Very much this - it's one of the few places where you can sing freely in public. That's one of the main reasons I enjoy going to Church.

Never said there was, strictly speaking, anything wrong with the songfics. It sorta' goes against parts of the bible (Sup matthews, again. Probably some other places, too.), and I'unno about other places but most of the gospel they sing in this area friggin' sucks,* but m'not exactly going to complain about people getting their sing on.

It's just, as y'all are kinda' noting, less about biblical adherence and more about group cohesion. Last I checked, it's even been noted that many hymns are specifically constructed to be... mildly hypnotic, or something along those lines. It's been quite a few years since I last looked into it.

... but hymnals and their singing are definitely something right out of the fan playbook. You see the same sort of thing come from the fanfiction community, and there's considerably more social approbation directed towards that

*Sweet christ but the majority of southern protestant gospel is just freaking terrible -- sounds bad, poor singers, poor instrumentals, and shitty messages from the lyrics, too. Only genre I've of music I've seen that's as consistently low quality as most mainstream rap or country. Even the choice of hymnals in the churches I've been in are just painful. Couple hundred people singing in concert should not make you want to fall asleep or run away to escape the racket.

It's not like the genre can't produce decent stuff, even. I'm quite fond of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, just as an example. One of the most cheery songs of about freaking dying I've ever heard.

Why would anyone bother with church if it was just going to be secularism-lite?

The same reason most people seem to bother with it anyway? Traditional socialization venue their guardians inducted them in to, with some fancy ritual gewgaws to add secret-handshake equivalents (group cohesion stuff, etc., etc.).