Xenocrypt
@xenocryptsite.bsky.social
Politics, math, culture, whatever.
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It’s intuitive to me that stories about achieving status and recognition within a system while also having misgivings or desiring to change or destroy that system are currently popular.
December 7, 2025 at 6:02 PM
It’s intuitive to me that stories about achieving status and recognition within a system while also having misgivings or desiring to change or destroy that system are currently popular.
Reposted by Xenocrypt
Moses being adopted into the pharaoh's family
December 7, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Moses being adopted into the pharaoh's family
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This is oddly enough much more positive on the Empire at least; it just be refreshed by its core principles (elites taking responsibility) rather than demolished
December 7, 2025 at 5:53 PM
This is oddly enough much more positive on the Empire at least; it just be refreshed by its core principles (elites taking responsibility) rather than demolished
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Tbf that series does a tremendous job of combining that trope with the “very special boy gets discovered and goes to special school” trope.
Though in that book the prodigy from the hinterlands was [redacted redacted] but it still counts.
Though in that book the prodigy from the hinterlands was [redacted redacted] but it still counts.
December 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Tbf that series does a tremendous job of combining that trope with the “very special boy gets discovered and goes to special school” trope.
Though in that book the prodigy from the hinterlands was [redacted redacted] but it still counts.
Though in that book the prodigy from the hinterlands was [redacted redacted] but it still counts.
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Cahokia Jazz kind of subverts this dynamic.
December 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Cahokia Jazz kind of subverts this dynamic.
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A Memory Called Empire gestures at this.
December 7, 2025 at 5:48 PM
A Memory Called Empire gestures at this.
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The Strength of the Few came out last week!
I feel like in the past few years I've read about a million different fantasy books about, specifically, "a prodigy from the hinterlands who is absorbed into some kind of colonial imperial bureaucracy that they ultimately decide must be burned down". But it's probably only 3-5 different books.
December 7, 2025 at 5:47 PM
The Strength of the Few came out last week!
I feel like in the past few years I've read about a million different fantasy books about, specifically, "a prodigy from the hinterlands who is absorbed into some kind of colonial imperial bureaucracy that they ultimately decide must be burned down". But it's probably only 3-5 different books.
December 7, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I feel like in the past few years I've read about a million different fantasy books about, specifically, "a prodigy from the hinterlands who is absorbed into some kind of colonial imperial bureaucracy that they ultimately decide must be burned down". But it's probably only 3-5 different books.
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Not conventional mysteries per se, but De Palma plays all kinds of games with “invisible” dissonance between the dialogue and the visuals in Dressed to Kill, Raising Cain, and heck even Mission: Impossible
November 30, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Not conventional mysteries per se, but De Palma plays all kinds of games with “invisible” dissonance between the dialogue and the visuals in Dressed to Kill, Raising Cain, and heck even Mission: Impossible
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I remember Wetherby (1985) doing a bit of this, with flashbacks showing how a particular detail was explained by something going on in a previous flashback. Not primarily exactly a mystery though (and I saw it forty years ago).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetherb...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetherb...
Wetherby (film) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 30, 2025 at 2:35 AM
I remember Wetherby (1985) doing a bit of this, with flashbacks showing how a particular detail was explained by something going on in a previous flashback. Not primarily exactly a mystery though (and I saw it forty years ago).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetherb...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetherb...
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more obvious to him bc he was trying to follow the plot based on nonverbal cues and reading the emotional vibes
November 30, 2025 at 2:12 AM
more obvious to him bc he was trying to follow the plot based on nonverbal cues and reading the emotional vibes
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my dad was living in belgium when this came out, didn't really speak french and accidentally went to see a dubbed version of this rather than subtitled and decided to stick around. he said he figured out that bruce willis was dead very early on bc it was obvious nobody else was interacting w/him
November 30, 2025 at 2:12 AM
my dad was living in belgium when this came out, didn't really speak french and accidentally went to see a dubbed version of this rather than subtitled and decided to stick around. he said he figured out that bruce willis was dead very early on bc it was obvious nobody else was interacting w/him
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Reposted by Xenocrypt
Midsomer Murders (the good seasons, 1-8) did this from time to time. I won't give any spoilers.
November 29, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Midsomer Murders (the good seasons, 1-8) did this from time to time. I won't give any spoilers.
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This is a second category of TV trick I like where the writers play off common TV show conventions to set up twists or mysteries like when Dawn showed up on Buffy or everyone lists their memories on TNG and it wasn't automatically self evident that the new guy was an alien because new crew 1/2
November 29, 2025 at 12:46 AM
This is a second category of TV trick I like where the writers play off common TV show conventions to set up twists or mysteries like when Dawn showed up on Buffy or everyone lists their memories on TNG and it wasn't automatically self evident that the new guy was an alien because new crew 1/2
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I think you’re hitting on why this doesn’t happen; in the moment, “plot point you can dismiss as a continuity error” just looks like a continuity error and takes you out of it. even worse in a series, where fans can assume you’re retconning an actual continuity error
November 29, 2025 at 12:42 AM
I think you’re hitting on why this doesn’t happen; in the moment, “plot point you can dismiss as a continuity error” just looks like a continuity error and takes you out of it. even worse in a series, where fans can assume you’re retconning an actual continuity error
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It was extremely well received by fans (and used as proof of the showrunner’s brilliance etc) in part because it *was* a plot point based on a purely visual cue (and one you could easily assume was just an error) which as you say, you really don’t see that many of
November 29, 2025 at 12:36 AM
It was extremely well received by fans (and used as proof of the showrunner’s brilliance etc) in part because it *was* a plot point based on a purely visual cue (and one you could easily assume was just an error) which as you say, you really don’t see that many of
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Brokenwood (tv). Midsummer Murders (tv). Lynley (tv). Maigret (2025). Rivers of London books. The original Bosch books. Ludwig (2025 tv). Elementary (except the last season).
November 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Brokenwood (tv). Midsummer Murders (tv). Lynley (tv). Maigret (2025). Rivers of London books. The original Bosch books. Ludwig (2025 tv). Elementary (except the last season).
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Not exactly what you’re saying but I’m thinking here of the Doctor Who plot where the Doctor loses his jacket and then suddenly has it back for one scene later in the episode and it’s later revealed as a deliberate plot point (involving time travel, obviously).
November 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Not exactly what you’re saying but I’m thinking here of the Doctor Who plot where the Doctor loses his jacket and then suddenly has it back for one scene later in the episode and it’s later revealed as a deliberate plot point (involving time travel, obviously).
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I think by definition I don't want books here (for once!).
November 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM
I think by definition I don't want books here (for once!).
Wondering if anyone on here can beat the other site.
November 29, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Wondering if anyone on here can beat the other site.