Weggy vs confomity

Wayyy back when I was the walkin' type, and working in a lil computer repair shop, the boss took on a work experience guy. Most of the time it was me and him in the shop, as the boss went out on calls a lot.

Work experience guy.. uh.. I forget his name. W.E.G. Sure. So ole' Weggy used to work in a factory, and an accident smashed both of his shins. He recovered over a ton of time, but he couldn't work the same job any more...

So... as was the style at the time, he got chucked at computers. I've seen a lot of that. About a year later when I was in rehab for my injury, I saw a lot of people being aimed at computers for retaining. I saw a 70? 80? year old fisherman in front of a computer, simply flummoxed. I didn't see him building a career out of it. You never know though...

But back to ole' Weggy. After a couple weeks, he mused how computer interfaces force people to all think the same way, and that computers should be more receptive to how people think as individuals.

Well... okay, I can see that as a newbie, especially a newbie at repairing them, and I've pondered his point off and on over the years. It's largely true.. you're stuck with the interface that the machine thinks you want, (coughcoughwindows8coughcough) unless you want to customize. Sometimes it's not much of an option, and it's always time consuming, especially to learn to do more advanced customization.

Know what else forces you to think a lot like everybody else?

Life in general. Eating boiling soup? You rebel! Using duct tape as clothing? Innovative! Using your cat as toilet paper? You hipster!

How about driving? What side of the road do you feel like driving on today? How does the colour red inspire YOU?

Crosswalks? Hey... uh.. maybe I'll shut up right about here.

Edgar was close.

Another fresh-off-the-keyboard-unedited clip from Rubberman's Cage, manuscript in progress:

~~~

“Oh.” Edgar said as they came to the nook of the Refuge, where he expected to find Six, “dead person.” A man in pants and nothing else was lying face down. A pool of blood seemed to come from the abdomen.

There was no way out, other than how they had come in. Lenth whirled to face behind them, and readied his sword. Getting the knife out of the glove's spikes was a little clumsier than he'd hoped, but he soon stood ready for combat with both blades ready. The guard who had come with them had the same idea, and had readied his spear.

“Boys, relax,” Marcy said, “that's a lot of blood, this happened a while ago. Edgar, who's this guy?”

Edgar knelt down by the body, and pulled him over by his shoulder. “Eh, I know him. Good guy. Is.. name starts with a 'D', I think. Eh, Daryl? Doug? Something like Doug. Dave?” Edgar's relaxed attitude led the guard to relax, a little.

“You don't even know?” Lenth asked, still facing away, scanning around for signs of Six.

“I'm going to go with 'Dave'.” Edgar said.

A woman ran in from around the corner. “Robert!” she cried, running to the body's side, collapsing to embrace him.

“I was close.” Edgar said.

Ozero vs the Bechdel test.

So... the Bechdel test. Aimed at movies, it's supposed to be a test of feminism. If two female characters (named, actual characters, not extras or bit parts like "secretary") have a conversation that ISN'T about a man, then the film passes.

Ehhh.. Well, what if they're discussing bikini waxing and the atheistic value of push up bras? But whatever.. it's kind of a silly rule that places a benchmark that isn't terribly telling. But it's something worth thinking about, I guess.. let's see... how do my books do?

Lifehack? With a 75% female ratio in AZU-1, I think it's safe to say there's been a few conversations that don't involve guys. Given half the story is about a girl/girl will-they-or-won't-they shtick.. yeah.. easy pass.

Watching Yute? Similar situation. Female protagonist that likes females. Even outside of that, she deals with women in her barracks all the time. From cookies, to mediation, to grenades, to lizards, there's a ton of topics they go discuss.

Echoes of Erebus? Hmm.. The female here here has a male living in her head, and that's a big portion of her conversations. But in her bar job, she has three female co-workers, and they talk about the bar, her situation, oh, and monsters. BUT WHAT GENDER ARE THE MURDEROUS MONSTERS??? hm. Yeah, I think Echoes passes.

The upcoming RUBBERMAN'S CAGE? Okay, this immediately becomes trickier. Male protagonist. And the narrative sticks really close to him, since it's his story. He runs into women, but he doesn't creep around so he can listen to one of them talk to another. So far, the perspective hasn't jumped outside of Lenth's immediate experiences, so at that rate, it seems really unlikely that it will pass the Bechdel test.

So.. the book is apparently sexist.

Huh.

Marcy goes to Edgar

I said I'd post here more, didn't I? Well, I missed a bit or two that I put on my FB page... but here's the freshest chunk, unedited, from Rubberman's Cage:

~~~~

The only way into this area was through the open gate, with a sign at its apex reading “Edgar's Refuge”. At the gate stood two guards, one on either side. They wore their clothing in similar ways, with extra padding around the shins, and stiff armour plates strapped to their shoulders and forearms. They each held a spear; just metal banged into a long, pointy shape.

“Edgar's refuse,” Marcy huffed as they came within sight, “Just try not to cause problems, Lenth.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Don't volunteer where you're from if you don't have to. Unless you're asked. Be honest if asked, but if you're not asked, play it cool. As if you were born here. In fact, let me do most of the talking, yeah?”

“I guess, Marcy. Sure.”

When the guards saw Lenth and Marcy, and the fact that they were carrying weapons, everyone shifted their stance just a little. With Lenth half a step behind her, Marcy stopped in front of the guards. “Hey, boys.”

“Marcy,” one of the guards said with a respectful nod, “you and your friend look ready for trouble. Are you bringing us trouble?”

“Nope. Lookin' to solve some. Heard about the stabbings?”

The guard nodded with a smarmy look on his face. “Sounds like Mike pissed off the wrong guy.”

“Mike didn't do anything before Six had a knife to my throat.”

“Sure,” the guard answered.

“Think what you want, but the pile of people Six cut through on his way out sure didn't deserve it!” Marcy said.

That took some wind out of the guard's sails. “Ugh. How many people?”

“A dozen? Probably about four died. I didn't stay and count. We went to get some gear and get searching for Six before he hurts a pile of more people.”

“-and before he came to the Citizenry, he killed at least seven people.” Lenth added. He glanced at Marcy, who gave him a mild glare. A little 'shut up Lenth' glare.

“Before he came to the Citizenry?” the guard asked, “so he's a lofu? Been a while since we've had one of those around. Never a good sign. So, what, he killed seven lofus, and four or more Citizens? Eleven?”

“Congratulations,” Marcy said, “you can add. Any idea where we can find him?”

“She should probably talk to Edgar, the first guard said to the other, “kinda now. Okay, Marcy. You and your buddy can go see Edgar. No trouble, all right?”

“Got it.”