Comments | cofax7: Linkspam dislikes spreadsheets with tiny tiny font

cofax7

Linkspam dislikes spreadsheets with tiny tiny font

Jul 27, 2010 11:10

Language Log talks about vowel mergers--i.e., the inability to distinguish between "pen" and "pin", for instance. One of the commenters claims he can distinguish between "they're", "their", and "there", which I have never heard of before. People can do that?

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Kate Elliott hosts a discussion of the Bechdel test in epic fantasy.

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feminism, books, language, tv, movies

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rachelmanija July 27 2010, 18:33:10 UTC

It's still better than S.M. Stirling's bizarre fixation with ethnicity (and inability to count 9 months wtf).

Explain?

I enjoyed reading Elegy Beach but yeah, lots of issues. The mother can't just die, she had to die in excruciating agony. I'm surprised she didn't burst into flames on the ceiling - oh wait, she wasn't blonde.

cofax7 July 27 2010, 18:40:32 UTC

I read the first of Stirling's Willamette Valley post-apocalypse novels, memfault on the name. It's the one where, like in Boyett, one day all technology just stops working (although there is no magic to take its place). And the way that society develops and people adapt is that they go back to their ethnic roots! So the woman with a Mac- in her name starts wearing tartan and runs a clan/tribe of farmers with bows and swords. And the guy with a Finnish background is all Viking, and the Brits all re-learn how to be bowmen. And the inner-city* folks? Well, they all become barbarians and cannibals, a horde of murderous rapists who will swarm out of the cities to take down the nice civilized communities in the farm country ( ... )

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cofax7 July 27 2010, 18:52:13 UTC

My original comments on it, with additional information in the comments by meara. I'd forgotten that in addition to being post-apocalypse, it's also a retelling of the Arthur cycle.

nestra July 27 2010, 18:49:13 UTC

And the way that society develops and people adapt is that they go back to their ethnic roots!

OMG WHAT.

cofax7 July 27 2010, 18:52:50 UTC

See above for extra linkage. It's not quite overtly racist, but the emphasis on national heritage as the key to survival is REALLY WEIRD OKAY.

eregyrn July 27 2010, 19:21:20 UTC

I wasn't quite sure about that, although I think overall you're right that Stirling Has Big Issues. What stood out for me was the sort of... romanticism of the SCA/geek element, which Mackenzie's "let's recreate the clan structure" thing played into most heavily. But I'm also put in mind of the fact that the Big Bad was a history professor who deliberately based aspects of his organization on fantasy epics like Tolkien (modelling on the bad guys, obviously). I think it was stated explicitly at one point that a bunch of ex-Scadians had banded together as a group... or maybe it was that the Bad Guy's group had attracted some ex-Scadians to it ( ... )

eregyrn July 27 2010, 19:01:03 UTC

Sidebar: did you know that the Juniper Mackenzie character is based, in a thinly-veiled way, on Celtic folksinger (and filker) Heather Alexander? (Some of Mackenzie's quoted lyrics in the books are apparently just based on Alexander's songs, with credit. But also -- Alexander was a redheaded, pagan, Scots-Celtic fiddle player and singer whose main stomping grounds are the PNW.

What's interesting about this is that the last of that first trilogy was apparently published in 2004... and between 2006 and 2008, Heather Alexander became Alexander James Adams. From everything I've heard, his fanbase was extremely supportive of the change and his success as a performer has continued unabated.

But I admit, after I figured out who Stirling based the Mackenzie character on, I wondered what he made of that.

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