plotcels and the mild bruise
18-06-2026
All the local cats have been hissing at me since I started wearing my mysterious amulet.
Plotcels
Recently learned the term plotcel. It's a new piece of slander from the vibes-only front of pop culture criticism. It refers to someone who is excessively concerned with a story's plot. In definition, I've seen it used to refer to extreme positions, like those who think watching a movie and reading a wikipedia plot summary are more-or-less interchangeable experiences. But in practice, I've seen it levelled against people like me who think errors in plotting and story consistency are bad. A camp that until recently I would have called The Default Position.
Sometimes me or my partner will pause what we're watching to check if we've missed something important or if the story has stopped making sense. For me though at least 40% of the time it boils down to a theory of mind skill issue. How would character x behave in this scenario? It's difficult to say - people will surprise you. People are always behaving in ways that would boggle the mind of a third party perspective. I've known people who would contradict themselves and whatever you could call their beliefs or principles over the course of a 1 hour conversation. Storytelling can't actually grapple with the chameleonic nature of people, the many jungian masks of the human psyche.
In University I knew someone who said they were an absolute pacifist - something I rudely probed for at least 20 minutes until they committed to not even mildly bruising an invading army of planet-destroying alien conquerors (in my example one mild bruise would make them leave immediately (they can dish it out but they can't take it)) - only for her to advocate smacking kids the moment the conversation moved on. She's a terf now if you can believe it.
Normal Game: It Happened
Thank you to everyone who attended the inaugural Normal Game and congratulations to our first ever winner Eike who won so handily its raised some concerns about game balance. Thank you also to Ava Liversidge who ran a different competing game in the same space.
I think Normal Game is fun. According to the feedback I harvested the general consensus is that it is a good idea that could use a several dozen fixes and tweaks. That's the ideal for me. I like working on things; the frictionless aerodynamism of a idea born fully formed is ugly to me. I hate how giraffes can leap and prance around seconds after sliding wetly into their mother's shadow - it's like they're being mass produced from a giraffe mould somewhere. Organisms should flop and flail for years - gazing fearfully at the sun.
I've already tabulated everyone's thoughts into a list of action points, which I intend to complete fully by the new Normal Game Live in Manchester on July 28th!
Why Am I Making A Quiz
In 2019 I attended an experimentalist game's conference called Feral Vector (which sadly never re-emerged on this side of the pandemic). There's a growing trend in the delightful fringe of game design that 'a game' is something far more permissive than points and winning. There I realised through The Glang Show was probably as much like a game as it was a comedy show - everything that show needed across its development was about encouraging audience behaviours, inculcating strangers quickly in how to interact beneficially with a system.
It may well be that the presence of points and winning will be Normal Game's primordial sin (every year I find myself thinking this about Morlvision - but it would definitely lose some frisson if we didn't heap honour upon the mathematical favourite) - but at least the above lineage helps me when I find myself wondering why I've spent cumulative months working on a quiz.
Bulletin Board: Tea
Through a non-mysterious coincidence today's bulletin to readers comes courtesy of two identical submissions from Kit and Rote who ask "What have you had for tea?"
Morley's Tea: Fattoush
Now the summer humidity's rolled in again I've been making fattoush. Fattoush is a great summer salad. With a little oil, pan fry some chopped pitta bits (with some diced halloumi if you want to guarantee a good time) until they're crispy. In a mixing bowl, add chopped tomatoes (I'll admit I went for some fancier tomatoes this time round, I just can't stand buying more of the supermarket standard salad tomatoes - they're rank), radishes, spring onions, parlsey, cucumber, red onion. Serve on a bed of lettuce (anything but iceberg!! explore the world of lettuce!) for dressing combine olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, pomegranite molasses (any international supermarket (middle eastern) will have this for cheap) sea salt and sumac. It's a good time!
ok thats it from me. oh also actually come see me at the fringe that would be nice. goodbye