Kishōtenketsu contains four acts: introduction, development, twist and reconciliation. The basics of the story—characters, setting, etc.—are established in the first act and developed in the second. No major changes occur until the third act, in which a new, often surprising element is introduced. The third act is the core of the plot, and it may be thought of as a kind of structural non sequitur. The fourth act draws a conclusion from the contrast between the first two “straight” acts and the disconnected third, thereby reconciling them into a coherent whole.

The first thing I thought of was Doonesbury, which had a very influential four panel beat-structure. There was always a twist/joke/punchline/strangeness in the third panel, and the fourth panel was usually an after beat/ironic put-back kind of joke. When Bloom County got dinged for being a Doonesbury knockoff, mostly they were noting how it copied that particular comic rhythm.

All of these unique behaviorisms have made them quite popular amongst researchers who seek to understand how the dogs have adapted, how they understand the subway system and how they will continue to evolve.

I suspect the Chinese are way ahead of the researchers on this: [link]

[grump redacted about everything I predicted this morning]

It's a bit like a modified harold, if you kind of think three beats followed by group game. The first three beats of that description are how harold scenes should go, anyway.

Skipping oh-yeah-yet-again because, according to the Buffista Calendar, today is EpicTangent's birthday.

Also, since this grading is taking up even what little I may skip, and then shabbat soon will not let me be in front of a computer at all, I'll already post that tomorrow, the 22nd, will be Fred Pete & hubs' anniversary, and Saturday, the 23rd, will be Steph L's birthday.

Lots of wishes to all!

Saturday, the 23rd, will be Steph L's birthday.

What! She hasn't said anything about it! Where is the countdown??

My troupes didn't play Harold. I'm not familiar with the structure.

As predicted it is still my responsibility to get the information into the developer's brain. I'm not sure how I can work the system to get to be the one with no culpability.

Maybe if I weren't an older child...

Psych. Also, j/k.

Maybe if I weren't an idiot.

Jonathan Coulton has a fascinating (to me) discussion of intellectual property and the future of manufacturing here: [link]

I love that Nilly still keeps us on track with celebrations, even though she can't post at all!

Happy birthday, EpicTangent!

I think the person who wrote this document meant effectiveness. What he wrote was affectability.

OMG and LOL.

I just went to the presentation about our most recent employee survey and it was kind of fascinating, but maybe only because I find the COO weirdly compelling. He always seems so frank. But now I don't think I actually got anything from the presentation.

I used to have some stellar developers on my projects. Those days are gone. I just had to walk one through the process of "There is no data for June" through to "I can't run you a report for June."

He was standing there insisting that a) There is no data for June and b) He was going to run me a report for June.

I get really self-conscious when I have to do it, because I am being really rude, but I can't work out any other way to get the right answer.

I really hope the new guy is good. Otherwise bitches be stabbinated, perhaps starting with hari kiri.