Gwenda

Bad Guesser

3 Comments / Science Project / By /

Chris McLaren (aka Big-Headed Canadian Whiskey Man) points to the Gender Genie, which analyzes writing samples and predicts whether the author is male or female. Somewhat concerningly, he said it thinks I’m a man. (Of course, it also thought Emma Bull was.) I decided to test it out with some longer samples.

Scores

The first 1,000 words and change of a new story I just finished called Cassie Says:

Female Score: 1883
Male Score: 1007
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

So far, so good, but that’s a pretty tight score.

The first chapter of my YA novel Girl’s Gang:

Female Score: 2083
Male Score: 2137
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male! 

Wrongo!

A longer blog entry, From Two to Four:

Female Score: 1416
Male Score: 1776
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Of course, according to the stats, the Genie seems to be running about 41 percent incorrect. Not knowing much about what this is based on (and being unable to see the Nature article), I’m not sure any conclusions can be drawn from this — except perhaps that this oversimplifies the algorithm or something. (Or it’s just stoopid.) Kind of interesting though.

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Hey Geeky Girl (Updated)

8 Comments / Scientifiction / By /

The memed up version of the Guardian’s phallocentric 20 best geeky novels list has inspired some interesting discussion (in the comments to that post). Christopher Rowe and Chris McLaren have responded by making lists of geeky books by women. (See also the discussion at this LJ.) (The update is Meghan McCarron’s list added at the end of the post.)

This is going to be embarrassing, but I’ll meme up these behind the cut. (My own list would have a lot more books I’ve read. But many of these are books I have long had every intention of reading and just haven’t, or have read other books by the authors instead.)

…

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Friday Hangovers

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VeronicaMarsTalk

5 Comments / TV Goodness / By /

Am I the only person who didn’t know that Rob Thomas was a successful YA novelist before going into TV? That last week’s ep is named after his first book, "Rats Saw God"? I put it on reserve at the library. Anyway. This week:

"Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner" Veronica and Duncan discover that the still-comatose Meg had been babysitting an abused child, leading Veronica to take on an unfamiliar role as a babysitter to determine the kid’s identity.

The opening is great, so I’m really, really hoping this isn’t a very special episode as last week’s promo made out.

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Value What You Value

Scientifiction / By /

Christopher weighs in on the demise of SciFiction:

It’s sad that they’re shutting it down, and you know what else? It is surprising, too, despite what a lot of others have said. It seems like a lot of people (like, disappointingly, many SFWAns) are innately suspicious of any endeavor that they can’t at least see some revenue in, even if they don’t see a “profit.” A lot of people "knew it was just a matter of time." Well, patronage has got a fairly respectable track record in Western art, predating even good old Adam Smith. I think that was part of the impulse behind SCI FICTION and I think it’s an impulse that will continue to exist, one that should be fostered.

Read the whole thing (then go pick a story!).

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GilmoreGossipCircle

6 Comments / TV Goodness / By /

Based on what I’ve seen about this one, it should have us all gabbing:

The Prodigal Daughter Returns. A surprise phone call from Christopher (David Sutcliffe, who does not appear in the episode) brings up issues of trust between Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Luke (Scott Patterson). Later, when a person from Luke’s past shows up in Stars Hollow, he has no idea how to tell Lorelai about it. After months of estrangement, Lorelai and Rory (Alexis Bledel) make their first move toward reconciliation and Rory takes major steps to change the direction of her life.
Kelly Bishop, Edward Herrmann, Melissa McCarthy, Keiko Agena and Yanic Truesdale also star. The episode was written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Can I just say again how much I despise Christopher? He’s such a lothario. (Not you; you are no lothario.)

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