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New Tattoo

19 replies · 3,213 views · Started 18 August 2005

lol, MrCow and I were talking about you yesterday night wondering where the fuck you went...freaky.

Nice tattoo.

Nope. It's latin for "God from the machine".

It's used whenever there is an unresolvable confilict in a play, book, movie, video game storyline, etc. A 'higher power' steps into the storyline and reverts things to the way they should be, or at least gets things on the right track.

AlexMax wrote:Nope. It's latin for "God from the machine".

It's used whenever there is an unresolvable confilict in a play, book, movie, video game storyline, etc. A 'higher power' steps into the storyline and reverts things to the way they should be, or at least gets things on the right track.


Yes thank you Mr. Alex for the remedial literature lesson. User posted image

However it is also a key line in Donnie Darko which I think might be the impetus for the tatoo.

Oh oh but someone forgot to use all of his sources! From the source Mr. GREG cited, we see that the phrase has another context:

...cases where an author uses some improbable (and often clumsy) plot device to work his or her way out of a difficult situation.

So the real question is this:

Does PrfectGREG want us to believe he is some deity suspended from wires (a puppet?), or some clumsy hack sent to solve a problem in an unsatisfying manner?

I fucking hate donnie darko.

I'm big into movies and it's one of my famorite plot divices used. I dont think im the god from the machine, its the literary term.

Donnie Darko owns, kthx.

Alex, or whoever..Would this ''deus ex machina'' work with Majora's Mask? With the 4 Giants being summoned to stop the moon? Just wondering.

Donnie Darko is fine... I don't think it's particularly great but it at least wins bonus points for being about time travel. A whole lot of faggots seem to like it an inordinate amount, though.

You know the part in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the knights are being chased by the cartoon monster, but then the animator has a heart attack? Totally dues ex machina, my friend.

Actually no because pretty much the entire game is about trying to summon the 4 giants, so it's not like they are a plot device that is created to end an unwinnable situation.

Deus ex machina is used frequently in bad sci-fi novels and video games. One example that comes to mind is a portion of a Star Wars series I read once (it was either Rogue Squadron or Wraith Squadron, I don't recall). The computer that Wedge and his posse needs to access is in a room filled with a deadly nerve gas and it looks like the mission is doomed until one of the crew members remembers that he doesn't have to breathe so the nerve gas won't hurt him. (This also contradicts an earlier story written by another author where a member of the same species has to wear a special suit because he breathed some oxygen-rich air that burned his lungs.)

To be honest, all I can think of is the PC Game Deus Ex, (Ion Storm) but it more than does the job. It's a cool tattoo, Greg, enjoy it. 😊