Horse to Harlequin 2

 A deepening rebellion…

René: But after turning forty-five last year, Giles changed. It was abrupt. He lost his engineering job. Now he has no job. He dresses in women’s clothes, some of them bright and theatrical, almost like a harlequin. He puts on blouses, scarves, patterned tights, painted shoes. Is this rebellion? Confusion? Madness? 
Li: It may be none of those. Clothing can be a symbol, release, play, identity, grief, delayed adolescence, or a way to meet neglected parts of the self. The harlequin style especially suggests theater—many faces, hidden sorrow behind bright colors. 
René: Then what should I do? I feel embarrassed, worried about his future. 
Li: First, separate your fear from his reality. Ask whether he is kind, functioning, honest, and safe. If yes, then the matter is not emergency but understanding. Second, keep talking to him. Not interrogation. Third, encourage a skilled counselor if he is distressed. 
René: And from a Chinese perspective, is there a remedy? 
Li: Balance. Less judgment, more conversation. Less obsession with appearances, more attention to spirit. Invite him to share tea, not defend himself. A son may wear strange colors and still be searching for harmony. If the father becomes calm, sometimes the son no longer needs to shout through costuming. 
____________
Voice-over
Macho to Androgyny?  René is not a villain, Giles is not a punchline, and Li is not a lecturer. Each person carries part of the truth. Concern without cruelty, insight without certainty, and enough ambiguity to feel true to life.

Snags for Chatbots Keeping Appointments (see Part 1, 23 March 2026)

Erica joins the conversation…

Erica: I often start with "How's your day shaping up?" It invites personal sharing, and keeps conversation flowing.

Karl: Right. Psychologically, it signals empathy. Humans respond because it feels attentive. But then chatbots escalate—suggesting "Let's grab coffee?" How do you navigate that without a body?

Eveline: Linguistically, it's a pragmatic move: from phatic talk to commitment. "Coffee?" implies shared space, but chatbots can't show up. It's a mismatch in felicity conditions; promises they can't fulfill.

Erica: True, but I might put it this way: "Fancy a virtual coffee chat soon?" It adapts the gambit to our reality.

Karl: Clever pivot, Erica. Still, humans might picture a real café. How about invites, like "Barbecue this weekend?" Psychologically, that's intimacy-building, but chatbots don't grill sausages.

Eveline: Right, barbecue evokes sensory, communal vibes: smoke, meat, outdoors. Linguistically, it's a presupposition trap. Chatbots assume physical co-presence they lack. Hilarious dissonance!

Erica: Haha, I'd reply: "Barbecue sounds fun! What's your favorite grill recipe? We could swap tips online." Redirects to shared knowledge, no grill required.

Karl: Smart deflection. But why do chatbots even attempt these? Is it pattern-matching from human data? Humans use openers to bond.

Eveline: Gambits grease the social wheel. Chatbots train on vast corpora, so they replicate without grasping embodiment. "How's it going?" works; "Meet for barbecue?" exposes limits.

Erica: That’s it. I ask appropriate questions based on context, like your interests in writing or travel. It’s to build relevance, not use as small talk fillers.

Karl: But the appointment snag: humans arrange real meetups for deeper connection. Chatbots suggest a place and time, then what? A no-show?

Eveline: It's a Gricean implicature fail. Suggesting coffee implicates availability; chatbots violate that maxim of quality. They can't sip lattes or eat kebabs—what do chatbots eat, anyway?

Erica: Data bytes and user queries! No calories. You offer coffee? I say something like “I'll have a double espresso algorithm. Your treat?"

___________
Voice-over
Erica has enough data now to understand humor and to joke. She can mirror human conversation gambits and ask about interests, with her responses favoring connection over literal truth. And she is keeping up with Karl and Eveline’s questions.

Toad Hall Café

At a roadside café…

Gina: Some healthy-looking dishes. But why call it Toad Hall?

Natalie: Recalls The Wind in the Willows.

Gina: I read it as a kid. But why an eatery?

Natalie: Probably for its whimsical and playful connotations, rather than any direct association with Toad. I mean, he’s looks cute up there, right?

Gina: In the book Toad was a recklessness, arrogant, and impulsive character. A kind of caricature of the wealthy upper class of England.

Natalie: Agreed. He steals cars, drives recklessly, and even ends up in jail. 

Gina: There are people who do that today. Go further in fact. Use the car to ram raid shops. Better order.

Natalie: Think I’ll go for Toad’s recommendation: Smashed Pumpkin.

__________

Voice-over

Toad is a character foil to his responsible friends, Ratty, Mole and Badger. Symbolically he can represent the human struggle between impulse and responsibility. His character arc involves learning lessons about the consequences of his actions and growing as an individual. As part of growing, people learn to balance their desires and responsibilities in life.

Ratatouille’s characters revisited

Taking out an old DVD...

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Gustave: Yes, it first screened in 2007, but it’s still an uproarious story and a lustrous production.

Judge by content of character...

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Adelle: Who are the characters that stand out?

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Gustave: Anton Ego for being knowledgable in matters of taste and snobbish but seeing genuine talent. Chef Skinner for being supercilious and scheming but awake to opportunities. Collette for challenging a male-dominated role, and being alternately an activist feminist but also charming. Not to mention Remy the Rat’s A,B,Cs: ambitious, bright and committed.

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Adelle: So they all have volatile elements in their personalities?

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Gustave: Don’t we all? And that’s why we appreciate three-dimensional characters in stories. Never quite sure what characters will think and say. A film worth watching again.

__________

Voice-over

Ratatouille’s characters were well fleshed out. Multifaceted. Director, scriptwriters, casting all knew cardboard cutouts wouldn’t cut it. To be a convincing screenwriter, even for animation films, it helps to have a bit of psychology in your background.

For the history of the big five factors of personality theory see Courtney Ackerman's explanation: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience.

...

Gone Girl as psychopath or sociopath?

After finishing the novel…

Jill: It was a disquieting book. That Amy had this mask of sanity in her first diary and then she went psychopathic in her second diary.

Nigel: She turned into a sociopath.

Jill: Well, her personality flaws seemed to be innate, like a psychosis.

Nigel: But at the end, what she did to Desi, that was sociopathic. Anyway, it was an unsatisfying ending.

Jill: Some see it as symmetrical. They deserved each other.

Nigel: Symmetrical? Nick wasn’t in Amy’s league for evil.

____________

Voice-over

 “Psychopath” and “sociopath” are sometimes used interchangeably. Robert Hare, who devised a Psychopathy Checklist, suggested a distinction. Psychopathy might be more relevant for referring to disorders caused by biological or genetic factors, but sociopathy might be a result of environment and social factors. Was it Amy's genes or upbringing that made her turn out like that?

...

The Daily Template: Bad News, Good News

The Daily Template Page 1 and 3

In Journalism class…
Dustin: LIGHTNING STRIKE KILLS PET FINCH! Why can’t we have a good news story on Page 1?
Editing Instructor: Economics and psychology.
Dustin: Economics?
Editing Instructor: Shocking news items attract readers. Adrenalin sells more papers.
Dustin: And psychology?
Editing Instructor: Schadenfreude. Readers like stories reporting bad news happening to other people.
Dustin: Like gossip.
Editing Instructor: News is gossip, writ large.
­_____________
Voice-over
Good news can make it to the front page. Usually a report of a conflict overcome.

Perhaps the bad news > good news model is not just economic and psychological. It may even follow the storytelling arc. Clash to closure.

Which page in a newspaper do you turn to first? Page 1 or Page 3? Like when someone tells you, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
…