Why Blog Ex Machina?

The blog’s name comes from the latin phrase “Deus ex machina” which translates to “god from the machine”. This phrase is used when referring to “a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence”.

One usage of this in popular culture is to get the heroic protagonist out of seemingly insurmountable situations and, even if the result is sometimes corny or forced to fit the end goal of the plot (which is almost always “happy ever after”), it is so common it has become a well-known trope and it is still extensively used when the director/author knows what they want the ending to be but don’t know exactly how to get there.

First time I read a story where deus ex machina happened was in one of my favorite novels: The Stand by Stephen King. The protagonists’ group is, in the end, saved by the right guy, at the right time, with the right nuclear warheads. When explaining it out loud it just sounds like Stephen King did not know how to end that story at all.

Latin language class aside, this is a phrase that has always stuck with me and I think it makes up for a pretty cool-sounding name for my blog. It also makes sense since this blog idea just came out of nowhere, or, ex machina. Here I hope to talk about anything that crosses my mind; ideas, thoughts, rants, coding stuff and just whatever that can be shown via the web. I don’t know if I’ll ever make this public, so, if you are reading this, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

And here’s the Trashcan man just so you know just how crazy his appearance was: