Midwest Setting
I was just wondering how familiar non-Usonian (I didn't say Americans, are you happy Ginny? 
) types are with the setting of Puzzle Agent? For example, how many of you have seen the Coen brothers films? What do you think of when you hear the term "Midwest"? Do you think of a place in the States? Do you know where the Midwest is? I'm just curious to hear a "foreign" take on the setting, and the images it conjures up.
) types are with the setting of Puzzle Agent? For example, how many of you have seen the Coen brothers films? What do you think of when you hear the term "Midwest"? Do you think of a place in the States? Do you know where the Midwest is? I'm just curious to hear a "foreign" take on the setting, and the images it conjures up. Sign in to comment in this discussion.
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Thanks for the interest!
Midwest no idea. But basically, it's like those standart settings of North American fiction for me. I think I may watched some of the same setting, or something awfully similar, before, especially because we watch a ton of your fiction here (Most of the movies in theaters are North American in fact!).
I know very little about USA political geography, I know San Francisco is facing the Pacific, Chile has the same hour as New York and Texas has a funny shape (AND a very similar flag compared to the Chilean Flag) but, sadly, appart of New York, any other City in USA is in USA (No specific state or place in the Map) so I can't really tell which state or place is the setting. In fact, I think is in the North of USA because I know the Northest the place is there, the colder will be, but nothing else.
But that's me. Probably a Mexican or a Canadian will be a bit more familiar than me.
I guess before going to Canada, I would have just thought it was similar to "Province", which is the name us snobby Parisians have for every part of France that isn't Paris or its suburbs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota
Okay, so ... no clue about Minnesota. Actually very few US shows are really set in the Midwest, only one that I could think of is Smallville and that's actually filmed in Vancouver which is next to nothing like Kansas. Minnesota isn't so much like the prairies as it's a cross between Ontario and Alberta. It has more snow than Alberta and hotter summers, but the northern half of Minnesota is also farther north than Toronto. It's in the "heartland" of America, traditionally farming communities with a recent history of dwindling populations as younger people move out seeking work in the more populous states.
Scoggins seems to have more of the same vibe I get from Fargo, Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure etc, even though Peaks was Washington state and NE is Alaska; Imposing forests, harsh weather, small tight knit communities, quirky characters possibly hiding dark secrets and something ominous lurking under the surface.
I think the game setting translates perfectly well outside the USA.
More than six months of snow while still having hotter summers? You've got to be kidding me, I'm never going there.
It snows here from at least October-November and doesn't stop until March-April, and it frequently can get into 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, although 90-100 is far more common for summer months.
So yeah, it's not so fun.
My first year in Alberta, it started snowing in September, and when I left in the last days of May there was still snow everywhere.
At least while it's snowy it's not that hot? Although the shift can be brutal, so it being super hot doesn't mean that there isn't still snow everywhere that hasn't melted yet.
Why did people ever settle in places like that? It's insane.
Incidentally, the hottest weather I experienced was in 2003 in Paris, when it reached up to 40°C and was over 35°C most of the summer. It wasn't that bad though, for some reason. Alberta is much less hot and yet much worse, I think it's because it's so dry. And there is much less shade since it's so empty, you're pretty much always in the sun.
I'd be interested in knowing what region is called "Midwest" exactly, could someone put up a map? Because Minnesota looks more East than West to me.
Also: I have no clue why it is called the Midwest, but it is.
I should also point out that I live near the lower left hand side of Wisconsin, and the weather is likely much snowier further north.
There's "Fargo" and "A Serious Man" which were set in, well, Fargo, North Dakota and a Minneapolis suburb, respectively. And Stephen King is from New England, which is like the Midwest, I guess, only it has access to the ocean. So ... lobsters and crab rather than trout. And the emo vampires are in Washington state which is also on the ocean, only the Pacific which is on the other side of the country.
This wiki article should give a pretty good idea of where the Midwest is.
I think it's pretty amorphous. Given the way U.S. history unfolded, the Mississippi River, rather than some arbitrary halfway point, is often regarded as the dividing line between east and west in the U.S. So geographically, the half (or so) of the west that is closest to the Mississippi is the Midwest, in contrast to the far west. Of course, the source of the Mississippi is in Minnesota, so that's not a definitive answer. Culturally or socioeconomically, the term Midwest can refer to that part of the U.S. that is grain-farming-intensive, an area that mostly coincides with the geographical explanation.
Oh, and just to obfuscate things even more, the term Midwest can itself be refined further, as in "Upper Midwest", which tends to refer to Minnesota and/or the Dakotas, etc.
I have no trouble relating to the setting, either since I come from a Nordic country.
Well, when I was in Guadeloupe, it was very much wet heat, and I liked it better. You need to sweat less and to drink less, and sure you're all sticky but that's always the case when it's hot, difference is here it comes from the outside instead of the inside.
I thinks with fans and stuff I'll take dry heat, but as it is I'll take wet heat. If I'm making sense.
I usually wear wet clothes in summer. Like, I wash them but don't dry them, put them on and leave. That cools me down a little bit. For the first few minutes haha.
You aren't required to sweat any less, the problem is that sweating doesn't work as well as in dry heat so the body can't cool down that easily.
When there's low humidity, I can barely even tell that it's hot. When there is high humidity (which there almost always is in the summer here), I can barely even move without sweating profusely, and I just generally don't feel like doing anything but dying of exhaustion.
It's a pain.
I liked Paris. Rarely went down to freezing temperature in Winter, rarely was incredibly hot in summer and always had shade everywhere, as well as places to cool down, be it by entering a store or a bar or a pool.
Oh, and you don't need to carry a sweater with you in summer in case you need to enter a mall. Seriously, in North America (where I've been in North America, I should say), I keep a sweater with me because the malls are kept so cold that I get sick otherwise.
If the winter is too cold for humans and the summer is too hot, and they both last a while, is there any time at all to visit?
So, erm... Yeah, I don't actually have much to contribute...
We have 80% humidity or more very often, even up to 100% sometimes. It's horrible.
Around April-May or September-October is usually the only time of the year where the weather isn't totally horrible in some way, but it fluctuates very wildly. We've had the snow melt and a couple weeks of nice weather, followed by 20 inches of snow in two days. The weather here typically makes no sense and is generally pretty bad.
Hmm... I'm going to assume it's a ratio of some sort? 100% humidity sounds like you're in water
I hear you. In my husband's hometown, the people say "don't like the weather? Wait for five minute."
Something like that, I don't know the specifics of it, just that when the number is that high, I feel like crap when I go outside.
The only two theories I have is that:
a) it's 100% of the maximum allowed by the laws of physics
b) it's a 1:1 ratio with something. Like, one part air and one part water. But this one doesn't sound very... scientific. Air itself is already made from a bunch of stuff, it's not just one thing, after all.
I'm curious now, anyone known the answer?
I remember one day when I was a little girl the weather was so hot and humid that I was let outside the house for only a few minutes. I looked across the street at this big tree that was about fifty feet/15 meters away, and it seemed to be waving in the heat like a hula dancer. Beyond that it was literally too indistinct for me to make anything out, and I was exhausted when I got back into the house. That day had 100% humidity and it was over 120F/40C.
From what I've heard the Midwest isn't that bad, but they've got mosquitoes the size of VW bugs. Okay, maybe not that bad, but you do not stay out at dusk unless you want to be eaten alive.
That's correct. When the humidity exceeds 100% you get dew or rain, or variants thereof, depending on altitude and temperature. And this saturation point depends on temperature and pressure. It's like when you mix salt with water, you'll eventually get to a point where adding more salt just make it fall to the bottom of your pot, and that's when you've reached the saturation point, or 100% salinity in comparison to the air humidity.
EDIT: Beaten to it.
Not too bad though, not like horseflies, one bite made me delirious despite immediate treatment by two doctors and overnight care. Ugh. Mosquito bites just swell to the size of a ping pong ball, or depending on the type of mosquito, tennis ball. Still pretty annoying.
What makes it worse is that they always go for me! Seriously, I've had people just walk along with me and not get a single bite when I got dozens. Maybe my blood tastes different or something.
In the US, I've only been to New York and Florida, although I'm hoping to make it to Pax... Still not allowed to leave the country but at this point I'm half tempted to do it anyways >_<
In Canada I've been to several places in Quebec and Ontario, as well as the Prairies and BC, so I guess I've got a more varied experience with that.
Apart from the weather though, what are other interesting stuff about Minnesota? I mean, there has to be something, right?
Okay, I don't know too much about it, we just had some family friends who came from a small town in Minnesota. The Catholics all drove Dodges since the Dodge dealer was a Catholic, and the Lutherans all drove Fords 'cause ditto. Half the town was named Petersen, and they would crumble potato chips onto the tops of their casseroles.
As far as weather goes, those high on the Canadian border like Minnesota and Wisconsin can get a severe amount of snow. However, slightly more southern states like Indiana and my own Ohio tend to be a bit more mild yet can still run the gamut of weather types. Amusingly enough, tying the humidity discussion, I got a firsthand example of how weather here can change quickly in action yesterday at work. The oft-maligned summer humidity was so high that a high-power storm built up practically out of nowhere and knocked out the power at my place of employment. It was out for so long, the sent us home early. I did note the distinct irony of having no lights on the longest day of the year. The storm was so compact, though, that my home, 20 minutes away from my work, was unaffected by the power outages.
Seriously though, any Midwesterners want to point out some good points about the Midwest? I've heard you guys have lakes, some even call them great?
They're not that great.
Umm... we have cheese curds?
Me. What more do you need?
Woo!
and come on who doesn't love fat people... and cheese curds?
This house is listed in my city for $209,900
here are some photos from around where I live..
Mabel Tainter theater (where my sister got married)
WINTER TIME