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Feb 22 2012
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book review, Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, literature, The Writing Life, Writing

The Thinker’s Thesaurus

We like words here, don’t we?

Chuh-huh… yeah! That’s why today’s fantastic point of ignorance goes out to all of you wordsmiths, literators, storyweavers and spelling bee champions out there. I asked for free stuff this Christmas, things like carols and cider and snow cones and oral stories involving hearts five sizes too small but my Grandma’s a gift giver like most of my family. She bought me a copy of The Thinker’s Thesaurus.

Touché, granny. Touché.

Here’s the thing, I’m a recovering academic. I root out ivory tower talk when it rears it’s out-of-touch head. I also doubt I’ll be publishing a story, a non-fiction feature or even a poem in the New Yorker any time soon. Though I’m an avid reader, they’d scoff at my work if it ever managed (against all odds) to land a manuscript on their desks. Because of these disqualifications, I find little practical use for such a book as The Thinker’s Thesaurus.

Don’t even care.

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Feb 20 2012
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fantastic points of ignorance, impulsive pastimes, literary interpretation, The Writing Life

Firefly: Power and Poise

Saturday, February 18th, I lost my Firefly virginity.

I waited right around seven years to do this – ever since I stepped onto the college scene and my newfound friends began badgering me to watch the show. I borrowed the series from a friend, sat down on my Saturday at 7:45am and watched the series straight until 9pm. Yes, I was that hooked. This show’s amazing, and I completely understand why Firefly fans beg so often, so long and so convincingly  about making a second season.

It’s like all of you told me all these years that there was gold in them there hills, but I blew you off because, let’s face it, there’s always gold in them there hills. But seven years later I walk over the tops of them there hills on the first open Saturday it crosses my mind and find out what you meant was “there’s gold on them there hills.” Lying around. In hunks and nuggets and bars. What you meant was “take a walk over this hill and pick up all the friggin’ gold you want, dummy.” That was Firefly for me, walking around and finding gold everywhere. That’s why I imbibed all of it in a single day: gold rush. Three things stood out to me: a lesson, an interpretation and a longing.

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Feb 09 2012
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Alchemy, Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, Kingkiller Trilogy, literary interpretation

Kingkiller Nigreddo: He said to the stone, “Break!”

Further into our first Taborlin the Great story, we see Taborlin trapped in a windowless stone cell. Nevermind that the cell evokes images of coffins and tombstones (more Nigreddo death-to-the-old-life imagery), we’re interested in the magic!

But Taborlin knew the names of all things, and so all things were his to command. He said to the stone ‘Break!’ and the stone broke. The wall tore like a piece of paper, and through that hole Taborlin could see the sky and breath the sweet spring air.

In alchemy “stone” as a singular entity refers to the philosopher’s stone the vessel or protagonist transforming from common to holy or lead to gold. A “stone” is a prima materia that has gained the Midas touch and provides the aqua de vida.

But we’re not talking about a stone but stone as an element. Taborlin knew the name of the element “stone” and could control it… as in the title The Name of the Wind. For Lindy’s advice on the matter, we need his “rock” entry. Rock stores the prima materia - the philosopher’s stone. Robert Fludd named the stone “a spirituall [sic] rock of pure transparent saphir [sic].“

Translation: the rock holds the good stuff. Continue reading →

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Jan 25 2012
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Alchemy, fantastic points of ignorance, Kingkiller Trilogy, literary interpretation, literature, mythology, Writing

Kingkiller Nigreddo: Felling Night

I addressed the prologue elsewhere, so we’ll start with Chapter One:

“It was felling…”

Stop.

When ripped from mommy-context’s grasp, this creates double entendre, piggybacking on what came before. We could say, “A man waiting to die was felling.” Lumberjacks fell trees, but a felling is the amount of wood they fell in a given season. If double entendre, then he used “fell” verbally – to chop down. “The broken tree” is one meaning of the Ademic Maedre, Kvothe’s other name.
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Jan 18 2012
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book review, Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, literature

The Secret Life of Houdini

As a kid, I ingested Houdini biographies like most kids ingest chocolate. As a kid, Houdini snatched up Robert Houdin biographies like most kids snatched up wallets. I found myself taunting my brother to handcuff, shackle and hog tie me to my own bedposts and lock the door just so I could escape through the bedroom window and go wash dishes until he found me again. Houdini contorted himself as often as the manager at The Welsh Circus allowed him to. I practiced card magic, he practiced card magic. In my youthful ignorance, I delved into spiritualism & communicating with the dead. When I grew up, I wanted to be just like… well… you get the picture.

“But Lance, you’re not Houdini! Get over yourself.”

No crap, Sherlock. (You might that joke in a moment). I recount my childhood superhero to show the deep, intimate connection I have with the whole of Eric Weiss’s life, from Hungarian Eric to Harry Houdini. Every bit of this book taught me about myself while it taught me about him. Beyond the straightjackets, metamorphoses and lock picks sits a melancholy choleric pensive who struggled between arrogance and honest ambition, service and secret service Continue reading →

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Jan 11 2012
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Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, gergia, travel

Wood, Brass and Leather

As an aficionado of Gilded Age America, I covet all things wood, brass and leather. I made a board about it on my Pinterest immediately after receiving my confirmation e-mail last June. If you scroll through, you’ll see a lot of steampunk but that’s only because steam-punky things take up a very small sliver of Gilded Age lore. There’s also tons of stuff you might find at The Art of Manliness site or even the old Whiskerino themes. Basically, some day I want to work in an office that crosses that of Indiana Jones:

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Jan 04 2012
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Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, humor, literature, movie review, pronunciation, video

Pronunciation Manwell

Let’s play word association:

American

We naturally think of the word:

Hospitable

Right? Isn’t that what we, as a culture, are known for? Because of our legendary hospitality and care of strangers, they made a channel on YouTube to help foreigners along with their pronunciation of common American words. Like Jake Gyllenhaal:

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Dec 28 2011
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C.S. Lewis, Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance

Protesters, Watchmen and Boarding School Boys

from watchmen wiki

Watchmen.

No wonder Time listed it as one of the 100 best novels. This thing rocked me to my core. When I set aside my philosophical biases, Moore & Gibbons continued to entertain me with this neo-noir graphic novel. My friend Alex Giltner, another fantasy writer, once said, “I don’t want to write about epic battles like Tolkien. We don’t live in that world. People don’t fear invasion anymore. They fear the little red button. They fear some guy in a room somewhere escalating everything to DEFCON 1.” Watchmen capitalized on that notion, balancing their world on a high wire, teetering toward apocalypse. Pessimistic like 90% of noir, Watchmen snaps a portrait of American society where everyone corrupts everything – a society where the watchmen need watching. In the midst of this brokenness, a former team of retired heroes go their separate ways to unearth an apocalyptic plot. Nihilistic and broken, this series asks the question: what is right?

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Dec 27 2011
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ask the experts, censored opinions, fantastic points of ignorance

Worldbuilders 2011

Fundraiser ThermometerAs a team, we’ve already raised over $96,000 for world poverty relief!

Every year, hyper-nerds ban together with Patrick Rothfuss to provide better solutions to worldwide poverty, lifting people above the poverty bracket and giving them a chance for a future.

Pat matches 50% of whatever we donate AND creates a sort of lottery by which donors win many many prizes – prizes like complete firefly seasons, signed copies of the guild, HUNDREDS of books, readings by Neil Gaiman, etc. All that at his site.

We here at literating talk about more than fantastic worlds. We try and work through issues in our own world like generosity, greed and poverty. Well here’s the chance to shine, people. I set us a goal with the Worldbuilders team of $500. Having never hosted this before, I have no idea if that’s too small or big, so let’s just meet the goal and then I’ll raise the bar! Tweet, retweet, whatever – but get the word out and donate! Let’s give a Happy New Year to people in need.

We partner with Heifer international. Here’s the basics:

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Dec 14 2011
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book review, Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, literature

Pratchett’s “Thief of Time”


The wrath of my inner nerd has been appeased.

No one feared my inner nerd’s wrath because he possessed no nerd-smiting powers like DDOS attacks or Tesla coils. However, had my inner nerd such powers at his disposal – or had he even mild  irritation – he would have come across Terry Pratchett’s supreme geek satire and laughed instead.

My first introduction to Pratchett – Thief of Time – reminded me just how much  scifi-fantasy and video game lore rests inside my subconscious. Terry made jokes about things I didn’t even know I found funny, smashing up humor from seemingly unrelated fields in an amusing amalgamation of dork. Examples? The Igor with a lisp. The Yeti who can save his life if he senses danger (think Super Mario) and continue onward; if he dies, he can always start over from where he saved, but with the advantage of a memory of the future. Continue reading →

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Dec 07 2011
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fantastic points of ignorance, literature, mythology

Passion, Invention and Occupation

Sorry I neglected Monday, gang. I was shooting a short film. Here’s some quick crits for you:

Two years ago, I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and gave props to Selznick. The guy invented a new medium – part silent film, part graphic novel, part picture book. Anyone who invents a new medium for telling a story gets the A from this teacher.

Beyond this, Selzinick actually told a good story well. I had hoped not only for a movie version of Selznick’s film tribute (thank you Scorsese) but also for ANOTHER BOOK!  Brian brought us Wonderstruck – a book about a deaf boy. Three quickies: (1) Selznick pays extravagant tribute to the awkwardness of Deaf culture, (2) he tells the story differently than Hugo, but just as well, (3) he changes up picture and text framing, reinventing his own new medium. Go. Get. It. Continue reading →

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Nov 30 2011
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Classic Literature, Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, Harvard Classics, literature

Daring to Live

A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend and mentor of mine committed suicide.

I don’t say that to “hook” you or to manipulate life circumstances for hits on this site. For one, I’m sick of all that. For another, I could care less if no one but my mother, my grandmother and my wife reads this . No offense, Literators. I still love you , but I’m writing this for something other than inter-tainment.

His funeral was the most hope-filled funeral I think I’ve been too. That might be superlative, but against death’s contrast their theme stood stark: A Celebration of Life. I know many readers here don’t follow Jesus, so I refuse to preach.

However I will say that this particular friend wore a white t-shirt and jeans everywhere. He was the most approachable servant of Christ I’ve met. Pimps and crazies and business men all had conversations with this guy due to his unassuming undershirt and denim. We reserved one day every semester where we’d all go to chapel dressed just like him (I attended a “Christian College”). By his attire, by his smile, by his manner he came ready to serve other people. As you might Continue reading →

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Nov 23 2011
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fantastic points of ignorance

Hang in There: 3 Stories

These memories still make me laugh…

I shared these three stories at the OCC faculty during their friday lunch. I apologize chopping up the start of it. YouTube only takes 15 minutes, so the 17 minute original lost some pacing.

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy these moments as much as I did:

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Nov 16 2011
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fantastic points of ignorance

Fantastic Points of Ignorance

The “fantastic points of ignorance” posts are one part fantasy, two parts moron. Think Socrates - all I know is that I don’t know jack. Learning all the time, you know?

Here are things I love, but know nothing about:

Knitting

Wish I could create this from the pattern:

Good thing my wife Kiddo wants to learn how to knit…

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