Timewaster's Guide Archive

I just wanted to congratulate Peter on getting officially hired on by Brandon. (Which reminds me, does that make you an employee of Dragonsteel Entertainment, or is it being done another way?) I've known Peter for years and know he'll do a great job.

As everyone on the forums has probably noticed, Peter's very helpful about communicating and keeping facts straight. He's got the detail-oriented nature of an obsessive fan, and the professionalism of an industry editor. So congratulations and keep up the hard work!

So, these have been going around for a while now. Rather than clutter the Cool Things thread, I figure those of us who are forever amused by lolcats can just post them here. I'll start us off:

So I was reading through a summary/critic of Atlas Shrugged (for work, no less), and came across a very interesting bit at the reviewer's closing statements. I probably should post this in Writer's Group, but I never go there, and I bet people will see it here too.

"Fiction and philosophy have seemingly opposite objectives in their purposes. Philosophy relies on an inquiry, and the balancing of arguments and counter-arguments, while fiction is a fantastical creation served up for reading by the author. By definition, the marriage of fiction and philosophy can only result in the procreation of rhetoric. By using fiction, one is not bound by any constraints in what one chooses to consider in the philosophical inquiry. Thus, one can architect a fictional work so as to strongly emphasize one side of a debate, while ignoring the other."

I've always thought that the world of speculative fiction was the last bastion of morality literature. Good vs. evil, faith vs. science, and all that stuff. So is fiction a place to present interesting philosophy, or does the nature of fiction necessarily turn any philosophic ideas into nothing more than rhetoric, since the author is making up all elements to suit his/her liking?

EDIT: Bad Tage! Don't forget to link source material--
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~girishv/fiction/books/reviews/atlas_shrugged.html

Today on the front page of IGN's Wii page:
http://wii.ign.com/articles/768/768580p1.html

That's the game I'm working on! It's cool that it's getting some major press coverage. Right now I'm designing levels for it, trying to make sure they're challenging and fun. Anyway, fun stuff.

So, I never come down here to writer land, but a friend of mine showed me this site that I think you regulars will really appreciate.
http://bulwer-lytton.com/

Awards for worst opening lines and other one-liners.

Here's a tasty sample:
Runner-Up

"I know what you're thinking, punk," hissed Wordy Harry to his new editor, "you're thinking, 'Did he use six superfluous adjectives or only five?' - and to tell the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement; but being as this is English, the most powerful language in the world, whose subtle nuances will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' - well do you, punk?"
Stuart Vasepuru
Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm going to be messing with TWG this weekend. First I'll be testing the move process, then actually doing the full copy and move.

Anyway, if you notice TWG getting funky over the next couple of days, don't freak out, it's just me. I'll try to keep it to low-traffic hours.

If anything were ever able to make me play a Battlefield game, this might:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-DnK-d_sp0

This is the funniest thing I've ever seen on a WoW forum. Make sure you read until at least page 7 to get the full effect.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-realm-whisperwind&T=70232&P=1