All posts by Phil

Writing

It’s a Plot, Mugsy

Leave a comment

The Master Book of Plots, Plotto, was written in 1928 by your favorite author and mine, William Wallace Cook, and Tin House has released it anew for your reading or writing pleasure. With well over a thousand plots, Plotto can spoil more stories than you can swap by the fireplace in a year of weekends. Of course, the joy is in the telling, which is why I’m working on revisions of The Tale of Two Cities and Macbeth. I may even combine the two–not sure.

Along these lines, Greg Bergstrom explains how the cliches line up in various TV mysteries and detective stories. “There are also 2.74 metric tons of clichés,” he says, “like the typical stubbly detective who breaks the rules, struggles with the bottle and tends to tune up suspected killers with a copy of the Manhattan Yellow Pages.”

Religion

The Church of Kopimism in Sweden

Leave a comment

Also from Sweden, “a ‘church’ whose central tenet is the right to file-share has been formally recognised by the Swedish government,” reports BBC News. It was founded by a 19-year-old philosophy student.

Authors

Tolkien’s Writing Wasn’t Good Enough for Nobel

Leave a comment

C.S. Lewis nominated his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien, for a Nobel prize in literature. The judges said nay, or maybe Ni!. “Swedish reporter Andreas Ekström delved into 1961’s previously classified documents on their release this week, to find the jury passed over names including Lawrence Durrell, Robert Frost, Graham Greene, EM Forster and Tolkien to come up with their eventual winner, Yugoslavian writer Ivo Andrić.”

Authors

Wodehouse: ‘Innocent tactlessness?’

Leave a comment

A.N. Wilson describes P.G. Wodehouse’s life in Hollywood and Nazi Germany. He apparently joked about everything and gave little thought to whatever devils may be within whatever hearts beating around him. Let them keep their devils; Wodehouse didn’t have any. (via Books, Inq.)

Also on one of our favorite authors, Christopher Hirst reviews a book by Sophie Ratcliffe.

When [WWII] was declared, [Wodehouse] blasé response (“They all say there is going to be a boom in books”) becomes all the more astonishing when you learn he was devouring Churchill’s books. “What strikes me most about them is what mugs the Germans were to take us on again.”

Authors

#JRRTolkien Facts

Leave a comment

Here are the thing we sent out on Twitter in honor of the professor’s birthday in reverse order.

“…they get quite drunk on it. Many young Americans are involved in the stories in a way that I’m not.” #JRRTolkien

The name Sam Gamgee was that of the inventor of a surgical dressing which #JRRTolkien remembered from childhood.

Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien – “If humans could live as long as some of J. R. R. Tolkien’s famous fantasy chara… ow.ly/1gvXh6

As a boy, #JRRTolkien studied Welsh and Finnish instead of doing his homework.

At Oxford, reading Beowulf aloud magnificently. “The sound of #JRRTolkien made sense of the unknown tongue,” said a student.

“I am in fact a Hobbit. I like gardens, trees and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like plain food.” #JRRTolkien

How can one create a majestic fantasy world like Middle Earth? Read “Leaf by Niggle.” #JRRTolkien

One #JRRTolkien grave, he is called Beren and his wife, Edith, is called Luthien like the beautiful couple in his history…

A visit to #JRRTolkien and Edith’s grave ow.ly/8gX6Y

“… and doing evil, even if ‘realistic’ or ‘prudent,’ always works evil.” David Mills, Touchstone Jan/Feb 2002 #JRRTolkien

“The world of Middle-earth is governed by a Mind with a will and purpose, and in its world doing good always serves the good… #JRRTolkien

“I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories) and in fact a Roman Catholic.” #JRRTolkien in a letter

@cslewisdaily Move over a bit, Jack. We have some #JRRTolkien facts for his 120th birthday.

Authors

Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien

Leave a comment

“If humans could live as long as some of J. R. R. Tolkien’s famous fantasy characters, the author himself would have turned 120-years-old today (3rd January 2012).” Sam Parker has an article on made-up languages, starting with Elvish.

We’re tweeting some Tolkien facts today. #JRRTolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein in Free State Province, South Africa, and the world has never been the same.

Uncategorized

The Evolution of Sharks?

Leave a comment

Localized Australian black-tip sharks have mated with the broad-range common black-tip sharks, and a scientific researcher says, “This is evolution in action.” Really? When the neighborhood dogs do the same thing, is that evolution in action too?

Far more compelling to evolution deniers like myself would be dolphins using tools, like sponges for example.

Uncategorized

That Biblical Writer W.B. Yeats

Leave a comment

Eric Metaxas asks, “Does anyone in the media read the Bible anymore?” He was shocked to read The New York Times attribute “Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise,” to the poet Yeats.

Creative Writing

100 Word Short: New Year's Eve

2 Comments

Katelynn set down her bowl of noodles with a sigh that next year would be different, more productive, a little creative, and maybe romantic somehow. She’d lose weight and eat healthier meals. Her tree with tiny picture frames and thinning garland lingered by her apartment’s balcony door. A stack of unaddressed “Best Wishes” cards sat on the couch beneath an empty bag of chips. She stretched out her feet to rest on a laundry basket and began searching for cookbooks and cooking videos online.
And her coke fizzed like it always did. And her clock ticked like it always did.
—-
I hope you have a good year, and in case you need a warm-up on tonight’s song, this is “Auld Lang Syne” as performed by Scottish folk group The Cast. And should you need a warm-up on your Christian theology, here’s an article by Tullian Tchividjian which has greatly blessed me this year. (link removed)

Bookselling, Publishing

Christianity Today Book Awards

Leave a comment

Christianity Today has 12 book awards, mostly for Christian non-fiction. There are many interesting titles, and it’s curious that the runner-up fiction award goes to a translation of a Dostoevsky work.