John C. Wright's Blog, page 208

Ping Ping Evelyn Wright

We made it successfully to China. My first glimpse of my new daughter was at the orphanage. She was sitting in a little room to one side of the main room, leaning to peer around the door and smiling. So far, she has shown none of the anxiety or sorrow one might expect. I suppose having two parents who only speak half a dozen words in common with you is better than having no parents at all.

We spent the next afternoon shopping. Mother and daughter skipped through the shops, hand in hand, while...

Off to China! and a prayer request.

I have off to China to pick up my daughter. I will be away from the Internets (thanks, Al Gore!) for the next three weeks, so if any new memes start up, such as "All yours bases are belong to us!" I will have to be left behind. But that is OK by me -- I have never been attentive to the latest changes in fashion, and I for one am still thinking over whether to approve and participate in an innovations in Western civilization circa Fifth Century. I have only quite recently bought into this biz...

A Question about Aesthetics

A reader whom I admire (because he reminds me of me--so I suppose my admiration is a trifle narcissistic) makes this comment. ""Aesthetics is a trickier matter. I will admit that aesthetics is probably the weak link in my understanding of philosophy. All I'm willing to say is that if aesthetics is objective then it is still going to be a titanic undertaking to draw lines and establish boundaries there."

My comment: Ayn Rand is the only modern philosopher who tried, but her metaphysics was nomi...

Fifty Questions part Two

Continuing: 

Letter of 22 Sept

Q: Would it be correct to say that it would take *more* faith for you to believe you *didn't* really experience something supernatural?

A: No. It would merely take less reason, but not more faith.

Faith is a word that is often abused, but it fundamentally means to trust someone whom you have good reason to trust, despite the temptation or fear which, during a moment of weakness, makes mistrust seem the better idea.

I say it would take less reason because, in ord...

Fifty Questions part One

Fifty questions on my conversion story.

Someone named Jesse, who could be anyone from Jesse Jackson the Racial Shakedown Artist to Jesse the Yodeling Cowgirl from Toy Story, asked me a few questions about my conversion story. Rather than repeat the whole conversion story in this space, I here repeat only his questions, given the original conversion story as a quote in his question where relevant.

(You may wonder why I am calling Jesse a ‘he’ when he might be a she. For those of you who studie...

Wright's Writing Corner: Evoking the Desired Response

New article up on the site of my beautiful and talented wife, who writes under the name L. Jagi Lamplighter:

http://arhyalon.livejournal.com/85601.html

One of the difficult things for writers is knowing whether or not one is accomplishing what one set out to accomplish. Is my scary scene scary? Is my romantic hero intriguing? Will my funny scene make people laugh?

This is a tremendously difficult question because things just don’t seem the same when you write them as when you read them. A...

Space Nazis!

Only posting a link.
http://www.ironsky.net/
This is a follow up to my post here http://johncwright.livejournal.com/282772.html?nc=27

Alexander Nevsky

In case you were suffering from a distinct lack of Alexandr Nevsky today, here is a clip.
For the one of you who read my LAST GUARDIAN OF EVERNESS (Hi, Mom!), I had always envisioned the dream-armor of Galen Waylock to look something like the panoply of Alexandr Nevsky (conical helm, scale jerkin, etc.) seen here at 3.08

johncwright @ 2009-09-28T12:55:00

My dearest friend Partywhipple sends along this link.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,26135072-2,00.html

He makes this comment:

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS????? This means that the dream of every man, to punch Hitler in the face, may yet still live!!!! I assume his brain is in a shark or a giant robot in South America. Or on the dark side of the Moon. We must immediately destroy the moon. Yes, it would lead to horrible devastation on Earth. But we would have a bad ass ring afterwards. The ...

Had I not been a philosemite before....

... The speech by Prime Minister Netanyahu before the United Nations would have made me one.
Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come, and to those who left in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity, and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere, have you no shame? Have you no decency? A...