John C. Wright's Blog, page 218

She Who Must Be Obeyed

My beautiful and talented wife's first novel PROSPERO LOST comes out this August. Miranda, daughter of Prospero the Magician, has survived by magic to the modern day, and when her sire vanishes, she pursues the clues to find who in her family -- all magicians and sorcerers, naturally, demon-hunters and excorcists, who have been secretly protecting mankind from supernal dangers for five centuries -- might be the traitor. I would describe the book as a cross between Shakespeare

Last Airbender live action movie

I am positively giddy. I adore this cartoon, was continually astonished at the pride and care and craftsmanship that went into the writing, the animation, the voice-acting, and especially the world-building. Let us hope M. Night Shyamalan can work his old magic.



Dear Hollywood, even if this movie betrays and disappoints we few, we happy fans of AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER, the mere fact that you made it at all, means that I must forgive you for “Redacted,” “Rendition,” “Lions for Lambs,” "Stop-Los

Karate Kid 2 - Tea Ceremony

As a follow up to the last post, let me post one of my favorite scenes in Karate Kid 2, where the luminously beautiful Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) performs a tea ceremony for Jersey kid Daniel (Ralph Macchio). No words are needed. The moment when she lets down her hair is simply magical.

Karate Kid!

I recently rented KARATE KID and KARATE KID II to show to my children, as part of a father's responsibility to transmit the culture to the next generation. (I also most recently showed them a Marx Brothers movie, A DAY AT THE RACES.) 

The Karate Kid movies were just better than I remembered, and this is despite that I had fond memories of them. Rather than praise them to you, let me link to a review I found over at John Nolte's "Big Hollywood" website {"At 25 Karate Kid still Packs a Punch.") 

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Empirical Storm Troopers , Or, A View From The Slushpile

Let me direct your attention to this excellent piece by Teresa Nielsen Hayden on the woes of being a slushpile reader, combined with some sensible advice on how not to be so sensitive when receiving a rejection letter.

( hat tip to John Scalzi, who wrote an equally interesting piece on why most 'new' authors are in their 30's and 40's. His article you can read here. )

Here I quote only one segment of very quotable paragraphs from Mrs. Nielsen Hayden. Read, by all means, the whole thing here.

*If

Malthus and Julian Simon

Part of an ongoing conversation, Necoras comments: "A growth economy, which is necessary if you are to have an increasing demographic, requires ever growing resources. This worked well as long as we were exploring into the US, and Africa, etc, etc. Eventually we'll use up the easily available resources (likely within a century for some rarer elements) and the economy will slow. There are a few options at that point.

1) Expand. There are a number of places to do this. The oceans are one, space is

He's Barack Obama

Some rightwing pundits note and mourn the lack of political humor at Mr. Obama's expense from latenight telecomedians. Well, Jib Jab is here to make up for the lack. (Hat tip to M_Francis)

Compassion and Serfdom

Annfirtree poses some questions about economics and charity:

"Out of curiousity, do you, Mr. Wright, feel that you are a man who has compassion or sympathy for the poor?"Yes.

"Do you think that the Food Stamps program violates "basic principles of economics"?"
 Yes, but I would not single out the food stamps program in isolation. It is one of many programs meant to subsidize the poor, which ends up harming them. 

"If so, what principles and how does it violate them?"
 The principle that you cannot g

Cicero

From the First Century by way of "a Cicero fan in Tallahassee" by way of   [Veronique de Rugy] of NRO.

Cicero still has something to teach us on fiscal policy.  Regarding the current administration's proposal to "cram down" mortgage debt, here's Cicero writing on a proposed "abolition of debts":

"Tabulae vero novae quid habent argumenti, nisi ut emas mea pecunia fundum, eum tu habeas, ego non habeam pecuniam."

This means, roughly, "What is the meaning of a 'clean slate', except that you purchase a

My First Meeting with a Politician

I remember the first time I met an actual politician.

I was working in a law office in a small town in rural St. Mary’s County, Maryland, and I was youngish twentysomething. My boss was a member of one of the well-connected older families that ran the country (read: Good Ol' Boy) and so he had to go to a political fundraiser for Steny Hoyer.

Well, I had never given politics a thought in my life before then. I had read Thucydides, and so, politically, I favored Athenian democracy over Spartan com