metaphors

piers anthony is a fantastic writer and has a blog that he writes every month. he writes about everything and anything he wants to. i thought i would share with you what he wrote about metaphors.

"A column by David Brooks on a book by James Geary indicates that people use a metaphor every 10 to 25 words. A metaphor is a figure of speech wherein a term is applied to something it isn't, like “He's an ogre” or “The ship of state.”  It appears that metaphors in speech are like puns in Xanth: remove them and you impoverish it. Makes sense to me. As a writer I freely use metaphors, similes (he looks like an ogre; government moves like a ship) and other figures of speech. I'm all for it; communication would be pretty dull if we were limited to straight narration. Metaphors lend imagery to otherwise sodden expression. There's another: how can words be sodden? A marsh is sodden. But use of the word conjures a background image of trudging through a foot-soaking marsh rife with leaches, making it seem objectionable, and that's what I want. To make things seem prettier or uglier than they are, without actually saying so. It's an art. I did it when I referred to a female publisher who had attacked me as having foam at her muzzle. I didn't actually call her a rabid bitch (which is another metaphor), but I suspect the message got through, thanks to the unsubtle metaphor. The traditional portrayals of the major American political parties are metaphors: the donkey and the elephant. So when I note how Pinocchio’s nose grew every time he told a lie, establishing the principle, I'm not actually saying anything directly when I remark on just how long the elephant's nose has gotten. So why should Republicans get mad? Just because I'm a liberal commenting on a well-known property of the elephant, nothing personal. Ah, metaphors..."

shirt.woot

so there is a very cool website called shirt.woot! everyday there is a new tshirt on the website and you can buy it for at least that one day. if enough people like it and vote for it you can buy it for a while after the one day too. well there are two shirts that i thought people who read this blog would like.

first is the raven shirt.
second is the books no electricity required shirt.

both are totally sweet and i defiantly will be buying them!

quoteables

so it's been a long time since i've done a post of quotes, so here i am. hope they inspire.

-"love so deep kills you in your sleep." - talking heads
-"there's a lot of bodies on the ground, i know. i used to be one." - pinback
-"i'm tired of being alone, so hurray up and get here." - john mayer
-"saying i love you has nothing to do with meaning it." - maroon 5
-"trying to sleep all day 'cause i'm better off that way. that's the only place htat you can't torture me." - riddlin' kids
-"regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable." - ?
-"i thought life could show me no surprises and then you came." - neutral milk hotel
-"war, the only way to peace, i don't fall for that." - dave matthews band
-"in three words i can sum up everything i've learned about life: it goes on." - robert frost
-"don't stop to look at the clock. forever won't be long enough." - live

unabomber

so the unabomber (or his real name is Ted Kaczynski) personal items are being auctioned off and the proceeds of the money is going to the families of the victims. some of the items you can get: his hooded gray sweatshirt, his aviator glasses and even his illinois birth certificate. but the reason i'm posting about this on here, is that you can get the type writter he wrote his manifesto on and you can get the actual manifesto.

now i don't agree with what the unabomber did, but i think it would be interesting to read what he had to say. i know it was published in the washington post and the new york times, but it would still be interesting to have the actual manifesto. not that i'm going to go buy it. don't get me wrong. it's just one of those, 'i may not agree with what you have to say, but i will fight to the death that you have the right to say it'. and he did say it, and i'm curious what he had to say. there's only one way to know if you agree or disagree with someone and that is to read what they have to say.

back

hey there everyone! i'm back. i hope you didn't miss me too much. hehe i'm all moved in. one of my best friends who lived in california moved here to chicago and i moved in with her. we have a cute little place in the down town area. though it's on the 5th floor and we have no elevator. so moving was a pain. but i think i might be starting to get use to the stairs. maybe... hehe. while i've been oot and aboot, my other best friend who lives in florida got married. that was amazing! i'm so happy for her. i had a blast out there. i got to spend 5 days on the beach, meet new people, see old friends and see my friend marry the love of her life. defiantly a good time. other then that, nothing too exciting happened here. just plugging away at this thing called life.