Essays

Reversing Jacob Marley’s Polarity

Tim O’Brien is a Vietnam vet famous for the novel Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried, his anthology of short stories about his time there. The idea he expresses in that title,  your experiences being the things you sling around you, isn’t new (Jacob Marley says hello. Or perhaps ‘HELLOOOOOOOO!’) but I find the utility of …

Reversing Jacob Marley’s Polarity

Command Chair Conjuring

As Christopher Priest (This one not this one but both do good work) pointed out, a magic trick has three elements to it: The Pledge-The magician shows you something ordinary or familiar. The Turn-The magician makes the ordinary extraordinary. The Prestige-The actual magic trick. A bunny where there could be no bunny. Last week’s episode of Discovery was built this …

Command Chair Conjuring

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