Video: Blink to the Future
by Nojh on Jun.17, 2013, under Entertainment, Trailers, Videos, Visual Media
Leave a Comment :Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Humor more...Weird Word: Unctuous
by Nojh on Jun.14, 2013, under Articles, Weird Words, Writing
Unctuous
Adjective
- Oily or greasy [liquid].
- Rich, lush, intense, with layers of concentrated, soft, velvety flavor [of a drink].
- Profusely polite, especially unpleasantly so and insincerely earnest, [person].
Used in a sentence:
- The unctuous cream he slathered into his hair was obviously designed to scare his locks into remaining in place, lest he set them on fire with but a stray spark.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
Here’s a word that just can’t quite make up its mind. It’s an adjective that means completely different things, based upon context. And people say English is easy to learn. No they don’t, by the way. I do love how different all the definitions are. For my sentence, I picked the one in particular that seems most fitting to the word. I suppose the oily/greasy and the unpleasantly and profusely polite are very similar definitions, but where did lush and intense get mixed in with the other two meanings? I suspect there was some sort of misunderstanding at some point, between someone too dense, and someone too unctuous.
Comic Links: Questionable Content, Flaky Pastry, Something Positive
by Nojh on Jun.10, 2013, under Comic Links, Comics, Entertainment
Questionable Content: #2423: Fairy Tale
Do these kind of exchanges happen in real life? I kind of hope they do.
Flaky Pastry: #38: Tactical Espionage Action
Anyone who has been a stealth rogue in a D&D party has felt this pain.
Questionable Content: #2430: No Scaring The Customers
Hannelore, how I love thee.
Something Positive: 2013-06-04: Do Not Want
I’ve all but decided to make my second cat, who won’t stop meowing, internet famous. This is sure to backfire on me too.
Weird Word: Shellac
by Nojh on Jun.07, 2013, under Articles, Weird Words, Writing
Shellac
Noun
- A processed secretion of the lac insect used in polishes, varnishes etc.
Verb
- To coat something with shellac.
- To inflict a heavy defeat; to drub; to batter. Used primarily in sports and political contexts.
Used in a sentence:
- “I’m going to shellac you!” the insectoid linebacker growled, clacking its mandibles and making Tony suddenly very worried both for the game but also for his skin, which was sensitive to things like insect goo.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
So obviously the second verb meaning is some kind of slang but I find it hilarious as an extra meaning for a word that is specifically lingo for the makeup industry. The two industries are not well-known for mixing, unless you’re discussing cheerleaders, I suppose. Otherwise this word is just weird but not incredibly useful, less discussing alien habits I suppose.
Writing Time: Everlasting #56, Basement #1, Sea Witch #1
by Nojh on Jun.04, 2013, under Articles, Writing, Writing Updates
Writing Session
Word Count: N/A
Didn’t do any actual writing today. I did more outlining for Everlasting. This is mostly because I found that if I have a good outline, I can write out wrinkles that make me want to not write the next scene. Unfortunately the outlining didn’t go very far. I ended up falling into the trap of doing some organizing. I re-organized how I was keeping track of minor characters as I realized all the ones I was trying to write about were scattered within one long file, so I broke it out into different files and my inner categorizer went “WHEEE!” and argued over how to classify things and people. Ugh. But I did get some outlining in. Perhaps about 100 words or so. Every little bit helps.
Everlasting Update
Word Count: N/A (138,163)
I’m actually about four or five scenes a head in the outline but I’m at the fuzziest part of my novel, the end. I know where I want to stop but I’m still pushing to get my characters there. Right now one plot line is seemingly far behind the others and I’m not sure where it is going, hence why I’m focusing on the storyline.
Editing & Critiques
I am currently editing a manuscript for a friend and critiquing a long piece of work for another friend. I want to blog about my process as I go through them but I’m not going to go into any specifics or reveal spoilers. So these projects will have code names! Huzzah!
Basement
Basement is a novel a friend of mine has been writing for a very long time. It s actually gone through other media iterations and is now in book form. To put it into book terms it is the equivalent of urban fantasy with a main female heroine battling the forces of evil, with a high dose of sarcastic humor.
I’ve started copyediting it. I’m almost done with the first chapter. Copying editing is very interesting because I find myself reading sentence for sentence trying to determine if it is saying something interesting, and also making sure the commas and periods are in the right place. One key aspect of writing that I’ve always heard from various sources is that the “he said/she said” tags are more important that one expects, and I’ve found that to be the case here.
Sea Witch
Sea Witch is a fantasy spy thriller novel one of my writing group has currently been working on. I’m actually very happy to receive a critique copy, although the first draft is not yet done. I’ve been hearing about this book for several years now. I received the critique copy as an epub, which I found kind of interesting, but I’ve requested a more easily annotated manuscript. So I’ll be updating more about this later.
Other Works
Everlasting Windows - On hiatus going on shelved until I get Everlasting done and start editing, at least a year for now. So I’ll go ahead and officially say it is shelved.
Free Write - On Hiatus. I finished Disguise
Station – Waiting to be edited.
Matrix – Hiatus.
Gerald - No work done.
Hyperbole and a Half: Depression Part Two
by Nojh on Jun.03, 2013, under Articles, Blog, Entertainment
Hyperbole and a Half lives!
For those of you who have never stumbled upon the blog Hyperbole and a Half, let me provide you some quick links:
Hyperbole and a Half: Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving
And now that you are laughing hysterically, let me assure you that this blog is not just about dogs, here’s her introduction to Texas.
Alright. So if you didn’t know. Hyperbole and a Half hasn’t updated in a long time. And it is because the author was suffering (and is still recovering) from depression.
Now I’ve heard descriptions of depression but this series of words and images prehaps nails it home for me so well, that I felt it must be shared. People who don’t suffer from depression could benefit highly from the perspective this provides.
Weird Word: Prurient
by Nojh on May.31, 2013, under Articles, Weird Words, Writing
Prurient
Adjective
- Uneasy with desire; itching; especially, having a lascivious anxiety or propensity; lustful.
- Arousing or appealing to sexual desire.
- Curious, especially inappropriately so.
Used in a sentence:
- The room was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as her prurient cat kept leaping into his lap and demanding attention.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
Here is a word I have never heard with my own ears but has some interesting meanings. I’m curious if this word is intended to have a negative connotation or not. I suspect so but the last meaning expands the uses of the word considerably.
Weird Word: Vociferous
by Nojh on May.24, 2013, under Articles, Weird Words, Writing
Vociferous
Adjective
- Making or characterized by a noisy outcry; clamorous.
Used in a sentence:
- The vociferous jewel was becoming far more of a liability than he had initially planned, alerting every guard in the entire treasury to the presence of an intruder.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
Weird and fun to say! This is one of those words you see to describe qualities on items in video games and roleplaying games, or as titles. Nojh the Vociferous!
Not all Journalism is Responsible
by Nojh on May.20, 2013, under Articles, Culture, Gaming, News, Opinions, Video Games
Kotaku, a video game new site, ran an article by Chris Person, discussing an episode by television journalist Katie Couric. The article examines how journalism can be used to steer your perceptions of an event through techniques and words. In this case it was used to create fear that video games will some how ruin children’s lives. Sadly not all journalism is going to be as blatant as this episode of Katie was.
The only real safeguard against this type of journalism is critical thinking. Is reading, watching, or listening, then thinking about if what you’ve taken in matches what you know, what you can reason out, and even if it does or doesn’t dig a little deeper into whatever its sources might be, before you internalize it as a “truth”. This requires effort. You’re not going to succeed every time. The other way is to try to find trusted sources of news and information, but make sure they earn your trust.
We life in the Information Age now and while that gives us all sorts of awesome things, it should require us to be a responsible consumer of all that information.
Weird Word: Gregarious
by Nojh on May.17, 2013, under Articles, Weird Words, Writing
Gregarious
Adjective
- Describing one who enjoys being in crowds and socializing.
- Of animals that travel in herds or packs.
Used in a sentence:
- To say she was gregarious was not unlike claiming that cats were avid swimmers and she made her way quickly from the group before she hyperventilated.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
Perhaps not the most weirdest word to pass through the weird word library, this word definitely falls under the fun to say category. Four syllable way of saying someone is not shy or alternative way of saying extrovert.
