Category: observations
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Shallow Puerile Thoughts #1 (Dec 2021)
Shallow Puerile thoughts by TX literary blogger Robert Nagle. Dec 2021
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The Man Who Needs No Introduction
A few years ago I was on a panel at a conference, and someone asked how I ought to be introduced. “Just say I am a Houston writer.” I wasn’t being coy; I genuinely hate introductions – giving them, receiving them and having to sit through them. They are as annoying as the warnings at…
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The only text messages you’ll ever need to send
Text messages — who needs them? Although I’ve always been an early adopter, I find that I almost never send text messages. More generally, I haven’t yet gotten a smartphone and don’t really feel like I’m missing out. It’s funny. A lot of people get into sending clever text messages or participating in a threaded…
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“That Fish has been fried”–definition and explanation
“That fish has been fried” is a slang phrase used in the context of an Internet thread. It expresses (in a terse & colorful way) the speaker’s opinion that a thread is growing tiresome, tedious or repetitive and that the speaker is leaving it for that reason. In no way does it imply that the…
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Chance Encounter with a Genius (or Two)
Thoughts on Geniuses and Prodigies who leave the world prematurely. By Texas literary blogger Robert Nagle.
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So bored with time travel
The sci fi thriller Looper will be released on DVD on December 31, 2012, but apparently Netflix mailed it to me 2 days early. I wonder: has someone got hold of a time machine? Generally with a few notable exceptions, I am tired of any time travel movies or TV shows. Although paradoxes can be…
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Hook Up Hysteria, Abstinence, Absolutism and Snap Judgments
(Here’s a post I wrote 2 years ago and forgot to publish). You don’t actually have to read the original article, but the complaints on CNN about the alleged outbreak of hookups are more insightful (and funny). I had taken Matt to be making fun of the way these articles about the “hookup culture” are…
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More nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize
So the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Price is …. the EU? What the heck? Who’s going to be awarded the 2013 peace prize — the Nobel Peace Prize committee itself? The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 will be awarded to the word “peace” … for its undeniable power to help people express their…
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Do I have the right to gripe?
A few minutes ago I posted video links to the 2010 Sea Level Rise conference. I love the fact that I had listen/watch video lectures and panels which previously were never available. We are lucky to live in such an age of easy availability. But…. Why do these embedded video players for viewing these lectures…
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That triumphant feeling
I gotta say: the feeling of finishing a short story and publishing it on the WWW is not unlike having 10 simultaneous orgasms. Of course, males are limited to having only one orgasm at a time, but a person can dream…..
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Juicing Up
Tomorrow I’ll be traveling to Austin in preparation for Sunday’s Wiener Dog Race. In preparation for my trip, I am charging my iPad and my Zune and my miniature mp3 player (long story). Also, I need to charge my camera battery and my cell phone. Now that I think about it, I am in the…
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Q&A about Ebooks
(Here are some Q&A about ebooks which I wrote up for someone which I am reposting here). WHAT KINDS OF PEOPLE DO YOU FIND ARE INTERESTED IN EBOOKS? IS THERE A TARGET AUDIENCE? Before answering any questions, I think I should define what an ebook is. There is honest disagreement, but I define an ebook …
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A moratorium please!
Ok, I’ve had enough. Can someone please declare a moratorium on the use of creepy O Fortuna music on all political ads & car commercials & sports events & video games & comedy skits & movie promos! If I never hear this melody again, I shall die a happy man. I am so weary of…
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Fun Quotes
“An artist should ruthlessly destroy his manuscripts after publication, lest they mislead academic mediocrities into thinking that it is possible to unravel the mysteries of genius by studying cancelled readings. In art, purpose and plan are nothing; only the results count.” Nabokov . See also Marc Slocum’s brilliant idea to use fragments from Nabokov’s unfinished…
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I should know better
Every time I watch a British historical costume drama, I tell myself that surely there has to be at least one example from the genre which is not a dreadful bore. Nope. Out of boredom, I started watching Dr. Who (2005 version). I found it a silly escapist time-waster, but at least it didn’t pretend…