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from the book of the week: The Last Lecture

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Book of the Week #3: The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture", titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", at Carnegie Mellon on September 18, 2007.[4] This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"

A month before giving the lecture, Pausch had received a prognosis that the pancreatic cancer, with which he had been diagnosed a year earlier, was terminal. Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying, "Make me earn it", someone in the audience shouted back, "You did!" During the lecture Pausch was upbeat and humorous, shrugging off the pity often given to those diagnosed with terminal illness. At one point, to prove his own vitality, Pausch dropped down and did push-ups on stage

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REBLOG AND SEE IF YOU GET A COLOR.

PURPLE: I don’t talk to you but I really love your blog.

YELLOW: I wish we were friends in real life.

RED: I think you are arrogant and I’d like to unfollow you but your blog is awesome so I won’t.

GREY: I wish we talked more and were friends.

TURQUOISE: I would hug you if we met.

PINK: I love your blog it’s one of my favourite.

TEAL: You annoy me at times.

BLUE: You are my tumblr crush.

ORANGE: I don’t like your blog.

WHITE: MARRY ME PLEASE.

GREEN: I think you’re cute.

CORAL: I think my life would be incomplete without you.

BLACK: Black looks good on you.

BROWN: I don’t like you.

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finally someone gets it

the writing reference “said is dead” post is bad

said is not dead. said is very much alive and should be predominantly used in fiction writing, because if you always use words like mumble and observe and articulate and state and express then it will get very noticeable and irritating!! use “said” and “asked” more than anything, and substitute other fancier words in only when necessary and when it will enrich the content of your writing.

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How stable of a career would you say being an author is?

Try balancing a soft-boiled egg on its tip. Don’t use sand or salt, don’t crack the eggshell. Just balance it, and then take your finger away.

That stable.

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Reblog if you want your followers to tell you which fictional character you remind them of.

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I do not believe that I am made of the stuff which constitutes heroes, because, in all of the hundreds of instances that my voluntary acts have placed me face to face with death, I cannot recall a single one where any alternative step to that I took occurred to me until many hours later.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

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If anybody's interested...

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5 Amazing fantasy libraries

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Author's mission #5

On your phone or music player, go to your music and hit shuffle. Using the first song that plays as the prompt, write a brief story. NO cheating and skipping to the song you want :)

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Alan Rickman reading Shakespeare's Sonnet 130

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David Tennant as Hamlet doing one of my favorite soliloquies.

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A warrior may change his metal, but not his heart.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

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Book of the Week #2: A Princess of Mars

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

A Princess of Mars (1917) is a science fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first of his Barsoom series. Full of swordplay and daring feats, the novel is considered a classic example of 20th century pulp fiction. It is also a seminal instance of the planetary romance, a sub-genre of science fantasy that became highly popular in the decades following its publication. Its early chapters also contain elements of the Western. The story is set on Mars, imagined as a dying planet with a harsh desert environment. This vision of Mars was based on the work of the astronomer Percival Lowell, whose ideas were widely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Barsoom series inspired a number of well-known 20th century science fiction writers, including Jack Vance, Ray Bradbury,Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and John Norman. The series was also inspirational for many scientists in the fields of space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life, including Carl Sagan, who read A Princess of Mars when he was a child.

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The fairy did not discover what was happening until one day Rapunzel said to her, "Frau Gothel, tell me why it is that my clothes are all too tight. They no longer fit me."

Rapunzel from Grimms' Fairy Tales

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..@ncaruthers was watching Hamlet for a class, he looks at me and says “I imagine your brain being a lot like the character Hamlet. Very intense and sporadic. Very exhausting.” Yeah, thanks. #hamlet

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Author's Mission #4

Songs can tell stories too, usually in far fewer words and more emotion than a book. For this mission, find a popular modern song and apply it to the story of a classic character.

Here's mine: Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet; "Sail" by AWOLnation (because Hamlet takes on an "antic disposition" and questions whether or not to kill himself).

This is how I show my love I made it in my mind because I blame it on my A.D.D. baby This is how an angel dies I blame it on my own supply Blame it on my A.D.D. baby

Sail (x5)

Maybe I should cry for help Maybe I should kill myself (myself) Blame it on my A.D.D. baby Maybe I'm a different breed Maybe I'm not listening So blame it on my A.D.D. baby

........