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Pronounced not unlike the quacking of a duck, gwork is a wonderful word handed down from the language of the Cewri (the "giants" of Welsh folklore). In a nutshell, it means "struggling to the last." It implies "to enjoy fighting, and to be fond too of what you're fighting for, or of what you're fighting against. . . . [I]t means enjoying life to the end or at least fighting to enjoy life to the end." It seems to declare in one breath "that you were glad to have lived and that you'd struggle to the last to feel you were glad, in fact fight to the last to feel it; to feel, I mean, that weak as you might be, that defeated as you might be, that humiliated as you might be, that feeble and ridiculous as you might be, and as much like a wounded insect as you might be, you still refused to curse life. . . . It means using the soul in us to fight and enjoy the universe at the same time. And to achieve this trick we've got to feel the soul in us as if it were in some sort of way independent of the body, although not necessarily . . . capable of surviving the death of the body. We've got to feel it as if it were an unconquerable generator of energy within us, as if it were a self-quickening pulse of power and force, like a bodiless living creature, a creature of an airy rather than of a fluid or fiery essence, but a creature we can feel . . . in our two hands, our two legs, our sex organs and all our senses" ( John Cowper Powys, Porius, pp. 569-70). |
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Mike shares the latest ridiculousness from the National Weather Service: "Tide levels are expected to reach about one to one and a half feet above predicted levels." People are being paid to come up with this ludicrousness, and they don't even work for The Onion. Meanwhile, our challenge stands for any meteorologist to concoct a more accurate weather report than our controversial Arcane Weathervane. |
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You'll recall that in January of 2011 we presented an Internet first: an actual lime bathed in limelight. We're now prepared to reveal the word that made it all possible: pentadecylparatolylketone. It's the chemical makeup of limelight, and it's "the better part of valour," no less! This we learn in Punch, May 9, 1896. |
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We're honored that the Frog Applause comic strip asked us to name the fear that one's ear trumpet will be struck by lightning. Here's the backstory, including a cartoon secret. |
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Reviews of our recent collaboration, Jinx Companion, continue to pop up. We're especially tickled by this one: This collaborative work proves that self-published books can really, truly succeed. The Jinx Companion, a fun and informative study guide of sorts, was compiled by three writers—Craig Conley, Gordon Meyer, and Fredrick Turner—over the course of a yearlong study of Annemann's Jinx magazine.
Arguably one of the most important periodicals in the history of conjuring, and the source of much inspiration and the fodder for many other books, it's a wonder that no one considered planning a guided tour of The Jinx before.
Thankfully, this triumvirate knows how to lead an expedition, and has done so with great style and a sense of fun, which permeates each page of the publication. The trio culled important or fascinating references, mapped out paths to forgotten miracles, and brought back other tantalizing tidbits from obscurity (or the depths of memory, at least). Incorporated throughout are the cut-and-paste graphics that made Annemann's original so intriguing and visually interesting in the first place. All those factors make this a trip worth taking.
... Ultimately ... the treatise is a keeper. It reawakened my interest in past bits that I'd forgotten about, and it opened my eyes to things I'd never really noticed in Annemann's work. And that's the general idea, so the authors have clearly scored a hit.
—Gabe Fajuri, MAGIC Magazine |
Page 55 of 74
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Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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