Author: Brian Boggio

um no
11/18/13

Week Four: The Disappearing Posts

Adored HouseAuthors, I’m sure you’re all curious to know why the regular scheduled events of our fourth week of Literary Big Brother did not appear on our blog. While the usual challenges and ceremonies did take place, we were unable to post transcripts due to a period of momentary unrest in our Realm. I do not wish to go into details about the incident, but I can say with absolute certainty that the opposition has been vanquished!

To make up for the lack of posts – and to get us up to Week Five quicker – I’ve asked the HouseAuthors to put on a little show for you all! The posts which will follow this one will be an extended recap of the events that transpired in the House during Week Four. They will cover everything from the Ideal Reveal to the Exit Interview, and will feature all the remaining HouseAuthors and myself.

I hope you enjoy this unique way of telling you this week’s story!

11/17/13

Week Three: Poll Time!

Esteemed Viewers, please feel free to partake in any and all of the following polls once you’ve caught up with all of the exciting events that took place this past week! Your opinions matter greatly to us, and remember, if we receive enough of a response from you… we may decide to allow you all to vote off a HouseAuthor all by yourselves later on in the game! So get voting!

POLL #9 – Should someone other than Lu Xun have won the Head Thinker Challenge?

POLL #10 – Who should Franz Kafka have saved with the Power of Reason?

POLL #11- Was the right HouseAuthor decapitated?

POLL #12 – What do you think about the Surprise Elimination?

11/16/13

Week Three: Surprise Elimination!

Dearest Viewers,

I know you’re all probably familiar with the format of our game, so I felt it was time to shake things up and eliminate another HouseAuthor this week! After sitting down with our producers, we’ve decided that in order to both speed up the competition and keep our contestants on their toes, we shall move one step closer to our Final Five by removing a fairly ineffective HouseAuthor from the game.

To be quite blunt, this HouseAuthor was only placed in the game after our producers had a very difficult time extracting Emily Dickinson from her room. The process involved transporting an entity away from a world in which they’re connected to their work, and Ms. Dickinson’s penchant for remaining in her room – coupled with her “eccentric” behavior – made it a much more difficult task. In the end, we all agreed that it would be easier to leave Ms. Dickinson be, and take this other HouseAuthor instead.

We did hope that this HouseAuthor would be a better competitor, but it’s very apparent their relevance is limited to only one or so of our Ideals. In terms of our game, their presence is invalidated.

Continue reading →

11/14/13

Week Three: Power Of Reason Challenge

HouseAuthors, the much coveted Power of Reason shall be won by the bravest of you all! Your challenge this week reflects one of many scientific-driven armageddon the world may face: nuclear annihilation. As your world’s love of science began to flourish alongside the Enlightenment, so did the capacity for destruction. Limits no longer exist, and nuclear power is considered to be the “energy of the future.” For those of you not familiar with this concept, it boils down to this: radioactive isotopes utilize heat energy to release steam… blah blah the world has power. While it’s viewed as a very powerful energy source, its dangers cannot be ignored. In fact, the likelihood of the world ending due to a nuclear-related explosion is very, very high! Our own Realm used to be in danger of such a fate, but we quickly realized that such energy sources are unnecessary and terrifying.

Your challenge is not to survive a nuclear fallout, so don’t you worry HouseAuthors! (Our producers wouldn’t sign off on such a spectacle.) You will, however, be tasks with dealing with the supposed “sole survivor” of a nuclear blast. The cockroach. The doors to the room you’re all currently in are locked, and in a few minutes, cockroaches will begin to crawl into the room via secret passageways. If you become afraid or sick then you lose the challenge – don’t worry about how I’m going to judge whether you are or not, we implanted you all with a computer chip that can measure anxiety and nausea levels before the game began. The last HouseAuthor standing will win the Power of Reason this week.

Are you all ready to begin? Yes? Then release the cockroaches!!!

Continue reading →

11/12/13

Week Three: Head Thinker Challenge

Welcome to the halfway mark, HouseAuthors! After this debate, you’ll only have three more before we find out which one of you is the true Enlightened Author! As you’re all aware, the Ideal you shall be debating this week is: Modernity/Breaking With Tradition (Scientific Advancements). 

Banned from this Debate due to lack of knowledge in given Ideal: Charles Baudelaire, Franz Kafka, Herman Melville, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Christina Rossetti, Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Rabindranath Tagore. Oh my! What an interesting turn of events! Only one of you has taken it upon yourselves to discuss the scientific advancements you’ve all treasured and adored. We must still have a debate though, so here’s how it’s going to go down. Lu Xun, in order to successfully win this challenge, you will be asked tw questions pertaining to your views of science in your writings. If you manage to answer both of them, then you shall win! Fail to do so, and face immediate decapitation.

Continue reading →

11/11/13

Week Three: Ideal Reveal

You’ve managed to survive to Week Three, HouseAuthors! Hurray! I hope you’re all getting enough rest, because this week’s Ideal is going to be quite the challenge: Modernity/Breaking With Tradition (Scientific Advancements).

We have all seen history evolve rapidly during periods of great technological and scientific discovery, and many countries experienced their own distinct Industrial Revolutions. Always, there comes points in the timeline where the knowledge and understandings of medical, mechanical, and natural phenomena become obsolete in the face of modern advancements.

Where do you and your work find yourselves fighting for here, HouseAuthors? Do you believe science is the way of the future? Or do traditional beliefs have some better solutions?