Ars Memoria

So last night an anonymouse (who I suspect of being an anonykitten, actually) asked me "Hmmm maybe a beginner's guide to Ars Memoria?

I understand the principle well enough - constructing the memory palace and populating it with symbolic objects, but never quite figured out how to conduct the journey itself..."

A lot of people talk about visualising yourself walking around your 'memory palace' (incidentally, I prefer to just call them 'journeys', and also tend to shun unnecessary Latin like 'ars memoria'), but that's not really how it works for me. It's another one of those things that differ from person to person, I think, but for me it's more like watching a cartoon. Sort of visualise your point of view gradually moving from place to place, with your objects all interacting with each other.

I don't tend to put as much focus on the journeys themselves as some people do - as I always say, they're more like backdrops to the main action, as conveyed by the objects and people. Sort of a backup thing so if I get lost somewhere in the recall, I can pick a place to start and try to picture it more clearly in my head.

I'm very bad at explaining these things...

Umm...

You know, I really can't think what to blog about tonight. Has anyone got any ideas?

London style!

Going down to the big city at the weekend, for two whole days of filming for China. It'll be a lot of fun, I'm sure! But it'd be better if it wasn't so very cold...

Black Friday?

Since when do British stores do Black Friday sales? How can we import a traditional day-after-Thanksgiving thing from America when we don't do Thanksgiving? Everybody should absolutely refuse to buy anything at all on Friday unless they're given a day off work and a lot of turkey the day before!

Djoking Apart

I admit to being a huge fan of Novak Djokovic. It's sort of unfashionable to be a fan of his, since he wins all the time, but I really admire his attitude and all-conquering talent. Go No-Djo!

Sudden snow!

It got cold here all of a sudden, and there was a thick coat of snow on the ground this morning. I suppose that means winter's here, though I remain hopeful that it'll be hot and sunny again tomorrow.

It's a wonder I keep my sunny disposition

Car problems and computer problems at work... let's give up on the whole technology thing, it clearly isn't working out.

Except the internet, we can keep that. And the XMT.

Fresh air and exercise

Tiring stuff. Avoid it.

Anyone for tennis?

The coolest thing about the tennis tour finals is the way it's carefully arranged so that there are always extremely complicated permutations of who'll qualify for the semi-finals depending on who wins and loses the last game and by how many sets. It's real nerd-appeal, and there needs to be a memory competition that does something like that, somehow. Make the XMT rules much more complicated and we're onto a winner!

I feel like I should try to analyse whether it's like or unlike the XMT with the way people are always talking about the same players being at the top of the tennis world every year - I'm always intrigued by the way Ferrer and Berdych always, without fail, lurk somewhere between fifth and eighth in the world rankings. Will the usual suspects hang around in the knockout stages of the XMT for years on end, or will things change around?

I say 'should', because I can't really be bothered to draw proper analogies tonight. Maybe another time.

Franklin Mint Collectibles

If you ever wanted an authentic piece of Ben Pridmore Memory Memorabilia, now's your chance!

 

 



Zzzzz

Been working a lot lately, but now I've got the next three days off. Going to spend it sleeping and watching cartoons.

Popularity!

Since I started posting something here every day, my pageviews have increased steadily. This is a good thing, because amassing a huge number of devoted followers who hang on my every word is phase one of my master plan to take over the world.

Phase two involves a lot of sleeping and watching cartoons while my minions do all the world-conquering work.

It's not fair

I had a lottery ticket last night and didn't win anything. The whole thing's obviously a big fix. Possibly I won't get to do that tour of European memory competitions after all...

Merchandising

A while ago, someone asked if he could buy a signed pack of cards from me, and I wondered (via Facebook) if this might actually be a thing people would do. I have (after sending this fan a signed pack for free, since he asked first) got 33 old packs lying around the place that I've since replaced - and for however many months since I first had the idea, I've been meaning to create a stylish poster advertising them for sale. I'll make a real effort to get round to doing it next week, I think.

So, anyone want to buy one of the packs I used to set those Guinness World Records? With my signature on them and everything? Reserve yours today!

International jetsetting

I'm hoping for at least one trip to China and two to the USA next year which I can pay for, hopefully, fingers crossed, by memorising things. I haven't actually been to continental Europe for ages, though, so I keep daydreaming about winning the lottery and devoting a year or so to travelling all around Europe's increasing number of memory competitions just for the fun of it. Not to mentioning organising a couple myself and giving away my lottery winnings in prize money, of course...

Christmas is getting later and later

I haven't really seen anyone complaining yet that Christmas seems to start earlier every year. Come on, people, it's mid November, get moaning about it!

Nearly forgot to blog tonight

How many days in a row have I posted something here now? It must be quite a lot.

Muppet madness!

Okay, I really really love The Muppets! From a starting point of 'hoping it would be good but expecting to be disappointed' I've quickly progressed to 'super huge devoted fan'! I'm very favourably impressed, it's hilarious, clever and perfectly silly! Who would have thought it?

I Say No

And I further say, no, I don't really think much of "I Say No" by Wilkie Collins. It's the book I'm reading at the moment, and I might give it up and just go and re-read one of his good books instead.

I'm talkin' downtown!

The Memoriad website has had a swanky new update and a new announcement attributed to Scott Flansburg (it kind of reads like it was written by someone whose first language is Turkish, but it says it's from Scott, so who am I to argue?) about the dates and location of the 2016 Memoriad (yay!) - November 7-11 2016, at The Western in downtown Las Vegas!

Remember how awesome the Memoriad was in 2012? I'm sure this one will be even bigger and better! I really can't wait, even though it's still a year away and I don't believe in acknowledging that anything could happen so far in the distant future (certainly not memory competitions - I've got accustomed to the dates and locations being finalised a couple of hours before they start...)

There's the disturbing consideration that this will be the first mind-sports event I go to after my fortieth birthday, of course, but I choose to see this as a good thing. As Phill pointed out on Facebook a while ago, I've won big memory competitions while in my twenties and thirties, perhaps I can be the first person ever to do it in my 20s, 30s and 40s? That'd be an achievement!