Editing McGuffin
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* ''McGuffin'', JohnBowen, [ISBN 0345328485] In the context of Bookshelved, a McGuffin is a page that achieves something other than discussion of the book named. Some are used to tag pages regarding the page type (see [[Categories]]) or genre or other attributes (see BeyondCategory). McGuffin""s that are ''not'' primarily for tagging pages are listed here: * FrontPage - front page of the site * BookOfChanges - equivalent to RecentChanges on most wikis * BusStop - part of the global inter-wiki bus system * [[Categories]], BeyondCategory and McGuffin itself - all about tagging and categorization on Bookshelved * TheFantasyBook - books that should exist but don't * ReachingOutThroughReading - book reviews elsewhere on the net * TurningThirty - popular fiction * TheSizeOfThoughts - on word counts * SixDegreesOfKevinBacon - chains of connections among Bookshelved books and people * UnfinishedTales - talking about books we never finished reading * WhatIsTheNameOfThisBook - if you can remember the plot but not the title, ask here About Bookshelved: * HowTheCamelGotItsHump - camel case vs. free links in Bookshelved * MirrorMirror - on distributed/backup options for Bookshelved * NotHerRealName - should we use real names? * MissingLinks - books mentioned but lacking a page/review * [[The500HatsOfBartholomewCubbins]] - Celebrating 500 pages * TheBookOfTheThousandNightsAndOneNight - Celebrating 1001 pages ---- '''Origin of the term''' A McGuffin is an attention-catching device or plot element, especially one which can safely be ignored once it has been used. In his 1966 interview with director-film critic, Francois Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock said: It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two man in a train. One man says, "What's that package up there in the baggage rack?" And the other answers, "Oh that's a McGuffin." The first one asks "What's a McGuffin?" "Well" the other man says, "It's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands." The first man says, "But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands," and the other one answers "Well then that's no McGuffin!" So you see, a McGuffin is nothing at all. ( Taken from http://www.bencom.tm/mcguffin.htm ) ---- ---- What is the McGuffin award on the FrontPage for? : I think our host means pages which follow the SimpleRules in that they are named after a book, but don't discuss the book at all, only the discussion topic the book title was picked for to enable discussion of it under the SimpleRules: therefore the actual book whose name the page bears is a McGuffin: once we've noticed it it ceases to be important. -- [[tarquin]] That would also apply to category books, mind you. I started the McGuffin award (which is itself a McGuffin) to distinguish book pages which spur Bookshelvites to action or discussion of some sort, other than reviewing a book or updating a bookshelf page; BusStop linked us to the larger community of Wikis, UnfinishedTales invited a different way of discussing books. Possibly MissingLinks, also deserves one. A McGuffin page is one that says, "And now for something completely (or slightly) different." -- lb :''Bookshelvites''? Surely we're ''bookshelvers''. :) -- StephenGilbert :Am I the only person to whom "Bookshelvites" looks like some weird anagrammatical typo for "Bolsheviks"? -- GarethMcCaughan Meanwhile, we booksheveleds (like disheveled, only worse) missed the 500 event. ;) -- lb Let's create [[The500HatsOfBartholomewCubbins]] anyway! :-) ''Bookshelvistas...'' ---- I propose that the page labeled Preferences be renamed to [[APassionatePreference]] ISBN: 1878086014, because (a) it's another book name (like FrontPage and BookOfChanges) and (b) you have to be pretty passionate about Bookshelved Wiki to bother changing your preferences... -- [[SeanO'Leary]] An alternative, if passion is felt to be too much even for Bookshelved, would be AVeryDecidedPreference, [ISBN 0393028208]. -- GarethMcCaughan ---- Two McGuffin""s I'm trying to think of book titles for: * one to talk about current fads and trends, and books which the media whould have us think are ''essential'' items to be seen with. best McGuffin name so far: any one of many books called TalkOfTheTown * what sort of bookmarks does everybody use? best McGuffin name so far: none yet Suggestion for the first one: "ThePopcornReport" breathlessly subtitled "FaithPopcorn on the Future of Your Company, Your World, Your Life." This was a book about fads and trends, which the media at the time proposed as ''essential'', and it was very much an item to be seen with, again at the time. It's author was a pundit-du-trend and fad who was herself both trendy and a fad. So many levels of irony here, it's just too good. Suggestion for the second: TheGreatGoodPlace: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. All too appropriate for a bookhound wiki. :Or, for the more literal effect: ''TheBookmarkBook'' by CarolynBrodie, DebraGoodrich and PaulaMontgomery. :: TheBookmarkBook sounds good to discuss bookmarks -- the question is now: does anyone other than me use all sorts of odds and ends as bookmarks? -- tarquin ''I'm trying to think of a McGuffin to indicate that a book is part of a series (like TheNatureOfOrder), without much luck. Any ideas? -- EarleMartin'' Hmm, Just did a quick search for something with "Taylor", or "McLaurin" in the title, but no joy. Meanwhile, is NOO a ''series'', or a four-volume work? In the sense that, say, the volumes of the OxfordEnglishDictionary are not a series, whereas the LemonySnicket books are. --KB ---- Bookshelved probably doesn't want to discuss ongoing world events ... but it occured to me the other day that if we ''did'', ''TheyCameToBaghdad'' (AgathaChristie) would be an ideal McGuffin ... '':)'' ---- TheArtOfLiteraryTranslation (ISBN: 0819181633) would be good for discussing translations of books. -- EM ---- A BookOnTheBookshelf
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This change is a minor edit.
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