Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2024-06-19
After technical difficulties with the introduction music, Elf is back and kicks off introductions with Dotta and Bearsnake.
Elf & Bearsnake Speak About Their Trip to Europe
The Team Steps Up
Dotta notes that the previous Wednesday "the boys really stepped up" and filled Elf and Bear's shoes in their absence. Elf says that he caught the recording of Wizard Wednesday and notes that the team should have Nalgene on the show more often. He says that he wants to speak about his impressions of Rome and throws the conversation to Bear, who was traveling with him.
Meeting Dialectic & MAPS Founder Rick Doblin
Bear says the trip he and Elf took was great, noting that they took the trip "for business reasons and accomplished those goals." He notes they stayed in Switzerland on Lake Zurich, and "learned a little about art along the way." Elf says he loved meeting the Dialectic folks.
Dotta asks if Elf and Bear got to meet anyone from MAPS, to which they answer that they had lunch with Rick Doblin, who started MAPS. Elf says he loved meeting with them, because he immediately wanted to get into topics like the Ouroboros and what it means to be a human. Bear says that they should have Rick Doblin on Wizard Wednesday, and says the he thinks Rick would actually join. Bear recalls Elf's Quantum Ouroboros auction which benefitted MAPS.
Small Coffee, Big Lore
Elf says his only complaint about their their trip was that he was unable to find a large coffee anywhere in Europe. However, he says he loves the tradition of cafes where customers stand at the bar and have a quick chat with the barista and other patrons. Elf shares a story about asking a group what the best European country was, and they all agreed it is Switzerland. He says he thinks it might be too clean for his taste, and tells an anecdote of a Swiss lake that was too clean and had to be contaminated with old currency.
Elf says that the Cult should see Bearsnake work a room full of VCs, noting it's a sight to behold.
"Talk about opening doors. Bear just gets people to open up."
Bearsnake also speaks about meeting with Niski and some of the Improbable team. Bearsnake notes that he also got to meet Cult member SnoopDoug. Elf then speaks about seeing Pope Francis and shares thoughts about Vatican City. He says he thought much about the Runiverse while he was abroad, and speaks about the expansive history of Rome. Elf notes that many of the ancient Roman structures are undergoing restoration, and so there are modern machines and scaffolding among these old structures.
"It's got a disorienting effect where it just flattens time. It's very Forgotten Runes."
Elf notes that he always tends to stray away from nailing down specific times or time periods for the Runiverse in media or on Wizard Wednesday.
"What's more interesting to me is the accumulation of Time, and the effect of time over these long periods."
Elf says that he was very inspired and got a lot of writing done while he and Bearsnake were away, and he just needs to get it published.
Cult Questions
1/1 Souls
Following that, Elf answers a few questions from the Cult, beginning with a request to see the remaining unrevealed 1/1 Souls.
Elf says, "Hell no you can't [see the unrevealed Souls]. If you want to see these Souls, you've got to burn some Wizards. That's the only way you'll see them."
The Oldest Thing In the Runiverse
Elf answers another question about the Oldest Thing in the Runiverse. He says it's an interesting question and he isn't sure how to answer it. Bearsnake notes that the Runiverse came to be through the Singularity.
Elf says, "Everything after...is roughly the same age."
Elf says that:
"Ouroboros chewed up Science and recast it as Magic. That's what Magic is: it's Science 2.0."
He repeats he isn't sure how to put an age on that, but says that, "The Singularity is really a kind of Big Bang."
MeepleDad Tries For LEGO Masters
Elf fields the next Cult question to Bearsnake from MeepleDad, who asks if Bearsnake is able to get him on the next season of LEGO Masters. Bear says that he knows the producer. He says he will text her to see when they're doing casting and he can at least get Meeple to casting. MeepleDad also wants to know how Dotta's children liked the LEGO Secret Tower build that he sent. Dotta says that his kids loved it, but he notes his daughter got a little frustrated with mismatched colors, which he says Meeple calls out in the first page of the instructions.
MeepleDad also asks the founders what their first LEGO sets were. Elf says that he can't remember his first set, but always enjoyed the Medieval castle builds. Dotta and Bearsnake agree that they never had sets, but played with bins of assorted bricks as kids.
Postwook Speaks About Creatine, Her Ordinals Mint, & Magic
Dr Slurp then asks how much water the founders have drank, which spurs a "Warrior chat" discussion about health supplements with guest speaker Postwook. Postwook also discusses her Ordinals collection, "The Astronomer's Daughter." She asks if anyone on the show practices magic.
Elf says he thinks everyone defines the word Magic in different ways. He says he defines magic first and foremost as an artform, and as an art of creation, he says that he believes he and many other Wizards do. Elf says that he believes every human feels the innate desire to connect with The Unknown. He says all of these ways in which humans try to connect to The Unknown,—whether it is through religion, occultism, or creating art— are forms of magic.
Before the show winds down, Elf answers one more question, which is about which hat colors the founders identify most as.
- Bear says he feels like he's a Green Hat
- Dotta says he thinks he's a Brown Hat
- Elf says he thinks he has a bit of Shadow, Green, and Yellow
Cult Content
After that, the show winds down with a review of the Cult Content Chronicle—art from the last week within the Forgotten Runes community, aggregated every week by Tania del Rio.