Friday, December 28, 2012

Les Miserables - One act of kindness can change the entire world

Les Miserables...

Let me just start out by saying that I love redemption stories.  Love, love LOVE them.  My novel The Serpent's Tale is a redemption story.  My short The Threads of Sorrow is a redemption story.  The first fanfiction I wrote (aptly named) Forgiveness and Redemption is a redemption story.  I LOVE REDEMPTION STORIES.


Les Miserables is the ultimate redemption story.  The original novel was written by Victor Hugo in the 1860s.  The story was adapted for the musical theatre and the musical was (finally) made into a movie in 2012.  Les Mis is the story of Jean Valjean who is played phenomenally by Hugh Jackman.  He is a man condemned to 19 years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister and child.

Valjean is called forth by Jarvert, a guard at the prison and granted parole. Javert, played by Russell Crowe, is Valjean's nemesis throughout the story.  He is a man unmoved by feeling or sentiment.  He lives his entire life for the law.  The law is absolute and cannot be mocked.  One is either law-abiding or a criminal.  There is no in between.  Once a person is a criminal they are always a criminal, and will never and can never be anything else.

Valjean initially believes he is free, but because he is a convict, his passport proclaims this throughout the land and he is treated as less than a dog the instant so-called freedom is achieved.  He is unable to find work or even place to sleep without being driven off due to the condemning piece of paper he's required by law to show throughout the land.  He finally finds himself sleeping in a doorway when he is invited in by the Bishop of Digne who in a nice twist of meta irony is played by Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean from the the musical.  The bishop offers him food, fire, and friendship, treating him as a fellow human being and not a piece of dirt, but in the midst of the night Valjean awakens, robs the bishop of his silver and flees.  He is caught and returned to the old man's house where he awaits the judgment that will condemn him to hard labor for the rest of his life, but it never falls.  The bishop not only corroborates Valjean's story that the silver was gifted him, but also insists that he "left the best behind," and adds a set of silver candlesticks to the pot.  He tells him that he has "bought his soul for God."  It is this seemingly small act of kindness that changes Jean Valjean's life.  He is a man torn between what he has known and what he could be.  The past that haunts him and the future unknown.  He realizes the path he was taken will only lead him back to prison and so he rips up his passport thereby breaking his parole, but this act ironically is what allows him to become an honest man.

Eight years or so pass and the story moves to Montfermeil where Jean Valjean has taken on the persona of Monsieur Madeleine, the mayor of the town.  He owns a factory, which employs hundreds of workers, and because of his philanthropy and selflessness, the entire town has prospered.  A young woman named Fantine, played amazingly by Anne Hathaway, works in the factory.  Fantine is very beautiful, a fact which is not unnoticed by the lustful eyes of the foreman whom she has no interest in.  Unfortunately for her, one of the other women gets a hold of a letter Fantine was writing to an innkeeper outside of town concerning her illegitimate daughter Cosette.  A scuffle breaks out as Monsieur Madeleine enters, but before he can intervene he sees Javert who does not recognize who he really is, waiting to speak with whom he believes is merely the mayor of Montfermeil.

The instant Valjean sees Javert his attention can be nowhere else and he directs the foreman to handle the issue with patience and fairness.  Meanwhile the foreman goaded by both his need for revenge on and the harping women in the factory calling for her dismissal does just that.  Fantine now out of work and desperate for money to support her daughter resorts to selling her beautiful hair, then selling her teeth, and finally selling herself as she descends into prostitution.

I have to pause this recap for a moment to talk about Anne Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream."  It was right after she had finished with one of her customers and she's sitting in the dark with her shorn hair rendering this heartbreaking song of hope shattered.  I cried openly and without any shame in the middle of the theatre for the utterly raw emotion of this scene. 

Fantine, who is becoming sicker and sicker as the days pass, is accosted by a "gentleman" walking through the park.  She refuses to give him service, which angers him enough to throw snow on her bare skin.  When she retaliates by scratching him on the cheek, Javert arrives on the scene just in time to hear the man claim she attacked him unprovoked, and because he is what he is and she is a whore, Javert takes the man's word for it and prepares to arrest her despite the piteous pleas for mercy that her daughter will die if she goes to jail.  Jean Valjean intervenes at the last moment seeing the truth of the situation and recognizing her.  Fantine, near delirium, spits in his face and tells him that he was there when she was dismissed and did nothing to stop it.  With guilt he realizes that two innocents are suffering because of his inaction.  He vows to make it right and carries Fantine away to the hospital while Javert can only angrily watch.  Valjean vows to get her daughter from the innkeeper so that they can be together when Fantine is well.

That next day Valjean saves a man trapped beneath a runaway cart by lifting it off of him.  Javert observes this remembering the only other person he'd ever seen do such a thing was Jean Valjean who is incredibly strong.  Witnessing the mayor perform such a feat makes him wonder, and angry about the incident with Fantine, he denounces him to a higher authority proclaiming that he is Jean Valjean, but then in a later scene apologizes for the action as the "real" escaped convict was found.  Javert then insists that the mayor exact punishment on him for his actions, but Valjean refuses saying the inspector was only doing his job as he saw fit.

Jean Valjean is again a man torn.  He knows the poor wretch they found is only unfortunate enough to look like him, and even though he, too, is a convict, it is unspeakably wrong that he should be condemned to Valjean's fate.  But the life so made as mayor of the town must also be considered.  He is the "master of hundred of workers," and the idea of abandoning them to what they had before his arrival is almost equally terrible.  Almost.  The mayor travels to the courthouse where he declares himself the true Jean Valjean, exonerating the condemned man before leaving as quickly as he came to return to Fantine.  He promises her he will be as a father to her daughter right before she succumbs to her illness and Javert arrives to bring him to his fate.  Valjean tries to plead with him by saying that he is the only one who can save the poor woman's daughter, but it falls on deaf ears.  The two men fight, and Valjean being the stronger manages to overpower Javert and escape.

At the inn, Cosette is being mistreated by Thenardier and his wife who are played by Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen respectively.  Though both of them are nothing but rascals, they do provide the much needed comic relief for the drama despite this, nor could better actors have been cast.  Madame Thenardier forces Cosette to go fetch water from the well in the wood even though night has fallen, and though the little girl is terrified, she has no choice.  While there, she comes upon Jean Valjean and is initially afraid of him until he reassures her he will do her no harm.  Carrying her water bucket back to the inn Valjean pays the the supposed "debt" the Thenardiers say were owed for taking care of Cosette and takes the little girl away.  He finds himself experiencing the pure love for and from a child for the first time in his life, but the wonder of this is interrupted by the sight of Javert at a checkpoint seeking him out.  Valjean hides himself and Cosette on the top of a wall, which surrounds a convent.  In there he finds the very man whose life he saved beneath the cart working as a gardener, and the past act pays for the forward gratitude when Valjean pleads for help for both him and the child.

Several more years pass and Javert is still looking for Valjean who lives in Paris with the now lovely, grown up Cosette.  The is much dissidence in the city where the ranks of the poor are growing, while the rich grow fatter and fatter.  The Thenardiers, too, live in the capital where the man runs a street gang.  He attempts to rob Valjean believing himself owed more than what he gave for Cosette.  Javert sees the trouble, but fails to recognize Valjean before he escapes.  In that incident, also, Cosette sees a young man named Marius, and they both instantly feel an attraction.  Marius is part of a group of students who see the growing issue between poverty and decadence and wish to do something about it, but Marius distracted by the girl he has seen asks his friend Eponine to find her for him.  Eponine is the once pampered daughter of the Thenardiers, forced now to live on the street with undying and unrequited love for Marius.  Because of this she finds Cosette's residence for him where they finally meet and fall in love.

The students led by Enjolras decide they need to do something about the plight of the impoverished.  The only public figurehead who cares about such issue is General Lemarque who is dying.  When he finally succumbs Enjolras decides that this is the sign they need to rally the people of Paris to revolt against the status quo.  They decide to build a barricade, and Marius decides to be on the very front line once he finds out Cosette is leaving.  Unnerved by a recent attack by Thenardier's gang along with Marius's interest in Cosette Jean Valjean decides to abscond for England where he will be safe from Javert forever.  When he intercepts a note for Cosette from the boy, he decides to go down to the barricade.  Meanwhile, Javert has been playing spy and feeding the rebels false information until he is called about by Gavroche, a street urchin who hangs around them.  They tie him up in a bar behind the barricade declaring "the people will decide your fate."  When Jean Valjean arrives they suspect him, too, but he soon proves his worth and is rewarded by being allowed to execute Javert.  But once out of sight he unties the spy and lets him go.  Javert goads him to do what he's been wanting his entire life, but Valjean refuses even when Javert insists he will never stop hunting him.

The barricade falls to the national troops and everyone dies except for Marius who though shot is saved by Jean Valjean who takes him through the sewers.  At the exit Valjean meets Javert who holds him at gunpoint.  Valjean begs him to let him take Marius to a doctor as "he has done no wrong."  He realized at the barricade that the boy was yet another innocent and that he had no right to keep Cosette from finding a love he could not.  For the first time in his life Javert falters and lets Valjean go, then he climbs to the top of a bridge overlooking the Seine river utterly unable to reconcile the fact that he was spared by a convict.  He has no sense of mercy or forgiveness only the law, and the law is absolute.  There is no grey with Javert: only black and white.  You are good or you are evil.  You are law abiding or you are a criminal, and criminals follow their own code.  Valjean was meant  to kill him just as Javert was meant to hunt people like him, but his conviction is wavering.  In the movie Javert is the only character whose appearance really doesn't change, which mirrors his conviction.  It is steadfast and obstinate, and he cannot bear the thought that his entire life what he believed was wrong.  He throws himself into the Seine knowing it is either "Valjean or Javert," and the choice has already been made.

Marius recovers and he and Cosette marry, but Jean Valjean unable to bear the thought of her finding out the truth tells Marius and then leaves knowing Cosette is safe and provided for by him.  The Thenardiers crash the wedding and Marius realizes the man has the ring he pulled from his finger while he was being carried through the sewers.  He finds out that it was Valjean who saved his life and he is heartbroken by how thoughtlessly he treated him.  Valjean had returned to the convent of Cosette's youth waiting alone to die when they arrive to be with him.  He gives Cosette the story of his past and how he promised her mother she would live under his protection, and then dies, being led to heaven by Fantine in the most heartbreaking scene imaginable.  Just remembering it brings tears to my eyes.  The finale of the movie shows all those who died standing in the light of a new day singing "Do You Hear the People Sing," which was the rallying cry of the revolution.

Even though Les Miserables is probably one of the saddest stories I have ever heard, its overall message is about hope.  The belief that things can become better...that the struggle is not in vain despite the destitution and despite the despair.  The one act of kindness that rippled across the years, because one man had faith in another deemed unworthy of such a gift.  Jean Valjean is the atoner character.  He spends his entire life paying for that one crime, even though he committed the act for another.  It was prison that truly turned him into a criminal, a social commentary that is difficult to ignore.  And after being released, he was treated as worse than filth, which would have only led him back to a life of crime, but the bishop's faith restored his humanity and made it so that he could become an upstanding citizen and improve the lives of others by such a virtue.

Les Mis really doesn't have a human villain.  Yes, Javert is Jean Valjean's nemesis, but he is not evil.  He is merely a man who is as dogmatically devoted to the law as the bishop was to his faith.  Even as Valjean admits, he does his duty and cannot really be faulted for it.  He never wavers; he never falters not until the very end, and once that happens, he knows he can no longer exist in the world.  Even prior to his suicide when he looks at the bodies of the dead students where Gavroche the street urchin is laid out as well, you see even his heart of stone quavering as he places the pin from his lapel on the child's chest.  As convicted and unwavering as he is, even that is too much.  It is part of the downward spiral that began when Valjean let him go, continued when he did the same, and ends with his demise.

See this movie.  See it now.  Hugh Jackman was the perfect choice for Jean Valjean, and Anne Hathaway's performance as Fantine is nothing short of brilliant.  I have heard "I Dreamed a Dream" rendered many times, but I have never seen it done with such raw emotion and pain.  She sang it as the song was meant to be sung.  The desolate anthem of a woman who has lost everything except the love of her daughter that allows her to sacrifice her body and pride to make sure she will live.  The only complaint I have is Russell Crowe's singing voice.  Javert (like most villain characters) has always been a baritone, whereas Crowe is a tenor.  I felt there was a lack of power there.  Roger Allam as Javert from the ten year anniversary cast has a very powerful and intimidating voice as is expected from such a character so I was a little disappointed, but not enough to lessen the greatness of this piece.  If there aren't at least two awards earned, the message of injustice presented in the film will have achieved meta status and ring even more true.

PS.  The movie has one funny/creepy moment.  When Jean Valjean meets up with Cosette in the woods, he asks her where she lives and for just a second it just had this total creeper vibe.  They fixed it VERY quickly, but I had to suppress a snicker, and I heard a few from the theater at large.  

Four stars.  Why are you still sitting there?  Go see it!

Monday, December 17, 2012

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

This book came highly recommended by my friend and fellow writer/blogger Kat McIntyre.  I realized when I picked it up in the bookstore that I had considered it before, but as it had a recommendation from Stephanie Meyer right in the middle of the front cover, I'd immediately dropped it and wiped off my hands in disgust.  It is no little fact that I abhor SM and believe her Twilight garbage has ushered in the downfall of writing as we know it.  Case in point: Fifty Shades of Gray, which is well known as being a Twilight fanfic.  I, myself, am a writer a fanfiction, and, in fact, my novel is based on a fanfic I wrote back in the beginning of the '00s, which was inspired by another fanfiction that I read.  I have a theory that EVERYTHING is really just a fanfic or a fanfic of a fanfic (meta-fanfic!!), but I digress...  I was very invigorated and encouraged that this series was apparently based on a Harry Potter fanfic, as I do believe nothing comes from a vacuum and a fanfic based on a quality work would be something amazing to read.

Alas, despite all the encouraging signs and high recommendations I find myself incredibly disappointed in this novel.  None of the characters hold my interest in the least.  I find Clary to be incredibly bland and Jace, the initial love interest, comes off as an arrogant douchebag.  He is so amazingly full of himself.  At one point Clary points out that there are girls staring at him and he responds with, "Of course they are!  I'm incredibly attractive."  Really?  I guess Cassandra Clare (wait...Clare...Clary?  Am I sensing a Mary Sue here??) was going for the pretentious teenage voice, but all I'm getting is the pretentiousness.  The snarky, sarcastic dialogue just annoys me, and I'm usually one for witticisms.  It seems almost forced as if she were trying with each conversation exchange to be as sarcastic and bitterly teen as she possibly could.  Even if this is the way young adults talk, I don't think it translates very well to the written word.  I also found many of the descriptions to be downright lazy.  At the beginning of one chapter she starts it out with "The weapon room looked just as you would expect a weapon room to look."  Um...okay, you couldn't have come up with a better description than that?  I can sense the potential for better in the lines between your work Clare.  It's waiting just below the surface.  As for the other characters, Isabelle seemed like a bitch just to be a bitch.  She's the "attractive" girl while Clary is the "plain" one and those were just the roles they were destined to play, and of course Simon is the "in love with the main girl" best friend.  It's a bit trite.

I'll be honest...I didn't finish the novel.  I'm only on maybe chapter 8 and then I read the blurbs on the back of the other two books so a few key points are spoiled.  I know that Simon is a vampire and Jace and Clary are siblings (Star Wars anyone?)  I'm only attempting to finish so I can potentially update this review, but I know once I find something better to read I'm putting this on my shelf and only thinking of it if it's brought up in conversation.  I did find the world fairly interesting and honestly liked the "dreaded info dump" when it happened, which may in and of itself say something about the story.  I did take note that most of the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon (I'm not linking to that...you all know how to find it) were either very good or very bad so it looks like this is one of those Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) situations so I can't say I wouldn't recommend it because there were about equal people loving it as there were hating it.  It is not the worst thing I've ever read or...haven't finished reading (Twilight *blurgh*), but I would only give it 1 out of 5 stars.  1 for what I got and a half for what could've been.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

MFK Zodiac Style

MFK or Marry, Fuck, Kill is an old concept that I just found out about thanks to fellow blogger Kat McIntyre (check the blogginess here.  Tis awesome.) and now I can't stop thinking about it.  This one is for the Zodiac/Astrological signs broken up by element (Earth, Air, Fire, Water for the uninitiated).  I'll give my take on which one's I'd marry, fuck or kill, and I'd be delighted with other views to the same.

***Please do not take any of this to heart if your sign got axed.  If you're my friend I love you regardless of what insanity the stars instilled in your brain.  This is just my general take.  K, am I good?  I'm good.***

Earth - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

Taurus - Marry.  Tauruses are AWESOME!  We (yes, I said WE) love beauty and comfort, sensuality and order.  We are rockstar with money, have fifty contingency plans for everything, and if shit gets too intense we nap until everything calms down.  I thankfully get along famously with the other members of my sign regardless of their gender.  While we may be stubborn, we always have the best interests at heart :)

Virgo - Fuck.  Come on their shameless narcissists for a reason!  Also non-confrontational so if you ask them to do something, they probably won't fight you on it.

Capricorn - Kill.  My way or the highway?  Mmkay, go get run over.

Fire - Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Aries - Marry.  You crazy mofos.  Life would never be boring with your spastic, frenetic energy, and if it got too intense I'd just hide someplace and take a nap.  Besides Tauruses I get along with Aries best.  Plus the name of your sign is an anagram for "Aeris" and "Aesir," which my kingdom of nerd is pretty damn kickass.

Leo - Fuck.  If Aries are spastic awesome, then Leos are crazy awesome.  Best people to get into bed.

Sagittarius - Kill.  Sorry guys.  I can't deal with the bluntness usually directed at something that needs a delicate touch.

Water - Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio

Pisces - Kill kill and double kill.  I cannot take the wishy-washy whining that seems to be a staple of your sign.  The dearth of logic makes my head pound.  I'm very emotional, but I can temper that with good old common sense, and I also don't make important decisions when I'm a basket case.  It's never a good idea.  I could talk about Pisces for a while, but then this post would turn into a rant.

Cancer - Marry.  Out of all of the water signs I'd tie the knot with Cancer.  Water and earth really don't mix (you get mud, bleh), and Cancers tend to be very emotional with quick mood changes, but I'm also a big empath so I can usually tell when the tidal wave is going to hit and can make myself scarce (nap time anyone?).

Scorpio - Fuck.  Yes...I know I am married to a Scorpio in reality, and dear lord are they super secretly emotional.  At least with Cancers it's all out in the open.  With a Scorpio you're all like, "Holy shit you feel that way?  Are you serious?  Why didn't you--oh super secret, gotcha..."  But Scorpios happen to be the opposite sign to Taurus and some of their super secrets aren't all that bad.

Air - Aquarius, Gemini, Libra

 Aquarius - Definitely marry.  Aquarius's are highly intelligent and all about facts, facts, facts.  This fits well with my Taurus figures, figures, figures.  I can have long conversations with an Aquarius, and while they, too, can be blunt (I'm looking at you Sagittarius), their bluntness is more geared toward how things just are and less about kicking you in the feels. 

Gemini - Sorry Gemini I have to kill you.  You're so up in the air sometimes that you miss that you're saying very hurtful things even when it's obvious it's upsetting, even when I'm telling you to stop.  You're not my least favorite sign at all, but I had to pick one air to die and well, it's you.  No hard feelings?  Just turn the other cheek.

Libra - Fuck.  Libra is my moon sign and also ruled by Venus, and I'm all about the beauty!

Meta What?

I realized this yesterday and immediately texted my husband who is the long-suffering recipient of my random insanity.  He puts up with my bullshit.  How could I not love him? 

I recently wrote the essay entitled Final Fantasy VII Revelations, which stated the game is a metaphor for Revelations, but then I realized that Revelations itself is a metaphor.  So FFVII is a metaphor of a metaphor.  It's a...META-METAPHOR!  We are the film.  The film is us.  The deleted scenes are the movie and the movie is the deleted scenes.  The very blog post itself is meta, as it is a blog post about a blog post that was discussing a metaphor about a metaphor. 

Those goosebumps you have...they'll go away eventually.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Tis the Season to be Furious

I need to rant about this, because this is a subject that really pisses me off.

Tis the time of the year for holiday cheer.  That cheer which often includes decorating, presenting, and Christmas cards.  It is the latter which can make my blood boil.  I am fairly certain that when I got married I did not give up my identity, yet time and time again I see Christmas cards addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Brian Figenbaum.  Please tell me when the fuck I changed my name to Brian?  I have absolutely no problem being Adrienne Figenbaum.  In fact I think my French first and German last name are hella awesome considering everything, but this little staple of nomenclature has always lit a fire under my skin.  I remember questioning my mother about it around the holidays when I would see cards addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Brown, because I'm fairly certain she did not become my father when she tied the knot.  That would be...weird on many levels.  I understand that this is just a tradition, but just because something has always been done a certain way, does not mean it is right. Society would never advance if this kind of thinking were allowed to rule the populace.  What makes me even angrier is that I have said numerous times that I do not like such an address.  It is not that difficult to write both of our names on a card.  I don't even care if his name goes first.  The point it we did not become some amalgamation of a person when we got married.  We did not merge.  Maybe it's just me...I know there are women who aren't bothered by this.  I am not one of them.  I don't think it's very hard to respect my wishes without me sounding like a bitch.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Final Fantasy VII Revelations

I like to start at the source...where and how I arrived at my conclusion.  I'm sure some of you might find that boring and tedious, but I have always loved to read the author's note and find out whence such whimsy comes.  For this I was watching Dexter season 6, which is all about Revelations and the end of the world, but instead of waiting for God to set the apocalypse in motion, the murderer(s) decipher the Bible's final chapter and comes to the conclusion that by staging tableaux inspired by Revelations he/they can bring about the end of this world and the birth of another.  Like one of my previous posts (False Prophecy), this of course does not come to pass, but the season did inspire me to finally pick a Bible and read the final book.  As I absorbed the apocalyptic imagery, I came to the realization that FFVII is not only a religious allegory, a fact which needs no insistence, but a metaphor for Revelations itself...

Forgive me for making such a general statement.  A more accurate assertion would be to say that FFVII is a metaphor for the seven seals.  I'm not going to summarize the plot of the game.  Not here; not now.  I'll save that for later and more involved delvings.  If the title of this entry piqued your interest, than forgive me again my assumption that you already have such knowledge.  I will move along with my murmurings and present the evidence in the signs.

The first Four Seals spoken of in Revelations 6:1-8 indicate the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, a common motif regardless of your creed: the bowman on the white horse named for conquest, the rider of the red  associated with war, the horseman of famine on his black steed, and finally Death on the pale horse, the only horseman to be named.

In Final Fantasy VII there are four weapons, which are unleashed when Cloud gives Sephiroth the Black Materia.  They are named for precious gems of the earth, but the parallel of their names to the riders should hopefully come clear.  Ruby (red) and Diamond (white) are simple.  Emerald is obviously green and the color of Death's horse from the Greek translation was green/greenish-yellow or pale/pallid.  Based on the way the word was used in Greek medical literature, scholars surmised it referred to the color of a corpse, and in many modern renditions, the horse is distinctly green as "pale" is a description of a color and not really a color itself.  As for Sapphire I pondered that for a while as such gems are normally considered blue, then I noticed the very same gem on my finger was black, and there really aren't any distinctively black precious stones.  The horsemen are unleashed to wreak havoc on earth and be the first signs of more terrible things to come.  The weapons are guardians of the planet set forth when there is dire need, but they fulfill the same tasks of the horsemen in regards to havoc showing a glimmer of what horrors may come.

Revelations 6:9-11 presents the 5th Seal: "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls who had been slain because of the word of God, and the testimony they had maintained."  The fifth seals speaks of the martyrs...those who shed life's blood for what they believed in.  Aeris was killed on the altar in the City of the Ancients praying for Holy to save the world.  The martyrs cry out for justice and that there blood be not spilled in vain.

At the opening of the 6th Seal in Revelations 6:12-14 various disastrous events occur, but the one that stands out for my comparison is "the stars in the sky fell to earth."  Meteor...which is a portend of the 7th Seal in Revelations 8:1-6 God's final judgement.  The end of FFVII has Holy finally summoned come to contend with the Meteor from the sky, but this is not to save humanity but rather the planet, which we've been ravaging long before falling stars.  Initially before the numerous sequels and reincarnations there was an ambiguous element to the end of VII in that it was unknown whether or not humans had survived Holy's cleansing.  Were we judged worthy enough for yet another chance?  In the Biblical account only a particular amount were saved, but is there truly anyone in this world so innocent as to be spared?  But even if the slate were wiped cleaned who is to say the same situation will not again rise?  Life or nothingness, hope or despair, cynicism/belief.  It all comes back to this polarity, and the Seven Seals and Final Fantasy VII have more connection than just a number.

False Prophecy

Many years ago  man named William Miller read the Book of Revelations, made some calculations, and prophesized that the world was going to end. People gathered to him, believed his prophecy, and followed his end time words, but he was wrong like all apocalyptic soothsayers fore and hence.  Not to be discouraged, Miller merely proclaimed that he had made a mistake in his calculations, reexamined his figures, and reconfigured his prophecy for a later time.  Even more people stood behind him, even more followers believed his words as though being mistaken the first time lent more weight to them.  Yet of course things did not go as he foretold as the world still stands, but ironically so did his followers.  Even though Miller was utterly wrong on two separate occasions, he had amassed a congregation of people willing to live off his every word.  Eventually, they became known as the 7th Day Adventists, a religion/denomination based on a false prophecy.

You probably think my fascination with this stems from the "7" and the "Advent" in the title, but you would not be entirely correct.  Yes, it is true those things opened the door to my interest, but what was found there took the door off its hinges.  How could people be so stupid as to build a belief system off of a false prophecy?  Their founder...the father of their belief was wrong on not one, but two separate occasions, and yet they chose belief over cynicism...hope over despair.

I am finding that it is not the result of the situation but rather the interpretation of the situation itself that is most valuable.  The journey over destination philosophy per se.  I have been reading both negative and positive reviews of things that I honestly think are brilliant, and have come to the conclusion that no two people can ever experience the same thing.  What one thinks is prestigious another will see as presumptuous.

"It's too smart for it's own good." (Cabin in the Woods)
"It's so overrated." (Final Fantasy VII)
"He does nothing new with the fantasy genre." (A Song of Ice and Fire)
"It does nothing but lead up to the main character transfixing women on and with his magic sword." (Sword of Truth)

I believe the reader claims a bit of authorship within interpretation.  The author himself not only dies once his work is presented to the eyes of the public discourse, but he also relinquishes a portion of claim to this phenomenon. But to balance the reader turned author must also suffer a little death for in speaking of signs and sigils, themes and theory, he becomes a subject to the same criticism the author must endure for in meta-critique he must defend his point of view.

What one finds fascinating another finds nauseating.  What I see as revelation another sees as farce.  Flame wars have burned websites done for far less subjectivity.  But what I take from this brings me to realize and accept the subjectivity of critique.  Where one says my words rewrite language into a genius lexicon of my own making, while another states I need to retake Grammar 101.  A story is just an object presented for interpretation and the author is just a prophet, false or true in metaphor of the meaning so found.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Secret

I carry a secret,
It lives in my skin.
It does not come out.
I do not go in.

I know of this burning,
A fire inside.
I cannot chase it,
And it dare not hide.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Borrowed Life



The sun is down,
the night is old, 
my sorrows shall I keep.
Let me live,
or let me die,
but never let me weep.
The sky is burning on the wind,
and all the stars are fled,
but I shall keep my secrets here,
and not betray the dead…
For as I live this borrowed life,
this silence I shall keep.
Today I breathe until I die,
but never let me weep.

Divergent

I was looking between reading this and reading The Mortal Instruments Series (which I still shall be) about a week ago.  I looked up Divergent on Amazon and immediately fell in love with the language and taste of the verbiage so I knew I would have to make a run to the bookstore and pick up a copy.  It's written in the present, which is very weird as I'm used to stories being written in the past tense for things that have already happened; it lent an air of mystery and suddenness to the narrative that fit very will with the world Veronica Roth was trying to project. 

***There will be SPOILERS***

This is a dystopian YA set in the ruins of what used to be Chicago.  Human society is now split up into factions: Dauntless (the courageous), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the scholarly), Abnegation (the selfless), and Candor (the honest).  There are also people who are factionless, but they live on the edge of society and are dependent on the kindness and help of others (mostly Abnegation) to survive.  The Abnegation server as leaders of the society as it is thought that their selflessness makes them the most prudent of choices as a leader who wants nothing for himself will be the best to lead others.  Erudite are the teachers and scientists; Dauntless are law enforcement; Amity are the peace loving hippies, but also server as society's main food supply with Erudite technology, and the straightforward Candor act as judges.

The main character Beatrice Prior is a sixteen year old Abnegation and the story opens on the day she will choose whether to stay in Abnegation or decide to be something else.  Now granted this choice hinges on an aptitude test that usually only gives at most two possible directions, but Beatrice is presented with three possible paths: she can stay in Abnegation or become Dauntless or Erudite.  Something thought impossible.  She also finds out that she is divergent.  Something very dangerous.

Beatrice chooses Dauntless, changes her name to Tris and enters a world dependent on courage and quick thinking where her life before was all safety and self-sacrifice.  Her main instructor is the elusive Four, who becomes the main love interest (this is YA after all), but Roth does an excellent job of balancing Tris's struggle for survival with the obligatory awkward teenage romance moments.  Tris is told that she MUST keep her divergence a secret or risk death, and this is verified when Tris overhears Eric, one of the more sadistic Dauntless leaders, talking with someone about weeding out and killing any divergent they find.  It turns out that they can manipulate simulations (which the characters transverse very often) to their own will.  They're like teenage Neos in the Matrix.  This becomes very important in the end when all of the Dauntless are injected with a serum and manipulated into killing any Abnegation they find because the Erudite want a share of the power.  The only ones who are unaffected and not turned into mindless killing machines are the divergent.

I was actually more interested in the world of the book than the characters themselves.  There isn't much of an explanation in Divergent about why things became the way they were.  I had to wait until the end of the second book Insurgent for the big reveal, but it was enough to make me want the third installment.  If I had to put money on a title I would say it's gong to be called Convergent.

Beatrice/Tris comes off as very cold.  It's obvious she doesn't belong in Abnegation even though she does have some selfless tendencies.  She cares about her family and friends, but she lives in her own head so much it makes her seem detached.  Of all the characters, I believe Four/Tobias was the most well done.  Elusive enough to not give everything away, once his truth was revealed everything about him made perfect sense.  Unfortunately, the majority of the other characters are quite forgettable.  Very few of the other Dauntless stand out for me at all so when they're injured or die it was hard for me to mourn them because I honestly didn't remember who they were, and there is a VERY high body count.  Comparable to the Hunger Games, but in Collins's trilogy and felt a connection to nearly every character.  In Divergent it's tragic, but it's not heartbreaking.

All in all I would give the entire series so far 3 out of 5 stars.  Not regrettable but not spectacular either.  Looking forward to Mortal Instruments, but first I have to read This Same Earth Earth by Elizabeth Hunt since I only have that on Kindle loan for two weeks.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

7 Necessary Definitions

1.  A satisfactory portmanteau of "awkward" and "adorable."  "Adawkwable is...awkward.

2.  A word for happiness at the good fortune of others.  We have the opposite in Schadenfreude (thanks Germans!), but nothing for this??

3.  A word for the general "you." So you don't think I'm talking about you (which right now I am) when I'm really talking about everyone.  French has "on." English is lacking.

4.  This one has a definition, but one I just made up last week.  It's not TV Tropes official, and I just kinda want to ramble about it for a bit, plus that site has not been entirely kind to me when I throw up my "controversial" ideas.

Informed Villainy - similar to Hollywood Homely where canon or Word of God insists that a character is evil, while simultaneously presenting evidence that shows their villainy is not entirely or not at all their fault.  This could be due to villainy by design, a corrupting factor, mind control, or various combinations of the same.  This is not to say their bad behavior is okay.  You (see 3) can feel sorrow or empathy for a character, but not condone their actions.  Someone PLEASE think of the daleks!

5.  There needs to be a definition for when an event occurs or is facilitated by an actor or actors for the wrong reasons, but good comes of it despite.  Seriously...how many stories do I know that start off with this paradigm?

6.  Is there a term for songs that have the same melody but different lyrics?  Is there one for the opposite (same lyrics, different melody)?  There should be!

7.  Can you have nostalgia for a time you've never experienced or is this just longing for a romanticized version of that particular zeitgeist?  For example you yearn for a particular version of the future, but in your head it feels like you've already experienced it so it comes off as nostalgia.  This could also just be me.