Sick f***s

Some news is just so appalling you've got to see it for yourself, particularly when both women and the Saudi courts are involved. The day the Saudis reform their judicial system may come before the Second Coming, but I'm not taking any bets.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312372,00.html

11/11

“In their sorrow, these families need to know — and families all across our nation of the fallen — need to know that your loved ones served a cause that is good and just and noble. And as their commander in chief, I make you this promise: Their sacrifice will not be in vain.”

-- President George W. Bush

It's Veterans' Day; thank God for such men who through the years have fought against the darkness of the world to keep our freedom. I don't have to be American; just a citizen of a country that owes its prosperity and freedom from tyranny to, among other things, American blood.

And a great thank you to them. Like God has done for us, they have given what I can never repay--except to thankfully and sincerely remember their sacrifice as we enjoy the liberty it paid for.

In short, thanks be to the Lord and warriors He raises up, past, present and future.

Now I know why console players laugh at us.

Putting together a new PC on our parents' dime. It still only crashes once every 5 minutes, with any one of a *censored* multitude of errors.

My Programming lecturer said we "speak" to our computers in programming language... and more often swear-words. So true :(

Church, Spartans and Odin

I had a nasty feeling in church today. Maybe it was the liturgy that grated on my nerves after a rough week—I’ve nothing against it, love it even for putting in words what my conscious mind is too lethargic to express.

But I was thinking What the hell difference does it make? until I realized even heroes of the faith thought that one way or another. Christians have been dealing with that one since the birth of the church, and it’s not a question likely to go away anytime soon.

Perhaps one day we’ll have an answer for it. Sorry if this bit sounds too melancholy, but at least God isn’t treating us as He did Job. Not yet.

#

I’ll admit this—I admire Frank Miller like I’d go nuts reading Orson Scott Card, James A. Gardner or any one of quite a few writers whose names don’t immediately come to mind. After watching the movie adaptation of his comic book (sorry, graphic novel) 300 I want to run down to the library and dig out a copy of the book. The “you’ve seen the movie, now read the book!” syndrome gets me nearly every time, and I had to fight not to blow money on novelizations of Serenity or the Resident Evil flicks. (I was not tempted to buy the Doom one.)

But what’s to love about 300 the movie? Granted I’m a little late and the hype as dead as the multitude of Persians on the Hot Gates—seeing it now I can’t say I’m overwhelmed. What, exactly, has 300 got going for it that makes me want to see it again and again, till I can quote the film backwards if need be?

It’s quite impossible to understand this film without describing the key character King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) in some way; it’s kind of paradoxical for a good ruler to have such a brutal upbringing and such men to bond when in the agoge they’re encourage to battle both the harsh training and each other. Miller takes considerable liberty with his Spartans—paring their character down to pure warriors ready with shield, spear and quip, and reducing their clothing from tunics and miniskirts to underwear and capes.

Then there’s the matter of the wildly exaggerated Persians, of course… especially a seven foot-tall bejeweled Xerxes (Rodrigo Santorio)?

Violence and gore? Natch. There’s plenty of blood as heads and limbs fly—in keeping with the sepia-drenched tone of Miller’s original work, swords rip through flesh in slo-mo and the black/dark red stuff arcs through the air… but never stains the ground. There’s violence in spades as the Spartans carve up wave after wave of Persians invaders, but the film is short enough not to get overly gory or repetitive. I’ve seen bloodier movies, though.

300 is shallow, and depth can be found elsewhere; the beauty of the film is that it never requires it. Miller never intended it to be historically accurate, and it never pretends to be—but it more than makes up for that in posturing, great battle choreography, and some rah-rah lines that stay with you for the years to come.

Xerxes: “What chance do you have, when I would kill any of my own men for victory?”

Leonidas: “And I would die for any of mine.”

And like Miller was inspired to write 300 by a Cold War-era film entitled The 300 Spartans, I’m happy to say I’ve got a similar inspiration. To write about a different battle, to be sure. But there are plenty of parallels!

More soon. If and when that gets written.

#

Another admission; I actually read a kids’ novel. For girls, I suspect, though it’s never confirmed as such.

I can be forgiven, can’t I? Because it’s just so darned good. “Children’s book” doesn’t do it justice—come to think of it, can anyone today seriously dismiss the Harry Potter books as “children’s literature”? And face it, university students rarely have time for anything longer than a quick, thrilling read that’s over soon enough… but for the story and language that keep singing in your head for a long time afterward.

I’m talking about Susan Price’s novel Odin’s Voice. The plot is simple enough; in a distant future where the old Norse and Greek gods are worshipped once more (don’t ask me why), the rich and “Free” are genetically modified while slavery exists again in the form of “bondership”, chillingly like how maids and other domestic servants in society today are used. It’s sort of a rich girl-poor girl plotbunny, but characters are so deep and believable you’ll forget they’re often simply plot-advancers.

(Which is not in itself a bad thing, by the way.)

But the thrill comes from the main characters, Kylie and Affie—their ascent to and fall from grace respectively, the chain of events that binds them together. It’s ascribed throughout to the “Will of Odin”—and there’s one beautiful scene where Affie is told she is loved and welcomed by the followers of Odin.

I wish the real-life followers of Jehovah did that more.

(But remember what I said about the books maybe being for girls? The sequel, Odin’s Queen, had a bright pink back cover. Martian surface, or marketing for the ladies? Oh, no.)

But hey, I’m taking something out of this kid’s book, something I haven’t from a more adult-ey book in a long time. S’too bad about the girley marketing and the impression it creates—male characters are also pretty strong and reliable thriller-calibre men.

Yes, there’s nudity and sex. Price doesn’t pretend this future world is politically-correct—but these scenes do add to the plot, and wonderfully. Just remember this isn’t a book how to govern, or to act. Please.

There are days that go crappily.

Boy, do I feel dumb. Hate to say this, but the following does make me feel better.

Screw physics.

Screw homework.

I'm going to bed :(