My Father’s Brilliance

Today my Dad and I were discussing the insincerity of the majority of today’s greetings, how ‘how are you?’ is now not used as a question but as a replacement for the word hello, and how many times, the person who offhandedly asked this question does not pause to hear the response, considering it an unimportant part of social pleasentries. My dad’s solution was, next time someone asks you how you’re doing without waiting for a response, wait until they’re almost out of earshot and then yell, “I’M PATHETIC!!!!” – I thought it was great.

Hipocricy in the Government

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/pm-pledges-to-battle-online-bullying-204629591.html?device=mobile

Above is an overview of a promise made by the Harper government to, ‘expedite efforts to create a new law against cyber-bullying.’ This call to increase action arose after the case of Rehtaeh Parsons, the 17-year-old Nova Scotia teenager who took her life earlier this year. In 2011, Rehtaeh had been raped by a group of four boys, who took photos of her during the attack and sent them through the internet and all over her school. Moving away was not enough to stop the harassment against Rehtaeh, who was treated as a joke instead of a victim, even at her new school. Taking her own life, and her parents outrage at the lack of effort put in by the police to convict the four boys, caused Prime Minister Stephen Harper to swear that, “We absolutely must speak out against the notion that some people have, that ‘anything goes’ on the Internet,” He said during question period in the House of Commons. Soon following his stand against cyber bullying was this video, sincerely made by the conservative government:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nb4k1QgV-E

Not only does this video take everything that Trudeau supposedly ‘said’ completely out of context, but it publically degrades him both personally and professionally. The definition of cyber bullying is: the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner. I’d say that this commercial, aired on national television, fills that criteria out quite well. I get that when you’re in government, you’ve got to expect some animosity from the opposing parties, but to be so blatantly hypocritical as this video is – by so easily resorting to cyber bullying after just stating that ‘cyber bullying must be stopped’, It creates a country where the government is above the laws and expectations of the ‘humble ordinary folk’. Furthermore, it belittles the pain that Rehtaeh, and countless other nameless victims have gone through due to cyber bullying.

The Necessity of the Music Ventilator

The other day I was listening to music when my brother ambushed me. My headphones fell out. Assaulted by a crashing pound of silence and sudden absence of sound, devastation set in. No longer connected to the masterfully manipulated noise-waves, I forgot how to breathe. Struggling for air, vision blurring, I blindly searched the floor for my headphones in growing urgency. Lungs burning, my hand grasped the thin cord in explosive relief, and jammed them back into my ears, awaiting the much needed intake of air that would follow. Silence. Panic coursed through me in smothering intensity, and I clutched my throat in desperation. Reaching down the length of the cord, my hand went through the non-existent iPod. Blind and shaking with the fundamental need for oxygen I scoured the carpet with instinctual fervor… and found it. Jamming in my life line to the portable oxygen tank, relief flooded through me as finally, I breathed. As the world revealed itself again, I noticed Dylan watching me in confusion. He then rolled his eyes and walked away. He didn’t understand the necessity of the music ventilator. Muggles.

Just In Case Not Quite Everyone Has Rolled Their Eyes Derisively At My Continued Spamming Of Book Reviews, I Decided To Add One More Just To Make Sure No One Was Left Out.

Similarly, and finally, In Terry Goodkind’s novel, Faith of the Fallen, the author uses plot crisis to show how after many struggles, humans will realize the supreme power and beauty of life and their own human spirit, and will stand together and fight for it; proving the true vitality of humanity, and proving that the human spirit will always outlast evil. In this novel, the unveiling of Richard’s statue sparks a mass rampage of epiphanies, revealing the lies that had for so long filled the citizen’s heads, for the evil that they truly are. In the plot crisis of the story, Nicci, Richard’s very own kidnapper, is struck by the simplicity and pureness of it all in her first glimpse of Richard’s marble tribute to human nobility: “Her eyes fell on the name carved in the stone base. LIFE. Nicci collapsed to the floor in tears, in abject shame, in horror, in revulsion, in sudden blinding comprehension… In pure joy” (Goodkind 717). As Nicci lays her eyes upon the beauty of the statue Richard carved, she is laying her eyes upon life itself – in its truest, noblest, most extrinsically beautiful form. She is struck to the ground with the grand blatancy of it all, as is all humanity when witnessing the carving – for evil can only disguise itself as good for so long. The pure vitality of the human spirit depicted in the statue opens her eyes to her own spirit, and in that moment, she vows to spend the rest of her days fighting against the evil that once corrupted her heart. Through this act, Terry Goodkind proves that the human spirit will endure any evil, and will always rise above it. Also, at the apex of the plot crisis, the Fellowship of Order destroys Richard’s carving in front of the newly enlightened citizens of Altur Rang, inciting a response of newly awakened rage: “We’ll not stand for it!’ He roared. ‘I’ll not let you enslave me any longer! Do you hear? I’m a free man! A free man!’ The entire mass of people before the palace erupted in a deafening roar. And then, as one, they lunged forward. Fists in the air, voices raised in cries of rage, the mass of humanity avalanched toward the plaza” (Goodkind 751). In this cumulative event, the entire gathering of people watch the leaders of the Order destroy their one brief glimpse of a life of freedom and integrity, and no longer can they stand for it. No longer will they believe the lies that forced them to give up their own free will and pride – their own spirit. No longer will they be governed by evil. In this moment, they choose life. Thus, Terry Goodkind demonstrates once more that even after a multitude of suffering and misery, even after enduring corruption and tyranny, humans will still realize the ultimate beauty of life and will stand together and fight for it; proving the indomitable power of humanity, and proving that the human spirit will always outlast evil.

So I Thought To Myself, ‘Better Not Post Another Book Review Or People Are Going To Start To Hate Me’. And Then I Posted It.

Finally, in the book, Genesis of Shannara by Terry Brooks, the author believes that even when faced with seemingly unassailable pain and darkness, humans will choose to free their inner spirit rather than give in to evil, and he proves this through plot crisis. The climax of the story begins to unfold when a hybrid demon with an insatiable blood-lust tracks down Angel Perez and the group of innocents she is protecting. Angel notices the demons presence, but knows that if she lets the others know as well, she will endanger their lives – instead she chooses to sacrifice herself and convinces them to let her go:

‘No, Kirisin. I have to do this alone. Do as I say. You and your sister go on without me. Do what you came to do.’ He started to object, but saw something in her eyes that stopped him. There was a hard determination reflected that told him she was decided on this… She nodded and turned back down the mountainside toward the clump of boulders they had left earlier. ‘Adios, mi amigo,’ She called to him. ‘Lo siento.’  (Brooks 389)

Angel Perez has struggled with the decision of whether or not her human spirit and the spirit of others is worth fighting for – if there is even a point in battling against such unbalanced odds and evil. But in the end, she has made the decision. She realizes the extreme value of humanity and life itself, and as she says goodbye to Kirisin, she intends to fight for it. She has decided to lay down her life so that others may have one. By dying, she will not have given in to death, but she will have embraced life, and freed her human spirit. Through this plot crisis, Terry Brooks enforces his belief that even after countless struggles and hardships, humans will realize the supreme beauty of life, proving the true vitality of humanity, and proving that the human spirit will always outlast evil. Finally, the plot crisis is concluded in the aftermath of Angel’s valiant fight against the demon hybrid, as she limps, worn and bloodied, through sheer will power alone up the side of the mountain to reach those she was charged with protecting: “She couldn’t see it. Doesn’t matter, she thought. I know it’s there. I know I can find it. I know I must find it. ‘Hold on Kirisin, Simralin,’ she whispered to the wind and the night and the cold. ‘I’m coming.’ Slowly, she began to stagger up the side of the mountain” (Brooks 431). This plot crisis shows how not only did Angel fight with all her strength of spirit against devastating odds and evil, but she also succeeded. Not only did she win the battle; she kept moving forward, towards the brilliant freedom that was within sight, proving Terry Brook’s belief in the iron determination and irrefutable power of the human spirit, and its ability to overcome all evil.

 

An Epic Battle Between a Witch Hunter and a Rhino. Just Kidding. It’s Another Book Review.

Not unlike Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, the author of Faith of the Fallen also reveals through his novel the inner struggle of the human spirit against evil. He illustrates this struggle through an atmosphere of overwhelming destruction, where tyranny is crushing the will of the human population, demonstrating how even the worst of evils cannot completely destroy the spirit of a human. At the start of the novel, Richard Rahl, leader of the dwindling resistance against the oppressing Fellowship of Order, speaks to his companions about the state the world is about to be in, creating a bleak, dark atmosphere of misery and death:

We will be but two more among uncounted millions of nameless corpses beneath the gray, gloomy decay of mankind. In the darkness that will follow, our bones will be meaningless dust. Eventually, perhaps a thousand years from now, perhaps more, the light of liberty will again be raised up to shine over a free people, but between now and then, millions upon millions of people will be born into hopeless misery and have no choice but to bear the weight of the Order’s yoke. (Goodkind 21)

By creating an atmosphere as bleak and oppressing as this, Terry Goodkind demonstrates his belief that even if staggering trials steal the fight out of individuals, it will not be permanently destroyed, and that the strength of the human spirit will overcome them. Another instance in which Goodkind uses atmosphere to depict the struggle of the human spirit against evil, is when Richard and his kidnapper, Nicci, first arrive in the heart of the Old World; in Altur Rang, the city where the Fellowship of Order first came into being:

The rain poured down on the rotting city, full of the cries and glazed eyes of people who had forgotten they were living. Broken wagons cluttered the darkened streets, and dampness clung to clothes and sunk into hollow bones. Shrieks and thuds came from the black alleyways, but no one blinked an eye. Why was the pain of one person of greater consequence than that of any other? (Goodkind 541)

The atmosphere that the author creates in this moment is one of such bleakness, filled with such a great amount of coercion and twisted morals, that the fight and life has been sucked almost entirely out of the city’s citizens. Terry Goodkind’s intent in creating an atmosphere as hopeless as this, is to show that even after this much misery has infiltrated the minds of human beings, that it is still not enough to crush the human spirit, and that they will always rise above the pain.

Yet Another Book Analysis…

In the novel, Genesis of Shannara by Terry Brooks, the inner struggle of the human spirit against evil is at first revealed through the atmosphere of the story. The devastating and seemingly unendurable conditions, where the fight is crushed out of humans by subjugation and coercion demonstrates how even the worst of trials cannot permanently crush the will of humanity. For instance, in the beginning of the book, Logan Tom, one of the protagonists of the story, looks out upon the land soiled by the taint of the demons, out at a place where almost all life has been destroyed– including the very earth and plants – to the point where to survive off the earth causes mutations and death: “The Indiana countryside, empty of life, spread away to either side… the highway he followed west… cracked and weed-grown and littered with debris… a farmhouse and barn sat abandoned and derelict in a small grove of oaks turned wintry and leached of life” (Brooks 7). The atmosphere that Brooks has depicted illustrates the complete and vile hold that the tyrannical demons have over the world, and yet it also proves the strength of the human spirit; that even when struggling through conditions as dismal as this, it still cannot and will not be crushed. Also, in the beginning of the book, Terry Brooks uses Logan Tom’s thoughts to set the desolate atmosphere of the story and demonstrate the inner struggle of the human spirit against evil by explaining the bleak circumstances that the humans find themselves in: surrounded by demons, threatened by slave pens, and hiding from a world of destruction:

When word spread of the slave pens and the uses to which the once-men were putting the captured humans, resistance stiffened. But the compounds were not fortresses in the sense that medieval castles had been. Once besieged, they turned into death traps from which the defenders could not escape… This might have discouraged those hiding in the compounds if there had been anyplace else for them to go. But the mindset of the compound occupants was such that the idea of surviving anywhere else was inconceivable. Outside the walls you risked death from a thousand different enemies… The humans in the compounds could not imagine contending with these. Even the risk of an attack and siege by the once-men was preferable to attempting life on the outside where an entire world had gone mad. (Brooks 31)

The demons have created a world of such gruesomeness and danger that humans corral themselves into compounds out of fear of the outside world – inadvertently making themselves large, easy targets for the demons to demolish, and in that way, being controlled by them. Through this desolate atmosphere of slave pens, a world over-run by demons, and constant and unshakable fear, Terry Brooks shows as the story unfolds, that the human spirit will not perish, even under the direst of circumstances.

Dreaming vs. Reality

Why is it that so many people today have the mindset that, ‘if the odds aren’t great, don’t bother’? As a child, we’re encouraged to dream: “What do you want to be when you grow up, Susie?” “I want to be a princess!” Or, “What do you want to be when you grow up, Bobby?” “A rock-star!” And the adults will pinch their children’s cheeks and comment to their friends about how cute they are, yet, when they grow up and when it’s time for them to choose a career and they say the same answer, their parents will say, “Maybe you should try something more realistic… like teaching, or law.” Okay. Maybe I understand how becoming a princess isn’t a realistic life goal, but the point is; dreams are encouraged all throughout childhood, but then when you go out into the ‘real world’ you’re told to leave them behind and settle on something that’ll guarantee you a job. But we only have one life, why settle?  Why role through your remaining days knowing constantly that you’ve missed out on a possibility, just because you were being realistic? That’s not how I want to live. The other day, I was having a conversation with my dad about my after-school plans, and, knowing that he’s always been the, ‘you have a job for money’ kind of guy, I knew where he was coming from, but that doesn’t mean I agree. “So, you’re still stuck on the art school thing, huh?” He asked me. I watched the road as I held the steering wheel, knowing what he was going to say. “Yep… I know schoolings expensive, but I need to.” “You know, you could always just have it as a hobby while still having a good paying job.” “But I can’t do that – I couldn’t live like that, I can’t imagine a life where I’m not doing art full time.” “You could always teach art, that way you’re still guaranteed money.” “I don’t know, that just feels like a fall back for me, I would regret not trying for the rest of my life.” “But you know the odds of getting a decent job in art are next to nothing.” “That doesn’t matter. Just because the odds aren’t great doesn’t mean it’s impossible, at least a few people have done it, so that means there’s a chance. And I’d be doing what I love, that’s all I need.” “…And you’re still a no on the lawyer thing?” My dad’s always been trying to convince me to get into law. I looked out at my small town as I passed it, and I knew, that no matter what he said, I had to try, I had to go out into the world, and at least make an effort to achieve the life I’ve always dreamed of. “Okay, Dad. An artist, or a musician. Choose.” “A musician!? That’s even worse, there’s pretty much no chance of success, half the time not even having a roof over your head, let alone enough money to live off of.” “I don’t care. It’s my passion, so, choose. Artist, or I join a band and leave.” “…Is there a third option?” “Nope.” So basically the conversation ended there, but it left me wondering about how people seem to let their fears and ‘realistic-ness’ stop them before they even try. I get the fact that you can’t have a civilization run entirely on ‘dreamers’, because it’s true, there’s the basic jobs that no one ever dreams about doing, but they’re necessary for our society to work.  But I also think that a society run entirely by the ‘realistic’ people, would be a dull and claustrophobic place.

 

 

Imaginary Conversation With Myself

“…Hi.”

“..Hey?”

“How’s it going?”

“Slightly uncomfortable now that I’m talking to myself…”

“Oh. Me too.”

“…Where do we go from here?”

“I dunno… Philosophy? Weather?”

“How ‘bout cows?”

“Why is it that whenever you blank the first thing you think of is cows?”

“I don’t know, ask yourself, you’re me aren’t you?”

“I don’t know, aren’t I?”

“… What are you trying to do?”

“… Confusion?”

“That’s… It’s not gonna work, I have the same brain as you.”

“…Makes conversations kind of hard.”

“See, by pointing that out you just make things awkward.”

“I’m just saying, it’s weird.”

“Then leave.”

“There’s the problem, I can’t.”

“Damn… would you like a refreshing beverage?”

“Are you trying to quote Sheldon to ease the tension?”

“…Possibly?”

“…Well played, well played.”

“But I’m serious; social protocol dictates that I offer you a refreshing beverage.”

“I can’t drink, I’m imaginary.”

“… I thought that I was the imaginary one.”

“What? No, I am.”

“… Are you trying to make me doubt myself?”

“…Are you trying to make me doubt myself?”

“No, I’m not that kind of person.”

“Don’t even try that, I know you are.”

“… Shit, I forgot: same brain.”

“Watch your mouth.”

“I’m an imaginary voice in your head; I have the right to freedom of speech.”

“No, actually, I’m pretty sure there is no spot on the charter of rights and freedoms that says that imaginary voices get freedom of speech.”

“Are you saying that you think you’re better than me?”

“Saying it? No. Implying it? Maybe.”

“… Wow. I didn’t think you were like that.”

“…I’m not… actually I felt weird just saying it. Sorry about that.”

“I know… I’m you, remember?”

“Then why’d you get offended?”

“Boredom?”

“Ah.”

“yep.”

“Mmhmm.”

“…Awkward silence…”

“WELL CAPTIONING IT DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY LESS AWKWARD.”

“Yeah but by me saying it, it makes you think that it’s your fault.”

“… Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of a dick?”

“Your mom, last night.”

“No.. Just no.”

“What? Sexual innuendoes always lighten the mood.”

“Yeah, but not when they’re about our mom, or when they make no contextual sense.”

“You know, sometimes you expect too much from me.”

“It is because I have found that sometimes, it is the smallest of things that keep the darkness at bay.”

“… Is it weird that I find you complementing me through the words of Gandalf slightly arousing?”

“What?? Yes, what the hell, man?”

“Okay, good, cause I’m just kidding. And I am not a man; I am a gender neutral imaginary voice.”

“No, Stop that. I’m the imaginary voice!”

“…I’m not a doctor… but your continued belief that you’re an imaginary voice is probably a red flag in a multitude of mental illnesses.”

“And your continued attempts to make me think I’m crazy are most definitely a sure sign to a multitude of DICKDOMS.”

“Ouch. Cat’s got claws.”

“…Can’t we just get along like we did in the old days?”

“My antagonistic comments are how I show affection…”

“Yeah… It’s kind of cute in a hissing snake sort of way.”

“…Are you hitting on me?”

“Well someone’s gotta do it.”

“Not this again.”

“Just kidding. Hug it out?”

“Maybe later.”

I’m sorry, Yoda.

I read Carolyn’s list-post and thought it was great, and then I read Mr. Cevetch’s comment that he liked lists… and was going to write a list, but couldn’t figure out what to write a list about. Since my writing creativity is still conveniently on vacation, I couldn’t actually think of a topic, so I thought maybe it would be easier to write a list about what not to write a list about… and then I tried that and realized that I was just kidding myself, that anything right now would be virtually impossible to write a list about, and so then I decided to use my mystical powers to manipulate anyone who read this post to comment on it with an idea of what to write about. I apologize that I used my powers for evil, but it was something that had to be done.