A Clash of Kings - Musings: Pages 1-100

I've been hesitant to start A Clash of Kings after finishing A Game of Thrones some time ago, despite loving both that book and its TV series, but with many friends picking it up and the second season pending, I've had sufficient motivation to do so, despite my dread of the brain power and time investment required.

Now that I've started it, I've realize that, despite the grandiose scale of the entire series, these are surprisingly easy reads. I assume that, having watched the series, it makes it much easier for me to keep track of the characters, but even then, there is still the immense history and the political intrigues to deal with - and really, there are A LOT of characters. Yet, I know them all. No Wiki or legend necessary. I've read, or tried to read other epic fantasies like the Shannara or Wheel of Time series, where the pacing is ridiculously ponderous, or the characters and events are so many and so confusing that I need to keep notes. Not so with this series.

I believe a key to this is George R.R. Martin's style choice to have each chapter told from the point of view of any one of many characters. Not every character earns POV status, but those that do easily cover those that do not. Martin also does not waste time with preamble. Descriptions are pithy and never out of place. He even provides histories to certain characters or events, yet does not take up a lot of space doing so.

I found myself exhausted after reading Game of Thrones and took a break before starting the series again, but I realize now that my mental weariness was not due to the writing itself, but the ideas the book inspired and how much time I spent yelling at Ned and Catelyn Stark.

So now that I'm on A Clash of Kings, I am going to unleash my thoughts as I go along. Considering I've barely made it one hundred pages in and have managed this much already.....

Jon Snow

It is my suspicion that Jon Snow is not Ned Stark's son, but instead, the son of Ned's sister Lyanna by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.

The exact nature of her relationship with Rhaegar is not presently clear, but shortly thereafter Rhaegar apparently abducted her. Robert and Brandon Stark believed that Lyanna had been taken against her will. Their anger over the event triggered Robert's Rebellion. After the sack of King's Landing, Eddard and six companions went to retrieve Lyanna at the building Rhaegar had named the Tower of Joy. They fought three Kingsguard knights stationed there, who killed all but Eddard and Howland Reed. Eddard found Lyanna dying in a "bed of blood" and clutching a withered wreath of blue roses. She forced him to make a promise to her, the contents of which are unknown, but which haunted Eddard for the rest of his life. She was sixteen years old at the time of her death. ~ A Wiki of Ice and Fire

I believe that part of the promise Ned made to his sister on her death bed (which, I suspect occurred because of child birth), was not to tell anyone of Jon's true heritage and to keep him from becoming a part of the game of thrones. Ned's honour to maintain his sister's promise trumped his honour to his wife, causing him never to tell even her the truth, even if it meant that Jon would grow up, not only mocked for the belief that he was Ned's bastard, but absolutely loathed by Catelyn.

I came to this conclusion during A Game of Thrones, and, reading Mormont confirming and expanding on Maester Aemon's story enhanced my suspicions. Aemon was a potential king whose vows prevented him from becoming so. Jon, too, could have claim to the throne as a member of House Targaryen, albeit a bastard member, but, now that he has taken the Black, as was Ned's plans, it cannot come to pass.

ETA: Blue roses! Blue roses! On an ice wall!!

The Three Mothers

Cersei Lannister by Pojypojy

The HBO series gave Cersei Lannister a few extra scenes to help soften her character and make us more sympathetic to her, but I don't believe they were necessary. I do not condone her actions, but I do believe she, like Catelyn Stark and Lisa Arryn, loves her children dearly and does what she feels she has to to protect them. She is also an ambitious woman, but, being a woman, there is only so far she can go with her ambition. And of course, there is her love for Jaime, her twin brother.

Lysa Arryn is most certainly crazy, but her greatest concern is her son, whom she too loves dearly and would protect with her life, if needed and, rather than outright accuse anyone of murdering her husband, she takes him to the safety of her own lands.

No Mother of the Year Awards for either of you.

Catelyn Stark? I believe she loves her children, but compared to the other two mothers, her decisions are not the wise or even blind love conditions of a woman trying to protect her children. Her decisions are just foolish and even tainted by vengeance, spite and stubborness. The result? An entire war caused by her and her alone, though she has yet to realize this (she's currently blaming herself for Ned, at least, but she hasn't gotten to the rest of the war). Certainly Cersei's scheming to kill off Robert and put that horrid Joffrey on the Irone Throne did not help, but without Catelyn's capturing of Tyrion Lannister based on highly circumstantial evidence, nothing would have escalated to the heights that they have and Ned might still be taller. Now she's busy trying to boss around her son, the freshly crowned King of the North, and ignoring his subtle commands to get lost. He did what she told him to: lead the northmen, but now that he has earned his crown, she's not liking the idea of him making all the decisions. Well, mom, the decisions you've made have started the war that your son has to deal with. You need to be steppin' to let him do his thang (and by "thang," I mean clean up the huge war his mom started.) But, since you won't leave and you tend to make lots of poor decisions with the misguided belief that they are for your childrens' well being, I'm guessing you're about to make things worse for poor Robb, aren't you.

OMG it's snowing!

AAAAAAH!

New York City and the East Coast are picking up the pieces hit by more than one inch of snowfall before Halloween for the first time ever - with experts predicting much more on the way. Three people were killed as the classic nor'easter chugged up the East Coast at an unusually early period and more than 2.3 million homes have lost power in the storm. Governors declared states of emergency in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York, as snow blanketed areas from Maryland to Maine, snarling air and highway travel. ~The Daily Mail

I'm sorry. Did you say "more than one inch"?

Now, I understand that ice and wind can make for great inconveniences when they get involved with hydro wires, but .. um... state of emergency? Hey, remember that time China was almost completely shut down for weeks?  Yeeeeeah.....

This is how we handle snow in Canada, bitches!

Some might blame my lack of compassion on the fact that I live in an igloo with my polar bears and snow shoes --- but in truth, a lot of Canadians just live on the other side of those Great Lakes we share and our weather tends to only be slightly worse than yours. We tend to react to snow and even storms by putting on appropriate gear, strapping on the snow tires,  salting the roads and using our common sense. Okay, there was that one time Mel Lastman called in the army, but that's Mel Lastman. He also decorated the city with moose.

Sure, an October snow is surprising. It would be for us too, but, the thing is, in February, about 20 years ago when I visited family in New Jersey, your reaction was the same. I, in my innocence, asked if I could go to the mall. I was looked at in horrified shock. "NO! YOU CAN'T! IT'S A SNOW STORM!"

I could have blamed the reaction on my family being Jamaican, but no, they had lived in the US for a long time by then. I could have blamed their reaction on it being an actual snow storm,  but in fact, the snow was falling in those big fluffy beautiful flakes that Fred Astaire might dance in. Yet, by the time I was naively asking to go to the mall, the city was discussing the extension of the school year because they had already had two weeks of snow days because of weather like this.


Again, that was 20 years ago. Some how, two decades has not been enough for the upper States to figure out what to do when it snows, no matter when in the season this occurs. That's pretty pathetic.

On the positive side, this gives me comfort. I am assured now that the US will never win a war against Canada unless they can pull it off between May and September. Our oil is safe.

The Dragon Book

The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy by Jack Dann
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up in my hunt for more Tamora Pierce. Her "The Dragon's Tale" turned out to be one of my favourites in the book, along with Tad Williams' "A Stark and Wormy Knight," both of which are told from the POV of the dragons themselves.

As with any anthology, some stories are a hit while others are a miss and some just get by. Not that any were bad. Some just weren't to my taste, but as a whole, I got a glimpse of the styles of many different fantasy authors, many of whom I had not read before but am now interested (or not) in.

I did appreciate the varying approaches to the theme. From dragon hostage negotiations, to infestations to a mama dragon telling her dragonling a bedtime story. It was fascinating to see how different each approach was to the theme, with none being alike. Each one had a unique origin and purpose for its dragons, which is surprising, considering how many stories about dragons already exist.

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X-Men: First Class - coulda been so beautiful...

Does this outfit make me look
inadequate as an actress?

As usual, I'm last to the party with movies. Get me some reliable and cost effective daycare sources, and I'll remedy that.  Anyway, we watched this last night, and this morning, I find myself needing to rant (well, technically, I was needing to rant half way through it, but managed to resist the urge.)

First up is Emma Frost played by January Jones. I was expecting this issue, as many had warned me that January Jones took the Halle Berry School of X-Men Non-Acting and didn't bother to actually review her source material, despite stating otherwise. I was initially pissed off about her costume, but, as it turns out, she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag, much less that Walmart bra.

Alas, I can't blame her alone for that mess. Writing and directing get nods of fail, too, for turning THE WHITE QUEEN into a bloody lackey. This is the woman who plays  Sebastian Shaw's Black King to a stalemate time and again because they are EQUALS. She is not the bitch who gets Shaw a sammich ice for his drinks. But, already knew about January Jones sleep walking through her role, so it wasn't a surprise I couldn't overlook.

So let's move on to my next problem: Darwin. When Charles and Erik head off recruiting and pick him up my husband and I joked that Darwin, being The Token Black Guy^TM, was going to die, but as time progressed, alarm bells started to go off. Darwin? Who the hell is Darwin? I'd heard of all the other mutants on the team, but I hadn't heard about Darwin and would have to Google him to learn more. Not that that was a bad sign in and of itself, since there are so many X-related characters, but when I realized that this poor fellow hadn't even gotten any promotional time on posters or previews, I realized that it was no joke: he really and truly was going to be yet another victim of the Black Dude Dies First Trope. Not even Samuel L. Jackson can survive this trope (though it was pretty cool when he didn't, and LL Cool J later commented about this trope in the same movie).

Who will DIE????

I'd offer you a spoiler warning regarding Darwin's death, but really. It was just that obvious. Hell, even if he hadn't been Black, his sacrificial lamb status was so painfully clear. But he was Black, therefore the entire scene was made worse when it was preceded by Shaw making a pointed comment about slavery, and then looking at The Black Guy. I can imagine the script actually reading:

SHAW: "..blah blah blah ENSLAVED." [PAUSE TO LOOK AT BLACK GUY] "Blah blah."

Much like when, at the Oscars, a Black person is nominated or wins and the camera pans to Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith, Queen Latifah, Halle Berry and Morgan Freeman. (It should also be noted that (this is the internet - of course it has been noted), in the same scene, Angel, the mixed race girl, switched over to the dark side, presumably to clean the house and help Emma with Shaw's other domestic requirements. Represent! Oh and in case you missed her motivations for switching sides, there was some ham-fisted anti-mutant dialogue just before the attack on the base and just before Angel decides to switch sides.)

Then, Darwin, who's ability is to adapt to survive, fails to survive having Havok's powers shoved down his throat by Shaw. Best saddeathface ever!

Even Michael Bay had the decency to not make Jazz's pending doom quite so obvious. Hell, he at least got to survive to the end. I generally don't like to look for racism in my entertainment, though, as a Black person, it's often hard not to notice, but this was so damn blatant in its ignorance! I expected a lot better from Mr. Singer and company. Then again, maybe the movie was set in the '60s to justify all the -isms.

This is the point where I wanted to shut this movie off, which says a lot, since the likes of Transformers 2 is on the short list of movies that made me feel this way. The only saving grace here was that my friends have repeatedly proclaimed it to be their favourite blockbuster movie of the summer. Plus I'm the chick that liked X-Men 3, so who am I to judge?

The slash! It writes itself!

Was it a great movie? No. Was it a horrible movie? Well, aside from the rather novice plotting and direction - which was surprising, considering Matthew Vaughn's resume - no. This is mostly because the film thankfully did not forget that it was about the story of Erik and Charles and managed to pick two actors who could work it and own it to make up for the rest of the crap and make room for so much Charles/Erik OTP love.

X-Men: First Class managed to make us sympathize more strongly with Magneto than the other two movies did, while simultaneously pointing out that Charles' "dream" is maybe not so nice, and also, Charles is an arrogant bastard who really only likes the pretty mutants. Most of this is played off of Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence, whom, I can now confirm, has the chops for Katniss. Was all of this character development enough to make an entire movie out of? Nope. But we'll make one anyway, because hey, franchise. Unfortunately, as the movie progresses towards the action climax that allows this film its "blockbuster" title, the drama at its heart becomes rushed; friendships and alliances are too quickly made and/or broken and additional characters are merely props.

In fact, who were the other characters again? Oh yeah, Beast, because we needed stuff invented within extremely short time periods. That guy who believed in fairies mutants and had a nice secret CIA base with no bullet proof windows to house them. Azazel, who would just be "The red Nightcrawler-type guy with a sword" if Shaw didn't use his name so much. I have no clue what Shaw's other henchman's name was and don't care about him enough to look. Emma got to say her name not once, but twice. Some nice continuity-based cameoes there, if we excuse the aging issues. Shaw was great, because, Kevin Bacon. Moira, we first got to meet in her bra and panties. And Havok and Banshee? Well, we needed someone to blow shit up and someone for comic relief and echo location, right?

Perhaps if I rewatch this movie, fastforwarding through everything but the Charles, Raven and Erik moments, I will find the intelligent movie that should have been, instead of the cut and paste "blockbuster" that we ended up with.

Marijuanaman - Exactly what you think it is!

Ziggy Marley's Marijuanaman by Ziggy Marley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book's blurb promises that "this is not the comic you think it is!" If you didn't think this book was promoting marijuana and hemp usage, then the blurb would be true. But really, what could you possibly expect from a book called "Marijuanaman?" Nice try, Ziggy Marley, but we're on to you!

The story is simplistic. Big drug company wants to destroy the hippies promoting peace, love and smoking. The bad guys have a ringer: Cash Money, an evil robot with no heart. The hippies have a ringer too: Sedona, a man from the planet Yelram (lol, really?) where his people do not have DNA, but THC instead, and, in response to a few good tokes, he becomes the mighty Marijuanaman.

This is definitely a self indulgent story written about -- and probably while -- being high. The art is fun and the story clearly isn't taking itself too seriously, despite the message, which culminates in a list of facts about hemp and marijuana use and how they are better both economically and environmentally than the many things big corporations throw upon us now.

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Please may I have more Luther now?

Last week I celebrated Idris Elba Day on G+. I really only know Idris Elba as Black Heimdall and Roque, but, as with Mortal Kombat Day celebrations, I was introduced to something new and wondrous. In this case, Luther.

John Luther is a Detective Chief Inspector working for the Serious Crime Unit in series 1, and the new Serious and Serial Crime Unit in series 2.A dedicated police officer, Luther is also a genius. He is obsessive, possessed, and sometimes dangerous in the violence of his fixations. But Luther has paid a heavy price for his dedication; he has never been able to prevent himself from being consumed by the darkness of the crimes with which he deals. For Luther, the job always comes first. His dedication is a curse and a blessing for him and those close to him. ~Wikipedia

Truth be, that description embellishes just a bit. Genius? Oh dear no. Luther certainly thinks outside the box sometimes, but he's not a genius. Our culture has taken to enjoy comparisons to describe things and the obvious one here would be Sherlock Holmes. But Luther is no Sherlock Holmes. There are no superhuman thought processes going on that allow him to reach his crime solving conclusions. In fact, my husband and I figured things out just before or just as Luther always does. At least, unlike House, the figuring out always makes sense and doesn't conveniently occur five minutes before the end of the show. (Also unlike Gregory House, Luther isn't a detestable asshole who some how is always inexplicably forgiven for being a detestable asshole because no one else can apparently do his job).

Luther's obvious character flaw is a very bad temper, so I suppose we could compare him to The Hulk, but Luther doesn't rip his shirt off (awww) and his temper generally only flares in response to his estranged wife, Zoe, whom he learns has met someone else during their separation. Fortunately, this love triangle, while initially seeming an annoying side plot with an expendable third party, grows to become far more as the series progresses.

Consumed by the darkness of his crimes? Hm. We first meet Luther chasing down a child killer who's subsequent death leads to Luther's suspension the break up of his marriage because Luther is having significant trouble dealing with his decision not to save this criminal - a decision that, while unlawful, was the right one and enough of us would have agreed to it. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, Luther is very much human, as opposed to being a sociopath teetering on the edge of committing a crime himself. Luther is a man dedicated to his work, who sometimes makes questioning, rule breaking decisions, in order to achieve what is right: catching the bad guy. On a cop drama scale of one to blowing shit up to solve a crime, I'm going to give his questionable decisions a 4.5.

What truly distinguishes Detective John Luther from any of the other detectives out there, is Idris Elba. He brings a quietly explosive intensity to the character that is hard to deny. Elba gives Luther strength by not being afraid to show his weaknesses. He gives Luther the personality that gets under your skin as both a viewer, and the criminals he goes after. I suppose it was unfair of me to denounce the "genius" rating. In fact, Luther's genius is in his ability to understand the criminal mind, though not by sinking into its darkness as the description implies. He simply approaches things at different angles, sometimes with the help of David Bowie, and consequently is able to understand what is at play and figure out the right triggers to get to the truth. And when he can't figure it out, he turns to Alice.

Alice: "Kiss me; kill me... do something!"

Now here is where the show takes on a its all important twist, because it isn't just about Luther. Idris Elba meets his nemesis - his Moriarty, if you still require comparisons - in the form of Alice Morgan, portrayed to perfection by Ruth Wilson. Alice is a genius - a child prodigy - and she is a sociopath who does not believe in humanity or love. She pulls off the perfect murder and Luther is unable to pin it on her, but nor is he able to get rid of her, as she develops an obsession with him that plays an integral role in the entire plot, lovingly fan-depicted here:

While I do intend to give this show 5/5 stars, trust that I am not blinded by the light. There are some plot holes, loose strings and, most importantly, the glaring frustration that comes from the typical cop trope involving not calling in things that could get you in trouble by not calling them in. But all of this just adds to the drama and suspense and my intense desire to yell at the TV the way my Grandma used to yell at the people in her stories.

I am very happy that Netflix decided to let me watch this, despite my continued Canadianness. Unfortunately, they only had season 1. Otherwise, last night would have definitely been an all nighter.

Also, soundtrack, need.

ETA: Watched S2 which turned out to be less suspenseful and climactic than the first season, and having not nearly enough Alice Morgan. It was still very good, however, and I'm very pleased to learn that there will be a third season, which will perhaps be longer than the second and first.

Halcyon - review

HALCYON by Marc Guggenheim,; Tara Butters; Ryan Bodenheim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

DC's Justice touches slightly on the idea of the bad guys winning, with humanity turning against the heroes because they are incapable from saving the world from the greater threats like starvation, but Halcyon goes deeper, offering a world where all but one superhero becomes redundant. Humanity loses the desire for violence and wrongdoing, which means there is no place for superheroes whose lives were dedicated to the prevention of such, much less supervillains whose lives were dedicated to causing it.

The resulting reactions of the main characters is an interesting, though brief study for all but the two main characters, Zenith and Sabre, who are obviously comparable to Superman and Batman.

Zenith finds the freedom of responsibility pleases her, while Sabre, known for his use of deadly force, has no desire to remain in a world where he has no use. Everyone recognizes that whatever has happened is unnatural, but Sabre is the only one who wants to stop it, resulting in a climactic ending and twist of loyalties.

I've always joked that Gotham is a crime hole because Batman would be bored if it were anything else, and Superman would have nothing to do if he couldn't drop criminals off there. But I'd never truly considered what would happen if superheroes did succeed in defeating the evils of the world. Justice came close to offering this story, but there were still nefarious schemes at the heart of the supervillains, even those putting an end to sickness and starvation. Halcyon addresses the "what do we do now?" question that would be left for superheroes, particularly those who take their jobs too seriously, or know nothing else.

The advantage this story has is that these characters are all new. This isn't a story DC or Marvel could tell without making it occur in an alternate universe with shocking splash pages and cover images, resurrections and fandom backlash. Here, not bound by fandom, Halcyon is able to tell the story without pulling punches, which was a refreshing change.


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November Book Choices

November choices for the LeVar's Rainbow Book Club.

Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul
In this, the latest in Wiley's Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series (South Park and Philosophy, The Office and..., Metallica and...), editors White and Arp assert upfront, and without qualification (apparently, that's the contributors' job), their belief that Batman is "the most complex character ever to appear in comic books and graphic novels." Exploring certain works that have broadened the philosophical undercurrents of the Batman mythos (Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns are cited often, but rarely the new movies), a raft of professors, students and PhD candidates paint Bruce Wayne's choices as, most often, either utilitarian or deontological, with basic descriptions of these systems helpfully provided for the novice. A few contributions broaden the discussion beyond the well-worn (origin stories of Batman and foes, etc.); casting butler Alfred as Kierkegaard's "knight of faith" to Batman's "knight of infinite resignation," contributor Christopher M. Drohan actually gets close to the archetypal sources that keep the serialized exploits of Batman and other comic heroes from getting stale.

The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles
Harry Potter has been heralded as one of the most popular book series of all time and the philosophical nature of Harry, Hermione, and Ron's quest to rid the world of its ultimate evil is one of the many things that make this series special. The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy covers all seven titles in J.K. Rowling's groundbreaking series and takes fans back to Godric's Hollow to discuss life after death, to consider what moral reasoning drove Harry to choose death, and to debate whether Sirius Black is a man or a dog.

Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test
Alan Moore's Watchmen is set in 1985 and chronicles the alternative history of the United States where the US edges dangerously closer to nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Within this world exists a group of crime busters, who don elaborate costumes to conceal their identity and fight crime, and an intricate plot to kill and discredit these "superheroes."

Alan Moore's Watchmen popularized the graphic novel format, has been named one of Time magazine's top 100 novels, and is now being made into a highly anticipated movie adaptation. This latest book in the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series peers into Moore's deeply philosophical work to parse and deconstruct the ethical issues raised by Watchmen's costumed adventurers, their actions, and their world. From nuclear destruction to utopia, from governmental authority to human morality and social responsibility, it answers questions fans have had for years about Watchmen's ethical quandaries, themes, and characters.

Star Wars and Philosophy
The Star Wars films continue to revolutionize science fiction, creating new standards for cinematographic excellence, and permeating popular culture around the world. The films feature many complex themes ranging from good versus evil and moral development and corruption to religious faith and pragmatism, forgiveness and redemption, and many others.

The essays in this volume tackle the philosophical questions from these blockbuster films including: Was Anakin predestined to fall to the Dark Side? Are the Jedi truly role models of moral virtue? Why would the citizens and protectors of a democratic Republic allow it to descend into a tyrannical empire? Is Yoda a peaceful Zen master or a great warrior, or both? Why is there both a light and a dark side of the Force? Star Wars and Philosophy ponders the depths of these subjects and asks what it truly means to be mindful of the "living force."

The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real
The many faces of Keanu Reeves as hero Neo-Christ, Buddha, Socrates-are explored in these essays on the philosophical implications of the sci-fi martial arts blockbuster The Matrix, collected by the editor of Seinfeld and Philosophy and The Simpsons and Philosophy. According to the academics assembled here, when messianic hacker Neo kick-boxes the Matrix's virtual-reality dream-prison, he is really struggling with some of mankind's biggest conundrums: the nature of truth and reality, the possibility of free will, the mind-body problem and the alienation of labor in late-capitalist society. The tacit goal here is to make philosophy fun for the general reader by orienting it to pop-culture reference points, so while some articles contain rather dense philosophical jargon, most are pitched at the level of a freshman intro course. But only a few chapters delve into the movie's aesthetics; the rest seem to use The Matrix as a peg on which to hang a canned philosophy lecture. The results are occasionally engaging, as with David Mitsuo Nixon's nifty refutation of the "reality is just an illusion" conceit, but they're too often dryly academic and liable to elicit no more than a drowsy "whoa" from the movie's legions of fans.

Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All
Can power be wielded for good, or must it always corrupt? Does technology destroy the truly human? Is beer essential to the good life? The Lord of the Rings raises many such searching questions, and this book attempts some answers. Divided into five sections concerned with power and the Ring, the quest for happiness, good and evil in Middle-earth, time and mortality, and the relevance of fairy tales, The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy mines Tolkien’s fantasy worlds for wisdom in areas including the menace of technology, addiction and fetishism, the vitality of tradition, the environmental implications of Tolkien's thought, Middle-earth's relationship to Buddhism and Taoism, and more.

Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am
Are cyborgs our friends or our enemies? Was it morally right for Skynet to nuke us? Is John Connor free to choose to defend humanity, or not? Is Judgment Day inevitable?

The Terminator series is one of the most popular sci-fi franchises ever created, captivating millions with its edgy depiction of the struggle of humankind for survival against its own creations. This book draws on some of history's philosophical heavy hitters: Descartes, Kant, Karl Marx, and many more. Nineteen leather-clad chapters target with extreme prejudice the mysteries surrounding intriguing philosophical issues raised by the Terminator series, including the morality of terminating other people for the sake of peace, whether we can really use time travel to protect our future resistance leaders in the past, and if Arnold's famous T-101 is a real person or not. You'll say "Hasta la vista, baby" to philosophical confusion as you develop a new appreciation for the complexities of John and Sarah Connor and the battles between Skynet and the human race.

X-Men: Schism

Just finished X-Men: Schism and. Deciding. I'm not happy with the writing. There are feelings similar to that which I had reading Marvel Civil War, where I get the impression that the writers were rolling the dice on who goes with whom in the end. No. That's not fair. X-Men Regenesis does a reasonable job of addressing this. Everyone's reasons are valid.

I guess. Hm. The writing. The writing was poor. The concept was there, and this review covers the ins and outs of the plot better than I'm in the mood to (though the review is far more positive than I feel about it). Basically, Schism is meant to take Scott and Logan back to their roots. Logan is the berserker who's really a teddy bear that young girls like Kitty and Jubilee flock to. Scott is the reluctant leader, trained to lead, who does so because he doesn't know anything else and can't fit in outside of the world Xavier created for him.

We've seen Beast's issues with Scott for some time now in Astonishing X-Men, which caused Beast to leave the team, fearful of Scott and his motivations and intentions, so, at least, "issues with Scott's leadership" isn't a sudden invention thrown together for this story. Though Logan's issues with Scott's leadership over the specific points presented were, perhaps, too contrived.

So the climax of the conflict between them takes place on Utopia with all but Generation Hope unavailable and a giant sentinel heading straight for them. Scott wants the kids to fight. Logan decides they should be kids, with much of his motivation stemming from Idie, a 14 year old girl who learned to accept that she was a monster, and learns to kill taking orders from Scott.

That's reasonable motivation for Logan's decision, and the relationship between Idie and Logan is built up enough to justify it. (Note: Idie's character and depth is a bright spot in this story. Definitely want to keep in touch with her, in hopes that she gets a better costume that doesn't look like she's having desperate puberty hair issues.)

But what played poorly was the entire fight between them on the island, with the pending doom walking up to them (good thing that sentinel walked reeeeeeeally slowly and apparently had no ranged weapons). Worse, much of the battle came off as, well, as Scott being an immature asshole. He even brought up Jean, out of the blue, which Logan countered admirably. And so, on the beach, the boys tried to rip each other apart until the kids came out and proved Scott right in regard to the immediate threat and proved Logan right in regard to stolen childhoods.

Thus Logan departs for Westchester, recruiting old teammates, making plans to teach the kids again. To let kids be kids. Initially, I was feeling that Logan's decision was not wholly in character, but that's not entirely true. He's always cared for the young ones. And Regenesis covers what Schism didn't, by showing that both he and others are aware that he's no teacher and needs help.

Scott shores up Utopia's defense and continues to be an asshole with the weight of leadership on his shoulders. Alas, Scott, I sympathize, somewhat, but I am disappointed. I had come to like you, but now, you're just an asshole again playing the burden of leadership card. Only this time, you aren't under the shadow of Xavier. You already kicked him out. Now your assholery is all your own.

And at the heart of it all is the image of Xavier with the original X-Men. All kids themselves. And the new 'Hellfire Club,' a bunch of psychotic children.

Oh X-Men. The future is never friendly, is it.

Aquaman has feelings, too

What's that? Timmy's stuck in the well?

1. Aquaman A comic superhero with the powers to swim, breath under water, and talk to fish. He helps save drowning women and fights ocean pollution. He will never be made into movie, be noticed, or get readership. "Quick Aquaman, the city's in trouble, go swim to Batman's beach house and get him to help!"

Somewhere, some few people claim to like Aquaman. They are the 1%. And they don't work at DC.

In DCUO, he is the only hero who does not help you in any storyline, does not offer advice. In fact, he is the only hero whom, as a hero, you get to beat up on.  You get to kick Aquaman's arse while he throws giant crustaceans at you because he had been ensorcled by Circe.

In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Aquaman is an idiot, constantly disrespected by his colleagues.

Does anyone remember the TV show? (I see you there, Lou Diamond Phillips).

I am one of the many who often LOLs at Aquaman and his ability to talk to fish. I wasn't overly interested in reading Aquaman #1 from The New 52, but my friend's review intrigued me. Plus, I figured their would be ample opportunity for more LOLs.

I had no idea that every single LOL that Aquaman has suffered through the ages would be expressed in this one issue.

The book opens with a bank robbery that Aquaman boldly stands up to, with the robbers escaping in a Brinks van heading straight for him. They most certainly don't slow down when they realize who it is. They just laugh and go faster. We then witness some of Aquaman's other powers. The ones that many of us didn't realize existed because we're tainted by the Super Friends lore that rendered Aquaman basically useless.

No one disrespects me 

Instead, we see Aquaman not even flinching as he flips the van over with his super strength and mighty trident. He only gets slightly annoyed when one of the many bullets that bounce off of him draws a trickle of blood. Now you're suddenly thinking hey, he could totally take on Namor after all!

The robbers are no longer laughing, but that's okay. Because the cops have taken over.

There's no "Thanks for helping us out, Aquaman!" Gratitude would get in the way of the utter disrespect.

Instead, we get:

Cop: Do you need a glass of water or something?
Aquaman: *tears*

to which Aquaman replies with a strong negative, before revealing another super power:

The Super Flounce

If only this were the end of the jokes, but then, Aquaman stupidly decides to go to the fish and chips restaurant (in full costume) where his father took him as a boy. The history lesson is sweet, but grossly overshadowed by a blogger who decides to do an impromptu and intrusive interview that covers all the jokes the cops missed earlier:

Aqua Pout powers

Aquaman's annoyance and frustration turns quickly to anger when the blogger asks him how it feels to be no one's favourite super hero. Aquaman flounces again, though this time, with less show, and heads off to the lighthouse where he informs his wife Mera that he doesn't want to be King of Atlantis anymore. Apparently, he just wants to live a normal life among the people who consider him so much of a laughing stock that they can't even bother to thank him for helping them out. Awwww.

Fortunately, a viscious evil is emerging from the depths, ensuring that Aquaman's plans for domesticity will not last.

I can only assume that, in the upcoming issues, writer Geoff Johns plans to turn around all these jokes and give us the Aquaman that he deserves to be. I'd like to hope the plan isn't that obvious, but at the same time, the only other direction to go is having Aquaman commit suicide. We don't want that now, do we? So, cup half full, this must be the master plan, with the prevailing logic being to get all the jokes out of the way and make us feel bad for making them, because Aquaman, like Superman, has feelings, too. And we have hurt them for too long!

Unfortunately, feeling bad for hurting Aquaman's feelings is not quite the same as pitying him, which is what I actually felt after reading issue #1. I felt sorry for him, not merely because he was so pathetic in the eyes of the people, but because Johns decided that he had to take almost the entire issue to get this heavy handed point across. I pitied him because, with all the jokes there to overshadow everything, we got no actual idea of who Aquaman is and what personality lies behind those goldfish scales. All we know is that Aquaman is a sad panda whom everyone laughs at. And oh yeah, he has some powers other than that fish talking stuff.

 Aquaman will surely save everyone from the nasty seas creatures in issues to come and the citizens and the readers will change our tune and have a parade in his honour. And Aquaman will know, deep down, that he has earned our respect and love and gratitude because now everyone knows that he doesn't just talk to fish....

He kicks their asses, and eats them for dinner, too.

There's something about that Spandex

One of my biggest beefs with the Justice League reboot was that the commentary at the end of the issue #1 that focused entirely on the character design, placing special emphasis on the idea that the re-designs they tried were too "complicated." As a result, we have costumes for our heroes that, well, look the same as they did before, minus some undies.

But while the boys lost their underwear, Wonder Woman ended up getting her's back, despite much debate. Her resulting costume is rather lack luster, even compared to the pants on version Jim Lee designed in 2010.

Poor Wonder Woman was also embroiled in great costume debate when she tried to get back into television in a poorly pieced together outfit that she apparently picked up at Wal-Mart. During discussions here, I suggested that her outfit really did need to be modernized and toned down, much like Jim Lee's version, noting that the X-Men were fine examples of costumes that worked in our hip, modern world. A friend argued that the X-Men are a larger group and it offers more opportunity for them to make changes as a whole, while Wonder Woman and her friends are more iconic. Their costumes and all the symbols that go with them make them who they are.

Maybe I'm biased because I'm a Marvel girl, but, thinking about this, it made me realize something about these characters - specifically DC's finest, who get to hang out in the Justice League:

They will never be allowed to change their clothes.

It took 69 years for Wonder Woman to get out of her stars and panties, only to have them thrown back on a year later. But when you take Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman etc out of their costumes, are they all that identifiable?

Face it. If you put Clark and Bruce in a room together and Bruce was being a real jerk and stole Clark's glasses, could you tell who was who?

Both of them have contrived personalities that I'm sure have become a bit more than the movies give them credit for since they were born, but, other than Bruce angst and Clark goodness and Diana's honourness, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot that defines them when they aren't wearing their iconic costumes.

Meanwhile, we have the main characters in books like X-Men, whom you can easily recognize outside of their costumes, not just because of their striking physical features, but because they were each given unique and prominent personalities from the start.

Part of me thinks that this is because the X-Men are part of a larger group, but there are enough Marvel solo characters who function solo and are still fully identifiable outside of their costumes.

What is my point? I'm not sure anymore since I started this post a few days ago and am now just  searching for nice pictures of Hugh Jackman. See? Totally looks like Wolverine even without the costume.

Mind of My Mind - review

Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a surprisingly short read, which I picked up as part of the Seed to Harvest series, but have read before Wild Seed.

I'm not sure what I ultimately expected, but what was there was a bit of a let down. There were many themes and issues raised, but none truly pursued. Most notably so was the issue of race. For the most part, characters physical appearances were only vaguely described. Most times, when we came to know someone was Black, it was because Mary was making a comparison or wishing/pleased someone was so (ie wanting to know why Doro had chosen a White husband for her, or being pleased that Doro appeared to her in a Black body). Rachel's race is introduced as a non sequitur that serves no further purpose but to add to Jan's "Oh god, niggers," comment later (we learn earlier that Jan is racist when a Black boy happens past her and therefore we assume she is White, as there does not seem to be any other option but Black or White).

Later, Emma angrily raises the issue of non-telepaths being referred to as "mutes," which she compares to "niggers." Beyond her brief tirade, this is not addressed again beyond the obvious comparison of mutes being used as slaves to the Patternists (though here, the mutes are all very content and mistreatment by Patternists is punished). Emma's tirade is particularly hypocritical since she is as much a slave to Doro as all the rest of Doro's children whom he keeps in line with violence and threats of death.

Overall, this was a very disturbing theme. The notion that one man is working to breed people with super human powers, particularly telepathy. Those who are failed experiments are left to die, while the successes eventually come together thanks to Mary, who is Doro's ultimate success and thereby becomes his ultimate rival. Between the two of them, there are thousands of people running around the country with the ability to control minds, or inflicting horrible violence against others because they can't control their own minds. Apparently, domestic violence is caused by this lack of control in active and latent telepaths.

There is an attempt to offer a mother/father juxtaposition, where Doro is the cruel male figure whom his children love, though they know he cares nothing for them and would quickly kill them. Mary is the mother figure whom we assume is the representation of nurturing, but in fact, while she displays much greater conscience than Doro, she's most certainly not a Mother Theresa figure.

One thing I did appreciate was the fact that there was no good vs. evil. Doro might have been considered an evil worthy of destruction, but how much of Mary could truly be considered "good?"

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Naamah's Kiss - review

Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've read the original Kushiel trilogy three times, but haven't been able to finish the last book in the series involving Imriel de la Courcel. I've had Namaah's Kiss sitting beside my bed for well over a year and finally decided to pick it up and was instantly swept back into that world. Carey's writing is so elegant and her ability to paint a picture with her words is undeniable. Of course, I could be biased because I already know the world and most of its history, but I don't believe a new comer would be lost.

This trilogy begins many generations after the events of the last six books, which makes it a refreshing return for me. The histories of many events and people are often mentioned, but only in a way to quietly remind old readers and to subtly inspire new ones to seek them in their entirety.

Once again, we have a main character, Moirin, who is an outcast, but unlike Phedre and Imriel in the past, she is not a victim. She has grown up knowing unconditional love, which serves to guide her in finding her destiny as much as the various gods of her heritage do.

The blurb for this is misleading. It implies great adventure, but in fact, Moirin does not embark on the mage/warrior-princess/dragon-filled epic until almost 500 pages in. That leaves 500 pages where Carey artfully defines her character and all the intricate relationships and political intrigue of Terre D'Ange.

When it comes time to depart for Ch'in, the departure is just as jarring for the reader as it is for Moirin. Here it was a slightly less compelling read because of this, perhaps. Whereas with Kushiel's Dart, the heroine's journey climaxes in a war where we already know the setting and the people, here, it is slightly more difficult to appreciate these new characters and what is at stake.

Still, despite a somewhat disappointing ending because of the disconnect, it is still enough to entice me to read on...

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