tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post2285359652375015122..comments2023-09-02T14:13:10.364-07:00Comments on Mouse's Musings: Character Doesn't CountMousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11936002393931074811noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-30026648470562476542016-04-09T15:18:38.090-07:002016-04-09T15:18:38.090-07:00Firedrake: I would bet a cookie that they did in f...Firedrake: I would bet a cookie that they did in fact lift the running thing right from 'The Last Battle.' Perhaps they figured that Lewis got it from some part of the Bible they overlooked and didn't want to leave it out in case they looked foolish. (Okay, <i>more</i> foolish.)<br /><br />Thinking of Narnia brings up summat else. Lewis chose his Jesus stand-in well. Even apart from the well-known lion symbology in Christianity, lions are, well, frikkin' <i>awesome.</i> I've petted lions, I've even played with lions (cautiously) and the whole time I was thinking, '<b>I am playing with a freakin' LION!</b>' Aslan is awesome. Aslan commands respect without laying a paw on anyone. And he acts the way one would expect a deity to act. So when he walks onto the scene your breath catches and you expect amazing stuff. (I love those books. They still have so much emotional power, even after uncountable readings. Even 'The Last Battle.')<br />TurboJesus, OTOH, is a putz. He doesn't inspire awe, he inspires fear, the way a drunk waving a pistol around inspires fear. You don't love him the way Aslan inspires love. The only possible emotion is terror, even if you're <i>on his side,</i> because even if you've spoken the Secret Formula there's no guarantee that he won't cold-cock you into Hell for some transgression you've overlooked.<br /><br />tl;dr: Lumpy&Jerkface aren't fit to be urinal cakes in C.S. Lewis' toilet.Blank Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15979418686713358058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-35978253889681601902016-04-01T01:24:06.578-07:002016-04-01T01:24:06.578-07:00Well, after all those many, many books of build-up...Well, after all those many, many books of build-up, they clearly wanted to stretch the climax/catharsis out a bit. This is what it's all been leading up to. (Well, there's the heavenly kingdom, but blood and gore comes first.)<br /><br />Finite crimes deserve finite punishment. However horrible someone's actions, there's always the possibility of someone worse, who did the same things to <i>more</i> people, and therefore deserves a greater punishment. Eternal torture is infinite punishment and therefore cannot be deserved.<br /><br />Yeah, that Lionel passage does sound a lot like survivors' accounts of atomic bombing.<br /><br />"His Eye is on the Sparrow, 'Cos there's Good Eating on Sparrows."<br /><br />Move to the UK, where sarcasm and irony are expected. We also have custard.<br /><br />That running scene seems to me like a poor imitation of Narnia:<br /><br />(start quote)<br /><br />Everyone else began to run, and they found, to their astonishment, that they could keep up with him: not only the Dogs and the humans but even fat little Puzzle and short-legged Poggin the Dwarf. The air flew in their faces as if they were driving fast in a car without a windscreen. The country flew past as if they were seeing it from the windows of an express train. Faster and faster they raced, but no one got hot or tired or out of breath.<br /><br />...<br /><br />If one could run without getting tired, I don't think one would often want to do anything else.<br /><br />...<br /><br />"Do you remember? Do you remember?" they said - and said it in steady voices too, without panting, though the whole party was now running faster than an arrow flies.<br /><br />...<br /><br />So they ran faster and faster till it was more like flying than running, and even the Eagle overhead was going no faster than they. And they went through winding valley after winding valley and up the steep sides of hills and, faster than ever, down the other side, following the river and sometimes crossing it and skimming across mountain lakes as if they were living speed-boats, till at last at the far end of one long lake which looked as blue as a turquoise, they saw a smooth green hill.<br /><br />(end quote)<br /><br />Obviously it's vastly more important to consider just how many miles per hour were involved.<br /><br />There's a case to be made that the development of the concept of honour is quite specifically a means of keeping the necessary heavily-armed thugs under control, by giving them a reason to behave well.<br /><br />Foolish enough to attack? They're going to die and be tortured forever anyway (I assume they're already Marked). Why not die trying to free the world?Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-64034221270892805592016-03-30T21:18:32.199-07:002016-03-30T21:18:32.199-07:00I don't think so. Richard Nixon was evil and c...I don't think so. Richard Nixon was evil and corrupt and crazy as shit, but he did have some skills and genuine work ethic, which is more than you can say for Trump. It's something I say about the modern GOP: they have all the prejudices of their forebears but none of the work ethic. Strom Thurmond's biggest accomplishment was the longest ever filibuster and yeah, he was filibustering against the Civil Rights Act, but he did actually filibuster, rather than cross his arms, say he was going to do it, and pout like a toddler. <br /><br />I'm just saying when you hear about just how venal and corrupt Nixon was, the amount of planning and work he had to put into his schemes, you find yourself almost longing for that era. He was like a real-life Bond villain. Whereas Trump is like...okay I'm trying to think of an adequate pop culture symbol. If Nixon was a Bond villain, as in Sean Connery James Bond, than Trump would be whoever the bad guy was in that movie they tried to make with Sean's brother, Neil. <br /><br />Plus, Nixon did give us the EPA, so props to him there. Mousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11936002393931074811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-62891335068867962032016-03-30T15:03:01.948-07:002016-03-30T15:03:01.948-07:00Hey, we might still get ruled by the insane hair o...Hey, we might still get ruled by the insane hair of Donald Trump, does that count?spiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-70567986507683612232016-03-30T09:56:37.477-07:002016-03-30T09:56:37.477-07:00Soon/Silenced/Shadowed are covered at Heathen Crit...Soon/Silenced/Shadowed are covered at Heathen Critique if you care :)<br /><br />I'm mostly disappointed that Back to the Future is now officially a period piece.<br /><br />Silly story: On Oct 21, 2015, I had a NASA interview/demo and so, naturally, went with my trousers on backwards. The security person at the gate commented that I was the fourth person to do that so far!spiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-21667099772499006282016-03-30T08:08:50.218-07:002016-03-30T08:08:50.218-07:00Yeah, that just further drives the "It will n...Yeah, that just further drives the "It will never happen" point home. Which is all right with me: I'm more disappointed since it's 2016 and Suicide Booths haven't come into being (they were supposed to come about in 2008), the Futurama version of the future isn't going to happen. Yeah, it's ruled by the insane head of Richard Nixon, but it has sweet guys like Fry in it, so it's not all bad. Mousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11936002393931074811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-14089361679590002532016-03-29T15:19:51.377-07:002016-03-29T15:19:51.377-07:00Just to add more craziness Mouse, Word of God (Jer...Just to add more craziness Mouse, Word of God (Jerry Jenkins) is that LB is supposed to take place after 2037!!! After Yahweh has already killed about 20% of the world's population, to boot.<br /><br />http://f3.to/quickgal/1459289958jerry%20jenkins%20zealot%20LB.pngspiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-84552950826107520072016-03-29T14:08:38.549-07:002016-03-29T14:08:38.549-07:00That's true, Harrier. It's something that ...That's true, Harrier. It's something that Fred talks about how in writing fiction that demonstrates what they believe will happen, Ellanjay wind up showing on every page why it wouldn't. It just couldn't. If every child under an arbitrary age line disappeared, there would be mass chaos/panic. Governments would be toppled and the ones that managed to hold on, probably wouldn't be all Peacey McPeace like Nicky. There would be countless anti-Christs claiming to know what happened and if you follow and obey me, I'll get your kids back. But in Ellanjay's books, the only change in government comes from a democratic orderly election in Romania, which peacefully elected Nicky to be their president, and no indication is given that the election was at all affected by the mass chaos/hysteria set off by every freaking kid on the planet disappearing. Mousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11936002393931074811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-21435426596195771302016-03-29T11:59:55.779-07:002016-03-29T11:59:55.779-07:00Yep.
Flashfic: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...Yep.<br /><br />Flashfic: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Tripocalypse.TheSameDream Nicolae's chief of logistics is having a nightmare about it, but is used to it by now.spiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-46274299190416059812016-03-29T09:07:31.137-07:002016-03-29T09:07:31.137-07:00The real deus ex machina (Satan ex machina?), I th...The real deus ex machina (Satan ex machina?), I think, has been going on throughout this entire book series: Nicolae's Global Community is able to function despite the epidemic that killed what I believe to be a quarter of the world's population, the two plagues that made huge amounts of water undrinkable, the earthquake that hit the entire world, the brief transformation of the sun into a death ray generator, etc. etc. etc.Harriernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-2831009427076115622016-03-28T21:43:31.214-07:002016-03-28T21:43:31.214-07:00https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-tss6mIm-Y Nice, ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-tss6mIm-Y Nice, thanks for the suggestion Harrier. It works. I mean we got a literal deus ex machina here, except instead of fixing stuff, He's killing everyone.<br /><br />I have two more chances to disrupt the narrative flow, best as I can figure....spiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-85394164504363665812016-03-28T18:38:18.340-07:002016-03-28T18:38:18.340-07:00Hi all!
This is my first time commenting on Mouse...Hi all!<br /><br />This is my first time commenting on Mouse's blog, so if I screw up or break any house rules please do let me know. Thanks for writing these snarks, Mouse. Left Behind Kids were part of my childhood, back when I read voraciously and Left Behind's mountain of books were parent-approved alternatives to more dangerous literature.<br /><br />I've read a few of the posts here, but was inspired to come out of the woodwork as I started a rewatch of the Battlestar Galactica rebooted series. If I'd known about your Left Behind Kids reviews back when they began, it would have been interesting to make a point-by-point comparison of how much better BSG's creators understood post-apocalyptic fiction than did LaHaye and Jenkins. In the future I should summon the effort to make a list.<br /><br />With that in mind, I suggest that anyone reading the passages where TurboJesus kills ~2 million people in a few minutes do so while listening to "Apocalypse" from Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. It'll give the scene a hell of a lot more gravity that the authors do.Harriernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-39503150505524980512016-03-28T15:09:25.015-07:002016-03-28T15:09:25.015-07:00"It is so much easier to write about bad stuf..."It is so much easier to write about bad stuff and point out the many ways bad stuff is bad, but when it comes to good things, especially concepts as elevated as Heaven or Joy or Absolute Bliss, what can you say about them except, 'They're good?' But even Dante probably did a better job in Paradiso than Ellanjay."<br /><br />Yup.<br /><br /><i>La gloria di colui che tutto move<br />per l’universo penetra, e risplende<br />in una parte più e meno altrove.</i><br /><br />(The glory of the one who rules everything<br />Pervades the universe, and shines <br />More in some parts than others.)<br /><br /><i>Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prende<br />fu’ io, e vidi cose che ridire<br />né sa né può chi di là sù discende;</i><br /><br />(In that part of heaven where his light is most,<br />I was, and saw things that cannot be repeated<br />By someone who has come down from that height;) <br /><br /><i>perché appressando sé al suo disire,<br />nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,<br />che dietro la memoria non può ire.</i><br /><br />(Because, when coming back into the seat of our desires<br />Our minds are overwhelmed by them again<br />And our memories cannot coexist with them.)<br /><br /><i>Veramente quant’io del regno santo<br />ne la mia mente potei far tesoro,<br />sarà ora materia del mio canto.</i><br /><br />(But what true memories of that holy place<br />I have managed to keep in my mind,<br />Those will become the basis for my song.)<br /><br />--Opening lines of the first canto of Dante's <i>Paradiso</i><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-55014794473509887782016-03-28T11:49:59.633-07:002016-03-28T11:49:59.633-07:00Re: Descended from the Romans:
Ellanjay are aware...Re: Descended from the Romans:<br /><br />Ellanjay are aware that the Roman Empire stretched pretty far and chances are that not everybody in its government was all Aryan in appearance? Yeah, I think I need to point them towards the Medieval PoC Tumblr, which, if you haven't heard of it, is a nice educative tool that reminds people that Black people have been around for a while and traded and interacted with White people for a while. Didn't just suddenly spring into being with the advent of slavery. Mousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11936002393931074811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-81310748754613943862016-03-28T11:36:52.292-07:002016-03-28T11:36:52.292-07:00I'm catching up from last week's post...
...I'm catching up from last week's post...<br /><br /><i>Ellanjay prefer a Bond movie where they just flat-out say in detail how James Bond will defeat Goldfinger and once the big scene arrives, they do not deviate from the carefully laid-out plan at all, yet they still expect us to be in suspense about it.</i><br /><br />Yes. This helps make it the Worst Book Series of All Time.<br /><br /><i>I've said it many times, but aunursa or somebody who knows this series inside and out, do they ever explain why Jesus is now "Exterminate all the Brutes!" instead of saying things like "Forgive me father, for they know not what they do," as his enemies hammer nails into him? </i><br /><br />No. It's pretty much that Jesus is Very Sad that the damned made him destroy them.<br /><br /><i>You can quibble with it--aunursa has basically said that according to Jewish scriptures, there aren't any do-overs--but that's what the Christian mythos basically says.</i><br /><br />Nothing in the Hebrew Bible suggests that the Messiah will need to make a second appearance because he failed to fulfill some of the prophecies the first time around. Biblical prophecy doesn't work that way.aunursanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-28230766154171032552016-03-28T06:28:51.596-07:002016-03-28T06:28:51.596-07:00All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine...All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? spiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-43817272468372753562016-03-28T03:31:32.322-07:002016-03-28T03:31:32.322-07:00That's "descended from the Romans", ...That's "descended from the Romans", of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-89093191264771410852016-03-28T03:30:46.954-07:002016-03-28T03:30:46.954-07:00You just have to admire the drama of a line like &...You just have to admire the drama of a line like "Lionel scanned the battlefield and was amazed at the amount of blood", don't you?<br /><br />Speaking of Nicolae and the "Roman(ian)s", I once saw Tim LaHaye on godtv.com (don't ask) saying that Nicolae was blond because the Romanians are descended from the Romanians and so are blond. I've actually been to Romania, and you'll be surprised to know that I can confirm that this is not in fact true.<br /><br />(Romania is actually quite large as Eastern European countries go, but your ranting is always entertaining, educating, and informing, so you're forgiven :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-88143399588732201542016-03-27T18:30:42.715-07:002016-03-27T18:30:42.715-07:00http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Tripocalypse....<br /><br /><br />http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Tripocalypse.PrologueKids (Just a reminder that this exists)<br /><br />Unity Army troops stood before them, looking haggard and tired. Huge sweat stains fouled their uniforms while the people from Petra looked like they had just returned from lunch at an air-conditioned restaurant.<br /><br />“What happens now?” Lionel said.<br /><br />Mr. Stein motioned to the depleted army. “I think they’re foolish enough to attack.”<br /><br />The haggard soldiers hid behind tanks, behind rocks, some putting on protective gear, other taking those of their fallen comrades.<br /><br />The soldiers and the horses had been a ruse, necessary to keep the pretense of fulfilled prophecy; a moment after Mr. Stein put his arm down, Petra was incinerated by nuclear mines that had been tunneled under the city under the guise of looking for water. Unlike the bombs used in the abortive attack on Israel seven years ago, these had mechanical triggers, too simple to fail in a contrived manner.<br /><br />Jesus was left alone, untouched by the fireball and pressure wave, standing above the pristine desolation that had been the city of believers.<br /><br />"I AM WHO I AM" He said, but not one sympathetic ear was left. At this point, the returned Messiah had to speak to each believer, reassuring them of the coming victory - but all had been obliterated. The Mount of Olives did not split in two, having been turned to boulders by a second cluster of nuclear mines, although the boulders wiggled in attempted compliance.<br /><br />No enemies were left to burst open from head to toe -- the blast had already turned many of Nicolae's own soldiers to ashes, a necessary gamble in the Antichrist's plan.<br /><br />"You are alone. You are surrounded. The prophecy has been broken. We had seven years and the resources of an entire civilization to develop weapons that can harm You, and they're all aimed at your position. By the power invested in me by the human race, I am giving You one chance to GET OFF OUR PLANET."<br /><br />Nicolae's voice had lost all its grandiloquence, instead coming across the radioactive crater that was Petra with icy efficiency and the warble of a megaphone.<br /><br />Jesus saw movement at the edge of the crater. NBC-hardened Unity Army war vehicles were rolling in, tightening the circle. Jesus took a moment to realize that the iron chariots had no rider.<br /><br />Miles away, in a command bunker, a shriveled Nicolae watched the camera feed from the teleoperated tanks with some satisfaction. Behind him, technicians were keeping Lucifer away from the Antichrist's wizened, prematurely aged form and safely behind the containment grid. Rather than playing one of the pre-recorded messages, Nicolae decided to risk a proper confrontation, and wheezed directly into the microphone. "You've murdered half the world! You won't get to finish the job. But I am yet a man of peace. Last call!" <br /><br />Nicolae's bony finger hovered on the ENTER key. He waited for the drone tanks to get into position, and shrieked at Jesus as much as his sunken lungs allowed him. "Leave! Now! And never come back!"<br /><br /><br />(Almost done with Taylor's ending, FWIW)spiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882696241406815138.post-76256646217896553722016-03-27T18:14:14.154-07:002016-03-27T18:14:14.154-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.spiritplumberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11103152769766633350noreply@blogger.com