Aunt Em! Aunt Em!

There's this girl in my mythology class that sits in front of me most days. She looks strikingly (or, perhaps, disturbingly) like Judy Garland. Is it wrong that I expect her to come to class wearing a blue dress, or that I suspect she's going to shout "Toto!" and run out of class at any moment?

Rash Decision

I bought a new guitar today.

Ahhh.... youth

Back in elementry school they used to do seminars about why smoking is bad for you. they handed out stuff like low-quality stickers that had the no smoking symbol on them. The ink wasn't applied very well, and the eraser on the end of a HB pencil could take it off teh sticker paper. I used to erase the cross bar of red that runs through the circle, so i was left with a cigarette surrouned by a red ring, which in some twisted way confused the symbols and made the no smoking sticker into a smoking sticker.

Yeah, I was a badass in grade four.

I thought of all the stupid things I've done

Coldplay might be a lot of sad bastard music, but I have to admit that at this exact moment, listening to the song Trouble, I might have discovered how to articulate a truth I've been trying grasp for the better part of seven months. I've been selfish, and I guess I should do something about that. Thanks Chris Martin.

White Noise

We were supposed to have read White Noise by Don DeLillo last week. Naturally, I just got around to it today-ish. I feel like anybody who has ever been mystified or interested in the strange ways of this post-modern era we live in should read this book. The fourteen year old, Heinrich, is a cynical idealist who attempts to debase anything that could be shown as real just because he can. It's awesome. Murray, a university professor who is gearing up to teach a course on car crash movies, spends his time wandering around and studying modern culture like an anthropologist - watching TV to decipher some sort of code, questioning children to try and figure out how they think - asking to proform the heinlich maneover on a prostitute....

In short, this book is awesome. I recommend it.

Dork dork dork.

I re-read Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince this weekend (if you haven't read the book yet, just skip the rest of this post). I'm a big dork you see, and I like Harry Potter books, and I figured this one, which sort of settled into the spot of my favourite one pretty quickly deserved some close reading attention. I forced myself to slow down and pay attention to little details. I was also armed with the inside knowledge that the barman at the Hog's Head is actually Aberforth Dumbledore, the headmaster's brother. It makes the parts where he's mentioned more interesting.

Anyhoo, I had a genuine point to bring up about the climax of this novel. As you all know (since only people who have read the book are bothering to read this) at the end of the story, Severus Snape murders Albus Dumbledore, completing the job that Draco Malfoy had been given by Lord Voldemort. Snape made an unbreakable vow with narcissia malfoy - saying he would help her son accomplish his task of killing dumbledore. If snape did not do so, he would die.
As we all know, many people in the Order of the Pheonix and many students at Hogwarts did not trust snape. Dumbledore never explained why. The reasoning seems to be, however, that Snape felt genuine remorse for being the one who told Lord Voldemort of the prophecy that would cause harry to be marked as the dark lord's equal. Whether this is the actual reason or not remains to be seen.
The point I am arriving at, however, is that all of the charactes believe Snape a betrayer of the Order of the pheonix because he murdered Dumbledore. I belive the opposite. I belive for Snape to continue doing his job (mainly: telling the order of the dark lord's plans) it was necessary for him to kill dumbledore.
The first and most obvious argument against my idea is that snape, having apparently betrayed the order, would have no way to communicate with them anymore. I'll confess this is a strong argument - however, I expect that there could easily be some sort of anonnymous communication put into place. This is a moot point and entierly speculative - you'll just have to trust that the rest of the evidence seems to point towards my theory.
There is another outstanding antithesis that could be posed. Hagrid overhears dumbledore and snape arguing and reportedly hears snape saying that he does not wish to continue doing something. It is never specified what that is - I believe that this point is inserted to make the reader sympathise with harry potter's views. That is to say, Rowling is setting up an interesting twist - all through six novels, snape has been suspected of being evil. Then, in the sixth, it seems that this is proved as true. It must be remebered, however, that except for the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first chapter of the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and the first two chapters of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the entier narrative is focalised through Harry Potter's eyes. This means we are always subject to Harry's bias, even when his friends disagree with him. All evidence seems to point towards Snape's guilt in betraying the order, but we are not aware of what Snape and Dumbledore actually knew, nor are we likely to know until the next book comes out.
There is no doubt in my mind that Snape has killed Dumbledore. I belive that this action was necessary in the structure of the narrative to make Harry accept his fate of having to face Voldemort. Some believe that Dumbledore isn't really dead (I heard an interesting - albeit flawed - theory about a horcrux) - I'm not here to dispute that point - I will withhold judgement until the end of the series. Let us assume, however, the there is no way that dumbledore will come back to life (as much as we might want him to).
Dumbledore was aware of Malfoy's attempts to kill him. How would dumbledore have have known of this plan? The book seems to suggest that the only people aware of the plan are bellatrix lestrange, narcissa and draco malfoy, severus snape and lord voldemort himself. More death eaters become aware of the plan when they invade hogwarts, obviously, but there is no textual evidence to show that they were aware of the plan at the beginning of the novel. The most logical conclusion is that Snape himself told dumbledore of the plan. Upon taking the unbreakable vow, snape made a decision that allowed him to remain in proper service of dumbledore's cause. Snape, perhaps, is one of the most intellegent and accomplished wizards in the series besides Voldemort and Dumbledore themselves. It is because of this, perhaps, that dumbledore trusted him to make this sort of decision. In fact, this is of course pure conjucture, but I would reason to guess that Dumbledore knew some way of saving snape from the unbreakable vow. Alas Snape kills dumbledore. It is important to note that snape was infront of five death eaters when this happened. He could not back down from the job, he needed to maintain his position as a double agent, working for the order (not against it).
Dumbledore pleads with snape not to kill him. Or so it seems... He never says "don't kill me." Need I note that Dumbledore himself says of Nicholas Flammel in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that "death, to a well organised mind, is nothing but the next great adventure" (or something to that effect). Does Dumbledore, then fear death at all? Was he pleading for his life? It seems unlikely, since he just consumed a potion that might have killed him eventually anyway. Furthermore, he risked death before the narrative when he destroyed the horcrux that was the ring. Dumbledore was no stranger to the danger of death, so why would he plead for his life? Perhaps the answer is that he is only human, but something doesn't quite sit right still.
Furthermore, consider, if you will, how dumbledore puts himself at draco malfoy's mercy. It is evident that Dumbledore does not need a wand to preform magic, much as young wizards, in times of distress, do not. Why then could he not disarm Malfoy? The answer, of course, is that he did not want to. With just Dumbledore, Malfoy and Harry up on the tower, Malfoy could have been stopped. If malfoy had be stopped, then so could have the death eaters and Snape.
Let us turn to Snape's escape. Throughout the entier time snape does not bother to touch one memeber of the order of the pheonix and only (apparently) puts an impediment jinx on professr flitwick. Why would he so brazenly avoid hurting anybody (hagrid and harry in particular, as he must get past them both to escape from the school and he likes neither of them) Harry potter accuses snape of being a coward for killing dumbledore and running. Snape does not take well to this. He shouts "Do not call me a coward" when his face is contorted in rage instead of the smirk that harry expects. Why is snape so mad at harry? well, first off, harry is hated by snape, but also, snape has just done something very brave - he has killed the leader of the order of the penix, turning the same against himself, so he can continue to operate against the dark lord. he is now in danger of being found out by voldemort and being killed there, and in danger of being found by the order and killed there. That is why he does not want to be called a coward - because it is not true.
Historically, as well, snape has been proven to be not evil. Let's take this evidence as precident.
Do you see where I'm going with this argument? Snape, not evil.

Damn it! I overthought Harry Potter. AGAIN!

Doctor Ox

I went to go and see a stage adaptation of Jules Verne's The Experiment of Doctor Ox tonight. To tell you the truth, I'm not entierly sure that is the original name of the text, but that's what the play is called. It was a charming story, and I must admit I rather enjoyed it. It wasn't the greatest of plays, but I've personally been in much worse (*coff*Hamlet cha cha cha*un-coff*). There were a number of scenes where the narrator (an excellent character - who was indeed sort of doctor Ox himself - same actor) spoke of the odd effects of Doctor Ox's experiment. Essentially, the most boring town in the world becomes filled with passion - not only the people, but even the animals and the plants! There is one rather humorous scene where a sheep pulls a knife on a shepherd and they proceed to have a knife fight.

The sheep pulled a knife on the shepherd!

I mean, c'mon, how is that not awesome?

A success

Tonight at the REZ-olution open mic teh Singapore Noodles played. That's be the band that is half my house. It nearly didn't happen. We spent the afternoon seething in anger and shouting at each-other. It however appears that since we held no bars during our argument and came through it with a sort of new understanding, we managed to play successfully. Ryan thought it was band on. For my part, I think the others did well under the circumstances. Mike played the guitar very well for having pnemonia, ryan hit the bass just fine and Dan the drummer whom I have never met played just fine for a)not having had much practice at all and b)not being able to hear anything during the show. My singing was far from on form, but I'll defend myself and say I couldn't hear what I was doing.
We pulled out the old spoken word tricks and I read the audience a newspaper article about Dan Brown.
A lot of people stopped us to say they enjoyed the set. This is good, but I think I cna do better.

However, I played solo tonight as well. For this preformance I feel I did well. I hit the notes, my voice didn't break like it did at the last open mic and things were sung clearly. Afterwards, people said they liked my stuff, which was heartening, and I was asked to play at the art show on april sixth. So, if you happen to be in Scarborough area on the sixth, you can see me play. Hurrah! With my newfound confidence, perhaps, I endevour to say, it won't suck?

Pirates ARE cool! And I have the graph to prove it!

My sister brought this to my attention:

http://www.venganza.org/piratesarecool4.jpg

Pirates are cool. Math says so.

Gmail Spam

I was reading some Gmail Spam for amusment value, and I thought i might share it with you.
This text sounds sort of like a post-modern poem, but a little more fun. Read it out loud, and make sure to impose the proper tones of voice for question marks. Enjoy!

SAD TO HAVE SHORT D1CCK, BIGGER 2" NOW AT LOW letters

anything benefit immediate anybody latter. slow young again.carefully love you immediate bought. sugar reply side, evening he profession rich immediate.goes tying friends off. next night wife or am. am fascinate fly wrong.principle light social music? somewhere reading very young. fire did miserable.turning taught least appearance disappoint appearance. drew you news.

-Theo Theodora

CHEEAP WAY TO BIGGER UR SHORT & THIN D11CK fascinate

purpose light news hard? my fascinate next disappoint?prison fire latter.here find promised profession. anybody mischievous window fire prison. very sugar added appearance mentioned,shining you reference similar fascinate next,studied happened motor shining. evening the he, news reading suddenly mischievous thus mischievous.

-Tamiko Charlsie

XP PRO, OFFICE 2003 AND ALL AT ONLY $12-60 EACH, WE GIVE U LICENSE appearance

raise whom added the appearance back.motor light appearance night raise? why prison across. hard bad nothing you commit disappoint.edge few mentioned pride immediate leader. taught thus back. steps not respect.love across social. letters leader mischievous.again how promised reading, servants force prison fascinate she,

-Georgianne Norene

I hope you enjoyed these profound works of poetic genius as much as I. Until next time, goodevening, and keep an eye on that spam.

I'm living my life by the smell of the seasons

There is something about different times of the year that causes me to feel sort of strange. I've been thinking about this for years, because the way that seasons make me feel always makes me want to write. It's weird, but every fall, in that time when the air gets crisp and the whole world turns gold, I get this feeling in my heart like I shoudl be somewhere else. It doesn't matter where, I just feel Like I should be travelling. Going on adventures. Finding new things that are interesting in this huge world we live in. In my mind, the best way to express the feeling si to call it the wanderlust. It's a little difficult to capture the idea behind it, and I've tried, oh lord, you know I've tried. Any feeling strong enough I will try to capture in writing. The key to my writing, you see, is that any story I write, i try to pour a little bit of myself into. Take, for example, the story I'm writing right now (almost literaly as we speak - assuming of course that this is a conversation). As with most things I write, there is no real title, not yet, and when I do pick one, it'll be arbitrary. This story, isn't related to that fall feeling I get, no, this one is attached to that feeling I get in the spring time - the feeling like I should be in love with somebody. I know this post isn't flowing well, I'll be honest, I'm a little drunk (there was a suana party, beers were had, high temperature and humidity - it all goes to your head, you see). Sometimes, in the spring, i get this feeling like there should be a significant other in my life. and I have to admit, it's hitting me hard this year for some reason. I haven't felt like this for years and years - not since grade 11, in fact (that'd be the spring of 2002). A good way to deal with these baseless emotions are to ground them somewhere - so I took a real experience I once had - metting an old friend on a bus from toronto to home and asked myself: what if? What if i were somebody different, and so was she? In essence, what if we were both two completely different people. So, although this story is based loosely in the true event of running into somebody on the bus home from teh city, the parralells to my life end there. To somehow exorcise the misplaced emotions, I write about some people who aren't real, and how they lived through a relationship that, although seemingly okay, the reader knows is doomed to failure (It's a retrospective, you see).
The thing is, unlike most stories I write about thsi sort of subect (such as Oh Shit or only words), the ending isn't as sad as one might expect. The truth is, in the end of this one, although there is no romantic love to be had between teh characters, there is indeed a resolution that is somewhat more cheerful than abandonment and loss of love. Trust me. It's not a bad deal altogether. there was another point, but I'm at a loss as to what it was (Mike and I had to deal temporarily with a drunk girl) so yes...

that was my rambling about what I'm writing about these days.

Oh yeah! It's all about the connections. This new story I'm writing, well, it takes what some might have suspected already and solidfies it into a cohesive unit - all of these stories are set in the same fictional town. So, this allows me to bring Sven Reid Thompson, Gordon Matthews, Edwin and this new guy (named John) into the same movie theatre at the same time. Oh the terrible fun of recycling characters and having them all exist in the same arena! Hurrah!

I don't belong to you, you see

I'm currently working through a severe addiction to David Gray's Say Hello Wave Goodbye. Such a terribly sad song. Such a terribly good song.

Yes, I would venture to say...

Also cool: Robots!

Observe some robots I have recently Drawn (they are no doubt related to The Robot Senators of Mars)

Emo-bot



VLAD-BOT

Dear John Locke

How many times can you say "labour increases the value of land" in chapter Five of the Second Treatise on Government? Five? Ten? I'd count, but something tells me it'd be pointless, seeing as you just keep repeating your point with new examples. Oh well, you're the famous political philosopher, not me, so I guess you can get away with it. But I have to tell you, if you were handing this paper in, and I was a T.A, I'd dock you points for repition of the same point. I might give you the worst mark imaginable: A minus ... minus!

Hurrah!

At the end of The Clash of the Titans there is a scene where Persius throws Medusa's head into the ocean. Pegasus springs out of the water, flies around for a minute and then lands on this spire of rock. The whole city is there and everybody cheers when the flying horse lands.

"Hurrah! It's a flying horse!"

"You fucking disapoint me"

This lyric from A Perfect Cirlce's "Passive" has, for some, come to describe the album eMOTIVE overall. As far as A Perfect Cirlce goes, the album is rather disapointing - it doesn't shape up to other stuff they've made. It sounds rushed, and it's 90% covers of old songs. It seems that they took quite songs and made them loud, and took loud songs and made them quiet. Fans everywhere said "boo" and some fans, here and there, says "yay."

I wasn't sure where I stood. I liked the album, but it didn't feel like it had staying power. But, in retrospect the song "What's going on" had proved to remain very good. as far as airy quite songs go, I really like it.

Just thought you should know.

Thrills: the gum that tastes like soap

I was in the bulk barn buying some chocolate covered peanuts today. Standing in line I saw packages of Thrills. A flood of fond memories about chewing thrills in the days of my youth overcame me, and I almost bought a pack. But then I didn't, because I remembered how gross they are.

If you can get past the initial soapy taste, however, after about a minute they just taste like sugar.

A note about future life

The powers that be here at UTSC have decided to organise an open mic (and just when I was going to go ask if I could organise one for them... hmm... strange).

Needless to say, because of the proximity of this open mic to my house, I will be playing a song or two by myself, and the band that is the guys I live with and Mike-on-a-Bike will probably also make an apperance. Apparently I'm going to be singing for this band-in-constant-flux now. Strange days, strange days indeed.

It's on March 16th, which is a thursday, but hey, it shoudl be fun. Check it out if you like, we can all have beers at my place when it's over.

Notes about recent life

So I played at an open mic the other night. Things didn't go as well as they could have, perhaps, but enought happened that it has solidified my spirit and I will return to the stage with dignity even if there is not very much grace involved. My singing was off, as I expected it would be. It appears that all my practicing could not cause me to avoid this. Alas, I still played. Next time perhaps I will play some songs that I have more confindence in. The Orpheus Progression, a much loved tune, but difficult for me to sing in the best of conditions. Alas, so it goes.

(A side note to version Two-Point-Oh: I unfortunetly had to leave before the Dead Elm Society of Canada. I also missed You Know Him. Sad times, but the University of Toronto at Scarborough is a long haul from York)

This morining I was viciously attacked by a migraine and had to miss mythology - which pissed me off because we were learning the Myths of Argos and we were supposed to watch a clip from Clash of the Titans. Ah well... next time I guess.

By a twist of fate, my OSAP has still not arrived, so I am living the poor life, but eating surprisingly well. I went to my brother's house yesterday and we did a bunch of nothing - lazed about and feasted upon the gourmet food that he did provide. We had tomato soup and tuna melts for lunch and roast for dinner. It kicked ass, partly becuase it tasted good, partly because I didn't have to cook it and partly because I didn't have to clean up, either. In retrospect, I probably should have helped Kevin out with the dishes, but... well, you know. There were also video games played and some episodes of CSI watched.

I have a quiz on the gospels of Matthew and Luke tomorrow. I guess I should get back to that Oxford New Revised Standard Version Bible (College Edition).