For those of you who read my last entry, you can stop backing away and put down the white coats. There's no link between these two (this time).
It's just what I've been up to lately.
First of all, the local library lends out DVDs. Their collection is kind of limited and most of the time things are either a) on loan or b) reserved (or, of course, c) both). But still, I managed to come across a fair few items that I hadn't seen, wanted to see again, or didn't even know existed.
I've come across two or three anime pieces there, so far. One's Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. All about vampires and alternate histories filled with loads of weird and wonderful monsters.
The other was Earth Maiden Arjuna, which I picked up because I thought the huge bow she was holding was cool (and it was, too).
The last one looked good, especially as it wasn't just a one-shot, so I've now got volume 2 reserved (in line after someone else, so it might take a while).
I started making some comparisons, though. What is it about anime that has them create so many messed-up heroes?
First and foremost, there's Kira (?) from EVA (Neon Genesis Evangelion). Now that was one really, really messed up kid (worse, after watching Arjuna I had the theme song from EVA stuck in my head).
Then there's Heero from Gundam Wing. Total headcase there.
Kira from Gundam Seed wasn't a headcase, he was a basketcase.
And now the young lady from Arjuna?
Anyway.
Besides from that, I went out to a driving range with my Dad recently, just after my birthday. (For the uninitiated, a driving range is where you practice golf without having to walk around chasing your ball all the time.)
It was the first time in over eight years I'd picked up a club. Surprisingly, not only didn't I do too bad, but right at the end (I hit perhaps 70-80 balls in total) I managed to get the hang of things and put one ball 100 ft (or is it yards?) away exactly where I'd been aiming for the whole time. The other nine or so of the last lot also went straight thataway.
Then over the last two days I've run into the other side of that, '...first time in eight years...' Aching muscles in back, knees, legs. I must have been gripping the club harder than I thought, becausethe tendons around my thumbs are rather more unhappy with me than the rest of me.
Funny, that--it all felt fine when I was doing it...
Yes, there is a connection between the three, if you don't mind listening (well, reading) to a little bit of a rant from one person's point of view.
If so, you know where to click. Don't say I didn't warn you up front.
ter·ror·ism (n.):
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
The calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear. (WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University)
That was two of the four results that Dictionary.com turned up. (Thank you, Grissy, and if you'd be so kind as to tell me how to properly display dictionary entries in HTML?) I do note that the second puts much more emphasis on what today's terrorists seem to prefer--civilian targets rather than "legitimate" military targets.
Oh, but hang on. They're not terrorists (and for calling them such here I should be hiding my URL from all the politically-correct people out there). They're activists. Or militants. Or whatever the P.C. euphanism of the hour is. How dare we call them by such a tainted name when all they're doing is fighting for a cause? How dare we actually take up arms and try our best to kill them for what they've done? 9/11 was caused by American provocation (Bin Laden even said so himself!) and if the US would just back off and leave the terrorists (sorry, militants) alone, then they would be quite happy to leave the US alone (Bin Laden said that, too).
So, say the apologetics, the US should get out of the war. Out of the Middle East, out of the whole peace process and terror-fighting business. Go and sit on the side and just let all the militants (see, I remembered this time!) do what they want. And in Israel, the government should just give everything back to the Palestinians and go meekly back to their indefensible 1967 borders (Did I get the year right? Or do they want them to go back to the 1948 borders?) and then say, "Okay, we appeased you and did what you wanted. Now we have peace, right?"
Right.
Now, go have a look at the latest novel in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's called Naked Empire.
Now, I'm not going to put any spoilers here for those who haven't read it. But if you think the above rant is even slightly right, please do go take a look at it. It's a rather large book, but it does help give some serious perspective on this issue that society at large (worldwide, I mean) is facing today.
Good one, Terry. If even half of the people who read this book get this message, you've done a heckuva job.
Although I'd seen this film in the cinemas quite some time ago, I thought it was about a little girl who got kidnapped or something. So when I saw it on the library's DVD shelf, I picked it up without all that much interest.
I read the back. Hmm...not about a girl getting kidnapped, but about a girl who suddenly sees spirits?
I took it, thinking that it wouldn't be too bad.
(How bad can anime get, after all? Then, thinking of it...Eva was pretty bad. Not bad bad, just messed-up bad.)
Anyway, I saw it last night. Got only one word to say:
Wow.
Happy birthday to me!
I'm now a quarter of the way to 100 ;)
Argh!
Stuff keeps coming in faster than I can keep up with it. I just did another clean-up, and noted a rather, rather offensive bit that would have locked me out of the whole mt.confusticate.com domain if I'd have logged in from the library.
Do any of you know how I can easily ban some of the stuff that comes in? Or, Jeremy--is it at all possible to have a button that allows you to add a comment's IP directly to your banned list AND delete it at the same time?