HAPPY EASTER!

Christ is Risen!

Here is one of my favorite icons, I think I've talked about it before, but a basic rundown is that icons aren't so much a snapshot or a portrait, the way western religious art is. They're more like symbolic depictions of many things at once. Here we have Christ's Resurrection, and he is also pulling Adam and Eve out of graves, or limbo. The doors of hell are broken down and under them is an old man, Death. Reminds me of the hymn we sing at Divine Liturgy during Paschal time.

 

Christ is risen from the dead,

By death He conquered death,

and to those in the tomb He granted life

 

I hope you all had a wonderful and joyous Easter! :D

And also enjoy this marvelous piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov!



Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray [1847]

A lot of people dislike this book because pretty much ALL the characters are deeply flawed. I would like to direct these people to the book's subtitle- A Novel Without a Hero.
The story is very meandering and basically follows the lives to two women, Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley. Becky is clever and pragmatic, almost to the point of deviousness. Born from a poor family, she uses any means to better her situation. She is attractive, but not extremely so, and uses her wits to climb the social ladder. Amelia is on the other end of the spectrum. She is quiet, demure, and pretty much the model of a perfect 1815 wife. She was despised by readers even in her time for being apparently perfect, but when you really take a closer look at her character, she isn't really all that much better then anybody else.

My favorite character is Major William Dobbin, a rather ugly, but (mostly) steadfast and chivalrous man. He unfortunately spends pretty much all his adult life providing for Amelia and her child after she's widowed, but she doesn't seem to be the most attentive person, and doesn't notice the extent of his devotion.

My favorite thing about this book was the narrator. I think that if the narration had been your standard omniscient and anonymous narrator, I might not have loved reading it so much. Because this book was released in monthy serials, the narrator even says what people are saying to him about his story! And a lot of his observations are quite hilarious.

The Verdict: A-
A fun read, but quite a commitment, being over 600 pages long. Some people might find it tedious, I really like it though.

The Good Dinosaur [2015]

Okay. So let me start by saying that this is not a cutsey little fun romp movie. I know that the stylized animation of the dinosaurs makes them look kind of land-before-timey, but this is kind of a mature movie! Not saying that it's not fine for kids, because it's a great family movie, but smaller children might be a little freaked out.
The Good Dinosaur gets a lot of flak, and I think that this is because it was unfortunate enough to come right after a masterpiece like Inside Out. Inside Out was, in my opinion, a better film, but that doesn't mean that The Good Dinosaur isn't still an above-average movie!
First off, the animation is beautiful. Nothing short of amazing. Inside Out looked amazing, but it was mostly set in a metaphysical realm that is pretty alien to us viewers. Here, the setting is much more familiar- nature! It looked really amazing, almost photo-realistic. To offset the photorealism though, the characters are classic Pixar stylized. A lot of people thought that the cartoony characters looked silly in the midst of all the intricately animated backgrounds, but I wouldn't sacrifice the gorgeous backgrounds.
Most computer animated films have 'that one scene' that shows off the movie's aesthetic in a showstopping way. Let it Go from Frozen, I See the Light from Tanged, Wall-E and EVE dancing, etc. Here, there is a gloriously beautiful, but also very, very simple scene of a father and son playing with fireflies.
The characters were nice. The supporting characters were a little one note, but they were likeable one note. And besides, this really is Arlo's story. Arlo is the titular 'Good Dinosaur', and he's about preteen aged, and has some serious problems with fear. The story is all about how he is forced by circumstance not only to grow up, but also to face his fears and break free from anxiety and grief. It was very moving, and it's treatment of sadness and anxiety reminded me of Inside Out.
I love to see a movie that treats these kinds of things thoughtfully and seriously, not just some flaw that gets fixed in the last ten minutes of the movie without any real resolution.
The music gave the film a very Appalachian or Frontier flavor (there are even cow-herding Dinos at some point!), and I really liked it!

The Verdict: A-
Though the parent-dies-tragically-and-child-must-grow-up thing is getting a little old on kids movies, this was still a very moving film. There was a brilliantly bittersweet scene that resolved a storyline without even having any dialogue! True Pixar magic, that.
Content Advisory: Some bloodless violence and intense scenes. Fine for kids who don't freak out easily.

Lent, Feelings, and Hating Stuff

So it's Lent, and you're supposed to improving yourself and getting closer with God during this special time of preparation.
Which of course, is why I have been struggling with bad feelings for two solid weeks. Part of it is rough times at orchestra and the new school I started at (and my piccolo which arrived in the mail pre-broken for me). The other part is that I'm terrible at dealing with bad feelings.
At orchestra I'm jealous and mopey. At school I'm highly defensive about everything.

Though seriously, next person to make a Monica Lewinsky joke about my name gets my piccolo up their nasal pathways. *

But that's aside the point, and jamming stuff up noses never solved anything.
The point I'm trying to make is that your feelings don't matter, it's how you behave from them. I think that C.S. Lewis puts it better then anybody else.

"Don't bother too much about your feelings. When they are humble, loving, brave, give thanks for them; when they are conceited, selfish, cowardly, ask to have them altered. In neither case are they you, but only a thing that happens to you. What matters is your intentions and your behaviour."

I have a lot of trouble not acting on negative feelings. But it's half that battle just knowing that your feelings are not your fault. I think during Lent it's especially important to avoid acting impulsively on your bad feelings.
Maybe God was thinking "Monica (by the by Monica is an AWESOME NAME) needs to work on her attitude. I think this Lent we'll work on that by sending some trials that test how you act on bad feelings."
With that C.S. Lewis quote in mind, feelings don't seem so threatening or controlling anymore. It's easier said then done, but I think this time of year is the best time for working on how you react to trials.

*But seriously, is that uncalled for or WHAT!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!? All I did was introduce myself and that's the first thing you say! Oh well. I still like you, dude, you just seem kind of clueless about what's tastefully funny. Stay Frosty.

Still Life: Lent

Lent seems far away, then suddenly it's coming right up.

Modern Faerie Tales (Part One: The Ones that Stink)

Nowadays when faerie tales are told, either as movies, books, shows, whatever- they are quickly deconstructed and presented as quaint and inherently flawed (don't forget sexist!).

I'm thinking about Frozen, with it's smug rebuttal of the traditional Disney Love at First Sight (it's almost like they looked at their previous films and thought “Screw Uncle Walt! We're Progressive!”). I'm thinking about Once Upon A Time, with it's poor, overdone attempts to make Snow White and Prince Charming interesting and conflicted characters. There's also Shrek (I remember liking the first one, but I admit it fits into the dysfunctional Faerie Tale category), Into the Woods, How to Train Your Dragon, Maleficent (another 'F--- You' from modern Disney to poor Walt) the list goes on and on.

In our cynical society, people are kind of put off by a straight up traditional faerie tale. But I think that that is a side effect of forgetting what the traditional faerie tales actually were.

Way back when, Faerie Tales were mostly a way to scare kids into being good. They were filled with dismemberment, deaths, horrible and graphic jinxes, and not always a happy ending. Or at least, they didn't have the modern definition of a happy ending. Most old western Faerie Tales were influenced by Christianity, which meant that the ultimate happy ending wasn't getting married and ruling a beautiful kingdom full of happy subjects- but dying a good, Christian death and attainting eternal sainthood with God in Heaven.

 

Most of these postmodern Faerie Tales don't have that kind of ending, of course. Even though their packaging and themes are cynical and deconstructive, you'll be hard pressed to find one with a less than jubilant ending! There's never ever a compromise for the hero, no victory that costs the hero something dear. That's because in a more secular world, death for the hero is the worst thing that can possibly happen.

Postmodern Faerie Tales are usually made up of the following elements.

- A misunderstood hero. They are snubbed by others because they are 'different'- but of course in the end, everyone who hated them is either (rightfully) dead, or worshipping the ground they walk on. BECAUSE EVERYONE IS SPECIAL, ESPECIALLY ME!!!

-The hero who is a total rebel. This is a variation on the above. Here is the hero who is always breaking the rules (because the rules were made by stupid, patriarchal MEN of course!), but once again, in the end said hero is revered precisely because of this rule breaking. Because part of this happy ending is everyone becoming enlightened enough to see the error of their ways. And if they don't, they can get killed off. And that's another thing! How come in modern faerie tales (scratch that, most fiction), people who don't agree with the hero about everything always are demonized? I mean, come on!

-Ahem. Let's not forget the faux-love interest. Here is your typical prince charming- except that he's NOT, and will eventually be revealed to be a total scumbag or worse- a homicidal maniac. DON'T TRUST ANYONE, GIRLS!!!

-Kung Fu Princess! Because women are USELESS when they aren't trying to emulate men! Forget exploring what is special about your femininity, and just be a man in a dress! I'm not against fighting princesses (Merida! Princess Leia!), but when that is all you have to your character- being feisty and good at punching things- you're a boring character. Male or Female.

-If this postmodern faerie tale happens to be a remake or reimagining, characters who were good in the original will either be at best, blundering idiots, or at worst, evil and nutty. I'm not saying this can't be cleverly or interestingly done. I don't like Once Upon a Time, but even (the stone hearted) I couldn't help but be really into the 3rd season with it's maniacal Peter Pan and his Lost Boy cult. You just have to be careful when employing this trope.

 

So with all that having been said, are there any new, original modern faerie tales that are actually good, and won't make me spit venom like I have been the entire post?
Turns out- yes! Definitely!
But we'll be saving those for the next post, because this one is already long enough!
Stay frosty, my friends.

Still Life: Armando

The good ones always are... ;D

Stay frosty, my friends.