The Tail of the Desperadaux

Why do animated films about mice have the word "tale" in the title? It just confuses children! I earnestly thought it was gonna be another one of those "fievel goes west" films or something--until I watched the trailer, which looked promising, maybe even engaging. The animation looked decent, if not near-realistic, and the plot, though fantastical, showed promise. Ah! You've guessed it-- I'm only building up all this hype about how I thought it might be all that good ... and was disappointed. Such was The Tale of Desperaux.
The whole first half, I kept internally groaning over the fact that it was just another underdog story, which was more like a peoplehatemecuzI'mdifferentbutI'mactuallybetterthanallofthem story. Another way to tell the kid's "It's okay to be different, even if no one undersands you, because in another dimension, you're awesome. Go find a princess and save her life!" I mean, on the one side, sometimes it's okay to say things like that, and people do need to learn to see things from different people's point-of-view instead of begging them to be like everyone else, for shame or other reasons. But it doesn't mean, also, that they are meant to set off on a Quixotic quest to prove the world wrong, bring back soup and get the girl. The truth is, Don Quixote remained misunderstood and repented of his madness! --i suppose the message is that he was wrong...
And it's another...um...what was I gonna say? Oh, right. it's another story challenging the interpretation of reality. I'm not even going to go on about the author's obscure construction of reality... or the impertinent side-story of the lost daughter. I can't really say that I revile happy endings. There are narratives of epic proportions that the warm resolution is the epitome of ecstasy in the reader--they make you sit up and bug out your eyes and breathe heavily and hope to death that it'll all, indeed, end well.
Like many animated films, the climax didn't really live up to the word, because there was no doubt that soup would return, and quite frankly I could care less--the standards, the goals of the characters were so banal, so immaterial to greatness, that I did not care if the conflict was resolved or not. The author(s) brought the parallel between human life and a animal-human interaction to such an absurd level that I could not sympathise with all of the characters. The nearest I got was the rat whose name I could never make out. He was different--not because he was born that way, but because he was from a different place than the rats he was forced to live with--he was something of a TCK, I guess. He caused a problem and hid away for ages out of fear and the conception that he, a rat, was too small to make a difference in the senseless legislation of royal humanity. He undergoes the most astonishing change through the film. First he is just plain clumsy, and basically driven by his animal impulses--don't account for the fact that he is an animal; what happened to suspension of disbelief. What sets sea rats--one of which our friend with the strange name is--apart from under-city rats is the ability to not be completely gross and evil--bringing to mind the mice/rats in Ratatouille--and their sensitivity to indirect sunlight. Under-city rats revile any form of light from above ground and will scamper away like well behaved mice inder its menacing beams. He can't stand these evil rats--even though he inexplicably has some sort of political power or advantage among them--and voluntarily ostracises himself in their deep lair with a little whole in the wall to look at the gloomy sky. He ends his time of isolation when he learns of the brave little mouse and becomes a "gentleman" with him. So Sancho Panza is tall and guilt-ridden, not short and fat. He tries to solve his problem the gentleman's way--but fails to bridge the rat-human divide (for some reason) and only makes things worse. At this point, he is gripped with insatiable but very focused wrath, driving him to kidnap the (human) princess by manipulating the irrational megalomania of a poor peasant girl. Then he sees the brave little mouse in action again and is reconciled to good--frees the princess and the world is a better place. No wait...it's only better because the cook randomly decided to make soup again, which tirggered nature to go back to its happy state.
Phew! So, the plot had more holes than pumice and I didn't care for the nuances of the message they were communicating--oh, and the animation was . . . ungraceful, and the stylization did not suit my fancy. It looks like something I could have written. But it's been "printed" to the silver screen and they can't take it back, now.
I watched this film last night and basically wrote this as I watched it. In my head. I think I got the jist of it down. I was gonna say more, but it's not that important. I do recommend the film; even if it's just to see how right I was--huehuehuahuhue.hu..hugh....

what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear

God made for us a new covenant in Christ.
"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
"No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
I read this passage in Hebrews 8 yesterday and it struck me. This quotation that the author used shows a definitive break point from the old covenant with the Jews. It's amazing, to me, to think that God said he would write it on our hearts--we don't need to tell each other about it; you don't need to sharpen it and hold it over your neighbor's head! I can't wait till that day when we will, indeed, all know the Lord! And finally, our wickedness forgiven! Remember our sins no more--what a prospect! My only question is whether this covenant is what has already been established by Jesus' death and resurrection, or will it be brought in by the second coming? The passage goes on...
"By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear."
It is explicitly set in present tense, showing that it's already done! He HAS made it obsolete. It is no more. It is our utmost joy that we don't have to wait for that forgiveness, for that covenant to pass on: it's obsolete! I really don't know what to add...
On a more worldly note, today, I had the chance to go back to Houghton and see who's there on mayterm or just hanging out and working. I loved catching up with those people--something I do so much better in person then over the internets here. I even got to see my roommate one last time before we each go our ways. My visit has given me the new desire to be back at school and see eveyone again, but that's still three months off...it's a good anticipation, I guess.
It' sbeen a long day and I still have some reading to do if I'm gonna get through my books before Sunday, so I'm off!

reader report

Well, I've gotten Frank Miller's Batman out of the way, and Neil Gaiman's first Sandman book, too. I got another Sandman from the library, along with Pratchett's Thud! and F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories. I'd forgotten my love for Fitzgerald's short stories, and I've figured out what I'll be reading for the summer, I think--depending on the library I find and how much time I really have to read things. I have to give back these books by the end of the week, but I will be delving happily into the moderns if all goes accoriding to plan.
I'll catch up on Fitzgerald shorts, then go on to Salinger's series and throw some more Graham Greene in for good measure. Then I'll take a poll on my spirits and see where I'll dabble next!
I'm also somewhat concerned for the current state of affairs in the world--that being that I don't know what it is. In other words, I don't know what's happening in the world, and it disconcerts me, so I will be catching up on world drama--I don't mean movie or soap stars, but WORLD drama, like between presidents and CEOs and what not.
Well, I guess I'll have to get on to the whole world drama thing later, cuz I need to get these books out of the way first--not to mention the wedding prep. that's going on. It's off to the dry-cleaners now!

quis custodiet ipsos custodes

Who's watching the Watchmen? They're watching themselves, of course. After just finishing the Alan Moore graphic novel, I'm nothing but shocked and impressed. It's a work that is exquisitely orchestrated and beautifully delivered. I was not greatly impressed by Dave Gibbons' illustration, to be honest, but I don't really have all that much experience with illustration. I guess Arkham Asylum doesn't really count, because it's so new. I guess for 1987 it's good. Anyhow, it's nothing really to complain about. It was an engaging book that I couldn't put down at all.
Today is also Becca's last day here, before she goes to prepare for her wedding next week. She won't be back, really. At her 'recognition ceremony' for finishing her nursing program, people spoke of the nostalgia of leaving each other behind and the prospect of moving on. She is miles ahead of where I am, that's for sure. We packed up her car, and had salmon and cheesecake. Now we watch Jeopardy. Becca's the one who's good at it, of course.
I got started on one of mom's books before I got the Watchmen and two others at the library. It's a David Baldacci one, supposedly not his usual type--not that I would know; I've never read anything of his. But after I get through that one, and the second Dark Knight and one of the Sandman novels, I don't know what I'll be reading. I've considered throwing in some more classics, like Dickens, or something. Maybe some Camus and Cummings thrown in. Who knows, really? I'll only really decide once I get there. Usually.

year 1, day 1.

It's a specific point in life that you've reached when you're walking through your parents' house and you think, "When I have my own place..." In my case the phrase ended, "my bathroom will have a window"--a descent light source. I'm at my parents' place, back from college, before I go to my sister's place, and finally on to a place that's almost my own. Summer life, I settled for any apartment I could get, so I could get a job.
I have no experience--no criteria for criticism, really. I don't know what good or bad rent is, or what good or bad flatmates will be. It's a new world full of mystery and novelty and mostly naivety. The place that I will most likely move into next month seems full of promise. I've only read about it and heard second-hand stories. I trust these accounts, and like what I've heard. Quite honestly, I don't know what else to expect from a place. You can't just ask what the emotional atmosphere of a house is.
They won't advertise their misgivings. That's why clever people pride themselves in discerning defects in people from little to no information. You see it in movies and TV shows--there's the tricky guy who reads someone's self-description online, "Oh, that guy's old, and she's fat, and you don't want to go near that guy 'cause he talks too nice--he just wants to rob you." But that's just criticism; I tend to be rather critical of criticism.
Well, I could keep going, but I'll stop here. This is my first post on my first blog, and I really have no direction for it. I basically intend it to be some sort of diary, and to cultivate my writing, of course. Help me get thinking of things, and what not. God only knows where this'll all end up, but that's not such a bad thing, either.