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The Upstairs Archives

~ A random repository of how-to-write and geekery, with an occasional snippet of accidental wisdom.

The Upstairs Archives

Monthly Archives: December 2014

Celebrity Meetings and Facebook Posts

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

fantasy, story dynamics, world building, wyverns

You can learn a lot about people (and by extension, how to write characters realistically) by looking at what they put on Facebook (or alternately, tweet or post on their blogs.) Think about it. What do the great bulk of posts tend to include?

Complaints. An occasional kudos. Or sometimes, fangirling.

People only tend to notice things when they’re out of the ordinary, or they get noticed by celebrities (this second one is called “cool by association.”) I call it “The Rule of Non-Observance.”

If the broom is in its place when you go to sweep up the glass from the cup that just broke, you complain about the cup, not the broom. However, if you have to go hunting through the house just to find the broom in order to clean up the mess, you notice, and then you complain more about the broom. (You know you do.)

On the other hand, if something is in place when it’s normally not and you go hunting through the house to find it, only to find it where it belongs, it gets your notice, doesn’t it? Because you just spent looking for something for ten minutes when it was really where it belonged the entire time.

People don’t notice things that aren’t out of the ordinary. However, they do take notice of their surroundings when they’re bored, or if they’ve only just arrived (alternatively, if the place is familiar, but has been recently remodeled.) People notice things that are out of the ordinary or new. Characters are much the same.

This same rule is also useful in world building as well. It can be effective for shock value, or it can illustrate the beliefs or what is normal to people in that world. For instance, in one fantasy world I’ve created, people don’t take much notice to baby wyverns playing in the streets of their city. Sure, they complain about them, but as long as the wyverns don’t go predatory or start thieving, they’re just like any other vermin.

To recap, people only notice things that are new or unusual. Use that to your advantage.

Enough said.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

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The Art of Allusion

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales from Selay'uu

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

avengers, baroness emma orczy, j.r.r. tolkien, marvel, selay'uu (sort of), star wars, story dynamics, the lord of the rings, the scarlet pimpernel, the silmarillion, worldbuilding

In literature, allusion is a reference to something that will be familiar to the audience; anything from a turn of phrase to a cultural icon, or even a mention of a familiar food. Allusion is a tool, used to anchor the readers and story in a certain time and place. It is also useful in creating its homophone: the illusion of a larger world.

Places like the galaxy far, far away and Middle-Earth are chock full of things that we never see, but are alluded to; “strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark”, for instance, or “Ancalagon the Black.” Each of these allusions gives us a tiny amount of information about the subject. We know that Ancalagon the Black was a dragon. They also hint at things; Ancalagon the Black must have been a very nasty dragon to merit the nickname “the Black,” and for Gandalf to mention him at that point in the story, he must have been familiar even to hobbits. This gives Ancalagon a bit of a reputation. Having read the Silmarillion, I don’t recall seeing what Ancalagon did, exactly. I do remember Glaurung–also a nasty piece of work–but he wasn’t technically a dragon, he just took the shape of one. Unlike many of the throw-away references in The Lord of the Rings, we didn’t learn much about Ancalagon in the Silmarillion. We didn’t learn anything more about Gundarks until the Clone Wars (which some people don’t accept as canon.)

Throw-away references that may or may not be built on later are important. While the reader probably won’t mentally flag them “THIS IS IMPORTANT!” unless they are a major fan of the book or the series, they do create the illusion that there’s a bigger world off-screen or off-page, and if you do bring them back later, it will be an “oh. OH!” moment for the reader as they recall that you slipped it into the text earlier. (Here’s a hint: if it is important to your plot in any way, slip it in early and bring it up at least once before you need it. That way it won’t fall on your readers’ heads out of a blue sky. That tends to drive people away.)

These allusions are also marvelous in creating a character with a past. Like the infamous tomato sauce incident (I thought I told you not to experiment in the kitchen, Will! The New World hasn’t been discovered yet!), or the moments when Halt or Crowley mention something that happened in their youth without telling the full story, these allusions also broaden a character, just as they broaden a world. You create jucier characters, which readers love, that way. It’s a win-win situation all around.

Would Araluen be so interesting if we weren’t curious about what might be lurking in Russia (the John R. Flanagan equivalent of it)? Okay, maybe that wasn’t a good example. 😛 But would the oliphaunts have made such an impact if we hadn’t been already curious about Harad, after Gandalf mentioned it and that it was nearly always warm there? Would we have been so eager to find out what happened at Budapest? What about Halt and Crowley’s friendship and how they became friends, or why Marguerite was acquainted with Chauvelin at all?

Insert random reference that builds into your world here.

Your readers will love you.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Remember how I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?

Yeah, and I threw up?

This isn’t payback, is it?

Now why would I do that?

(Virtual chocolate for anyone who knows that quote!)

Siúil A Rún

28 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

captain america: the first avenger, completed stories, fanfiction, ireland, irish culture, irish music, james joyce, marvel, short stories, song-related fiction, the dead

This is purely because Steve Rogers is of Irish descent (which I share), and the song is about star-crossed lovers. I would love an opinion on it. Also, if anyone knows if it’s official which county in Ireland the Rogers family is originally from, I’d greatly appreciate it. Writing a quasi-Christmasy story in honor of Joyce’s “The Dead.”

On to the story!


Siúil A Rún

                He was humming, singing something hesitatingly, very softly to himself, as she walked up to him, her boots crunching slightly on the new-fallen snow. She stopped and listened for a moment. It was a haunting, lilting melody, with a rising-and-falling pattern and an almost-abrupt end to each line. Peggy cocked her head. “What’s that?” Steve started and blushed, probably embarrassed at being caught.

“Oh, um… it’s an old Irish melody,” he stammered. “I was trying to remember the words.” Peggy smiled a little at his flustered expression.

“No, it’s all right,” she said. “What’s it about?”

“Lovers, separated by war. Mother used to sing it…” He looked down. “It doesn’t really suit. It’s a bit more dramatic than realistic… This time, all the women back home are fighting too. I’m sorry, Peggy, it’s just that… well, the way the wind is rattling the roof… It brought Ma back so vividly…”

“No, don’t apologize,” Peggy said. “What’s the rest like?” Steve blushed.

“I’m sorry. I really can’t—can’t sing.” She grabbed the lapel of his jacket.

“That’s what you think. Sing for me, soldier. That’s an order.” Blushing, Steve complied.

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rún

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

                Peggy listened quietly. Steve swallowed before going on to the next verse.

I wish I was on yonder hill

And there I’d sit and cry my fill,

And every tear would turn a mill

                “Strange…” Peggy said.

“I think that the words aim more to frame a picture than to make concrete sense.”

I’ll sell my rod, I’ll sell my reel,

I’ll sell my only spinning wheel,

To buy my love a sword of steel

                “I think the rod and reel represent her means of respectably feeding herself, and the spinning wheel means she’s giving up her only hopes for any sort of domestic peace,” Steve said thoughtfully. “These people are very poor, and they prefer concrete allusions in their poetry, rather than high, distant vague ones.” Peggy inclined her head to one side.

“I suppose it makes sense.”

I’ll dye my petticoats, I‘ll dye them red

And ‘round the world I‘ll beg my bread

Until my parents shall wish me dead

                “Does that mean she’ll be a camp follower?”

“I think she’s speaking of what will happen after her lover dies, which she fears is certain.”

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rún

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

                “I was wrong. This is the perfect song for now,” Peggy said.

“It doesn’t quite apply,” Steve said, inclining his head to cover his blush.

“Not to us, but there will always be tragedies in a war.” Peggy smiled. “You can sing, Captain Rogers. Don’t let anyone else ever tell you otherwise.”


Okay, still not sure about it, hopefully it’s acceptable.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

 

Glory Days

20 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 79 Comments

Tags

completed stories, fanfiction, marvel, short stories, the avengers

Umm, yes. I figured since I had this written, I might as well post it. It’s not Christmas themed, but it’s for the sake of the year’s wane. Sort of?

Warning: feels. Big time.

Listening to this as I wrote.

Enjoy!


Glory Days

                It was the last day.

The six heroes’ glory days were not yet over, despite the fact that the youngest (oldest?) of them was still showing silver threads shot through his hair. They wouldn’t stop, would not surrender.

And on that day, they stood together, against impossible odds—six against thousands—and prevailed.

Barton and Romanoff, inseparable until the end, stood back-to-back, regardless of wrinkles or aching muscles, scything a path to hellgates for their foes, one with her guns, the other with his bow.

The Hulk, regardless of the fact that Bruce Banner had begun to show signs of arthritis, was still smashing gleefully away.

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, regardless of their less-than-ideal start, fought side by side, covering each other’s weaknesses and reinforcing each other’s strengths, with the grace and ease of those who had fought side by side for a lifetime.

“This is probably our last fight, you know, Cap,” Iron Man said, striking down two of their assailants with one blow.

“I know,” Captain America replied calmly. He knew more than just that, more than he would let on. Tony wasn’t at all the way that he had been portrayed for much of his life. He didn’t like the sound of his own voice so much as he liked to know that he’d been heard. Despite the rough beginning of their friendship, the history that had threatened to drive them apart, they had succeeded in becoming the best of friends.

They were the Avengers. They were good at beating impossible odds. And today, they’d do it one last time.

“Bit sad to think we won’t be here to do this, to see the results of our good work, any more,” Stark continued. Rogers laughed.

“They have a saying, you know. ‘Any day is a good day to die, if you make it that way.’”

“It’s a good day to die,” Stark murmured.

Neither of them were really worried for the future; they didn’t feel any sadness, merely a sort of regret that they would not be there to see it. There were other heroes, ready to step in and do their part. They had fostered a legend, and that legend would never die.

And one by one, as they fell that day, not in pain or fear, but the peace of a job well done, Thor took them from the field of battle to write their names in the stars. The only one whom time would scarcely touch, he had known this day would come, and he was ready. With his long-since reconciled brother, he made a memorial to them that would last beyond the end of time.

They had claimed one last victory.

This was not the end. It was the beginning for another story.

This was the age of legends, of dragons and monsters and magic and myth. This was an age of miracles. It was the age of heroes.

It was just the start of their glory days.

Silliness, Part Two

19 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard, Uncategorized

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

bbc merlin, completely random posts, confusing nonsense, extremely random posts, humor, insanity, j.r.r. tolkien, rambling musings, randomness, silliness, the chronicles of narnia, the hobbit, the lord of the rings

Does anyone remember A Random Story, that silly take-a-turn writing piece I did back in January with two friends to pass the time as we headed back from the March for Life?

Well, here’s some more! With thanks to everyone at Mockingjay14’s birthday party. (The first part is mine, the second is Iris‘… it was her sister’s birthday party, anyway. 😉 ) Everyone took a turn at writing a little more onto a story, and each paragraph represents a different writer. Enjoy the silliness!


Once upon a time in a room full of dead ferns a man in black rose from purple moss and strode purposefully away. He threw a black sword into the black air with a black scowl and proclaimed, “WOOF!”

No, really, that wasn’t what he actually said… what he actually said was, “I summon thee, Dark One,” after which a cloaked figure appeared. The man was surprised by the Dark One’s short stature, and when he threw back his cloak, he turned out to be…

Bilbo in disguise! He was quite grumpy because he had lost all of his pocket-handkerchiefs. He had been searching for one when he had…

fallen down a cliff, meanwhile hitting his head, passing out, and rolled into the purple moss. He happened to be allergic to it, so…

his whole face swelled up, and he began to notice that it was becoming hard to breathe. So, he threw himself down, and took a nap.

Then, when he woke up, he suddenly felt an urge to eat circus peanuts when he saw…

an elephant who wanted peanuts as well. The elephant said, “I DON’T LIKE PURPLE!”

Bilbo ran away from the elephant because it was scaring him, but it chased him! Then a flying figure appeared above Bilbo. It was…

Fledge, with Merlin, Frodo, and Cor and Corin on his back and all of them were having a huge argument. Bilbo and everyone else…

decided to get as far away as possible. On the way, they ran into Tauriel. She saw Bilbo and said, “Aww, you poor little hobbit. Here, let me help.” Then she healed Bilbo, and they set off for the Shire. But if they ever got there or not, we’ll never know.


Author’s note: Erm… sorry about this. It’s been in my drafts for months. About five months, in fact. Apparently I lost it in my drafts–you’re just super fortunate I finally found it again. Always good for a laugh, right?

Thanks for reading, and God Bless! (Merry Christmas!)

 

A short rant on Star Wars episode VII…

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Uncategorized

≈ 31 Comments

Tags

disney, lightsabers, opinions, popular culture, star wars, weaponry

Sorry. I have no excuse for this. It’s not even a theoretic science entry. But, here we go anyway.

Disney’s new Sith Lord is a raving, blithering IDIOT!

They have this crossguard on their lightsaber that’s made up of two smaller lightsaber blades. There is NO END to the number of things that could go wrong with that! They are more likely to harm themselves than their opponent with that!!! If the blade gets pushed back on them, they could end up stabbing themselves in the gut!

There are lightsaber resistant metals out there. Why not build your crossguard out of that and have the ends be rounded so you won’t skewer yourself by accident?!

Disney has lost its mind.

Rant over.

Candles Against the Night

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

completed stories, fanfiction, marvel, short stories, the avengers

…erm, I really have no excuse. But fanfiction lovers, rejoice! I have bunches of these that I haven’t posted yet. I just have to look around for them a bit…

Enjoy! (And please tell me what you think!)

Candles Against the Night

                None of them is all right.

The psychologists, the armchair critics, they all say, “You’ll be okay.” But that’s before. This is after. They don’t know what “after” is really like.

Have they seen Tony Stark gasping for breath after they’ve had to forcibly rip the half-crushed suit from his body, or wrapped a space blanket (obscenely orange, for shock) around Bruce Banner’s shoulders, post-Hulk, or dealt with the fallout as Natasha Romanoff screams her rage at a destroyed training room while Clint Barton sits nearby, sullen and silent and unresponsive, or watched Steve Rogers collapse on the couch, sore, with a migraine slicing cruelly through his customary level-headedness, or felt the agony of seeing Thor knocked like a rag doll from the sky?

Having to kill the second (the ninth, the ninetieth, the nine hundredth) time is only the second hardest thing about being a superhero.

Seeing your teammates in the aftermath is the absolute hardest. Because they suffer and there’s precious little you can do about it.

Every one of them understands this. They don’t talk about it. They all know how to read between the lines.

For Natasha, it was (is) a survival skill.

For Clint, a job asset he had to painstakingly develop under the careful tutelage of Phil Coulson.

For Tony, something that life had to smack him in the face until he had a concussion with.

For Pepper, it’s something she’s always been able to do (because who says Pepper can’t be on the team, and besides, they all love her like that, but not just because of that.)

For Thor—well, Thor is still learning. But he’s rolling with the punches.

For Steve, it’s a skill he developed while being kicked around by bullies and leading a team who were all better trained and more experienced than he was. Back in 1944. (Ironically, he’s still the youngest on the team.)

For Bruce, it’s something that he forced himself to learn, on his secretive tour of the world and his underground crusade for humanity.

All of them have their own dark sides, the skeletons (and the demons) in their closets. All of them have had the moments when they’ve shocked everyone (including themselves) with the violence.

There was the time when Natasha set fire to a car with their villain still locked inside.

The time when Tony punched clean through a pretender’s metal suit—and blood flowed out.

The time when Steve threw one of Bruce’s old enemies into the maw of an active volcano.

The time when Bruce nearly poisoned himself, deliberately, and Steve had to talk him down. (The Hulk can be controlled sometimes. Bruce’s darker side can’t.)

The time when Clint shot every man on the team sent to murder them, rather than apprehending anyone.

The time when Thor nearly killed a SHIELD agent in blind rage and grief.

Their darker moments have been more numerous than they would like to admit, more severe than they would like to count. Yet, they all have to keep counting.

It’s one of the things about being a hero.

Yet, at the same time, they all know they’ll always be there for each other, and they take comfort in that.

It was there when Clint sat down next to Steve and put his hand on Steve’s shoulder after that kid died when Steve was just a second too slow.

It was there when Natasha made a cup of tea for Tony after the mission when Stane’s legacy came back to haunt them.

It was there when Tony (wearing the suit) carried Thor from a battle that had gone horribly wrong.

It was there when Steve sat down next to Bruce after a particularly nasty loss of control and said, “I don’t blame you.”

It was there when Thor helped Clint recover from Loki’s mind control.

It was there when Bruce woke up in the middle of the night to make tea for a sick Natasha.

They’ve finally let someone else in, and they don’t care a bit—not the soldier, far from home and his own time, knocked off his feet by fate and forced to learn to trust, to make friends, again, or the spies and assassins, for whom trust is almost always a liability, whose pasts have scarred them so, or the inventor, shut out by a father whose mind had been shattered by the way his inventions were used, or the prince betrayed by one he had always regarded as his brother, or the physicist who, for so long, could not trust anyone, after the accident which had destroyed his career.

They may be only mere candles against the night, but they’ll burn together. For it is only when the night is darkest, that the stars shine through.

The Weight of the Name

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

because i can, completed stories, cressida cowell, dreamworks, fanfiction, how to train your dragon, short stories

Okay, I watch HTTYD 2 a second time, and this happens. It’s a double-drabble, of sorts…

Enjoy! (I was thinking of writing a companion piece, but that’s shelved until I can get the ideas a little clearer in my head.)

The Weight of the Name

                Over the years, I’ve been called a lot of things. Useless. Dragon master. Peacemaker. The pride of Berk. But none of those I’ve ever felt were really mine. A nickname is never earned. It’s stuck to you like a label to a package, and as anyone who’s opened a barrel of what’s supposed to be flour only to find it’s full of sheep’s wool can attest, labels can be misleading.

It’s confusing to be a hero. Other people honor you when you yourself don’t know what there is to when you yourself don’t know what there is to honor. It’s hard to understand why people like you when you yourself aren’t sure at all of what it is you have.

And maybe that’s why I only want to be called by the only name gifted rather than stuck to me. Maybe it’s because it’s only when I’m humbled beside true greatness that I can see clearly. I have no glory of my own. I must ride on the wings of those who are greater than I.

There is only one name that holds any meaning for me. There is only one name to which I will answer.

Hiccup Stoickson.

TCWT December 2014: Learning from the Masters

08 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

a tale of two cities, blogging, brian jacques, c.s. lewis, charles dickens, dee henderson, fahrenheit 451, g.a. henty, irene hannon, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, ray bradbury, redwall, sir arthur conan doyle, story dynamics, teens can write too blog chain, the silmarillion, writing

We’re back again!

I am so sorry, I’m posting this a day late. I had planned to schedule it, but… well, let’s just say that though I know better than to excuse myself to my instructors at college, you guys might actually forgive me if I say that work and college conspired to destroy ANY plans I had for this week. AT ALL. Also, late happy St. Nicholas’ Day and on time happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

I know it’s been a while since I posted for the Teens Can Write Too blog chain, but I had good excuses. Crazy college and a new job made me take a hiatus from blogging for a while. I kind-of almost want to change to a history major, but I’m going to hang on with what I have now–I figure that if I want a history degree later, I can get a history degree later by transferring credits and attending part-time. Besides, I don’t think you need a degree to go to history conventions and get in on that conversation. History people are awesome.

Well, that’s enough about that.

On to the prompt!

Over the years, I have learned a lot, mainly by following the example of other authors. Remember how there’s that annoying little thing where your writing tends to mimic the style of the last author you read? Well, that’s part of it. But only part of it.

From The Lord of the Rings and the Redwall series, I learned about style and pacing. In Redwall, the style is very concrete, and the pacing is quick; when you get to the crises of the books, it’s a hard-hitting series of events leading rapidly up to the climax. The Lord of the Rings is paced slower and has a bit more of an ornate style. I have had my style compared to Tolkien’s *glares at Iris, sitting in the audience*, but I tend to prefer Jacques’ pacing.

From Irene Hannon, Dee Henderson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I learned the value of not broadcasting your plot twists all over the place. Normally I have intuitions about whodunit, but in these cases I could not see the villain until he was right in my face. Genius.

From G.A. Henty, I learned that it’s okay to take detours. (Okay, Tolkien does that too, but I read Henty first.) Adding in side plots to prolong a quest+character development for side characters=an equation for 300 pages of a good read. (Don’t hate on me. 50k is all well and good, but I like books that are 150k or 200k, even. I read The Lord of the Rings in nine days straight and actually finished reading The Silmarillion.)

From A Tale of Two Cities, I learned the value of keeping up with history and using a cultural and historic background to my advantage. Realism is the name of the game, and while you’re simulating realism, it helps to be knowledgeable about the real history behind it.

From Fahrenheit 451 I learned the importance of keeping calm through criticism. (Don’t ask me how; that’s just the lesson I took away from it. I pick up on odd things sometimes.) I’m not used to being criticized in a negative light. If you’ve been reading my blog, and especially the comments on the posts, it’s only been once or twice that I haven’t received abject praise. I don’t know if that’s because I’m good at what I do or if I have a feel for what my audience likes or if they just can’t find anything to criticize. But it’s hard to be criticized since I’m so used to praise. I just have to find out what’s relevant, and not let the rest get to me.

From C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L’Engle, I learned that it’s okay to write the tough books, the ones that might get you hated on. You might be shocked to see how much criticism gets to me, even if you’ve known me forever, but I learned from reading Lewis’ and L’Engle’s works that you have to just kick fear in the teeth and write it. You’ll be surprised by how much support you garner.

You have to write the book that wants to be written, and if it’s too difficult for adults, write it for children. ~~ Madeleine L’Engle

5th – http://thelittleenginethatcouldnt.wordpress.com/

6th – http://nasrielsfanfics.wordpress.com/

7th – https://erinkenobi2893.wordpress.com/

8th – http://introspectioncreative.wordpress.com/

9th – http://semilegacy.blogspot.com/

10th – http://kirabudge.weebly.com/

11th – http://whileishouldbedoingprecal.weebly.com/

12th – http://randomosityofeden.wordpress.com/

13th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

14th – http://www.alwaysopinionatedgirl.wordpress.com/

15th – http://www.juliathewritergirl.wordpress.com/

16th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/

17th – http://horsfeathersblog.wordpress.com/

18th – http://unironicallyexcited.wordpress.com/

19th – http://theboardingblogger.wordpress.com/

20th – http://stayandwatchthestars.wordpress.com/

21st – http://unikkelyfe.wordpress.com/

22nd – http://fantasiesofapockethuman.blogspot.com/

23rd – http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com/

24th – http://oliviarivers.wordpress.com/

25th – [off-day]

26th – http://butterfliesoftheimagination.wordpress.com/

27th – http://missalexandrinabrant.wordpress.com/

28th – http://www.pamelanicolewrites.com

29th – http://jasperlindell.blogspot.com.au/

30th – http://maralaurey.wordpress.com/ and http://theedfiles.blogspot.com/

31st – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain.)

Oh, are you still here?

I apologize again for posting late. Don’t stick around here, though! Head right over to the next blog and don’t miss out on their post!

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Superhero Sunday: In the end, you will always kneel.

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Uncategorized

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

awesomeness beyond awesome, catholic culture, catholicism, christianity, david foster wallace, humor, religion, roman catholic, superhero sunday, the avengers, theology

Yes, I did borrow Proverbs31teen‘s theme. Heehee. I promise I’ll put it back when I’m done with it. ;-P

Well, if I may, I shall direct you to a certain evening in Stuttgart…

The point I am hoping to make with this, other than Why in Midgard is Loki speaking English in Germany?! Why not just German with English subtitles!?, is the quote “In the end, you will always kneel.” and the old man’s response, “Not to men such as you.” It’s a brilliant piece of dialogue, if you think about it.

As David Foster Wallace noted in his “Kenyon Commencement Speech,” everyone has to worship something, be it power or kindness or wealth or in the context of religion. All we have to choose is what to worship, since we have no choice but to define what is important in our lives. In the end, we will always kneel. The question is, to what? Wallace goes on to state that choosing religion is a fair choice, since “pretty much everything else will eat you alive.” I say that that’s because being worshiped is for God only, and when things don’t follow the natural order, they tend to become twisted and perverted.

(This is why I love Captain America: )

And look what happens later in the movie! Loki tries to take over as a self-proclaimed god.

And… gets himself whopped.

I don’t know about you, but God uses men as his tools, so I think that’s pretty much a divine intervention. 😛

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