Click to enlarge.

If you walked past my house right now, you could look up to find my feet happily perched in our living room window. Just below them, the rest of me is sun-bathing like a cat in our lovely blue “womb chair”.

Technically, I should be asleep right now. I have only slept for three hours and I have a very long night ahead of me. Very long.

The nights are lengthening as we creep toward the winter solstice. We still have more than two full weeks before we reach the peak of night and begin the slow and snowy journey toward the new life of spring.

In truth, I love it. I love the winter, with its cold air, beautiful snow, and long nights. I have always, even as a child, encountered the Lord uniquely in the middle of the night. And I was made to minister to the heart of the Creator through the watches of the night. My heart is settled in this invitation from my God. As my soul aches with longing for the dawn of new creation and resurrection life, I was made to stand by night in the house of the Lord. Even from the day of my birth, the Lord had already begun crafting that invitation.

I was born on December 22nd, the longest night of the year. My life began on the longest of nights, at the start of the darkest and coldest season of the year. (Stuart Greaves, Mr. NightWatch, was also born on December 22nd.)

As much as I love the night and and much as I love the winter, I must admit that this season of long nights is very difficult. No one enjoys the wave of sickness that floods over our community. And the absence of the sun is felt both emotionally and physically in the frame of every NightWatch intercessor.

I sometimes talk as if I hate the sun. Usually, this happens in the summer, when my unconditioned eyes are overwhelmed by its blazing light and my body is wearied by its excess of heat. And yet, the truth remains. I love the sun. At least in moderation. And it is presetly so moderated that I cannot get enough of it! I have hardly seen the sun for weeks.

And so the title of my blog stands true through this season, in its most literal of interpretations. I am, in fact, missing the sun.

Night Watch is the sixth of the Discworld novels about the City Watch (if you don’t count The Truth which is less about the Watch and more about de Worde. [I'm currently reading it.] If you want to count The Truth, it would be the sixth book and Night Watch the seventh) by Terry Pratchett [reviews of the others here].

Plot:
During the pursuit of a criminal, Sam Vimes (and said criminal, Carcer Dun) gets swept into a magical storm which sends him back 30 years. In the past, he takes on the role of John Keel, his own mentor and has to orchestrate a revolution and try to get Carcer Dun and himself home.

Night Watch is very different in tone from the City Watch books before it - it is much darker and less funny (though there’s still plenty to chuckle about). Inicidentally, it’s also the City Watch book I like most so far. I like Pratchett when he’s darker.

Night Watch is almost completely focussed on Sam Vimes. And it is really amazing to see the character development Sam Vimes has been through: The (mostly subtle) comparison between Future!Vimes and Past!Vimes is beautifully done.

It’s also nice to get an impression of what Ankh-Morpork was like before Vetinari (and btw, Past!Vetinari is already all kinds of awesome).

But apart from all that, Night Watch is one of the best time travel stories ever. Completely logical, interesting and surprising.

I actually thought that Night Watch was the last book about the Watch and I was ready to cry myself to sleep every night after reading it. But then deadra comes along and hands me The Truth and tells me that Monstrous Regiment is kind of about the watch too and that there’s still Thud! Now I’m a little consoled, even if I’ve been reading as slowly as I can to delay the inevitable end…

And finally, have a quote:

“Don’t put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That’s why they’re called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.”

Night Watch & Day Watch

A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon Day Watch — loved it. At some point, saw that it was part of a trilogy. Recently, I remembered all of this and rented Night Watch (the first).

Loved it.

Apparently, there are actually four books in the series by Sergey Lukianenko -chose to use the spelling from his official web-site and at least plans to make films of the last two.

While I love these movies, I’m no expert on the author, director or actors — or anything, for goodness sakes. Just saying, you may like them, too. He seems bad-ass.

I’ll get around to reading the books in Engrish one of these days. You know me speak Engrish no long time? Well, my French is worse and while I can spout the odd Yiddish word and even a few Russian ones, -thanks, Baba I basically don’t know shit.

So what is the state of science fiction in the twenty-first century?

Unfortunately, the newly-reimagined V series for ABC television is meeting an unenthusiastic response from pretty much everyone I know who watched the premiere. So, hey, let’s hop in that magic time machine known as YouTube and check back some twenty-six years to encounter a thoughtful-looking Charlie Rose interviewing Faye Grant about the 1983 miniseries:

An interesting quote:

Rose: Does this somehow represent—because of the ratings success of the miniseries, and now they’re making it into a regular series—a comeback for science fiction?

Grant: I think so. Not only is it a comeback for science fiction, it’s a new kind of science fiction. What— The science fiction that was portrayed in the past on television and so forth was something that was beyond what our technology could even fathom. And what we’re doing now is combining what we know does exist, or is possible, with the reality of the human aspect—how human beings would respond to this actually happening.

I’m actually reminded here of a quote from an episode of Family Guy: “Hold onto that thought because I’m going to explain to you when we get home all the things that are wrong with that statement.”

It’s a nonsense answer constructed around a potential seed of truth. Indeed, I am unsure if the most realistic part of V (technically the “sequel” known as, “The Final Battle”) was even written at that time. Okay, it probably was, as the sequel hit only a year later. But, still ….

The necessary elements of modern science fiction seem to involve the impossible, improbable, or undiscovered. There is—and I’ll have to write a mini book report on it—a reasonable theory of the progression of science fiction offered by none other than Dr. Asimov himself in 1962, but it necessarily doesn’t cover what happened starting at the latest in the 1970s with Star Wars. Even the reimagined V requires some technology that Ms. Grant could not fathom twenty-six years ago. And just because most of us are comfortable with depictions of faster-than-light travel doesn’t mean we can actually do it. But I suppose I’m nitpicking. She does have a point. After all, it’s not like V was ever preceded by a landmark feature motion picture about how human beings respond to the arrival of extraterrestrials. Then again, had there been, I would have had a rising, talented director like, say, Spielberg, handle the film, and cast someone like, oh, I don’t know, Richard Dreyfus as the lead. And, to be certain, I would have made it far more intimate a picture, focusing on a limited few characters and trying to clock the final cut somewhere under three hours instead of depicting a worldwide crisis and dragging the thing out over the course of three nights. Or five, if you want to get to the actual ending.

Okay, okay. Enough picking on Faye Grant. Really. Okay, not really. But it doesn’t change the fact that I had the hots for her when I was … um … twelve. I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t want to be with her so much as I wanted to be her. You know … whatever happened to Faye Grant? That delicate, satin-draped frame? As it clung to her thigh … er, never mind.

Actually, what happened to her was modest success making bad television.

Oh, right. The state of science fiction. Twenty-first century. Anyone? Anyone?

Anyway, I’m just spending words at this point. So I’ll give Ms. Grant the final word. Oh, and make sure to check that amazing television monitor she appears on for the interview:

Rose: Carl Sagan says, and other astronomers—and people who have looked at extraterrestrial life—have said that it’s a kind of arrogance for us as a human species to assume that we’re the only people in the whole universe that could possibly—

Grant: Yeah.

Rose: —be—have the intelligence to have created a life.

Grant: Absolutely. We’ve only been on this— We’ve been on this planet less than two thousand years. And our solar system as we know it is relatively small. So when you think that if we were on this planet two thousand more years, how big the solar system would become, and how we would travel. We’ve already gone to the moon and several other places.

-bd

Now that I’ve got a BD player, I need BD movies. Of course. And after work last night I got some. The ones above.

Night Watch (or Nochnoi Dozor), a fantasy tale set in modern day, tell the story of a delicate balance between the forces of Light and Darkness. I had half expected it to be a sad copy and mixture of Lord of the Rings, The Matrix and Underworld, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that while elements from the aforementioned works are present in Night Watch, the director has managed to weave them together nicely. I will get Day Watch, the sequel, later on.

Angels and Demons is, for those that don’t know, based on Dan Brown’s book with the same name. Professor Langdon (Tom Hanks) returns in a race against time to find four kidnapped cardinals. This film is a lot more action themed than The da Vinci Code, but that in itself doesn’t make it worse. In fact, it’s an enjoyable movie for those who liked The da Vinci Code and mysteries involving the secret mason brotherhood of the Illuminati…

Just one thing, Night Watch played without troubles. Angels and Demons didn’t. I had to upgrade the player firmware for the disc to be recognized so, please, upgrade to the latest firmware version for your player. Also, at some points during the film, the movie froze. Sort of like when a double-sided DVD switches layers to read from, only longer. So, I fast-forwarded back a bit only to find that the movie had leapt a minute or so forward from where it had froze. Anyone else experiencing this with Samsung’s BD-P4600?

If you’ve noticed the lack of posting on B&B recently, it’s been due to the fact that I (Bill Bodkin) have been taken away from blogging duties because I just went in for surgery. Nothing huge, but it’s kept me away from the site for the past week and 1/2. I even had to forgo my Halloween plans to make sure all my work was done for my job.

So I felt what better inspiration for a Top 10 post! These films are ones that I feel really can capture the Halloween spirit even if the ground is covered in snow or it’s the middle of a blazing summer.

1. Shaun of the Dead:
Fresh off the critical and cult success of their UK sitcom Spaced, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Nick Frost and Big Talk Productions took a huge gamble and produced this wacky yet serious, romantic yet gory tribute to George Romero films. The film is filled to the brim with brilliant sight gags, witty one-liners, wanky British humor, tongue-in-cheek film references as well as genuine horrifying sequences and a real sense of humanity. This is one you can watch a million times and still find something new and hilarious.

2. Evil Dead Trilogy: Suck on this you primitive screw heads! The brainchild of then first-time director Sam Raimi and executed to acting perfection by Bruce CampbellThe Evil Dead series, is equal parts side-splitting comedy and gruesome, terrifying horror. The first Evil Dead flick is a bloody-as-all-hell horror film that is a good Evil Dead starting point. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn is basically a rehashing of the first film with the Three Stooges-esque comedy ramped up to 11. “Evil Dead 3″ Army of Darkness is a terrific combination of slapstick and action/horror film that is known for its memorable one-liners than anything else. Remember…shop smart…shop S Mart.

3. Sleepy Hollow: Heads will roll indeed! Tim Burton creates a beautiful film that seamlessly combines 50s Hollywood back lot horror with modern CGI technology. Slightly modified from the original story, Johnny Depp played Constable Ichabod Crane, a forward thinking yet timid NY cop sent to the small hamlet of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. Burton’s gothic tendencies, Depp’s daft performance and Christopher Walken as the Headless horseman makes this a classic.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas: Another Burton gem. This is a beautifully crafted stop-motion animated musical comedy that has inspired millions of Hot Topics products. The music of Danny Elfman (who provides the singing voice of Jack the Pumpkin King) and unique vision of director Henry Selick (and Burton of course) make this not only a timeless Halloween classic, but a Christmas one as well.

5. Night Watch/Day Watch: The brainchild of Russian visionary Timmur Bekmambetaov, (known in the states for Wanted), this is a really trippy series of films that has to be watched within the same sitting. The film revolves around Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabenskiy), a reluctant agent for the forces of good who constantly battles the end of the world, vampires and tons of emotional problems in Russia. The visuals are mind-blowing, I mean see to believe it good and the story-telling, while frustrating at first, come together perfectly in the final act.

There's gonna be HELL to pay: The Hellboy films are just two films you can catch the Halloween spirit with year-round.

6. Hell Boy and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army: Hellboy’s success can be attributed to the brilliant mind of director Guillermo del Toro as well as the brilliant performance by Ron Perlman. The fantastical adventures of Hellboy and his buddies is a visual buffet filled only with the sweetest treats. The comedy is very high especially in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army where a drunk Hellboy and Abe Sapien belt out Barry Manilow’s “Cant Smile Without You.”

7. Pan’s Labyrinth: The masterpiece of Guillermo del Toro. He is able to tell concurrent stories of a fantasy world and World War II Spain, with the same attention to detail. The film’s creature effects are what’d you’d expect from the fantastical touch of the jolly director, but the drama and the phenomenal finale are what makes the film that damn good.

8. Big Trouble in Little China: Jump on the Porkchop Express with good ol’ Jack Burton (the amazingly underrated Kurt Russell) as he and his friends go into the mystical depths of the Chinese underworld. Helmed by John Carpenter, the film has a lot of strong fantasy and martial arts elements, but it’s Russell’s faux-John Wayne performance that makes this a truly enjoyable film.

9. From Dusk Til Dawn: Not many people dig this film, but it’s still a fun film. Take the snappy dialogue of any Quentin Tarantino film and combine it with the rock ‘n’ roll violence of a Robert Rodriguez film, add a dash of pre-awesome George Clooney with a whole mess of blood, guts and go-go dancers and you’ve got yourself a damn fine horror film.

10. John Carpenter’s Vampire 2: Los Muertos: Oh my sweet Lord…Jon Bon Jovi as a vampire hunter named Derek Bliss? Yes, this actually did happen! This made for DVD sequel (from the late 90s flick with James Woods) features Jon Bon Jovi kicking vampire ass in Mexico. Along for the ride is Darius Mcrary AKA EDDIE WINSLOW from Family Matters and indie film darling Diego Luna of Y Tu Mama Tambien and Milk fame.

Igår trillade ett paket ner i brevlådan, med mina nya glasögon i. Himlarns bra med nya glas och nya snygga bågar. Beställde dem härifrån, enkelt, snabbt och billigt.

Annars så, sitter och ser lite Night Watch såhär på morgonkvisten. Hemskt bra film, du borde ta dig en titt. Men, nu ska jag ta och borsta mina tänder och ta på mig något annat än morgonrock.
Tackochhej!

I sat up last night and watched Night Watch with Steve Scott. I don’t know why it is but I find myself watching this sort of show, at the expense of all the other wholesome programming on at this hour, without mentioning Babestation.  Why is it programmes such as Night Watch and suchlike have a hypnotic quality?  I am not a very pro establishment guy, not at all actually.  It seems to be designed to strike the fear of God into you, that around every corner there is a naer-do-well about to jump you and do you in.  It doesn’t seem to work with me though, I watch with fascination at how the services go about their business.  Yet I do not feel waves of overwhelming gratitude for our boys in blue wash over me.  Again it probably goes more along the lines of me laughing at the poor drunken lout caught ON CAMERA pissing in an alleyway, while a patronising power junkie asks them why they did it.  Surely the answer is simple “I needed a piss and didn’t want to evacuate my bladder into my trousers whilst walking down the street, officer”.  He (the ‘officer’) should be thankful that the lout is able to relieve himself on his own and that he is not calling an ambulance to awake a piss soaked reveller.  I think proactive policing should follow the example of the police in New Zealand, Safer Communities – BLOW ON THE PIE!:

Before I get started, let it be known that you can download notes, MP3s, and watch videos from the celebration for free on IHOP’s website. Go to it.

IHOP’s September anniversary is always an exciting season for me. Firstly, September marks the anniversary of my arrival here in Kansas City. I was an intern with Fire in the Night who had zero intention of staying longer than three months. That was six years ago. I’m still here, still on a nocturnal schedule, and very glad of it.  Secondly, my birthday lands smack on the IHOP official anniversary. Combine those factors with the overall corporate sense of remembrance, and I always find myself looking back at how the Lord has led me and what is yet to come. It’s quite the personal milestone each year.

In no particular order, here are the things that are on my heart on the back end of this time of celebration:

Thought #1: The Lord really is sovereignly raising up a prayer movement. The first time I visited IHOP, it was still in the trailers. My youth group was there with something like 50 people, and we significantly outnumbered the NightWatchers who were actually signed up to be there. (Side note: I still remember the first set I walked into–Misty Edwards, Friday 10pm, leading her song ”I Will Follow the Lamb”. So great.)

About a year later, when I showed up for Fire in the Night, things had moved into the current location at Red Bridge. The NightWatch had grown quite a bit, but we still had lots of space to spread out in the room. It was considered an annoyingly crowded meeting if someone was sitting at the other end of your row so you couldn’t pace there anymore. During the day, you couldn’t probably get your own row, but you could get several seats to yourself most of the time with no problem. The IHOP staff from all sections all fit in the Tuesday 4pm intercession meeting. The monthly all-staff meeting fit in the Prayer Room. The bleachers in the FSM auditorium only needed to be opened for big conferences.

This past Saturday night, September 19th, at the official 10-year mark, 2,500 people packed into the FSM auditorium, completely loaded up the bleachers, and even crammed into the overflow room. Not all of these folks were staff, but they were all connected enough to come. In the NightWatch, if there are only 50 people in the room, it feels like an empty meeting. The idea of a prayer meeting that all staff could come for had to be given up a long time ago. And our monthly staff meeting requires use of the FSM bleachers.

This is not natural. It is completely unnatural for spoiled Western young adults to gather, live simply, fast, and pray as a primary profession — much less if they decide to stay up all night and do so. For this to not just be sustained for ten years, but to actually grow and thrive, has to be the hand of the Lord. And it’s not just in Kansas City, either. Where the idea of a “house of prayer” was previously unheard of in 1999, now I can think of at least a dozen specific HOP’s across the world — and those are just the ones I know of and can remember without thinking too hard, not even counting smaller prayer gatherings. If you want an encouraging look at just a few of the prayer meetings springing up across the US, just check it out here… This has got to be supernatural.

Thought #2: God is a really skillful leader. If you have not listened to any of IHOP’s prophetic history before, or if you haven’t listened to it in a long time, I would encourage you to go download the MP3s. The stories are incredible. The number of things that God told us about years before it would ever happen, and then fulfilled with startling accuracy, is mind-blowing. The number of things He had to set in motion, the number of circumstances He had to align, and the number of unrelated people He had to speak to, is staggering.

Then there’s the human dynamic. While I haven’t been here from the beginning, I’ve been here long enough to get to know the staff and leadership. I can testify that these are some of the coolest, godliest people I have ever had the privilege of meeting. But I can also testify that everyone here is profoundly, completely human. That means that the Lord leading any of us very far, with all of our doubts, confusions, excitability, rebellions, weakness, blindness, etc., is a miracle in and of itself. Nevermind a big group of us.

I can at least speak for myself in this. When I first heard about IHOP, I was deeply touched. Prayer and worship is always what I have wanted to do with my life, but I had no idea how to go about it. I was brought to tears with shock when I found out about the House of Prayer, and I felt like this was actually a course my life could take. My spirit bore witness. I had direction. This could be what the Lord was asking me to do.

Within two weeks, I had completely talked myself out of it.

I’ll cut a long story short, but nearly a year and two trips to Kansas City later, the Lord finally convinced me to come for Fire in the Night. I came in September ‘03, convinced I was only going to do one track. Towards the end of that three months, I felt I needed to do Track II, but I would certainly never move here. The day before Track II started, the Lord encountered me and I knew I had to relocate to Kansas City. That was all well and good, but I would certainly never attend the Forerunner School of Ministry. Within a few months, I was signed up to do not just FSM, but the Apostolic Preaching Program (even though, of course, I definitely wasn’t a preacher).

Now I find myself in 2009 still in Kansas City, still on the NightWatch, having graduated IHOPU and now working for it, with a heart for teaching and preaching. I was clueless 90% of the way to where I am now, but God got me here anyway. He’s a very good leader.

Thought #3: Vision is really important. We all know this. Proverbs 29:18 says it. Any leadership book or seminar will confirm it. But it’s one thing to know it, and another thing to have it impact your own heart.

This struck me most on Saturday. I had gone to the afternoon and evening sessions on Friday, so I went into Saturday pretty tired. (Note to the non-NightWatchers reading this: beings at a meeting at 2pm is super early and painful. 2pm is only eight hours after we get off of work.) I went to the 2pm session again on Saturday, ran out with my roommate for some food to go, and came straight back to FSM barely in time to save a few seats. We didn’t get back home until 10:50pm or so, giving us a grand total 0f 9 hours at the celebration. We had a 30-minute break before briefing, a set at 12 midnight, and then a viewing of that morning’s sesison on DVD at 2:30am. We didn’t get into the prayer room in a non-platform way until almost 5am.

Now at this point, I’d had two really long days. I was exhausted. My feet hurt. I wanted to go to bed. There was only an hour left of the prayer meeting anyway.

Eventually, I decided to stick it out. Trying to do my daily reading was tough. I kept fuzzing out on the words, having to read the same verse 3 or 4 times over to actually register what I was looking at. But within 10 minutes, I began to click with the prayer meeting. Soon, it was hard to get my reading done, not because it was so difficult to stay focused, but because I was so engaged with the corporate meeting that I almost couldn’t help but get up and pace (sore feet and all) and pray for the city.

Despite my physical exhaustion, I had vision. I came fresh out of three packed days of prophecy and encouragement. I knew for sure why I’m here at IHOP, and I knew for sure what is set before me to do, both as a believer in general and an intercessory missionary specifically. Because I remembered how much the Lord cared about what I was doing, it gave me renewed zeal to actually do it. That short hour in the prayer room was one of the most enjoyable I’ve had in a good while. Vision matters. Big time.

Thought #4: Jesus is coming back soon. Enough said. It’s true. Whether “soon” means in the next decade or in the next century, the hour is late. We need to live like it.

Thought #5: I get to run with some stinking cool people. From the videos honoring different ministry and service departments, to the interviews with the original handful of intercessory missionaries, to my roommates and other fellow NightWatchers I sat with on September 19th, I am amazed at the quality of people I get to serve with. I’m talking about people with integrity, faithfulness, and a genuine hunger for righteousness. I’m talking about people who will gladly work really hard for a really long time in complete hiddenness. I’m talking about people who have so given themselves to the Word that their speech is filled with wisdom and real encouragement. I couldn’t ask for better friends and co-laborers, and I am so grateful to God for the community here.

Thought #6: I’m in this for the long haul. Whether I stay at IHOP-KC for the rest of my life (and right now, I kind of hope I do!), or whether I am given a different assignment in the future, I want to be in the prayer movement. I want to be a woman who gives herself to 24/7 prayer, fasting, the Word, and works of justice, whether I’m wearing the staff badge or not. It may look different at different times, but this is what I was made to do.

Thought #7: Be prepared to be blown away by people who are currently 12 years old and younger. I see what the Lord is doing among children, both here and elsewhere in the earth, and I love what I’m seeing. Kids are not the church of tomorrow. They are the church now. And everywhere that the leadership buys into that idea, the children are taking off in the Lord. Here at IHOP, there are eleven-year olds who already give us “old” twenty-somethings a run for our money when it comes to worship leading, preaching, and prophesying (with accompanying signs and wonders). Give them another ten years to build even on top of that, and they are going to be the most phenomenal men and women of God this earth has ever seen. There are going to be some older folks in on this too, but watch out for those kids. For real. And have them pray for you.

Ten years is a long time, but it’s also a short time. I’ve been here for more than half of it, and it has flown by. And this is only the beginning. I am in great anticipation of where the Lord is taking us next.

Here’s to another decade of a ceaseless fragrance rising from Kansas City. Help us Lord, and may Your will be done.

I was actually going to start blogging about the launch of the new Dan Brown novel, and how it’s expected to be a massive hit, with lots of press coverage, speed reading competitions galore, etc but I when I saw this, it struck something so very close to my heart that I couldn’t wait to share with you all…

I know where I’ll be picking for my holiday destination next year – Harry Potter fans rejoice!

A theme park, named – rather grandiosely and a tad lamely! – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, is set to open at Universal Studios’ Orlando Resort in Florida US in the first half of 2010. In collaboration with author JK Rowling, the theme park will be an ‘interactive experience’ recreating Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the surrounding magical village of Hogsmeade.

It was a very sad day for me when the series about the famous boy wizard ended in 2007 with the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and I’ve been desperately attempting to fill the void of obsession with new supernatural series – Twilight by Stephanie Meyers, The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanyenko and the Temeraire Series (otherwise known in the US as His Majesty’s Dragon) by Naomi Novik – but it has been a mostly fruitless search to date…

Along with two more movie installments in coming years, I can indulge in my Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes patented daydream charm  (TM) just that little bit longer… Send off your owls to fellow HP fans – who’s coming with me?

I tried and failed at trying to get Complex Variables by Berenstein & Gay in Springer Verlag today. I didn’t really know where to go and none of the places I went to had any books. I should have just gone back to the one that my classmate showed me.

I checked online and the original hardcover of this book retails for about $100. I wonder how much it will cost here. I’ve learned that counter fitting is rife in the universities, as students are pretty poor. They can’t pay for books. Usually, they will borrow the book from a library, drop it off at a copy shop and have them copy it as well as bind it. The results are good but I prefer buying originals, as I see these books as reference for later things.

The other side of this is that there are actually real looking counterfeit books that are available here. They have been printed here and are extremely cheap. I paid $13 for Principles of Mathematical Analysis by Walter Rudin. It’s a counterfeit book, but looks pretty good. I don’t mind that. The other was is actually an original from Springer Verlag. It’s Topology by Klaus Jänich. I paid $22 for this one.

The bad part was that none of those books were actually class books. Oh well, I was looking for Measure and Integral by Wheeden and Zygmund and Real and Complex Analysis by Rudin.

While I was at ESLite, I saw Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol. At the last moment, before leaving the library, I bought it. It was only $20. I almost bought Day Watch by Sergey Lukyanenko and Vladimir Vasilyev. I saw Twilight Watch right beside it, but then I decided that I still had to read Night Watch again before starting out on those books.

I also struck out on getting Kafka on the Shore by Murakami and more Palahniuk novels. I could spend hours in book stores and art supply stores.

For some reason, I escaped the rain. I have been using my scooter as a locker. It’s much more convenient to put my motorcycle jacket in my scooter. However, it’s already packed to the rafters with my rain gear, that I absolutely need, and an umbrella. I’ve gotten tired of always getting wet. Strangely enough, if I compact it enough, the jacket fits in pretty snugly into the compartment.

Uma vez eu estava em uma aula de história da arte e professor contou que uma vez um MALUCO entrou no museu lá na Itália com martelo e começou a marretar a Pietá do Michelangelo, bom pra vocês terem noção o Papa da época quase infartou. O nariz da Maria ficou distruido e levaram um tempão para restaurá-lo. Alguns anos mais tarde (não lembro a ordem do fatos exata) um JAMANTA entra no museu lá da Holanda com uma tesoura e RASGA o quardo Night Watch do Rembrandt, não contente um outro LOUCO um belo dia chega e taca ÁCIDO  no mesmo quadro.

Aí hoje eu fazendo meu caminho diário pra academia eu vejo a seguinte cena abaixo:

by Me

by Me 2

Night watch painting was created by Rembrandt and can see in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. He finished his masterpiece in 1642 with the original title of The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch. Night Watch is its popular title that simply means “a company being a militia guard”.

In the year 1715 a shield was painted onto the Night Watch consisting 18 names of people. So I strongly recommend that if you paint a group portrait always remember to draw a diagram at the back to go with the names of everyone!

Just last March 2009 a Dutch historian named Bas Dudok van Heel revealed the mystery of the names of those people in the painting. His research even found items of clothing and accessories illustrate in the Night Watch stated in inventories of family estates that he then gathered with the age of the various militiamen in 1642 which the year it was completed.

Later on, he also discovered that in the hall where Rembrandt’s Night Watch was first hung, there were also six group portraits of militia originally displayed in a continuous series, not six separated paintings that was long been thought instead, six groups portraits by Rembrandt, Pickenoy, Bakker, van der Helst, Van Sandrart, and, Flinck formed and unbroken fresco each matching the other and fixed in the wooden paneling of the room. Otherwise that was the intention. His masterpiece Night Watch doesn’t fit with the other paintings in either composition or color. It gives the impression that he did not stick to the terms of his commission. But then again, if he had, we would never have this wonderful century group portrait masterpiece.

Know more about Rembrandt’s Night Watch or visit any abstract art gallery. You could also buy abstract art and be fascinated of how contemporary paintings are being created.

Okay I’ve been resisting this impulse for weeks now but I’m giving into it wholeheartedly because all I see is red red red movie rental boxes everywhere and my loathing of them and what they represent has increased to the level of “Sledge-Hammer Now!” I’m not adverse to an appearance of Thor with his hammer at all–hint, hint (we do so adore the Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul…ah Dougie, your imaginative wit is sorely missed). Why do I abhore these vending machines of cheap fast flick fixes? For starters you can’t have a conversation with them. Nope. No one is ever going to discover some deliciously quirky flim like Wristcutters via a big red rental box.  Big red boxes are just big red boxes–they do not view movies. They only ’spew’ forth movies at the behest of a plastic card inserted into their mechanical guts. Big red boxes are incapable of sharing their delight of the visual imagery of a huge lotus pond in Tears of the Black Tiger. Big red boxes do not engage in debates about Michael Clayton being just another lawyer movie or not (I argue most definitely NOT becausse there’s no escaping the mental context of Tom Wilkinson’s incredible line, “I am Shiva the god of death!” and everything that concept entails in the film.)  Anyone at a loss for why I consider the big red boxes lurking everywhere as Evil? If so–then try it this way: they’re one more mark of the devil incarnate in philistine mentality. And before anyone gets any ideas about taking moi to task over the word ‘philistine’ as a result of confusing it with an ethnic group–do so please, pretty please with raspberries on top–google the definition of the word before posting any hate mail or ye shall be soundly smoted–yes, I’m going with ’smoted’ rather than smitten for you grammatical purists–and I will because I can and I can because this is ‘my’ blog post.  Now, without any further self repression I offer some films to the sad soul of the blogger who couldn’t stand watching another real downer.   I’ve gone about this list of the moment with the thought in mind of supporting the argrument of what the red box cannot and will not do for anyone. So, here are some films that probably will not be featured on the facings of said incarnations of evil(furthermore, they give the color ‘red’ a bad reputation). In no particular order:

Run Lola Run–and Franke Potente as Lola does just that three ways to a screaming climax.

28 Days Later–there are worse thngs than zombies to run from–as this film conveys when it turns into an entirely different sort of horror genre about midway.

The Killing Fields–Do tell if this kills your appetite for war movies after viewing. It certainly did squash mine for years. True story of Din Pran’s struggle to survive.

Billy Elliot–Let’s dance away from the dark side for a moment, shall we?

Off the Map–Hmm…This lifestyle might offer suggestions for everyone feeling the economic squeeze.

Black Robe–1634, Hurons, Quebec, Jesuits, need I say more?

The Commitments–Oh yes, indeed, the Irish have SOUL.

Amelie–And the French have Audrey Tautou who can beat the acting the pants off anyone at will when she’s at the top of her game–which is quite ofen. She’s got quality control under her belt.

Joyeux Noel—Something else from the French–1914 Christmas trench war–and not just the obvious battleground as the Irish priest discovers much to his dismay.

Kontroll–Another aspect of control–Hungarian style. Oh  yeah, subways as hell? purgatory? redemption grounds? Totally cool.

Smoke Signals–Storytelling, storytelling, and more storytelling–and a young Adam Beach does listen listen listen to his friend’s stories as they road trip in search of some anwers.

Edge of America–A true story for the basketball fans among you.  Wes Studi is the magic working mechanic in this Utah setting.

Strictly Ballroom–The movie one critic deemed much much better than Moulin Rouge. Dancing on the wrong side of the tracks in the land down under.

The Milagro Beanfield War–Because we do so love magical realism–and Joe  Mondragon is so damn ‘cute’ even when dodging bullets.

Mongol–More epic history–Genghis Khan falls in love and what a love story it is. View on the largest screen availabe to you because the scenery is KILLER Beautiful and a character in its own right.

Brotherhood of the Wolf–”Wildly Entertaining!” The only movie screening I’ve attended where the entire audience stood up cheering and clapping at the end. I kid not.

The Host–Do NOT watch this dubbed the first time because it destroys the sound atmosphere. Go with the subtitles–you can read this therefore you sure as hell can read subtitles.  The BEST monster movie ever–well so far. I mean who knows what these folks might dish up next! 

Zero Effect–Quirky, quirky, quirky for fans of Bill Pullman (as this film shows the man really can act, he’s got more than a pretty face), detective mysteries, and eccentricity.

Night Watch–Ah the eternal battle between good and evil, light and dark, Russian style. Break out the vodka!

Bagdad Cafe–Magic in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Jack Palance as an artist, imagine that.

The Year of Living Dangerously–That actress from Alien and the Lethal Weapon guy before both of those lesser films.

Serenity—Because I can watch it, and the Firefly series, again and again and again and it NEVER gets old! True delights of dialogue, performance, substance, and fun and on and on and on.

Lastly, for now, Beyond Rangoon–for the acting of Patricia Arquette, Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray–John Steele’s photography–and for Burma and the ongoing insanity of Aung San Suu Kyi’s situation as the elected leader currently on trial for the apparent idiocy of an American man.

A couple of years ago my son an avid fantasy reader introduced me to popular Russian writer Sergei Lukyanenko’s  urban fantasy Night Watch series. My son has good taste so naturally I loved them.  The series is comprised of four books. Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch , and Last watch.  The series set in Moscow is based around paranormal beings called Others. The majority of Others belong to two opposing groups. Light Others, (the good guys) who care about humans and try to help them and Dark Others (the bad guys) who don’t care what humans do to each other. Both groups are able to feed on the emotions of humans to recharge their powers. Light Others feed on positive human emotions such as joy and Dark Others feed on pain and anger etc.   Light and Dark are fierce enemies who have signed a grand treaty after battling each other to near oblivion over thousands of years. The treaty requires both groups to police each other. Thus the Day Watch police the Light and The Night Watch police the Dark.  A Twilight Watch made up of both Light and Dark magicians act as an inquisition to ensure that both groups adhere to the treaty.

The second book Day Watch is made up of three interconnecting stories written predominantly in first person narrative. Characters are realistic, vivid and imbued with sufficient amounts of Russian fatalism to make them particularly appealing. I must admit that I enjoyed Day Watch the most. I like the fact that the Dark Others use their powers for their own ends it makes them so much more interesting and fun. There are also a couple of great fight scenes, a dash of doomed romance Russian style, a high level sorceress trapped as a stuffed owl, vampires who need a license to kill, a couple of werewolves, and an enchanted wooden dagger.  I must also admit that I was really impressed with the Others ability to bypass traffic jams and to go from being blind drunk to stone cold sober in a matter of seconds.

Russian film maker Timur Bekmabetov (Day Watch, Night Watch) has started prepartations on Wanted 2, the sequel to the 2008 blockbuster starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and James Macenvoy.  He revealed that they have found a way to bring Angelina Jolie’s character back. 

The film has a reported $150 million dollar budget.  Are you excited for this?

Lukas Eggen

My, what fabulous toesies!  Daughter # 1 calls him Alexander.

This isn’t going to explore a new branch of Medieval Conspiracy about the Knights Templar, nor is it an exploration of the Code of Courtly Love which predominated European Literature; rather, I am taking this as a step from the obvious and most reconcilable ideas of Knighthood and Chivalry and focusing on something deeper and more profound.  Something which historians and experts have barely scratched the surface of, if indeed even opening up this new idea of what essentially is: The Secret of Knighthood.

The word Chivalry, and the terminology often associated with it derive from the French word Chevalier, which in translated means a mounted knight.  Over time, this word Chevalier became acquainted with the manner and conduct of such mounted knights, who were beckoned by the Church to Defend the Poor, Weak, and Defenseless. 

Chivalry was a way of life for the upper class in the Medieval past, guiding men along the lines of propriety and social expectation.  That is, men who were powerful and had the means to defend, were looked at to defend those who were unable to do so themselves.  Hence the entire idea of the Feudal System: A Lord, who through power or ability ruled a certain amount of land, recruited the local populace to work for him and his needs, and in return, would provide military protection of their welfare in time of need.

The idea was quite simple and easy to understand, that those who had the ability to defend the weak and defenseless had the obligation of doing so.

But alas, human nature is corrupt, and twisted from its true origins by means of original sin.  Thus, all that starts off as something good often extends itself to improper and often selfish means.  Chivalry became a means to abuse the norms of proper virtue for the sake of personal glory and vice.  Generosity was rewarded with the praise and lavish decor of this world; courtesy towards women was often engaged into a means of flattery and deception, its main intention being to entice women to illicit affairs; courage and honor in themselves becoming more and more an arrogant pride, the cause of many wars and suffering for the peoples of Christendom.

This being said, we must bring this into question: Is Chivalry Dead?  Did it ever truly exist?

As an idea, Chivalry seems to have always existed, inspiring the young and spirited to strive for a greater cause above their own self and their standing in life.

Essentially, anyone can practice chivalry, or at least attempt to; but as with all things without a proper motivation (in the case of Chivalry, fame, glory, riches, and love were the motivations to do the right things) and guidance of virtue, Chivalry is a sham.

What is the necessary remedy to save Chivalry from the corruption of our failing human nature?  Is it the practice of good deeds? Championing the rights of the defenseless? Courtesy? All of these things can be abused.  Turned from their right purpose, and eventually, become outer coverings of proper thing done for the wrong reasons.

For a Knight to attain true perfection, he must work against the concupiscence of human nature which desires the praise of the world.  The pride which slowly infects the human soul when it comes to public acknowledgement of his good deeds.  The jealousy of another’s good name.  The answer to Knighthood’s Perfection is simple: Humility.

Humility is the weapon which ever knight should wield when entering into combat with the world.  For Humility allows the virtues and the good deeds which are often associated with the chivalry of knighthood to flourish into a something supernaturally beneficial, allowing a knight to gain what is most important rather than focusing on the fleeting praise and laud of this world.

The finest art of this virtue, Humility, may be found in the most profound and power of prayers.  It’s one prayer which anyone who sincerely prays it with a heart, may say that it truly works:

The Litany of Humility

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

 

That others may be esteemed more than I …
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease …
That others may be chosen and I set aside …
That others may be praised and I unnoticed …
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

The Litany of Humility is one of the most perfect prayers.  Why?  Essentially, rather than the usual practice of praying for what we want, which is often against what God wants for us, we have a list of human failures due to Original Sin, which we pray to God to help vanquish, and/or overcome.

Read the Litany, and tell me, if a Knight truly is able to conquer such things, would he not be the perfect knight? 

From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …

Have we not often seen the beauty of Knighthood tarnished by the cause  of  a man seeking to be loved, honored, extolled amongst his peers, consulted for his wisdom; who amid the royal court, fears to be humiliated, fears to be rebuked by his lord and his fellow knights, who fears to be forgotten when the lord deals out favors and graces to his servants.  Sin contaminates the true essence of the perfection of knighthood.  Chivalry is doing the right things, for the right reasons, at the right time.  Alas, we often find it that man is compelled into such noble actions, but namely for his own purposes and advancements. 

What is the solution? How does Humility tie in with Perfect Knighthood?  The answer is quite simple, yet so overlooked that we never see it happen.  Chivalry is something spiritual as well as secular, and in order to attain the highest rewards and reap the benefits of both natures of Chivalry, the knight must conquer himself.  Conquer his passions.  Conquer his lower nature which seeks to be consoled, gratified, in the most improper and ridiculous ways.  He must learn to silently bow his head, and not take the glory of this world for the sake of the praise and honor he will receive.  A true Knight serves the master, not the servant.  He knows that God is always watching, rewarding his faithful servants who follow the conduct of Chivalry for more noble purposes.

Anyone can do something good for illicit purposes.  But if we are able to silence that part of us screaming out for attention from our fellow men.  Recognizing the important of only have God as our witness.  Then we have attained true knighthood. 

The selfless charisma of the Knight of Our Lady.  Like St. Maximilian, and St. Francis of Old.  True knights who did the right things, for the right reasons, regardless of what the world thought of them.  Focusing on the importance of conquering self, and realizing the true nature of knighthood as something beautiful, and meritorious of the greatest graces yet to beheld by human hands.  The idea of Sacrificial Love, like unto Christ, the Perfect Knight who gave his life in defense of the weak, in defense of the sinner, bringing joy to the sorrowful, courtesy towards his oppressors, humility when His people wished to crown Him as the Son Of David, yet most importantly, having courage in championed combat against the great dragon, Satan. 

Knighthood is about humility.  Any other rendition of what knighthood and chivalry are is simply an illusion and idea the world has painted in order to satisfy our tastes and curiosities.  I would like to end this post with a quote from last July, during the Funeral of Thom and Marc Girard:

“To Arms, Then, In the Service of Our Queen.”

Straż nocna (Night Watch) – humorystyczna powieść fantasy Terry Pratchetta, wydana w 2002 r. Jest to dwudziesta dziewiąta część długiego cyklu Świat Dysku, będąca przy tym siódmą częścią podcyklu o Straży Miejskiej.

Recenzje książek i nie tylko – całość wpisu znajdziesz na moim nowym blogu, zobacz: Straż nocna.