Listening to music

Okay I admit it; I’m listening to various songs as I write this. It all started with thinking of geishas and their white faces to Nami Tamaki, then it went to Gackt as I thought about his movie Moonchild (while thinking of the Moonwoman) and then I just went off to country. I rock like that. What can I say, my mind makes amazing leaps. Okay maybe not leaps. Hops? Yeah hops. Well whatever the reason, I do like the character Moonwoman. She’s unusual and intriguing. And her name? C’mon.

It sounds so cool. I’d want a name like that! It is very Native American-esque as well. Maybe she’s also a throwback to them too?

And I’m guessing Lissar’s Lady really is this Moonwoman- a goddess who, as is confirmed with the woman who lost her child, looks out for kids. She does remind me of Artemis. Both a rather aloof, protect children, exotic looking (and resemble the moon in some way)…it doesn’t seem like the Moonwoman is one to appear before men, although that could just be me. But it seems like women in the book look toward her more often. She’s sort of their private patron, one that is relatable in some distant way.

Babies- they're maddening.

Okay, was anyone else confused when Lissar discovered she was pregnant? I mean, right up until the last couple pages of chapter 18, it was driving me nuts. What the hell happened to the King's bastard child??? Seriously, it was on my mind the entire time. I couldn’t stop thinking about it- don’t get me wrong. I liked how she finally noticed that something was off, that the morning sickness and big belly clicked in her mind. I liked how she panicked (that sounds really wrong now that I re-read this but eh). It was written well, as a reader I felt rushed and disjointed, like Lissar. But the mysterious disappearance of a baby?? Ugh. Drove. Me. Nuts.

Although, we finally (okay not really, it’s more like a strong hint) find out what happened though….I can’t say ‘m surprised. Lissar spent months maybe barely caring for herself, let alone another. Had the baby survived, it probably would’ve died shortly after. There’s no way Lissar can care for a child, let alone one that was spawned by her father’s rape. And, story wise, it probably wouldn’t have been all that great for Lissar to lug around a bastard. Rather than get helped as she was, she might have been shunned away despite her (unusual but pretty) appearance.
So yeah, this entire blog?

Just me letting you all know I spent a good 90 some pages going crazy. :) Oh and I use the term bastard in the old fashioned way (as I’m prone to do with some other words I also use): a baby borne out of wedlock. I’m not insulting it, I swear.

...he saw his reflection for the first time in his life and fell in love with the beautiful boy he was looking at, not realizing it was himself...

Wow….I mean, wow. First it must suck being the child of a king and queen that absorbed in themselves. It’s not even a case of “because I’m so perfect, it’s only natural that I produce perfect offspring.” It was more like these incredibly narcissistic people were so marvelous, they outshined absolutely everything. Their “beauty” is a lot like Leck’s Grace: it blinds and distorts the minds of people. The queen is just like the Wicked Stepmother from Snow White- obsessed with her own beauty. The father hides behind his Lancelot-like charm- slowly descending into a perverse madness. And like Leck, he craves his daughter. These parents are unnatural, it’s probably a good thing that Lissar had very little to do with them for most of her secluded life.

It’s a good thing that she has Ash. Clearly that dog is her anchor to the real world; Ash keeps her grounded and sane. When she’s afraid, Lissar looks to Ash for protection. When Lissar went into her own form of madness after her father’s…..er….declaration; she disappeared into her mind. Ash was the only real thing she was aware of. And she lost all hope when her father attacked the dog to get to her. I’m hoping that Ash is okay, because even though she’s not human, she’s the closest thing Lissar has got to family. And of course, a best friend.

Time to Meet the Family!

At first I was going to talk about Freud but then I thought “Naaah”. Why? Well, the only really good thing I have to say about this is that he was wrong: it’s not women who have penis envy. It’s him who has a bad case of it, because clearly he was compensating for his own need to have another penis to play with beside his own. Yes, come class time I’ll totally be thinking about that and giggling a little. So if you see me being amused for unknown reasons...well, it's not so unknown now is it? :p

So, instead of Freud, I’m going to focus on the last bit of Graceling. Awwww that was cute. It was, no really. First off- like most villains, Leck’s death wasn’t all that great. If anything it was fast and quickly understated during the scene’s progression. Yes Katsa thought about it but the moment itself? Quickly done with. You have to admit though, the image of one eyed Leck, slumped down in his self made ‘throne’, unable to fall because he’s pinned to the chair. A dagger embedded in his mouth, slicing through his tongue and reaching the back of his- okay you know what? I’ll spare you the imagery created by my own slightly (okay more than slightly) depraved mind. But it’s still a cool picture.

Anyways, I know this book is about Katsa’s growth (and boy does she grow!) but I have to say….I like Po’s family. I do, I bet it’d be great to live with them. Skye is the only real brother we get to know, and like Po I think, he’s got a great sense of humor. The scene in which Katsa saves him and he immediately starts putting her on a pedestal…excellent. Seriously who wouldn’t loves someone who did this:

Skye kissed her forehead. “You saved my life.”

Katsa smiled. “You Lienid are very outward in your affection.”

“I’m going to name my firstborn child after you.” (p.434)

Like I said, that Sky and his stern/curious father Ror and Po, hell the whole damn family are very likable.

Of course I was thrilled to see Riffan and Bann again at the end, and I’ll admit it. I’m sitting here at work typing this up and when I read the coronation ceremony bit between them and Katsa I totally giggled- loudly. And J.P. (one of the librarians I work with here at school) was standing right behind me. Nice. Although you have to admit…Riffan and Bann totally remind me of Fred and George Weasely with that new bellyache curing-itchy feet causing medicine and the itchy feet curing-bellyache causing medicine. And of course Ror was hushed when he told them to be quiet… Oh that was funny. That whole scene is on p. 465 by the way.


P.S. Now that Leck is dead, can his Grace finally wear off? I know it was mentioned in the book earlier that his lies are spread even when he isn’t the one speaking them. Could that simply have been because he lived? Hmm….how interesting to think if it could never actually go away, even after death.

A King Fallen (the effects of one woman)

Well, well, well. Not looking so tall and mighty now are you, Randa? How doe sit feel, to watch your precious tool turn into a woman who is rapidly realizing that she doesn’t need you? How does it feel, knowing that you let her disgrace you and you weren’t able to do a thing?

Oh yes, I’ll admit that I loved that little scene. I can just imagine Randa getting that smug look wiped off his overconfident face; seriously, I would love to see his eyes slowly widen to the size of dinner plates while his jaw dropped low enough to catch some flies. As well as it is that Katsa finally stood up for herself, I’ll admit that I’m far more interested in seeing a proud man realize that he’s not a strong as he seems to think. Is that too evil of me? Eh, oh well… Actually, this one instance makes Randa far more interesting than before, it definitely sheds a new light of all of his previous light or three on his earlier actions.

Take, for instance, his need for Katsa. He knew he could rule one of his own family, and a girl at that. How easy would it be to play God to one person? While Randa may be a decent king to most (after all, his kingdom is pretty stable- that says a lot about his reign), the side of him that punishes harshly to those that disobey him is built around one factor: Katsa. Now that she’s walked away, what will become of Randa? Can he still rule as fearlessly as before? Will he be keeping an eye on his back, fear or some unknown assassin now that his greatest weapon and shield is gone? Will he fear that Katsa herself will be hunting him down? Will he let that cold trickle of fear infect him, affecting the rest of his reign, however long or short it may be?

So many questions, so many queries and ponderings and not nearly enough answers….I’m almost disappointed that the story will no doubt revolve around Katsa more than ever now. I really would like to see what becomes of Randa.

I didn’t like this article very much at all. In fact, it kind of sucked. The more I read Ono’s article (To be a Vampire), the more I wanted to argue a lot of the things he said. Seriously? This is basically one huge rant about how Buffy isn’t some ‘perfect’ show. Well, unfortunately for Ono, no show is perfect. What really got to be is the way he brought in race and gender. Sometimes I think we over analyze that too much. Not everything we do is based on race or gender; and a majority of people who argue that seem to have based themselves and their entire perspective on it. A bit sad if you think about it…

I’m not one to really take notice of gender or race. It’s really not that important to me; one physical aspect tells me nothing about the kind of person you are. It just irks me when people seem to believe that being white/black or boy/girl is really that important. Honestly, in your daily life, how often do you really think about those things?

For instance, Ono said that there were a lot of whites on Buffy (p. 23). Well, yeah. Hello? Look at the region these people live in! Most of America is inhabited by whites. That’s not something that was planned. That’s just the way it is, over centuries of migration some places are less diverse then others. Complaining about the color or the lack of it on TV is like going to oh….Africa and being mad that there are less whites living in town. It’s a stupid thing to focus on. This show hardly “villianizes” other races. In fact, how many evil doers were black, brown, yellow or whatever? Not many. Most were- gasp!- white. Oh my god, how shocking.

I also 'enjoyed' the bit where he began to talk about Buffy and Kendra. Looking back, yeah Buffy was mocking her a bit when Kendra came into Sunnydale. But was it a form of racism? Not really…it’s more like a teenager being a teenager. How many teens go around doing the same thing? It may not be completely right but it’s hardly something to jump up about and run around screaming.

He didn’t touch too much on gender I think. Most of this pointless paper was spent trying to assure people that the creators of Buffy were some horrible and racist closet KKK fan.

Okay I’m going to stop there just because I’m so tempted to swear. And I don’t feel like introducing anyone to some new, shiny and painful insults. This article was a huge waste of my time…

Gracling

Well, unlike the previous book, this book has gender in it. Along with that, gender issues to discuss, but I’ll get into that (maybe) at a later date. For now, Graceling will dazzle me with something else. Something far more interesting than gender roles and all that. Yes, you guessed it, eyes. More specifically Katsa’s eyes. My first impression of them was that they were were preternaturally bright, like a jungle cat’s. After all, who wouldn’t want eyes that glowed in the dark? Well, aside from the people within the book of course. My second notion was based on the color of Katsa’s eyes: one as blue as the ocean and the other as green as the rolling hills. Lovely colors, yes?

Well, they would be if anyone bothered to enjoy such unusual eyes. But in Graceling that’s the last thing people want. It seems to be that the eyes are the most obvious (and perhaps the only) physical sign that a person is different, both blessed and cursed with abilities they were born with. I say cursed because a parent’s worst fear is to see two different colored eyes on their child. Here in this world, it’s unusual and fetching (for example, David Bowie has amazing dual colored eyes). In Katsa’s world, it’s a sign that that person isn’t as ‘human’ as everyone else.

As interesting as having different colored eyes is, it’s also interesting how everyone fears it. Or rather, fear what it means. I can see why though, why love something that’ll turn into a weapon for a possibly unstable king? Or even a stable king! After all, politics is a dirty game…