review

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Mumblings

Much ado has been made of The Odyssey and I fully intended to see it. Then I read some of the reviews. This is not something I normally do. In fact my intention is to never read them but as I seldom pay attention to my intentions, I did. So. The most interesting to me was that two essential parts of the Odyssey were left out. (My essentials as I’m only speaking for myself here.) The essentials were the Siren Song and the time spent on the island with the lotus eaters and singers of love and lust and pleasures consumed and consummated. But to me the very most important part that I dearly loved was the escape from the cave and the monster because Odysseus told him his name was “no man.” Therefore the allies of the blinded one-eyed giant monster could not help him against Odysseus because when they called out to him asking who he needed help with, the horror responded with “no man.” Ha!

How clever. How enjoyable were both of those sections in their entirety. I don’t know or care who the editor(s) or screenwriters were, but they should be gone with the wind. And whoever else went along with the script as it is, (e.g. the whole production crew including director). I no longer have any desire to see the movie.

This is a photograph published by globalperspectives.info. It is showing when Odysseus blinds the Cyclops making him into a no-eye instead of a one-eye. You will not see this in the movie so I thought I would show you here.

How’s that for a movie review of a film I haven’t seen? I’m sure I could make a living at this.

*****

I am quite tired of the word “literally” being used, even when it is used correctly.

I am also quite tired of the text on facebook being a block long and mostly because the author is using the gimmick of one paragraph per sentence or word. Please. The emphasis is lost due to its very repetition. The same with exclamation points. Only one at the end of sentences, please. And certainly do not pepper every other word or sentence with them. *sigh* Of course it loses its power that way.

*****

Wired has published an article about the sun being blocked due to the effects of el nino. That is to say, the powers that be are considering the blocking. Because the sun has such a powerful impact on el nino and makes it exponentially worse than it would be on its own. This is not news. This proposal has been offered up for a few years now. Perhaps it is currently becoming more serious. That would not surprise me. What surprises me is how we do not learn from our past mistakes. Let me go on record here as saying What the Hell are you Thinking! There are always, always consequences unforeseen when we mess with nature. Just because we cannot see the repercussions does not mean there aren’t any. The Earth always wins. Mother nature is not cuddly.

Remember the culling of the herd of elephants? Culling is a nice word for destroying, killing, murdering. We killed these bull elephants in front of their babies, the baby bulls. They watched as their fathers were killed and lay dying in front of them. Okay, so there were fewer elephants to overrun the surrounding small villages. There were in turn fewer new babies to overrun the villages.

What they got instead was a herd of new bulls that overran the villages and destroyed everything in their path. They acted out in outrages patterns of destruction and terrorised anyone whom they encountered. Afterall, they had no elders to raise and teach them their role within the herd. They saw their parents killed, shot by humans. They learned fury. They learned rage. Some say they even learned revenge. Well, at least there were fewer of them.

And right now the Earth seems pretty pissed off at us. Let’s please not add to the chaos. Leave the sun alone.

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The Zone

Some thoughts, because it will not leave me alone. I watched Stalker, a movie directed by Tarkovsky. It’s a 1979 film. Those are the facts. From there it turns into something else, a something else that is beyond difficult to capture and explain.

I understand why many people dislike the film, hate it. Make a disgusting noise and an ugly face if the subject of the film comes up in conversation with them. Or if they write reviews. That is by far the easiest way to deal with it. Because it is ugly. It is awful. And there is something around the edges, something that rings a distant bell. Something that intends to pull you in and suck you into the quicksand of yourself.

And then there are those of us who are taken by the film. Captured and made frightened by it, by the Truth of it. At the end of the film, almost the end, the Climax of the film, the men who have struggled through to the Doorway, there is a choice. If they walk through the Doorway to the final reward, they will have their most secret desire, their wish fulfilled. But therein lies the rub. It is their Secret Desire, their innermost desire granted. They do not get to choose the wish, to say what they want. No. They are granted that which lies hidden within the depths of self. The desire that they themselves have never looked at. What is it? What lies deep inside, buried by time and choices of the self that lives in the world? What would be the apotheosis? Who could possibly dare to walk through the Doorway and see themselves for what they truly want? Isn’t that then, who we really are?

No one walks through the door.

I don’t walk through it either. As the film evolves and unravels the Zone, it is laid out so that that we are taken along with it. It is slow and moving. It is revealing as it takes us, puzzled as the men are, and looking for signs that will tell us we are not lost. But we are. More and more we depend upon the Stalker. And more and more we have no compass.

It is not clear whether or not we are within someone’s mind, or even our own, or if this is a world somewhere. But one thing is clear, if you go along you will discover that the Zone does exist. And the question becomes, do you really want to know your secret desire? What is it? Name it. Can you name it?

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Happiness is…

Happiness is a good book review! A book review was posted by  Reader Views Michel Violante on Goodreads. Mar 19, 2017 Reader Views rated it amazing. 

After giving some plot details as a lead in, Michael had this to say. “L. E. Hansen presents readers with a well-written, page-turning mystery which I found difficult to put down. The colorful setting and characters are as genuine, likeable, and entertaining as the narrator himself is. The plot is intriguing and filled with twists, which felt like a cat and mouse game between reader and author. I definitely enjoyed the plot, well-developed unique characters, and even the narrator’s voice. I don’t know if this is Hansen’s first mystery, but will look into it and follow her for more!

“The Fat Man” by L. E. Hansen is a ‘must read’ mystery, certain to add fans to this author’s followers list. I recommend it as a Five-Star read to all mystery lovers for sure!”

Love love love. Several other readers have put the novel on their “to be read” list.