Paradise Lost

Gustave Dore's illustration of Lucifer in John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Sweeney Todd

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.
His skin was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod
did Sweeney Todd
the demon barber of fleet street.
He kept a shop in London town.
Of fancy clients and good renown
and what if none of their souls were saved
they went to their maker impecably shaved.
By Sweeney,
by Sweeney Todd
the demon barber of fleet street.

"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" by Stephen Sondheim

The wallpaper was composed by sajwest.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Science-fiction Cradlesong

Most people know C.S Lewis by his magnus opus "The Chronicles of Narnia". Some more interessted may also know that he's was part of the literary discussion group The Inklings (together with J.R.R. Tolkien).

But I never thought that C.S. Lewis would write something like this poem:

By and by Man will try
To get out into the sky,
Sailing far beyond the air
From Down and Here to Up and There.
Stars and sky, sky and stars
Make us feel the prison bars.

Suppose it done. Now we ride
Closed in steel, up there, outside
Through our port-holes see the vast
Heaven-scape go rushing past.
Shall we? All that meets the eye
Is sky and stars, stars and sky.

Points of light with black between
Hang like a painted scene
Motionless, no nearer there
Than on Earth, everywhere
Equidistant from our ship.
Heaven has given us the slip.

Hush, be still. Outer space
Is a concept, not a place.
Try no more. Where we are
Never can be sky or star.
From prison, in a prison, we fly;
There's no way into the sky.

"Science-fiction Cradlesong" by C.S Lewis

The Belgariad

Currently I am reading all five volumes of the Belgariad epic by David Eddings. As of now I am in the middle of the second book ("Queen of Sorcery"), but as of now I am not too impressed by the books. I am not very fond of several aspects like:

• the story is from an adolescent's point of view, who is mostly ignorant of the major background story. No cute robots, or little children, please!
• there are a lot of Deus-Ex-Machinas in the story.
• the races described in the book are often quite stereotypical.

But on the other hand the adult characters are quite enjoyable, so I will stick to reading it a little bit longer ..

Utrecht on a Saturday

During the VtES tournament I attended this weekend (23/Feb/2008) in Utrecht, Netherlands, I took some pictures of the city. Albeit the quality of the pictures is not so well, since I do not own (or could operate) a good camera.

Right: A view from the cellar of the Joker, the game shop in which's cellar we played in.

Left: Also outside of the Joker, at the canal level of the "Oudegracht" (literally "Old canal")


Left: Three columns of women form the entrance of a restaurant.

Right: The tower of the Utrecht cathedral.

Utrecht in the late 19th century (1890-1900)

Nighthawks

Nighthawks, Edward Hopper (1942)

From Nightwatch to Daywatch

"I was beginning to understand her, not just as a professional target and a potential victim of a Dark Magician, not just as the unwitting cause of catastrophe, but as a person. An introverted, bookish child, with a mass of complexes and her head full of crazy ideals and a childish faith in the beautiful prince who was searching for her and would surely find her. Work as a doctor, a few girlfriends, a few male friends, and a great deal of loneliness. Conscientious work almost in the spirit of a builder of communism, occasional visits to the café and occasional loves.

And each evening like every one other, on the couch, with a book, with the phone lying besides her, with the television muttering something soapy and comforting. How many of you there still are, girls and boys of various ages, raised by naïve parents in the sixties. How many of you there are, so unhappy, not knowing how to be happy. How I long to take pity on you, how I long to help you. To touch you through the Twilight - gently, with no force at all. To give you just a little confidence in yourself, just a tiny bit of optimism, a gram of willpower, a crumb of irony. To help you, so that you could help other."

"Nightwatch" (p126) by Sergei Lukyanenko

So much truth (for me) in two paragraphs ...

P.S.: This from the russian novel "Nightwatch", not related the Danish film or the dutch painting by Rembrandt.