A Man and Poetry

People might look at a man reading poetry and call him a love-struck fool, because why on earth would any self-respecting man with any self confidence read poetry unless he was trying to impress a woman? Even worse are those boys who write poetry; those people who waste so much time trying to rhyme every line of every verse, hoping that someday, a girl will be impressed.

I would now ask this of any boy: are you telling me that Eminem or Fort Minor are love-struck fools? That G.K. Chesterton or J.R.R. Tolkien waste their time? I have no patience for trying to write poetry myself, but I am a huge fan of "epic poetry" as I call it, or verses that portray an aspect of life in a forceful way. I'm going to post the first few lines or stanzas of some of my favorite pieces with a link following each so you can read the whole poem at your pleasure. Comment and tell me your favorite poems, or post your own in the comment section. Enjoy these tidbits:

White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.

http://poemhunter.com/poem/lepanto-2/

This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:
"Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane --
Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;
Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat,
Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat.
Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones;
Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons;
Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat;
But the others -- the misfits, the failures -- I trample under my feet.
Dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain,
Ye would send me the spawn of your gutters -- Go! take back your spawn again.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-law-of-the-yukon/

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/invictus/

There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night --
Ten to make and the match to win --
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/vita-lampada/

I highly encourage you all (the boys especially) to read the rest of these poems; they may be long, but it's worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I may grumble about being dragged away from Michigan to go and visit my cousin's house for a week every Thanksgiving, but as soon as I get there, I forget most of what's going on at home. A tradition between my uncle and I has been to rent a shooting video game (Quantum of Solace this year), and try to kill each other for hours on end (and yes, I always kick his butt), as well as a tramp in the woods that comes down to me shouting at my sisters and cousins to keep up as I set the pace. Thanksgiving dinner will be amazing again this year, and we have a homemade apple and cranberry pie for desert... life really can't get much better this year. Comment and tell me your family's Thanksgiving traditions, and your favorite part of the holiday. Enjoy your Turkey, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Coming soon...

OK, I know that I haven't posted for a while, but an upcoming post is going to make up for it. On November 11th of this year, a game launched that changed the way that the industry will make games forever. I am talking of course about the new Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim. I would argue that this game is the beginning of serious A.I. technology because the game rewrites itself as you play, making up story lines based on how your character individually plays the game; in essence, no two players will experience exactly the same game. I will be playing the game soon (my computer can't handle it yet), and when I do, I will post a detailed review with pictures and videos, and all sorts of fun stuff. Hang in there!

In the spirit of Halloween...

Having just read a rather creepy article on Cracked.com, I now give you the urban legends of our time that are completely true. Enjoy.

1. The feeling of being watched.

You all know the feeling. You're alone in your house, and suddenly, you just feel like someone is there. You can ignore it and rationalize it all you want, but it doesn't go away. The creepy part is that sometimes... you may actually be being watched. A man had this happen several times, and so, when he went to work, he set up cameras in the style of Paranormal. He then watched the tapes when he came home, and had the scare of his life. Nothing for a while, then a surprise. A woman walked out of his pantry, did some things around the house, and went back into the pantry, and did not come out again... the pantry that was literally inches from where he sat watching the video. A quick search discovered her, and he found that apparently she had been in the house for over a year, eating and showering while he was at work.

2. The body in the hotel bed.

An often-cited story that winds up at every campfire party. A couple rents a hotel room, and it smells funny, but they don't want to complain about it, so they just sleep and change the sheets the next morning. What they find is a tangle of rotting flesh, bones, and clothes under the mattress. This actually happens more than you might expect; a motel mattress is a great place to hide your dead body if you think about it.

3. The man-eating escalator.

Sure, we've all feared that machine of metal that carries our lazy rear ends to the next level when we were little, but we're mature enough to know that it's an irrational fear, right? Wrong. The contraptions known as escalators thirst for human blood. No joke. On several occasions, shoelaces have been caught in the joints and crevices, and people have bent to get them out. I can't stress this next part enough: do not, on any account, try to get them out with your hands unless you want a few less fingers. Escalators have minds of their own, and will not hesitate to rip your fingers from your hand. To quote a nationally-certified escalator safety manager: "It's unbelievable what an escalator can do to human flesh."

People have died by strangulation as well when their hoods are caught in the system. People have lost pieces of feet, toes, and hands to these things. Maybe a ski lift made from chainsaws will be next.

So, now that I've made you wince at least once, happy Halloween!

Ender's Game

The title of my all time favorite book. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do, but I must warn you. It's not for the faint-hearted. This book has shaped my life in more ways than I can think of. Under a thick disguise of science fiction, the book is also deeply psychological and even more philosophical, and gives you much to think about even as you turn the last page. Among other things, it had taught me to try to understand what people mean instead of what they say, and that the best teacher you can have is your worst enemy, and that in some cases, your worst enemy is yourself.

I don't expect many of you to read it, but if you do and/or have, please discuss it with me. It's a great books for geeks like me as well, so any/all of you who are geeks should love it.

All in all, I would argue that it is one the greatest books ever written, bar none. If you are 14 or older, I would highly encourage it.

On another note, here is the trailer for the upcoming film The Avengers: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1636408857

You're thoughts on any of this?

Daniel

Purpose

There is so much in this life that goes beyond the simple 'body mind soul' mentality. Ecclesiastes 3 says it best:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Life must not be lived in excess of any one thing; one shouldn't spend all his or her time working out and skipping class. In the same way, one shouldn't study all the time and never cut lose. Perhaps even harder is that one should not be actively praying all the time. Not that you should not make every action a prayer, but physically kneeling down and actually speaking to God should not be done all the time. It makes for a dangerously uneven wheel.

Now that I've had a deep thought, I'll tell you what this blog is about. It will be about everything. No joke. Sometimes it will be as simple as a review of a book I read or a movie I saw; sometimes it will be as complex as the meaning of life. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, so please argue back. A huge part of life is simulating discussion, and I look forward to your comments.