Werewolves

Due to my sister being a huge fan of Taylor L, I decided to write this. Werewolves do not look like over sized wolves, those are just over-sized wolves, which is a rather new and less gruesome idea. I like the classic werewolves whose clothes ripped off because their body grew massively, their bones cracked and reformed into new joints, and their human skin peeled off to allow fur. Does this make me weird? I don't care, it is my opinion. Underworld is one of the more recent movies that follows the first two points. However, lycans are not going to transform so painlessly and quickly. Even if there was magic involved, there is no way that you can completely grow new muscles, fur, a whole new skeleton and new fangs without large agonizing amounts of PAIN! You would be writhing for who knows how long as you transform. In the older versions of werewolves, they killed livestock and villagers and were the kind of thing your mother would warn you about as she tucked you into bed.There is no glory in being  monster. Werewolves have been around for a very long time, and the versions and twists on them vary significantly. However, if you had the massive amounts of transformation pain, you would need a lot of nutrients and be driven insane by the pain. On the full moon only, is also irrational because how long would it take for someone to go transformation like that, rampage and turn back? I would say a few days at least. You have to survive being bitten by a werewolf to become one is also  a pain. If they have been driven out of their mind and need massive amounts of food, how on earth do you survive to the next full moon? I suppose that there are miracles, but this was back when surgery was often lethal. So werewolves would be far and in between right? Wrong, if they only had to bite you to turn you, what about the women they had sex with and exchanged fluids and their children? This is supposing that the werewolf got his sanity back when he turned human again and that he is contagious when he is human. So what other historical monsters can I tear apart and poke at the 'facts' of?

My Car ^_^

I drive a 1992 Saturn, which has a semi-long history behind it (half of which I really don’t want to know). When he was 18, my dad got his first car that was his and not borrowed from my grandmother. She helped pay for it over the next few years. When he was about 21, my father allowed my mother to use his car to learn to drive, which was a difficult task when she was pregnant and probably before. My mother put several scratches in that car like you wouldn’t believe. Though, my father once punched it hard enough to leave a dent, one of the many. Abused and worn, this car went through me and my sister. We both got car sick easily. I would bet money that at least half the old stains in the backseat belong to me. My parents, who were from California, did not drive like the average Washington, though my mother got her first license here. After the long years and one year of being stranded in our yard, this old girl is still running, if not fitfully, for me. Though half the safety parts need to be replaced, she still runs like a junker, but a semi-dependable junkie. Through the last few months, she has only failed me twice, both last week. The battery needed to be replaced because her mechanic is an idiot. All in all, this history filled car is both a love and pain, much like the distant past. Some fail and do not rise. Others fail and rise stronger.

Vampires

When I was little, vampires were blood sucking monster that were only cool when dying or dead. I was a big Blade and D fan. In my young biased mind, half blood humans are cool, if they kill those evil vampires. As a kid, I completely agreed that sucking blood and killing people made you a bad person period. This was more so when you forced someone to join you in the leagues of undead damnation. Nowadays, we have all these shows that are trying to make love interests out of monsters, intended to make us behave. Twilight *ducks thrown objects* is a prime example for a popular franchise. Human falls for a ‘vegetarian’ vampire, who only sucks the blood of animals, which still makes you a monster. Vampires are suddenly a hottie with fangs, who you desperately want to turn you into the same monster. Were wolves were suddenly just Native American shape shifters. Then again, Underworld portrayed lycans and vampires as bad people in general with the very few ‘good’ guys/girls. My favorite heros, on the other hand, are of both bloods. Bade was not a willing participate of his damned blood. He is the badass of outcasts of the blood sucker world and he knows it well. He slays vampires for a living and loves ridding the world of monsters one by one. D is similar in no liking his own damned creation and he hunts vampires for money, though whether he likes it or not is for debate. In the end, I support the vampires being killed, but does that make me racist? Perhaps the recent changes are us trying to make up for teaching our children to be racist against monsters. I know that most of this is more recent history, but still it is history.

Give a man a fish

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. I finish this quote of the week with “Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”  However, that was not what I read. The rest goes “Take away his fish and tell him he is lucky to be alive. He will find a way to catch another fish for you to take tomorrow.” This is apparently an old dictator’s proverb. I may not completely agree with our government, but imagine the hell people live through every day in places like Korea. We elect the officials that represent us in the government, who are supposed to do what we as a whole want. Granted that corruption and greed doesn’t get in the way, something else will. Hell, we can just vote out that person and new with the new, right? I sometimes wish that I lived in the Middle Ages, do you think I wanted to be some lowly peasant? No, I wanted to be at the top of the food chain. Peasants don’t get a say, but then again neither did women. So I guess my ideal time travel trip would compose of being a prince or king. Kings told people to jump and they’d ask how high. I would hate to be in modern times and under the same idea. Glad to be American is a simple phrase and we sometimes have no idea how good we have it, until it’s gone. I may not agree with all the bloody fights we did in the name of America, but boy do I reap the benefits now. If Native Americans won more than half the battles, my neighborhood would most likely still be wilderness. History is strange, but those events shaped the future and present into what we enjoy now. Granted, some of us hate aspects of it, but would we go back to the Middle Ages to be trapped in that time frame, never to escape?

Women are Evil

Since I mentioned it in my last post, I could not resist talking about this. In Mythology, you learn two things. One, Zeus is a whore. Most men will have sex with anything with a pulse; Zeus doesn't see this as a limitation. Read the non-PG stories of Greek Mythology and understanding will follow. Two, women are evil. I may be female myself, but men were given countless reasons to fear us through the centuries. In Mythology, there is Eris, Clytemnestra, Gaia, and Hera. All these women examples are from Greek Mythology. Eris was the Greek goddess of strife, who caused the Trojan War. Paris of Troy was to judge who was the most beautiful of three goddesses, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. Aphrodite won, because she bribed to give him the love of Helen of Sparta (who was married). Clytemnestra was the daughter of Zeus and Leda (swan bestiality here). Because of the Trojan War, King Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to make winds come. Horrified, Clytemnestra and her lover killed the king upon his return. However, she was later killed by her own son.  Gaia, or Mother Earth, married her own son. She bore Chronos, whom when he grew up helped Gaia to castrate his father. Hera was Zeus’s insanely jealous wife. Who can blame her? She sent Hercules into a rage that caused him to kill his wife and son, and then proceeded to persecute him. Leto and her twins, Artemis and Apollo had snakes sent after them. The mother of Dionysus, Semele was tempted to look at Zeus, which burned her and Zeus had to save the baby from the fire. She turned Io into a crow, who was another one of Zeus’s lovers. Turning against Zeus, she led a rebellion, which Hades had to save Zeus. Then Poseidon and Apollo were sentenced to build the walls of Troy. Her list goes on and on. However, there are real historical figures that were evil women. Elizabeth Bathory was the Hungarian noble, who lured hundreds of young female peasant virgins to her castle, just to bath in their blood. When her terrible deeds were discovered, she was placed under house arrest and starved. She is also called the Blood Countess. Mary the first, or Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, started the Inquisition in England. Thousands were burned to death. Her cousin, Jane Grey, was also put to death. Just because she wanted the throne, Mary killed many. A more recent figure is Aileen Wuornos, who worked as a prostitute. She killed seven men and was later convicted. This American serial killer got the lethal injection. I’m not saying that men aren’t evil too, but women don’t have a clean slate either. Some of us wonder why we are only seen as sex objects. I think it’s a coping reaction to us as a whole. 

Changes of Batman

Thanks to a deep discussion in my English class, I can't seem to get how Batman has changed over the years OUT OF MY HEAD! Growing up, I was surrounded by D&D nerds, anime, and tons of other stuff that the average child has never seen until their teens if ever. Saving those topics for a possible later discussion, I felt really young today. For those who have never read the early editions of Batman (like me) or seen the first TV series (also like me), Batman was easily thought to be gay or straight if you looked at the same thing. I have always known Batman as an outlaw hero (dark, handsome and yummy), but apparently that wasn't the case before the 60's. Robin was Batman's live in ward, and they lived in a house full of flowers, vases and a butler. However, the slam of this easily interpreted differently character was shoved into a novel called Seduction of the Innocent. This book, written by Fredric Wertham, came out before the TV show. It claimed that boys would be turned into homosexuals because Batman and Robin were clearly gay lovers, women were evil and that the scenes of the Wayne Manor was a homosexual's dream. I might discuss women being evil in a later discussion, but in this one, women had just got their right to vote aka power, which scared a lot of men. As a rebuttal, the Batman television series, was camp. By the way, camp means tacky, but we still love it (like drag queens are very camp). The message was basically "If you want a gay Batman, here you go." Sticking it to Wertham to put lightly. However, Wertham scared his readers into believing that camp would turn their unprotected children (who they wanted to believe were sponges) into homosexuals, which was "bad". During the 70's to now, Batman has turned from an official to outlaw hero, working on his side of the law. The camp that was once perceived as funny, was now pushed on villians, making it seem bad. Hence why the Joker was so tacky at this time. Robin was killed off, along with countless other 'bad' women, who seemed to tie Batman down. I look at this change and finally understand how people can change so much. If someone puts Dr. or Expert anywhere near their name, they are instant Shepherd to us Sheep. No offence.

Quote of the Week

I got a CBC newsletter today and noticed many things, but one caught my eye. On the bottom of the page, was a quote "It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." from William Ernest Henley. No offence, BUT WHAT IS WITH ALL THE WILLIAM NAMES IN HISTORY!? Now that is off my chest, I wondered who his guy is and what on Earth he is talking about. Before I looked him up, I pictured a Dark Ages peasant, standing in a courtroom as the speaker listened off a long list of his offences. This man's reaction is a look of calm and peace. He knows that no one controls his fate and soul, but himself. Now I dared to type his name into Google. Apparently my first thought of a Dark Ages peasant was totally off, Henley was born in the mid 1800's and even lived to the early 1900's. Thank you Wikipedia. He wasn't a peasant at all either. He was a rather notorious English poet, who wrote "Invictus", critic and editor. His life is semi-typical late 1800's, but his father's name was William as well, no offence, but REALLY?! Anyway, the quote was apparently from the last line of "Invictus", his most famous poem from 1875. When, Henley was 17, his foot from below the knee was amputated to save his life. Five years earlier, he had contracted tuberculosis in the bone of his foot. As it progressed, doctors claimed that cutting off the affected area would save him. The whole poem was pretty though. 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.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

He defies and accepts death at the same time, which is interesting. Considering the circumstances, I guess that I may have been wrong with my first guess to the origin, but the feeling of those few lines could describe many. By the way, if I seem spaztic, I apologize, I am on a sugar high.

Sheep's Clothing Spinning

My mother brought be to bring your child to work day. Today, there is a class on spinning and boy do I pity women. Imagine living in a barn and attaching a spare wagon wheel on the wall and using it to spin really fine yarn and if you want it thicker, spinning it again and again and again. Watching Brian, I realize that making yarn and thread for clothes, sails and rope is a big pain to women over the many years. In Columbus's day, the drop spindle were mostly used by women so they can put it down and tend to children, food and their men. On the other hand, men who spun used production wheels, like the great wheel, to spin for profit, since that's all they had to worry about. Watching both techniques, it takes a long time to make a decent amount of thread. How many shirts could your mother make using these techniques? Depends on the skill of the women, the country she lived in, the avalibility of fibers to spin, and countless other factors. Most women had half a dozen children,so making clothes from scratch would be highly impratical. Countries had different traditions on who would spin the yarn and thread and how it was done. Different countries also raised different animals and plantss. Plant fibers like flax, thisle, cotton, hemp, corn, seacell, and bamboo have been used throughout the centuries in the places they naturally grown in. Anything with hair has been woven as well like buffalo, goat, dog, sheep, and alpaca are still used today. Human hair isn't as much because it doesn't spin well, unless combined with something else. Silk is another type of animal fiber. Today, we mostly use synthetic fibers like nylon, polyester,and rayon, simply because it is cheaper to produce. Knitting techniques haven't changed much, since there's only so much you can do with thread and yarn. I don't know about you, but I really don't have time to make the yarn for my looming and to use it. I invite people to look at all the different spinning wheels that look ancient and are still reproduced today. I'm sitting here looking at some and wondering why on earth women bothered to stop using solid peices of animal hides and fur. No wonder spinning wheels were evil objects in Sleeping Beauty.