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starladyMust the youngest open the oldest hills,
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks.
There fire shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes that see the wind,
And the Light shall have the harp of gold.
–Susan Cooper, The Grey King
I used to have most of the poetry from that series (and a fair bit of Tolkienana too) memorized, roundabouts middle school.Yes, I was an unreconstructed geek, why do you ask? At least these days I can see at least some of the problems with both sets of books (cough! female agency! cough!).
Anyway, Happy Halloween to those who feel so inclined to celebrate this most secular of the formerly Christian holidays.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zahrawithaz has some thoughts on the holiday that should be required reading.
I am completely open to considering today a new year's eve, if only because this year, however it is defined, has been so unrelentingly difficult. There have been some good parts, unquestionably, but overall, 2009 is nowhere near my top 10. At least there's nowhere to go but up.
I went with the young literary man-friend to see The Damned United this afternoon, because I balked at Antichrist and because Damned United is by the same team of people that did The Queen. I know precisely zilch about English football and precious little about football in general, but the movie tells you enough of what you need to know to be accessible even to noobs like me and the YLMF, and anyway it's not really about football so much as it is a study of ambition and male rivalry and friendship (yes, the movie fails the Bechdel test abysmally. I had to explain the Bechdel test to the YLMF). Based on a true story, Brian Clough (rhymes with "enough"), after five hugely successful years as the manager of Derby County, parts ways with his assistant manager Peter Taylor and takes over the managership of Leeds United, which his arch-nemesis Don Revey has just vacated in order to manage England. The reunion scene at the end between Clough and Taylor goes way beyond the suggestive into real RPS territory, which says more about the different ways of expressing masculine affection in 1974 and 2009 than it does anything else. But I'd recommend it on a number of levels, neither the most nor the least of which is that Martin Sheen is pretty to look at.
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks.
There fire shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes that see the wind,
And the Light shall have the harp of gold.
–Susan Cooper, The Grey King
I used to have most of the poetry from that series (and a fair bit of Tolkienana too) memorized, roundabouts middle school.
Anyway, Happy Halloween to those who feel so inclined to celebrate this most secular of the formerly Christian holidays.
zahrawithaz has some thoughts on the holiday that should be required reading. I am completely open to considering today a new year's eve, if only because this year, however it is defined, has been so unrelentingly difficult. There have been some good parts, unquestionably, but overall, 2009 is nowhere near my top 10. At least there's nowhere to go but up.
I went with the young literary man-friend to see The Damned United this afternoon, because I balked at Antichrist and because Damned United is by the same team of people that did The Queen. I know precisely zilch about English football and precious little about football in general, but the movie tells you enough of what you need to know to be accessible even to noobs like me and the YLMF, and anyway it's not really about football so much as it is a study of ambition and male rivalry and friendship (yes, the movie fails the Bechdel test abysmally. I had to explain the Bechdel test to the YLMF). Based on a true story, Brian Clough (rhymes with "enough"), after five hugely successful years as the manager of Derby County, parts ways with his assistant manager Peter Taylor and takes over the managership of Leeds United, which his arch-nemesis Don Revey has just vacated in order to manage England. The reunion scene at the end between Clough and Taylor goes way beyond the suggestive into real RPS territory, which says more about the different ways of expressing masculine affection in 1974 and 2009 than it does anything else. But I'd recommend it on a number of levels, neither the most nor the least of which is that Martin Sheen is pretty to look at.