Wednesday 31 August 2011

Review: Eragon


Eragon
Eragon by Christopher Paolini

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



well, firstly I can understand why Eragon gets such a rough deal when it comes to reviews. It is very unoriginal; I warn any potential readers that you will find Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and a plethora of other fantasy novels/ series in here. However, that didn't bother me in the slightest. I found the book well written, I found it exciting, I found it engaging. Although the scenery was a but done, the characters were new if a little cliched (the farm boy, the old man that turns out to be a wizard and teaches the farm boy but then dies too early, the gruff, unexpected hero with a dark secret...) All that set aside, I cannot lie. I really very enjoyed this book and even gave me shivers at certain places.

Now, a word on unoriginality. There are three types of unoriginal: distractingly unoriginal, cherry picking and fan-fiction. Eragon falls into the second category. As I read it I didn't find myself going, "oop, there's some LotR... And there's some Potter..." etc and so on. It was only when I looked a bit more closely that I noticed the parts that were cherry picked from other great books. Now I have no issue with this. It makes a great story with it's own, individual characters. It was like building a lego set with pieces of other lego sets and placing your own, made up mini-figures inside it. I enjoyed the journey and I really look forward to reading Eldest (when I get done with Inkspell.)



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Sunday 28 August 2011

The Man Who Calmed the Sea

See the stricken boat
As it is tossed upon the sea
Hear the fearful cries
That wake the man from Galilee
He stands before the raging
Speaks peace and harmony
Winds and waves obey
He is the man who calmed the sea

Hear among the crowds
A desperate father's anguished plea
"Heal my dying child"
He begs the man from Galilee
With words that banish sorrow
"Don't fear, but just believe
Daughter - live again!"
Commands the man who calmed the sea

And as she stands before them
What joy from agony
He's the Master and the Maker
He's the man who calmed the sea

Feel the bitter pall
That shrouds the hill of Calvary
High upon the cross
There hangs the man from Galilee
The earth it quakes with sorrow
The sky grows dark with grief
All creation mourns
To lose the man who calmed the sea

But, no, death could not hold Him
The stone is rolled away
For He's the Master and the Maker
He's the man who calmed the sea

Now I hear the call
That echoes down through history
“Come, deny yourself
Take up your cross and follow Me
Through every joy and sorrow
My grace is all you’ll need
Trust me in the storm
For I’m the man who calms the sea.”

No fear shall overwhelm me
For Lord, I do believe
You're the Master and the Maker
You're the man who calms the sea

I’ll trust You for tomorrow
And seek You for today
For You're the Master and the Maker
You're the man who calms the sea

*

I don't know if anyone reads this blog. I don't know if anyone that reads this blog is a Christian. But I don't really care about that right now because I need to express this.
There are moments in my life when I sit back and think about how amazing God is and how enormous his love for me is. It's usually just after reading something in the bible or listening to a song that I get this realisation; it's like a little of the cloudiness of human consciousness gets displaced and I see a little more of God's glory than I normally do. And it overwhelms me. I get so full of awe at how massive God is and how immense the gift of his son was that I can't control it and I just have to let myself be awestruck. It happened when I was listening to this song earlier on, at the parts I've boldified. I can't understand why I was chosen to benefit from this great plan, because I'm pretty worthless. I'm this tiny insignificant human that is so weak and fails at living for God so frequently. So why should I be the one to benefit from God's greatness, from Jesus's sacrifice? I literally cannot grasp it; I am so totally undeserving of what Jesus Christ did for me. But that doesn't erase the fact that he did it for me, personally. It's just so amazing that there is nothing in me that is adequate in praise, in love, in worship or anything.
I cannot express the enormity of what I am feeling right now. Just... the utter astonishment; greater love than I know how to deal with; such deep gratitude to Him.
I am totally overwhelmed tonight. My tiny human head can't handle all this greatness.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

ReadIt1st - Hank Green's Poor Idea

So Hank Green - someone whom I admire a great deal - came up with an idea in a recent video that, from the outset, I felt somewhat unsure about and now, having watched a few reaction videos, I know why. From Hank's screen shots that have been posted on Tumblr it looks as if Nerdfighters will sign a pledge to read the book before watching the movie. See, I would generally agree that the book is better than the movie and I would prefer to read the source material before I see the movie. That's my general preference, yes, and so from that point of view alone you would think I agree with the idea of the site, yes?

Well... not entirely.

You see, I feel there's a silent feeling in nerdfighteria that no one really talks about but a lot of us feel and that a feeling of "I'm not a real nerdfighter unless I've ~done/read/see/enjoyed X thing~". No one is any less of a nerdfighter than anyone else if they haven't, say, read Harry Potter. I've never read Harry Potter but I enjoyed the movies. That doesn't make me less of a nerdfighter than any Potterhead who can recite passages and knows about what the different wand cores actually mean and... all that jazz. But, see, this is the bad part about ReadIt1st; it elevates one point of view and implies it to be superior to all others. I know that Hank isn't saying that anyone that doesn't enjoy a book over a movie/ anyone that reads the book after the movie is wrong or should sort their act out and get in line or anything like that, of course he isn't.
But Nerdfighteria is the community in which every point of view is to be valued and respected (which is a bit of a pipe dream) and Hank creating this website which places one opinion above all others is a very un-nerdfighterish thing to do. I feel that Hank has, for a brief moment, forgotten to be awesome.