How many times must I tell you I’ve told you
How many times must I say what I’ve said
A person can only repeat themselves so many times
Before they shout the message
Still you will insist on asking again
On not paying attention to begin with
And relying on my memory to be your memory
I can imagine your brain getting fat
While mine is lean and sinewy
One day you will have to do with out me
When your brain breaks a sweat
It will come out in tears
The day will come when they will be true
When every word of them will be nodded at
And written in a book so made sacred
In the future people might even
Put their hands on its cover when taking an oath
Or being sworn into high office
Churches could be built around them
Prayers may rise to them
Inevitably there will be an alter
And sacrifices
Suffering in the name of healing
One day they could well be
The kind of system they rebelled against
They might go from being a key to a shackle
Then it all starts again
X-men Apocalypse is an average super hero movie. The problem is that it could have been great. To my mind Apocalypse is the coolest villain in the X-men Universe. What makes him cool is that he is immortal and able to grown in size. One of my favourite X-men cartoons was one where Apocalypse grows into the size of the Statue of Liberty or bigger and the X-men have to battle him in his gargantuan form. That’s what made him an awesome supervillan. Sadly in the movie he comes across as just another characterless destroy-the-world bad guy. He doesn’t even make the mechanical sounds (which made his character more menacing in the cartoons) when he moves. The only time when Apocalypse does increase in size is during a brief unconscious sequence between him and Professor Xavier.
The Tragedy of X-men Apocalypse is that they could have given us something original by following the comic/ cartoons more faithfully. Instead we get to see more buildings being destroyed which after so many superhero movies is becoming rather stock.
The movie also suffers a bit from Wolverine’s absence. Sure, he is there for one scene/action sequence but that’s it. Unfortunately the rest of the cast is rather bland with only Jennifer Lawrence putting in a solid performance as Mystique. Even Peters also wasn’t bad in his role as Quicksilver.
Despite these flaws there is no denying that this is an entertaining movie with plenty of great special effects.
I much prefer shadow
Unlike sunlight it does not burn
When you fall asleep bathing in it
It does not blind with its glare
Thou at times it is deep enough to hide
The tip of your nose and the world beyond it
I also prefer what happens in shadow
The activities of the night
The heat without light
I love the way shadow shines
On those corners long forgotten
The way it keeps the mystery
Until a hand reaches into the unknown
And is enlightened by touch alone
There among the shadow beams
Travellers from the emptiness
Far beyond the stars
Hi everyone
I just wanted to let whoever follows this know that I am taking a break from my weekly blog. I am finding it difficult to blog every week given the amount of work I have got to do on an almost daily basis. Nonetheless, I will still post content on this site regularly and blog whenever I find the time. Thanks so much for all your support.
Love, love, love
Troydon
My eyes widen when I try to sleep
My thoughts crowd me when I try to flee them
They line up for miles waiting to be thunk
Their queue stretches over the hills until morning
Each will get its turn
The last few prying their way in
Jostling for mind space
Just before the alarm clock rings
And frightens my dreams away
Sometimes I think I could be a vampire
My skin is white enough at least once a year
My teeth are likewise sharp
As for the drinking blood and draining others
I, having been drained night after night,
Sometimes think it is about time I do the biting
It only took a moment for everything to change
For the world to shed its skin and become something darker
Before everything had its place
Bad things happened
But nothing that couldn’t be mended
Or eventually forgotten
The world remained safe
And the bad things in it
Only ever happened to people far away
Then darkness came to my door
And entered without knocking
I begged it to go away
But it stayed without moving
Everything else had to rearrange around it
Now I weep for what was
For dreams that will stay dreams
And for the world that died
When the real world entered
Battlefield Earth is an awesome science fiction adventure. I read this book a long time ago but remember enjoying it immensely. It’s action packed and sheer escapism. It’s the kind of book that you miss once it is over.
Sure it has its flaws. It takes a while to get started and lags a bit in the middle. Many of the characters are also either stock or unbelievable. Take the hero, Jonnie Goodboy Taylor, for example. He is both a tough guy and a genius capable of both advanced scientific and economic calculations. There is nothing that Jonnie cannot do, which makes his character somewhat unrealistic. Nonetheless you find yourself rooting for him.
The science in Battlefield Earth is also deeply flawed. Battlefield Earth is not hard science fiction. It is a space opera and should be read as such. People don’t go watch Stars Wars for scientific explanations of how everything in the movie works. They watch it for the spectacle of it and because it is fun, something Battlefield Earth certainly is.
Battlefield Earth’s strengths are its story, world building and sense of adventure. Battlefield Earth is epic and inspiring. It’s about the freedom of mankind. There is also, as with most of L.Ron Hubbard’s novels, a good helping of humour. For years I’ve been trying to find other an epic science fiction novel like Battlefield Earth. Sadly I have yet to find one. I’d say avoid the movie (which is horrible) and read the book. If you are into space opera, you won’t regret it.
Here and now the memories stir
Of childhood days free of care
If only I could revive the year
And find myself again there
Oh to laugh and play again
Sans the weight that rests on me
I would know joy by name
And forget my years so easily
Here and now the memories stir
Of first kisses and hideaways
To see as a child now and here
I would be young all my days
If I could live as a child plays
The tactic of divide and conquer has been at play throughout history. The tactic works by dividing people (often according to race or language) so that they will be easier to control and unable to unite against their conquerors. It was used by all the colonial powers to some degree. The phrase, ‘dived and conquer,’ itself is attributed to King Philip the 2nd of Macedon (born in 382 BC and father of Alexander the Great), who laid the foundation of the Macedonian Empire, which became the greatest colonial power of its time.
The divide and conquer tactic is still being used today. Today, however, the battlefield is the human mind with the divisions being mental instead of physical. The way to control (or in other words conquer) people these days isn’t through walls and barriers but through the suppression of information and the emphasis of information that works in favour of the conquerors. The Nazis suppressed any criticism of Hitler while broadcasting that he was a great and moral leader. In North Korea the press is tightly control and state owned. The Apartheid government didn’t allow black people access to proper education. The list of instances of suppression of information goes on and on and is in itself a suppression of people.
The point is that any organization which seeks to limit your access to information is doing so to either secure or maintain its conquest over you. Of course is plenty of disinformation and propaganda out there but by being well informed you are less likely to be fooled by propaganda. Propaganda itself is a means of drowning out (suppressing) facts. By isolating people and feeding them only certain information political parties, religions and other organizations are better able to control and exploit the people in question.
Ultimately what suppression of information and propaganda do is create a division between you and reality. What knowledge does is create a connection between yourself and the real world in which you live. By being connected to the real world you are better able to navigate your way through it. You are better able to choose options that truly empower rather than enslave you.
More than ever it is important for people to look at the information their political parties, religions ect are feeding them and to research whether their claims actually true. Any organization based in truth will welcome such investigations; those that don’t have something to hide.
Those who truly seek freedom will not used the tactic of divide and conquer. Instead they will use a far more powerful tactic: unite and prosper. A united people cannot easily be overcome. People working together on mass regardless of racial, cultural, religious differences ect are a people capable of near limitless success. United we can break whatever chains the powers that be try to throw around us, but it must begin with each individual seeking truth above all else.