Unacceptable

This is very depressing.

Way too many uses of 'different'

I have a lot to do, so this will be brief.

The last couple of Fridays, I went out on the lake. No particular reason. Someone wanted to do it, so I tagged along. Turns out it was an excellent idea.

When I was out there, freezing half to death from the icy slashes of wind, I looked at the city from the other side. And I was awed. For sheer size, I suppose New York would have Chicago beat. But the skyline in this city is so much more pleasingly put together. Each building is dripping with character, clashes proudly with every other, but somehow the whole is beautiful.

It's fairly obvious that Gotham City is based on Chicago, but I have to say that it's not a fair reflection. In Gotham City, the buildings are dark and foreboding, crumbling under their own myth, an embodiment of the festering corruption that taints the people in the buildings. You can feel so much more pride emanating from the buildings of Chicago. They may not be the largest in the world, or even America, but they are each unique. Ugly, perhaps. But placed together in context, the skyline looks like a comic book representation of an idealised urban centre. Not the Metropolis ideal, where it's bright and sunny and the huge skyscrapers catch and amplify the light. No, not that ideal. But a serious city. One where people go to work, not to chase a dream. Not a city teeming with life, but one with a calm, subdued manner.

The good thing about going out on the lake on consecutive weekends is that I saw it in light and night. In the day, the skyline is what I would present to an observer to show what a modern city should look like. At night, it is simply a gorgeous, comfortable view. It is the view that I want from my window at night.

When I was a kid, I remember watching some movie on television, about a doctor. The storyline is irrelevant, but what caught my imagination was a scene where Fox stood before the window of his apartment in the evening, with an incredible landscape of skyscrapers unfolded before him, dramatic and sharp. I decided then that I wanted that sort of view from my window.

When I first went to the John Hancock bar at night, I was stunned. The view was exactly what I had envisioned for my dream window. Buildings looming before you, dark, spotted with lights in their windows, outlined against other skyscrapers, razor sharp and clean. I could sit there and stare forever. Gorgeous.

In other news, I'm not sure anymore. I suppose that I used to be, but things change. But it seems a dramatic change when no one event is the trigger. I know others will point to some things and proclaim those the turning points, but I don't work like that. Maybe I work differently than I think. Maybe this is just different from before. Maybe I'm changing a bit, looking for something a little different.

In the end, my indicator is what I think of as I lie in the dark, waiting to fall asleep.

Love the news today

Articles to make you marvel at the advance of science, and to applaud the level of civilisation we've attained.

The Point of No Return

Recently, one particular scene from the Phantom of the Opera has been replaying in my head. Kind of like a song stuck in your head, except this one comes with video.

When the phantom emerges in the Don Juan scene, covered in the cloak, and begins to sing "The Point of No Return". That's the scene. The phantom approaching Christine, playing a man playing a scene, but really singing a dream, a fantasy. He cannot persuade Christine, so he coerces the entire theatre to put on a production, just so that he may sing about her giving in to him, and she is forced to sing to him. When he sits on the bench next to her, reaching for her, but holding back, then pulls away when she reaches back, his head droops just the slightest amount as he turns away, betraying the pain, the despair that he has already succumbed to. He knows that Christine has already chosen Raoul over him, and the playacting of the song is the closest he will ever come to Christine willingly choosing him.

Oh, lyrics.

PHANTOM: You have come here
In pursuit of your deepest urge
In pursuit of that wish which till now
Has been silent
Silent.

I have brought you
That our passions may fuse and merge
In your mind you’ve already succumbed to me, dropped all defenses
Completely succumbed to me
Now you are here with me
No second thoughts
You’ve decided
Decided.

Past the point of no return
No backward glances
Our games of make-believe are at an end.

Past all thought of “if” or “when”
No use resisting
Abandon thought and let the dream descend

What raging FIRE shall flood the soul
What rich desire unlocks its door
What sweet seduction lies before us?

Past the point of no return
The final threshold
What warm unspoken secrets
Will we learn
beyond the point of no return?

CHRISTINE: You have brought me
To that moment when words run dry
To that moment when speech disappears
Into silence
Silence.

I have come here,
Hardly knowing the reason why
In my mind I’ve already imagined
Our bodies entwining
Defenseless and silent,
Now I am here with you
No second thoughts
I’ve decided
Decided.

Past the point of no return
No going back now
Our passion-play has now at last begun.

Past all thought of right or wrong
One final question
How long should we two wait before we’re one?

When will the blood begin to race
The sleeping bud burst into bloom
When will the flames at last CONSUME us?

BOTH: Past the point of no return
The final threshold
The bridge is crossed now
So stand and watch it burn
We’ve passed the point of no return.


PHANTOM:(soft and sort of saddened) Say you’ll share with me
One love, one lifetime
Lead me, save me from my solitude

Say you want me
With you here
Beside you
Anywhere you go
Let me go too
Christine that’s all I ask of…
(Christine tears the mask, showing his face to the audience)

Come on, where else in popular culture have you encountered another character who is a complete maniac, murderous psycho, lacking in any sort of social charm or skill, ugly to boot, but is so completely sympathetic. When he lets the lovers go, people cry, because it's somehow the saddest possible outcome. After all that has happened, the phantom crumbles when the first sign of compassion is shown. He gives them the easy way out, and they take it.

Ok, that's my two cents worth on the play. I think it's kind of a cool piece. Forget about the movie version. Go to Broadway and watch it.

Rrrrgh, so pissed off.

Too pissed off to sit and type.

Must stand and mutter angrily while pacing.

Maybe later.

Hypocrisy, favours and balance sheets.