Category Archives: Movies, TV, Radio, Comics, Books

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

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Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

I never heard this poem before today when I found a powerful, deep review of the Angel finale. Go read it.

Redemption isn?t something that gets handed to you along with a certificate and a gold star saying “I?m Redeemed, Ask Me How!” It?s an ongoing struggle, and it has been the focus of the series since the beginning. After the initial shock of the ending, I realized that Joss Whedon was absolutely correct to end the series as his did. ANGEL has never been about happy endings and loose ends tied with a happy bow. It?s about fighting the good fight. That?s how it began, and that?s how it ended.

Is it possible that Angel, Spike, Gunn, and Illyria survived that final onslaught? Probably not, especially the all-too-human Charles Gunn. But that?s not the point. The point is that they fought. They made a difference and stood their ground in the face of the consequences of their actions.

From another review at DarkWorlds.

Green Grass Grace

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Books don’t make me cry. It just doesn’t happen. Until now. I didn’t even see it coming. “Green Grass Grace”, by Shawn McBride has to be one of the greatest novels I have ever read. A rollercoaster of emotion, plenty of laughs, characters I relate to, and places I’ve actually been.

People let themselves get frozen in a bad place, lost in space, until they get used to it and can’t change. They bury the best of their love beneath a pile of stubborn bullshit, losing chances, wasting time, missing life. But no more, not me, not the people I love. That shit stops today. Tonight I want to show them all that you tell the people you love that you love them now. You can’t wait another fucking second. And if they don’t get it after tonight, I’ll rain pain on their cupcake asses. I’m down in a karate crouch just thinking about it, ready to inflict the Toohey Chop Suey on the hard-hearted.

That’s 13 year old Henry “Hank” Toohey, during the end of the summer of 1984. After much, much has transpired. Hank is an Irish-Catholic living in an Irish-Catholic block in Northeast Philadelphia. His family, his neighborhood, and his friends are as genuine and as real as day. McBride brings it all to life while you follow Hank’s plan to propose to his 14 year old (and much more mature…err… worldly…err.) girlfriend, thinking this will fix the broken hearts around him – especially those in his family.

I’m sure some probably don’t like the characterizations he gives (Fishtowners anyone?) – but man does he nail it. I love this book!

A Canticle For Leibowitz

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I recently finished reading, for what will become the first time of many I hope, “A Canticle for Leibowitz” by Walter M. Miller. I tend to look at anything called “classic” with suspicion, but for once – the critics are right. If you like science fiction, or fantasy, or just love fiction that helps to expose the human condition – this book is for you in a big way.

It consists of three small, separate, but in order, stories that revolve around a monastery in a post-apocalyptic world. The first story takes place relatively near the event. Civilization no longer exists in a recognizable sense. A new dark age. Learned people are hunted down and killed. The second occurs during a time of renaissance and rediscovery (or new discovery as one of the characters thinks it is). The third in a new nuclear age, far more advanced then our own (they have starships and off-world colonies), with laws and organizations designed to prevent a new apocalypse. The story is told thru a set of characters you can’t help but care about.

At Slashdot there is a great book review and discussion thread.

Why Buffy Kicked Ass

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Buffy, excluding its last, never-shoulda-happened season, was one of the most unique pieces of fiction I have read or seen anywhere. It had characters that you can relate to, humor that was actually clever, and story lines that compelled you to watch. But it featured something I have yet to see in any other series – long term consequences. Each character has had face consequences for their actions – sometimes severe. And in facing the aftermath of both good deeds and bad – there were lessons imparted, and growth.

Virginia Postrel, in this Reason Online story shares some precepts that are imparted from the show:

  • Evil exists.
  • Redemption is possible. Bad guys can reform! Good guys can be seduced or willingly choose wrong – and they can reform as well! Whadda concept!
  • Evil must be fought. If you don’t face it – it will overtake you.
  • Evil never goes away. Better said: There is always more evil out there. Sometimes evil can reform. See “Redemption is possible”.
  • We don?t get to choose our reality. Life isn’t fair. You need to deal with the cards you’re delt. Again – whadda concept!
  • We do get to choose what we do. You get to play your own hand.

  • And let me add one: Everything you do matters. Even if you think you are the most inconsequential of characters in a larger play, everything you do brings consequences either for yourself or others.