This week I learned about the movie/musical The Devil's Carnival. I was intrigued because it was created by Terrance Zdunich, who also made Repo!The Genetic Opera, which is one of my favorite movies. It makes the point that the Devil is more accepting than God. It makes the Devil seem more interesting than God. I find it very interesting that I like Lucifer's songs and the songs sung by his carnies (it is actually a carnival) than God's one song.

It made me wonder about other thing's I've seen recently. I watched the anime Blue Exorcist, which is about the son of Satan wanting to become an exorcist so he can defeat his father. It seems like there is more media about Satan than God recently when discussing the Devil used to be taboo. Are we just becoming more accepting of different ideas, or did we just stop caring about old norms?

An Argument about Religion

In my high school, we had a mythology class. We focused on Greek Mythology and Norse Mythology. When we started discussing Greek Mythology, another student looked at me and told me it was ridiculous. He didn't understand how anybody could believe the myths. This offended me because Greek Mythology is one of my favorite things to learn about. I asked him the same question, but about his religion: "How can anybody believe Catholicism?" I was not asking rudely, I wanted to see how he would defend his religion after insulting another. He had no answer for me. Why can we judge one religion as unbelievable and dumb, but we can't be skeptical about our own?

The Pain in Creating

In class we discussed how Muhammad's visions were like an artist creating something because they both caused pain. Muhammad's visions caused him great pain every time they happened. I've never had a vision like Muhammad, but I do know the pain of creating. I've said that writing is one of the most sadistic things a person can do. Writer's block, capturing a subject perfectly, and editing a story to make it the best that it can be is sometimes the most excruciating thing I've ever been through. I love it though, so I continue with it. I love the reward that comes with it. I love the feeling of creating, even if it's painful. I hink the same could be said for Muhammad.

The Bible as Literature

I know some people that get offended when one calls the bible 'literature.' I don't understand this issue. Do they assume that literature is fictional? Is literature an offensive word when talking about historical books? To put it bluntly: no. Literature is not an antonym for history. Literature is any written work, fictional or non fictional.

According to dictionary.com, the definition of literature is "writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays."

The Bible fits this definition perfectly. The ideas presented in The Bible are universal and will be taught for a long time. The Bible is literature so I don't understand why say it's not.

Religion and Victor Hugo

I'm a fan of the French opera Notre Dame de Paris. We know it as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and probably as a Disney movie. In the opera, religion is a huge part of the plot. Frollo will condemn sinners and bring death upon them. The titular church will not let the foreigners, poor, and starving in their doors. Religion is such a negative force in this opera. I'm assuming this is the same for the book.
I've read a little of Hugo's Les Miserables. In the novel, religion is a good thing. The ex-convict Jean Valjean is rejected by everyone but a bishop. This man shows the criminal some kindness. He even helps Valjean turn his life around. Without the kindness of the religious man, Valjean would not have surivied and he wouldn't be able to help many others around him.
What changed for Hugo? Les Miserables was written first, so what changed for him in the twenty years between Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

The Phantom of The Opera and God

This weekend I watched The 25th anniversary production of The Phantom of the Opera and I noticed that the Phantom is a god-like figure in the show. We don't see most of his face throughout the show and we aren't supposed to look directly at god or else we will be blinded. When we finally see the Phantom's face, we are almost blinded by his deformity. It isn't the same kind of blinding, but we are blinded when we look at both of them.
The Phantom also decides what is good and what is bad. He will punish the wrongdoers. From what I learned, this is quite similar to God. He will pass judgement. He will create plagues as punishment. The Phantom was plaguing his opera house. As a woman was singing, he made her croak like a frog. He was passing judgement on the singers and if he didn't like what they were doing, he would punish them.
The Phantom is Christine's guide and teacher. He is determined to make her life better. He will help her every time he is capable to. She completely trusts him at the beginning even though she can't see him. Isn't that our relationship with God? He helps us in our time of need and we have complete faith in him.
I don't know if it was intentional, but The Phantom of the Opera is like God.

The Bible and The Hunger Games

As I was reading the second chapter of our reading, I noticed that there was a man named Cato. Cato seemed to be a sadistic person who didn't care about the pain of others. The name alone made me think of The Hunger Games, but both people seem to be very similar. Cato in The Hunger Games is one of the most sadistic antagonists in the first novel.I kept wondering if Collins knew about this. Her book already deals with a lot, so why not have a reference to the Bible? She wrote about very dark themes so it makes sense to have a sadistic character be a reference to another sadistic character. I thought that this was a really interesting connection.

Trees and Knowledge

Chapter fifteen speaks of essentially a tree of knowledge. It made me realize how many different things use the idea of the tree of knowledge. In Christianity, when Eve ate an apple from the tree, she realized that she was naked and God punished her. In Norse mythology Odin hung from a tree of knowledge with a spear in his side so he could gain more information. Even in the video game series The Legend of Zelda one of the wisest characters is a tree. I find it interesting that trees produce knowledge. I'll be looking out for more intelligence trees in the future.

The Journey Not the Destination

In class we discussed the idea of not worrying about the results of our actions. We're always told not to sweat the little things, but how easy is that? If you're like me, it's not that easy. With my writing I always have to sweat the small stuff. I have to pick my words carefully and set up the scene perfectly so everything can fall in place. The little things need to be noticed or everything could fall apart. So when should this philosophy be used? Writing is a major part of my life. I find it interesting that I can't use this simply idea for something that I do almost every day.

Time for an Introduction

I'm Caryn and I'm a freshman. I'm an upstate New Yorker who is majoring in English with a concentration in literature. I think that it would be fun to go into publishing. I spend a lot of my time reading or writing and I'm working on a novel right now. I also know a lot of random pop culture trivia, which occasionally comes in handy when I'm watching Jeopardy. I like movies and gaming. And I'm running out of things to say.