Dr Dune

think im reluctant to finish dune. i could finish it in half hr if i sat down with it...am surprised at how fast i got through it really. but it's one o those must this end feelings. anyhoo this post is about Dune and Dr Who and may contain SPOILERS...

'Find a place to rest and stay out of the way, child-man,' Chani said. 'Here's food.' She pressed two leaf-wrapped morsels into his hand. They reeked of spice. [pg 334]

^this is pretty much the only solid lotr connection. lembas like food packages. but not. because the morsels consist of bird meat and grain in spice honey. the on planet diet of spice which gives the fremen their blue on blue eyes with no whites.

Phosphortubes in the faraway upper reaches of the cavern cast a dim light onto the thronged interior, hinting at the great size of this rock-enclosed space...larger, Jessica saw, than even the Gathering Hall of her Bene Gesserit school. She estimated there were more than five thousand people gathered out there beneath the ledge where she stood with Stilgar.

^matrix connection! i feel like they just used this description as their basis for xion/zion. the cavern...the ledge where people talk to the masses from...the clothing of the women...the decoration of the living spaces...

and now to my main point. dune is a book which is mainly about people. and relationships. it deals with the preconceptions and misunderstandings which influence our understanding of each other and the mess that gets us into, eg: Gurney and Hawat suspecting the lady Jessica of being the traitor and suspicion becoming fact in their minds leading them to plot revenge and her death. and the confrontation between Gurney and Jessica where he's about to kill her but thankfully feels the need to explain to Paul that she betrayed his father...and of course Paul knows that the real traitor was Yueh. and the reason they dont consider him a possibility is cause they dont think his imperial conditioning can be subverted or whatever [another preconception which the harkonnens prove false and then hide from everyone else by saying that he was a false doctor and not a suk doctor at all...so the myth continues] the most interesting of relationships however is the one that Jessica and Paul have, she is his mother and trained him in the bene gesserit way but he surpasses her as he has the prescient ability. and she plans for him. but those plans contradict what he wants. what he explicitly wants to avoid. jihad in his name. while he thinks of avoiding it. she thinks that the fremen can be manipulated and their religious fervour worked on. and she wants him to marry someone for the connections a duke must have. and only changes her mind when she realises that he understands the relationship she had with the duke, his father...it is most complex.

one thing which made me shudder was feyd-rautha killing the gladiator servants. killing a drugged, half shielded servant. an easy kill. so easy. he's got two knives and a whole shield. one knife with poison on it. it was meant to be poison on the white short knife in his white gloved hand but then he decides to change it...making things even more unfair.. then the staged kill...where the slave isnt drugged and its made to look like an assassination attempt...it's still unfair because he has a hypnosis password 'scum' which he can say to the slave to subdue him whenever he wants...and also the poison on the wrong knife...it was his seventeenth birthday, his hundredth kill. and this contrasted with paul's fight with jamis. his first kill. after years of training. not wanting to kill. asking the man to yield. which however is not an option as per fremen tradition, it is a fight to the death. no wonder everyone hates the harkonnens.

and lastly the finale of Dr Who. i was so not expecting it to go that way. i dont watch a lot of dr who. just one epi here n there. but catherine tate as donna noble was amazing. and this just sucked. but it was a finale about relationships...the doctor and everyone else...it was the saddest ever.

ps. completely unconnected thought: james mcavoy's american accent in wanted sounds exactly like shia labeouf...

do you know the O.C. bible?

When a book that is thick, small-fonted and as imposing as Dune, is so incredibly easy to read - it has to be special. It makes me happy that there are so many following it that i can look forward to reading. I was on page 111 when Halleck said the line:

I have been a stranger in a strange land.
_ Gurney Halleck [Dune - Frank Herbert]

and that brings me back to LOST...ah joy..i might have to wait until feb of next year for more episodes but there are so many connections and references to pursue. I'd really forgotten any hint of LOST/Dune connections and was just enjoying it as a lovely sci fi novel [so far my favourite character is Paul - the obvious choice probly]. Sadly the beautiful line is connected to bloody jack of all ppl. That single horrible pointless episode about his tattoos and whatever...does he have a terrible purpose like Paul? eugh. Anyhoo i first got the craving to read the Dune novels after watching some parts of Children of Dune on hallmark [where i discovered mr mcavoy :) mmm...] and the book is better than i could ever have imagined. Can't wait to be done with them all [thankfully all in the lib] and watch the David Lynch movie.

hey nana na na nana

to do:

• put away bday gifts
• organise desk - make one neat cd draw, and free up one
• laundry
• vacuum room
• figure out poa..

nighttiming - coconut records

• am listening to the extra alternate tracks and clips on the cd
• its such a good buy [or gift as ze bootiful zivya got it pour moi xx]
• so many so many extra musics as well as speshul gift
• twas a double sided poster - one side enlarged polaroid of the schwartzman
• other side many small polaroids [25]
• i love this music...it says what i want to say exactly about everything
• when people ask what are you thinking? or whats wrong? why are you grinning like a loon? why are you laughing madly? why are you sobbing in the corner? i should play the cd - the whole cd.

crrraaaassssh!

being retarded in newcastle :D

bussing

i love my moleskine [its the ruled reporter one] pocketsize notebook. it's easy to carry bout cause o the size and the lines are the right width apart and its just gorjuss. plonk down lil reminders and notes to self bout the day and what i might want to include in a story later or email to someone or just remember. drawings of deranged inventions. and stuff like: what's the difference between an 'ity' and an 'ism' as in christian-ity vs. hindu-ism ...see?

anyhoo referring back to my notes on the buses from dundee to edin and there on to woolley edge [bledy 8 hours..but was not too bad cause i managed to sleeeep away the time mostly and inbetween eavesdropped and generally spied on ppl]
so two things...before i got on the bus at dundee there was a young mum with a toddler and a baaba and ppl were so watching and being cute and wanting to help and one old lady asked if she wanted her to hold the 'wee boy' but then he just jumped off onto the bus...and then she folded up the pram and another lady helped by holding the baaba...and the lady standing behind me was talking to her husband bout how its hard and that was the bus going all the way to london...all that way..with two little ones...its not easy...generally a happy way to start the day.
n then on the bus there were these cute americans sitting behind me. fellow with long hair and girl with lighter hair and glasses. they were cute with each other. much convi. much relaxed vibe. talking bout many dogs. and i was just enjoying it. didnt make me want to cry. cause it was just so happy. altho she did mention dogs of the past whod died etc..i noted down all the dog names :) coco, coco II, cocoa [the story of the 3 cocoas including her one spelt with an 'a' and how its a common dog name] nice! my itunes just pinged to let me know iv imported the whatever and ever amen cd [ben folds five] yay! happy ping!
more names: higgins, claire [there was a cute bit when they were discussing old dogs and he went i want to see claire old and crazy...odd thing to say but just like a random reflection to the future, cute], shadow [who loves the fella...he just loves you and follows you around...he doesnt love steve, he doesnt not like steve but he treats him like everyone else...but he loves you], sammy...
mm what else...the guy who got and and sat next to me at newcastle had really wispy brown hair cut short on the sides so his head was visible but in a good way...was fascinating..