Anyone living in Southern California will empathize when I say that this last week was simply bizarre. For any personally affected by the fires, the adjective they would use would probably be "horrific" - for some, "tragic." All in all, and to put it very lightly, this last week was unfortunate.
Also unfortunate, though to a different extent, was much of the major media coverage. The first few days, the reporting sufficed - journalists on the front lines, nonstop action - but after the "major" threat passed, so too did the attention. The latter half of the week saw news coverage of President Bush's whirlwind, publicity-driven tour of San Diego, and human interest stories focused on distraught residents moving back into their homes. Very little air-time was devoted to the actual fires, which were still raging - some, in fact, are not entirely contained even today.
Furthermore, where was the interest in the police shooting? Why did no reporter investigate into the death of the suspected arsonist? Does anyone know the now-deceased suspect's name? Gender? Whether (s)he even committed the crime? Or what motivated the police to shoot and kill the suspect?
I don't.
This quarter, I'm taking a class dedicated to studying how the news media covers items of political controversy - or sometimes, even, how no coverage is given to such items at all. Oftentimes what the viewer sees or reads is a regurgitation of government-propigated information; government officials are oftentimes a journalist's first and most important source.
How do you think that colors the news?
In the coverage of the Californian wildfires, I saw almost every single myth of newstelling that I've studied - the Hero, the Victim, the Natural Disaster, and the Scapegoat, among others that I cannot recall off the top of my head (perhaps I should re-read that chapter). But I didn't see serious investigation. I didn't see the struggle residents are going through to get their lives back in order. I heard a lot of pretty speeches; I'm waiting to see the action.
It's a little disheartening, when I consider that this is the career I plan on pursuing. And there's no "but," no "maybe," no "however" that I can create to defend the media that isn't capitalist, that isn't consumerist. There are exceptions, but those are few (and extremely competitive). There are dreams, but they're still a little murky.
I guess I'll have to wait and see.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Fire coverage
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Tsubasa: RESEVoir CHRoNiCLE
Please don't blame me for the spelling of the manga series; I'm not CLAMP, and I don't title their work.
Before you begin reading: unlike my Deathly Hallows post, I am in no way trying to sum up the manga. I will refer to characters and situations that you most likely will not understand unless you're following the manga, but knowing the series is not crucial to understanding why I am absolutely in love with one of the main characters.
Now, onto why I adore Kurogane:
He comes off as this brusque Mister Manly focused entirely on returning to his homeland (from whence he has been banished by his princess). He states outright that he'll only accompany Syaoran and company on the quest to retrieve Sakura's feathers because it will take him through different dimensions en route (hopefully) to his country (feudal Japan). When readers first meet the ninja, he cares very little for Syaoran's task, and is particularly aloof.
However, this all melts away when battling various enemies the foursome encounters - people threatened by their presence, people out to snatch the same items the group searches for. Kurogane is usually the first to jump into battle, claiming to fight to relieve his boredom, but he recognizes that he is strong where some are rather weak and goes to great extremes to protect his travel companions.
Kurogane takes special interest in Syaoran; I think he admires the kid's tenacity and will to become strong to protect his precious someone - not unlike the ninja himself, as a child (and I think it is because he's lost sight of this that the Princess Tomoyo sends him on this journey; originally fighting to protect his beloved family and country, Kurogane has become ruthless, gaining strength only to be strong). He questions Syaoran's motives for learning swordplay, and is pleased when Syaoran says he only wants to be better able to protect Sakura. And when, later in the series, the real Syaoran reveals himself and proves that his lookalike, the group's Syaoran, is a clone and pawn of the dastardly Fei Wang Reed, Kurogane (unlike Sakura and Fay) takes to the new, true Syaoran, identifying in him the same honest traits that clone!Syaoran embodied. While the others remain a bit detached, Kurogane still looks after the younger boy.
At some point in the manga, Kurogane warms up to Sakura as well; he's still intimidatingly gruff, but he also looks after her well-being, often carrying away her unconscious form as they hop from dimension to dimension. Sakura herself notices that it is Kurogane who worries most for the group. I also noticed, in chapter 86, that Sakura was flying directly over the unintended geyser; it appears that Kurogane, who was flying close behind, rammed his own Dragonfly into the back of Sakura's, pushing her to safety and taking the brunt of the geyser's force himself. Say it with me - "AWWWW!"
He and Mokona have an adorable relationship. Mokona and Fay are the only two who aren't at all intimidated by Kurogane's Ninja-tude; Mokona frequently steals his food, pokes fun at his expense, and claims the large nina's shoulder/head as its riding post, much to Kurogane's despair. Kurogane, in return, constantly barrages the magical creature, chasing it around with pillows, squeezing it between his fists, and pulling its ears. However, in the process of saving Fay's life, he takes the Dimension Witch Yuko's advice and does everything she tells him to do without a second thought - because Mokona trusts the Witch, and he trusts the "white manjuu."
This, of course, brings me to Fay. The other "adult" in the group, Fay constantly harangues Kurogane with absurd bastardizations of the ninja's name, by constantly invading his personal space, and by doing everything to irritate Kurogane's short temper. Kurogane saves Fay's life several times, however, and is able to see past the annoying habits and constant cheer that the magician hides behind. He often probes into Fay's persona with disquieting perception; Fay's face registers surprise every time Kurogane asks one of his insightful questions, as if he hadn't expected to meet anyone who'd care enough to look beneath the mask.
When Fay loses an eye to clone!Syaoran, Kurogane sacrifices his blood to save the man's life. Kurogane's blood, mixed with a vampire's, changes Fay into a vampire as well - a vampire dependent on Kurogane's blood for sustenance. I think Fay would have rather died, and not just for his altruistic reasons, and resents Kurogane's intervention; growing close to the ninja throws Fay's angst-ridden, self-imposed exile for a loop. Fay made no wish to save his own life, however; it was Kurogane who struck the bargain with the Witch. As a result of this irrevocable bond, Fay distances himself with Kurogane - he no longer calls Kurogane by the ridiculous nicknames, and maintains a coldly polite distance – and refuses to forgive Kurogane for saving his life, because then they'd only be closer.
As far as I can tell, Fay's never known anyone who cared for him as anything beyond a tool, so Kurogane presents an interesting alternative that Fay isn't really equipped to handle. Fay is extremely reluctant to open up to others; CLAMP has only just begun to introduce Fay's heinously tragic past to their readers. I think the change in his attitude toward Kurogane has something more to it than just the fact that the ninja saved his emo ass, but I'm still at a loss as to why Fay's taken that action so to heart. He says he doesn't want to see anyone hurt on his behalf (such as his twin), but Kurogane's no child - the man's fully capable of taking care of himself.
Or maybe Fay just wants to deny that he and Kurogane are so totally in LUUUUV.
But despite Fay's suddenly cold demeanor, Kurogane is still invested in the other man's life. After the mage's horrific past (and real name!) is revealed to his traveling companions by his king, Kurogane draws his blade and jumps into battle once more. For a while, it seems like Kurogane is fighting Fay with the intention to kill, but in a twist of events, Kurogane slashes through the real (and really dead) Fay, and, in a dramatic speech (with much posturing and claiming of Fay as his), renounces King Ashura and the inconsistencies in his re-telling of Fay's history, and stands on top of by his friend; he reminds Fay that his past has nothing to do with the two of them so get over it and see the hunk of sexy man standing beside you.
Kurogane is extremely selfless throughout most of the manga. Sure, he's gruff, but he's also caring. He's the Stoic Ninja, but he also possesses a short temper. He's quiet, yet he's discerning to an uncomfortable degree for the likes of Syaoran and Fay.
Plus, he's damned sexy for a set of lines. :D
Right. This one is 1,158 words. I swear, they'll get shorter.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Book review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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Note: this became more of an essay than a review; I hadn't expected to write so much. Be warned!
Before the book's completion, I had weighed in on the subject as thoroughly as the next Harry nerd, producing theories and conjectures with my equally mad friends; some speculations were proven right, while others were completely blown out of the water and through it all, J. K. Rowling managed to spring surprise after surprise on her unsuspecting reader. This seventh and final book in the wonderful series takes seemingly negligent details from the previous books and, in a show of true craftsmanship, carefully connects them to the missing pieces – the locket in Order of the Phoenix proven to be a Horcrux in Deathly Hallows serves as an example – to unveil the masterpiece that the series is as a whole.
Did Ms. Rowling take advantage of details she'd written in an earlier work to add a twist or were those details a part of a cleverly crafted plot? My inclination leans toward the latter; I believe that such details found throughout the series – the locket, the diary in Chamber of Secrets, the Invisibility Cloak, and so forth – were deliberately placed transitional pieces intended to tie the books so tightly together as to be rendered incomplete if removed from the set.
But on to the final book itself.
I mentioned that a few of my speculations saw light; I suspected, for instance, that the mysterious R.A.B. would be Sirius' predeceased brother, Regulus Black. Readers were led to believe that Regulus met his end at Voldemort's hands as punishment for deserting the Death Eaters. But Kreacher, of all characters, explains that Regulus died in his final act of insubordination – removing one of the Voldemort's most dangerous Horcruxes and replacing it with a fake.
This surprising insight into Regulus Black's character, the supposed golden child of the Black family, also reveals new depths in Kreacher's dour personality – a result of neglect and loneliness. A touching twist, Kreacher becomes positively adorable during Harry & Cos. stay at
I suspected, at the close of Half-Blood Prince, that Harry would be the final Horcrux – a suspicion confirmed – but I had fully expected Harry to die in the final battle, taking Voldemort down with him. In yet another surprising manipulation of detail, however, Harry survives Voldemort's attack even as Voldemort destroys the Horcrux he had unwittingly created because of the blood flowing in Voldemort's veins – the blood Voldemort used to recreate his body during the graveyard ritual in Goblet of Fire. Harry willingly faces death, returns to life, and defeats Voldemort in a battle of wands. As in GoF, Harry uses Expelliarmus while Voldemort tries the Killing Curse; this time, however, the wands are not brothers but instead are both under Harry's control in another of Ms. Rowling's well-plotted turn of events. Voldemort's curse, cast by a wand answerable only to Harry, rebounds upon himself, and Harry defeats his enemy without ever uttering the words "Avada Kedavra."
Harry loses so many and suffers so much without once killing an enemy.
Some of his losses were tragic – Mad-Eye Moody dies within the first few chapters, but his death is for Harry's survival. Similarly, Dobby dies as he comes to Harry's aid, taking Bellatrix's knife in the gut. George Weasley suffers a terribly physical injury in the beginning of the journey, but loses much more when Fred dies during the battle at Hogwarts – and I wish Ms. Rowling had explored this further. It is incredibly poetic that Percy, the estranged brother that reunites himself with his family, is at the side of his fallen brother, but the twins had such a bond; I would have liked to read George's reaction, as heart-wrenching as it would have been.
Remus and Tonks are dead at the end of the battle, leaving their baby son in such similar circumstances as Harry's own beginnings. It is fitting, however, that Harry had been made godfather – and that Harry lived to be the godfather to Teddy Lupin that Sirius hadn't had the chance to be.
Extremely enjoyable was the death of Bellatrix Lestrange – by the wand of Molly Weasley, who is revealed to be a fearsome witch. Coming off the shock of Fred's untimely death, she battles the most devoted Death Eater in a fierce one-on-one duel and bests the mad witch (and swears for the first time in the series!).
And yet of all the characters, the most touching and tragic story is one Severus Snape. He dies; Voldemort orders his snake to kill Snape, in order to gain true ownership of his wand (a futile attempt, as it was answerable only to Harry, but neither of them were to know that until Harry dies). With his final breath, however, Snape instructs Harry to take his most precious and most important memories; in the Penseive, the memories reveal hidden struggles and sacrifices of the most surprising degree. Harry's dive into Snape's memories reveals that his most loathed professor loved unrequitedly Harry's own mother, from Lily Evans and even as Lily Potter. Lily and Severus parted ways after the Levicorpus incident, and Lily dies without ever knowing the depth of Severus' affection; he joins Dumbledore's Order and protects Harry not out of debt to Harry's father, but out of love for his mother.
This sheds new light on Snape's rivalry with James – much more than a mere "schoolboy grudge" – and reveals Snape's true nature; the memories show that Snape's Patronus always took the shape of a doe, the same as Lily's. This bittersweetly reaffirms Snape's love for Lily, and her love for James – also known as Prongs.
Snape also completely clears his name; as Dumbledore pleads with his old pupil and friend at the end of Half-Blood Prince, it is not a request to spare his life, but to end it. He was right in trusting Snape all along, without ever revealing that it is his unending love for Lily Potter that made Snape trustworthy to begin with.
I may have liked the epilogue least, of all the story arcs in the final book. I like knowing the end Ms. Rowling had in mind for her characters; in fact, I particularly enjoyed that Harry named his second son Albus Severus (an unfortunate name though it may be) – a tribute acknowledging Snape's strength, Harry shows how completely he has forgiven his former Potions Master for making his Hogwarts years a misery. I also loved that Harry didn't become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, that he didn't become the next Hogwarts Headmaster. I would have been completely at peace with the series had Ms. Rowling not written the epilogue, however (I think I would have enjoyed conjuring up my own conclusion), but it is the fairy-tale ending to the oftentimes dark and disturbing journey. Old battles are over; hatchets are buried.
The Wizarding World is picture-perfect.
Okay, that was a 1,152-word monster. I'll try to limit future posts to 1,000 or less.
