The Gargoyle
It is a common thing for me to choose to read an author’s first novel, and this book is no exception. I recently read the novel “The Gargoyle” by Andrew Davidson and oddly enough this is one of the books you can judge by its cover. If it hadn’t been for the cover art I may not have taken off the shelf, it stood out to me because it shows large angel wings tattooed onto a woman’s back, and body art is a huge interest of mine. And then when I started into it I found out that the books was full of ideas to interest me, so I was absolutely right to purchase it based on the cover.
I should note that I love publishers who really try to do something with the outer portions of a book. While it is the writing that will hold the precedence in the end since new editions will most likely be published in the future, I can still appreciate a beautiful design. The cover is telling you some of the story on its own, but you wouldn’t know it at first glance, as you read more into the story if you close the novel and look at the cover again you will see the symbolism that relates to the story. On the dust cover there is also a cut out of a flaming heart, and when you remove it, encircling the heart it reads “All things in a single book bound by love.” If the cover hasn’t gotten your attention yet, let’s get into the story a bit!
I am impressed that “The Gargoyle” is Andrew Davidson’s first novel, he shows no lack of confidence and commands respect for his work. He developed strong, memorable characters and a driving and yet complex plot. There are elements of grotesque, fantasy, romance and a strong sense of realism along with all that which makes you believe that the fantastical plot elements could be true. “The Gargoyle” tugged at my heart strings, made my stomach turn, and made me think and reflect on my own life. I really don’t want to give away any of the plot, but I would love to intrigue you because it really does have a lot to offer. You can read into it as a love story, but the story is also one of addiction and the struggles that come along with it. It can be read as a fantasy, but the realism is too strong to dismiss. The narrator communicates directly with you, the reader, as an active participant in the story he is telling. He helps you to tie together themes and if at anytime you reach the point of feeling it is hard to believe he works with you to help try and find the meaning. It is a really interesting tactic to keep the reader completely tied up in the story. With all of these tools and dichotomies it really does take a talented writer to work all of these plot lines into an intertwining and smoothly communicating story, Davidson definitely shows the needed talent for creating fluidity between narratives.
I must also credit Davidson on the extensive research he must have completed before even beginning to write his novel. But it is the research that allows for the realism. I would love to go into all the details but I will just glance over a few because I do not want to divulge any of the plot! The extensive research gone into treating extensive burns, the origin of ancient texts, the lives of artists and most interesting to me the idea behind the giving of hearts in creating gargoyles and grotesques in art.
Andrew Davidson has created a wonderful piece of work for an author whom is just breaking through, and it will be interesting to see where this novel takes him next. I really recommend “The Gargoyle” to anyone who is looking for something new and different. The story is a melting pot of ideas and themes that really blend well together into a complex story of the ways in which people can have a cause and effect relation within each others lives above all of its genre bending.
Happy reading!
The Life and Times Story
I began gaming at a young age, around 4 or 5, my family and I lived in Austria at the time. My dad had always been big into games and one Christmas decided to introduce his girls to the wonderful world of gaming. The three of us opened up matching grey GameBoy monstrosities! Looking back, I’m not even sure how a 4 year old could even hold on to one of those things. The idea behind them was so my sisters and I could link together with those too short cables so you were within punching range and play Vs. Tetris, but my two sisters grew out of it. Keeping true to my tomboy roots I however stuck with the flashing colors and storylines this new world had to offer.
My first console also came to me just when we moved back to Canada from living in Europe, which explains why a Sega Genesis was welcomed into my home and not an NES or SNES. Sega was really big in Europe, all of our friends had Sega consoles. My dad and I would play together, on solo games he would play and I would watch and oooh and aaah and screech when we came near to death. Then we’d pop in Streets of Rage and there would be father and 5 year old daughter kicking the crap out of all those baddies in co-op mode! No matter what we were playing we found a way to make it cooperative, especially when we first were introduced the Zelda series.
But before I go there I’m feeling the need to digress on the dynamics of my family, which is the only source of understanding I have for my love of gaming. In general the family is as follows: My mom (that’s one girl), me and my two sisters (that’s four), my Oma (that’s 5!) and my poor dad who must deal with us all, even the dog is a girl! He is severely outnumbered so I guess one of us was bound to be the tomboy and being the youngest after two girls (with my dad obviously hoping for a boy)… that’s me! My sisters come and go from games, but since the Christmas we got the Nintendo 64, I haven’t seen them touch a game until the Wii then they all took a shot at Guitar Hero III, even my mom called me to ask how to set it up while my dad was at work. And here’s the best part, my Oma has a Gameboy color to play Tetris on, she’s 78!
So I guess we do appear to be a regular gaming family, but my dad and I are the only ones who stick with it consistently and can spend hours together working on a game. It became ‘our thing’ and still is. Yes I am a daddy’s girl.
Back to the 64 and our intro to Zelda! We had this new system and did our usual research which involved us standing by a wall of games talking out what we’d like to try and both of our eyes stopped on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was when our new favorite way to play together really expanded. I couldn’t handle the bosses, I think I took games too seriously then, thinking it was me getting stomped on not a pixilated character. So my dad would navigate and I would use my brain to suggest what to try next. We had a lot of fun and felt so accomplished when it was done because we really had done it together.
But times change, my nerves have settled and I’m able to tackle these games on my own. But that didn’t stop me from getting my dad Twilight Princess for Christmas last year to play like we used to.
As much as the past sometimes gets left behind and forgotten, a little nostalgia never hurt anyone.
The Stigma With Anime
I was about to start a posts on a specific anime when I decided that I would tell a little about this medium and why I have such a love for it. I hope to shed a little light on what attracts people to anime and why it differs from other forms of media.
I have only been an avid anime watcher for a few years but from my first introduction with it I know I was in love. What a strange concept to be in love with media, but there really is no other way for me to put it. I had always been familiar with what anime was, but I never really watched it. I think I was facing the same difficulty that a lot of people new to this genre face, with all of the anime out there, where do you begin? And how do you determine that you are in fact watching an anime of quality. My now partner has been watching anime for much longer than I have. Before I started into it, he was always telling me about what he was watching and I was always fascinated, but not only did I not have the same access to anime as he did but I also faced difficulties from the people around me being incredibly judgmental. Living in an environment that is not accepting of anything new makes it incredibly difficult to introduce anything into it. But before long I finally developed some self assertion and stopped listening to what others thought, and although I still have to listen to them and their inability to understand how I could be enjoying anime, it does not matter nearly as much. This idea of an army against anime is an idea I will return to a little later. But first: the fateful day I finally found access to my first anime.
I was at home sick, flipping through the movie stations on the satellite when I saw “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie” was beginning. The name rang a bell, I wasn’t exactly sure why but I thought I would give it a shot. In retrospect most likely my partner had mentioned it as something he had been watching. Right from the introduction I was completely hooked. I watched it with rapt attention from start to finish. The best part was I was able to watch it several more times and the movie network loves to replay movies a million times. And after my first soiree there was no going back. Then of course I immediately started to try and absorb anime in as many forms as I could as much as I could.
So why do I love anime so much? It offers me something that mainstream entertainment media just can’t seem to. The animation allows me to be transported into another world. I can have a truly surreal experience watching the story of the characters unfold. Although the plots and settings often involve the supernatural and fantasy settings the strength of the characters makes them very believable and you become very attached to them. I personally find mainstream media a bore. I listen to Indie music, I play the games no one bought, I watch independent and foreign films, I need my entertainment to push the envelope. And while anime may be considered mainstream in some parts of the world, I can confidently say it is not where I am in North America. And pushing the envelope is a major characteristic that I love and appreciate about anime. A good anime will work to bring something new to its viewer, while maintaining the essence of what is expected. I have not seen a new movie that really blew me out of the water for a long time, because I find the mainstream to be so rehashed. But an anime studio there will always be something familiar about their style, for example, something like the style of animation they use or a stock character that you can recognize their purpose, but there is always something unique about every product that they put out. Anime also contains a depth to story and character that are difficult to find elsewhere, the sort of story that if you blink you will miss something. But it is the complexity that gives them endless re-watchable value, you can watch the same series several times and still be itching to see it again.
And despite all of these great qualities there is an on going stigma against anime. I first encountered the distaste for this genre with my family. At first it was “aren’t you a little old to be watching cartoons?” or “what kind of freaky show are you watching?” But really you’re never too old to be watching cartoons and as for the freaky show what could possibly be freaky about it, there are sometimes human like beings with tails but now with Beowulf and Angelina Jolie it must be a little more palatable now. Have I mentioned my family loves mainstream junk? But the real irony of their statements is that they say all these things and yet they’ve been standing in the room for 20 minutes and can’t take their eyes off the television. They criticize because they don’t understand and yet they’re still captivated by it. The same situation happened with my roommates but they began to take an interest and now watch them with me. The only person who I sat down with to watch a movie and took to it right away was my Oma. We watched Howl’s Moving Castle and she loved it!
But it still comes down to the question in my mind that I have no idea where this stigma began. Maybe mainstream viewers think that anime is all Pokemon and Bakugan, or for children. But there is so much more, it works in the same manner as any movie there are children’s movies and movies for adults, anime follows the same pattern. But I’m torn on whether or not I want anime to start becoming more popular. Although it would drop the price of anime I kind of like being in the know on what a treasure anime is.
If you think that anime might be for you, but you don’t know where to start. I would recommend Cowboy Bebop as a starter series and for a film anything that studio Ghibli produces. Some of my favorites are Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa. I hope all this could be of help to someone new to this medium. I really do recommend that everyone give it a show at least once. And whether you have a stigma against it or are just interested, I say try it out for size. You might be surprised.
Video You Need To See: Manic Gamer Week I
The manic gamer is back and has yet again outdone himself. This episode turned into more of a rant than a review but you know it’s really difficult to say what he is going to come up with from one episode to another. Some of you may have also noticed that he’s moved from Episodes I-IV to Week I. Well that is because he is now broadcasting via Toronto Thumbs. Which just quickly, is a new site that covers various gaming content include breaking news, reviews and tattoos… Well no but it rhymed and the Manic Gamer is making me a little off kilter today, it’s been a long week. But seriously it’s a site that is targeting Canadian gamers but their content is good and relevant to anyone and it is also updated frequently which is something that I really like about it.
This episode of the Manic Gamer discusses the new used game market Best Buy is trying, Itagaki’s leaving of Tecmo, some new games including Spore, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Linger In Shadows. And he may or may not call the CEO of EA a shady character from Germany’s past… Buuuut he’s hard to censor.
So enjoy and tune in to the next episode as the Manic Gamer takes your mind share piece by piece.
I Hang My Head In Shame
I am absolutely appalled at myself and my lack of ability to get my articles ready to post. I have two sitting in my queue at the moment waiting to be finished and edited but still nothing to show from it in over a month. All of this is largely due to the 50+ hour weeks I’ve been putting in at work but still not really a valid reason for me. Basically I need to step it up and I intend to!
Thank you to anyone who checks in regularly and I will be back on schedule asap.
Sincerely,
Cynthe Love
Kitty Wigs
Every once in a while when I’m perusing the internet I come across something that makes me pause and take a moment to ponder. When I found Kitty Wigs, this is exactly what happened. At first I thought, wait what? But then the automatic cuteness became overwhelming. I love these little goldmine finds, they make me endlessly happy, and especially when they’re meant to be completely serious like these wigs for cats are meant to be!
I really can’t imagine managing to get one of my cats to sit still in order to take a modeling photo wearing a wig. Or why I would subject my cat to wearing a wig, or why these wigs exist! And yet they are just so cute! I wonder if there’s any profit to be made of an endeavor like this or if the pictures really are just a fun way to play with photography and work animals into modeling.
In any case of what the situation is with Kitty Wigs. If you’re interested you can definitely buy one, and if you’re just looking for something interesting on the internet give it a look. I love these unique little sites one can stumble upon when just surfing the web.
I like this one, good expression
April’s Spin Magazine Rocked My Socks Off
Ok so the “Spin” Magazine in question is the one for April which I just snatched off a shelf the other day. Flipping through it, it repeatedly impressed me with the quality and variety of topics that they covered. The main entertainment for me was “The Spin 20: Ranking on Pop Culture Since 1998″. It made me laugh out loud several times and I just felt like in general they hit the nail on the head with every point they made.
“The Spin 20: Ranking on Pop Culture Since 1998″:
1. Real Metal vs. Hipster Metal: The ‘tastes great’/ ‘less filling’ debate of this generation.
2. Steve Guttenberg, Where are you?: Wall-E desperately awaits your cameo.
3. Arguing About Vampire Weekend: …Is so last month. Literally. Did you even read our March Issue?
4. Portishead Reunite: Not so fast, Sneaker Pimps
5. Andy Samberg Dating Joanna Newsom: Meanwhile, Bill Hader couldn’t even get St. Vincents digits. Oh, Snap!
6. Kanye West Launches Search Engine: Look for 50 Cent’s webmail app – coded in Javascript, beeyotch! – The very same day
7. “I Drink YOUR Milkshake!” Entering The Popular Vernacular: Makes us really, really crave a milkshake
8. Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III: Approaching Chinese Democracy- like levels of tardiness
9. TV Shows Return From Strike-Mandated Hibernation: See you later, books! Sucks to be you!
10. Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue Reissue: Harmonies you could swaddle a toddler in
11. Beatles Hotel Opens In Liverpool: Bookings are soft for the Brian Epstein suite
12. Tapes ‘N Tapes Sophomore Album: Honest to blog, it’s really good
13. Trent Reznor In Rumored Talks To Compose Fight Club Musical: Opening number: “The Jazz Hands That Feed”
14. Officially Played Out: The word “chanteuse.” Spin now prefers “music maidens.”
15. CNN’s Magic Wall: Beating Fox News’ Fantastical Partition by a landslide
16. Satisfaction, She Can’t Get No: Jerry Hall, Shilling for Levitra
17. Spring’s New Fashion Trend: Drop-Crotch Pants: Will make you look like MC Hammer. Fierce! Brilliant!
18. Easter?: We don’t even know her!
19. Baseball Is Back: And Whizzinator sales are through the roof
20. Ryan Adams Posts Breakup Poetry Online?: In which he reveals he is the an from Nantucket
Along with the list which I enjoyed so much the issue also included:
A beautiful two page spread picture of Cat Power performing…
A rave for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds‘ Dig, Lazarus, Dig…
An interview with The Breeders…
An interview with REM about their reunion…
The low down on how much money there is to be made doing various jobs in the music industry…
And tons of Indie goodness.
With all that, this issue was definitely one to check out!
Chan Marshall aka. Cat Power, just because she’s so gorgeous!
Video You Need To See: Stop Motion Mania!
I have been a fan of this video for a while, someone showed it to me last year sometime and I was thoroughly impressed by it! It is a stop motion video, now not only am I impressed because of how well done the video is, but stop motion takes so much time and effort I applaud anyone for tackling it. Especially with the smoothness and clarity that was done for this video.
So the video is a guy playing the drums and the piano on a split screen and he puts the two together to make a song. At the end you find out that the guy in the video does not know how to play the drums or the piano, but I’m positive he must have some musical background even if it’s another instrument or he wouldn’t have been able to compose the song. It’s a really good video and pay attention for when he starts drumming really quickly, he has quite a bit of video editing talent!
Enjoy!
Various Forms of Art
Every once in a while I get an idea to look up something new. I’m always amazed at the fantastic things that can be done with objects that seem every day and simple. The other day the urge came to me to look up various forms of art. It all started with me building a make out of Duplo for my rat… I know I have too much time on my hands, but it got me thinking of the diversity of Lego and all the amazing things that can be done with it. And wow, there really is a lot of amazing things already being done with it. Here are some of the ones I felt were really interesting.
I was thoroughly impressed by these, especially considering I could barely make a decent looking maze! So that’s Lego, and then I started looking around my room and thinking of all the other amazing work that must be out there with these seemingly banal objects, here’s what I found.
Paper:
And my personal favorite, money. I love this art because it makes such a strong statement on capitalism.
Think of it and you can find it, I really love it when artist’s push the envelope. These pieces stand out to me because they make everyday objects art, and they become absolutely beautiful.
