Days Five and Six
Day 01: Your favorite song
Day 02 : Your favorite movie
Day 03: Your favorite television program
Day 04: Your favorite book
Day 05 : Your favorite quote
So this is a little long for a quote, but this is literally the shortest piece I could bear to paste. The Life In a Box speech (plus a bit) from Rosencrantz and Guidenstern Are Dead, my favorite play ever. It's...existential and amazing and just utterly fantastic. I was, at one point, cast to play Rosencrantz in a friend's movie-version, but that never got off the ground. I still know a lot of the lines, though, and I'd very much like to remember these speeches, because they're amazing:
Ros: Do you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?
Guil: No.
Ros: Nor do I, really... It's silly to be depressed by it. I mean one thinks of it like being alive in a box, one keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one is dead... which should make all the difference... shouldn't it? I mean, you'd never know you were in a box, would you? It would be just like being asleep in a box. Not that I'd like to sleep in a box, mind you, not without any air-- you'd wake up dead, for a start, and then where would you be? Apart from inside a box. That's the bit I don't like, frankly. That's why I don't think of it...
Because you'd be helpless, wouldn't you? Stuffed in a box like that, I mean you'd be in there for ever. Even taking into account the fact that you're dead, it isn't a pleasant thought. Especially if you're dead, really... ask yourself, if I asked straight off-- I'm going to stuff you in this box now, would you rather be alive or dead? Naturally, you'd prefer to be alive. Life in a box is better than no life at all. I expect. You'd have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking-- well, at least I'm not dead! In a minute someone's going to bang on the lid and tell me to come out. "Hey you, whatsyername! Come out of there!"
Guil (jumps up savagely): You don't have to flog it to death!
(Pause.)
Ros: I woulnd't think about it if I were you. You'd only get depressed. (Pause.) Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end? (Pause, then brightly.) Two early Christians chanced to meet in Heaven. "Saul of Tarsus yet!" cried one. "What are you doing there?!"... "tarsus Schmarsus," replied the other, "I'm Paul already." They don't care. We count for nothing. We could remain silent till we're green in the face, they wouldn't come.
Guil: Blue, red.
Ros: ...We have no control. None at all... (He paces.) Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one, a moment, in childhood when it first occurred to you that you don't go on for ever. It must have been shattering-- stamped into one's memory. And yet I can't remember it. It never occurred to me at all. What does one make of that? We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the words for it, before we know that there are words, out we come, bloodied and squalling witht hte knowledge that for all the compasses in the world, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure.
Guil: Death followed by eternity... the worst of both worlds. It is a terrible thought.
Day 06 : Whatever tickles your fancy
Well, as long as we're on the subject of favorites (movies, TV shows, books, plays) I'll go with my favorite video game: Persona 3.
Now, I haven't finished it, yet. But I am ready to make that judgment, and here's why:
I don't get easily emotional about fiction. I can be affected by things that are well-written, if I have grown attached to the characters. But very rarely do I do more than sigh wistfully and go, "Man, that was amazing. Depressing as shit, and amazing." (Examples of things that have made me do this: The end of His Dark Materials (Jeeeesus Christ), Supernatural (the last ep before the hellatus especially).)
There is a scene in Persona 3 that made me cry. Like, straight-up sobbing. I cried and cried and then I was sad for the rest of the night and most of the next day, whenever I thought about it (Chiara can vouch). The game is set this year, and when the date rolled around that that scene took place on, I was reminded and I was still. Fucking. Sad.
Also, it has everything I like! Demons! Robots! Awesome ladies! Gay subtext! Really, really good writing! Incredible voice acting! Mythology! A cool combat mechanic! Japanese school-life subplots!
(I wrote for it, a little, mostly to get my sadness out. The fic is posted here (the only other thing using the "persona 3" tag) but I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you've played/are never, ever going to play the game, because there are some major spoilers. Though it is one of my favorite things I've written, actually.)
Favorite characters!
Akihiko Sanada has to be my very favorite (possibly continuing my trend of loving broken, tragic heroes). He's one of the oldest in S.E.E.S (the demon-hunting-nonsense-club you join) and a popular boy at school, though he sees no use for things like girls. He fights with brass knuckles (really fucking well) and his Persona is Polydeuces (later Caesar), who, mythically, is one of the Argonauts, a boxer, and twin brother of Castor. He's also known as Pollux, as in the constellation the Twins.
Although an amazing character in his own right, it's Akihiko's relationship with the two below (especially Shinjiro) that really makes me love him.
Mitsuru Kirijo is kind of tied for second place with Shinjiro. She is the other founding member of S.E.E.S (at least, the only other founding member you meet at first) and an consummate badass. She and Akihiko are...friends, who obviously care quite deeply for one another, but it is incredibly clear that they don't always see eye to eye (and on something big, something really big, not too long before the game is set). Mitsuru is a bit cold and unemotional to Aki's stubborn, reckless hero complex. She fights with a rapier, and her Persona is Penthesilea, who, mythically, was an Amazon warrior who killed her own sister and ended up fighting at the battle of Troy.
Shinjiro Aragaki starts out as a mystery, appearing grimly in the hospital where Akihiko was staying and calling him 'Aki' (the only one to do so, which immediately set off my slash goggles. And man was there a lot for them to see). Also a founding member of S.E.E.S, he left a few years before the game is set. He and Akihiko are...there's so much history there.
If I may spoil you a little, he's started taking suppressants to control his Persona's power after he left S.E.E.S (and I still don't know why he left. I can only hope for slashy, slashy reasons) and Akihiko finds out about it. The suppressants are dangerous, and may be killing Shinji (Aki calls him Shinji, also the only one to do so). There's a fantastic, amazingly slashy scene where Akihiko chases Shinji down and confronts him, complete with punching him across the mouth. It's wonnnderful.
(Even more spoilery spoilers! Highlight to read. It's his death that makes me cry. And even more, a few scenes later. Akihiko doesn't attend the funeral held for Shinji at the school (doesn't attend school at all, actually), instead having a whole scene to himself for an incredible speech over his coffin. It's broken and pleading and guilty and just. Some of the best voice acting I have ever heard. He kneels by his coffin, slams his fist against it. Lets out this amazing scream...he's sobbing and angry and it's just. Gods. I rewatched it just now and...tears.)
Junpei Iori is also kind of my very favorite, but in a really different way than Aki, which is why he's all the way down here (poor Junpei). He starts out as the comic relief, pretty much (and it is honestly really comical comic relief. Junpei's Believe It Or Don't is the funniest thing in the wooorld). But even he gets an inordinate amount of character development, becoming much more of the Xander-style falling-into-trouble Hero. He's actually a lot like Xander, now that I think about it. I really...I just love him. (Plus, he definitely has a crush on Aki. And the main character has a crush on him. It's all good.) His Persona is Hermes, who...I hope I don't have to explain to you. Hilariously, though, it's Ultimate form is called Trismegestus - after the famous alchemist Hermes Trismegestus, possible founder of astrology.
Anyway, that game. Good stuff!
Day 02 : Your favorite movie
Day 03: Your favorite television program
Day 04: Your favorite book
Day 05 : Your favorite quote
So this is a little long for a quote, but this is literally the shortest piece I could bear to paste. The Life In a Box speech (plus a bit) from Rosencrantz and Guidenstern Are Dead, my favorite play ever. It's...existential and amazing and just utterly fantastic. I was, at one point, cast to play Rosencrantz in a friend's movie-version, but that never got off the ground. I still know a lot of the lines, though, and I'd very much like to remember these speeches, because they're amazing:
Ros: Do you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?
Guil: No.
Ros: Nor do I, really... It's silly to be depressed by it. I mean one thinks of it like being alive in a box, one keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one is dead... which should make all the difference... shouldn't it? I mean, you'd never know you were in a box, would you? It would be just like being asleep in a box. Not that I'd like to sleep in a box, mind you, not without any air-- you'd wake up dead, for a start, and then where would you be? Apart from inside a box. That's the bit I don't like, frankly. That's why I don't think of it...
Because you'd be helpless, wouldn't you? Stuffed in a box like that, I mean you'd be in there for ever. Even taking into account the fact that you're dead, it isn't a pleasant thought. Especially if you're dead, really... ask yourself, if I asked straight off-- I'm going to stuff you in this box now, would you rather be alive or dead? Naturally, you'd prefer to be alive. Life in a box is better than no life at all. I expect. You'd have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking-- well, at least I'm not dead! In a minute someone's going to bang on the lid and tell me to come out. "Hey you, whatsyername! Come out of there!"
Guil (jumps up savagely): You don't have to flog it to death!
(Pause.)
Ros: I woulnd't think about it if I were you. You'd only get depressed. (Pause.) Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end? (Pause, then brightly.) Two early Christians chanced to meet in Heaven. "Saul of Tarsus yet!" cried one. "What are you doing there?!"... "tarsus Schmarsus," replied the other, "I'm Paul already." They don't care. We count for nothing. We could remain silent till we're green in the face, they wouldn't come.
Guil: Blue, red.
Ros: ...We have no control. None at all... (He paces.) Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one, a moment, in childhood when it first occurred to you that you don't go on for ever. It must have been shattering-- stamped into one's memory. And yet I can't remember it. It never occurred to me at all. What does one make of that? We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the words for it, before we know that there are words, out we come, bloodied and squalling witht hte knowledge that for all the compasses in the world, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure.
Guil: Death followed by eternity... the worst of both worlds. It is a terrible thought.
Day 06 : Whatever tickles your fancy
Well, as long as we're on the subject of favorites (movies, TV shows, books, plays) I'll go with my favorite video game: Persona 3.
Now, I haven't finished it, yet. But I am ready to make that judgment, and here's why:
I don't get easily emotional about fiction. I can be affected by things that are well-written, if I have grown attached to the characters. But very rarely do I do more than sigh wistfully and go, "Man, that was amazing. Depressing as shit, and amazing." (Examples of things that have made me do this: The end of His Dark Materials (Jeeeesus Christ), Supernatural (the last ep before the hellatus especially).)
There is a scene in Persona 3 that made me cry. Like, straight-up sobbing. I cried and cried and then I was sad for the rest of the night and most of the next day, whenever I thought about it (Chiara can vouch). The game is set this year, and when the date rolled around that that scene took place on, I was reminded and I was still. Fucking. Sad.
Also, it has everything I like! Demons! Robots! Awesome ladies! Gay subtext! Really, really good writing! Incredible voice acting! Mythology! A cool combat mechanic! Japanese school-life subplots!
(I wrote for it, a little, mostly to get my sadness out. The fic is posted here (the only other thing using the "persona 3" tag) but I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you've played/are never, ever going to play the game, because there are some major spoilers. Though it is one of my favorite things I've written, actually.)
Favorite characters!
Akihiko Sanada has to be my very favorite (possibly continuing my trend of loving broken, tragic heroes). He's one of the oldest in S.E.E.S (the demon-hunting-nonsense-club you join) and a popular boy at school, though he sees no use for things like girls. He fights with brass knuckles (really fucking well) and his Persona is Polydeuces (later Caesar), who, mythically, is one of the Argonauts, a boxer, and twin brother of Castor. He's also known as Pollux, as in the constellation the Twins.
Although an amazing character in his own right, it's Akihiko's relationship with the two below (especially Shinjiro) that really makes me love him.
Mitsuru Kirijo is kind of tied for second place with Shinjiro. She is the other founding member of S.E.E.S (at least, the only other founding member you meet at first) and an consummate badass. She and Akihiko are...friends, who obviously care quite deeply for one another, but it is incredibly clear that they don't always see eye to eye (and on something big, something really big, not too long before the game is set). Mitsuru is a bit cold and unemotional to Aki's stubborn, reckless hero complex. She fights with a rapier, and her Persona is Penthesilea, who, mythically, was an Amazon warrior who killed her own sister and ended up fighting at the battle of Troy.
Shinjiro Aragaki starts out as a mystery, appearing grimly in the hospital where Akihiko was staying and calling him 'Aki' (the only one to do so, which immediately set off my slash goggles. And man was there a lot for them to see). Also a founding member of S.E.E.S, he left a few years before the game is set. He and Akihiko are...there's so much history there.
If I may spoil you a little, he's started taking suppressants to control his Persona's power after he left S.E.E.S (and I still don't know why he left. I can only hope for slashy, slashy reasons) and Akihiko finds out about it. The suppressants are dangerous, and may be killing Shinji (Aki calls him Shinji, also the only one to do so). There's a fantastic, amazingly slashy scene where Akihiko chases Shinji down and confronts him, complete with punching him across the mouth. It's wonnnderful.
(Even more spoilery spoilers! Highlight to read. It's his death that makes me cry. And even more, a few scenes later. Akihiko doesn't attend the funeral held for Shinji at the school (doesn't attend school at all, actually), instead having a whole scene to himself for an incredible speech over his coffin. It's broken and pleading and guilty and just. Some of the best voice acting I have ever heard. He kneels by his coffin, slams his fist against it. Lets out this amazing scream...he's sobbing and angry and it's just. Gods. I rewatched it just now and...tears.)
Junpei Iori is also kind of my very favorite, but in a really different way than Aki, which is why he's all the way down here (poor Junpei). He starts out as the comic relief, pretty much (and it is honestly really comical comic relief. Junpei's Believe It Or Don't is the funniest thing in the wooorld). But even he gets an inordinate amount of character development, becoming much more of the Xander-style falling-into-trouble Hero. He's actually a lot like Xander, now that I think about it. I really...I just love him. (Plus, he definitely has a crush on Aki. And the main character has a crush on him. It's all good.) His Persona is Hermes, who...I hope I don't have to explain to you. Hilariously, though, it's Ultimate form is called Trismegestus - after the famous alchemist Hermes Trismegestus, possible founder of astrology.
Anyway, that game. Good stuff!