…and so it was until the day a false sun exploded over trinity
The clock is ticking, brothers and sisters, counting down to Armageddon. The worm reveals himself in many guises across this once great land; from the intellectual elite cruelly indoctrinating our children with the savage blasphemy of Darwin, to the craven Hollywood pagans, corrupting them in the darkness of the local bijou, from the false prophets cowering behind our nation’s pulpits to the vile parasites in our banks and boardrooms and the godless politicians, growing fat on the misery of their constituents. The signs of the end times are all around us, etched in blood and fire by the left hand of god. You have but to open your eyes, brothers and sisters. The truth is that the Devil is here. The Anti-Christ, the Child of Lies, the Son of Darkness walks among us cloaked in the flesh of a man. Does the Lord not weep at this degradation? Does He not tremble with righteous fury? And shall he not seek retribution? I open my eyes and I see a black sky that tears apart and screams with a voice that is thunder, ‘Rise up, rise up brothers and sisters and take your place at my side. For you shall be my scythe and your face shall shine like a thousand suns and the streets shall be sanctified by the steaming black blood of the heretics.’ And together brothers and sisters, together we shall build a shining temple, a kingdom that will last for thousands and thousands of years.
This is the moment that Brother Justin Crowe finally comprehends the evil nature of both his gifts and his destiny. He has just discovered that his foster father’s greatest sin was saving Justin’s life. The black orbs that are his eyes become, from this point on, the indication that he is fully possessed by this evil nature.
Carnivàle with its Depression era dustbowl setting was canceled after only two seasons. The writers originally intended for it to span six seasons and culminate with the Trinity nuclear test at the Alamogordo. Floyd and I have enjoyed re-watching the series over the past week, and I find myself wondering how successful it would be if it were being aired now during our Great Recession. Comparisons between these two financial events are common, but re-watching the series in this context has forced me to contemplate the consequences if their similarities are extended into the future.
(image via Carnivàle)
the usher of destruction
Last night I had an actual nightmare with monsters and murderers. It was the most vivid nightmare I have had since I quit taking melatonin and my first in at least two years. Weird. It must be the season.
(image via Carnivàle)
metal kurgan
(image via The Highlander)
or are the stars just pinholes in the curtain of night
Last night was movie night with the girls. We watched the 1986 spec-fic classic, Highlander, starring Christopher Lambert, Sean “FTW” Connery, and Clancy “The Usher” Brown. I will never be able to watch this movie from a perspective other than that of a teenage boy who is still waiting for the revelation of secret power and significance. In a reasonable world, that revelation would have also involved the use of samurai swords and an interlude in my own isolated Scottish castle*. If I make an effort at skepticism, I can see that this movie may have flaws, but its mythology was inserted into my brain early enough that it crushes any serious attempt at criticism**.
Clancy Brown is incredible in the role of “The Kurgan.” He is an irreverently sarcastic thug, and he is evil, but not over the top ultimate evil; he is just nasty. The punk trappings*** of his character in the modern period also made him ever so slightly sympathetic.
The girls enjoyed the movie but there were some questions (and many of them along a similiar theme):
- How lethal are stomach wounds? (typically very lethal especially in 16th century Scotland)
- Why is there lightning when one of the Immortals is killed? (His Immortal energy is released and absorbed by his murderer.)
- Why does he tap the anvil before he hammers the horseshoe? (The intricacies of medieval metallurgy was tabled pending additional research.)
- Why do they only die if their head is cut off? (Because!)
- Will they die if they are stabbed in the heart? (No, but it will hurt.)
- What will they do if their heart is cut out, how will they pump blood to their muscles and internal organs? (They will grow a new heart.)
- Will they die if they are just stabbed in the head? (No.)
- Stabbed in the eye? (No!)
- Will they die if only the top half of their head is cut off? And their brain is removed? (Strictly speaking they will only die if their whole head is severed from the rest of their body.)
- Why…? (No…)
*with a girl!
**We won’t discuss the sequels.
***inspired by The Terminator released two years earlier?
