#Scriptual

[nomadman108]

The Q&A in the Scripture Part 3

Welcome to another installment in our occasional series (see links to all previous installments at the end of this post) looking at some of the answers given by Krishna to his cousin Uddhava during a kind of Q&A session that takes place as both are about to leave their hometown which is on the brink of war. Krishna’s returning to Heaven, while Uddhava is heading for parts – and a future –…

[humbledragon669]

S2E3 - I Know Where I'm Going Write Up P3 - Aziraphale’s road trip and Crowley’s (friendly) conversation with Jim

This may well be another short(er) instalment, for similar reasons to the last one - ultimately this episode just breaks down into nicer chunks if I tackle this “present day” section on its own. That said, we should all be familiar with my tendency to ramble by now so let’s see how I get on.

The very first thing I wanted to comment on is the cut between the past of Edinburgh into the present of the Bentley. It’s entirely visual/audio so describing it is likely not to come out too well, but I’ll give it a go. At the end of the previous scene, the camera pans up and then appears to move, extremely quickly, towards the sky. At the same time there is a noise in the soundtrack, a “whoosh” that suggests rapid movement. On the opposite side of the cut there’s a tiny movement that suggests the end of the movement which ends on a close up of Aziraphale’s face. I hope that didn’t come off as too laborious. Not much I can do about it if it did anyway. Anyway, all of that to say that this cut between scenes suggests to me that, just like with the previous episode, the scenes that we see of Edinburgh are actually Aziraphale’s memories, his flashbacks. Which in and of itself, doesn’t really seem important. It does however lend credence to the theory I raised in the last section (that the minisodes show us epiphany-inducing moments specific to the angel, rather than being simple retellings of events that have occurred in his history).

I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say that the scene that follows in the Bentley is something of a fandom favourite for the Clues it gives to the state of the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley, and for a couple of neat media references that can be found in it. I won’t be going over well-trodden ground too much in this write-up, and I’ll try and keep it as brief as possible. With that said, I want to touch briefly on the changes we see on the Bentley. I’ll start with the music, which, as is explicitly stated, is classical (Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens to be exact. I looked for a potential Easter egg here but couldn’t see anything obvious) and “stays classical”. This last point is pretty obviously a reference to the fact that all music in the Bentley inevitably eventually changes to Queen, not dissimilar to the music in the jukebox Aziraphale is seeking out (artist and song differences aside). There is something here I find interesting though:

So, we can see that the radio has been tuned to BBC Radio 3. For those of you outside the UK, this particular radio station does play whole programmes of classical music, though they do play other genres. He would probably have been better of choosing Classic FM if he had wanted an uninterrupted schedule of classical music. Perhaps there was a rights issue. Anyway, that’s not what I find interesting. If I understand correctly, the fact that Aziraphale is using the radio is what facilitates the conversation that is about to take place with Crowley. I think I actually recall that communicating using existing radio waves was something that Crowley had suggested to Hell as a precursor to the mobile phone. So, radio in use = possible communication. So far, so good. Here’s the “but”. It’s typically static sources of music that are prone to changing when left in the Bentley - in the book it was cassette tapes, in the show it’s updated to CDs. I have a feeling it may even be possible to use the cassette/CD player in an attempt to stop communications coming through (no radio waves = no communication) - I think this may even be why Crowley inserts a CD when trying to get through the wall of fire in the first season. So we have a bit of an inconsistency with the lore here. In all likelihood, I think it’s probably another instance of scriptual convenience - we need to have the conversation; we also need to be told how the Bentley has adapted to Aziraphale’s preferences. You can’t have both things whilst maintaining the previously established elements of Omens legend. There might be some other things to be said about whether the angel chooses to use the radio in order to ensure communication with Crowley was possible, or whether he’s actually not aware of how the music tends to change, but I think it might be overkill in this particular instance.

Looking at some of the other changes we see to the Bentley itself - there’s the horn (now delightfully camp) and of course, the colour. Looking first at the former, I was trying to recall a time when we hear the horn when it’s not Aziraphale driving but I’ve come up empty (even after watching some of the scenes where it might most likely be used), so if anyone has an example I’d be grateful - that way I can make a direct comparison. As it is, we only have Crowley’s word that the Bentley’s horn doesn’t sound like that all the time, though I will agree that it’s hardly the mean sound you might associate with a demon’s car. The colour though, we can be in no disagreement as to the huge change that has been made there. And it would be remiss of me not to highlight the commonly accepted fandom trope that Aziraphale has chosen yellow because it matches the colour of Crowley’s eyes.

(Image shamelessly lifted from a Reddit post by r/goodomensprime - if you’re here on Tumblr, let me know and I’ll credit you properly)

It’s quite a sweet little tribute really, and gives us a huge insight into Aziraphale’s feelings. It’s no wonder he looks so put out when Crowley tells him it’s unacceptable.

There’s something else about this exchange though, and (combined with the demon’s comments about driving at the speed limit) should tell us a lot about Crowley’s link to the Bentley, which is that this vehicle really is like an extension of his own being. The horn he could hear, maybe even the travel sweets (that’s quite a distinctive noise it makes when Aziraphale removes it from the tray), but the colour? And he doesn’t just know that the colour has changed - he knows what colour it’s been changed to. At this point I feel like it’s worth noting the phrase that Crowley uses about the changes to the Bentley:

CROWLEY: What are you doing to it?

So here’s the insinuation that the changes to the Bentley are being intentionally caused by Aziraphale. The fact that it “doesn’t seem to want to” drive above 30 miles an hour would further suggest that the changes are not being resisted by the Bentley, if there is to be an element of sentience applied to the car. I feel like there is something to be said here about Aziraphale presuming tangible changes to something that isn’t strictly within his (moral) power to do - we’ll see that presumption raise a very ugly head in the Final 15. And just as with the Final 15, status quo with the Bentley is returned by force and threat, albeit in a slightly less devastating way.

When I was first writing my notes for this episode (which seems like a very long time ago now), I made a comment about the presence of tartan and the loch ness monster in this shot. Now that some time has passed, I have been made aware that this is a direct reference to a Powell and Pressburger film that this episode shares its name with. I also now understand that this is one of many references to the work of the British duo. @captainfantasticalright made a beautiful post about it here and rather than rehashing the lovely work they’ve already done, I’ll direct you there. It's really beautifully put together. The only thing I now find odd about this tableau is that it’s a really “breaking-the-fourth-wall” sort of reference. As much as I can remember, the Easter eggs I’ve seen up to now are subtle - they blend into the background, and look absolutely natural. This one, sweet and comedic as it is, sort of screams that there’s something to be found. I think the tartan is supposed to look almost like sedentary rock, and I feel like it almost does. The Loch Ness monster is somewhat harder to argue about on that point, though you gotta love the addition of the bagpipes to that awesome rock treatment of the theme tune as this scene plays out.

I don’t think I have an awful lot to say about the next scene with Beelzebub, other than perhaps we should have realised there was something more going on with her than he run-of-the-mill Hellish responsibilities. It’s pretty clear she’s very worried about Gabriel’s absence, especially as we actually haven’t had any indication that she’s been issued with any instructions to find him from higher-up. I do quite like the throwback to the conversation she had with Crowley earlier on in the season when she asks the crony if they ever wish they were told they were doing a good job, and it makes me suspect that part of her mental crisis isn’t just about finding Gabriel, but that she has started to sympathise with Crowley’s point of view when it comes to doubting those that exert power over you.

That book that Gabriel is using to try and understand the concept of gravity is another Powell and Pressburger reference. Again, I’d encourage to look over that blog post if you want to find out more about this particular Easter egg (or the whole set of them).

Those two GIFs are there for no other reason than so that everyone can watch Crowley showing his fully domesticated self, stalking around the bookshop, looking sassy whilst he does it. Do I need any other reason that that? I mean, those bicycle clips around the arms are a slightly strange choice, but I can understand the logic for them being there. And I know I’m nowhere near the first person to want to know exactly what it is that the demon is doing here. Tidying? That seems like a sensible solution.

Ah. Not tidying then. Or perhaps intending to tidy and getting bored. I can only assume he’s trying to keep himself busy here, as opposed to being bored without Aziraphale or stressing about the state of the Bentley. I have seen a lovely little catch somewhere that there are an awful lot of fire extinguishers on the second floor of the book shop (which we’ll see in episode five), and that this is likely to do with the fire that consumes the store in the first season. With that in mind, it would be nice to think that Crowley is at this point covertly making space for those extinguishers by moving books. That said, if the fire deterrents were in response to the previous fire, you’d think they would have been installed long before now. And then there’s that sneaky little suggestion that the people involved in the aversion of the Apocalypse in the years prior don’t actually have any memory of the events as they took place. Whatever Crowley’s reason for his “tidying”, there’s another suggestion about the demon’s behaviour that I really love, which is that he brings an organised chaos to Aziraphale’s disorganised chaos, and with that in mind I think it’s a real shame we don’t get to see what books it is that he’s carrying. I guess we maybe shouldn’t be surprised at his actions here; according to the book has sorted his CD collection meticulously, so it stands to reason that he might want to bring order to another collection (especially if, like me, you believe he’s actually living in the bookshop with Aziraphale at this point).

Leading on from that bracketed point in the last paragraph, I think it’s probably worth noting that Crowley is sans sunglasses at this point. On the one hand, I can absolutely see that this is likely because he’s comfortable in his environment and feels physically and emotionally safe there. On the other hand, we know that his feelings towards Gabriel are, and will continue to be, very guarded. He still doesn’t trust this ex-archangel, not one little bit. Nor is he particularly comfortable with Muriel, who may or may not be in the book shop at this point. And yet, these are the only beings with which he can interact with during this scene. It just strikes me as a little odd that he would go without them, particularly in Aziraphale’s absence, but it does at least really highlight how comfortable he is when he’s at home in the book shop. And if you don’t think that relaxed attitude is evident from the lack of eyewear, it’s blatantly obvious in the way he speaks with Jim about his plan.

I mean, it’s so conspiratorial. Again, remember how much Crowley hates and distrusts Gabriel at this point. Even Aziraphale hasn’t gotten comfortable enough with Jim to speak to him with that level of comfort, so I find this friendly tone from the demon very peculiar.

And on that bombshell (not really a bombshell at all, it’s just something that Brits say when we get to the end of something thanks to a popular television show), that’s the end of this section. Again, not exactly short, particularly as it was less than 5 minutes of film, but shorter as far as these write ups go. More of the same for the next one I think, but I guess we’ll see when I get there. As for now, and as always, questions, comments, discussion, always welcome. See you for the next one!

[leroibobo]

a jewish incantation bowl in babylonian aramaic from 400-800 ce.

incantation bowls were bowls inscribed with scriptual quotes and buried face down to protect against evil influences. they were used by christians, jews, manichaeans, and mandaeans in upper mesopotamia and syria.

[yanderefairyangel]

"You are the Fire Emblem" but JPN edition

Japanese is one of the hardest language to learn and it's no wonder. It has so many subtleties and one of them is the fact that one kanji can be read several way and yet still mean the same thing.

For example 花 can be read as either "Hana" or "Ka" for instance in 3H's JPN name, the kanji 花 read itself as "ka". In Engage's case, Kagestu's name, written in full katakana has the word 花 written in its katakana form and read as "ka".

How to read kanji are in general indiciated as a side note or between parathensis : it's what is called furigana

Likewise, despite being written in kanji, a word can be read in it's "English" pronociation.

Example, in the final lyrics of the Engage opening, Ryo read the word 紋章/monshoo as "Emblem" it's English meaning.

And in Engage, there is a very special play with that peculiarty proper to japanese when it comes to Alear's Emblem name.

"You are the thirteenth Emblem : the Emblem of Fiery Bonds < Fire Emblem>"

"The Emblem of Fiery Bonds <Fire Emblem>... Me ? I have become the 13th Emblem ?"

Alear's actual Emblem name is 絆炎の紋章/Kizuna-en no Monshoo which literaly translate as the "Emblem of the Bond of Fire" but I translate it as the Emblem of Fiery Bond as a reference to the ending song's title... Yes, that's where it's name from since the JPN title is 絆炎. It's also worth noting that the opening refers to this in the 2 common chorus when it says 繋げ 炎/Connect the flame.

This is reinforced by how 絆炎の紋章 is between 「」 which is the jpn equivalent of our " "

However, the detail in that scene is that instead of reading the 絆炎の紋章 part, Marth and Alear only read the part between < > which contains the japanese title of Fire Emblem, ファイアーエムブレム.

The <> indicates that 絆炎の紋章 shouldn't be ready as "Kizuna en no Monshooshi" but as "Faia Emblemu".

This is also present when Alear summons themselves in chapter 26

And if you check the JPN wiki, this is also there

As you see the word 絆炎の紋章 is here quoted as Alear's emblem name. It is even in between " ". However, Fire Emblem in jpn is also there but between ( ) rather then < >.

This indicate that Alear's Emblem name in reality is Emblem of the Fiery Bond but that it is supposed to be read as "Fire Emblem" the same way a kanji can be read in different way.

It's a phenomenon that oftens happen in doujin songs where the lyrics are read differently then how it's written scriptually to create some sort of "pun"

In the case of Engage, it's a way of playing with the name of Fire Emblem.

[dgknightblue]

Hey! You should read this.

It’s an Interview with Grom. A brawler deathly afraid of Children.

[thatstormygeek]

Christian supremacism is based on the bedrock idea that Christianity is true and good. Hendricks challenges most claims of Christian supremacists. But he doesn’t really challenge that one. For him, as for them, true Christianity is spotless. But if Christianity is in fact perfect in love and wisdom, then where does that leave those of us who are Jews, or atheists, or followers of any other religious or nonreligious tradition? Hendricks argues that evangelical conservatives have embraced iniquity by turning their backs on true Christianity. My back is towards Christianity too, though—and Christians have in the past used that as an excuse to label people like me iniquitous, with extremely unpleasant results. Hendricks steps around many of the worst implications here in his discussion of evangelical Islamophobia. He references John 10:16, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.” Hendricks suggests that Jesus is saying here that some who serve him are nonbelievers.  The passage he says could refer to “anyone who would accept the ethical demands of his message and strive to live lovingly and justly, no matter their origin or religion.” True, ethical, unstained Christianity is available to anyone of any religion. Goodness and Christianity are so synonymous that wherever the first is—even in the hearts of Jewish atheists—the second is also. I appreciate that Hendricks wants to include Muslims (and me) in the fold. And perhaps that’s as far as a Christian witness can go and still remain Christian. But people who have been persecuted by Christians aren’t necessarily going to want to see themselves as belonging to Jesus, even if some versions of him would have them. It seems condescending—and condescension is certainly a thing Christianity has been known for, from time to time.

Given current events, I think I should also reiterate that the analysis here applies to other belief systems, not just to Christianity. You will occasionally see Jewish people who oppose Zionism arguing that Zionism as it is currently practiced in Israel, with all the war crimes, is out of step with Jewish ethics, Jewish scriptual beliefs, or Jewish traditions. There are some powerful arguments there, and certainly, as a Jewish atheist, I don’t see Israel’s current horrific actions as part of a tradition I want to claim. Nonetheless, I think it’s important to acknowledge that on some basic level, Judaism is just what Jewish people do in the name of Judaism. And currently an awful lot of Jewish people, in Israel and outside it, believe that Jewishness justifies and requires a genocidal slaughter of tens of thousands of people and counting. I don’t think that this orgy of war crimes is the sole meaning of Judaism. But unfortunately, at the moment, it does appear to be one thing that Judaism means, and I think it would be an insult to the people suffering in Gaza right now to insist that true Judaism can only be good.

[terrifickid]

Chariot Mysticism

There are only two things that are totally fucking outside any grasp of mine.

1.) After all that, what the fuck will happen next to me?

2.) This chariot Mysticism shit.

I'm just terrible at these kind of puzzles. Foreshadowing is lost on me.

Well, the cosmic space bear is clearly ursa. I don't know why it's a dipper. But even in vajrayana there is amenominakanushi. The Big Dipper forms a svastika in earth pole precession and it's argued this is scriptual.

The cosmic space bear that moved into the dojo and taught me a space bear dance. And the gane-sha that followed me around Santa Cruz. And the angels that played shit right out of my phone.

And mountain dogs.

This stuff wasn't theoretical, it wasn't understanding structures or concepts. It was real beings I met and talked to.

And I figured it was just weird internet shit, but there's this weird cloud motif I find strange. 4 winds and shit. Thunder.

So just psycho shit. And the naval theme.

I mean what the hell are you talking about?

What the hell do I care about some ascension gateway?!

Anyway that might be the purple vortex.

Uh, it's secret shit for 1.

But, is it earth and air? Fire and water? Or is it absolute and subjective? Is it you and the total universe? Your mind and ultimate mind? And the relationship there - that's it's in union. This probably isn't it.

Chirality?

Is that onmyodo sorcery? Maybe where yoda comes from?

Anyway. That's the post post modernism arena. Who the hell is these guys? Team squawky.

So much for Chariot Mysticism.

Well, I think that's what premonitions are. it's not a sense like the eyes, it's a communication at the time. They'll say stuff in your head, they'll turn shit orange. They'll put a book on a table. Whatever. That's what I think.

This is different from psilocybin or schizophrenia hallucinations. Those are different things - categorically.

If it pisses actual content. Like if it was the 21 questions person. Than... Well...

Is this why I'm training on volcanoes next? Is this why I'm headed out with the venusians?

Chariot Mysticism is fucking weird.

I've got a ticket to Maui don't I?!

Take a hint.

AirBnB!? Am I gonna stay

A.) In an AirBnN

B.) In some dudes house

C.) In an erupting fucking Pacific rim volcanoe

I'm not going near any fucking such place nor any molten anything. If I wanted to throw myself in a volcanoe I would have done it yesterday.

[vedaadesigns]

LH: Research (LO1)

Bi Scriptual

The Book Bi-Scriptual

The book Bi-Scriptual documents and discusses sociocultural premises, technical requirements and practical considerations concerning multiscript design and typography. All eight in-depth presented writing systems are then described by specialists in the field and illustrated by work examples from international designers and studios. I looked into the comparison of the Devanagari script with the Latin script. I really liked the poster design with black and white photographs accompanied by a word in Hindi and the same word written using Latin characters. This has given me the idea to perhaps play around with phonetics and type.

[prophetmikael8]

RELAXING SCRIPTUAL CONVERSATION.https://youtu.be/uuJM43qpyyY?si=Af_cwVJZSrc226Mk&t=2

[nomadman108]

New Series Coming Soon: An Introduction

Lord Krishna Namaste and greetings friends Not long ago I started studying an Indian scripture called The Uddhava Gita. It’s quite a lovely book actually: it’s poetic, actually it is a poem, or song, and beautifully written. The title means The song of Uddhava and is an account of a conversation between Krishna wearing his God of the Universe hat, and his cousin Uddhava. The story takes place…

[humbledragon669]

S2E3 - I Know Where I'm Going Write Up P1 - up to the credits (present day)

Tiny bit of trivia about me that I’m sure nobody really cares about - as of Christmas just gone, I own my own version of Jim’s mug. It’s definitely one of the top three presents I got (one of the others is a GO themed long-sleeved t-shirt), and I absolutely have been using it to drink hot chocolate out of. I LOVE it.

Anyway, it’s Easter egg time! Yeah, that’s right, this one appears right at the beginning of the episode. And I suspect that many people will already have noted this one, but as I’ve said before, you never know. So here it is:

That’s the music instrument shop across the road from the bookshop, called “Arnolds”, presumably for the soundtrack composer for Omens - David Arnold. Obvious though it may be, it’s a bit “blink-and-you’d-miss-it”, so I felt like it was worth drawing attention to, just to reiterate the level of care and attention on display in this show that we all know and love. And whilst I have my attention-to-detail hat on, I have a brief point of speculation to make about Jim’s location in this opening shot. Given his view across the street, and the limited view we get into the room behind him (I’m thinking mostly about the lamp you can just about make out over his shoulder), this would appear to be Jim’s bedroom. In front of him is a tray with his mug and a container of hot chocolate on it. There’s even a trail of hot chocolate powder in between the mug and the container, as if someone has been a bit careless when spooning the cocoa from the pot into the cup (no judgement, I do this ALL the time). Before breaking away from this shot, we see Jim pouring boiling water into the mug from an electric kettle. All perfectly understandable actions for a set-up to show a man looking out over his neighbourhood, right? So my speculation is this, and I am jumping ahead a little. Why is it necessary for Crowley to leave the room when offering to make Jim a cup of hot chocolate in a later episode? It would seem that all the equipment required is right there in Jim’s bedroom. Sounds like another instance of scriptual convenience to me, albeit a small one. Anyway, enough pedantry, let’s move on.

It's taken me ages, but I’ve worked out what the music is playing in the background of the coffee shop. Unsurprisingly it’s another Queen tune - “Radio Ga Ga” this time. Given the lyrics, which speak of a fond farewell to a medium that no longer has relevance given more modern offerings, I wonder if this might be a reference to the state of Nina’s relationship with Lindsey at this point? Aside from that potential insight, I can’t really say there’s an awful lot about this scene that I like. Obviously Nina is still being her unlikeable self (checking her phone whilst she’s in the middle of serving someone? Not being funny, I would genuinely walk out of a coffee shop if a barista did that to me), but now we’re “introduced” to another fairly abrupt character, but this time we don’t even learn her name. Poor Mrs. Sandwich, she turns out to be an incredible likeable addition to the show, but in my opinion, she really doesn’t get to shine here. And what’s the point of this scene really? So that we can get a long shot of Muriel’s arrival and have it hammered home that their appearance is visible and noted as odd by the people in Whickber Street? If that’s the case, honestly this whole scene feels pretty unnecessary, but perhaps that’s just me.

Now. I did a little bit of digging about the way that Muriel introduces themself, because this stereotype is familiar to me, but I have no idea where it comes from. There’s a lovely bit of hive mind research been done here, which suggests the origin of the phrasing is over 100 years old but personally my money is on this being a nod to Monty Python (as detailed in that forum post), particularly as it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a Python reference in the show (NIAT RUC, I’m looking at you). I think there might be another little homage here though, and this one if a bit more niche. It’s to do with the whistling in the soundtrack, heard here:

It rang bells with me, and unlike the backing music in the coffee shop earlier, this one didn’t actually take me very long. Back in the mid-90s, there was a sit-com show here in the UK called The Thin Blue Line, which followed the personal and professional lives of a group of policemen from an English town. The policemen in question were of both the uniformed (commonly called “bobbies”, or “on-the-beat”) and non-uniformed variety. Muriel is most definitely dressed as one of the former. Here’s the theme tune from that show:

Not too dissimilar, are they? I couldn’t find any evidence for whether the theme we hear in the Omens soundtrack is an homage to the theme from The Thin Blue Line or not. Perhaps it wasn’t even a conscious thing, though I highly doubt that. I would so love it if this was an intentional reference to that little copper comedy from the 90s - it ran for only 2 seasons, but I remember watching every episode when it aired and finding the whole thing really funny. I don’t know how well it will have aged, but I do remember that (bearing in mind this was the mid-90s) its casting was progressive - an Asian woman and a gay man both playing lead roles and part of the police force, with the characters most commonly ridiculed for being wrong and unreasonable being the middle-aged white men.  It was perhaps a little slapstick in places, and intrinsically “British” in its humour, but I still feel like it was a delightful addition to our televisions, so if this is a tip-of-the-hat to the show, I feel it’s well placed. Right, time to move on, this is supposed to be a write up of a Good Omens episode, not an appreciation post for long-dead British TV shows.

It's pretty difficult to say with any certainty, but I don’t think Aziraphale recognises Muriel when they arrive. Granted, he wouldn’t have seen or spoken to them in quite some time (since his defection from Heaven at the latest, though the only time we see them interacting is in the Uz flashbacks), but given the conversation he had with them during the Job debacle, you’d think he might at least realise he’d seen their face before? Particularly given the memories he has so recently lived through. Don’t get me wrong, he clearly knows they’ve come from Heaven, but that outfit pretty much gives the game away on that front, and he has been told to expect a visit from an auditor. Doesn’t take him long to decide to play along either.

I really love this moment - I’m pretty sure that this is where he decides not only to pretend he doesn’t know Muriel is there to check up on his miracle claims, but to be gentle about his interactions with them. He's recognised the joy that Muriel is getting out of the situation and decided that the nicest thing to do will be to let them enjoy the ride, which can only happen if the pretence is maintained. Subtle as it is, I actually think this is one of Aziraphale’s clearest indications of his Good nature - faced with a similar situation, many people (Crowley included, as we’ll come to see shortly) would openly mock Muriel for their apparent lack of intelligence, and given their visit’s true purpose I don’t think anybody would have been too displeased if Aziraphale had just closed the door in their face. It’s such a selfless act of kindness, and in not shunning Muriel, we are treated to some truly beautiful comic moments throughout the rest of the season.

Oh hold up. Was I just waxing lyrical about how kind and considerate this angel is? I take it all back. I almost feel like Crowley has suggested this to him, it’s that mischievous. And not the first time he’s done it either, except the last time he tricked another angel into sullying their body with a liquid intended for human consumption, that being was suffering from complete amnesia. Vulnerable you might say. Which is actually not that dissimilar to Muriel, who is clearly in a very precarious position and not doing a particularly good job of hiding their discomfort and mild panic in trying to maintain their cover whilst staying in character. He even manages to sound as if he’s trying to coach them on proper human responses with no hidden subtext. At least he has enough of a conscience to show pity for his visitor and the position he’s put them in:

Bit of a tangent here - why doesn’t Aziraphale recognise that the fact that Crowley is bringing his plants into the bookshop gives the game away that he’s living in his car? Don’t get me wrong, I am in no doubt that the reason Crowley removes them from the car at all is because he wouldn’t trust anybody else to look after them, not even his angel, so I do understand the reason for them to be removed. As far as I can see, there are four possibilities for this:

Aziraphale doesn’t make the connection between Crowley having his plants in the car and what means for his living situation.

Aziraphale does make the connection but, perhaps due to the current awkward situation panning out in the bookshop and his plans for his Edinburgh road trip, doesn’t mention anything about.

Aziraphale already knows that Crowley is sleeping in his car.

Crowley isn’t really living in his car at all, and the plants are simply kept there to maintain the cover story.

I think Aziraphale is smarter than the first option, even with his innate inability to pick up on Crowley’s cues. And I can’t really comprehend that Aziraphale would have taken the revelation that Crowley is living and sleeping in his car without any sort of protestations (let’s not forget that Crowley openly offered Aziraphale a place to stay when they thought the bookshop was gone, and that was before their respective defections). The third possibility has legs, but it doesn’t sit right with me - I just can’t see that Aziraphale would tolerate this living situation for Crowley, even if it meant buying or renting a place somewhere else for the demon to call home. The last of those possibilities is where my head canon lives, as I think I’ve mentioned in previous write ups. We’ll see Aziraphale “reacting” to the confirmation that Crowley has been sleeping in his car in a future episode, so I’ll hammer this point home one last time when we get there. And regardless whether you agree with my ideas or not, you can’t deny that Crowley’s confident swagger when he bursts into the shop really goes to show just how comfortable he is in this environment, and that he has no qualms about asserting himself there. Almost like it was home in fact…

See? No problems asserting himself at all. The subtext here is pretty glaring - his joining Aziraphale gives a clear message to Muriel about the fact that they’re a team (a group. A group of the two of them), and despite the fact that there surely must be A LOT of body contact going on here, Aziraphale’s expression doesn’t change at all. Not a muscle moved. It feels to me as if this is the sort of close proximity contact that the two of them are very accustomed to when not in the presence of other beings that might see it for what it is. And not only is Crowley comfortable with his position, he’s really enjoying himself:

I’ve mentioned it before, about us not getting to see much of Crowley’s mischievous side in the present day in this season, but this is it on full display. I’m not sure why I love more about this interaction with Muriel - Crowley’s cheeky grin or the fact that Aziraphale does absolutely nothing to reprimand him over his behaviour. That angel is having just as much fun partaking in the mischief as Crowley is, and I find it really adorable to see him indulging his playful side, even if it does eventually result in another one of those pitiful compassionate looks he throws Muriel’s way.

There’s a potentially interesting use of pronouns in the conversation that follows in the back room:

Interesting, see? Crowley refers to Heaven as “your lot”, despite the fact that Aziraphale has openly admitted that he no longer works for them. Not only that, the angel takes the baton up with his reply, grouping himself together with his former workplace using the “we” pronoun. Perhaps it’s just the habit of the previous multiple millennia, it just strikes me as odd, not least because Crowley’s questioning of them being “in charge” would appear to imply that he feels Heaven has the upper hand in the Heaven/Hell power play. Semantics aside, there’s something about this conversation that I really love. They’re both actually listening to one another, the tone is congenial, and they’re engaging in teamwork, and it all feels so natural. There’s no emotional stress going on, no arguing, just two people working together to try and achieve a common goal. I think this is probably the closest we come to seeing them in their normal relationship state, and it feels so relatable.

Well, it looks like Crowley’s plan has changed somewhat following his streetside conversation with Nina - now it needs a “fabulous kiss” for it to be successful. Considering his previous plan was so obviously a retelling of the love story between he and Aziraphale, I find the addition of a kiss at this point to be a notable one. Yes, my head cannon has our hero couple very firmly established in a relationship in the present day, but no, I do not believe that they kissed during either of the two “shelter-under-an-awning” moments that they have shared. Not to mention that I feel like there’s an element of heartbreaking foreshadowing going on with his throwaway comment (though to be fair, I don’t think there’s anything “fabulous” about that kiss in the Final 15, but I’m getting ahead of myself). What is it that makes him add the need for a kiss for his plan to be successful? Consulting my head cannon again, I suspect there might be some further revelations to be had about when he and Aziraphale shared their first kiss, and that this might tie into his updated plan somehow, but whether we’ll get to see that in the space of our final 90 minutes, I don’t know.

Oh I love this. Like, so much. It’s such a MARRIED COUPLE mini spat. It’s so obvious that Aziraphale takes the role of the stereotypical wife - there’s no negotiation, just the thinly veiled threat of extreme rage if his wishes aren’t complied with. And just as obvious is Crowley’s adoption of the stereotypical husband role - downtrodden, with the resigned knowledge that he’s been beaten and can’t worm his way out of a situation that whilst he knows he doesn’t like, he has no logical argument to counter. It’s so lovely. Beautifully delivered and excellently timed. The more I look into the episodes for this season, the more I seem to find that feels stilted and somewhat unnecessary, but moments like these are most definitely not one of them, and in fact I think they’re probably largely responsible for our intense love of the relationship between our hero couple. There’s another one coming up, but I’ll get there in a moment.

Despite being at the tail end of a spat, and that Aziraphale is clearly both disappointed and distracted not to have put his hands on the car keys, we’re about to see a lovely example of Aziraphale and Crowley showing a sixth sense for knowing their roles in the relationship. Regardless of the fact that there is no verbal communication between them following Muriel’s entrance to the room, Crowley knows instinctively that this is his cue to step up and perform a mini rescue, and Aziraphale knows to simply let him do his own thing. He doesn’t say a word once Muriel bursts in on them, just allows Crowley to do all the talking, with the instinctive knowledge that they will be in a better position soon. Which of course leads to this OUTRAGEOUS look from Aziraphale:

There it is, another one of those moments I was just discussing! I remember the first time I caught this look from Aziraphale, it was like a bomb had gone off in my head. It’s… well it’s pure filth, isn’t it? We all thought the look Crowley drew in the Bastille was the best example of a mental undressing we would ever see, but this just blows it out of the water. And why wouldn’t Aziraphale be feeling particularly enamoured of his demon at this point in time? There he is, doing his little rescue and invoking feelings of his knowledge of love (“love”?) at the same time. It’s pretty clear to see how much Crowley’s little speech has affected him, because he barely manages to catch the keys that the demon throws to him mere seconds later. He doesn’t even argue when Crowley continues to assert that the Bentley belongs to him alone, and even manages a wink, which I can only assume is supposed to be reassuring that he’s on the same wavelength about the current situation, and that he appreciates the olive branch just offered to him by way of Crowley’s accepting of the mission he’s been given.

Apart from a quick note to say that Aziraphale’s driving looks worse than Crowley’s, and that Crowley’s reaction to seeing his beloved car driving away speaks (to me, anyway) more of boredom than it does of worry or possessiveness, I think that’s all there is for this instalment, seeing as we’ve arrived quite neatly at the opening credits. As always, questions, comments, discussion: always welcome. See you for the next one!

[god-whispers]

apr 24

a rose by any other name

"because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth." song of sol 1:3

perhaps many of you will think i am straying too far from scriptual importance, but i think not.  you see, the whole message of the bible is just really one big, long love letter from a Creator to His creation; from our God to us.  in His imagination we are not just another of His creation brought forth for His amusements.  we were created in His very own image; created to be like Him and oh, what a mess we have made of it.

be that as it may, His love and desire for us exceeds any limits we knew love could reach; that the creator would don our limitations, endure our temptations, feel our anxieties and enter the realm we most greatly feared - the unknown realm of death.  He would do all this without experiencing the shortcomings and failures we had succumbed to.  He would redeem His beloved creation from the vast canyon our actions had dug.  so it was in shakespeare's romeo and juliet - two families divided in such a way that only the tragedy of unfulfilled love could unite them again.

i love roses.  i have more than a dozen rose bushes in my front yard alone, each sharing their unique beauty and vibrant colors.  their fragrance and their prickling thorns remind of the pain such beauty sometimes requires.  i think of my Lord whose brow was pierced with harsher thorns and the sweetest of fragrances that emerged with His blood; blood that allows one to jump in and swim across the canyon of sin created by our depravity.

i know i might be getting too "flowery" here with my words, but even in my extremity i cannot come close to the love God has for His creation; His prized creation.  i don't always put a lot of stock in near death experiences because i will not allow my faith to stand on someone else's experiences.  it's just that i remember one man's story about having died and experienced the hereafter.  he remarked how he had angels almost approaching him with reverence.  when he questioned why, he was told this, "because we see in you the glory of our Lord."

we know and must always be careful to remember all glory belongs to our God alone.  He has said He would not share it.  "I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another." isa 42:8  but we are blood-bought and by His amazing grace we are allowed to be inheritors with His son, Jesus Christ.  "by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 pet 1:4  we are reborn to grow "to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." eph 4:13  all this so He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

now just try to tell me that isn't a love story than exceeds time and space itself; exceeds all of creation and the yet uncreated.  "in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 john 4:10

"do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." luke 12:32  all the time we thought we had an fervent love for the Lord.  His love for us exceeds anything we could ever know or imagine.

as so, whether we're left with romeo and juliet or we're left with the shulamite girl pursuing her beloved until He embraces her in exquisite passion, we're left with the question: would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?  the fact is: "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” acts 4:12

it's only in the knowing of what we are looking for that enables one to fill that vacuum inside; and it's not a "what" - it's a "who."  if one is seeking to fill that emptiness with any religion, including the "big five" religions, they are looking in the wrong place.  those most notable would be: hinduism, buddhism, judaism, christianity, and islam.  i would suggest He is not found in any of these.  He is found in a name, in a relationship, in a torrid love affair.  He is found in Jesus.  and no - no other name could smell as sweet.

[biglisbonnews]

Ntsal and Boharat unveil the very first custom typeface for a bank in Egypt Rather than relying on a “matching making approach” – whereby Arabic follows Latin letterforms – CIB’s bi-scriptual typeface honours both equally. https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/ntsal-cairo-boharat-cib-custom-typeface-graphic-design-030323

[nochd]

How well acquainted was C. S. Lewis with the Lay of Leithian? Possibly better acquainted than anyone but Tolkien himself.

At some point during the composition of the Lay, Tolkien typed out what he had done so far and gave it to Lewis to read and critique. Lewis's critique, so much as was left of it when Christopher Tolkien came behind to document his father's writing process, got as far as the part where King Thingol demands Beren bring him the Silmaril as the price of Lúthien's hand in marriage. But from their correspondence we know he had read at least as far as the part where Beren and Felagund and his warriors disguise themselves as Orcs in a failed attempt to sneak through Thû's lands without getting caught.

So Lewis on this occasion seems to have got just about as far as the point where it becomes clear that Lúthien is the rescuing hero and Beren the damsel-in-distress rather than the other way about, is what I'm saying.

Now Lewis's commentary is detailed, down to the individual word choices in some lines of the poem. Tolkien implemented many of his suggested changes, and with many of the others he changed what he had written even if it wasn't to make it the way Lewis suggested.

Some of Lewis's wording carries forward into Tolkien's later work. Christopher Tolkien picks out the many-pillared halls of stone in Gimli's poem about Moria in The Lord of the Rings: this phrase was originally used in the Lay for King Thingol's hall in Doriath, and the word many-pillared came from a suggestion of Lewis's.

Fans of The Lord of the Rings who like the framing device of it being an ancient manuscript of which Tolkien was merely the translator? You have Lewis to thank for that conceit. Lewis framed his critique of the poem as an academic paper, pretending the manuscript Tolkien had given him was an ancient, fragmentary document, of unknown authorship, with multiple scriptual variants (in which he professed to find his alternative suggestions), much debated by the fictional scholars Peabody, Pumpernickel, Schuffer and Schick. He even had Felagund's fortress Nargothrond survive into the present as an English town, complete with public library, called "Narrowthrode".

Tolkien and Lewis had some idea, or at least Lewis had some idea and tried to get Tolkien into it, of joining up their fictional universes so that Middle-Earth and the Ransom Trilogy would form a single continuous history, which is why Númenor is the true name of Atlantis known to Ransom and Merlin in That Hideous Strength -- spelt Numinor because Lewis had heard Tolkien read the name aloud but not seen it written down.

(For those who came in late: Lewis and Tolkien were members of an informal Christian literary circle in Oxford through the 1920s and 30s, called the Inklings, who would meet in the pub to read aloud what they had been writing for the group to comment and discuss. Other members included Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Roger Lancelyn Green, and the physicist Hugo Dyson, who on one occasion interrupted Tolkien's reading of a Silmarillion passage with the cry "Not another fucking elf!")

So Lewis was closely familiar with the Lay of Leithian. Even if he didn't finish reading the manuscript Tolkien gave him, he knew the story from Tolkien's readings to the Inklings. He knew that Lúthien rescued Beren from the dungeons of Thû / Sauron; he knew they travelled to the far North of Middle-Earth, and then descended deep into an underground fortress, to confront Morgoth; he knew that, at the story's climax, Lúthien put Morgoth to sleep through the enchantment of music.

Next time I'll look at The Silver Chair in detail.

This was on @whatareyoureallyafraidof's post where they put up this:

And I responded with this image:

and promised in the tags to elaborate if asked. And, @frodo-the-weeb, I will. But it's going to get long and I'm going to have to split it up into several reblogs.

First of all, since not everybody in the world is a Silmarillion enthusiast, let me explain what we're referring to.

One of the stories in the Silmarillion, and possibly the one Tolkien cared about the most, is the tale of Lúthien and Beren; a highly condensed version of a narrative poem called the Lay of Leithian, which Tolkien began writing in the 1930s and tried to get his publisher interested in after the success of The Hobbit.

(Their readers said no, and they tactfully asked him to focus on his Hobbit sequel instead. "The result," in Tolkien's own words, "was The Lord of the Rings.")

The skeleton of The Lay of Leithian is as follows; I'm intentionally leaving out a bunch of information that weaves it into the overarching story of the Silmarillion but isn't relevant to the thesis I'm advancing here.

Lúthien, an Elven princess and enchantress, falls in love with a mortal man, a ranger called Beren. Her father, the Elven King Thingol, disapproves and sends him Beren off to fetch one of the jewels from the crown of the Dark Lord Morgoth. Lúthien tries to join Beren but her father imprisons her in a tower to stop her, only it's actually a treehouse because they're forest elves. Lúthien magically grows her hair long and uses it to escape. By the time she catches up with Beren he is chained in the dungeons of Morgoth's second-in-command, Thû (whom Tolkien later renamed Sauron). She rescues him with the help only of a dog, who defeats Thû himself in single combat. They then live in the forest together for quite some time, but Beren feels bad about being the reason she can't go home to her family, and still intends to finish his mission and get the jewel. He leaves one morning while she's still asleep, so as not to put her in danger, and then when he's on the threshold of Morgoth's underground fortress in the far North of Middle-Earth she catches up with him again and he accepts that she's not going to be put off. Together they enter Morgoth's fortress and make their way to his throne room. They are in disguise but Morgoth is not fooled and uncovers Lúthien in front of everyone, declaring his intention to make her one of his many slaves. Lúthien offers to sing and dance for him, which is the way she works her magic. She puts everyone in the throne room to sleep, including both Beren and eventually Morgoth. She wakes Beren and he takes the jewel and they flee, but as they get to the outer door they are stopped by Morgoth's guard-wolf, who bites off Beren's hand holding the jewel.

That's as far as Tolkien ever got with the poem, but we have the synopsis in the prose Silmarillion to tell us the rest of the story; again cutting it down to the quick, Thingol accepts Beren as his son-in-law, Morgoth's guard-wolf attacks Doriath, Beren goes and hunts it but is mortally wounded, his spirit goes to the Halls of Waiting in the Undying Lands where the dead in Middle-Earth go, Lúthien also goes there and, again through her magical song, persuades Mandos the god of the dead to let him come back. Mandos offers her a choice: live on immortally as an Elf without Beren, or return to Middle-Earth with Beren but both of them will grow old and die. She chooses the latter.

Tolkien created Lúthien as a portrait of his wife Edith, which makes Beren a picture of himself. We know this for a fact because he had LUTHIEN written on her grave when she died, and when he joined her in it two years later the name BEREN was written for him:

Now on the lower right side of my response image you'll see Pauline Baynes' illustration of the Lady in the Green Kirtle from The Silver Chair, one of C. S. Lewis's Narnia stories. A quick synopsis of the Lady of the Green Kirtle's part in the story:

The Lady is a witch who rules a gloomy kingdom underneath Narnia, accessible through a fissure in the earth in an old ruined city far to the North. Before the story opens she has enspelled and kidnapped King Caspian's son Prince Rilian, whom she intends to send leading an army to conquer Narnia in her name. For twenty-three hours a day he is her willing slave and lap-dog; to maintain the spell, he must be bound to the titular silver chair for the remaining hour, during which he is sane and aware of his imprisonment. The protagonists, Eustace and Jill and their guide Puddleglum, meet her and Rilian unawares on their journey to the North; she sends them astray and almost succeeds in getting them eaten by giants. Eventually they rescue Rilian from the chair, but she sings a magical song which very nearly puts them all to sleep but for Puddleglum's intervention. Foiled, she transforms into a serpent, attacks them, and they kill her.

It is my contention that the Lady in the Green Kirtle is Lewis's caricature of Lúthien, with the enslaved and befuddled Prince Rilian representing Beren; and further, that Lewis knew or recognised that Lúthien and Beren were a literary portrait of the Tolkiens, so that The Silver Chair is ultimately a nasty commentary on their marriage.

In forthcoming reblogs I will lay out my evidence for this thesis.

[sapphicsavant]

God and the Gay Christian Matthew Vines