Money is the source of all evil

Money makes the world go round, but money is evil. Life is unfair. Life is miserable from the day you start earning money. You are driven to work your butt off for, these days this "invisible money" that floats from one account to another via a swipe of that shiny, plastic card you own. Money, you don't even get to touch it, see it...smell it; no wonder people have such big debt issues. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Going home from work is the time of day you get to reflect most about the level of satisfaction associated with your stage in life. The trip is particularly miserable if your taking public transport, you're alone, and it's been a long day. Judging by the many frowns visible on the trains these days many jobs suck! but, we have to do them.

Money doesn't make us happy. It is what we can trade it in for that is the joy that is sort after. But the best things in life are free..."like you're neighbours' Wi-Fi."

Optical charm

It is useless to rack a brain that is completely blank. So since "a picture's worth a thousand words," thereby a little visual inspiration won't go astray.

Café Wall Illusion

I always liked this one. There's just something about it. So many more interesting, interacting optical illusions but this seems to...stand out, for me. Its title is rather innocently concocted too. It is a blatantly obvious description of it's origin - the tiles of a café wall! It also formed the conceptual foundation for a piece of architecture in Melbourne in 2006. Rather boxy looking building in my opinion.

Scintillating Grid Illusion, E. Lingelbach, 1994.

This one is just cool. No need to move your head. Or stare for a few seconds - unless you want it to stop. The illusion is instantaneous. And it's not static, to the eye that is.

There are other optical illusions that are awesome but this will do.

Apathy thick in the face

The expression on his face, I swear if I had thrown a cushion at him it still may have remained expressionless...or maybe not. All the skin set in and drawn down by both gravity and desire to do so. Lazy lids and hollow eyes... Apathy thick in the face.

You know that you really need to get a life when you find yourself utterly bored when your computer is away for repairs. Mr Apathetic should really find another hobby. Transforming into a fixture of the room or hijacking the computers of others is not ideal!

The lack of interest in everything is such a distasteful feeling. Rather sad I say. Still it's something that arrives on odd days. For it to stretch over a period, now that's depressing. Not good for the entire being. Emotional and physical. It's very much important of us as people to be connected to something. Have an anchor of some sort. Being productive in some way. Staying focused. Communicating with other people - friends, family, whatever... Do something. Doing none of the above - all of the opposite - leads to, well, apathy. Common phrases of one showing the symptoms:

"Eh...I don't care..."

or

"Oh! I can't be bothered."

All this said in a monotonous voice and a facial expression heavy with...a lack of expression.

It's meant to be important for people to fell a sense of belonging. As stated by some documentary:

"Humans are social creatures."

In order to achieve happiness of some level there must be human contact.

So the cure to apathy? Well...like all ingenious people would suggest, prevention and not cure is best. But sometimes we can't help it, right? In this case the cure is the same as the prevention. So the answer is: just do something...anything, stupid!

Interjection

Humph. So it really is impossible to enjoy the movie when you've read the book.

So Drac's back

Obsessions are stupid, but I am a hypocrite.

This Twilight fever thing has gone too hypo but maybe it's not about the whole franchise and story but the actors/actresses instead. What ever it is I'm relieved that for me its taken a one-eighty degree turn and subsided as I approach the last pages of the series. The initial concept, sweet and delicate is fleshed out, dragged, twisted and ploughed with the finale really going all out, though I'm not quite there yet.

...

So I'm not here to review anything. Just curious about the obsession with dark supernatural stuff. The whole vampire affair on reprint, is kinda getting a little old I think. Taking more than one dose of it sets off the sparks in a persons head. No matter how repackaged the production is, it's still the same story. My brain would shoot the sparks and tag the product 'boring'. Not much of a tolerance for repeats I suppose.

But back to the obsession specifically. What's with the attraction to the dark side?

"Oooo! Come to the dark side....We've got cookies!"

The dark side is...just so much more seductive, appealing and irresistible. How is it so? How does it do that? It's been compared to the cliche scenario of naive, goodie-too-shoes girl meets bad ass boy. Hmm...so it's just an inner desire to rebel? I think there's probably more to that. I believe it's more really the ephemeral qualities of the potential relationship. It's fresh. It's new. But it's not permanent so there's always an opportunity to fall back. It's an escape but only for a temporary period. To make it sound very bad it's commitment issues. To sugar coat it, it derives itself from boredem - that shiny new toy again. And also comfort and insecurities - you can always go back. The herione of the series however, wants that permanence. Can you, yourself step into those heavy, strange shaped shoes?

Err...hard to say, I guess the answer would depend on other factors too but, I do love cookies.

The chasm

At the chasm. Dying and wishing for something to come and then when you're there, there's nothing but a giant chasm! Nothing but emptiness before you. Why was I dying to be here again? It's true what is said: "It's the journey that is the most important part of a destination," whether the emphasis of the significance is positive or negative.

So I'm at that chasm. I was wishing and wishing and wishing for the exams to finish. They are and another year is over! There should be a rewarding sensation. But, it's like running a thousand miles to see some massive explosion in the end and all you get is an anticlimax. I imagine the comic character running so fast and skidding to an abrupt stop, swaying forward and bounding back from the ledge. The holidays should be fun but all this free time is rather uncomfortable to submerge into. But isn't that what I was waiting for? I was dying for a break. I have it now, but it's too much? It's too overwhelming I suppose.

I actually saw the little black full stop on the page but I thought by the time I got to it I would have figured out what was going to come next.

Memory

Memories are the most precious objects one can possess. They are a reservoir of thoughts, ones' entire history. Without a memory one would be lost, with a sense of unnerving-nous if your like me or completely carefree if your not, laying your eyes on the world time and time again with new, sheer fascination. I suppose there would be no reason to be lost until the scary thought dawns on you...you question yourself: Who am I?...and immediately stop dead in thought.

Some memories are so vividly captured in our minds. Others faded and grey. Some are like an entertaining slide show of images. Some like silent motion pictures. Others with sound but muffled. Then there are the other ones. The ones that are attached with a strong sense of emotion that spreads within, burning deeply as the image flickers in mind. Strange, since the memory can be so old.

The memories of ones' childhood are most valuable and very significant. What one chooses to remember from ones' childhood or simply does without choice is quite fickle. You can ask yourself: Why do I remember that, specifically? While other millions of memories realised last for a mere spark and quickly fizzle out, fading away and lost. Child memories are quite a mystery. They are like boulders in a lake, with some strangle, ancient, mystical aura about them. Some will hold a strong significance being a driving force of how one lives the rest of ones' life. Others will wither and erode as values change and we forget. And the remainder...well, they remain a mystery. Perhaps a shrink can help you there.

Once a memory is gone it won't materialise no more. Memories themselves are the remnant of the past. You lose it, it's gone. It's like wiping clean your history - ALT CTRL DELETE.

Small things amuse small minds

When was the last time that you stopped to appreciate the sunset? Pause for more than a glance at how delicate the orchids are on the table? Admire the graceful movements or subtle gestures of a stranger on the street or an acquaintance near by?

All the little things in life add so much depth to this world. Perhaps we have become so succumbed to the fast, complex 21st Century that is only ever going to speed up, we are blind to all else at slower pace. Children, who have all the time in the world without a worry or concern in sight can indulge in such peacefulness. They find curiosity, intrigue, humour and joy in the most simplest of things and thoughts. An adult on the other hand merely glances and sees not much past the ordinary. I am speaking in general of course, not everyone is like that. But within the smallest of moments of...silence and self awareness one can find a slice of untouched wonder in this world.

ifreewallpapers

"...Sit down in the middle of a busy mall or similar bustling environment whether indoors or out, and just watch people move by..." ...not exactly her words but was a suggestion by an art teacher once trying to pique the class's 'inner' inspirations. Can't say I tried it but probably had did it in passing, my mind tends to wander... The idea was really to take notice of the intricacies of people's behavioural attributes and somehow imagine each and everyone's life story. Perhaps a life story is a bit too much but subtle gestures, facial expressions, posture and stance can easily paint an illustration of sentiments.

Give a child a camera and they can take photographs of the most fascinating things. Who knows maybe they can. I recall watching a news segment of such a story once.

Can you recall the last time you had a completely innocent child-like thought about...anything?

The hypothetical person

A hypothetical... a reasonable person. Someone that would perform only the rational in any given situation, kind of like a test dummy, FYI is the examination in common law for negligence: a duty of care and breach of that duty. The reasonable person if he/she did exist, flawless in all forms of thought, perfect and complete, accurate and error-less would be...One. Dull. Person.

Rationality, is the sensible action or way of thinking that would be applied in good judgment...within reason. I would say logical, but that cuts it onto a different plane. Logical is...robotic and emotionless. No conscience defining right and wrong in confinement to humane. Only the definition for success. Take a game of chess. The highly abstracted form: simple and fun of the otherwise bloody, battered and brutal reality of war. The one motive and objective is to succeed, and by all means ruthlessly cut your way to the finish. Logic is mechanical. To cherish is illogical in a game of life and death but it is rational to care. Real setting: to cherish life... Why are you battling in the first place? Your sinning! ...you lose the war, the kingdom and the crown; you may even die because your too weak to not strike the last blow to the enemy king at you feet. Game setting: what life? It's just plastic pieces. No harm at all except you may want to spare your friends' feelings because they suck! (I'm a beginner myself I suck too.)

Logic is correctness in its most basic function. Rationality adds colour to correctness.

A hypothetical scenario: a naive, innocent three year old; no knowledge of the effects of extreme heat on human flesh, places hand on burning hot stove. How did he reach the height of the stove? Climbed an ever so conveniently placed chair. Why was stove burning hot? Hypothetical parent just finished cooking and had conveniently just left the kitchen leaving hypothetical son alone, conveniently too, in kitchen. The following reaction: instantaneously withdraws hand and is washed with an overwhelming need and does cry, scream...possible momentary loss of balance...Pause. Is it rationality or instinct? What? Is it rationality or instinct that he never touches the stove again? The reaction and the sobbing and tantrum that follows is instinct from the searing of the second degree burn. It would be easy to say instinct warns him of the potential of high temperatures for life. That ingrained feeling of fear/doubt/flashing caution sign from somewhere inside. Well it can be confused with that. But doesn't rationality fit better? It is he's discretion, sensible judgment to 'never do that again'. ...It's strange to say a three year old uses discretion.

Rationality grows. It is the ability to learn from mistakes, to learn in general. All the reasoning that puts one and one together to give the outcome of two. The building blocks...Lego being put together as a child concentrates with deep expression on whatever it is that his building.

So the reasonable person...maybe he/she is not dull. But always right. How annoying! He/she is logical, sees the black and white but is also rational, sees also grey. Does not follow a manual set in stone, adapts. The same but fifteen year old hypothetical boy won't sob from the same offence for the sake of his dignity...or so I hope. What man would he grow up to be if he did?

Myths or magic, anyone?

Myths and legends...why the obsession? From the mythological creatures of dragons, griffins, giant sea serpents to the human formed like sorcerers, angels, demons, dwarfs, mermaids et cetera, et cetera. Why, I seem to have always been so drawn to such ancient tall tales myself. Rather intriguing yet repulsive at times. Ugh! with some monstrous descriptions. So the magical scene has been re-alighted in pop culture with Harry Potter...Lord of the Rings...Merlin, the movie and the more current BBC series...and more, moving into the gaming world for example World of Warcraft commonly known as WOW, Diablo I, II and coming soon III!!!...and a lot more!

So...the fanciful world, so adoring I could go on about each creature that I've ever heard about maybe for a short while. Shall I begin then?

No, actually can't be bother. Maybe some other time or maybe not at all. If magic and mythology is what floats your boat then Wikipedia is all you need! Not the ideal resource and definitely shouldn't be encouraged coming from a uni student but eh, what can you do? In my first ever semester of uni even a lecture once said,

"...strange, how you can replace your entire six years of high school education with Wikipedia."

What's there to talk about then?

...Right, the "obsession". I seem to have realised I pose too many questions in my posts and never answer them but that really is because all my rambling is solely opinion.

"Without data you're just another person with an opinion." famous statistician, W. Edwards Deming.

For all I know, I may know nothing.

So back to the "obsession." So why the myths? and why the legends? Hm... I suppose the answer is it is a way to escape. To go away to somewhere different, unbelievable, fanciful...adventurous and daring! To be someone we're not.

The devil wears Prada

Brain dead rant.

Society is so caught up in its little world. All it does is focus on the insignificant crap. Creating unnecessary junk, dressing up 'wants' into 'needs'. It has become so magnified that it will catch fire because it's so phony. The science of marketing, although retains some dignity in it's behavioral/psychological analysis in selling but its end purpose is just some fake "mumbo jumbo". The promotional campaigns are so saturated in the mind set of "Look at me! Look at me! Don't look at them! Look at me! Buy me! Buy me! Buy me!!!" It's insane to have to believe this is what the end has come to. Must we live in such a shallow, aesthetic obsessed world. The way of selling has become filled with fake sincerity, fake smiles and all. The angel faced sales assistant with the ninety watt beam is really just the gloating devil wearing his flashy Prada gear. Why all this fakeness? What happened to the honesty? The big conspicuous agenda of profits, profits and more profits cannot be disguised by any sweet, charming voice.

Life as a blur

Why is it that when one is mentally exhausted time seems to move a lot quicker? A friend tells me she saw me walking through the quad fifteen minutes earlier. I pause...and think, Was that really fifteen minutes ago? I have no clue. To me, it felt like less than that. Could it really have taken me that long to walk across the quad, through a court yard, up three flights of stairs, take a detour to the ladies room and possibly stand at the class door for two minutes before my friend tapped me on the shoulder. Was I moving that slow?

Could it be that one can be moving at a pace indifferent to the world around he/she? Well obviously that's not impossible. Let me rephrase my train of thought. Ahem, could it be that one's mind be in slow motion, distorting awareness of passing time while the world assumes normal pace? Actually that's also possible. One could be mentally thick or just slow in registering the world around them. I'm not making much sense. Could be because I'm still mentally exhausted from the long day. Yes! being tired can make the world seem so much slower, making your head feel lighter, no heavier...lighter? What ever it is.

So when one is so tired, all concentration and focus goes out the window and you find yourself zoning in and out of a conversation like a wavering magnifying glass on an object. Uncertain about what was said one should stay silent right? No, but that's exactly what my tired mind believed at the time was the correct option. Reflecting now still a bit light headed, something tells me silence probably set off a vibe of being discourteous. Could that be worse than confessing the tiredness which ultimately leads to "what your saying is not interesting enough"..."your boring me", even though that isn't the case at all. One is just brain dead, a dying battery.

The feeling of displacement and being totally out-of-it is not unpleasant, nor is it great but some how very usually intriguing. I guess it is because everything I do is so controlled. Letting go is a nice change. Tiredness makes eye lids heavy and vision a bit hazy. Everything seems blurry from a distance, insignificant, unimportant... Like being in your own little bubble world that is dreamy, hazy and carefree.

The technicalities of time

The technicalities of time...what am I on about? I'm not even sure if "technicality" is even the right word for this. Well this is probably going to be the most random post to date. What comes to mind this time round is...well, time. Just a batch of mixed, quirky thoughts relating to the element of time.

If you were a superhero...no, no, no. If you had a super power, what would the one be? Well this has got to be a stupid topic, but in the purpose of I am bored! ...As to say before, me, the indecisive, clueless robot, would not be able to make up my mind. I would be greedy or would juggle between two, no three, or maybe...four. So that was before or maybe still is, but that's not the point, the point is for me time travel/time control has always held a fond spot in my heart, right next to speed, telekinesis and flight! So time travel, the ability to bend time and space per say, just like Hiro Nakamura from Heroes. That power just sounds so appealing, the ability to go to what ever time period you want, or stop time for a break as frequently as needed. And just the sophisticated nature of this power, not ostentatious like super strength. Who wouldn't just love to have this ability?

Well, there is a down side. I wasn't going to elaborate, but... Well, if one could freeze time making the world around one's self motionless, stop growing, living for instance, then what about one's self then? Wouldn't he/she still be breathing, growing...ageing? And there we go. As a time traveler one would age just a little longer every time, time travel is used. Your moving through time but your body is still ticking to it's own biological time clock. What disastrous consequences could occur if the power were not used sensibly. Not only does one risk changing history and all subsequent future but if your lucky enough not destroy your own existence alone, you could end up horribly older in the time period that you do belong to. I guess that's the flaw to such a terrific power to possess.

Time...it's one of those things that sets humans apart from animals, I guess. A quote by someone I know, who probably heard it from somewhere else...

"Humans are the only species on this planet to be obsessed with time."

Wise words coming from a person I would prefer not to consider as wise. But, yes, I totally agree with those words. We are obsessed. Just look at the busy, bustling world we live in. All those workaholics out there! We live by time. It gives us purpose.

Time is quite fascinating, how every fraction of a second transforms from future to present to past in a flash. That sequence occurs perpetually. Something so simple, that everyday thing we trace by a clock, yet so complex in its workings, without it we don't exist. Time, the forth dimension.

Another quote by the unwise person, shall call him Mr. Unwise for pace, once uttered the line

"The yesterday's me [Mr. Unwise] is dead."

What he actually meant was that time changes everything and we change with it, constantly, continuously. So by saying the people we were yesterday or by a matter of fact a minute ago, a second ago are dead is to say we are different people as time passes. Every second our minds process more information and we change, in thought, emotions and experiences. We grow. We are therefore a different person to the person we were yesterday, though it may sound very silly, that person no longer exists and hence is dead.

That about wraps up the quirky items.

Greener grass

Indifferent to the title it may seem but, no, this is not a post about tips to make that dry, dead, lawn of yours more lush and green. Green thumbs are the last thing that I will have so any plantation should stay clear from these fingers of mine!

Photography of Thomas Parkes. Link.

The saying goes "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" which is true, perceptually. As people we can't but ponder the 'what if' question, always want what others have and never be fulfilled with what is possessed. Maybe it's a deficiency that comes with being human.

Maybe it's the inability to appreciate the short term. The idea that we never seem to appreciate someone/something until they are/it is lost and gone forever.

Or could it be that we just have a low tolerance for boredom? I don't know about you, but when I say I want something I long for it, when I have it I find joy for like...a few days, a month, a few months at most, not long after it's just as lack lustered as the next pile of junk. I suppose it's just the obsession with the new, the different, we want something vibrant and not dull...boring. It's kind of childish and it just may well be! But it is the pursuit and not the destination that piques our interest.

Then there is the green eye that manifests inside us all. We see the child next to us with the shiny new toy and our mines fill with the diabolical to...screw him over and retrieve our prize! (lol) Jealousy, such an ugly trait, yet I can live with being a hypocrite by saying that.

Oh, and yes, what if it were all so different? If it were different my lawn would be as green as that guy's in the photo. Well here's an explanation, the clouds are darker on the greener side. Either his side just gets more rain or the owner sold his soul to the devil. Whatever it may be nothing is what it appears to be at first sight. There's no point in pondering and there's no point in envying, things are what they are, change it if you think you can.

Fractured fairytale?

Taking flight from my previous post, I mentioned the well known fairytale 'Sleeping Beauty', in particular Charles Perrault's version. So what can I say, my brief reference of this fairytale sparked a flame of interest and there I was reading about many other classic ones on Wikipedia soon after (lol), realising, though they may be classics, and heard them many times, I don't know them as well as I thought I did.

We have all heard of the term 'fractured' being put in front of the word 'fairytale', giving the description 'fractured fairytale,' to contemporary interpretations/retellings/alterations etc... A popular one is Shrek the DreamWorks animation film and subsequent sequals. So with all these new retellings, how many of us actually know the originals and there underlying morals? To be fair it's hard to pin point which are the originals since like 'fractured fairytales' there were many variants of even the earliest versions, the more well known being Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

Modern interpretations, retelling after retelling have no doubt lead to a "chinese whispers" effect, though not to a large extent but through subtle omissions, altering details and perhaps a simplifying or dilution of meaning. Cinderella, possibly the most adored fairytale of them all, with many differring orgines, from version to version, the most popular one that of Perrault's with his inclusion of the fairy-godmother and the glass slippers, but... Who remember's how many times Cinderella attended the ball? Once? Yes, once? Well it was actually twice, she got to wear two different gowns; losing her slipper on the second night. I may in my faintest of all memories recall being told that version only once in my childhood. For all I know she attended it just the once in my memory of all sequent retellings I have heard since.

Aside from the culling of these seemingly insignificant details it's probably more insightful and possibly a bit shocking that some of these other classic fairy tales whose prime audience today are young children have had more gruesome versions and moral interpretation of more sensitive matters. The meaning of fairy tales today have been dulled down and sugar coated with simplistic morals and 'happily ever afters' to protect the innocence of our minds. First editions of Grimm's fairy tales have shockingly, a pregnant Rapunzel ignorant of her condition; in Cinderella, the stepsister's gruesomely cut off parts of their feet and are blinded by pigeons; has Rumpelstiltskin tear his body into two; the stepmother in Snow White being her jealous real mother instead. Sleeping Beauty too, having variations of being a two part story predating the Grimm's, told by Perrault whose has an even earlier variant by Giambattista Basile, whose tale Sun, Moon and Talia had Talia as she is known as, giving birth to twins after being impregnated by the prince all while being asleep! Gruesome I do say, not even going into the underlying morals of the innocent Little Red Riding Hood.

So here I am to say starting this post on a platform of delight and innocence, and ending it with gratitude to the storytellers of my childhood for their sugar coating of 'happily ever afters' all the while wanting to re-coat these 'fractured' fairy tales that are all what they are to me now.

Love transcends through time

So I suppose love transcends through time. A sweet thought to dwell on, impossible but, sweet. To think the right person out there is out there. Maybe not in this time period but in another decade from some other century, millennium, past or future. This is what some films have shown us like that of Kate and Leopold, directed by James Mangold.

Sweet movie but, no, the story I wish to revisit is actually the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. How can I not? It's everywhere.

So the one is out there from a spectrum view of the universe against time and space. Though none of us will live long enough to find out. So what if someone did? Live for eternity. Find the love of their life almost a century later. Ah sounds like a fairy tale romance, something like Charles Perrault's Sleeping Beauty. Leaving this pretty thought for a moment (don't want to burst the bubble but can't stop my curiosity), but what would happen in a realistic setting?

The hero and heroine, Edward and Bella both bound in youth but ninety odd years apart. Look past the facade and physical form and you see a 108 year old and a 17 year old. The maturity of an adult, old man and beyond...can love solely transcend by itself without going into a darker mind set which I will not set foot any further into thought.

Hm... well let's just assume it's all just pure love, but not without some subtle help of course. Both bound in youth. Sight is probably the most influential sense that we own. It can convince our minds of the impossible, "seeing is believing," right? So how is this fictional relationship sustainable?...simply by the fact that sight fools all. But that's not saying that the relationship can't be genuine, of course, and that different people from a different place or time can't harbor true feelings for each other.

There was another point I wanted to mention but I seem to have forgotten it. Hm.

Returning back to the prissy, sweet fantasy of time transcending love, of course it can not be proven to exist but what all these stories convey are pockets of hope or just something to leave us smiling about when the story ends.

Monique Lhuillier's mermaid-style sketch

Inspiring the topic of love, one out of the many Bella wedding gown designs currently floating on the web and media. instyle.com

Lost and Found

Have you ever stopped to conclude when things mysteriously disappear that your possessions may have sprouted secret legs of there own and scuttled off somewhere deep and dark, out of your reach!

It sounds preposterous I know but is a delightful supernatural answer from our uncreative minds. Another more sinister yet outrageous thought is that a monster is hiding in the attic and has snagged the belonging while you're asleep!

Of course the real answer to the items whereabouts is that our poor, tired minds have idiotically instructed our bodies to place the item somewhere entirely unconventional. Surprised was I to find my necklace hiding at the bottom of my desk draw under the pile of scrap paper. What was I thinking when I put it there? And how annoyed did I let myself get when I discovered it was missing giving rise to such unrealistic conclusions.

Though I know what the answer to all my present lost property is, I am still awaiting my long awaited, missing hair brush to scuttle back into sight.

Fear

Fear. A really general topic.

Fear is being afraid or distressed by something. For some it is a very easily identified 'thing'. It could be phobia of heights, the dark, spiders, closed spaces...

I wouldn't say I had a greatest fear. I'm not saying I'm courageous or brave in anyway, I'm anything but. Actually I couldn't really think of one if someone were to ask me. But amazingly, I don't recall ever being asked such a question before. Never. It's just one of those aspects of life that doesn't come by much in a casual conversation I guess. I don't recall asking anyone either. I suppose I would be highly suspicious of the first person that asks me about my fears. Are they figuring out my weaknesses? Do they intend to use it against me? Even if it's just a friendly, prank or joke to bring out some humour. There's nothing worse than letting others knowing your vulnerabilities. A little mystery and not being an open book is always suggested. Huh.

Book before film or the other way round

Recently having started reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer (catching on very late I know) I wondered to myself whether when taking on a new story is the best option to read the book first or watch the movies first. Remember you can only experience a story for the "first time" once and only once. A trade-off I shall call it. Those initial reactions are priceless. So which way is it best invested to get the most satisfaction from the entertainment? What comes to mind are the pros and cons of each choice.

The book first?

I often find that, and I don't know if you have either but when one finds themselves amidst the time of an explosive literary adaptation (like that of Harry Potter and currently Twilight series) people have the strange tendency to need or is it want to "read the book first...then see the movie." Almost like a disciplinary act to stay in line. So what are these benefits of reading before viewing?

Well for one thing I find that reading it first allows the reader to enjoy the extravagant detail a movie cannot possibly convey. No matter what the script writers do there is no way a novel can be shrunk to fit a movie time frame. And what is left is nothing but a discontent fan that follows the book by chasing after the film.

This leads to the opposing con. How many times have you, yes you the Harry Potter fanatic gone to the cinema with a fresh re-read knowledge of the recent film adapted novel in mind ready to see the long anticipated: 'your favourite parts of the book', word for word portrayed on the big screen? Well maybe the whole six if you haven't already given up (I know I have). This irresistible desire to make comparisons is almost instinct.

So what's the score? One all as it stands.

The movie then?

Well, for one thing if one should find themselves enjoying the film before any knowledge in writing then one will find them self pleasantly happy to do nothing but bask in enjoying the movie with no worries in thy head. One could even go on to read the book after and even finish in delight to catch up on the loose ends. 'Loosen ends'? Yes, again, an entire book can never be a movie in whole. Though I have just finished reading New Moon and like many shall wait in eager to see it as a film, Twilight for me was the other way around; film then book.

To my great surprise the film adaption was...great! So great that I could simply look over the unanswered loose ends. However finding myself amidst the international obsession I was quickly tempted by the literary pursuit. I find that the film before book allows one to not be as harsh and enjoy both with just subtle scrutiny. Then is this the best option? But just a reminder you've just ruined the book, the 'priceless read the book for the first time experience'! You have opted for the compacted, stylised conversion but with the bonus visual. This visual can also be very distracting when going onto pursuing the book where the description of the characters can longer generate freely in your mind but be constantly clouded by the actor's portrayal which can be good or bad depending on what your preferences are.

So what am I getting at?

There is no definitive answer. And most likely I will change my mind every so often. But at this point in time I would count myself in for book before film.