Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts

Sunday 31 March 2024

Ichabod

Prophet :
Ichabod Crane has 
disappeared -- 
and then it goes :
".....As he was a bachelor
and in nobody’s debtnobody 
troubled his head any more.

Prophet’s Ex-Girlfriend :
(horrified)
….is that what you’re afraid of?

Prophet :
It’s what I want
…..it’s What I Want.

Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.

And the man said unto Eli, “I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army.” And he said, “What is there done, my son?”

And The Messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before The Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among The People, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and The Ark of God is taken.

And it came to pass, when he made mention of The Ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died : for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

And His Daughter in Law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that The Ark of God was taken, and that Her Father in Law and Her Husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.

And about the time of Her Death The Women that stood by her said unto her, "Fear not; for Thou hast born A Son." But she answered not, neither did she regard it.

And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The Glory is departed from Israel” : because The Ark of God was taken, and because of Her Father in Law and Her Husband.

And she said, "The Glory is departed from Israel : for The Ark of God is taken."


 





“….It was toward evening that Ichabod arrived at the castle of the Heer Van Tassel, which he found thronged with the pride and flower of the adjacent country. Old farmers, a spare leathern-faced race, in homespun coats and breeches, blue stockings, huge shoes, and magnificent pewter buckles. Their brisk, withered little dames, in close-crimped caps, long-waisted short gowns, homespun petticoats, with scissors and pincushions, and gay calico pockets hanging on the outside. Buxom lasses, almost as antiquated as their mothers, excepting where a straw hat, a fine ribbon, or perhaps a white frock, gave symptoms of city innovation. The sons, in short square-skirted coats, with rows of stupendous brass buttons, and their hair generally queued in the fashion of the times, especially if they could procure an eel-skin for the purpose, it being esteemed throughout the country as a potent nourisher and strengthener of the hair.

Brom Bones, however, was the hero of the scene, having come to the gathering on his favorite steed Daredevil, a creature, like himself, full of mettle and mischief, and which no one but himself could manage. He was, in fact, noted for preferring vicious animals, given to all kinds of tricks which kept the rider in constant risk of his neck, for he held a tractable, well-broken horse as unworthy of a lad of spirit.

Fain would I pause to dwell upon the world of charms that burst upon the enraptured gaze of my hero, as he entered the state parlor of Van Tassel’s mansion. Not those of the bevy of buxom lasses, with their luxurious display of red and white; but the ample charms of a genuine Dutch country tea-table, in the sumptuous time of autumn. Such heaped up platters of cakes of various and almost indescribable kinds, known only to experienced Dutch housewives! There was the doughty doughnut, the tender oly koek, and the crisp and crumbling cruller; sweet cakes and short cakes, ginger cakes and honey cakes, and the whole family of cakes. And then there were apple pies, and peach pies, and pumpkin pies; besides slices of ham and smoked beef; and moreover delectable dishes of preserved plums, and peaches, and pears, and quinces; not to mention broiled shad and roasted chickens; together with bowls of milk and cream, all mingled higgledy-piggledy, pretty much as I have enumerated them, with the motherly teapot sending up its clouds of vapor from the midst—Heaven bless the mark! I want breath and time to discuss this banquet as it deserves, and am too eager to get on with my story. Happily, Ichabod Crane was not in so great a hurry as his historian, but did ample justice to every dainty.

He was a kind and thankful creature, whose heart dilated in proportion as his skin was filled with good cheer, and whose spirits rose with eating, as some men’s do with drink. He could not help, too, rolling his large eyes round him as he ate, and chuckling with the possibility that he might one day be lord of all this scene of almost unimaginable luxury and splendor. Then, he thought, how soon he’d turn his back upon the old schoolhouse; snap his fingers in the face of Hans Van Ripper, and every other niggardly patron, and kick any itinerant pedagogue out of doors that should dare to call him comrade!

Old Baltus Van Tassel moved about among his guests with a face dilated with content and good humor, round and jolly as the harvest moon. His hospitable attentions were brief, but expressive, being confined to a shake of the hand, a slap on the shoulder, a loud laugh, and a pressing invitation to “fall to, and help themselves.”

And now the sound of the music from the common room, or hall, summoned to The Dance. The Musician was an old gray-headed negro, who had been the itinerant orchestra of the neighborhood for more than half a century. His instrument was as old and battered as himself. The greater part of the time he scraped on two or three strings, accompanying every movement of the bow with a motion of the head; bowing almost to the ground, and stamping with his foot whenever a fresh couple were to start.

Ichabod prided himself upon his dancing as much as upon his vocal powers. Not a limb, not a fibre about him was idle; and to have seen his loosely hung frame in full motion, and clattering about the room, you would have thought St. Vitus himself, that blessed patron of the dance, was figuring before you in person. He was the admiration of all the negroes; who, having gathered, of all ages and sizes, from the farm and the neighborhood, stood forming a pyramid of shining black faces at every door and window, gazing with delight at the scene, rolling their white eyeballs, and showing grinning rows of ivory from ear to ear. How could the flogger of urchins be otherwise than animated and joyous? The lady of his heart was his partner in the dance, and smiling graciously in reply to all his amorous oglings; while Brom Bones, sorely smitten with love and jealousy, sat brooding by himself in one corner.


When the dance was at an end, Ichabod was attracted to a knot of the sager folks, who, with Old Van Tassel, sat smoking at one end of the piazza, gossiping over former times, and drawing out long stories about the war.


This neighborhood, at the time of which I am speaking, was one of those highly favored places which abound with chronicle and great men. The British and American line had run near it during the war; it had, therefore, been the scene of marauding and infested with refugees, cowboys, and all kinds of border chivalry. Just sufficient time had elapsed to enable each storyteller to dress up his tale with a little becoming fiction, and, in the indistinctness of his recollection, to make himself the hero of every exploit.


There was the story of Doffue Martling, a large blue-bearded Dutchman, who had nearly taken a British frigate with an old iron nine-pounder from a mud breastwork, only that his gun burst at the sixth discharge. And there was an old gentleman who shall be nameless, being too rich a mynheer to be lightly mentioned, who, in the battle of White Plains, being an excellent master of defence, parried a musket-ball with a small sword, insomuch that he absolutely felt it whiz round the blade, and glance off at the hilt; in proof of which he was ready at any time to show the sword, with the hilt a little bent. There were several more that had been equally great in the field, not one of whom but was persuaded that he had a considerable hand in bringing the war to a happy termination.


But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded. The neighborhood is rich in legendary treasures of the kind. Local tales and superstitions thrive best in these sheltered, long-settled retreats; but are trampled under foot by the shifting throng that forms the population of most of our country places. Besides, there is no encouragement for ghosts in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time to finish their first nap and turn themselves in their graves, before their surviving friends have travelled away from the neighborhood; so that when they turn out at night to walk their rounds, they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except in our long-established Dutch communities.


The immediate cause, however, of the prevalence of supernatural stories in these parts, was doubtless owing to the vicinity of Sleepy Hollow. There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region; it breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies infecting all the land. Several of the Sleepy Hollow people were present at Van Tassel’s, and, as usual, were doling out their wild and wonderful legends. Many dismal tales were told about funeral trains, and mourning cries and wailings heard and seen about the great tree where the unfortunate Major André was taken, and which stood in the neighborhood. Some mention was made also of the woman in white, that haunted the dark glen at Raven Rock, and was often heard to shriek on winter nights before a storm, having perished there in the snow. The chief part of the stories, however, turned upon the favorite spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman, who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the country; and, it was said, tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the churchyard.


The sequestered situation of this church seems always to have made it a favorite haunt of troubled spirits. It stands on a knoll, surrounded by locust-trees and lofty elms, from among which its decent, whitewashed walls shine modestly forth, like Christian purity beaming through the shades of retirement. A gentle slope descends from it to a silver sheet of water, bordered by high trees, between which, peeps may be caught at the blue hills of the Hudson. To look upon its grass-grown yard, where the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly, one would think that there at least the dead might rest in peace. On one side of the church extends a wide woody dell, along which raves a large brook among broken rocks and trunks of fallen trees. Over a deep black part of the stream, not far from the church, was formerly thrown a wooden bridge; the road that led to it, and the bridge itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a gloom about it, even in the daytime; but occasioned a fearful darkness at night. Such was one of the favorite haunts of the Headless Horseman, and the place where he was most frequently encountered. The tale was told of old Brouwer, a most heretical disbeliever in ghosts, how he met the Horseman returning from his foray into Sleepy Hollow, and was obliged to get up behind him; how they galloped over bush and brake, over hill and swamp, until they reached the bridge; when the Horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton, threw old Brouwer into the brook, and sprang away over the tree-tops with a clap of thunder.


This story was immediately matched by a thrice marvellous adventure of Brom Bones, who made light of the Galloping Hessian as an arrant jockey. He affirmed that on returning one night from the neighboring village of Sing Sing, he had been overtaken by this midnight trooper; that he had offered to race with him for a bowl of punch, and should have won it too, for Daredevil beat the goblin horse all hollow, but just as they came to the church bridge, the Hessian bolted, and vanished in a flash of fire.


All these tales, told in that drowsy undertone with which men talk in the dark, the countenances of the listeners only now and then receiving a casual gleam from the glare of a pipe, sank deep in the mind of Ichabod. He repaid them in kind with large extracts from his invaluable author, Cotton Mather, and added many marvellous events that had taken place in his native State of Connecticut, and fearful sights which he had seen in his nightly walks about Sleepy Hollow.


The revel now gradually broke up. The old farmers gathered together their families in their wagons, and were heard for some time rattling along the hollow roads, and over the distant hills. Some of the damsels mounted on pillions behind their favorite swains, and their light-hearted laughter, mingling with the clatter of hoofs, echoed along the silent woodlands, sounding fainter and fainter, until they gradually died away,—and the late scene of noise and frolic was all silent and deserted. Ichabod only lingered behind, according to the custom of country lovers, to have a tête-à-tête with the heiress; fully convinced that he was now on the high road to success. What passed at this interview I will not pretend to say, for in fact I do not know. Something, however, I fear me, must have gone wrong, for he certainly sallied forth, after no very great interval, with an air quite desolate and chapfallen. Oh, these women! these women! Could that girl have been playing off any of her coquettish tricks? Was her encouragement of the poor pedagogue all a mere sham to secure her conquest of his rival? Heaven only knows, not I! Let it suffice to say, Ichabod stole forth with the air of one who had been sacking a henroost, rather than a fair lady’s heart. Without looking to the right or left to notice the scene of rural wealth, on which he had so often gloated, he went straight to the stable, and with several hearty cuffs and kicks roused his steed most uncourteously from the comfortable quarters in which he was soundly sleeping, dreaming of mountains of corn and oats, and whole valleys of timothy and clover.


The Israelites overcome by the Philistines. (1-9) The ark taken. (10,11) The death of Eli. (12-18) The birth of Ichabod. (19-22)1-9 Israel is smitten before the Philistines. Sin, the accursed thing, was in the camp, and gave their enemies all the advantage they could wish for. They own the hand of God in their trouble; but, instead of submitting, they speak angrily, as not aware of any just provocation they had given him. The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord, #Pr 19:3|, and finds fault with him. They supposed that they could oblige God to appear for them, by bringing the ark into their camp. Those who have gone back in the life of religion, sometimes discover great fondness for the outward observances of it, as if those would save them; and as if the ark, God's throne, in the camp, would bring them to heaven, though the world and the flesh are on the throne in the heart.


10,11 The taking of the ark was a great judgment upon Israel, and a certain token of God's displeasure. Let none think to shelter themselves from the wrath of God, under the cloak of outward profession.


12-18 The defeat of the army was very grievous to Eli as a judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons, to whom he had been so indulgent, and who, as he had reason to fear, died impenitent, touched him as a father; yet there was a greater concern on his spirit. And when the messenger concluded his story with, "The ark of God is taken," he is struck to the heart, and died immediately. A man may die miserably, yet not die eternally; may come to an untimely end, yet the end be peace.


19-22 The wife of Phinehas seems to have been a person of piety. Her dying regret was for the loss of the ark, and the departure of the glory from Israel. What is any earthly joy to her that feels herself dying? No joy but that which is spiritual and divine, will stand in any stead then; death is too serious a thing to admit the relish of any earthly joy. What is it to one that is lamenting the loss of the ark? What pleasure can we take in our creature comforts and enjoyments, if we want God's word and ordinances; especially if we want the comfort of his gracious presence, and the light of his countenance? If God go, the glory goes, and all good goes. Woe unto us if he depart! But though the glory is withdrawn from one sinful nation, city, or village after another, yet it shall never depart altogether, but shines forth in one place when eclipsed in another.


Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.




And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.


2And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.


3And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.


4So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.


5And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.


6And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp.


7And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.


8Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.


9Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.


10And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.


11And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.


12And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.


13And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.


14And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.


15Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.


16And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?


17And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.


18And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.


19And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.


20And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.


21And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.


22And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.


Friday 18 November 2022

The Evil of The Doctor




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“As above, so below. 

From the tiny and ordinary to the vast and celestial.

Mr. Stubbs is the name of the circus chimpanzee in from a serialized story entitled Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus collected in book form in 1881. The book, a gritty yarn for kids, was a favourite of both Harlan Ellison and William Burroughs interestingly enough. No idea what might have attracted Burroughs to this tale of lithe wild youths and chattering chimps!

Disney released a film version of Toby Tyler in 1960 and it was this movie adaptation that prompted my beloved cousin Agnes to borrow the name ‘Mr. Stubbs’ for the christening of her ‘Jacko’ chimp toy.
Jacko was a popular Chad Valley ape doll in the early 1960s, when most kids wound up with one of these rubber primates in his rakish striped jersey, like a beatnik bonobo. Like so many of my generation, I had a Jacko of my own and indeed still do – he sits, as he has done for decades, on top of my bookshelf with the same glass-eyed grin I’ve known since childhood – but as a show of eternal devotion to my cousin, there was no option but to name my toy after hers, and so was born Mr. Stubbs 2!

Some combination of the spirit of both our simian pals gives life to Uotan’s faithful sidekick.

I left Nix Uotan, Last of the Monitors, in his human guise at the end of Final Crisis – a cosmic being grounded on Earth disguised as an ordinary human being with everyday problems – like the need to pay his rent, which frames the entire story. 

For his appearance in The Multiversity, we chose to streamline Uotan into a more superheroic figure; I asked Ivan Reis to sex up Uotan’s previous A Clockwork Orange look to make it more of a sleek sci-fi superhero costume in black and gold with an impressive cape. I figured he’d have adopted a style more in keeping with his surroundings in the DC Universe.  

We never really resolve whether or not Uotan’s unnamed human identity is hallucinating his adventures as he lies reading comics on Xannies and Zoloft. Are stories real? Monitors move in mysterious ways…

Superjudge is an album by psychedelic rock band Monster Magnet. Frontman Dave Wyndorf is a long-time comics fan, often citing Kirby in his lyrics. Dave kindly gave me permission to use Superjudge as Nix Uotan’s official superhero name, and he’s thanked in the last issue of the series.

If Nix Uotan is Wotan, the God of Wednesday when the comics come out, if Wotan, like The Babylonian Nabu, Roman Mercury, Greek Hermes, Egyptian Thoth and many others is a god of speed, communication, language,  then Stubbs represents the so-called ‘Ape of Thoth’, the cynocephalus that capers around the silver-tongued mage like the Jester taunts the King, pricking pomposity with humour, obscuring wisdom with inane chatter and madcap interpretation.

Nix Uotan was created to be DC’s Dr. Who equivalent – in this case, a super-powerful black character traversing the many worlds of the Multiverse, solving problems in his cosmic yellow submarine with a wisecracking pirate chimp for company! I’ve always been a little disappointed no-one has thought to pick him up and run with the concept.

As our two heroes travel in their shiftship, the Ultima Thule to answer a distress call from Earth-7, they encounter only ruin and horror and a universe broken and spoiled…”

MASTER: 

Hello, Doctor.

Welcome to The End of Your Existence.

Say 'Hello' to my friends.


I believe we're all acquainted...

..right? Do you like the garb?


I love the garb. 

Got to Dress for The Occasion.


I was just thinking...

We could call this...

The Master's Dalek Plan.


Or The, er... Cyber-Dalek Master Plan, or

The Cyber-Master's Dalek Plan?


I can't quite get it.


But in the end I suppose

we'll just call it :

The Day I Killed The Doctor...

..with a little help

from my friends.


Our Lady :

SCOFFING: Your friends?

You hate each other.


MASTER: 

And the one thing stronger than

their hatred for each other...

..is their hatred for you.


Just took a little handsome

genius to point it out to them.


"What Unites Us is stronger 

than What Divides Us."

I mean, that's very You, that, isn't it?

You love a Team, don't you?


Letting every Tom, Dick and 

Harriet into Your TARDIS...


Well, You have Your Fam.

Now... I have mine.


Our Lady :

So everything else was a diversion?


MASTER: 

No. No. No! 

Not a diversion. Very important!

Three-phase plan. You'll see.


Except you won't.

MASTER LAUGHS

But rest assured, 

without you to defend it,

Earth will fall very, very fast.

I did warn you, Doctor.


I'm going old-school, Doctor.

A Tribute to our elders.


Do you remember The Ultimate Sanction 

for breaking Our Laws?


Our Lady :

[WHISPERS] 

Forced regeneration.


MASTER: 

They even did it to you 

once, didn't They?


Well, maybe more than once. 

Who knows? Not you.


Our Lady :

You don't have the Technology.


MASTER: 

I do. I do. I do!

MASTER GIGGLES

When I ransacked Gallifrey,

I took everything.


But where would he get The Power?

If only I had a planet built for this purpose....


No, wait, wait. I do!

MASTER LAUGHS MANIACALLY

You did get that, right?

A conversion planet.

Except it doesn't only convert organic to Cyber.

I brought it here to help another Conversion altogether.


MUSIC: 

Rasputin by Boney M


♪ There lived a certain

man in Russia long ago

♪ He was big and strong

In his eyes a flaming glow

♪ Most people looked at him

with terror and with fear... ♪


VINDER: 

OK, Doctor. This is my last roll of the dice. I've been

carrying this around with me since you gave it to me.


♪ ..like a preacher

Full of ecstasy and fire

♪ But he also... ♪


You need my help?

I could certainly do with yours.

But I'm not holding out much hope.


♪ Ra-Ra-Rasputin Lover

of the Russian queen

♪ There was a cat

that really was gone

♪ Ra-Ra-Rasputin Russia's

greatest love machine

♪ It was a shame how

he carried on... ♪


Let's get you out of there.


This is Inston-Vee Vinder saying,

if you need my help... Vinder!

..I could certainly do with yours.


MASTER

Hello, TARDIS.

Receiving this loud and clear?

Say Goodbye, Yaz.

TARDIS, lock on to his signal.


Forced regeneration, Doctor.

To force you...

to regenerate... into Me


Our Lady :

Oh, no! You wouldn't....


Tuesday 10 November 2020

Release The Hounds



"These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of a different bringing up The One is pampered, and The Other A Good Hound." 



Let so much suffice for habit and modes of life.



SCULLY :
You've always said that you 
Want to Believe. 
 
But Believe in WHAT, Mulder? 
 
If this is The Truth that you've been looking for then what is left to Believe in?

MULDER: 
I Want to Believe That The Dead Are Not Lost to Us.
 
That They Speak to Us as Part of Something Greater Than Us - Greater Than Any Alien Force. 
 
And if You and I are powerless now, 
I Want to Believe That if We LISTEN to What is SPEAKING --
 
It can Give Us The Power to Save Ourselves.

SCULLY :
 Then We Believe in 
The Same Thing.

She reaches down  to the gifted Gold that hangs on a chain around her neck, the same Golden totem that has hung there in plain sight for 9 whole seasons of Network Television without attracting ANY real notice or curious interest —  or not any from Mulder, at least — and she gently turns her Cross ever-so slightly, 45-degrees or so from the perpendicular —

It is an X. The Unknown and Unquantifiable, Endless-Nameless Mystery

 18 INT. SEWER - DAY 
Connor and Angel are walking through the sewers under Los Angeles.

CONNOR 
She's been down here.

ANGEL 
How old were you when you realised you could track like this?

CONNOR 
I don't know. Five, six. 
We didn't exactly celebrate birthdays in Quor-Toth. 
Holtz made up a game 
so I could practice.

ANGEL 
What do you mean he'd 
hide things for you to find?

CONNOR 
Kind of. 
He'd tie me to a tree 
and then run away.

ANGEL 
(shocked, stops walking
What?

CONNOR 
(shrugs
You know, so I'd have to escape 
and then find him. 
One time it only took me five days.

ANGEL 
Five days. 
He abandoned you... 
Connor, that's terrible
That's—

CONNOR 
(unfazed
Why I'm so good at tracking. 
Fred rested here for a while.




You do not Pass Judgment because you sympathize with Them --

A deprived childhood and a homicide really isn't necessarily a homicide, right? 

The Only thing you can blame is circumstances : Rapists and murderers may be the victims according to you, but I, I call them DOGS and if they're lapping up Their Own Vomit, The Only Way to Stop Them is with The Lash


But Dogs only obey 
Their Own Nature.
So why shouldn't 
we forgive them? 

DOGS can be taught Many Useful Things, but not, NOT if we Forgive Them every time They Obey Their Own Nature. 

So, I'm arrogant…
I'm arrogant because 
I forgive people? 

My God. Can't you see how condescending you are when you say that? 

You have this preconceived notion that nobody, LISTEN, that NOBODY can POSSIBLY attain the same High Ethical Standards as YOU, so you exonerate them.

I can not THINK of ANYTHING more arrogant, than that. 

You, My Child... My DEAR Child, you forgive Others with excuses that you would never in THE WORLD permit for yourself.

Why shouldn't  I be merciful? 
Why

No, no, no You SHOULD, you SHOULD be merciful, when there is TIME to be merciful. 

But you MUST maintain Your Own Standard,  You OWE them that, You OWE them that.

The penalty you deserve for your transgressions, they deserve for their transgressions.

They are Human Beings.

No, no, no  -- Does EVERY Human Being need to be accountable for their actions? 

Of COURSE they do. But you don't even give them THAT chance! 

And that is EXTREMELY arrogant -- I LOVE You, I LOVE You, I LOVE You to DEATH.... 

But you are The Most Arrogant Person I have ever met, and you call ME arrogant! 

I Have No More 
to Say. 






Full shot. 
Planetarium seen from The Parking Lot--a Great Dome crowns it -- The City lies Below.
 Camera picks up JIM STARK'S car maneuvering through the crowded lot. In b.g. a few other late-comers are dashing up steps to Planetarium. 
JIM drives into a small lot behind observator, parks, then runs to observatory entrance.

Full shot. 
Lobby as JIM runs through, opens door of theater and passes inside.

Long shot. 
Sky Full of Stars seen past JIM's Head.
Darkness. This is not Our Sky. 
It is a replica of it projected onto The Dome of The Planetarium. 
 
The Stars slide their tentative ways in an ever-changing pattern. 
 
One of them is much larger than The Rest and increases in size as we watch. 
Music of The Spheres is heard -- a high threatening tremolo.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 For many days before The End of Our
 Earth, People will look into The  Night Sky and notice a star,  increasingly bright and increasingly near.


JIM looks around for a seat and passes down aisle. 
Seen beyond him is the projector, moving slowly, its great dumb-bell head sparkling with pin-points of light. 
JIM takes a seat in front row. 
PLATO, in the row behind him, moves over
a seat to be nearer. They exchange looks.

Full shot. 
Normal students watching intently.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 As This Star approaches Us, The Weather will change. 
 
The Great Polar fields of The North and South  will rot and divide, and The Seas
 will turn warmer.

Low angle. 
LECTURER
A dry, Elderly Man in a stiff white
collar. 
He is seated at a desk, the light from the reading lamp spilling upward onto his face.

 LECTURER
 The Last of Us search The Heavens and Stand Amazed. For The Stars will still be there, moving through their ancient rhythms.

Angle shot. 
Students. Some watching, some taking notes.
An OLD LADY TEACHER in f.g. taps the heads of two kids in the row before her. 
They stop their whispering.
 She smiles at them.

 LECTURER (O.S.)

 The familiar constellations that  illuminate our night will seem as  they have always seemed, eternal,  unchanged and little moved by the shortness of time between Our Planet's Birth and its Demise.

Med. shot. PLATO staring upward.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 Orion, The Hunter.

PLATO looks off.

Med. shot. JIM (from PLATO's angle). 
JIM is seated in the row ahead of PLATO. 
His lips are parted as he looks up.

 JIM

 Boy!

 PLATO

 (leaning forward)
 What?

 JIM

 (surprised)
 Once you been Up There
you know  you been 
Some Place!

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 Gemini, the Twins.

Two shot. JUDY and BUZZ. 
BUZZ has his arm around her. 
He is nuzzling her ear. 
She is blandly watching The Dome.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 (continuing)
 Cancer, the Crab.

BUZZ pokes JUDY who looks at him. 
He curves his wrist toward her, opening and closing his first two fingers like
the pincers of a crab.





“Maybe There’s Hope.”, said Special Agent Fox "Spooky" Mulder,
Once-More Enunciating The Stated Truth.
 
"Maybe There's Hope."
And So There Was.

And It was Good.
Good it is,
and remains Good still.

[Fade to Black]






Dear Clarice,

I have followed with enthusiasm the course of your disgrace and public shaming.

My own never bothered me, except for the inconvenience of being incarcerated, but you may lack perspective.

In our discussions down in The Dungeon, it was apparent to me that Your Father, The Dead Night Watchman, figures largely in your value system.

I think your success in putting an end to Jame Gumb's career as a couturier pleased you most because you could imagine your father being pleased.

But now, alas, you're in bad odour with the FBI.

Do you imagine your daddy being shamed by your disgrace?

Do you see him in his plain pine box crushed by your failure?

The sorry, petty end of a promising career?

What is worst about this humiliation, Clarice?

Is it how your failure will reflect on your mommy and daddy?

Is your worst fear that people will now and forever believe they were, indeed, just good old trailer-camp, tornado-bait, white trash, and that perhaps you are, too?

Mmm?

By the way, I couldn't help noticing on the FBI's rather dull public website, that I have been hoisted from the Bureau's archives of the common criminal, and elevated to the more prestigious Ten Most Wanted list.

Is this coincidence, or are you back on the case?

If so, goody, goody, 'cause I need to come out of retirement and return to Public Life.

I imagine you sitting in a dark basement room, bent over papers and computer screens.

Is that accurate? Please tell me truly, Special Agent Starling.

Regards, your old pal,
Hannibal Lecter, M.D.

 
 
P.S., clearly this new assignment is not your choice.

Rather, I suppose it is part of the bargain, but you accepted it, Clarice.

Your job is to craft my doom, so I am not sure how well I should wish you, but I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun.

Ta-ta. 

"H."


"To speak generally, what we are wont to say about the arts and sciences is also true of moral excellence, for to its perfect development three things must meet together, natural ability, theory, and practice. 


By theory I mean training, and by practice working at one's craft. 


Now the foundation must be laid in training, and practice gives facility, but perfection is attained only by the junction of all three. For if any one of these elements be wanting, excellence must be so far deficient. 


For natural ability without training is blind: and training without natural ability is defective, and practice without both natural ability and training is imperfect


For just as in farming the first requisite is good soil, next a good farmer, next good seed, so also here: the soil corresponds to natural ability, the training to the farmer, the seed to precepts and instruction. 


I should therefore maintain stoutly that these three elements were found combined in the souls of such universally famous men as Pythagoras, and Socrates, and Plato, and of all who have won undying fame. Happy at any rate and dear to the gods is he to whom any deity has vouchsafed all these elements! 


But if anyone thinks that those who have not good natural ability cannot to some extent make up for the deficiencies of Nature by Right Training and Practice, let such a one know that he is very wide of The Mark, if not out of it altogether. 


For good natural parts are impaired by sloth; while inferior ability is mended by training: and while simple things escape the eyes of the careless, difficult things are reached by painstaking. 


The wonderful efficacy and power of long and continuous labour you may see indeed every day in the world around you.


Thus water continually dropping wears away rocks: and iron and steel are moulded by the hands of the artificer: and chariot wheels bent by some strain can never recover their original symmetry: and the crooked staves of actors can never be made straight. 


But by toil what is contrary to nature becomes stronger than even nature itself. 


And are these the only things that teach The Power of Diligence? 


Not so: ten thousand things teach the same Truth. 


A soil naturally good becomes by neglect barren, and the better its original condition, the worse its ultimate state if uncared for. 


On the other hand a soil exceedingly rough and sterile by being farmed well produces excellent crops. 


And what trees do not by neglect become gnarled and unfruitful, whereas by pruning they become fruitful and productive? 


And what constitution so good but it is marred and impaired by sloth, luxury, and too full habit? 


And what weak constitution has not derived benefit from exercise and athletics? 


And what horses broken in young are not docile to their riders? while if they are not broken in till late they become hard-mouthed and unmanageable


And why should we be surprised at similar cases, seeing that we find many of the savagest animals docile and tame by training? 


Rightly answered the Thessalian, who was asked who the mildest Thessalians were, "Those who have done with fighting."


But why pursue the line of argument further? For the Greek name for moral virtue is only habit : and if anyone defines moral virtues as habitual virtues, he will not be beside The Mark. But I will employ only one more illustration, and dwell no longer on this topic. 


Lycurgus, the Lacedæmonian legislator, took Two Puppies of The Same Parents, and brought them up in an entirely different way : The One he pampered and cosseted up, while he taught The Other to Hunt and be A Retriever. 


Then on one occasion, when the Lacedæmonians were convened in assembly, he said, "Mighty, O Lacedæmonians, is the influence on moral excellence of habit, and education, and training, and modes of life, as I will prove to you at once." 


So saying he produced The Two Puppies, and set before them A Platter and A Hare : The One darted on The Hare, while The Other made for The Platter. 


And when the Lacedæmonians could not guess what his meaning was, or with what intent he had produced the puppies, he said, 


"These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of a different bringing up The One is pampered, and The Other A Good Hound." 


Let so much suffice for Habit and Modes of Life.