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analyzing eyes

The twin eyes and the eye patch of Odin. The hidden blade within a metal cross and the scars of the priest. Timing is everything, especially in a world where budgets are monumental. Both films have one central theme, and that is penance. Paying for one’s past mistakes. Thor did not truly know what it was to be a god…until he felt the frailties of mortality. Not only then could he do something more than merely redeem himself. He had to earn his right to stand by his father. And even though the transition was rather quick. Thor made it clear that he had much to learn. Thor was a film about sight. While Priest was a film about blindness. In Thor, Heimdall played by the exceptional Idris Elba had the power of all-vision. His sight extended beyond the crystalline core of Asgard and penetrated deep into the mortal realm of Midgard. Yet, Loki could obfuscate things through his trickery and magik.

In Priest, the Vampires quite literally had no eyes. This was except for the vampire lord who was the main antagonist for the film. Yet despite this obvious reference, there was the weakness of the main human city in, “Priest” and that was that the sun did not shine upon the human city. Was this because of the pollution of the city? That is doubtful. The heavy dirt that fell from the black clouds in the film was not some kind of environmentalist plead. It was symbolic of how faith unpracticed and untested is as murky as the blackest sea.

To have faith without the will and conviction to wear it as a pair of boots in treacherous path that lies ahead…well, that is a boon unused. And any boon that lies unused is no boon at all.

The hero in Priest sacrificed his pleasurable existence because he was taken to another calling. Was it higher? Maybe…was it necessary? Absolutely.

Like Thor, the Priest had a purpose. And yet that purpose did not become clear until the commitment to engage the unknown was already set in blood and stone. That is the way of things. Choice is less of a controller of fate and more like the active form of accepting it. By choosing, we accept that we actually have zero control, but rather a sense of duty to fulfill an unknown part.

Similarly to how the Priest’s true power did not come from any drug or mechanical technology. Thor’s strength was infused in him by his valor, but more importantly his kindred and extended family that outstretched beyond nebulae and asteroid belts alike.

The Priest’s penance was strange because it seemed to just have begun in this first film. We don’t really know what horrors he is going to face without the support of the establishment. But one thing is clear, the allies that he had cultivated will stand strong throughout the night.

Thor’s penance was to be human. Yet in those moments, he found a shred of humility that would help to balance his pride and arrogance. His inability to pull Mjolnir from its Earthly cradle. That was difficult to watch. But it made it clear that he had not yet been right for the tool. Because that is what Mjolnir is…a tool for the good, to do good. In Thor’s frailty, he attempted to bargain the only way he could with the only thing he had, which was his mortal life.

You can never be slain, Thor…only silenced for a short time.

You can never be banished, Thor…only blocked as boulder blocks a strong river.

You can never be forgotten, Thor…for Kenaz burns in the hearts of all whom hear you.

-Tyler

Crystal Cave - Costa Mesa Large Geodes

Crystal Cave

(click for website)

891 Baker St.
Suite A-16
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 754-1151

Crystal Cave in Costa Mesa has been around for a long time. I remember buying a mysterious box from them back in the 1990’s before I went off to college. The box was made of wood and had brass symbol work on it. Over the years I have used the box to hold interesting semi-precious stones and old coins. Now I have a small, yet quality coin collection and I still use that very box. There is a mysterious story about that box if you care to listen…

When I had an office in Santa Ana, that was a strange time in my life. I used to have very little money, and I used cash to purchase food. Every penny counted. But since I bought food in Santa Ana I would sometimes get old coins as change. The reason for this is because Santa Ana is one of the older parts of Orange County and a great deal of older coins are in circulation still. It was in this city that I found in my change, a 1901 penny. I loved the coin and put it in my box.

Over a few months, I would place other coins that I found. Some were in good condition, while others were quite abused yet they had tremendous character. These misshapen coins had blemishes of true experience so I felt they needed to come out of circulation and rest a while. And what better place to rest, than in a mysterious box.

I kept the box in the sunlight. It rested upon a mirror to absorb even more light. Some days it would get warm to the touch. And the wood would warp and I understood that. The wood would bleach and I welcomed it. Such things are normal and expected. But on especially bright days, the brass-work on the box would actually get hot to my fingertips. It was those days that made me realize that the coins inside…well, something was happening.

A few weeks later, I found an interesting penny that was a grey color. It was a 1943 penny. Unfortunately it was not the kind that is worth a lot of money, but it has character and spirit and I wanted to welcome it to my collection. I placed it underneath a faceless slug coin, and it rested beside a New Zealand coin and few old nickels and a piece of black stone. But a few nights passed, and I noticed something strange about the box.

The box was slightly open. I looked inside the box to see if anything was missing. Could it be that someone was tampering with my things? It made little sense because the items contained within it had little value to anyone but myself.

Crystal Cave owner: Barbara - CLICK to Visit the online store!

But when I tried to close the box, it resisted. I was confused. I checked the hinges and the sides to make sure a spring or a stick hadn’t gotten stuck into the box because I had been dissecting some old VCR’s in the corner of the office. To my surprise, there were no obstructions. I tried to close the box again, but it resisted me. Eventually, I pressed very hard to close the thing and it finally yielded to me. But when I removed my hand it slowly opened to a slight crack. I ended up getting frustrated and I put a heavy jar filled with small VCR parts on top of it to keep it closed.

The next day I removed the jar and it cracked open again. This boggled me because there were no springs in the hinge mechanism to open and shut the box. It was a very simple contraption, just a box mind you…things don’t get any simpler than this. So I just settled my mind on the notion that the box had somehow become magnetized by the amount of coins in the box. Although none of the coins were actual magnets, metal can possibly have magnetic fields or perhaps the metal was interacting with the brass hinges and the brass decorations on the top of the wood.

Regardless of whatever the reason for the box’s behavior, a month later it stopped acting strangely.

Now, I still have this box. And the collection within it has grown. So much so in face, that I’ve needed to find a new box to share the coins. So I decided to revisit the Crystal Cave and see what they had to offer. There were many boxes to choose from. Similarly to so long ago, there was a wide selection…wider in fact. I didn’t need a huge box, just something to house the younger coins, ones that didn’t have the massive amount of age and wisdom of the older coins. I finally chose a small box, again with some brass inlay decoration. It has a beautiful triangular design on the top that has squares in the motif as well. The shapes were geometrically pleasing to the eye.

I said to Barbara, the shop owner, that there is a way of things, “identification and multiplication.” That is the best way to spread energy into a new field. So many of the foreign coins are going into the small box. But in retrospect, I know I’m no where near with the small box. I have put an interim of coins in it, but I need to be willing to sacrifice some of the location of the oldest coins from the old box and let it stay within the new one. That is the only way to to seal the transition.

But enough of boxes. The store of Crystal Cave was lovely to walk into, as usual. The place is filled with interesting books and crystals and the occasional geode that was pictured above. Barbara was exquisitely helpful and friendly and so has their staff always been in the times I’ve visited the place. I’ve bought crystals from this store and they have always been very high quality.

I know I will visit the Crystal Cave again.

Here’s a link to the Crystal Cave official Website – CLICK HERE

-Tyler

ketchup robot

Big thanks to the Don Burleson Blog for sharing this video. When I saw it, I seriously had a good laugh. I guess it was because of the holiday and the burgers and ketchup and hot dogs were really fitting. The sad part is that I didn’t have any ketchup to eat today, I had BBQ sauce on chicken. But I had a great deal of ketchup during the last week. So this video hit extra hard. Don Burleson has a really weird sense of humor. I’m definitely going to check out his blog in the future. I don’t know about you guyzzz but this is what I’m going to dream about when I go to sleep tonight…and every night.

Project Gutenberg - Click to Visit Website

No, this article is not about police academy. Project Gutenburg is a website that has a huge selection of free E-Books that are viewable on portable devices like iPads or Desktop Computers. I’ve already found some interesting books on Buddhism and some nice copies of Edgar Allen Poe stories. You can visit the Project Gutenburg website by clicking HERE. This was an excellent find that I came across when looking at the references for a Wikipedia entry. So that goes to show how useful checking something’s references can be.

If you are browsing from your iPhone then you might want to try this link to their mobile site by clicking HERE.

I just tested downloading a book directly into iBooks and it worked flawlessly. I find that downloading the “ePUB” version of the online books is the easiest way to get a book into iBooks. There are many reasons why I prefer to read books in the paper format rather than digital formats. Those are how you can have a visceral experience with the pages, make notes, talk to people and share a physical book. But there are some actual advantages to an e-Book that I cannot deny. One of those would be portability but that’s obvious. Another thing to think about would be how the footnote system works for iBooks. Oftentimes, footnotes and endnotes can be touched and then you are taken to the correct place where the note is. Then you can immediately learn what the term is and then touch another button and be taken to the exact page you were just at. The convenience is undenyable.

Another thing to think about is that paper is not very expensive, but ink is. So printing entire long epics can burn a printer cartridge. So even having a free copy of a book in digital format may not make a whole bunch of sense if you have to print it out in order to make it portable. The iBooks in conjunction with Project Gutenburg makes this possible.

Since I read mostly non-fiction books this Project Gutenburg is very appealing to me, especially since it is one more thing to do while waiting for people to take their turns in Words With Friends.

By using Project Gutenburg one can read books without having to risk getting a book that they may not necessarily enjoy. And since most of the books on Project Gutenburg are older books that have expired their copyright, a lot of them are quite good.

I seriously hope you enjoy the site. And if you find any good books that you want to recommend, go ahead and leave a comment below.

Project Gutenburg – MAIN WEBSITE

Project Gutenburg – MOBILE DEVICE WEBSITE

-Tyler