I must confess that I did not succumb to pop culture. However, even I can not do in the story of Harry Potter and his gang of friends are drawn. I wonder what, how could a man like our President.
Of course, today one of the features that grace be with the Presidency as Voldamort Lord, it would be fantastic to see a change for a man who is loyal, hard work, talent, and honored at the White House.Unfortunately, the features that make the public love Harry are ironically are what contempt of a presidential candidate.
Loyalty - Harry is not ready to develop relations, the sacrifice made during his life. In fact, he considers his friends at a higher level of fidelity, even when they produce on their situation.
Honesty - Harry is not willing to let his friends to deceive or be deceived. He is always attentive and the quest for truthNo matter what the cost.
Integrity - Harry 's greatest strength is its integrity, not what the value of our leadership.
Strength of conviction - Harry is willing to sacrifice everything, even his reputation and his life for what he knows the fight is just.
As Americans flock to the movies, and idolize this character. Even his mistakes are not important, as is the desire of the heart of the great Harry is right.
Instead, each is VoldamortHarry, what is not. He's too talented, but a talent for bullying, and skin rashes, narcissistic, destructive ....
As an American, while Harry would be the perfect president, he would always look the other for the interests of its friends and interests, is not very popular. People do not believe the truth.
Rather, we prefer the liar, self-centered politicians who only means to hurt and destroy, we all know what is right and good and right.Americans love the liar, swearing and making fun of honest and good intentions.
Mr. Voldamort in 08!
The real meaning to holidays, the "giving of the self", shows up in the home made gift.
Here are three easy-to-make but very lush Home-Spa items that you can place your own signature on as the gift giver and personalize for the gift recipient.
They are:
--Bath Jelly
--Soap Balls (lavender or rosemary)
--Cream Perfume
You can make these with your favorite essential oils and other easy-to-get ingredients.
-------------------
Bath Jelly
You will need:
--One packet unflavored gelatin
--3/4 Cup water
--1/2 Cup bath gel base
--Your favorite essential oil
--Glass jar with lid (empty peanut butter jar) or other clear container
--Optional small plastic bath toy if for child
Directions:
--Empty the packet of gelatin into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
--Boil water
--Pour hot water into mixing bowl
--Mix with gelatin powder - allow to completely dissolve
--Very slowly stir in the bath gel base
--Add 6 to 8 drops of essential oil
--Mix all very gently and do not beat
--Pour into clear container
--Place small toy inside jar
--Refrigerate until it is set - approx 4 hours
--Place label on jar that has your designer name and directions on how to use which are:
Put 2 Tablespoons in palm - make loose fist and place under running bath water.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Soap Balls
You will need:
--2 bars unscented vegetable-based soap (or the equivalent in odds-and-ends)
--1/2 cup dried lavender blossoms or loose rosemary (fresh or dried)
--5 drops essential oil (lavender or rosemary)
--1/4 cup warm water
Directions:
--Grate soap (with cheese grater) into a large bowl
--Add the lavender blossoms or dried rosemary to the grated soap.
--Add essential oil to the soap mixture, combining thoroughly.
--Add the warm water and stir.
--Roll heaping tablespoons of the mix into balls.
--Place on a cookie sheet and allow to air-dry completely, which will take approximately 2 days.
------------------------------------------------------
Cream Perfume - Sacred Holiday Scent "Blend of the Three Kings"
You will need:
--2 tablespoons grated beeswax
--2 tablespoons sweet almond oil
--1 teaspoon total of essential oils
Directions:
--Melt beeswax in glass pan over boiling water or double boiler
--Add sweet almond oil and blend together thoroughly
--Allow the mixture to cool slightly before adding essential oil
--Fill small clean, dry glass jars with the solid perfume.
Blend of the Three Kings
15 drops frankincense
6 drops myrrh
3 drops sandalwood
--If you want a firmer result add 1 tablespoon of distilled water.
I got these as a St. Nicholas' Day gift (so they could go on the tree). They were exceptionally well made and worth every penny.
This article is the first in a series of exotic wood used in the crafting of custom made pens and pencils. Specifically, we focus on Bocote and reveal its background, uses, and characteristics. Bocote is a beautiful wood that is an excellent choice for pen crafters and users of luxury writing instruments.
Bocote, Cordia alliodora, is a tropical tree that grows to be over 100 feet. The name Bocote is Spanish for the species of Cordia that grows in Central America. As with many tropical trees, the Cordia species is threatened in its natural habitat but managed tree farms support the demand for this wood.
Bocote varies in its color and grain pattern, but typically has colors of cream to red-brown mixed with darker highlights. The grain pattern is rich in character and can change dramatically, even within the same tree. The random grain patterns are usually displayed in tight waves which allow for frequent contrasts in smaller turned pieces, such as custom crafted pens and pencils.
This wood is a top choice among craftsmen of all types. Some uses include guitars, furniture, boat decks, cabinet making, and all types of wood turnings. My experience has revealed that lathe turning is smooth and crisp with sharp tools applied in the cutting process. It accepts sanding and heat activated polish exceptionally well. As with most wood bodies I craft, Bocote will change color over time with use from the oils of your fingers.
I recommend giving serious consideration to selecting Bocote for your next creative masterpiece. Whether you are the craftsman or the ultimate user of a wood creation, the beauty and character of this wood will reward your choice. Take a look at a Bocote photograph to see for yourself.
There are showing events that do allow Jack Russell's and there is a portion of owners who take part in such events. The majority of Jack Russell's do not meet the appearance requirements for showing, and those that do are rarely ever trained to work the field and perform complex tasks, but instead trained in obedience and poise for showing. This means that in the majority of cases a Jack Russell is either a show dog or a field dog, not both. Many spectators find the compact size and comical personalities of these feisty little terriers to be the highlight of any organized dog event.
The popularity of dog themed events also gave rise to further interest in these animals, and the Jack Russell once again experienced a resurgence of interest as a family pet in the late seventies and early eighties. New breeders began to establish themselves and build breeding pools based on the Jack Russell not as a working dog or a show dog, but a family pet. Families all over the U.K. and North America began to invite this energy packed dynamo in their home. The energy and intelligence of the Jack Russell has endeared it onto the public, a fondness that has continued to this day.
At some point someone in Hollywood took notice of the energy of the Jack Russell and its ability to learn complex tasks and remain constantly alert. Soon special trainers were teaching these dogs how to act and be involved with movie production. The Jack Russell became famous all over the world as people would watch their antics in movies and on television from the comfort of their own living rooms. Jack Russell's can be observed in television shows such as Fraser, Wishbone, Chef Rick Stein, television commercials and more. Movies in recent history that have featured the Jack Russell have been The Mask starring Jim Carrey, Crimson Tide, The Earnest movies, Harry Potter and many more. The increasing presence of the Jack Russell in film and media has made it one of the most desirable breeds of dog known today.
Gads what is all the huff about? People fretting over the message of Harry Potter and creating Harry Potter rumors. Get over it! People love the book and story. Will they become a blood sucking vampire because they love the story? I guess there are some who think so.
What do puppets do after dark? Create more rules for us all to live by? Get worried and fret about everything that doesn't fit into their lists? I am more worried about what governments and the religious decide on what we should and should not do, than Harry Potter and any rumors that incur from it.
We have the right to think in America still, don't we? I wonder sometimes lately. So many things being rationed, chewed up and re-delivered to us with different ribbons and packaging. What ever happened to freedom of speech, the idea of it? What has happened to the Baby Boomers who saw a wrong in Vietnam and decided to march against it. Where are all those people? Where were they BEFORE we went into Iraq? We hear news that the Middle East or Iraq or Africa explode on a daily basis yet and we stand in line for a Harry Potter book or wait for a Potter trailer. Now that it seems a bit trendy we all stand in line and say in unison that this war in Iraq was and is wrong, yet where are the people who should be marching? What lines to they stand in? Has apathy become the religion of the day?
My take on Harry Potter is that we must really need a diversion to be standing in line for a book. Don't get me wrong.. I have already stated that I believe in the freedom of the message and I DO applaud the fact that people are reading. What I wonder about though is why not stand in line for things that are more important as well? Stand in line for human rights when there is news that the Middle East or Iraq or Africa explode. Stand in line when maybe it is not trendy and the future of this world depends on us to be brave enough to speak out .. no scream.. when something is not right? Take that energy to love something like a series of books and channel it onto something that suggests a clearer future for humanity. Darfur, Iraq, Abu Ghraib ...stand in line waving our hands, saying ME, I stand against these and other atrocities. I stand for human rights. What if.. what if all the energy it has taken to stand in lines to get the last Harry Potter book stood in lines to speak out against the inhumane?
~~*~~
Be warned: Writing, illustrating and recording a children's picture book and audio-book CD is not for the faint-of-heart. One 850-word book took me over three years to go from concept-to-completion. To put that into perspective, I have written six 50,000+ word books that were targeted to business people. These took an average of six months. Here, in a summary fashion, are four of major lessons that I have learned. Future articles will provide additional insights. To illustrate these lessons, let's focus on a suggested sentence for a non-existent book: "Billy struggled to climb on top of the red fire truck."
1. Use a few words as possible - Would "Billy climbed up the fire truck," be better? It might or might not. It's definitely shorter, and gives the artist more freedom. On the other hand you might be eliminating some crucial concepts. Read on.
2. Understand that every word you write has the potential to restrict the artist. As an example, "climbed," means that the artist must show Billy going upward, ascending, using his hands and feet. This might make sense if it is important for Billy to climb up the truck, but what if the artist could add humor by having Billy swing on a vine to reach the top of the fire truck. Either way, Billy could struggle to reach the top of the fire truck, But, is struggling important? If it's not, imagine the fun that Billy could have jumping onto the top of the dire truck from a tree.
You may not see Billy jumping onto the fire truck in your mind's eye, but an artist might--if you don't restrict him or her with your words. Perhaps it will help to compare writing a children's book to writing a play. In the children's book, your words give you veto power over the artist. In a play the stage directions you provide give you veto power over the Stage Director and actors. I once write a play where the main characters were a man with two alter egos. Imagine my surprise when an avant-garde production of the play cast the alter egos of the man as female. It worked, and it was a valid interpretation because I did not specify that the alter egos had to be male.
3. Consider children equals when you're writing. Talking down to children, explaining what's happening to them is silly. They know what's happening. Also, don't be afraid to use a few challenging words. Children will figure them out, or look them up. Want proof? Read the Harry Potter books. Children understand them.
4. Read the story to several children as you write it. Be open to unexpressed criticism. Do not expect praise. You won't get it. Watch, instead, for involvement with the characters. Listen for excitement as they talk about your plots. If you don't find these things, you've failed. Go back to the drawing board.
Writing for children doesn't pay much, unless you happen to have a blockbuster best seller, but it's fun. Mix a children's book in with your other writing. If you do your job right, you're liable to make a difference in the lives of many children. That's a big deal because today's children are the people who will influence tomorrow's world.
From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters at http://www.managing-creativity.com/
The Hero's Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.
Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.
The Hero's Journey:
a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.
b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.
c) Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.
and more...
Sample Movie Deconstructed: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
FADE IN: Foreshadow of the Antagonism: Harry Potter's dream.
Meeting the Hero: Harry wakes up.
Meeting Loyal Ally 1: Hermione.
Meeting Loyal Ally 2: Ron.
Pushed into the Journey: come on, breakfast is ready.
Meeting the Mentor: Arthur.
Pushed into the Journey: where are we going? No idea.
Introduced to Allies: Amos, Cedrick etc...
Magical Gift: Port Key.
New World: the Quidditch World Cup.
New, Magical Creatures and Sights: the tents etc.
Pulled into the Outer Cave: home sweet home; inside the huge tent.
Foreshadow of the Trials / Antagonists: the Malfoys.
Middle Cave / Meeting Allies: Viktor et al; the World Cup match.
Developing Characters and Relationships: playing in the tent.
Pushed to the Inner Cave: the explosions; the burnt camp; Barty Crouch Junior wandering about; Voldemort's skull; Ron and Hermione find Harry.
Foreshadow of the Antagonist: there was a man; who? I didn't see his face.
Journey to the World of the Transformation: on the train.
Meeting the Romantic Challenge: Cho Chang.
Warning: your head is hurting again; Sirius will want to hear about this.
New World of the Transformation: the flying horses and carriages; the flying boat etc.
Meeting the Mentor and Allies and Learning of the Trials: Dumbledore introduces the TriWizard contest; the other schools; Hagrid, Maxime; Goblet of Fire etc.
Interdiction: no student under 17 should be allowed to put forward their name.
Time Pressure: you must put forward your name by Thursday night.
Red Herring: the Russian leader enters the room of the Goblet.
Meeting the Mentor / Shape Shifter: Alastor 'MadEye' Moody.
Mentor's Capabilities: MadEye can apparently see from the back of his head.
Magical Gifts: the three unforgivable curses.
Hero's Capabilities: only one person has been known to survive the unforgivable curse.
World of the Transformation: infinite stairs.
Red Herring: Longbottom looks out of the window.
Developing the Interdiction: the twins try to trick the Goblet.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Viktor looks at Hermione.
Pushed to the Trials: the names pop out of the Goblet.
Warning: Dumbledore et al want to know how Harry's name popped out of the Goblet.
No Going Back: the binding magical contract means that Harry has no choice.
Warnings: the teachers debate whether to let Potter continue onto the dangerous trials.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Ron falls out with Harry.
Developing Characters and Relationships: meeting Rita Skeeter; Rita takes Potter aside.
Warning: Sirius appears in the fire; people die in this tournament.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Ron still annoyed with Harry.
Developing Ally Capabilities: Longbottom is into herbs.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Hermione relays Ron's message.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Hagrid meets Maxime.
Foreshadow of Trial 1: Harry sees the dragons;. Warning: the horntail is a nasty piece of work.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Harry tells Fred that the first task is dragons.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Harry tells Ron to stay away from him.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Harry tells Draco he's full of crap; MadEye changes Draco into a ferret.
Foreshadow of the Resolution: the trunk in MadEye's room.
Mentor's Guidance: MadEye tells Harry to use his strengths; use his wand.
Encouragement: Hermione encourages Harry in the tent.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Rita appears and is told to leave.
Danger: Harry gets the Hungarian Horntail Dragon.
Trial 1: Harry battles the Hungarian Horntail Dragon.
Celebration: at passing Trial 1.
Foreshadow of Trial 3: the open egg makes a strange noise.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Ron and Harry make up.
Foreshadow of Trial 2: Harry looking at Cho.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Ron gets the dress.
Trial 2: Minerva informs all of the Ball; they must get a date.
Journey to Trial 2: getting a date for the Ball is harder than slaying a dragon.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Journey to Trial 2: discussing who's dating who in class.
Trial 2: Harry asks Cho to go to the Ball.
Developing Characters and Relationships: at the ball.
Developing the Antagonism: Harry dreams the dream again.
Pushed to Trial 3: Harry and Hermione on the bridge; he needs to figure out the egg.
Developing Characters and Relationships: Fred tells Harry to have a bath with his egg.
Trial 3: Murtle appears; Harry puts the egg in the water and gets the message.
Mentor's Guidance: MadEye tells Longbottom to help Harry.
Magical Gift: Gilliweed will help Harry breathe underwater for an hour.
Meeting the Oracle and Learning of the Sword: Dumbledore tells that they must rescue their friends from underwater.
Tension: you seem a little tense Harry.
Time Pressure: only an hour.
Journey to the Sword: underwater.
Guardians of the Sword: the underwater people.
Time Pressure: clock ticking.
Seizing the Sword: Harry rescues both Ron and the girl.
Near Death Experience: Harry is dragged down.
Reward: Harry given second place.
Red Herring: Crouch talks with Potter.
Atonement with the Father: Harry falls into the Goblet; Igor is interrogated; Crouch Junior was part of it.
Apotheosis: Dumbledore is looking for a small detail he's missed; Harry relates his dream; Harry should cast the dreams away.
Foreshadow of the Resolution / Magic Gift: Snape tells Harry of the truth serum.
Ultimate Boon: the last trial; the maze.
Refusal: Harry raises his wand to end the contest; stops Fred from zapping Viktor; returns to save Fred instead of take the cup.
Magic Flight: both Harry and Fred run from the pursuing maze.
Rescue from Without: the cup is a Port Key.
Master of Two Worlds: Wormtail kills Fred; Harry is captured; Voldemort returns; Harry and Voldemorte battle with the help of Lily.
Crossing the Return Threshold: Harry returns with Fred's body.
Shape Shifter Reveals Himself / setup next movie: MadEye is really Barty Crouch Junior; you know what this means?
Freedom to Live: challenges conquered; everyone says goodbye and returns home.
Learn more...
The Complete 188 stage Hero's Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/
You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.
Kal Bishop
**********************************
You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.
The media circus around the release of the last Harry Potter novel is finally beginning to die down, but that does little to disguise the fact that the fantasy genre is alive and well in the twenty-first century. Hundreds of millions were spent to bring Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Rowling's Harry Potter series, C.S. Lewis's Narnia and others to the big screen, and the gamble has paid off.
But where did the genre originate? Many have the mistaken idea that the fantasy genre began with Tolkien. Though Tolkien brought fantasy into the literary spotlight, fantasy itself has been around for far longer and indeed in some respects dates back to the very beginnings of literature.
The Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer's The Illiad and The Odyssey, while set in familiar realms, contain many of the aspects - heroes, warring gods, monsters, quest-related adventure - that has become part and parcel of modern fantasy. Much of the fodder for modern fantasy is taken from early literature, especially myths, legends, and religion.
Elements of fantasy have appeared throughout the history of literature, whether as religious facets (ala Dante's Divine Comedy), allegory (Spenser's The Faerie Queen), or in mythology and the various medieval legends of King Arthur and Roland. The popular Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, full of fantastic elements, became an important text for many later fantasy writers. Other literary precursors to the fantasy genre include such notable works as Shakespeare's Macbeth & The Tempest; Milton's Paradise Lost; and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.
Modern fantasy literature, as we know it, began with the Victorians, who had a long-abiding love for fairy tales and the fantastic. There was a great resurgence of interest in mythology and folklore. Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm traveled throughout their native Germany, gathering old folktales. Hans Christian Anderson wove bits and pieces of Scandinavian folklore into his tales. Elias Lönnrot published the Kalevala, an epic poem compiled from Finnish folktales. Andrew Lang wrote and published a series of color-coded "Fairy Stories" during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
William Morris - one member of a group of Victorian writers, poets, and artists known as the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" - was among the first to write pure "fantasy" tales, that is, tales set in an entirely invented realm. Morris's novels, heavily influenced by his love of northern (particularly Norse) mythology, set the stage for the fantasy masters of the twentieth century.
J.R.R. Tolkien, arguably the single most influential writer of modern fantasy, took this idea to the next level. His fictional world of Middle-earth contained all the depth of our own - a complex history, lovable and detestable characters, gods and heroes, mountains and rivers, joy and despair. Tolkien never foresaw the mass popularity that his works gained. He wrote primarily for pleasure and diversion, weaving bits and pieces of mythology and philology (the study of language) with his own imagination.
Much as his friend and fellow scholar C.S. Lewis did with his Narnia series, Tolkien drew on his immense knowledge of mythology, language, and literature to build a fully-developed and internally consistent world. Tolkien's well-known essay, "On Fairy Stories", lays out some ground rules for successful fantasy.
Tolkien discounted the idea of "willing suspension of disbelief", noting that
"What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful 'sub-creator.' He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed." (JRR Tolkien, The Tolkien Reader, pg. 60).
In the years since Tolkien, the genre of fantasy has exploded upon popular culture. Some very gifted writers - among them Ursula LeGuin, Stephen R. Donaldson, Tad Williams, Phillip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, and George R.R. Martin - have left (or continue to make) their mark upon the field of fantasy fiction.
J.K. Rowling, with her immensely successful Harry Potter books, has helped to keep the genre in the limelight, introducing a whole new generation of readers to the fantasy genre. Rowling has scoured the depths of mythology and folklore in the pursuit of material for her created world.
Each individual writer uses these fantastic elements differently. Tolkien captures the mood and stark beauty of northern mythology. George R.R. Martin, with his enormously popular Song of Ice and Fire books, uses bits of mythology (dragons, sorcery) and mixes them with a heady dose of historical details. Rowling uses her phantasmagoria of mythological creatures and legends almost whimsically.
Varying styles aside, the modern fantasy genre has roots deep in the history of literature. There is an innate human need for the magical, to rise above the mundane. It is what drives each culture to create mythology, to look for a meaning higher than the everyday. It is that curse word of modern literary criticism - "escapism" - but it is also something more. Mythology (and fantasy) fulfills needs that the everyday world does not.
This drive, going back to the very beginning of literature, is what still drives millions of readers to pick up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or The Fellowship of the Ring.
Revered scholar Joseph Campbell once said: "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths."
Fantasy novels are often those dreams given expression.
I think the first time I really became aware of what is going on with what seems to be waning interest of our kids generation in reading of the printed page, was when my own three children - all in their 20 ' - thanked me for their signed copies of my latest novel, Shadow of Innocence, but somewhat guiltily confessed, they'd probably never read it.
What!?
Hey, wait a minute, I write novels and my own kids aren't even going to read them? What gives? Have my schoolteacher wife and I somehow managed to produce an illiterate brood of offspring? Well to be fair, they do read - sometimes. However, my boys read only non-fiction business books and my daughter, as she tells me, is not 'into', my genre.
But as I began to look into this reading reluctance more closely, it seems that there is a definite trend away from reading for enjoyment in the under 30 population. And Harry Potter aside, most kids would rather watch TV or play video games, then read.
And it's not just a limited to the 'too busy' 20 Something's.
While at a book signing earlier this week, I got to talking with a young mom and her three grade-school age children, all of whom she admitted, hate to read. And not even the magic and hype of around the marvelous Harry Potter could break through their reluctance to forsake the 'Tube' for the printed word.
As near as I can ascertain, these advanced cases of 'literary phobia' seem to revolve around one a central theme. Reading is work. Videos are fun.
Oddly enough, the reading aversion doesn't seem to extend to reading off of a computer screen. But before my fellow authors start effervescing about 'e-books' replacing the printed word, I'd have to respectfully and sadly disagree. It's not necessarily the medium that delivers the story, novel or essay; its the words themselves. The generation that has been raised on the flashing lights and blaring sounds of video games, music videos and TV commercials, don't like reading blocks of words - unless they flash, move and sing.
In a nutshell, almost everyone I spoke to under the age of 30 feels that all reading means work; for school, the job, or in navigating on-line forms. And work that they are perfectly willing to do by the way for things like on-line registrations, i-pod warranties and the endless minutia involved in setting up a My space, Face Book, or any other number of on-line, 'tell-all' forms detailing everything from sexual orientation to shoe size.
In an attempt to ascertain whether or not it's the story line or plot of novels that turns today's generation off from recreational reading as a form of entertainment, I've actually discussed the plots and story lines of some of my favorite books and authors with many of these very nice and very bright, young people. Often they get really interested in them and when they do, can you guess what question they asked me? "Is it out on DVD?"
Sigh
But maybe it's our fault. Maybe all of the electronic flashing, and jumping, noisemaking cyber entertainment and communications devices with which we've flooded our kids generation, has atrophied their ability to visualize and enjoy a written story using nothing but - imagination.
On the other hand, who knows, maybe it will all work out. Maybe undreamed of new technologies will come along to save the day - and imagination.
Perhaps we can imagine a future day when some new remarkable electronic cyber device will give kids the opportunity to imagine their own story and create it in words, pictures and sound. Perhaps in the form of holograph as in Star wars.
So buck up my fellow boomers. Maybe by the time we're all hanging out in the nursing home and cackling about our 'glory days' spent blowing out our brain cells back in the groovy '60s and '70s, our grand kids will be creating literary flights of fancy that will bring a imagination and storytelling back full circle.
Let's hope!
Ric
Ric Wasley - Author
Shadow of Innocence - Kunati - April 2007
Acid Test - Fall 2004
The tattooing world has very few favorites. Phoenix bird is one of them. Do you know where this interesting picture comes from? What is the symbolic significance of this awesome picture? We will look at the reasons this bird design has become one of enduring symbols of time.
Mythology says that the Phoenix is a creature that rises from its own ashes after burning down. The name itself originated from the Greek word for "red", the universal color of fire. Being the bird of fire, Phoenix can be aptly used to symbolize a person's inner fire and zest for life. The rage for the Phoenix bird tattoos has started a few years back. The Phoenix bird epitomizes the rebirth and resurrection from the ashes. You can use this symbol if you have had a tough patch in life and successfully overcame it.
It is fairly easy to draw the Phoenix bird tattoos which are normally painted in bright and lucid colours that represent life. The uniqueness of a phoenix bird design lies in its different interpretation by different people. You can very easily personalize a phoenix bird tattoo to highlight emotions close to your heart. You just need to tell a good tattoo artist what you want to depict with your tattoo and he or she will easily give you the best.
Jewish legend says that the phoenix was the bird that refrained from eating the forbidden fruit of paradise, set itself on fire but rose from the ashes three days later. The Phoenix bird was also considered to be the representation of the rising and setting of the sun. However later on it was widely accepted as the symbol of resurrection of life. Originally ones were just beauty symbols. Of late, they have become a medium to express ones life experiences and emotions. Therefore, the Phoenix bird designs have attained big popularity. Keeping in line with this, the tattoo artists have creatively designed many forms of the Phoenix bird tattoo.
The emergence of the Phoenix Bird tattoo as a popular one is not documented well but people believe that it has its origins in the Far East. Men like to have a phoenix bird picture on their arms, while the ladies normally prefer to have it on their lower back or on their belly. There are people who consider Phoenix to be the symbol of the devil and that pagans expressed their love for Satan through the phoenix. In the vastly popular Harry Potter series, the phoenix has been depicted as the bird that has healing powers. This is more in line with the symbolic meaning of Phoenix, the resurrection. In the chronicles of Narnia too, a phoenix is pictured saving one of the characters from imminent danger.
Historically the phoenix was used not just as a tattoo. It was also printed on the coins by the ancient Romans, who believed that it would ensure the longevity of the Roman Empire. No matter what the reason, the phoenix tattoo designs are beautiful and at the same time have definite, deeply held symbolic significance. Therefore, these designs are, like diamonds, forever.
