March
15
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Fiat Lux (Let there be light)
I was trying to remember some of the most beautiful conflicts I’ve seen and one came to mind, It aired on Cartoon Network from 2001-2004, early naughties cartoon called Samurai Jack and was produced by a russian animator called Genny Tartakovsky. Simply it tells of a noble samurai and his adventures on his journey home.
In one such episode, he is encountered with a ninja, who he fights in a tower as the sunsets. He sees the ninja using the ever increasing shadows to his advantages, Samurai Jack decides to reveal he is aware of the same techniques but instead has trained to use the light, rather than the shadows.
What then follows is some of the most beautiful fighting choreography I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.
Not only for its visual presence but for all the metaphors involved. The increasing realm of the shadows, good vs evil, light vs dark, samurai jack being forced to stay in the light, how good and evil contrast and show up against different settings, The duality of good and evil and their fearful symmetry,Ā The need to climb up the tower to get a closer to the light, The folklore between the honourary samurai and the decietful ninja battling it out. It’s chockerblock with shit.
Eventually the tower is almost pitch black and only two beams of light on either side of the samurai. His time on this planet is nigh and he may never make it home. Even in the darkest of times, he never gives up on the light, which ultimately saves him in the end.
The scene is six minutes lnog and only has a few sentences at the beginning by the samurai, it is carried by a fantastic selection of background music, which never fails to bring suspense and truly beautiful silent movment by the two adversaries, as they fade in and out of our and their respective visions. Truth be told, I believe Genny had the idea for the entire episode based around this single scene. What causes the scene to grow is the ever shifting sense of the light moving and the knowledge soon, darkfall will fall, leaveing our hero completely helpless, as the ninja decides to play the waiting game.
While being a tantalising dessert for the senses, the scene for me is the telling of a simple story. If not mildly cliche. Mostly it goes against one of my favourite wesley snipes’ quotes from 1992’sĀ Passenger 57
‘Always bet on black’
Boooo
but then again one could also use another Passenger 57 quote as a retort to my negative outburst.
‘Those are my emotions acting without the benefit of Intellect’
So with Intellect on myside, and a squeeze of modern day skeptism, This scene shows that even the smallest light in your life can be used to overcome adversity. We all have something small and bright that we can look upon in times of trouble. As with Samurai Jack, we all have a latent training to use this light but rarely do, we shouldn’t be afraid to let this light into our lives, our minds, our hearts and souls. Especially those normally surrounded by complete darkness. They may just save you when you least expect it…
So I close in the immortal words of Harry Dixon Loes’ beautiful Hymn,
This lil light of mine, I’m going to let it shine (X3)
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine….
(sino luceat, sino luceat, sino luceat) for all you latin boffs out there.
Thought Puddles 
Oooooooo O’Nov,
Right, I am severely mentally impaired today, that is a surety for all in the hooose š
And whenever I start talking about messages coming from somewhere else, it always seems to involve you ;), which is hilarious cos Trissus just said ‘oh don’t go accusing Ollie’nov AGAIN! But heres the thing, I have decided that I am insanely SURE from a train of bloody confusing events, that
A) You have saved my life in the complete darkness of zeee shadows and our silence,
B) You have been watching my back and protecting my light for a long long time, because you are so amazing, you checked out the roots of ‘the darkness’ threatening my soul and my life.
C) You then saved my life again, as the master Ace detective of them little squitters known as Knaves
D) Then you devoted me some more of your time, by sending me to the sentences of enlightenment, all still in silence and with such a spandangly purity of heart!!!!!!
E) You have spent all day confusing the life out of me, with the sweetest tales of cartoon characters and songs and memories, all the time I thought you were unsafe, and were keeping me safe in every way
F) You astound me
G) If I have imagined this then a) you look great and you’ve done nowt for it š and b) I will definately know the extents of my oddness during oddness, and check me out for making all this up from a whole nother place š
H) You are the most cryptic little mo-fo known to man, yet I know that you have absorbed and understood every piece of me and you have stood in my shoes, because you wanted me to at least know that you wouldn’t ever break my fragile parts on purpose.
I) THIS is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me in my life
J) You did a really bad job of letting me know wonderful your soul is; and telling me you were only travelling the midlands from the new year, was not an overt sign for your depth of feeling for me! which you must of had to do all this for me,
K) Moved I am, sooooooo mahoosively moved!
L) I am now officially speachless at the lengths you have gone to, and just at your immense spandangly-ness of self, on-top of all the blatently obvious qualities,
M) Thankyou for being as crazy as me, as we are the only ones who figured this out
N) MY GOD thanunks sooooooooooo much
O) You have been like 18 best friends in 1, in-spite of being on the recieving end of about 3 enormous emailed torrents of abuse (how bad do I feel ;/ soooo sorry)
P) You are AMAZING and SPECIAL and bloody HARD to figure out š
Q) You are a BEACON and you will remain one in my insides forvever for everything!
Frenchie…:))) xxxxxx
Mwah xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Wilkommen :))))
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