Heroes!

A recent, and most delightful, discovery has been the TV series 'Hornblower'. Completely fantastic! The adventures, the wit and derring-do, the honour, duty and courage, the twinkle in his eye, the floppy hair.... Where have I been since 1998? - or was it 1798?

I'm not sure whether to read the books or not - Ioan Gruffudd is so perfect in the TV series that it's hard to imagine anything different!



I knew by the end of the first episode that Horatio Hornblower would be joining my 'list' of favourite fictional characters. But it got me thinking as to who else might also be on it!

So here goes, my first draft at a list of favourite fictional characters heroes:

In no particular order,

Horatio Hornblower (as played by Ioan Gruffudd)
Captain Jean Luc Picard
Constable Benton Fraser (Due South)
President Bartlett (plus the rest of the cast of The West Wing!)
Mr Spock
Anne Shirley (as played by Megan Follows)
Jo March (Little Women)
Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen gets it!) - plus Gandalf, Legolas and the others!
Sir Lancelot

On the B list are:
King Arthur (Sean Connery's, obviously)
Robin Hood (I think Kevin Costner's wins)
Spiderman (Tobey Maguire) - he's so sweet!
Mr Darcy (hmm, difficult to decide which one)
Princess Leah, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker
Buffy Summers
Captain Carrot (from the Terry Pratchett books!)
Sherlock Holmes
Elinor Dashwood

Hmm, I notice they're almost all TV characters so far! And by far the majority, men :) And a good number of men in uniform as well... I'm so predictable...hehe.

I'm sure I need some more 'intellectual' choices... any suggestions, anyone?

From West Wing to the Real Thing

... so states the headline of an article on Barack Obama in today's Guardian. I'm glad I'm not the only person getting confused between The West Wing and the real world of US Politics!

It turns out that Matthew Santos, the 'next' president in The West Wing, was in fact modelled on Barack Obama - way back in 2004. As the article states, "the result is a bizarre case of art imitating life - only for life to imitate art back again."

In the TV show, Santos begins as the rank outsider up against a national figure famous for standing at the side of a popular Democratic president. There are doubts about Santos's inexperience, having served just a few years in Congress, and about his ability to persuade voters to back an ethnic minority candidate - even as his own ethnic group harbour suspicions that he might not identify with them sufficiently.

But the soaring power of his rhetoric, his declaration that the old divisions belong in the past and his sheer magnetism, ensure that he comes from behind in a fiercely close primary campaign and draws level with his once all-commanding opponent. Every aspect of that storyline has come true for Barack Obama. Axelrod, now chief strategist for the Obama campaign, recently joked in an email to Attie: "We're living your scripts!"

The Telegraph also found a list of 'delicious parallels' between The West Wing and the US Presidential Election.

Could this be how it ends? :-)

Matthew Santos' stirring convention speech (from 'The West Wing'):

Music and Mortality

I found myself inspired today to re-read the Narnia series again. I had a wonderful time reading - and blogging about - the series a couple of years ago, but it's the kind of reading feeding material that deserves a regular visit I think.

So I sat down - or rather lay down - this afternoon with the Magician's Nephew. I'm a quick reader, but I forced myself to slow down, almost reading aloud, for the many beautiful passages describing the creation of Narnia. I could almost hear Aslan's voice singing Narnia into being, then the stars joining in, and the shear fruitfulness of the ground that cannot help but respond. My whole mind and body responds even to the thought of that singing, with recognition and joy, like a forgotten memory. Singing, yes - Jesus! O to have been there - but then we will be next time!

Speaking of heavenly music, a recent discovery has been 'Spem in Alium' by Thomas Tallis (listen to it sung by the Tallis Scholars on YouTube). A truly beautiful choral piece, it requires 8 choirs of 5 parts each (40 singing parts in total) and is designed for a cathedral. Rich and complex yet pure and simple, the interweaving melodies are haunting then joyful; completely wonderful. I would absolutely love to go to a live performance of this - and would travel a fair distance - so if anyone hears of a performance anywhere, please let me know!

But back to the Magician's Nephew. There's a moment at the beginning of Narnia when Aslan 'calls' the Cabbie's wife and she suddenly appears, whisked away from the Earth in the middle of her laundry! I was shocked to discover my reaction to this event - what, give her no warning? but what if she wanted to bring something? say goodbye? - and forced to reflect on my own silliness (even as the questions raced through my mind, I was simultaneously appalled and amused!). But actually it was not the mortality question necessarily that rocked me, the fact that of course we can't take anything when we die, but actually the conviction that I am too attached to 'things'.

What 'thing' left on Earth could possibly matter when brought to this wonderful new place of Narnia - why should she need or miss anything when Aslan himself is there? I know this will be true when we meet Jesus and live with him on the new Earth, so why do I have this attachment to 'things' that have no lasting value? I couldn't even think of anything particular I might have wanted to pick up had it been me whisked away - it was a general sense of disattachment. I have had the general sense for a number of months now that I want to 'lighten the load' and get rid of some stuff, because I have too many things, so this was an encouragement to me that that's true. I want to lose some of the excess weight, tone up, lighten up, be more flexible, temporary, ready to leave... So it's going to be 'give away' season! (feel free to help out! :)