Morning Nuggets

No, not chicken bits for breakfast. . .

One of my guilty pleasures on LJ (in addition to memes) is lotrboysdaily, where I learned this morning that Brad Dourif, who played Grima Wormtongue in the LOTR films also played Brother Edward in the Babylon-5 episode "Passing Through Gethsemane," one of my all-time favorites. *boggle*

In the course of conversation regarding the above-mentioned trivia, I visited the LJ of cosmob, with whom I share interests in LOTR, B5 and Singin' in the Rain. As far as I'm concerned, anyone whose default icon depicts Donald O'Connor performing "Moses Supposes" is worth checking out.

There I found the following quotation:

"Fear is the original sin.... Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something. It is a cold, slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading."
—L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle

A sentiment with which I agree 100% Fear is not only "the mind-killer, the little death that brings total oblivion" it is the conscience-killer as well. Fear both motivates and provides the justification for all kinds of evil. It kills love and trust. It makes us build walls. And it tells us that whatever we do is all right, because we owe it to ourselves to protect ourselves above all else.

Yes, some things should be feared, and guarded against. But try to imagine what the world would be like if we all had the courage to put more effort into understanding, compassion, and generosity instead of defensiveness and self-protection.

How many weapons in this world are readied, by individuals and nations, not because someone is actively planning aggression, but out of fear of what someone else might do? How many acts of violence and humiliation are motivated by fear of the Other, not because any one individual had done something to threaten or transgress?

Warrior Casting

I'm taking a poll: which actors (from the 1980's to the present) do you think have been the most convincing in portraying warriors: people who fight and kill other people as a way of life, whether as good guys or bad guys. They look like they have both the physical strength and the mental orientation to engage in deadly force and survive long enough to get good at it. There's usually a ruthless streak in them.

Off the top of my head: Russell Crowe in Gladiator is a standout. I've always found it easy to believe Sean Bean, especially as Sharpe. Chow Yun-Fat has the natural grace and strength, as well as the mental focus. I was willing to believe Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai.

Your thoughts?

I'm Not Sure Anyone *Really* Wants to Know All This. . .

. . . but I'm just back from my first session of "Christian Scriptures" class, and won't be able to go to sleep for awhile because of the buzz. (The class looks very promising!)

So, thanks to ad_lumen, here's a few factoids about Yours Truly:

1. What is the geekiest part of your music collection?
My 1970's pop: The Carpenters, Captain and Tennille, Barry Manilow, Shaun Cassidy

2. What do you eat when you raid the fridge late at night?
Cold chicken

3. What is your secret guaranteed weeping movie?
Not a secret now: The Last Starfighter, of all things. (There are more conventional weepers for me, but that one was the mostly-secret.)

4. If you could have plastic surgery, what would you have done?
Liposuction around my middle and backside.

5. Do you have a completely irrational fear?
Elevators. Hate 'em.

( There are 63 of these questions! )