Magic and Tech

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This was originally posted on crayfisher a couple of months ago but it still seems to get randomly liked. It’s an interesting topic.

FairyPhoto Image via Card Cow on Amazon

I promised klown I would post this, and it’s still unfinished, mainly because I have no idea where it goes next. But I hope it’s a fun thing to ponder on a three day weekend. Give me ALL your thoughts on it.

The Question of Magic

Part 1:

Clarke’s Third Law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

It’s easy to see how modern tech resembles magic – we have magic mirrors of all sorts (tv, mobile devices, etc), magic wands (remote controls), thunderbolts (guns), etc,

Now think about this – since tech resembles magic, it follows that magic resembles tech.

Corollary: Magic, an allegedly mythical and supernatural phenomenon, resembles technology, a very real human creation.

Astonishingly, this is actually very true. For example:
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Escape Hollywood by Reading Subtitles

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originally published at http://crayfisher.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/escape-hollywood-by-reading-subtitles/

FAITH

 

I’ve started watching more foreign streaming videos instead of Hollywood shows, because, really, their politics & indoctrination is so annoying. Grrr. The problem is I have no one to discuss it with here! So I’m gonna fix that by occasionally reviewing some favorites and hoping that gets a bunch of you all hooked *evil laugh*.

I’m liking a lot of kdramas (South Korean dramas). Kdramas are typically serialized novels that run twice weekly and have a beginning, middle, end all plotted in advance. You can watch them for free legally – all you need is the internet and a willingness to read subtitles. I’m going review one I just marathoned through and really enjoyed. I think it’s probably a good first drama for Westerners for reasons I’ll explain in a bit.

Faith

Faith is a historical time-travel fantasy set in 1351, during the Goryeo period, when Korea was a vassal state of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. The main characters in the drama are all real historical figures: King Gongmin, Queen Noguk, General Choi Young are names that Korean kids learn about in school. The twist is that mortal need makes King Gongmin order Choi Young into a legendary heaven’s portal to bring back Heaven’s Doctor to save his Queen’s life. The portal is actually a time portal, and he enters 2012 Seoul (which he thinks is Heaven) and kidnaps a plastic surgeon from a medical conference to take back with him.

This drama has some of my favorite elements – historical fantasy, time travel, swords, characters who act true to their period, court intrigues, political and literal backstabbing, humor, over-the-top villains who are still sympathetic, and people who are facing inner conflicts that mirror their external struggles. I’m actually not a big romance watcher, but I ended up totally buying the love story that slowly unfolds between the captain & the doctor. I won’t lie, I was reaching for the tissues by the end.

One of the reasons I picked Faith to be your gateway drug to kdrama is that the time-travel set-up means that Goryeo is just as alien to the surgeon as it is to us, Americans, and we discover it through her 21st century eyes. Another reason is that the story could be seen as a variation of one of my favorite books, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. Maybe the biggest reason I picked Faith is because it has wonderfully strong women characters. Damsels can be a failing in kdramas and I so love that Faith beats this stereotype.

I watched Faith for free on DramaFever. DramaFever has a huge collection of subtitled Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish/Latino shows, including ones currently airing in their countries of origin. So if Faith is not yoru cup of tea, there are hundreds of others to try.

I actually watched via the DramaFever android app (they also have iOS, Google, and Roku apps, and I think you can get them via Hulu.) The app worked well once I figured out that there is a menu button and that keeping my finger down brings up a pop-up list of actions. I signed up for a free account; supposedly they are ad-supported but I haven’t really seen any ads yet. I think it might be that newbies get the first week ad-free or something like that.)

So, thanks for reading my review. Talk about what shows, foreign or Hollywood, books, anything.

Praying for the grieving families of Sandy Hook

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Sent these tweets today:

In midst of millions of words about#SandyHook, let us include prayers for every victim and their bereaved families.  –

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them…. #SandyHookPrayers –
…May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. #SandyHookPrayers –
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. #SandyHookPrayers –

I pray for the family of Daniel Barden in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Olivia Engel in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Josephine Gay in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Ana M. Marquez-Greene in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Dylan Hockley in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Madeleine F. Hsu in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Catherine V. Hubbard in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Chase Kowalski in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Jesse Lewis in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of James Mattioli in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Grace McDonnell in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Emilie Parker in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Jack Pinto in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Noah Pozner in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Caroline Previdi in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Jessica Rekos in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Avielle Richman in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Benjamin Wheeler in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Allison N. Wyatt in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Mary Sherlach in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Victoria Soto in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Anne Marie Murphy in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Lauren Rousseau in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

I pray for the family of Dawn Hochsprung in their time of grief.
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. –

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix. Miserère nobis. –