Don't mind me, I'm just a subplot.

Went to see Sinbad today. I wanted to like it - I really wanted to like it. And it wasn't *bad*, per se, it simply wasn't extraordinary. There didn't seem to be any exuberance from the involved about the project - the voices weren't amazingly cast, the facial animation was wooden, the score swelled a few too many times to make up for that.... However, the scene with the sirens was simply *neat.* Very well done, very unexpected, great music, great visuals, great everything.

But the biggest complaint I had with the entire film revolved around the Sinbad-moral-standpoint-character Proteus. This fellow, besides possessing a chin that could be used as a chopping block, was dull, stiff, poorly drawn, badly voiced, and obvious-clunk-you-over-the-head moral guy. He showed up occasionally brooding, ostensibly to remind everyone that while Sinbad is off galavanting to the world's edge, his best friend is waiting to be executed and aren't you tense yet boys and girls? So, during one "meanwhile, back in the jail" scenes, Jules leaned over and said, "Don't mind me - I'm just a subplot." >grin<

As I started titling this entry, though, I thought - "there's a deeper meaning in that." Really, we as Christians may view our lives as "just a subplot" to the GREAT plot, that is Christ. How many saints have said, "Don't mind me" - Padre Pio, the Little Flower, saints as yet unknown. Those who have lived their lives quietly to God's greater glory.

HowsomeEVER, that does *not* mean that we are called to in any way look down upon our own or other's subplots. This is where the "last shall be first" bit comes into play. In God's eye view, every story is not so much a subplot as a reflection of the plot. Yet, unlike a Platonic worldview, each reflection is good in and of itself - has value.

Perhaps a better phrase would be "variation," as in melodic line. Tolkien would certainly agree with that - God gave us the theme to which we jazz as we will. (Or go completely achordal - which is why I think I've always felt physically ill at "deconstructionist" or atonal "music" - HAH! It's dischord personified - and who is dischord but the fellow we *really don't want* to spend eternity with? Oy. Right - beauty's been done to death; let's try ugly. Honestly, folks - beauty canNOT be done to death, it is life. Ugliness IS death. Thus quoth Zarthrustra.)

In completely unrelated news, I have decided that if I can't keep my living area clean (or at least clean immediately, Mary Poppin having a previous engagement), I can take comfort in at least keeping my WEB boards clean. Except that I have an unfortunate interloper over on PM right now whose tag is far too large and *ruins* the aesthetic of the board. I am in a double crisis: my shower curtain rod has gone missing and my webboard is uneven! Blaugh! Oh the vagaries of life!

Mood: Valiant but weary
Music: In a few seconds, My Fair Lady, unless I can find Camelot first
Where I Ought to Be: On the high seas with far better knees than the ones that I possess
Neat Quote to be Put into a Screenplay Sometime: Julie: How horrible would it be if I were to fall over while standing up? Emily: Well, it depends. Is there a man nearby?