Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Story of My Life [Book Review]

Not really an example of a fairy tale, but it is a rather interesting look into the nature of perspective. One can get some very interesting ideas from the life of someone who was forced to live in an altered state. But I digress.

"The Story of My Life" is a book written by deaf and blind woman Helen Keller, it being her autobiography. It was published in 1903. I did not read the entire book as presented. It had two other sections containing 4 hours worth of her horribly constructed letters as well as a section that was about the writing of the actual book. These were uninteresting to me, and so this review is only about the book she actually wrote, which I did finish.

Funny story: When I was very young, I often got Helen Keller and Pollyanna confused. I didn't know who was fictional and who was real. For a while I thought Helen Keller had all her problems as well as a pair of broken legs. These mistakes can happen to a child who does not bother reading. I did later figure out who was who and who had what disability later on.

I read Pollyanna about six or seven years ago. I'm not quite sure. I was going to read this book right afterwards, but I got side-tracked by other things. Even so, I am glad that I finally got around to it. The whole reason I did this was because I did think it a peculiar thing that someone with such a debilitating set of maladies could actually function as well as Helen did.

The whole reason we sort of wonder about her is because she had a unique perspective in life that we just aren't familiar with. And to read her book, it does make things a bit more clear. She isn't like other people, but she is still human... and a woman. Her lack of sight and sound does not change her. All it did was change her perspective.

I recently had my first real alcoholic drink. As I began drinking, I picked up one of my books and started reading it. I was trying to gage how much my cognitive abilities would alter while I was under the influence of alcohol. Unfortunately, I didn't really notice much, but the whole idea that a perspective could change based on altered senses had always intrigued me.

"The Story of My Life" is an amazing and extremely well written book, and when you look into the issues this woman had, it is amazing it is as good as it is. By the end of the book, she honestly barely feels like she's any different than anybody. And her unique perspective, even though influenced by negatives, has actually given her insights into the world around her that we might never comprehend ourselves.

Sometimes we do get distracted by what we see and what we hear. We don't take the time to "see" life through our other senses, as we were intended so. There's a lot of nuance in things that can be missed because of this. It's unfortunate that we do this to ourselves, but we can do better is we care to bother.

One small criticism, a personal one. Helen Keller does relate that she loved reading old fables and fairytales in her book, but she was very scathing in how she put down the presentation of talking animals. She went on and on about how she could not take a moral seriously due to the absurdity of the animals acting like people. Pardon me, Miss Keller, but I take a personal exception to this. I forgive you though, being that I intend to completely saturate the publishing market with as many talking, yelling, screaming, dancing animals as I possibly can! So have at you!

I recommend the book. Enjoy!

This blog was written on February 2, 2022.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: John [Book Review]

"John" is the forty-third book of the "Holy Bible," and it was written by John the Apostle himself. In the previous Gospel blogs, I have been giving you bullet points that stood out to me. Most of them were very similar with some differences in between, but the thing that actually made them similar was that they were an impassionate account of what happened with Jesus with very little personal stuff from the author, with a small exception from Luke, but not as much as what we are about to discuss.

I had intended to go into the differences in the same way, but this book is just not the same thing as the others. It's a very personal and passionate telling of the story by someone who was Jesus' personal friend. It also seemed to be written by someone who actually knew him. And because of that, I saw this one as more of a proper storybook, and not just an account.

If the author is going to be personal in his writing then I'd feel pretty silly in just putting everything in bullet points. "John" is the personalized story of Jesus. There's no way not to realize that if you read it from beginning to end. It is also the bulk of his doctrine delivered in an almost repetitious way as a means to make it very clear.

Something the other books failed to do was to show how passionate Jesus really was and that he did form personal friendships with people, becoming particularly close to them. He did the other things too, and I'll mention that in a moment. But his friendship with Lazareth was notable in that he cried when he found that he was dead.

Much of the story is him talking to friends and those who form a relationship with him. He came across as a very easy person to connect with... but only if you made the attempt. If someone ignored him, he would ignore them as well. The closeness he had with his disciples were made very clear. They were his friends, not just the followers of a religion.

Many of the miracles shown in former books were heavily and personally expounded on in "John." There was a sort of fairy pool where an angel would occasionally stir up the water, and whoever fell into it first would be healed. Now, the story was about how Jesus healed a man who could never make it into the water in time, but I found myself marveled at the pool itself. What an incredible thing to exist! I wish I knew more about it, but the book only speaks of its existence but not its origins.

Another anomaly of this story was a moment where the book steps away from Jesus to show something very amusing. After healing a man who, as it was suggested, was made blind by God at birth for the sole purpose of being healed by Jesus himself, the man has a very straight forward conversation with a priest within the temple. They try and get him to denounce that it was Jesus who healed him, but this guy was just so real and honest. He wasn't a religious zealot of any sort but just a formerly blind man who wanted to be honest about what he saw. He is ultimately thrown out of the temple, but after that, I'm not sure why he'd want to be there anyways.

Another thing that wasn't as well expounded upon in the other books is the mentioning of the Comforter, a man who was clearly defined as the Holy Spirit. He would come after Jesus left. And it honestly sounds, as written, that he is coming in the form of a man. It sounds like it, but it's not perfectly clear. Even so, one has to leave for the other to show up.

This book also made clear the love Jesus had for his Father. It was made very clear that he couldn't have done anything without the help of God. God is more powerful than the Son. Jesus gets everything from the Father which is willingly given.

There are a few passages at the very end of this book which don't even sound remotely like old English. The very last line sounds way off the beaten path of what I have read in the Bible so far. Just listen to this: "And there are also many other things with Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Wow. What even is this? That sounded like modern writing. I have read things with the same language in books written in the early 1900s. There's other lines like this too. It only seems to happen in "John."

The authorship of this book is very strange, but it works on a level not seen in the former three Gospels. Those books were about what Jesus did; where "John" is about what it was like to know him in those times. For this reason, I have no choice but to recommend it above the others. It's too good. It is the actual "story" of Jesus... and not just a raw telling of him. It was brilliant in his exposition throughout and shall go down as one of my favorites if not my actual favorite book in the whole of the "Holy Bible."

This blog was written on January 29, 2022.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Misadventures of Merlin Jones [Book Review]

[Minor spoilers.]

"The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" is a book by Mary Carey, based off of a Disney film of the same name, which was written by Tom and Helen August, based on a story by Bill Walsh. The book was published in 1964. The titles always show the word "Missadventures" spelled with an extra "s," although when when referred to in articles, it is spelled correctly. I think there might be a joke in there somewhere that I just never understood. No matter though.

I saw the movie first. It's one of my all time favorite movies, extremely underrated by most people. I went out of my way to look for a book in the hopes to get a little more insight into it. You'd be surprised how many obscure Disney films have novels based on them. That was a big thing back in the day. I'm a nut for trying to find old books based on obscure movies that I grew up with, and this was no exception.

"The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" tells the story of a campus nerd named Merlin Jones. He is very smart and curious about the laws of reality in just about every field of science. Despite being a bonafide nerd, he attracts a very pretty young woman named Jennifer who stands by his side for the entire story, defending his crazy ideas at every turn. Other very important characters of note is Norman the school bully, Judge Holmsby who has to contend with the problems Merlin's experiments lead to, and Stanley who is a chimpanzee.

The story is broken up into two main scientific experiments: The ability too read minds and hypnosis. I like the contrast of the two. One is all about invading the privacy of a man's thoughts, and the other is about outright controlling them. The book also considers the moral implication of both as well as dealing with the evils we may be hiding deep inside ourselves.

The hypnosis elements are particularly well-explained. There has long been a belief that no one can be hypnotized to do something outside of their own moral code. You can make someone squawk like a chicken, because, as embarrassing as that might be, it's not really a moral strike on their conscience. However if you ask someone to murder someone, they should not actually be convinced to do it since they are not so inclined to commit the act.

But this book suggests that some people might have things that they would do if it were not for the fact that they live in a law-bound civil society. One might be hypnotized to commit a crime by dint of the fact that they actually really want to. Something about this rings true, and I couldn't help but be impressed by the whole concept of it.

The moral implications of reading another person's mind was thought provoking as well. It shows that people's thought are not always as straight forward as you might think. There are surface thoughts that often slip into various forms of distraction and day dreams. A person's real thoughts can often be hidden a few layers deep. In the case of the book, Merlin could only catch the surface thoughts with led him down a misleading path. It was clever.

Another notable aspect of the story that really amused me was the relationship between Merlin and Jennifer. They had the solid foundation of a male/female relationship. Despite always being distracted by his scientific research, they loved each other. She was a pretty woman too. Most of the nerd stories I have seen usually doesn't pair the nerd with a woman like this with the relationship being this strong. I was impressed how naturally it flowed.

The book carries the plot of the movie pretty well, but it is presented oddly out of order. The odd thing is that everything sort of still happens the same way despite things being switched around. Two teachers were combined into one in the film (which wasn't really a bad idea honestly.) In the movie, the story covers mind reading first and then moves into its hypnosis phase, where the book does it in the opposite order. It still somehow works out with the same result.

As a final caveat, probably the most amusing scene in the book was when Merlin, who was tired of seeing the local dog chase his cat "Mittens" up a tree, hypnotizes the feline into thinking it's a lion. The cat then begins to roar and chase the dog up a tree. Although it does later backfire, leading Mittens to chase an unfortunate mailman up that same tree. It's silly, because how would the cat understand English? But I still enjoyed the comedic scene regardless.

I recommend "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" if you are interested in an amusing story that won't tax your brain too much. As silly as some of the premises are, it still brings up a few thought provoking questions about human morality. Great movie; great book.

This blog was written on January 26, 2022.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Luke [Book Review]

"Luke" is the forty-second book of the "Holy Bible," and it was written by Luke who was a doctor. It shows. Luke is a much better author than both Matthew and John Mark combined. His version of the story of Jesus was far more comprehensive and filled with nuance left out of the former two. I'll break down some things that stood out to me:

1. Luke starts off before the other guys did, and shows that both Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, were visited by the same angel. This whole thing was sparked at about the same time, and it was clear that there were preparations made for the coming of Christ.

2. The Christmas story is right here in "Luke." An interesting thing about reading it is that I remembered hearing this in the Peanuts Christmas Special. Too bad we don't have stuff like that in movies anymore.

3. There was a mentioning of a prophetess named Anna who was extremely old. She practically lived in the temple, and she was blessed to know that the Christ lived in her time before she died. Being able to hear the voice of God, that must have been an amazing thing to find out.

4. According to Luke, Jesus began preaching even as a child which seems to have been really confusing to their parents, I'm not sure why since they had actual visits by angels and such. Guess they forgot.

5. Very specifically during the baptism of Jesus, Luke points out that the Holy Spirit descends "in a bodily shape" but in the manner of a dove. Please stop depicting the Holy Spirit as a bird. "Luke" debunks that theory.

6. Matthew half-assed it. He only tracked Jesus' lineage back to Abraham. Luke gets the lineage all the way back to Adam which is far more significant. This brings him back further than just the Jews but all the way back to being a son of the actual God. Way to go, Luke!

7. In a previous blog, I mentioned that I wanted to be a fly on the wall when Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah. Where Luke does not actually give the dialog said in these moments, he points out that they were discussing the fact that Jesus will die in Jerusalem. Good to know!

8. Jesus actually claims to have seen Satan falling "as lightning" from heaven. Whether this is an actual visible description of the event or a simile is unsure. The point, however, is that he saw it.

9. A woman randomly cries out that the mother of Jesus is blessed. Jesus rather refutes this though. Like... he doesn't even acknowledge what she said, but points out that those who hear the Word of God is blessed. Sorry, Mary.

10. Some weirdo asked Jesus to speak to his brother to convince him to divide his inheritance with him. What the heck? Jesus pretty much asks who made him a judge or divider over him. This is like asking a parent or someone else in authority to make things fair for them so they don't have to do the work.

11. It was pointed out by Jesus that just doing your basic duty and stopping there is not worth very much. We were not put in this world to do the bare minimum. We are expected to make the most out of ourselves.

12. There is a bit of nuance concerning the rapture. Jesus mentions that there will come a day where people will simply disappear. He brings up the story of Lot's wife who turned back and was lost shortly before this. In a very short sentence of warning, he says "Remember Lot's wife."

13. Jesus rebukes people who pray about being better than others. It's not, in the least, humble, and it's also rather egotistical.

14. Seems like the coming of the Lord will come with a bunch of crazy stuff happening in the heavens. Too bad everyone will be staring at their phones. The truth is though that it should be hard to miss. I just like making jokes.

15. Apparently Pilate and Herod became buddies over the ridicule of Jesus. That's weird. They hated each other before this happened. Even so, Pilate did not want to punish Jesus at all.

16. Even after seeing Jesus do all the things he did, the disciples apparently didn't believe anything. After seeing Jesus alive again, they didn't even believe it was him. Sadly, this is human nature.

"Luke" was so much better than what came before it. It's more recommended than the others for it's nuance and carefully worded detail. The guy was definitely a educated doctor; it shows. Read this one!

This blog was written on January 21, 2022.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Mark [Book Review]

"Mark" is the forty-first book of the "Holy Bible," and it was written by John Mark, the same "Mark" mentioned in the title. It is almost a carbon copy of Matthew, but there are differences here and there. It is a bit shorter because some things, like the lineage of Jesus, were omitted. I'll mention some of the things that popped out at me in this one:

1. The high-and-mighty priests did not like some random guy going around and acting like he was better than they were. Heck, they didn't like some random guy being even equal to them. Jesus just showed up and started speaking to people as if he was one of them.

2. When the woman touched his robe, John Mark accounts that Jesus knew "that virtue had gone out of him," causing her to be healed. Virtue in this case is another way to explain energy, I imagine.

3. When they saw Jesus walking on the water, they didn't believe it was him because they... like... got over the fact that they had seen him perform miracles just before. People are stupid. There's no excuse for this.

4. Jesus out rightly attacks the pointless traditions of the Church for being things created and intended for men. They can often distract people from who God really is, because they are so caught up in them.

5. I have had an ongoing argument with my friend Shawn O'Toole about this: the whole idea that God can take someone up but then whack them later. Shawn may have been right though, because there is a part where Jesus words it in such a way that that may be the case. It's not 100% clear who he is talking about though. I never assume or interpret anything. It's got to be clear.

6. Jesus pretty much puts a full stop to divorce. It was a law of Moses, but Moses did it despite what God wanted. To be clear: IF YOU REMARRY YOU ARE GUILTY OF ADULTRY. "Matthew" makes a distinction on if there was treachery involved on behalf of one of the two parties. "Mark" does not.

God's perspective in this is made clear, that he made male and female himself. He's looking at you as you are. We're the ones distorting everything.

7. So if a woman marries many husbands in their life, who is she married to in the afterlife? The problem with this question is that it is still tied to earthly thinking. Jesus whacked it.

8. Jesus ridicules priests who put on airs. They tend to be the biggest hypocrites and will walk all over people they consider lower than they are.

9. A very simple thing Jesus advises which I doubt anyone is really doing these days: he simply says "Watch." Unfortunately smart phones were invented, so we'll all be looking downward if anything cool happens.

10. Moments before Jesus is taken away to be tried, there was a weird incident where a man only wearing a one piece cloth got a little too close to the action. A soldier grabbed him, he ditches the cloth, and runs away naked. People have tried to find meaning in this, but I honestly think it's the same as people getting a little too interested in things that don't involve them. It's like when people slow down to see what's happening at a traffic stop. John Mark noticed this and wrote it down. I personally find it amusing.

That's it. The book is very similar to "Matthew." I honestly recommend the latter more. It's a bit more filled out than this one. Either way, it's good to have it for correlation purposes.

This blog was written on January 14, 2022.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders [Book Review]

"Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders" is a novel written by William Harrington, and it was published in 1994. Although I have a small gripe (very small), I really enjoyed reading it. As it turns out, Mr. Harrington is probably the most trusted individual in writing this series of books.

This book is what I would call the very definition of a Columbo story, and that's really all I ask from reading it. I read it because I happen to like the Columbo formula, which includes having the entire crime spoiled for me at the beginning. It's all about if Columbo can prove his case in that charming way he goes about doing it. This book is no exception to the rule.

My tiny gripe was that the promotions for this book were misleading. The name itself and the reviews suggest that Columbo himself was tackling the murders of Charles Manson. Although he does do that, it is merely done in summary. The actual villain of the book is just some guy the author made up, as interesting as he was. I was rather astonished at some of the silly reviews on the cover, one going so far as to say that it was as terrifying as "Silence of the Lambs." The latter is an outright, blatant lie. The book is, at no point, even remotely terrifying and should never be compared to the aforementioned book.

I don't really blame William Harrington for this. It seems like his publishers got a little too ambitious for their own good. The thing of it is... this book is quite a wonderful read. I enjoyed every moment of it. I never felt patronized by a writer who knew more than I did. And William does actually know more of the subject matter than me, being that he is a former criminal lawyer. Everything was written in a way that I, a simple person, can understand it.

That said... I don't really want to spoil the book. All you need to know is that, although the story is related to the Manson case, it is not really about it. In fact, it takes place waaaaay after that whole thing went down. The tie-in was excellently done, and this book is worth reading. But giving out spoilers for a mystery book is not my thing, so I'll leave it at that.

I totally recommend "Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders" with the caveat that you just ignore the ridiculous publisher reviews and hype. It is a very stock-standard but excellent Columbo story that is worth reading, and it's knowledgeable connection the the Manson case did impress. Enjoy.

This blog was written on January 12, 2022.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Ghost of a Tale [Video Game Review]

"Ghost of a Tale" is an indie video game developed by Lionel "Seith" Gallat, and was released in 2018. I actually bought it while it was in its early access stage. I was basically playing an unfinished version for a while. Later, when it was fully released, I played it a little more and then got distracted sadly. Only now have I finished it, and I am very pleased with what I found.

The game is about a mouse named Tilo, who is a minstrel, who has been imprisoned by the rats for a false conspiracy against them. He spends the game trying to escape the place to find his wife of which he has been separated from. Not all the rats are bad, and there are even some other mice, and not all of them are good. It's a journey to make friends, make deals, and ultimately work your way out of the prison entirely.

From the very beginning, you will see that there is a heaping load of love put into this indie title. Not just love though: detail. Detail in design, story, sound, music, and pretty much everything. Although all dialog is handled through text only, it serves to read out like a well-written book, explaining what is happening during the conversation.

The graphical detail of the game is better than I have ever seen in any other game before or after it. The prison is ancient and falling a part. Most of the stones that make it up are weathered and eaten away by time. It feels like every single stone in this game was handcrafted to make the place feel alive and real.

Even the forests surrounding the prison have surprising detail. A fallen tree here, some moss growing over there, mushrooms of various types. The whole world looks wonderfully real. The closest I think I came to this sort of detail was the remaster of "Shadow of the Colossus," but I still think this game did better.

The characters look perfectly amazing. Apparently the one guy who developed this was a seasoned animator for Dreamworks and Universal Pictures. It shows. And it wasn't just good looking rodents; it was the story that surrounded them. I love the lore of this game. I sunk myself into it until I one-hundred-percented the entire game. It's brilliant from beginning to end.

"Ghost of a Tale" is a game you can get a bit emotionally involved with. The developer worked extra hard to help you fit into the feet of a tiny mouse minstrel. If you pay attention, you will learn what it means to be a mouse among some big, nasty rats. I whole-heartedly recommend this game.

This blog was written on January 14, 2022.

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