It’s been awhile huh? Let’s get straight to it then…
Falling has been here for a week. She came up on friday the 10th and we rented a couple of films: Serenity and Domino.
It was great to see Serenity again, to see anything Firefly-related is still a buzz, and I have to say its one of those films I don’t care if people don’t like, I still want them to see it. Like the time I forced Cowboy Bebop on Soul and Fe even though they’re not really anime fans. I thought Domino was excellent. Kiera Knightley is one of the best actresses around at the moment in my opinion. She’s pretty versatile.
I don’t think we did alot on saturday, just recovering from the Friday I guess, and on Sunday we went to a Hans Christian Andersen exhibition. It was to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of his birth. Incase you’re wondering, Hans was the Danish guy who wrote all those famous fairytales – The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Princess and The Pea to name a few – He also wrote my all-time favourite: The Brave Tin Soldier.
Falling hasn’t read it so I tried to explain it to her but I found it here – or a version of it atleast, the one I had was slightly different at the end (I didn’t know it was a boy who threw him in the fire) but it’s essentially the same=)
The rest of the week I was at work while Falling worked on her Gender and Society essay for university. She finished by Tuesday night, staying up late working on it while I played The Matrix: Path of Neo on the PS2, lol, and on wednesday she went back to York to hand it in. She came back that night and I met her off the train.
On thursday she met up with her mum in Glasgow (She got a flight up from London in the morning) and together with my mum they went to see a theatre production of Romeo and Juliet. Afterwards they all came back to ours.
I had friday off (woohoo) and took Falling and her mum down Leith for a wander. I don’t know half the names of the streets down there so it was an experience for me too. We went to a nice French bistro and were suprised to find the owner was born in Nice – where Falling and I are hopefully going on holiday this year – so he gave us some recommendations. Then we took a walk along to Ocean Terminal, a big shopping centre on the waterfront, and picked up a few things. On the way back, Falling’s mum got some wine and I got some beers to share with dad. We spent the rest of the evening listening to music and chatting.
Falling’s mum went home saturday lunchtime and Falling saturday evening. Afterwards I met up with Soul, Roman, Fe and her brother and we went to see ‘V For Vendetta’. It’s about a masked terrorist called ‘V’ who tries to bring down the government of a totalitarian Britain by achieving Guy Fawkes’ goal – blowing up the houses of parliament. I thought it was excellent – a little dangerous you could say, but it’s honest to the extent that this could be where we’re heading. It’s based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd that I might look into sometime.
In trying to find the exact phrase spoken by ‘V’ to use as the title of this blog (I couldn’t find it so the title is my closest guess) I found the complete rhyme for Guy Fawkes. I’ve never heard the full version:
Remember, Remember, the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes
‘Twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parliament
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip horrah!
A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him
A pint of beer to rinse it down
A faggot of sticks to burn him
Burn him in a tub of tar
Burn him like a blazing star
Burn his body from his head
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!
I didn’t know the complete story either – the reason he wanted to blow up parliament and what the full rhyme means – but it wasn’t hard to find an explanation (courtesy of bonfirenight.net):
“After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.
A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists.
To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder – and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.
But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th.
The warning letter reached the King, and the King’s forces made plans to stop the conspirators.
Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.
It’s unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to ignite the powder, we’ll never know for certain.
Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called “the State Opening of Parliament”. Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.
On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.
Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes’ execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government.”
Personally, I’ve always thought it was to celebrate the execution of Guy Fawkes and from the sounds of the story above it was. I’ve always kinda liked the guy anyway, lol. Is ‘V For Vendetta’ starting to sound interesting now?lol
On sunday I helped my brother move some rubble from the huge hole he’s digging for his patio – my back and arms are aching. We ended the evening by watching ‘The Usual Suspects’ which was another clever, thought-provoking film. Kevin Spacey always plays intriguing characters.
The two Italian students we’re taking in arrived on sunday night just before I got back from my brother’s. They seem nice enough. It’s always fun taking in students, it makes our day to day lives less mundane for awhile. We don’t speak any Italian though so thankfully their English is already very good. We always try to make an effort though. I’m ashamed of the reputation this Island has for being lazy when it comes to learning another language, I always try to meet people half-way. I can’t stand the typical British yob who thinks we should all speak English – too much is lost in the translation.
Even from the brief exposure I had to Spanish I could tell there was more than just words there. The whole culture and belief system is wrapped up in what you say and how you say it. It’s a very precise language and it rolls nicely off the tongue. It’s always fun learning about the lives of the other people on this planet.
Well I’ve been at this one for over an hour (researching Guy Fawkes is distracting) so I’ll finish now. Here’s hoping you have a good night/day and that whatever’s going on with you is cool.
Also, I implore you to go see ‘V For Vendetta’…
“Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. There is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.”
March 21st, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Hey there!
I’ve posted another blog post, just to let you know!
I agree that other languages are beautiful, especially the European ones (Spanish, French, Italian) but I also think it’s important to appreciate English aswell!
The UK has a very rich literary culture and English can be manipulated to a bigger extent sometimes than other languages can be.
I also hate the typical British yob who thinks everything should be in English – think about when big groups of yobs go to other countries and don’t respect their cultures or language.
It’s difficult for me naturally because I cannot lipread any other language properly
It’s probably much the same with other deaf people from other countries – I wonder how they cope when they come to the UK?
Of course there is sign language which does tend to be understandable to everyone although there are regional variations and country variations on some signs!(by the way, American sign language is almost completely different to British Sign Language even though we have the same linguistic language!!).
Now…I don’t think blowing up parliament will solve anything (unfortunately)!
I think V for Vendetta sounds really interesting but it’s worrying that terrorism should be seen as a solution to the problems with parliament and stuff, if someone blew up parliament they would also blow up the people who can make a proper difference. Violence doesn’t really solve anything 
Its great that things make people think though! 
I don’t really know the story of Guy Fawkes either even though I was told the story in my history classes, lol. I feel a little sorry for the guy cos he was deserted by everyone and had to take the fall!
Love you xxx