Cracking The Da Vinci Code 31 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Books, Reviews, Writing.add a comment
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I recently read both Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” as well as two authors’ response to it: “Cracking DaVinci’s Code”. Here are a few thoughts. I don’t know if Brown ever made the straightforward claim that the ideas presented in The DaVinci Code were based on fact, though he certainly suggests as much in a short ‘factsheet’ before his prologue (”All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”) Either way he doesn’t seem to have done enough research, because The DaVinci Code is peppered liberally with flawed reasoning and historical inaccuracies, which Cracking DaVinci’s Code (James L. Garlow and Peter Jones) makes a valiant attempt at addressing. Just two of the numerous inaccuracies Garlow and Jones point out: 1) The Priory of Sion: 2) What really happened at the Council of Nicaea: Other issues Cracking DaVinci’s Code deals with include the construction of the Bible, Gnosticism, the ’sacred feminine’ and the Church’s stance on sex. On the final issue Garlow and Jones put it eloquently (page 35): “The DaVinci Code is ultimately - when pressed to its not-so-logical conclusion - an appeal for free sex, separate from the parameters established by God…Brown’s Hieros Gamos is no sacred union. It is simply free sex disguised by using Neo-Pagan quasi-religious language.” And again (page 37): “The DaVinci Code profoundly cheapens true love when it states that the “Rose…is also an anagram of Eros, the Greek god of sexual love (254). According to Brown, “The Rose has always been the premiere symbol of female sexuality…[T]he blossoming flower resembles the female genitalia, the sublime blossom from which all mankind enters the world” (255). (A correction is needed. All mankind did not enter the world that way. Adam and Eve were created by God. This is not a slip on Brown’s part. it is significant in that it denies the role of the Creator, a major part of understanding the “code”.)” Nor is Brown’s view of the Church and the Bible as anti-sex warranted. It is perhaps the case that early Church teaching placed undue emphasis on asceticism and celibacy in reaction to ‘gross unrestrained sexual chaos’ (Cracking DaVinci’s Code, page 42), but Christianity today celebrates not just the sacredness but the joy and pleasure of the sexual union within the context of marriage. The relationship between the Church and the ’sacred feminine’, a major part of Brown’s story, is similarly misrepresented. This is perhaps most clearly seen in the Catholic Christian tradition’s honouring of the Virgin Mary, and beyond that, in its recognition of the Bible’s holy women such as Ruth and Esther. Paul’s writings (in particular Ephesians 5:21–24) are so often attacked for their perceived feminism, in spite of the fact that Ephesians 5:25 goes on to say “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it”, while Galatians 3:28 clearly states that males and females are all one in union with Christ Jesus. There’s a lot more to say, but this is becoming a tome and I can’t possibly write something to do the topic justice in a blog post anyway. So I’ll end this off by saying this: The DaVinci Code certainly works as a story (and admittedly a fast-paced, very absorbing one). But perhaps that’s where the problem lies: in Brown’s presenting to the masses what he purports to be fact but is in fact inelegant fiction, in a very readable and accessible form. Do yourself justice and read beyond Brown. |
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Banana Cake #2 30 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Food, Self-Absorption.add a comment
Was a success. Ahem. Thank you.
Heaven is a Banana Cake 30 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Food, Self-Absorption.2 comments
Hopefully. Because I’m making one (from scratch, natch) and the last time I made a cake was eight years ago under Home Economics duress. The mix looks nice in the bowl at the moment, but there’s still time.
Where’s my metaclopramide? Maybe posting my revolting pumpkin was a psychic glimpse into the future. Though Him and I aren’t quite that orange.
…
Bum, my cake has collapsed in the middle. We need to get a proper steamer. (Go on then, blame the equipment… 
…
Anyone who wants entertainment should come round ours on a Saturday night and watch us discover that the recipe for banana cake in our possession is WRONG. 25 minutes’ steaming time is blatantly WRONG.
Anyone for half-done banana cake ? (At least that solves the sinking cake mystery.)
We’ve now scooped off the done bits and popped them in the microwave (for safety’s sake), topped up the loaf tin with the rest of the mix we refrigerated earlier and are now trying again. This cake is going to look hideous, but by golly, it WILL be edible…
My title is very misleading now. God clearly has a sense of humour.
Extreme Pumpkins 30 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Miscellaneous.2 comments
Writing about web page http://extremepumpkins.com/index.html
Um.
Revolting, but COOL. Al, this should appeal to you… (NB: Return of the Bunny Suicides is out in the shops here – want a copy?)
Old movies (re)visited 24 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Reviews, Weekends.2 comments
In the same spirit as the one associated with my starting to read again, Him and I have been watching old movies (some of which I am perplexed at not having watched much earlier, but no matter; catching up is highly enjoyable).
This weekend it was Singin’ in the Rain – brilliant fun, and Gene Kelly is such a dish. Debbie Reynolds reminds me of Grace Kelly, and Donald O’Connor’s elastic face (and clearly everything else) is a riot. What happened to multitalented movie stars?
Other choice picks have been My Fair Lady (watched ages ago but forgotten), The Towering Inferno and the original Star Trek series (with astoundingly youthful Kirk and Spock! - see what I told you about the secret geek bit), and we’ll be looking for Fiddler on the Roof next weekend. Any other suggestions welcome. Oh, and The Scarlet and the Black.
And not an old movie, but we also watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Friday night, which I loved. Jim Carrey is actually surprisingly attractive when he’s not making stupid faces.
More reeducation 24 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Books, Self-Absorption.add a comment
Follow-up to Literary reeducation
The lure of 3 for 2 in Waterstone’s in Birmingham was too much to resist today. Despite the books still unread on my bookshelves (although actual acquisition has never been a problem (MORE! MORE!), while at Uni and in the first two years of my working life I believe I read virtually zilch material apart from that necessary for degree excellence (in celebration of the secret geek that I am)) I have suddenly, in the space of a couple of months, started reading with a passion again.
Today’s acquisitions were:
A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)
Twenty-One Stories (Graham Greene)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Alborn)
In the spirit of anxious pretentiousness, dahlink, I’m trying to buy books that are somehow more redeeming than one-read forgettables, so I can both impress people with my intellectual capability (nudge, snort) and be smug in the thought I might actually learn something from them (that’s my stack of brainless trash mags out the window then). A success, clearly.
I still owe me a book review on The Da Vinci Code. I have notes scattered around the place but can’t seem to bring myself to write something intellectual. And I probably shouldn’t have said that, because now I’ve gone and resigned myself to having to produce something intellectual, which I fear may be somewhat of an impossibility.
Upon surveying my bookshelves I think I know what I may eventually need to do with our blank living room wall. Although I still haven’t read half of what I blissfully acquired during my Uni life (not to mention the books I haven’t read yet from my last haul – Milan Kundera’s ever-so-slightly (nudge) difficult to get into, but I shall persevere).
Losing my – mind 21 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Peabrain.2 comments
On Tuesday night in the car, just about to go home from the train station where Him had come to pick me up:
Me (holding out water bottle): Want a drink?
(several seconds later)
Me (holding out water bottle): Want a drink?
(Him gives me a VERY quizzical look)
He’d only taken the bottle from me, unscrewed the cap and taken a big swig, screwed the cap back on and returned the bottle.
I hadn’t noticed a thing.
The Dream of Gerontius 21 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Religion.add a comment
Excerpt from The Dream of Gerontius (Cardinal John Henry Newman):
Take me away, and in the lowest deep
There let me be,
And there in hope the lone night-watches keep,
Told out for me.
There, motionless and happy in my pain,
Lone, not forlorn,-
There will I sing my sad perpetual strain,
Until the morn.
There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast,
Which ne’er can cease
To throb, and pine, and languish, till possest
Of its Sole Peace.
There will I sing my absent Lord and Love:-
Take me away,
That sooner I may rise, and go above,
And see Him in the truth of everlasting day.
Sometimes you are given the gift of something you cannot express yourself. There’s something to be said for having heard it from a velvet voice, too.
Wonky 21 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Awwwww, Miscellaneous.2 comments
Aaaaaahhhhh.
This is Wonky. He’s not mine but I’ll pretend he is anyway.
Blog update 18 October, 2004
Posted by monopod in Blogging.2 comments
Just a quick update to let people know that I’ve now corrected blog permissions so that people outside the Warwick domain can post comments!
