Darth Vader Gargoyle on US National Cathedral [NOT humor!]

http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/darth.shtml ^ | 4/28/3

[NativeNewYorker]

As Washington National Cathedral approached completion, the west towers rose towards the sky, striking toward heaven. During the building a startling idea was hatched: hold a competition for children to design decorative sculpture for the Cathedral.

To Find Darth Vader you have to leave the building through the ramp entrance. This is located at the northwest corner of the nave, through the double wooden doors of Lincoln Bay. Go down the ramp, and step into the parking lot. Then, turn around and look back up at the tower closest to you. He is almost impossible to see without the assistance of binoculars.

Way way way up, almost at the top of the tower is a gablet, or small peaked roof, located between the two huge louvered arches. At the bottom of each slope of this gablet is a carved grotesque. Darth Vader is on the north, or right-hand, side. There is a carved skull situated on a gablet much closer to the ground which many people often mistake for Darth Vader. From this skull, Darth Vader is up and to the left.

[annyokie]

I believe mind-control is the way to put it. Cripes! How can anyone wade through those tomes with all the elf songs and goofy spellings and allusions to who-knows-what?

"My preciousssssssssss..........." Gag!

[NativeNewYorker]

Has Steven Spielberg ever helped on the Star Wars movies?

No, he's a friend of George Lucas and he always sees the film. He's the first one we show the films to. We bring him up to give us some notes, but on Episode I and II he didn't give us any!

Rick McCallum, Star Wars producer

[discostu]

You only read the last two verses of the songs, that's where the background information necessary for the story is. Or you read them while listening to Led Zeplin because Zep built most of their songs around the beat structure of the songs in LOTR and if you find the right combo it's pretty cool (somebody showed me a list once, whoever made the list was waaaaaay too into both LOTR and Zep).

I never got into the cult aspect of LOTR, but it's a good story told pretty well.

[The_Media_never_lie]

To Find Darth Vader you have to leave the building through the ramp entrance.

Not to be a spoilsport, but I am avoiding Darth Vader whenever possible. I don't go looking for trouble.

[thetruckster]

"I hate Star Wars zealots almost as bad as I hate the LOTR crowd."

Hate is such a strong word. Even so, may the Force be with you. - Frodo Zealot

[annyokie]

JRR Tolkein is no CS Lewis, IMHO. I'll take the Chronicles of Narnia over the Hobbit, LOTR anytime.

Led Zepplin does rule, however.

[strela]

Thought so - I'll check it later.

[Jhoffa_]

Hate is such a strong word. Even so, may the Force be with you. - Frodo Zealot

You're right..

I have a bad habit of throwing the word "hate" around where I really mean anything from mild annoyance to sheer disgust.

I know I shouldn't, but I guess I just assume people can read my mind or something..

[Alkhin]

Still, I would be hesitant to say that a star shone on our meeting with annyokie here...

Took for President
Pippin Lover

[discostu]

Sorry for the delay there, had to find disk 3 of the Zep box set...

While I'd definitely say Lewis was the more consistently readable author (sometimes Tolkein just drives me nuts with nearly unreadable stilted prose) I've always found LOTR to have a more interesting story than Narnia. Narnia definitely shouldn't be as overshadowed by LOTR as it is though.

Can't have Zep without LOTR, it's amazing what unabashed fanboys they were.

[Alkhin]

CS Lewis is no Tolkien! His non-fiction writing is WONDERFUL, but like Tolkien, I find allegory a pathetic way of telling a story.

Sorry that you cannot appreciate such a Master of the English Language.

[Dick Bachert]

My personal favorite gargoyle is Hillary klintoon. I'd post a photo but everyone knows what it looks like and I don't want to frighten any children who might happen by.

[annyokie]

I'm guesing you meant to address me and not yourself. I took an English major in college, BTW. Tolkein and Lewis are both great writers. Read Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" and tell me it's not a scream and not nearly as difficult as Tolkien, who rivals James Joyce for unreadable prose, IMO.

[annyokie]

Narnia was written for Lewis' neice, Lucy, who was about six at the time he began the Chronicles (see dedication in "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe") thus, being a children's story. Both yarns come from the same place, however; the stuggle between good and evil. They are just aimed at different groups of readers.

[discostu]

Tolkien is only as unreadable as Joyce if you throw out Ulyses, Joyce's masterpiece of drunken typing. That is the yardstick by which unreadable prose is measured.

[johnb838]

You know they were contemporaries and close friends, right?

[annyokie]

Yes, I did know that. Both very thoughtful men.

[annyokie]

I'll second that! I haul out "Ullyses" whenever I can't get to sleep. Three paragraphs, and I'm off to dreamland.

[NativeNewYorker]

Brilliant! We can put the sinkmaster in the men's room...

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Darth Vader Gargoyle on US National Cathedral

Darth Vader, a great statist symbol of fascism, socialism, and evil. Was the gargoyle created during the Clinton administration?