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.

[Alkhin]

I wont argue that there are some parts of Tolkien that verge on unreadable, simply by the fact that he changes 'voice' in the latter parts of the LOTR trilogy (I long ago gave up on the Silmarillion). And The Screwtape Letters is a book that is rare to come by, at least where I am from (barring that I order it off the internet)...I have a copy of Mere Christianity, which I have enjoyed immensely. However, I deem Tolkien above Lewis in regards to storytelling and fiction not just for its sheer volume, but incredible depth. To wit, going back to my comment about 'voice,' the style/manner/tone of speech for each character is of itself, and changes accordign to the situation. It was not until adulthood that I realized that each of the four hobbits have their own particular voice, and the segments are written as if they had been written by the particular hobbit and in his own particular voice. If you read up on sections involving King Theoden and Merry, Merry has a distinct voice and manner of his own. Now, I dont say that it is my FAVORITE voice. I think when Tolkien wrote in Pippin's voice, it was throught the most lyrical and the best voice Tolkien could have chosen. Frodo's perspective is vastly different than the others.

Having said all of that, this is not an observation I could make of the characters in Narnia. That is not to say there is not depth to those characters, because there is, but only on the level that a child supposedly could understand. Yet, even Tolkien wrote a children's book. It was called the Hobbit...and not nearly as 'elementary' as the writing of Lewis.

I read the Hobbit when I was ten, then went and read Lewis. As a child, I much preferred Tolkien.

having said all of THAT, I hear you on the unreadable prose parts. I will be the first to admit to you, taht to this day there are some parts of LOTR that I have not read with complete attention because of the stilted verbage and near mind-numbing formality of some of the writing. But reading LOTR, one can easily deduce that Tolkien loved writing the best when he was writing about the hobbits.

Best regards,
Alkhin

[yankeedame]

He was invited to do part-time restoration work on the White House in 1986, accepting a full-time position as Superintendent of Stone Restoration in 1991.

"Superintendent of Stone Restoration" ?? I'm sorry, but that sounds like a made-up job if ther ever way one. You know, right up there with "script consultant" or "personal media consultant".

[discostu]

My Sophomore English teacher told the story of the student he gave an A for a book report on the first chapter of Ullyses. He tried to talk her out of even trying to read that beast, his note on the book report was "you got farther than I ever did". I don't think he actually like Joyce, he only had us read two stories out of Dubliners one was the story about the pervert that whacks off in front of the kids, his comment at the end was that it was something to keep in mind when people start praising Joyce's "wonderful grasp of the Irish mind".

[yankeedame]

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

Ah yes, "where it's always winter but never Christmas".

[annyokie]

I have long been a fan of CS Lewis. You are correct about having to buy "The Screwtape Letters" from Amazon. "Mere Christianity is a masterpiece, as well. I am glad you enjoyed it.

Understand, I don't mean to bash Tolkien, his style just doesn't appeal to me. I tried hard to like Isaac Asimov ("I, Robot", et al) and had the same problem. I think you either love fantasy, science fiction and others or you plod through it thinking, "hey, I could be reading Viktor Frankl."

[discostu]

Now with Asimov you have to go by era. The older he got the more long winded and obtuse he got. I finally gave up with Prelude to Foundation, 100 pages in I had yet to find sign of a plot and just couldn't take it anymore. I think by that point the primary purpose of his writing was that he enjoyed seeing the words magically appear on the page. His early shorts were great, once he broke past 300 pages though forget it, all rubbish.

[sharktrager]

So, since Jesus use parables, which are, essentially, allegory, was he pathetic?

[Alkhin]

ROFL!!! I hear yah! That is so true, too! As it so happened, when I set out to write fantasy way back when, I decided I did NOT want to be like Tolkien ie using the same formula. There has been a lot of deplorable fantasy that has come out since Tolkien...and where its not Tolkien, its a retelling of the Legends of King Arthur.

I have yet to finish Mere Christianity, as there is also Thomas Merton and Aquinas and St. Benedict that I have on my list to read. After these guys, Tolkien is escapism!!

[annyokie]

I tried like a dog to wade through "the Foundation Trilogy" because my first husband was such a fan. It was around that time that I determined that if you can't tell the whole story in ONE book, Bible excluded of course, than I'll read somthing else.

How many descriptions of instrument panels,etc does the reader need? We aren't flying the danged spaceship, after all!

[Alkhin]

Jesus was the ONLY Master of Parables...and as the Son of God, was the ONLY one who could tell them with Perfect Harmony of Speech.

All others are pathetic in imitation.

Read up on what Tolkien has to say about the matter...I agree with him!

[Alkhin]

you are a tricksy hobbit, trying to trap me!! Shame on you! LOL

[annyokie]

No one with a brain could like Joyce. His writings are obtuse and/or perverse. Why he is hailed as a "genius" is beyond me. I think it has to do with his affair with Anais Nin (another hack) and writer of soft porn that is so celebrated by the lefties who run our English departments.

[discostu]

Of course the Foundation Trilogy is horribly misnamed, it was originally a series of shorts (each of the "chapters" was originally released as a short story, which he then clustered into 3 books). Foundation was my introduction into sci-fi... Prelude to Foundation marked my primary switch away from sci-fi (I still read some but it's by no means my #1 genre anymore, bizaar comedy crime fiction by Elmore Leonard and that crowd is my #1 now). I know what you mean about the control panels, Asimov was the only "hard sci-fi" I ever got into, much prefered the style of people like Dick who just put it there and don't bother to explain it. Saw one author in an interview defending the style of not explaining, his answer was "when I write regular fiction I don't explain the internal combustion engine".

[Republicanus_Tyrannus]

Gee, must be infuriating for you when someone else enjoys a well-written book or a well-directed movie.

What gall they have enjoying something you are unable to understand or appreciate! What rude people, eh?


/tongue in cheek

[sharktrager]

Ahh, but the writer I responded to said allegory was pathetic. Not some. Not most. But all.

[annyokie]

There has been a lot of deplorable fantasy that has come "out since Tolkein"

Isn't that the truth! Did you try to read "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever'? More stupid songs, sung by giants whose favorite phrase is "Joy is in the ears that hear" Say what?

Skip Aquinas, a bit too Fruedian in his musing on his mother. Read Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning" which tells of his time in Auschwitz and how a just God could allow that sort of evil to happen. Excellent!

Plato's writings about the Cave are pretty cool, too. Aristotle is great, as well.

[thetruckster]

LOL! Perhaps . . .

[Alkhin]

This is what *I* who said it, wrote EXACTLY

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

Now...tell me...where in that sentence is the world "ALL"??????

And would your measure yourself as equal to Christ because you DO favor allegory?

[Jhoffa_]

What gall they have enjoying something you are unable to understand or appreciate!

4 yar olds understand, enjoy & appreciate spongebob square pants also..

Doesn't mean I have to share in their idol worship.

[annyokie]

Elmore Leonard is great. I am a fan of true crime, she said a bit ashamedly. Ann Rule is great. Jonathon Kellerman is a great crime novelist, a little too PC, but you can't have everything.

Per Asimov: I'd much rather read Ray Bradbury (Farenheit 451, etc). It's a bitch to write a good short story. He and John Cheever are kings of that genre albeit in different ways.