Journal, journal, journal. My hands are so soar . . . I'm going to try to keep this fairly brief, and I can expand on what happened today tomorrow. Basically today was the standard school day - teachers giving weekend homework etc. etc. I lifted weights today, as usual . . . What was neat about today was after school. I had the opportunity to go see Red Dragon with a few friends, so I think I'm going to spend the majority of this journal talking about that.

Overall the whole idea of Cannibalism is pretty sickening to me, although in the past of mankind its been used for primitive and essential means of survival (as a last resort of course). For example, the Donner Party. Now, the idea of eating human flesh for pleasure is sickening to me, but whatever floats the crooked boat I guess. But anyhow, I'm going to try to analyze the plot because it's something I enjoy doing.

First of all, it's important to realize that visual effects and such in a movie aren't that successful without music. The music is really what made Red Dragon an awesome movie. There's the nice subtle rise of the violin to a strike of the A chord on the piano for the dramatic "Bob just jumped about 6 inches" effect. I kept looking over to see if Jake, Casey, or Timmie jumped 6" too, but didn't get much luck on that. Oh well, better luck next horror movie.

Basically, what I see in terms of deeper meaning (without seeing Silence of the Lambs or Hannibal) is that one who lets their fate be controlled by the will of another (the so called spiritual calling of the dragon to his minion), that the course of insanity (representing havoc and disruption), will reign over all, and that the only way that this insanity can be stopped is by extreme effort in positive direction. It's a classical hero's journey really though, and there wasn't that much deep material behind the movie. Perhaps the book would be better, but then I wouldn't get to hear the sharp A chord, and I wouldn't get to laugh with my friends, so forget that.

Moving on though, I got invited to one of my longest friend's annual Halloween Party on the 26th, so I doubt there will be an entry for that day until Sunday, the 27th. Those party's are always a blast, and I usually end up spending the night. I've gone to almost every one since they started. It's almost like having a second family, I love them.

I had this really interesting dream before I went to bed, and I'm thinking about writing a short story about it and posting it on here. Let me sum it up for you. Spirits can be contracted through sacred and ancient stones. For example, the blood ruby contracts the poltergeist, who grants his master the ability to turn fully invisible, and to move objects with his mind. Wouldn't that be handy . . . one could appear as though they were teleporting for location to location - that'd at least get me a fulltime job on the Jerry Springer show - maybe I'd have my own show even - I could contract an Angel for the "Lucid Beam", and the great Shade, creature of the Shadow for the ability to cloak the sky in darkness. It's a joke in a way, but I'm very much a fantasy reader. I love fantasy, and I always have. Maybe that's why I dream of magic so often. I've got this amazing idea for a story, and I'll probably talk to my English teacher about it. Hopefully I'll learn a lot from him this year. I hate those crappy English teachers that think they're wise and know a great deal about English, or are cynical when they give you advice. Instead, my current teacher is sociable. He even considered giving me credit for my class journal because I've been writing here. Great guy.

As mentioned before, my hands are literally red from playing piano and rotating arpeggios and chords, paddling, etc. as fast as I can, and now they're pretty soar from typing, so I'm going to get going.

Short entry, but perhaps I'll make up for it tomorrow.