So...

Saints and angels.

I actually did some writing today.  A little bit.

So, here's what's been going on:

First off, First Trimester at Carey:

Intro to Criminlogy -A.

Child Psychology -A

Psychology of Addiction -C

3.6 GPA

Second Trimester

Criminal Investigation -B

Evidence, Search, and Seizure -A

Abnormal Psychology -A

Cumulative GPA - 3.2  (Remember, my 5th semester at Gulf Coast, I screwed up, so I gotta make up my GPA big time...)

Okay, now you're up-to-date on schooling...now for the real reason for this post:

I was going to post a long review about Frozen, but I suck at reviews.

As it:  I like it.  Disney hit the high points.  Music is good.  Like Tangled and Brave, Frozen took on the new title format.

It makes me think back to my previous posts on "The Snow Queen."  The old blog parts and the Christian analysis.  Did Frozen do the story justice?  Sort of.  It's a gut-and-remodel, but it's a fine story.  I separate the two in my head.  Still, good story, good story.

Speaking of, Easter is coming, as I'm wont to remind people.  I always do a Christian-y, spiritual post.  It's Tradition.  I have some inklings of ideas, but I don't have anything definitive.  Anyway...

The Devil's Mirror

Gerda's Love

Kai's Eternity

Thaw and Freeze Again

Ever since I found out Disney was making a version of Andersen's "The Snow Queen," my favorite fairy tale, I've been trying to find out what I could about it.


At the end of last year, some new articles were posted about it.


This project was picked up in 2002, but got shelved.  It was shelved again in 2010.  Now, it's been picked up again.


Release date:  November 2013


Title:  Frozen.  (They're doing the same thing they did with Tangled: changing the title to attract both little girls and boys.)


Format:  Probably CGI instead of hand-drawn.


Wonder how Disney's going to ruin it?  Best guesses?


Name changes.


What about the devil's mirror in the beginning?  Are they going to keep that?


Taken from the Haugaard translation:

Disney has shown that they're not averse to having demons in their stories.  The Princess and the Frog proved that.  But it also makes me wonder, how Disney's going to deal with this?  Some translations say "goblin" or "sprite" rather than "troll."  Not all translations say it was the devil.

What about the Prince and Princess?  The Finnish Woman and the Lapp Woman?

I'm really excited that there's going to be another movie of "The Snow Queen," but, when any story's turned into a movie, you have your worries.

Dr. Seuss StoryTime

I went with a friend of my mom's read to some special needs kids today.  I wanted to get out.  So, when she asked me if I was interested in helping her, I agreed.  It was fun, and I wore a red-and-white stovepipe hat and got to help kids make a little booklet.  They read The Foot Book.

Okay, two things are wrong here:

1 - I've sworn to never have children, and tend to avoid situations where children are involved.

Well, I can't stand--but I love--my little brother and nephews.  They are why I don't want children.  If that's how the cousins and uncle act, I can't imagine how my child would act.  However, not all children are so rotten.  And the kids I got to spend time today with were absolutely precious.

2 - I HATE tagging along.  Really truly.  Ask my best friend from GPort.  However, I wanted to get out the house and I figured #1 wouldn't be so bad.  It would only be for a little while.

But I had a great time.

Also, I found a movie, Snow Queen.  You 'member, 'member?  Hans Christian Andersen?  My favorite fairy tale of all time?  "The Snow Queen"?  Any of this ringing a bell?  Well, anyway, I'm gonna watch it later.

So, in my otherwise sucky life, I had a good day today.

Kai's Eternity 3

Thoughts on "The Snow Queen," part 3

September 7, 2010

J. C. Verdin

At last we are at the seventh part of my favorite tale by Hans Christian Andersen.


"Little Kai was blue--indeed, almost black--from the cold; but he did not feel it, for the Snow Queen had kissed all feeling of coldness out of him, and his heart had almost turned into a lump of ice. He sat arranging and rearranging pieces of ice into patterns. He called this the Game of Reason; and because of the splinters in his eyes, he thought that what he was doing was of great importance, although it was no different than playing with wooden blocks, which he had done when he could hardly talk.


"He wanted to put the pieces of ice together in such a way that they formed a certain word, but he could not remember exactly what that word was. The word that he could not remember was "eternity." The Snow Queen had told him that if he could place the pieces in ice so that they spelled the word, then he would be his own master and she would give him the whole world and a new pair of skatesl but, however much he tried, he couldn't do it."


The Snow Queen leaves Kai just as Gerda arrives.


"But Kai sat still and stiff and cold; then little Gerda cried and her tears fell on Kai's breast. The warmth penetrated to his heart and melted both the ice and the glass splinter in it....


"Kai burst into tears and wept so much that the grains of glass in his eyes were washed away. Now he remembered her and shouted joyfully: "Gerda! Sweet little Gerda, where have you been so long? And where have I been?" Kai looked about him. "How cold it is, how empty and how huge!" And he held onto Gerda, who was so happy that she was both laughing and crying at the same time. It was so blessed, so happy a moment that even the pieces of ice felt it and started to dance; and when they grew tired they lay down and formed exactly the word for which the Snow Queen had promised Kai the whold world and a new pair of skates.


"....Now the Snow Queen could return, for the right to his freedom was written in brilliant pieces of ice.


"Soon they were walking up the worn steps of the staircase to the old Grandmother's apartment. Nothing inside it had changed. The clock said: "Tick-tack..." and the wheels moved. But as they stepped through the doorway they realized that they had grown up: they were no longer children.


"The roses were blooming in the wooden boxes and the window was open. There were the little stools they used to sit on. Still holding each other's hands, they sat down, and all memory of the Snow Queen and it's hollow splendor disappeared. The Grandmother sat in the warm sunshine, reading aloud from her Bibe: "Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child shall not enter therein."


"Kai and Gerda looked into each other's eye and they understood the words from the psalm:


Our roses bloom and fade away,
Our infant Lord abides alway.
May we be blessed his face to see
And ever little children be.


"There they sat, the two of them, grown ups and yet in their hearts children, and it was summer: a warm glorious summer day!


A lot happens in the seventh part. You've read it for yourself. I wanted to talk about two things in this last part, but I can't remember the first. (Hey, vents are supposed to be honest.) So, I'll focus on the second.


"Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child shall not enter therein." is a paraphrase of a well-known Bible verse. (Matthew 18:3). I think the translator just translated it straight from the Danish and didn't bother with a well-known translation. If you ever figure out the translation he used, please tell me. Hint: It's NOT King James Version. I checked.


1-In Bible times, children were the least of these. They were the bottom of the totem pole. God just loves to humble us, doesn't He?


2-Children have a sense of trust that we need to emulate. They trust their daddy or mommy to take care of them no matter what.


3-Children a sense of wonder that we lose when we grow older. Storms are explained away by science. Scary images on TV are just stage make-up and special effects. Nothing amazes us anymore. (We've talked about this before, haven't we?)


4-Children are sinners in need of a savior.  People are, by their very nature, sinners. From the moment we are born till we take our last breath. Some of us can add the prefix 'saved' to that term, but we're still sinners. Being saved doesn't make you perfect nor does it mean you'll stop sinning. You'll fall short of the glory of God millions of times this side of eternity.


In essence, "The Snow Queen" is about being a child and childlike faith. (If you read the entire story, you'll know that.) While some of the other parts inspire other thoughts, which is a good thing, children, like all fairy tales, are the star role.


It's been a great three days. Good night and God bless.


*All quotes from "The Snow Queen" are taken from Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories, Translated from the Danish by Erik Christian Haugaard, published 1983 by Anchor Books

Gerda's Love 2

Thoughts on "The Snow Queen", part 2 September 6, 2010
J. C. Verdin



We left off last night with the devil and his broken mirror, what it does, and all that. Well, that's only the first part. Our victim, a little boy named Kai, and our heroine, a little girl named Gerda, are introduced in the second part. And here's what happened:
"One afternoon as Kai and Gerda sat looking at a picture book with animals and flowers in it--it was exactly five o'clock, for the bells in the church tower had just struck the hour--Kai said, 'Ouch, ouch! Something pricked my heart!' And then again, 'Ouch, something sharp is in my eye.'
"The little girl put her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes but there was nothing to be seen. Still, it hurt and little Gerda cried out of sympathy.
"'I think it is gone now," said Kai. But he was wrong, two of the splinters from the devil's mirror had hit him: one his entered his heart and the other his eyes....But the pain, that would disappear."
Kai loses interest in the simplicity of life. He made fun of people, including Gerda. But she still played with him.


And then Kai is taken by the Snow Queen. Winter passes and there is no sign of him. When spring comes, Gerda puts on her new red shoes, shoes Kai had never seen, and walks down to the river to ask it a question.


When she asks the river if it had taken him, she bargains her new red shoes. She throws them into the river and the river returns them.


Thinking she hadn't thrown them far enough, she gets into a boat and tosses the shoes again. The boat wasn't fastened to the shore and she was off!


Eventually, the boat washed ashore, near an old woman's home. The old woman knew magic and made her rose bushes disappear. Gerda wouldn't see them and she wouldn't remember Kai and she wouldn't run away.


Needless to say, this plan didn't work.


Gerda goes through a lot of trouble looking for Kai. After she escapes the old witch, she meets a two crows, a prince and princess, a band of robbers, a Finnish woman, and a Lapp woman. Even though Kai was mean to her, she still loved him enough to look for him. Once the river took her away, did she try to return home? No. Her only thought was, "Maybe the river will lead me to him."


How many people do you know would go through all that? Who comes to mind first?


I seem to like talking about Jesus' sacrifice, because His comes to mind first. He came to Earth, died for us all, even though we spite Him, even though some of us hate Him, even though some of us don't even believe in Him, He came and died.


I talked about that reckless love God has for us last night. Well, seeking and saving what was lost was Jesus' purpose here on earth.


Gerda loses her best friend emotionally, then physically, and goes find him. What an example for all of us. There was nothing special about her, other than her love. But perhaps there was.


Coming soon, the last part of "The Snow Queen." And we find out what happens with Kai and Gerda. Good evening and God bless.


*All quotes from "The Snow Queen" are taken from Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories, Translated from the Danish by Erik Christian Haugaard, published 1983 by Anchor Books

The Devil's Mirror 1

Thoughts on The Snow Queen, possibly a part 1

September 5, 2010
J. C. Verdin

I'm a big fan of Hans Christian Andersen. My favorite story by him is "The Snow Queen." Which, that's supposed to be the next traditional animation film by Disney (2013). I can't wait if they don't botch it up.

I don't know how Disney will do the first part. In my translation (Translator Erik Christian Haugaard), it goes like this:

"Once upon a time there was a troll, the most evil troll of them all; he was called the devil. One day, he was particularly pleased with himself, for he had invented a mirror which had the strange power of being able to make anything good or beautiful that it reflected appear horrid; and all that was evil and worthless seem attractive and worth while...."

Several paragraphs later, after all the trolls had a chance to poke fun at the world through the mirror's reflection, it reads:

"At last they decided to fly up to heaven to poke fun at the angels and God Himself. All together they carried the mirror, and flew up higher and higher. The nearer they came to heaven, the harder the mirror laughed, so that the trolls could barely hold onto it; still, they flew higher and higher: upward toward God and the angels, then the mirror shook so violently from laughter that they lost their grasp; it fell and broke into hundreds of millions of billions and some odd pieces. It was then that it really caused trouble, much more than it ever had before. Some of the splinters were as tiny as grains of sand and just as light, so that they were spread by the winds all over the world. When a sliver like that entered someone's eye it stayed there; and the person, forever after, would see the world distorted, and only be able to see the faults, and not the virtues, of everyone around him, since even the tiniest fragment contained all the evil qualities of the whole mirror. If a splinter should enter someone's heart--oh, that was the most terrible of all!--that heart would turn to ice."

There's seven parts to this fairy tale, but I'll give you the rest another time. I wanted to talk specifically about that mirror and the first part.

The devil deceives us. Circumstances in life take away our innocence and we view things in a cynical manner. The simple beauty of things don't appear beautiful anymore. We can't see past people's outer exteriors. Our hearts freeze over.

Let me tell you something about ice: it melts. Or, to put the more well-known terminolgy, when hurt people build up walls.

Well, folks, anything human-made can end. When people form those walls around their hearts, even if they don't mean to, they miss spots. And if we find that spot, we leave it, because it's so small, we don't think anything can ever fit through it. Or maybe some of us will want something to try to get through.

Well, love is flexible and unconditional. It will squeeze through that hole. It may not be comfortable, but love will find a way.

Some of you know already that I read Brennan Manning's The Ragamuffin Gospel. It's a powerful book. In one of his songs, Rich Mullins, who was influenced by Brennan Manning, describes, "a reckless, raging fury, that they call the love of God." Reckless and raging, hm? Sounds scarier than any natural storm considering it's God we're talking about.

I live in South Mississippi, not very far from what's considered the Gulf Coast. While my house was barely damaged, I know plenty of people who lost everything for Hurricane Katrina or for Hurricane Rita, which struck what Katrina missed, more or less.

Well, folks, if a physical hurricane can devastate entire regions, how much stronger is that raging fury? Reckless fury? How many more walls can that tear down?

"The Snow Queen", as I said, is my favorite story by Hans Christian Andersen. There's more to this story and people's frozen hearts, and I'll try to get that to you soon.

Goodbye for now and God bless.

*All quotes from "The Snow Queen" are taken from Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories, Translated from the Danish by Erik Christian Haugaard, published 1983 by Anchor Books
The last thought: Today makes a year since I started this VP Set 3 with "Pack Rat's Anonymous." In there, I jokingly said, "Next week, we'll talk about procrastination!" That was a year ago, folks. I'll try, but as I've proven to you and to myself, I can procrastinate. Let's see if I ever do anything on the next 7 stories...