ICKY

Incest, is...gross. I mean, Jesus H. Christ, why did Sophacles feel the need to write about it? No one likes hearing about it, watching it, or even thinking about it. It gives us a queasy feeling inside, a feeling which is altogether unpleasant. The line about "depositing his seed in the womb of the one who [ejected] him," or something like that, gave me a cosmic gross-out of epic proportions. I mean, i can appreciate the tagedy of Oedipus, and how ironic it was that his own investigation for the sake of his people utterly brought about his own downfall, but it is totally eclipsed by the fact that Oedipus did the nasty with his mom and produced offspring which will likely have problems later on in their lives.

Dude, it's just not right. Think about the bible. "Honor thy mother and father." HONOR, not HAVE SEX WITH. Notice the key difference between the number of words/letters and the completely different meanings behind the words.

"But couldn't having sex with something be a form of honoring someone?"

No. No it isn't. It's a form of physical pleasuring that should stay OUT of the family, for your information.

If the ick factor wasn't enough to dissuade you, think about the consequences. A common consequence of sexual activity: children. A common consequence if incest: mutants. The combination of similar genes creates oddness in the offspring, and they end up having two heads or one nipple. Weird.

Besides that, you get to have the pleasure of being the brother of your daughter, or whatever. Those dual tiles shall be with you forever. On your epitaph it'll say, "He was a son/husband and a brother/father. Seriously. Messed up." It'll say that. I'l make sure of it personally. You go in to a job interview, guy will ask, "What's your family life like?" While you hesitate, trying to not show how depraved you really are, I'll jump in outa nowhere and say, "HE *%$@ED HIS MOMMA AND MADE LITTLE BABIE BROTHERS/SISTERS!!!" Watch your back.

MILFs are cool. I like them quite a bit. They give me hope for the future. But it shouldn't be YOUR mom. Why? Because it's fricking weird. If everyone went around banging their parents and making new families within families, eventually we'd run out people to procreate with. (412)

Music

I unfortunately am not that familiar with much poetry. The only thing that I can think of, is music. So here are some good songs for you. Enjoy, and then listen to the music.

I'm selling heavenly sketches
A world out of my mind
Ready to explode in purity to fill the holes inside

An ever moving stream with glowing rays of light
Emotions tied to past lies and I know I should let go

Tamed with confidence of a brighter future

I found a flame in the burnt out ashes... burn out, burn out!

Fueled, these new shores burn, dark past lies cold
Shadow, my sweet shadow, to you I look no more

Another dawn collapses
Do I need to be reminded
A glimpse of my safe home
A path to hide all anger

I found a flame in the burnt out ashes... burn out, burn out!

Fueled, these new shores burn, dark past lies cold
Shadow, my sweet shadow, to you I look no more

In circles I catch
A torch carried by the immortal
From depths that I created
In vain echoes fade

Burn out!

Fueled, these new shores burn, dark past lies cold
Shadow, my sweet shadow, to you I look no more

Fueled, these new shores burn, dark past lies cold
Shadow, my sweet shadow, to you I look no more

Fueled, Dark past lies cold
For you I look no more

-"My Sweet Shadow" by In Flames

It's alright to tell me
what you think about me
I won't try to argue
or hold it against you
I know that you're leaving
you must have your reasons
The season is calling
your pictures are falling down

And it'll happen once again
You'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
Sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
and you've been here for too long
To face this on your own
Well I guess this is growing up

And maybe I'll see you
at a movie sneak preview
you'll show up and walk by
on the arm of that guy
And I'll smile and you'll wave
we'll pretend it's okay
The charade it won't last
when he's gone I won't come back

And it'll happen once again
You'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
Sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
and you've been here for too long
To face this on your own
Well I guess this is growing up

-"Dammit" by System of a Down

Grab the bull by the horns the old adage goes
Nobody tells you where to go from here
Seems like fates pulling you
Decisions have to be made
The best path is the hardest earned
Back and forth the struggle consumes us all
Trying to keep a level head
In the most unsettling of times
Today I'll become the bull
There is so much to stake
I stumble, I lose my place
Pride and arrogance surrounded by sin
Destiny takes its hold.
Fight it or let it go
But I choose how the day will end
Back and forth the struggle consumes us all
Trying to keep a level head.
In the most unsettling of times
Today I'll become the bull
This walk can get lonely
I lose myself inside my head
No one can touch you when you're outside staring in
Remove myself from this rat race
Back and forth the struggle consumes us all
Trying to keep a level head
In the most unsettling of times
Today I'll become the bull

-"Becoming the Bull" by Atreyu

Heaven ablaze in your eyes
We're standing still in time
The blood on our hands is the wine
We offer as sacrifice

Come on and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul

This endless mercy mile
We're crawling side by side
With hell freezing over in our eyes
Gods kneel before our crime

Come on and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul

-"Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly" by HIM

Many's the day I took for granted
Breathing the air that sinlenced some
As the North Wind blew
With its head of thunder
Beating its breast with a war drenched song
Bathe awhile, awash in slumber
Cry what's left to sleep
Where you dream of the love you left forever
But pity no more nor grieve

For we're the kings of it all
For the day we were born
Now we're the kings of the Kilburn High
Sure we'll always take a drop and we'll never leave a sup
Your empty glass is but a tear filled eye
We were the kings of the Kilburn High

Listen to the sound of dead men dying
March as they flee but exiled bound
Their ship once sailed no longer anchors
For gone is the green
And their hallowed gound

Toast to tears of times past glories
This ageless clock chime stalls
Where to kiss the lips of that love forgotten
To fly where no others have soared

For we're the kings of it all
For the day we were born
Now we're the kings of the Kilburn High
Sure we'll always take a drop and we'll never leave a sup
Your empty glass is but a tear filled eye
We were the kings of the Kilburn High

Toast to tears of times past glories
This ageless clock chime stalls
Where to kiss the lips of that love forgotten
To fly where no others have soared

For we're the kings of it all
For the day we were born
Now we're the kings of the Kilburn High
Sure we'll always take a drop and we'll never leave a sup
Your empty glass is but a tear filled eye
We were the kings of the Kilburn High

-"The Kilburn High Road" by Flogging Molly

I think that's enough for now, don't you? (1,152)

In the Mind

While reading "The Death of Ivan Ilych," I slowly became aware of another possibility. You might remember Gary Gold bringing something up like this yesterday, or whatever the relation between days it will be when you read this in the future. The basic idea is that much of what takes place is in Ivan Ilych's own mind, his impending death, his bouts of good feeling, maybe it all takes place because of his mindset with regard to these things.

Ivan Ilych is greatly angered by those around him for constantly denying the fact that he is dying, and believes that they are merely trying to deceive him so he'll feel better, or to avoid the issue entirely. In many cases a positive attitude and having faith has often resulted in seemingly miraculous recoveries. Maybe in this case it is Ilych's own decidedly negative outlook that dooms him to death. His initial realization of his inevitable death causes him to reflect on his life and his mindset, and perhaps what he sees there is too much to bear, in a way robs him of his will to live. He doesn't necessarily give in to his death, but rather becomes resigned to it, and accepts it. Perhaps it is his lack of will to continue fighting that dooms him to a death that could have been otherwise avoided.

Something that seems to confirm my suspicions is the scene(s) with Gerasim. When Praskovya Fedoronova tells the doctor of Ivan Ilych's ritual with Gerasim holding up his legs, the doctor says, "What's to be done? These sick people do have foolish fancies of that kind, but we must forgive them" (308 254). There is no medical basis for elevating one's legs in a situation such as this, so why does it make Ivan Ilych feel better? Perhaps it is not that actual lifting of the legs, but rather the spiritual support that Gerasim offers Ivan Ilych, the idea that there is someone who is willing to empathize with him and share in his pain, and therefore willing to lessen it.

Ivan Ilych is not happy with the life he has led, and has no wish to continue to do so. He reflects on his choices, and the people around him seem to reflect back at him the same or similar image he himself sees in his mind's mirror. It is this knowledge that saps his will to continue on, and though he is committed to death, he is happy. He has finally broken out of the prison of his life, a "[life] most terrible." (430)