Planet Krypton

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe

2005-07-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Again, I have to say this was a great adventure story. The only problems I had with this was the glaring Christian themes and the the pacing of the writing.

I revile the "Son of Adam" nonsense and the way Aslan was distorted into a Christ figure. The Son of, Daughter of, stuff doesn't mesh with the wonderful concept of clustered universes accessible through a wooded glen with ponds. And how is Jadis a member of the same race of inhumans as Lilith?

Anyway, the pacing also seemed a bit hurried. All of the sudden Aslan says Peter is to be the Great King. And what happened to the Kings and Queens from Magician's Nephew? I suppose that Lewis is maybe not as meticulous in his detail as Tolkien. But those things bothered me anyway.

Despite them I thought it was a great fairy tale with a good message. The children were easy to relate to, especially their little rivalries. Some of the English daliances we were forced to go through were a bit much, but also a clever slice of life... if you happen to enjoy tea... a lot.

Life and Death

2005-07-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Today is the last time my dog will supp with our family. Tomorrow at 6pm she will take her last breath when her life is humanely ended. Her short battle with cancer has left her face bloody and deformed. She now stinks of rotting flesh and blood constantly stains her golden fur.

In her youth she was a beautiful dog. Most dogs are. She followed my father home as a pup, and we decided to keep her providing for no other owner stepping forward. She was a constant companion and a great friend to our second dog who would come later.

At times she was playful and mischevious. Several of my toys, including a Ghostbuster figurine of Winston, was chewed up. Winston had no leg after his encounter with my dog. For this dog, however, her standard state of being was noble and quiet. She usually sat nearby, keeping watch over her pack.

She was always very patient with the puppy we got later. She never snapped, never growled, and always accepted the puppy as a sixth member of our clan.

Moving to Oregon was a difficult trial for both of them. Driving 1,000 miles in a kennel carrier is not a dog's idea of a good time. But ultimately the move was good for them. Though they weren't keen on Oregon's icy winters, they like their human partners, fell in love with the lush and fertile Beaver state with its temperate seasons.

The Fourth of July was always the hardest for both of them. Particularly the elder. Fireworks scared the crap out of her. She can't hear them, now. On this July the 4th I doubt she will be much of a problem. It is fitting that she will survive this one last holiday in quiet defiance of that which previously scared her.

Of dogs it can be said that a person can have no better companion. I will not jump to replace this dog or my other. They have a special place in my life that will not be soon filled. I know one day another pup will follow me home and change my life forever. Until that day I am reminded of many fond memories, and I will enjoy these last few moments and make them special for my old friends.

Thank you for a great time, Goldie.

B. 1 April, 1989; D. 5 July, 2005.

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia - The Magician's Nephew

2005-07-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

I hear C.S. Lewis didn't start out as religiously minded as he was later in his life. J. R. R. Tolkien gave him that. Never the less, this was a totally obvious influence in the first book (chronologically) in the Narnia epic.

Lewis and Tolkien both have that grandfatherly tone in their writing. They both emphasize awe and mystery in their works. That's part of why they are attractive. This story is no exception. Engrossing and comical, it tells the tale of the very birth of Narnia, and casts a lesson upon Earth as well.

The Christian motifs are everywhere. Adam and Eve are referenced by name, and the main character even visits a sort of Garden of Eden. Though Diggory is smart enough not to eat the apple of life, the implications of that original story are built into this as well.

Review: War of the Worlds

2005-07-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Crazy assed Tom Cruise plays a deadbeat Dad turned galactic action hero in this film. Spielberg does a great job of rehashing the 1953 film based very loosely on H. G. Wells book.

I haven't read the book yet.

Anyway, the film is pretty good. Very gruesome, it follows on a human level the events circling around the invasion of the Earth by extraterrestrials bent on our annihilation. The effects were scary, because they looked so real. People in the audience with me were constantly screaming and gasping at the terrible destruction.

That being said, I really have to question some of that. I loved the human nature of the story, but I couldn't help but feel that I wanted to know what was going on at the global level. I'm glad the story didn't have the daring pipe chomping professor of exobiology and astrophysics from the other version or Godzilla movies or whatever, like was parodied in Mars Attacks. And though I liked the close in perspective, I have to say I was pretty disgusted with the very easy and convenient end to the film.

We know, in our limited exploration of space, that decontamination and care to guard against alien microbes is very very important. Did these guys just not realize that? I guess they had never encountered other life besides Earth's brood of microbes and monkeys.

This aspect of the film opened up some plot holes. Such as, how their spaceships stopped working because they were sick. Also, I couldn't help but wonder why Daddy didn't tell the kids to shut the hell up. "It's the friggin' end of the world. We'll get you therapy later."

Also, I was dismayed to see that these were virtually the same aliens from Independence Day. Physically they were very close-- especially their heads. I guess those rascals were at it again. Payback's a bitch though. They should make a movie where we send all the crying shit pants babies from the theaters and restaurants of the world to their planet to wipe them out with all the germs the kids spew everywhere.

Just once I'd like to see some aliens come in peace. Well... besides in Close Encounters. Or Star Trek - First Contact.

Do they all have to say "Resistance is Futile"?

Review: Batman Begins

2005-06-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

I have to say, I am a big fan of Batman and all of his related characters. I was pleased with Tim Burton's films, ecstatic with Bruce Timm's animated series, and pretty damn disappointed with Joel Schumaker's sequels.

Fans of the Batman know that the strength of the franchise as a storytelling device lie in its darkness and its complexity. The problem I had with the Schumaker films is that they were so damned campy. Many people had problems with this, as one liners took the place of thoughtful commentaries on human behavior.

The Animated Series has succeeded where other incarnations have failed, presenting Batman as a determined and tortured soul on a quest. The Animated Series also was able to incorporate Batman's cadre of sidekicks (Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, Huntress, etc.) in a way that did not steal depth from the story or compromise it in any way.

Enter Batman Begins, which I really have to say was terribly impressive. Chris Nolan dealt with the trappings of Batman's story pretty handily. There are a lot of semantics to set up in the legend. The Batcave, the Batmobile, etc. are all pretty corny ideas that he, like Timm, was able to pull off in a stylish and thoughtful way.

The casting for this Batman film was also incredible. While I am not totally sold on Christian Bale as Batman, the others are incredible. Gary Oldman is perfect as James Gordon, and so is Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth. But for me, the best casting of all was Liam Neeson.

Neeson was perfect as Ra's Al Ghul. He captured the calm complexity of the man as well as the madness of his cause. Ra's Al Ghul is more dangerous than any other in Batman's gallery of rogues because he believes he is working for the best interest of the planet.

I felt that the backstory for Ra's was very clever and was a great adaptation of the comic and animated universes, but I still prefer the serial format version better.

Cheers to this film. It has great writing, great effects, a solid story. I look forward very much to the sequels, and to seeing the Joker and Two Face. I know many fans are praying Mark Hamill get the role, I would enjoy seeing that. While I can't say that I would like to see Robin or Superman in this incarnation of Batman, I know Nolan would handle it well.

Review: Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

2005-06-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

This film, which completes the Star Wars prequel trilogy is a lot better than Episodes I or II. That being said, I wasn't as impressed as some of my fanboy compatriots. I felt that some of the lagging plot elements that plagued the first and second films stayed with this one.

I felt that if the audience didn't have the original films as a primer, wouldn't have given two craps about the characters or the outcome. Also we wouldn't have totally understood what was going on. What makes this even worse is that there was an enormous amount of terrible and useless backstory in Episode I and partially in Episode II, and it didn't seem to serve any purpose.

I really feel that Qui Gon Jinn and all of that could have been totally omitted from Episode I and this would have only been stronger. Furthermore, by the end, I really REALLY hated Anakin Skywalker and wished someone would just kill him. He was always annoying, arrogant, and headstrong. From watching Episode IV, Obi Wan describes him as noble and as a longtime friend. Despite what the Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor Obi Wans both say, we only see Anakin and Obi Wan as having an antagonized relationship that was only more and more strained as time went on.

A friend accuses Natalie Portman of phoning in her lines for this film. I don't entirely agree, but I will say that she did the best she could with the terrible writing she was given.

***

Film making criticism aside, I was very much struck with something that I thought about after seeing Episode I. After that, a lot of Star Wars fanboys who I know began to make oblique references to this as a messianic tale. Though there was some pretty obvious messianic references in the film (referring to Anakin as the "chosen one"), I have to say that the films, especially Episode III, smacked of Christian dogma because of their views on life rather than figurehead.

In Episode III, Anakin is taunted with the prospect of death. Despite all his amazing powers he is unable to stop the deaths of his loved ones. The story ultimately gives him a choice between two distinct and very Christian ideas behind eternal life. He can side with darkness and achieve eternal life through unnatural means by utilizing dark magicks, or he can choose the path of righteousness and achieve eternal life (after death). In the end we know what choice he makes and how much it costs him. In Episode VI, we see that he even gets his very Christian deathbed conversion, and goes on to have a happy afterlife.

Review: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2005-06-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is based on the novel series by Douglas Adams. The film is like a bone the movie companies threw the fans of the enigmatic series. I understand from people who have actually read the books and seen the film that various elements are incorporated from several books. Unfortunately this leaves the entire film feeling disjointed. There are some cool spots, but otherwise I was dreadfully disappointed.

The Corporation

2005-05-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

I've always found this quote to be a very prophetic and thoughtful approach to profit motive and modern corporate America:

"When the corporation becomes enthroned an era of corruption in high places will follow. And the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed."

- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

Writer's Block

2005-05-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Having recently had a bad case of creative writer's block, I have gone back to look in old notebooks at past writings, trying to get in touch with who I was before, in order to find out who I am now.

Initially, I was quite dismayed that all I could find were comic strips I had written. All in a four-frame satire format, I found nearly 1,000 strips I had drawn in a period from 1992-1997. Some of them were pretty good, but the tedium of it clearly got the best of me.

In the back of the 9th notebook, I saw that four years after I drew my last strip, I drew one more on one of the many unused pages. It was an homage to the previous strips, an inside joke known only to me and myself over a span of four years. In the corner of the final fame, I had signed my name and given the year 2001. Four years after that, yesterday, I drew one more.

In the folded pocket of that 9th notebook, I found two 3.5" disks. Each disk had a story that I had written. The first disk held a Word 2.0 document (I now use the equivalent of Word 11.5). According to the file data, the story was born on April 14, 1994. According to the Word Properties display, the file had undergone 205 revisions. Its total editing time had been over 100 hours. Heavy on exposition, this draft of my earliest “serious” story weighed in at a crushing 122 pages utilizing over 42,000 words.

The other disk also contained a story, this one on Word 6.0 format. The second story was one that I wrote in high school. Begun in 1996, two years after the first one, this dialogue-heavy story was 252-pages long using over 50,000 words.

Neither of these stories is worth the paper they'd take up to print. The first is full of cliché. It has a Seinfeldian braided plot sequence with an almost blog-ish voice. Though it is the sophomoric rambling of a junior high student, I remember very vividly the connection that I had to the words at that time. The paragraphs and sentences were ones I had read over and over again in mind. I remember hammering at every sentence and every paragraph as if they were a blade, and I the smithy. Reading them yesterday pulled them back into their universe. Back then, I seemed preoccupied with word order. I fancied unconventional and cloying phrases. I used puns with a heavy hand and rhythm was as much a part of my writing as vocabulary. The words, though childish and often times nonsensical, had a poetic rhythm that I now find nearly impossible to squeeze out of my trained and refined faculties. Despite all of the advancements of the modern Internet, and my own increased focus as a writer, I envy the 14 year old boy who I was, sitting in front of a 386 machine with only a skeleton of the Internet at his disposal.

The high school piece is just that-- self indulgent and melodramatic. This story has more in common with the first piece and the comic strips than anything I write today. Instead of a few highly refined characters which dominate my current writing, there were armies of characters in these stories. While not as closely developed as if they had been few, these many characters were well enough fleshed out to have consistency throughout the entire story. The meaning and depth of these characters exists not in their internal conflagrations, but in their associations with each other and their world. They are, in that sense, more real to me than any I have created since. They exist in a real world, clashing with those around them like all humans have since our creation.

By most standards, these stories are terrible. They are fraught with countless grammatical and thematic problems and lacking an adult grasp on the depth of language. Editing them would take another hundred hours. By another standard, though, they have shown me that creativity does not rest in taking a class or having fancy tools. Creativity comes from within. As I see it now, these stories have done two things for me sitting here tonight: gotten me to write again, and given me solace in yet another quirky cliché.

Fancy Stuff

2005-05-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

To Pam, John and all others who are interested, here is the link for the virtual keyboard.

Apparently it utilizes infrared and Bluetooth technology. That's pretty nifty. Apparently the magazine reviewer was surprised to find that the object works flawlessly, connects wirelessly to the PDA, and is a bargain at $149 at Radio Shack.

Enjoy.

Web Surf

2005-05-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

Response to Web Surf

1) The site, Zora Nearle Hurston's Plays, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/znhhtml/znhintro.html, hosted by the Library of Congress, argues that Hurston is a classical American Dramatist, and that her plays, these 5 in particular, are part of the American canon and worth public display. This argument is rooted in Hurston's unique insight into African-American thought and discourse throughout the Harlem Renaissance and the pre-War era.

2) The design of this site certainly performs that function. The text is freely observed by anyone who wishes to see it. Though my only thought is that the texts are all presented in very storage-intensive formats. Instead of being transcribed to HTML by the LOC, the exhibits daemon has instead posted them by scanning the original pages from Hurston's own work. This presents 3 new issues. First, the actual original work at the fingertips of anyone who wishes to see it is a huge plus for interested parties. Second, the limitations of the Internet speeds of potential viewers who cannot afford Broadband or users at institutions which cannot support excessive downloads would experience significant difficulty in opening the text. Third, printing 92 pages of Bitmap images would tax any printer more than 92 pages of text, therefore it lends itself to the previous argument creating a financial resource boundary to these texts.

3) The links are used in a fashion which is pretty standard. Some link to further information, others back to the LOC's Memory Division, and others to the actual text. These actual texts are posted in sequences of images as opposed to a long text or a series of images on a single page of HTML.

4) The site sends you out to other Hurston resources and other LOC exhibits.

5) The text and the image are integral here. While there are a few token pictures of Ms. Hurston on the title page, the actual texts are images of her original pages. This presents an aesthetic quality that would be otherwise absent. You can see how she typed on the page, any notes that she made, the condition of the work (as it was scanned in the 80's), and even, to my amazement, the watermark of the paper company it was printed on. This adds so much more depth than if it had been transcribed. I wish that the transcription had occurred in concert with the scans, making it both accessible and monumental to Hurston enthusiasts.

Eastgate

2005-05-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Response to eFiction:

"him" by dane, an author from Somerset, England

This e-text is a hypertext piece in which we are introduced to the nameless "him." The layout of the piece is 5 buttons arranged on the far left side next to a central text plane and finally on the far right a small box where animations add a visual note to the story. Each push of the button brings you to a new line of text. The text itself is an unending description of the man. Seeming to draw out some kind of "ideal" image, the character is described as having a face that is that of both a Hollywood Adonis and a hardworking blue collar. He is also described as an apt family man, holding the chiseled physique of a warrior, a true romantic with a great sense of humor, being prone to disliking metaphorical discussion of music, being most sage, holding a large gun under the surface, and as having been given a prestigious award by the President of the United States for his many amazing achievements.

The animations coincide with the descriptions showing a sort of mountain when the text describes him as "reaching the top of the peak" in terms of sexual gratification. An interesting one, which describes him as "lost," which I should note is the first indication that he is anything other than perfect, has a little box in which you can select a left or right path, which you can do over and over again, never getting anywhere. This text seems to be describing someone's perception of an ideal man.

Though the term ideal only stems from my opinion of the factors presented, it also seems to me that this could very much be someone's conception of a terrible person. In that, I mean that he is described to be so wonderful in such a superficial way, that one may be lead to believe that he is great when in reality he is a lout. The initial descriptions in the sequence show him as charismatic, with a good smile, and a warm personality. Too good to be true?

Count Chocula is My Hero

2005-05-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

The other book that got my feathers ruffled was a book by two women-- Margaret S. Mark, who has written a wide variety of books about heroes, and Carol S. Pearson, who has done the same. This book, The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes, shows how archetypal characters can be used to create successful brand images.

"Oh, good," I thought, "More advice for advertising companies on how to trick the unwitting public into purchasing some piece of worthless crap." The book details how using very base story archetypes like hero, outlaw, magician, lover, sage, creator, and the innocent, you can advertise in ways that appeal to people across social, cultural, gender, and ethnic boundaries. Instead of present someone as a genuine human with a family and a job and dreams, present them as a two dimensional foil set in a familiar consumer or cultural reference.

We are all familiar with commercials of some young man who is enamored in some way by a food product-- perhaps a hamburger or a bowl of cereal or a piece of candy. His zeal for this product makes him apathetic to his duties. Therefore, to the chagrin of everyone, he loafs around the office in his 45-second adventures, eating candies and not doing any work. He becomes the archetypal outlaw, snubbing authority for the sake of an exciting product.

This book also reminds me of the Shed-Spread Country Crock couple who, for over a decade now, have shared a romance over their faux-butter product. We all know their familiar voices as they spar over a morning cup of coffee and a bagel, expressing their undying passion for each other at the same time.

Billy Mays, purveyor of "As-Seen-On-TV" tripe, is another figure. He has become the magician, yielding products that are amazing and fantastic and have him so excited he endlessly yells at the camera about his magic potions and gadgets and such which, in reality, receive very poor consumer ratings from independent studies, which is why they are being sold independently through syndicated advertising firms instead of being bought by Dow Corning or some other maker of domestic goods.

Some will accurately point out that I am drawing assumptions and conclusions about texts which are innocent surveys of business strategy. However I would respond by saying that what I have pointed out here is true. There are underlying motives at work that have no one's best interest in mind except the acquisition of profit at the expense of others and the denigration of an archetype in the form of its use in that mission. I would also say that characters like "Spider-Man", though as much a brand as "Count Chocula," is a brand only in that this is the business end of a creative endeavor. Finally, I think that anyone who is interested in this topic should read William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. Gibson explores the concept of "cool-hunting," leading us on a tale about a woman who has a keen sense of identifying a winning brand or product, but who is at the same time appalled by them and seeks something that has meaning and significance beyond the "Brand." Interestingly enough, the character is also afraid of Bibendum-- the Michelin Man, deriding him as grotesque and pasty, reminiscent of the “great child,” a terrible and selfish character bereft of goal or merit and fraught with gluttony and sloth.

Kenneth Lay: Modern Superman

2005-05-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

I've come across two books recently whose covers and general topic offended me. The first was a book by Jerry Sonnenfeld entitled The Hero's Farewell: What Happens when CEO's Retire. The title of this book would suggest that it is just about corporate governance and the line of succession within a company. We are all familiar from current events of this being a messy situation. Michael Eisner and Kenneth Lay both come to mind as having troubled transitions for their companies.

What offends me here is not corporate succession, but the juxtaposition of the term "hero" with the role of the chief executive officer of a company. It seems to me that the role of companies now is chiefly, if not solely, to benefit the shareholders and to advanced the political and economic careers of the executive body. This comes at the expense of two groups of people-- the laborers whose dedication and hard work fuel these companies, and at the expense of the consumer, who in many cases is duped into purchasing something for what they do not realize is an exorbitant price.

Business ethics aside, I feel that the primary role of a commercial entity should not be to curry profit for anyone or to satiate the Napoleonic desires of its executives. Rather, I feel that their role should be to serve the consumer base, making the best product possible and offering it at a fair price. What is a fair price? Should companies shave prices down until they simply break even? No, that's ridiculous. Companies should have wells of funds they use in times of hardship, emergency, or new ventures.

While many would argue that this is what most companies do, I could shove a year's worth of reading in their face which highlights case after case in which this was not so. How much does it cost to make a compact disc? The raw materials cost about $2. Royalties to the artist equal about $0.07 a copy. So why do we pay $18.99 for an album?

For this reason, companies like Enron or RJ Reynolds, which are responsible literally for the deaths of thousands to millions of people, become entities whose sole purpose is rooted in greed and avarice. How can you present the leader of such an organization as a hero? If anything, this tyrant would be the anti-hero. Bottom line here is, I think Sonnenfeld could choose a better title for his book. Maybe it could have something more to do with Waterloo instead. Just a thought.

2005-05-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

Hero

My Hero

Revolving Door

2005-05-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

VI - The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

With this reconfiguring, characters can be juxtaposed against different versions of themselves, and even in cases of death-- themselves prior to and after their own death. This cannot occur with the same multiplicity as standard linear texts. As death is, by design, the ultimate finality in a person's life, it is interesting that this blurring of that fact draws more meaning into finality just as it pulls meaning from death. As with other non-linear texts, the true beginning(s) and true end(s) of a narrative no longer hold singular form. Instead there can be many varying ones, all of which hold special meaning and lend material to the overall portrait of the character.

The Once and Future Story

2005-05-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

V - Narrative Function

This reconfiguring of the character's overall narrative empowers readers to view the character's life in any order they see fit. Though this would clearly be much easier with characters like Superman, whose adventures are in an easily collected and accessible format, it is true for any character whose lives appear to people in a serial. To this end, readers can go back and review events in character's lives after having witnessed different versions of the character or different events, both of which could change the reader's view of the character. This makes everyone's perspective on a character vastly different.

The Scar of a Future Wound

2005-05-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

IV - (Back)Story

With death simply a bump in the road of life, it could be that for these characters, death does not lose its meaning. With their adventures and melodramas extending on for decades and in countless publications and films, dealing with death is something that instead of occuring just once, and applying to their lives just once, applies many times and is examined many ways. Though Superman, the most famous of the supplied examples, has died famously just once in his adventures, it is also so that this experience taught us more about him as a character. Superman today, through his death, marriage, and countless encounters with friend and foe, is a far more rounded character than he was at his birth. Though this would be true of any character, it is especially true in cases of genre fiction and cinema because the sheer amount of material is enormous. Death has become something that we can visit with, go back before it, and go forward to after it.

Genres

2005-05-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

III - Men of Steel, Operas of Soap

One of the few places in which death is an easily cheated fact of life is realm of genre fiction. Soap operas, comic books, mystery novels, and science fiction are often the homes of characters who die and return in a way which treats death only as a temporary pause in life. Spock, Superman, Sherlock Holmes, and countless soap opera characters have all died, falling from precarious cliffs or succumbing to fiendish plots.
In any event, this treatment of death as an almost insignificant factor in life has become a convention of book sales and ratings sweeps, as characters die and are reborn for the sake of cleaning up continuity, and creating new story lines. In a sense, this dillutes the danger and selflessness that characters like Superman are normally exposed to. In the same way, soap characters' deaths are little more than the new avenue for the actor's career. Though this contrast in the way death is viewed seems to diminish the thematic meaning of it, it could perhaps be that in some ways it simply changes it.

The Human Torch

2005-05-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

II - I Don't Hold With People Built from a Kit

Frankenstein, Jesus, and Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl, all have things in common. They were all three created from parts of different wholes: Jesus from elements both divine and corporeal, and the others from separate pieces of different people. Though Jesus is not the abomination unto his father that the others represent, he nevertheless faces the same scrutiny in that he was an animal bred for a purpose, who in the course of his journey succumbed to and defeated death.

Lazarus

2005-05-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

I - Death and Rebirth

A popular theme in literature is death. And though escape from death and symbolic rebirth are common subjects in literary commentary, the undoing of death-- true resurrection, is a rarer animal. I could not name for you even three instances from literature in which characters rise from the dead in any form other than a spirit or a memory. Ghosts are all too common, they occur in everything from Shakespeare's Scotland to Irving's Sleepy Hollow. However, aside from Jesus and Frankenstein's monster, two figures who exist as if only to define the power of their creators, few take the same road taken by the Biblical Lazarus-- the one upstream from the river Styx, back to life.