DARK OF THE MOON

Dark of the Moon
Sky's a drifting gloom
Wandering, as it searches
For it's once-groom

Fool! Her father boomed,
Look at him, a mere peasant,
Can you not see with more reason?
Forgo tradition!
The young beauty bursts,
Never in my life have I been so cursed.
This is the first,
But its for him that I thirst!

Her parent wails,
The epitome of ultimate anguish.
I am finished, she declares,
I tire of these dulling curfews!
Out of the door and a tissue she blew,
Mother nature wrestles with her swelling rage.

Rain pelts and snow hails,
Turbulent storms of an angry gale.
Her father fasts and chants,
Oh, how i pray!
Her heart's astray..
For one that is deceiving
And has tricked her pure heart into believing!

Buried in sorrow,
Blinded and hollow,
She died beneath the crescent.
As her coffin descends,
Everyone was present.

But her lover did not follow
It left her, mourning and alone,
Shattered through heart and bone.

In the blackest of nights,
One can claim to see a shadow
Of late, prowling in the meadow
And it stands under the half-formed moon,
Sheathed with a soft crooning tune,
She was known as the Dark of the Moon.

Vampirism

Her heart has endured;
It is no longer pure, but wretched.
Climaxes of the past
Are but a memory,
A distant reality.

One of the many i remember
A lone figure,
Silhouetted bright against the stark moonlight.
Ashen-white, my face wide with fright
I receive him.

A dull ache throbs my heart with yearning,
As one who has learned to love with feeling,
Has much to lose keening.
He spreads his arms,
Warm and calm,
Open and inviting.

Of the many suns I've seen
Rise and fall,
None rose by the hand of sin
Bound in thrall
In submission to the Cross.

His features twist,
And i catch a glimpse
Of the demon in hide.
Red eyed,
Snarling fangs,
He is gone, I realize with a pang.

Gray dust flutters;
Ablaze a gold ray of light shimmers,
The sun wakes.

Beneath, I grieve
Of what my man used to be.
Dead, he is free
Alive, he is slave
To the woes of the grave.

First draft

Jason was a human vessel designed to contain the likeliness of Chaos and his absolute power. Tired of being trapped in a human body where it limited his powers to do only so much, the evil lord created his own ideal body called 'Project 001.' He was complete in ability, endurance and power, but the only thing missing was his emotions. Chaos had wanted to insert them artificially, but somehow had a change of mind and sent Project 001 out to the real world to experience them for himself.

Project 001, nicknamed Jason, met Miele who was working as a spy in the high ranks of the Organisation. However, when she found out that they were the indirect cause of her parents death, she delved further and came across some unauthorized files concerning the creation of 001 and Chaos' plan to take over the world. Meeting Jason, she helped him realize that he wanted a life more than being a science project to be studied and experimented on, thus they ran away together. Of course, Miele did not realize at that time that Jason was the killing machine Chaos created to help him in his quest for world domination.

Fearing that Miele knew too much, the Organisation sent assassins after her. One of them was her cousin, Patrick, whom she thought dead. Their reunion reinforced their beliefs that the Organisation was merely a front for Chaos to manipulate the people's minds and bring them under his control. The two of them became fugitives and started fighting the Organisation independantly, running from one location to another and infiltrating their branches to gather more information.

At some point, they got caught up in battle with another group working for Chaos, and a fight ensued. They recognized Jason as Project 001, and accused Miele of using him to her own benefit. In the confusion, Jason accidentally activated his powers to save his friends, but ended up killing three men and wounding Patrick and Miele. The two of them are less trusting of his after that, especially Miele, who thinks he was working as a spy on Chaos side all along. They run away from him and stumble upon a farmhouse where a girl treats their injuries.

Back at the lab, three of the scientists whom Chaos has employed to undertake his new project- Furuta, Eyama, and Yuno, are trying desperately to track 001's current location. They finally locate him and send out a team of the most ruthless agents to bring him back. Chaos warns that none of them should fail.

~to be continued

Chaos' Origins

Chaos' real name was always a mystery. No one ever admitted to know his true name, though many believed that he was of Japanese heritage due to his dedicated practices of tea drinking and love of cherry blossoms.

Chaos' original name was Kanzo, and he was of lowly birth from a tribe that was knee-deep in poverty. However, they were highly spiritual people and avid star readers. Everyday they prayed, begging the Gods that they luck may change, forever watching the stars for a sign that their prayers were answered. Then one day, their prophet announced that the stars signified that a child would be born to them, one that would change their fortune. He would be born on the 23rd of June, from the womb of the most unluckiest woman in the tribe and possess powers that would rule others with envy. The women of the poorest families were quickly married off to young and able men in hopes that they will be the ones to produce this special child.

Unknown to them, Katrina, a young woman who was spurned from her tribe for falling in love with a outsider, a white man, heard of the prophecy and decided she was going to be the one to have the child. 

Every night she prayed and sacrificed to the Gods, promising to return their favour when her prayer was fulfilled. The Gods must have listened, because of the long awaited day of birth, none of the women in the tribe gave birth, although most of them had been pregnant for some time. 

They searched and found Katrina lying on her bed in her wooden house, some miles away from the village delivering her child with her husband by her side. The villagers were outraged. They could not accept that a woman they no longer considered part of their tribe, discriminated and spurned against, would be the one to have the child. The elders met and concluded that they would kill Katrina and her family. They could not allow the good name of the village to be blackened by this woman's doing. 

When midnight reached,  instead of celebrating, the villagers crept up to Katrina's house and set it on fire. The small family managed to escape, but the villagers caught Katrina and torched her whilst beating her with sticks and stones. Her husband fled back to his hometown where he swore to exact revenge on his in-laws for brutally killing his wife. He named the child Kanzo, to honour his Japanese heritage and in remembrance of his dead wife. 

Even as a young child, the intelligence Kanzo showed surpassed his older relatives and many were surprised. Knowing the Kanzo was born with a purpose, his father exposed him to several lessons and taught him many things. Kanzo was a quick learner and he picked up his father's lessons with not much effort. At age three, he could recite the alphabetical order backwards and front, and by age seven he had a vocabulary of 4000 words and could speak three languages. 

It was at age 12 when he first heard the voices. A soft, whispering hum in his mind, revealing the innermost secrets of deep thoughts. Unlike a normal child, Kanzo did not try to rid of the voices in his head but listened, realizing that they were the thoughts of people around him. He soon learned how deceiving people can be, how what they say can contrast to what they really think. He distanced himself from them and started studying their body language, relating their little actions with the truth and lies they told. He had little friends, but zero enemies. No one noticed the quiet boy who never spoke.

He also had a strong sense of justice. His first fight was with a boy that was 2 years older than him, twice as big and ten times stronger. The bully was forcing a younger boy to pay up what he considered 'protection money' when he had none. It had been going on for months now, but something inside Kanzo snapped when the bully stripped the younger boy of his pants and emptied his wallet, which only held a few coins. Before he knew it his fist was flying and the bully's head snapped back, unconscious. His father was called but paid the principal to keep the matter quiet, because that was when Kanzo discovered that he could hit a lot harder than he looked.

He started getting trouble in school almost every day, because he just couldn't keep quiet whenever someone younger and weaker was being picked on. He preferred to settle an argument with his fists, because they spoke a lot more than trying to negotiate. He became a man of action. 

Strange rumours started to circulate him, about the quiet boy who never spoke, yet had eyes that could kill. people believed he was associated with gangs and took drugs. Everyone avoided him completely and his father had to move before the police was called on his son for a crime he didn't commit. 

They moved to Osaka, Japan, for his father believed that bigger cities would draw less attention to them. Another reason was also because his older brother lived there. Tom was his name, and he became Kanzo's favourite uncle. Everyday he would instruct the boy in the practices of Japanese culture, religion, and beliefs. He introduced Kanzo to the part of the world his father had lost.

The Circus Show

Today, i had a dream. Not a normal dream, because it was one i will remember in a long time. It has been a while that i have had dreams with meaning and purpose, since they mostly contain elements that involve me running away from something confrontational.

We were preparing for a concert. It was a big project, complete with acrobatic performances and wax figurines that looked so real you wouldn't believe it. Goku, the main highlight of the event, was busy warming up in the back room, throwing punches and high kicks. Today was the day he was going to demonstrate his strength to everyone. His raw power, accumulated through years by the effort of blood and sweat, was going to blow everyone away and make them realize just how far he'd gone as a human being. He'd finally gain the recognition he wanted so much.
Goku was the son of a wealthy lord, one of the sponsors for this event. He had travelled with this circus for almost 15 years, doing nothing but training his stamina and studying every martial art known to man. He wanted to break the record. He wanted to surpass the boundaries that limited each human being. And today, he'd finally done it. He'd achieved what no other human ever did before- attain strength that could break through a boulder with one punch.

The curtains were lifted, music played, bright lights danced across the shiny floors and the whole stadium was suddenly filled with shouting and singing. Laughter rang through the enormous hall as one of the clowns performed a ludicrous trick. Lions and tigers and monkeys were suddenly running loose. Birds flew freely overhead and deposited their droppings on the people below. The people screamed as the whole cavern was suddenly plunged into darkness. A soft hissing sound loomed from above and they looked up to see smoke pouring from a tiny hole. The hole widened and the room was lighted again, this time with different coloured lights flashing everywhere and taking the shape of several animals. The droppings turned out to be  hardened artificial chocolate. More lights illuminated the stage and a second set of curtains opened.

A single figure stood, his bulky exterior the only thing visible in the blazing light that soon died down. people craned their heads as they tried to catch a glimpse of the marvel that was soon to unfold. What was going to happen?
A large metal claw extended over the people's heads and lowered, dropping a huge mountain of rock on the stage, which trembled and shook violently. A hush fell over the crowd, as if they knew what was going to happen.
The figure approached the rock slowly, taking his time. Now that they could see him, they saw he was only a boy, about 17 or 18 years of adolescence. His age hardly mattered. What was important was the feat he was about to perform.

The boy drew his fist back, channeled his energy into his hand and clenched his teeth. His punch landed accurately in the rock's middle. A loud crack appeared from within, spreading to the sides quickly and growing like wrinkles on an old man's forehead. The audience gasped. The boy had not doubled back in pain like they had expected him to. Instead, he was standing proud and tall as the rock thrice his size slowly crumbled to pieces.
A cheer slowly raised and Goku smiled to himself. Soon that cheer would be turning to cries of worship. They just had to witness the final act. He waited, watching as the rock split and broke in the corners. Then it simply stopped.

The people waited. Goku waited. The sound of silence was overwhelming and threatened to crush him. Beads of sweat covered his forehead and dripped on his nose. Why hadn't the rock broken like it was supposed to? Why weren't the people cheering?

He knew. His power wasn't enough. He'd failed his dream. He hadn't done enough.

The audience drew in a second gasp. On the stage, a second boy appeared, raggedly dressed, noticeably smaller and thinner than the first. He drew in his basket and threw petals to the onlookers. The flowers swiveled and burst into confetti of different colours. The people were distracted momentarily and when they looked back, the boy had changed his costume. He was now smartly dressed in a black tux and matching pants, and held a cane in his right hand.
A strange song started to play. The audience was hooked, but were captivated when the boy started to jiggle his feet to the rhythm. His feet moved at an abnormal speed and made strange tapping sounds. He then took off his hat and took out six balls, which he juggled. He never dropped a single one, though he made a great show of almost falling off-balance. The audience cheered and whooped. And all the while they were focused on his juggling and dancing, the boy tapped the rock with his feet secretly, waiting for the perfect moment.
He did a final turn and caught all six balls in his hat and swept it firmly back on his head. He then lifted his hands and bowed gracefully, as his foot tapped the giant rock for the last time. Then, just like he planned, it crumbled to fist-sized pieces as he stood up. For a moment, the audience was stunned. Then they rose and cheered and clapped loudly to the dramatic end of a splendid show. It was excellent indeed! No one had been expecting that, no one at all!

Les Miserables Movie Review

I won't call this a review because i don't think i can, so im simply writing to express and also sort out my feelings i feel after watching this it, because it's not everyday a movie can impact my emotions strongly and still leave me aching for it after a couple of days. Directed by Tom Hooper, Les Miserables is my new top-rated misery movie of the year. packed with emotional rides and intense singing, i was hooked because firstly, I admit im a sucker for movies with a theme of suffering. Revolution of a country, unfair treatment to the weak, and a government that controls the people by demeaning the poor and employing the rich, im sure you can see why i fell for it easily.
Les Miserables tells the unfortunate tale of Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman) a poor peasant that was jailed for 19 years for stealing a meagre loaf of bread to help his sister's dying child. When he is finally relesed, he is ordered to report to the local authorities everyday to keep track of his whereabouts. He roams the street with a burning hatred until he meets a priest that offers him a second chance at life. His eyes opened, he vows to turn his life around and be a better person while living for God.
Few years later, he has established himself as mayor of a town and a wealthy man of a factory. Now a man of honour, people respect him and no one knows of his past. That is, until the malovent policeman Javert suddenly appears and offers him his services. Meanwhile, Fantine, a worker at his factory, is found having a daughter and ruthlessly thrown out of the factory with only a few coins to fend for herself. Desperate, she turns to selling off her hair and teeth as well as prostitution for money. Javert confesses his suspiscions that Valjean may be the escaped convict he had been searching for. Valjean denies it but soon confesses when he learns another man has been wrongfully identified as him and taking the blame for his crimes. He stumbles upon Fantine who is ailing and takes her to a hospital but is too late and holds her hand as her last seconds ticks away.
He takes upon a vow to find her daughter, Cosette, and protect her as his own. After paying 1500 francs to the innkeeper couple, he and Cosette begin their new life together. that is when Javert rushes to track him and their long game of cat and mouse begins.

After escaping to Paris, Cosette has grown up into a beautiful young lady and catches the eye of Marius, a young revolutionary student. The one thing i loved about this movie so much is the unending spirit of the people that fight for a lost cause even though they know they will lose.
It speaks about upperclassmen like Marius abandoning his status to fight for more and a passionate love that sparks through the fire of war. it bleeds sacrifice, sacrifice by none other than Valjean himself, as he takes great lengths to protect his beloved Cosette from outside threats as well as his past and elude the ever determined JaverT without killing him.

I think Hugh Jackman was exceptionally brilliant in this movie. if he was already outstanding as Wolverine, Les Miserables has brought him to a greater height of fame. His eyes burned passion as he sang, ok, i forgot the song name but the beginning goes like this- 'What have i done? Sweet Jesus, what have i done?' he admitted he felt guilt at his sins and wanted to repent. he didnt just want to repent, he wanted to start entirely from new.
You could see the veins popping out from his head and the tears in his eyes. This guy was serious. I don't know how the hell can he admit all of the tangle of emotions into a camera. I can't even admit it to myself, more so a camera. This guy deserves praise. He managed to execute perfectly a scene of repentance of a man who has carried hatred of the world inside him for too long. Then we have Anne Hathaway's scene where she sings 'I Dreamed a Dream' and i think everyone has to agree it was a tearjerker. We already felt sorry for her when she lost her beautiful hair and had her teeth painfully yanked from her mouth. When she succumbed to prostitution, the grief on her face was palpable and her pain so physical it struck a chord in my heart.
I believe that was what Hathaway wanted to deliver as Fantine, as she was being stripped of her dignity and condemned as trash. Well, she succeeded. Another Oscar nominee.

Another character that seized my already-aching heart was Enjolras, played by Aaron Tveit. Enjolras is the leader of the revolution that sparked into a war. I specially loved the part where they start singing 'Do you hear the people sing.' Underneath all their suffering is a soul yearning for justice.
Enjolras and his men start the beat first, then slowly, more and more people join in. They realize that they DO have the strength to demand for their rights, in a large group of supporters. Even Gavroche and his group of urchins joined in.
This was a moment of unity, a moment that would mark history for all eternity, an event that would stage their names as heroes that died fighting for their freedom and country.
Speaking of dying, it was a painful moment for me when the soldiers blasted bullets into Enjolras and killed him. He knew death was inevitable, but refused to beg and went out like a hero. He made me love him even more. Watching their last performance as the cast of Les Miserables on youtube, i couldn't help wanting to see more of Aaron because his part was too small, too short! he played a character that had heavy impact in the movie but not many people recognized his contribution.
Enjolras, a character that i will not forget in a long time. I don't think i'll ever be able to see Aaron Tveit playing any other character other than Enjolras. The link for their full erformance at the 2013 Oscars- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXNzCXOpJ10 My least favourite character, was of course Javert. He is a person that blindingly follows the rules and regulations of the court without truly understanding the value of morality. And in the end, when Valjean grants him the ultimate act of kindness by sparing his life not once, but twice, even if its means destruction of his own, it leaves Javert confused. This man, the criminal he has been searching for so long has forgiven him without a trace of vengeance. He begins to question his beliefs and finally concludes that his actions were wrong and he has been the criminal all along. Unable to live with the guilt, he commits suicide by throwing himself off a bridge. Weak man indeed.

I mean, he could've helped Valjean stop the revolution or something. He's the head of the police, for god's sake. How many other can under him can he influence? ? ? Sigh.

The most painful part of the movie, the most tragic, with the perfect acting and right amount of emotion presented, was the ending nearing towards Valjean's death. He was missing Cossete most terribly and Marius, getting the wrong impression that Valjean was an ex-convict, forbade Cosette from seeing too much of her father. This, to me, was unbearably cruel. Valjean is an old and aging man who wants his daughter's company till he dies, as every old man does. And imagine that the 'crime' he committed was stealing a loaf of bread! And with good intentions too.
I cannot forgive Marius for causing such pain to Valjean. Even so, in the end, he died in peace. Fantine came down to soothe his ailing soul, and-and-AND HERE'S THE BEST PART

EVERYONE'S ALIVE!!!!!

Eponine, Enjolras, Gavroche, the entire city- their waving the flags and singing happily like they've just won the war. The ending of this scene just made me want to cry. After all their suffering, fighting and pushing so hard, they've finally seen the light. Death does not mean the end of life, it merely means your suffering on Earth is over. They are now freed of the limitations that governed them on Earth, dying for a righteous cause, for people they've loved and lived for, now they are free. However anyone else chooses to interpret that scene, i believe that they are alive in the skies, perhaps residing in heaven, watching their loved ones on Earth.

I Am Number Four Book Review

Although this book came out few years ago and has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time, i have only just started reading it. Written by pittacus Lore, who also, coincidentally it seems, to be the highest ranking officer of Elders that governs this race of aliens' planet. the summary goes like this-

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books – but we are real. Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They killed them all. I am Number Four. I am next.


What i loved from this book was the opening. it gave us a fairly interesting and believable tale about the life of a teen alien fugitive, constantly on the run and lookout, but mostly wishing for a normal life. the opening offered great potential to be a sci-fi thriller, or so i thought. when he entered the first day of school in Ohio it was only too apparent what was going to happen when he locked eyes with Sarah. she was of course going to be his Juliet, whilst he runs around trying to avoid being killed and beat those nasty monsters all the time proving himself as her hero. sounds a little similiar as the Twillight story dont you think? the nasty jealous ex-boyfriend was present as well, which made it predictably boring.

There wasnt even a single mention of Mogadorians in the first fifty pages, which kinda annoyed me because i was waiting on hook for the first action packed scene to emerge. but NO, we had to be dragged through Four's daily school life which i feel is hardly worth describing in those fifty pages, because we can read it elsewhere in cheesy love novels and it is definitely not what i expected in a book with aliens. also, everything seemed to be a little too convenient.
How is it that they are aliens, yet have looks similiarly eerie to humans? there is no explanation of that, whether they might be related or ancient descendants. i cant help but think that pittacus lore borrowed some ideas from other books to write his own, as i can see the resemblance.

The idea of Four constantly moving towns in order to prevent monsters knocking reminds me of percy jackson, where he and his mother have to always move because of percy's uncanny ability to cause trouble in every school he attends. speaking of trouble, Four just got into a slight scuffle with big bully by the name of Mark James as well.
The concept of which Lorien and human mate and give birth to an exceptionally gifted human would be interesting if it wasnt already used in percy jackson as well. only in that series, gods and human offspring are known as demigods. the same names were given in I am number four as with percy jackson, which was Julius Caesar, Leonardo da Vinci, Issac Newton, Aristotle, blah blah blah. it seemed less believable reading it the second time, especially if it had been used before.

The idea of a Garde having a guardian, a Cerpe, only seems all too familiar with Buffy the vampire slayer, because when a slayer is chosen she is immedietly assigned a guardian as well, which they call Watchers. another thing is Four's compulsive obsession with Sarah. i understand puberty, but isnt it a little too far-fetched the idea of him fully admitting he isnt human, yet she accepts it without a second thought?
she doesnt question him at all but just gasps out that she loves him which just plain annoys me. i mean, sarah's a nice girl and all, i was really taken to her character when she was first introduced. but as the story progresses shes becomes a waste of space that cant function without her man, that needs him at all times. The flirting was cheesy and unbearable to read.

'' She playfully grabs my biceps. ''Right, these huge muscles. your superpowers. boy, are they lucky.''

Sure. like you arent signifying how good it is to feel them yourselves either. Ugh i just can't stand this kind of I'D LIVE AND DIE FOR YOU romance. never again.

To top it off, I Am Number Four isn't that bad at all. Just that maybe they could make up for the horrible romance by injecting a little bit more action and so on. Maybe include more details about their mysterious race and history of their planet. stuff that the audiences would want to know. Give the story a fresh twist.

Speaking of twists, i was SO not anticipating henri to die. He was, after all, a major character, and those characters dont usually die off at the first book. hands off to pittacus lore for that surprising event. For the end, the story was easy to follow, a simple, uncomplicated plot for those that love action and thriller but dont want their heads spun too much by fantasical elements.