Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I'm ill.

That'd be right, wouldn't it? So instead of going out and doing things, I'm sitting at home eating hot buttered toast and drinking tea, and exploring the internets with a flashlight and an old explorer's pith helmet.


That is a photograph of me and a friend from a few months ago, from a friend's photography project themed around 'Malice in Wonderland'. I've only just seen a digital copy of this particular photograph, and I think its my favourite out of all the shots of me she's taken. So I thought I'd share it with you. You can see the rest of her photographs here.

Also, I recently found out about the feud between various YA fantasy and sci fi writers over whether zombies are better than unicorns. (You can read about it here) My immediate response is, of course, that unicorns are much better than zombies - mainly because I am terrified of zombies and unicorns are pretty. However, I will concede that as a metaphor, zombies can be awesome. I wrote a short story like that, once. Zombies as a metaphor for addiction. But moreover, traditional zombies can act as a metaphor for death, as discussed here by Simon Pegg, creator of Shaun of the Dead. Similarly to Simon Pegg, however, I draw the line at fast zombies. It would appear I am a traditionalist when it comes to zombies, as well as vampires.

Unicorns are pretty great as symbols too, as I'm sure you're aware. Purity. The pro-zombie people all say that, in todays society, unicorns are all but extinct, an outmoded metaphor, while zombies are, for lack of a better phrase, more alive than ever. But I disagree. I think that, in this world where purity and innocence is becoming so rare, the imagery of a unicorn takes on a new poignancy. I think that its important that they're kept alive.

1 comment:

  1. reading this reminded me of harry potter, where professor quirrell feeds off unicorn blood. random, i know. but yes, i'd agree that unicorns > zombies.
    xx

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