Alex's Epics of India Blog

NOTE: Portfolio location --  https://sites.google.com/view/crayonandonand/story-two The casino smelled like Kevin's Gramma before she died of lung cancer — like the slap of new pinochle cards as they're shuffled; like the puff of the last cigarette in a pack of Marlboros; like a woman who bet on God instead of chemotherapy and lost. Kevin sat at the blackjack table, blood already thrilling through his veins. The dealer sent two cards across the table and they slid to a stop right in front of him. A Jack of spades, a four of hearts. "Hit me." A ten of diamonds. "You bust. House wins." Kevin played again. This time, a six of clubs and a seven of hearts. "Hit me." "You bust. House wins." He played again: "Hit me." "You bust. House wins." And again: "Hit me." "You bust. House wins." And again: "Hit me." "You bust. House wins." He played until he ...

In this section of the Mahabharata , I found the central conflict -- the games of dice against Shakuni -- to be infuriating. First that Yudhishthira did not object more to the use of Shakuni as a proxy by Duryodhana for the gambling, second that Shakuni very certainly cheated, and third that Yudhishthira did not have the self-control to stop gambling or the awareness to challenge Shakuni's improbable streak of wins. Also, that Yudhishthira was willing to gamble away his family bothered me a lot. The exile -- its length and its implications -- are very reminiscent of the Ramayana. The group of heroes leave for a period of some 12ish years and return to vanquish their enemies (but I guess I am assuming this is how the Mahabharata ends). I still find the even(ish) sharing of the narrative between the brothers, giving them each some time in the spotlight, is odd but nice, since we get to see each of the characters grow. Well, all but the twins. They seem to have been forgotten b...

In the first section of the Mahabharata , I was confused by the number of different names that appear quickly. It seemed that the Ramayana did not have such an immediately diverse cast of names. That said, I thought that the first section was interesting, and I saw some parallels to other, Western mythology. First, Karna being put in a basket and floated down the river was an interesting parallel to the story of Moses in the Bible; however, it is in reverse in terms of parentage: in the Bible a Jew (a common person) floated Moses down the river to be found by the Pharaoh's wife, while in the Mahabharata a royal woman floated Karna down the river to be found by common people. Also, the idea of stringing a bow as a way to win a wife through competition against other suitors came up again, like it did in both the Ramayana and the Odyssey . Interesting is that an archery competition followed the stringing the bow, which reminded me of the archery competition at the end of the ...

"So that's it, then?" "Yeah." "Let me get this clear, so that I can curse you properly before I die. You're dumping me after I was just proven pure by the gods, banishing me and our unborn twin children to the forest, and by all counts, leaving us to die. That's what you're doing." "It is the only logical course of action, Sita." "Alright, Spock. Logical how?" "You are the only one who has ever made be behave illogically, Sita. Chasing Maricha as the golden deer; leading an army agains Ravana when you could have returned safely with Hanuman; these are just two examples of how you make me behave against my perfect nature." "I don't make you behave any way. You're a big boy, Rama. And Hanuman should have waited up. He had too much fun razing the city, and he forgot to come back for me." "It was all for my glorification, Sita." "Tell that to the thousands of dead...

Notes as I watch: 1:00:28 -- Dang, Dave. That was a brutal breakup email. And wow, Rama. I know you're a king, but dumping your pregnant wife who was proven pure by a trial by fire because people are saying stuff about you? Make them respect you in a way that isn't banishing your wife and unborn child. This extension of the story, which wasn't in Narayan's Ramayana , is interesting. 1:06:31 -- Bedbugs? Yikes, Nina. And the animals in the second song after intermission are really sad, with all of them getting dumped. It's funny that Sita feels 'blue' considering that Rama is actually blue. Her sons singing the praises of Rama are sad and funny; I wasn't expecting the sudden musical number. But that they are being taught to extol the man who dumped them into the forest is sad. 1:10:56 -- I think the narrator's discussion of unhealthy reactions to bad breakups is another way to give the story some modern context, as a way to challenge what (probab...

Notes as I watch:  9:12 -- This animation style is hilarious, with the interpolation of realistic images onto the animation. The sexy nurse Kaikeyi got a giggle-snort out of me. Also, I love the narration. The narrators' unsureness with which they relate the story of Rama gives a pleasantly meta, relatable tone to the story as it is told. (I love metatexts! That's why I wrote the intrusion of myself as narrator into my last Storytelling assignment.) 14:35 -- I really enjoyed the Sinatra-esque song sequence. The song clashed tonally with the scene in a perfectly discordant way; despite their poverty and Rama's occupation killing demons, Sita sings happily about their love as they stand under a beautiful arch of blood spurting from demon corpses. I love absurdity! Satire! So good! (Sidenote: Where is Lakshmana?) 15:00 -- The contrasting animation styles of Nina and Dave with Rama and Sita give really good distance between their stories: the story of the modern couple an...

Please leave your comments here!! Thank you!! LINK to the Portfolio: https://sites.google.com/view/crayonandonand/home Rama says this Portfolio is worth checking out. Source .