#19

Ah, this period of studying children and family work is over! Some more studies about Christianity are going to start next week. I should really get into emailing churches about that trainee period that starts in March... argh. I had an exam today that I think I did rather well in, even though I didn't start studying until 8pm last night. I'm glad the book was an easy read for me and the subject matter was fascinating! I also lucked out in the fact that I studied a passage about things that ended up as one of the two exam essay options. Aww yeah.

During our 2-week "time off" I watched 2 seasons of Pushing Daisies and got back into Game of Thrones! I only watched the first season regularly, as it aired in Finland, but I kind of missed half of season 2 and hadn't bothered to catch up at any point. Now they're releasing trailers and things for season 4, I figured it would be a good time! It's not like I don't know where the plot is going, since the show is so loyal to the book series, but still. It's so well made, I love the casting and all of the plotting.... glorious.

I also really appreciate how George R.R. Martin has written his women. Obviously, the society in the Song of Ice and Fire series is heavily patriarchal (especially in Westeros - Daenerys is creating her own society over on the other side of the sea at this point), but the women still have their own kind of power, and they're very ambitious. Often, they seem far more intelligent and strategical because unlike the men, they have to solve problems without resorting to violence or duels, essentially. And even as you consider this, the show and series also include Brienne - who basically is everything a woman in her time and social standing would definitely not be. Even Arya, the Stark sister whose destiny is for the most part dictated by herself, has done so by adopting a more "masculine" role in her own life.

What I also appreciate is how completely different all the characters' points of views are. Obviously the actors bring the characters and their personalities and struggles to life through a completely different medium than in the books - and again, the flawless cast and casting is also a big factor in how faithfully the show follows the character development and characters in general from the books. But in the books, where Martin essentially writes every chapter from a different viewpoint, it's just so different chapter to chapter. Marvelous.

I'm currently reading a book I accidentally found from Diak's library in Helsinki. It's called Why tolerate religion?  by Brian Leiter. Basically it compares and judges different principals, ideals and values that tend to make the Western culture very "tolerating" about giving people special rights due to their religion. Fascinating.