Strictly Shakespeare ~ Creative Writing Competition

Strictly Shakespeare is a new creative writing community and Monthly competition site.

It is open to an amateaur writers over the age of 18 and has two separate sections for poetry and prose.

Each month you can submit up to 5 entries in each section based on a monthly prompt!

This months prompt is Valentine's Day.

The Top Ten in each contest are then  put to the Public Vote to reveal the Cash Prize Winners.

The prizes are dependent upon number of entries so please help grow this community!

Come join the fun and challenge your talent at strictlyshakespeare.com

http://www.strictlyshakespeare.com/

The History and Origins of St. Valentine's Day

Unfortunately the story of Saint Valentine is yet another victim of the passage of time and lack of extant documentary evidence from antiquity.  However some information remains from which glorious legends and lore were birthed and nurtured.  Furthermore the ideas and aspirations of St. Valentine’s Day are arguably more vital and important to the human race than historical accuracy.

There are at least two ‘Valentine’s’ associated with the festival of February 14^th according to Roman Catholic deification.  It was a popular name and was shared by a two Christian martyrs.  Firstly Valentine of Rome, a priest who died for his faith circa 269AD and was buried on the Via Flaminia, his remains interned at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome and Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin. Secondly, Valentine of Terni, a bishop of Interamna who was slaughtered under the edict of Emperor Aurelius c. 197AD also buried under the Via Flaminia and the Basilica of St. Valentine in Terni.

With so little knowledge of these men, Pope Paul VI removed Valentine’s Day from the Calendar of the Saints in 1969 but by that point it was firmly established in popular culture.

Now the more colourful version of how Saint Valentine’s Day came to be; for this we will start at the end in order to understand the beginning! 

In the days of the great and powerful Roman Empire, paganism or the ancient Roman religion of gods and immortals was predominant in society.  Religion was a useful device to rule nations through fear of judgement or righteous anger of the gods who were ever present and influential in every act of nature and fate of men. 

When the rulers of these kingdoms converted to Christianity after it’s discreet and secretative roots in society, stemming from the time of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, the easiest way to spread its popularity was not to remove the few pleasures that the devout citizens had but enhance and mould them.  Many of our modern day Christian festivals occur on or around the date of a previous pagan festival as one religious celebration was replaced by another.  For example, New Year’s was the time of the Saturnalia when Janus, the god of doorways, with two faces, one glancing over the past and the other gazing into the future, was worshipped.

In the lifetime of the aforementioned Valentines, February 14^th was a festival honouring the high goddess Juno (or Minerva in the Greek).  She was the wife of Jupiter (or Zeus), the king of the gods and thus was associated with the gift of power and also of marriage.  Juno Februa was seen as an observance to purity and maidenhead but this day was also the eve of the start of the Feast of Lupercalia, a festival of a few days that exulted fertility.  During this time the names of prospective young suitors were placed in a hat and drawn at random by unattached and nubile women.  The pair were then bound together for the duration of the feasting and these first stirrings of romance often bloomed into marriages.

As the story goes Valentine (of Rome as the other is forgotten or melds into one being) was a priest during the time of Emperor Claudius II.  Claudius was ruthless and bloody, a determined conqueror who would vanquish his enemies and enhance the hand of Rome.  However it seemed that many young men were not keen to join him on these tirades and the sagely ruler blamed matrimony and familial attachment for their reticence, thus banning the rituals and traditions of the Lupercalia and in fact all potential engagements and weddings.

It is said that Valentine was sympathetic to young love’s plight and wedded couples in secret until his treason was discovered and he was sentenced to be clubbed to death and beheaded.  Such a gruesome end seems almost inevitable for a would be Saint. 

The legend declares further that this cruel justice was delivered on February 14^th and that Valentine himself was the first to pen a mournful, love letter to the jailor’s daughter (whom, some versions of the tale declare that he had previously healed of blindness).  The sentimental and tragic fable reveals that he signed this love note, “from your Valentine”.

There is no factual basis for these claims and in fact the day of Saint Valentine, observed by Holy orders, was not affiliated with romantic love at all until the medieval ages of Chaucer, who wrote:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make. 
["For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."]

Saint Valentine’s Day was officially established by Pope Gelasius in 500AD and today we send affectionate favours and affirmations of devotion along with Hallmark, greetings cards and accustomed symbols of love and courtship, such as flowers, chocolates and heart hugging, lovable, fluffy critters. 

It is a day to honour the most sacred and miraculous of human emotions that separate us from lesser species and perhaps reveal a spark of something divine.  This day undoubtedly means something very different to modern patrons than it did millennia ago but the admiration and adulation of love and goodness surely pardons any imaginative critique on the history books.

Why People are so angry and depressed these days?

In a poor ‘Yoda’ impression: “Discontent leads to frustration, frustration leads to anger and anger leads to suffering.”  In the twenty-first century mankind stands at a stalemate, so much has been invented, discovered and achieved in such a short period of years that we can’t, not only, keep up but are losing that most vivacious and significant spark of our natures, that of hope and aspiration. 

To quote “The Lion King” or “Doctor Who”, “There’s more to see that can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done…” and globally we are starting to feel that. We either contort those words to become, “What can I see that has never been seen, what can I do that has never been done” or we are continually vexed and plagued by them.

A century ago, within living memory of some of our own relatives, life was not necessarily better but it was simpler.  There was great inequality between the sexes so that woman couldn’t battle and change the system overnight.  They had a cause to fight for but this now has plateau-ed.  The class system was rife and mankind had to find contentment at their level and though they could aspire for more there were limits.

Now, however, continental travel is cheap, products and services are accessible and that ‘something’, which people believe will bring them happiness, is now so near but still elusive.  We want so much more because we know that we can have so much more.  Things that were impossible to achieve just a hundred years ago now taunt us.  Everyone wants to live a good and full life and now there’s no time to do everything that’s possible and less of a restless need to explore and invent because there’s so much else to work to own.

In this way our achievements are always undermined by our potential goals and job satisfaction becomes the daily grind that is a means to an end.  There is a hopelessness in society that hasn’t been present for generations because as we have advanced the width and breadth of our possible goals has become seemingly insurmountable.  We can never keep up with the Jones because the Jones are no longer our village neighbours but a global media network where someone will always have more. 

This feeling of failure and insignificance to change and further the world leads to depression, self-anger and inactivity as tasks seem impossible and too scary and lofty to even aim for.  There is an increase in mass media, watching TV, reality shows to live vicariously through others.  Families are strangers due to the fact that the job market is so poor that everyone has to go above and beyond, work longer hours for lesser pay because they know that there are a hundred other people that could easily replace them.  The developed world is educated with more degree graduates than jobs so that so many can’t find career fulfilment or stimulation.

The one thing that saved people in such a crisis in the past was looking for wisdom, leadership and purpose in religion but now, with so much apathy, too much knowledge and a depressing realism of the world that rips at dreams and fantastical theories, even that is empty to many.

Thus there is an increase in alcoholism and smoking, even though we know the determents, they don’t matter as much anymore in life’s monotony and an increase in violent crime and sexual perversions - something, anything to make mankind feel and experience again. 

We are our own undoers but no society can thrive like this.  Even basic scientific principals state that there is a survival instinct in every organism and the world is one giant organism.  Society will be shaken up when those with influence speak out.  At the moment the powerful of our nations do not want to disturb the status quo as the material things we are encouraged to want encourage capitalism and profit but true happiness will come from a sense and understanding of self and embracing the real relationships and memories that make us want to live and fight on and that day will come again.

Movie Review: Salt 2010

SALT, poses one question whose answer has serious ramifications for the nuclear aged world and which will, in my humble opinion, entrance the viewer to watching through to the credits for its resolution.  Who is Evelyn Salt? However the mystery and dissembling agendas of this piece just barely make up for the unoriginal and lax dialogue and lack of character empathy I experienced throughout.
Angelina Jolie is, of course, stunning even in her various disguises and exhibits feminine strength and vengeance that is titillating but the convoluted plot, that begins well, is rather far-fetched and full of political agenda and fanatical terrorism. Espionage is notoriously sexy and Jolie handles this mission with her usual savvy and professional detachment.
Some of her survival kit inventions are indeed interesting and different to conventional machine gun overdoses.  Who doesn’t want to see an athletic woman try to undermine national security with a glue gun and ball of string but the attempts at pace are distracted by sitcom clichéd flashbacks of sprouting love between Salt and her target, German academic husband (played August Diehl) that are shallow and saccharine as they attempt to form back-story and sympathy.
The cinematography is grey scale and macabre and the casting choices, somewhat obvious and spoilery, especially that of Liev Schreiber and Andre Braugher roles is unfortunately brief.  Still it is spies and moles and conspiracy, handled in a different light and worth the watch but not the purchase.  There is one vertigo inducing scene and an adorable dog plus spiders if that's your thing.
A story of the C.I.A. suspecting one of their own but not the conventional and idealistic agenda of clearing the hero’s name, it detaches from this sentimentality and skewers the perspective of right and wrong.
Hopefully the Russians will take this as pure entertainment and the Americans, once again, laugh at the incompetence and heavy handed methodology implied.
This film is another look at the ‘dark’ action hero with a personal agenda and weak allegiance and zero introspection.  Salt is a breed warrior designed to be an autonomous drone and the attempts at making her appear ‘normal’ are uninventive and stereotypical.
Two and a half stars for this production, directed by Philip Noyce and running at 100minutes long.

A Movie Review of Knight and Day (2010)

Knight and Day

Tom Cruise, the ageing, diminutive star of high tension drama and adventure, leads this cast with a practiced and familiar character, Roy Millar, a secret agent, supposedly framed and declared ‘rouge’ by his fellow patriots.  Yes, this has type casting all over it as the bicep-ed hunk of ‘Mission Impossible’ and intense, invasive and confident romantic of ‘Days of Thunder’ or ‘Top Gun’ reappears for this superman, good guys versus bad guys romp of violence, catch phrases and sexy damsels in distress.

However obvious the casting may be, begrudgingly, it is also perfect and the tried and tested action/adventure hero and unsuspecting blonde companion receives a refreshing breathe of fresh air with re-invigorating dialogue that is both witty and potent and a small injection of the ridiculous to add hilarity and likeability to this quirky, larger than life hero.

The plot is modern and simple enough to follow but with enough grey areas and dissimilitude to keep the audience guessing and wanting to believe.  In many ways it’s a parody of conventional films in this genre as it takes what the viewer expects and laughs at itself saying, ‘Yeah. We’re going to use this device but we refuse to be subtle and will tweak it for originality’.  It credits the audience as being modern, movie connoisseurs, mocking the audacity of far fetched scenes and typical clichés just far enough for the conventional action lover to still switch off and enjoy but for the bored, seen everything, nay-sayer to appreciate as well.

The ‘devil may care’ and matter of fact way Cruise handles the impossible situations and heavy bullet use, car chases adds levity and pace and the banter between Cruise and Cameron Diaz (the beautiful blonde, underachieving, small town, thrill seeker) is endearing and comical.

The story is moved along realistically using a funny and faux-pas device of drugging the damsel to allow time passage and to add a reality to her character – most women don’t become brave, stealth soldiers overnight no matter what handsome interloper shakes them out of their safe reality.

The cinematography is crisp in the action scenes and humorous and affective in single person perspective shots.  The 109 minutes of James Mangold’s directing is a pleasure to watch and holds the spectator’s attention and interest.

In conclusion this film doesn’t claim to be some epic love story nor deep intellectual critique on society or politics; it is merely fun and thrilling and delivers an enjoyable and memorable production of crazy antics and addictive characters for all the family.