Ehehe... Marble ... code... heheehe...
Jan. 3rd, 2012 02:54 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
kippurbird.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
kippurcritiquesbadbooksThe List:
Take a drink every time:
* A name has a "cute" meaning.
* Someone does something idiotic.
* A character begins a rambling monologue.
* Two if the monologue is just repeating information we already have.
* One more every time he shows his own agenda when it comes to religion.
* Something happens, but you're not told what.
* He gets something utterly wrong.
* He turns a generalization into an absolute, but you can think of exceptions.
* The truth is precisely the opposite (make it a double).
* Any time a "secret agenda", "hidden agenda", or similar phrasing is mentioned
* The plot hinges on the exact wording of a translation of the original text.
* He mentions the Knights Templar, Masons or any other organization rumored to be the secret rulers of the world.
* A drink every time the words "secret" and "Vatican" are seen together
* Any time he gets all goddess/female power-happy.
* Any time that Langdon has an epiphany.
* And whenever a villain does something Stereotypically Evil (killing off his henchman who Knows Too Much, etc.).
* Any time Langdon has a flashback that shows How Totally Awesome his class is.
* Any time the novel becomes just plain boring
* Any time Brown appears to be writing one-handed.
* Any time that somebody comes up with an obviously cliche excuse and everyone buys it.
* Any time the villain angsts about Needing To Tell The Truth To All.
- Any time the hero does the same, make it a double.
- And a triple if they later decide NOT To Tell The Truth To All.
Glasses? \_/ check. Drink of the day? Rum. After all, it's Talk Like A Pirate day.
And we're back to Silas. Good old Silas who should be threatening our Heroes but instead completely destroys any tension because he's off doing his own thing. The police have been thwarted and no one is in any danger, except for me from liver poisoning. What's the point of having this threatening demon eyed villain if he's off doing other things besides harassing the heroes? Silas is off at the Church pretending to pray. He looks down at the ground and sees a brass line with graduated markings on it. He calls it the Rose Line.
It is not the Rose Line or Paris Meridian. "The meridian line on the floor of Saint-Sulpice is not a part of the Paris Meridian, which passes about 100 meters (yards) east of it. The line was instead installed in the 1700s as a gnomon or type of sundial." (Wikipedia) \~/
There's some info dump on the Rose Line and meridian which has absolutely no bearing on the story at all. Does it really matter that the Prime Meridian used to be in France and now is in Greenwich England? Do we need to know that Compass Rose has been used with maps and things? No. It's interesting (and maybe even true) but completely stalls the story. I want to know what the keystone is. I don't care about this other crap. Brown is trying to make the story feel all historical and full of information about all these interesting things, it kind of reminds me of Moby Dick with all those chapters about whales and whaling information and things that went on and on. I think Brown is trying to say, "Look this could be real! Look at all these real things I'm putting into it!" But this is the wrong sort of novel for that. This is a thriller novel, action packed mystery what is the code sort of novel. Not a dissertation on the history of... stuff. \~/
Silas gets up, he walks to the Obelisk and we cut to the priest on the plane that lands. So, that chapter was completely useless. All it did was talk about how wonderful the Rose Line was. That was dull. \~/
And we're back to Sophie. She's grousing about her grandfather keeping appalling secrets from her which is making her feel guilty because of all of the times he tried to reach out to her. She goes to get a black light and runs into Langdon. Robert wants to know if letters PS mean anything to her besides Princess Sophie. She has a flashback to when she was young and found a mysterious key necklace thing with the initials PS. Grandpa gets upset that she found the key and makes her promise never to tell anyone about it, in return she would get it when she was older.
Sophie tells Langdon about seeing the PS on something important to grandpa. Somehow Langdon knows that the PS (which keeps on reminding me of Piss) stands for the Priory of Scion. Because Leonardo Da Vinci was in it. Which is a secret society. \~/\~/. Sophie is amazed at this, especially when Robert starts rambling about the goddess mystique \~/ and thinks back to the fact that maybe that's what her grandfather was doing \~/. She tells him that he needs to leave, but he refuses to.
Meanwhile, Fache realized he's been duped. Oh dear. Too bad he didn't leave anyone at the museum to check up on what's happening there. Then he'd be able to catch Sophie and Langdon. Oh well.
Next chapter.
I think I'm going to leave with that.
Seven drinks.
Take a drink every time:
* A name has a "cute" meaning.
* Someone does something idiotic.
* A character begins a rambling monologue.
* Two if the monologue is just repeating information we already have.
* One more every time he shows his own agenda when it comes to religion.
* Something happens, but you're not told what.
* He gets something utterly wrong.
* He turns a generalization into an absolute, but you can think of exceptions.
* The truth is precisely the opposite (make it a double).
* Any time a "secret agenda", "hidden agenda", or similar phrasing is mentioned
* The plot hinges on the exact wording of a translation of the original text.
* He mentions the Knights Templar, Masons or any other organization rumored to be the secret rulers of the world.
* A drink every time the words "secret" and "Vatican" are seen together
* Any time he gets all goddess/female power-happy.
* Any time that Langdon has an epiphany.
* And whenever a villain does something Stereotypically Evil (killing off his henchman who Knows Too Much, etc.).
* Any time Langdon has a flashback that shows How Totally Awesome his class is.
* Any time the novel becomes just plain boring
* Any time Brown appears to be writing one-handed.
* Any time that somebody comes up with an obviously cliche excuse and everyone buys it.
* Any time the villain angsts about Needing To Tell The Truth To All.
- Any time the hero does the same, make it a double.
- And a triple if they later decide NOT To Tell The Truth To All.
Glasses? \_/ check. Drink of the day? Rum. After all, it's Talk Like A Pirate day.
And we're back to Silas. Good old Silas who should be threatening our Heroes but instead completely destroys any tension because he's off doing his own thing. The police have been thwarted and no one is in any danger, except for me from liver poisoning. What's the point of having this threatening demon eyed villain if he's off doing other things besides harassing the heroes? Silas is off at the Church pretending to pray. He looks down at the ground and sees a brass line with graduated markings on it. He calls it the Rose Line.
It is not the Rose Line or Paris Meridian. "The meridian line on the floor of Saint-Sulpice is not a part of the Paris Meridian, which passes about 100 meters (yards) east of it. The line was instead installed in the 1700s as a gnomon or type of sundial." (Wikipedia) \~/
There's some info dump on the Rose Line and meridian which has absolutely no bearing on the story at all. Does it really matter that the Prime Meridian used to be in France and now is in Greenwich England? Do we need to know that Compass Rose has been used with maps and things? No. It's interesting (and maybe even true) but completely stalls the story. I want to know what the keystone is. I don't care about this other crap. Brown is trying to make the story feel all historical and full of information about all these interesting things, it kind of reminds me of Moby Dick with all those chapters about whales and whaling information and things that went on and on. I think Brown is trying to say, "Look this could be real! Look at all these real things I'm putting into it!" But this is the wrong sort of novel for that. This is a thriller novel, action packed mystery what is the code sort of novel. Not a dissertation on the history of... stuff. \~/
Silas gets up, he walks to the Obelisk and we cut to the priest on the plane that lands. So, that chapter was completely useless. All it did was talk about how wonderful the Rose Line was. That was dull. \~/
And we're back to Sophie. She's grousing about her grandfather keeping appalling secrets from her which is making her feel guilty because of all of the times he tried to reach out to her. She goes to get a black light and runs into Langdon. Robert wants to know if letters PS mean anything to her besides Princess Sophie. She has a flashback to when she was young and found a mysterious key necklace thing with the initials PS. Grandpa gets upset that she found the key and makes her promise never to tell anyone about it, in return she would get it when she was older.
Sophie tells Langdon about seeing the PS on something important to grandpa. Somehow Langdon knows that the PS (which keeps on reminding me of Piss) stands for the Priory of Scion. Because Leonardo Da Vinci was in it. Which is a secret society. \~/\~/. Sophie is amazed at this, especially when Robert starts rambling about the goddess mystique \~/ and thinks back to the fact that maybe that's what her grandfather was doing \~/. She tells him that he needs to leave, but he refuses to.
Meanwhile, Fache realized he's been duped. Oh dear. Too bad he didn't leave anyone at the museum to check up on what's happening there. Then he'd be able to catch Sophie and Langdon. Oh well.
Next chapter.
Silas gazed upward at the Saint-Sulpiec obelisk, taking in the length of the massive marble shaft. His sinews felt taut with exhilaration. He looked around the church one more time to make sure he was alone. Then he knelt at the base of the structure, not out of reverence but of necessity.
I think I'm going to leave with that.
Seven drinks.
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