kippurcritiquesbadbooks | the code gets confusing..er

First off: The amended drinking game 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.

Right. Everyone got their cups? \_/ Good!

So, Langdon and Sophie...interesting here but the Hero is always referred to by his last name and the girl sidekick by her first name. Obviously the Goddess power doesn't extend to his actual leading lady who gets treated the pretty girl with tits. She's definitely not Langdon's equal, even if Brown is trying to make her one. He says that she's smart (though we don't know why... I mean she's acted like a complete and utter idiot so far) but he's always derogatory towards her. One would think that since a main theme in this book is Women Power that she would be portrayed in a better light. I think that's a drink. \~/ So, after this digression, the two of them sneak, sneak, sneak out into the Grand Gallery, Langdon trying to figure out what's going on. For some reason he suggests that maybe Fache wrote the message on the floor. Which is then obviously discounted as Sophie goes over the reasons why it couldn't have been, recounting why it was for her. \~/

They discuss about maybe the numbers do mean something and Sophie says that the numbers were her grandfather's way of flagging her attention. Just like the Pentacle. Apparently they used to play Tarot cards for fun and her indicator was always the Pentacle.

Langdon felt a chill. They played Tarot? The medieval Italian card game was so replete with hidden heretical symbolism that Langdon had dedicated an entire chapter in his new manuscript to the Tarot. The game's twenty two cards bore names like The Female Pope, The Empressand the Star> Originally, Tarot had been devised as a secret means to pass along ideologies banned by the Church. Now, Tarot's mystical qualities were passed on by modern fortune-tellers

The Tarot indicator suit for feminine divinity is pentacles, Langdon thought, realizing that if Sauniere had been stacking his granddaughter's deck for fun, pentacles was an apropos inside joke.

I checked wikipedia. The Tarot decks did not start in Italy. It is not replete with hidden Heretical symbolism and it was not devised as a secret means to pass along banned ideologies. The female pope however is the Priestess card. And the pentacle is the sign for earth not female divinity. \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ However, Brown seems to be intent on turning every little thing into some sort of symbol towards the church banning female things and forcing people to hide it everywhere.

Robert and Sophie get to the stairwell and start heading down, with no interruption from guards or anything. As they do we get into a discussion about the number PHI, which Sophie says her grandfather used to joke she was half divine. soPHIe \~/

We then get a ramble about PHI in a flashback in Robert's class. \~/ where we learn about how PHI is everywhere. And then where the Pentacle is a symbol of the sacred feminine. Because it's a PHI which is the most beautiful number and the sacred feminine is beautiful.

When he comes out of his flash back, Robert has an epiphany \~/ about the Limerick. Apparently it's a very simple code; an anagram. O, Draconian Devil! Oh, Lame Saint! becomes Leonardo da Vinci! The Mona Lisa! Which is all well and good, but I don't see how he figured it out. He tells us that the sequence is the clue, but he doesn't tell us how it works with the letters. I would love to know how the code was figured out and what numbers correspond to what letters and now. I'm not a math wiz and this is something I would dearly love to know. \~/ Withholding information, another drink.

This discovered, Sophie suddenly remembers that her grandfather loved anagrams. He turned "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" into "vile meaningless doodles" for example and he had her do them all the time. Obviously, this means a trip to the Mona Lisa, which is off the Grand Galley and near where they found him. She knows she should get Langdon out of the museum (since she turned him into a fugitive and everything) but after a flashback to where Sophie sees the Mona Lisa for the first time, she decides to go see if her grandfather left her a message.

Langdon is very WTF! What about me being a fugitive and all? And she's all... riiiiight. Here, take my car keys and flee by yourself. Langdon is Okay but only if you stop calling me Mr. Langdon. Awwwww... the Perky Tits have over come his common sense.

So, Langdon goes off on his merry way... and has another epiphany.

With an unexpected jolt, Langdon stop short. Eyes wide, he dug into his pocke and yanked out the computer printout. He stared at the last line of Sauniere's message.

P.S. Find Robert Langdon

He fixated on two letters.

P.S.

In that instant, Langdon felt Sauniere's puzzling mix of symbolism fall into stark focus. Like a peal of thunder, a career's wroth of symbology and history came crashing down around him. Everything Jacques Sauniere had done tonight suddenly made perfect sense.

Langdon's thoughts raced as he tried to assemble the implications of what this all meant. Wheeling, he started back in the direction from which he had come.

Is there time?

He knew it didn't matter.

Without hesitation, Langdon broke into a sprint back toward the stairs.

So... something mysterious just happened with the letters P.S. What is it?! What does it mean?! Why does Langdon have to get back to Sophie in time... in time for what? What is there to be rushing about? They're in an empty museum having cleverly tricked everyone into leaving. Well, since Grandpa is such a fan of anagrams let's say "P.S." stands for Stupid People. So, it would be "Stupid People find Robert Langdon". No wonder he's upset. Sophie wasn't supposed to find him at all.

Well, now he's off to tell her the truth and we'll see what happens. Oh, and that's two more \~/ \~/ .

Total drinks: 12