Spirituality & the Power of Myth in X-Books

[sungila]

Really? Wow. I got "Innocence Lost" for about $15 when I bought it. But that was a few years ago, so perhaps things have changed since then.

Yes, things do change, and so quickly, and so mechanically...the digital age makes itself affordable...but to me, the cost is too high...
The page and panels are easily penetrated...oh so permeable in the hand...breaking through the screen...i've never been able to do that...(the way it reflects...impenetrable)...i miss phone booths.

I am sure I will find an affordable copy if I am persistent and patient.

[Ambaryerno]

Yes, things do change, and so quickly, and so mechanically...the digital age makes itself affordable...but to me, the cost is too high...
The page and panels are easily penetrated...oh so permeable in the hand...breaking through the screen...i've never been able to do that...(the way it reflects...impenetrable)...i miss phone booths.

I am sure I will find an affordable copy if I am persistent and patient.

Yeah, like I said it took me about two months, but the NXM book I was looking for (NXM Vol. 2 ... Vol. 2. Seriously, that gets confusing that both the run of the series AND the trade collection are Vol. 2, lol) eventually turned up on Amazon for a reasonable cost. That reminds me, I need to see if they've got vol... book... WHATEVER!!! 4 now... I think that's Mercury Falling, one I've really wanted to read for a while.

[Ricochet Rita]

@RR - The progression of Rahne to Kurt to Rogue to Kitty and how your preference for these characters changed over the years makes me wonder – is it the you that you were that changed or your perception of the you that you were who has changed? What I mean is…could it be that Kitty was the one all along that was resonating with you most intimately but perhaps you were unaware or even resisting it? I am thinking there may be a difference between the hero that we’d want or need – and the hero/ine that we ARE…ja? Or maybe that’s a misstep…

No, you totally got it. I think it's similar to Chia's (everyone) experience. I'm not specializing in psychoanalysis at all, but I may say that Rogue would be my id, Kitty would be my ego and Kurt would be my super-ego. As Prof. Xavier used to say, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". As for Rahne, she was simply my first approach to X-Multiverse and I liked she was a ginger wolf and I identified with her shyness, but then I met the Senior Team and... Nevertheless, I agree with Cold Water: The New Mutants will be always very special, very close to me. I love to see them together.

[Ricochet Rita]

Before I answer to your thorough reflection about Longshot (I'm happy to have a pretext ), Sungila, please let me post the second part of my theory.

[Ricochet Rita]

[Extracts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(Tarot_card)]

The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered; sometimes represented as 0 [...] The Fool is titled Le Mat in the Tarot of Marseilles, and Il Matto in most Italian language tarot decks. These archaic words mean "the madman" or "the beggar" [...] In the earliest Tarot decks, the Fool is usually depicted as a beggar or a vagabond. [...] The Tarot of Marseilles and related decks similarly depict a bearded person wearing what may be a jester's hat; he always carries a bundle of his belongings on a stick slung over his back. He appears to be getting chased away by an animal, either a dog or a cat. [...] In the Rider-Waite Tarot deck and other esoteric decks made for cartomancy, the Fool is shown as a young man, walking unknowingly toward the brink of a precipice.

[...]

The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool's wisdom and exuberance, holy madness or 'crazy wisdom'. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. He is frequently accompanied by a dog, sometimes seen as his animal desires, sometimes as the call of the "real world", nipping at his heels and distracting him. He is seemingly oblivious that he is walking toward a precipice, apparently about to step off. One of the keys to the card is the paradigm of the precipice, Zero and the sometimes represented oblivious Fool's near-step into the oblivion (The Void) of the jaws of a crocodile, for example, are all mutually informing polysemy within evocations of the iconography of The Fool. The staff is the offset and complement to the void and this in many traditions represents wisdom and renunciation, e.g. 'danda' (Sanskrit) of a Sanyassin [...]. The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between, liminal.

The number 0 is a perfect significator for the Fool, as it can become anything when he reaches his destination [...] Zero is nothing, a lack of hard substance, and as such it may reflect a non-issue or lack of cohesiveness for the subject at hand.

[sungila]

[Extracts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(Tarot_card)]

The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered; sometimes represented as 0 [...] The Fool is titled Le Mat in the Tarot of Marseilles, and Il Matto in most Italian language tarot decks. These archaic words mean "the madman" or "the beggar" [...] In the earliest Tarot decks, the Fool is usually depicted as a beggar or a vagabond. [...] The Tarot of Marseilles and related decks similarly depict a bearded person wearing what may be a jester's hat; he always carries a bundle of his belongings on a stick slung over his back. He appears to be getting chased away by an animal, either a dog or a cat. [...] In the Rider-Waite Tarot deck and other esoteric decks made for cartomancy, the Fool is shown as a young man, walking unknowingly toward the brink of a precipice.

[...]

The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool's wisdom and exuberance, holy madness or 'crazy wisdom'. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. He is frequently accompanied by a dog, sometimes seen as his animal desires, sometimes as the call of the "real world", nipping at his heels and distracting him. He is seemingly oblivious that he is walking toward a precipice, apparently about to step off. One of the keys to the card is the paradigm of the precipice, Zero and the sometimes represented oblivious Fool's near-step into the oblivion (The Void) of the jaws of a crocodile, for example, are all mutually informing polysemy within evocations of the iconography of The Fool. The staff is the offset and complement to the void and this in many traditions represents wisdom and renunciation, e.g. 'danda' (Sanskrit) of a Sanyassin [...]. The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between, liminal.

The number 0 is a perfect significator for the Fool, as it can become anything when he reaches his destination [...] Zero is nothing, a lack of hard substance, and as such it may reflect a non-issue or lack of cohesiveness for the subject at hand.

I am sorry RR, I got excited about your prelude to the Longshot theory and well...please accept my apology and please continue sharing these incredible installments...

He is seemingly oblivious that he is walking toward a precipice, apparently about to step off

(yea, with the real world nipping at my heels)

It is an incredible theory and very exciting to read. So much of this speaks directly to exactly why Longshot remains so endearing to me. I never made the connection before...and the more you write, the more exact the theory rings true.

[sungila]

No, you totally got it. I think it's similar to Chia's (everyone) experience. I'm not specializing in psychoanalysis at all, but I may say that Rogue would be my id, Kitty would be my ego and Kurt would be my super-ego. As Prof. Xavier used to say, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". As for Rahne, she was simply my first approach to X-Multiverse and I liked she was a ginger wolf and I identified with her shyness, but then I met the Senior Team and... Nevertheless, I agree with Cold Water: The New Mutants will be always very special, very close to me. I love to see them together.

Ever since Freud I guess we all sort of have to adopt that 'psychoanalysis' language in order to speak to of the workings of the interior self...sometimes I think that the 'analysis' with its compartments for all these dynamic and interflowing experiences is like damming up rivers...looking at the reservoir and ignoring the ocean.

That original New Mutants team will always be special to me too. And yet, it's Magik...the outsider of the team...who carries with me through the years.

[Ricochet Rita]

I am sorry RR, I got excited about your prelude to the Longshot theory and well...please accept my apology and please continue sharing these incredible installments...
(yea, with the real world nipping at my heels)

Oh please, don't apologize! I wasn't complaining! You have not interrupted my digression, I just put that brief post as a courtesy intro that maybe could be misanderstood.

[sungila]

The Quest for Nightcrawler (Kurt the Archangel - Nightcrawler Bodhisattva)

3361970-amx2013001001scol.jpg

In the New Testament, Revelation 12:3–14 there is the story of a great red dragon who was cast down to earth after his defeat in a War in Heaven. The red dragon and his angels fought against archangel Michael and his angels, "the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."
Is it just me that sees the War in Heaven between the Red Dragon and his angels and Michael and his angels as very close to the battle between Azazel and his BAMFS and Kurt and his BAMFS?
Michael is an archangel (high ranking Angel close to God) a great ‘prince’ who stands up for children (like Kurt does in NC #4), a protector, warrior and leader of God’s army against the army of Satan and it is Michael who most likely heralds the ‘Second Coming’ of Christ. "... the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first"
The aftermath of the War in Heaven and the fallen angels is the fall of man from the Garden of Evil…(see where I’m going with this). Original Sin…(the current big event) is the term used to describe Eve’s bite of the apple from the tree of knowledge…straight from the serpent’s mouth.

Talk about Paradise Lost…Kurt’s biological father and adopted mother both want to rule Heaven. The War rages straight through Kurt as a lone warrior sent to Earth to carry on the War of Heaven which spills over onto Earth and is not over…only picked back up on a different battle field…manifested through mankind as deliverance from Original Sin through devotion to God.
Original Sin is what separates Adam and Eve…their Paradise is Lost…they are (in a way) forced apart by the ‘knowledge’ of their separate selves…and their isolation. As such their devotion to God now trumps their love and to be wed must be a sacrament to God – without which their union is a pact with Satan.

It’s all stretched metaphor and allegory but it parallels incredibly well. I’m creatively figuring out how Kurt will regain his faith and why he is forced to suffer so much. With Original Sin, there is the ‘attainment of knowledge’ which is also a great forgetting of innocence which is replaced with shame, guilt and servitude. There is no getting back to Eden…only a long road into Heaven. Who’s to say that Michael knew what his own falling was all about? Who’s to say he was aware that he was fighting a war for God…who’s to say he wasn’t doing anything more than defending the ones he loved and the ideals of his faith against threats only he could know?

Who’s to say that Paradise is a ‘place’ or ‘thing’ that can be lost?
If Satan falls from the afterlife and brings to Earth the evil that would threaten to consume Heaven – then Michael or Kurt falling from Heaven brings the opposing force to Earth! What is it that actually keeps Kurt from ascending back to Heaven?

I would argue that it is the same thing that kept from even finding a home there…or a true home on earth…he is a teleporter…an embodiment of the living portal between dimensions…he is in shadow even in the full sunlight! Kurt is a gate, an intermediary between Heaven and Earth…between Innocence and Sin…between the Angel and the Devil…
Kurt’s restlessness is the restlessness of an Archangel or a Bodhisattva…his waork is never done…there is no end to journey…there is only the battle and the struggle to keep that gate open…to defend it from evil and to ferry through those in need.
Is this all a stretch? YES, it is. But all ‘leaps of faith’ are…every jaunt is a leap of faith.
I don’t know if Marvel has this all boarded out and planned. I hope to Hell and Heaven they don’t.

Still, there is within Kurt Wagner an indelible true story…call it the word of God, the testament…call it a mythological absolute in the story of mankind…or call it a simple goodness that has universally manifested itself throughout times and ages as an Angel, a Saint, a Hero, a Swashbuckler, a Robin Hood…a figure dashing and strong enough to endure to take from the extremes of Heaven and Hell – of life and death – of the endlessly power hungry polar opposites and provide for those who inhabit the battlefield that is between them.

I look at Cockrum’s original sketches, I see the ‘ugly’ more demonic looking first appearances of Nightcrawler, I see his progression and witness him becoming more and more ‘beautiful’ – and I can’t help but think that in part it makes sense…that through his life, his deeds, his actions and his wonderful heart – what fuels the inside (and what it kept alive by his fans) is mirrored in the man on the outside.
As much as our X-Men change throughout time – the enduring ones have a ‘knowable’ signature of being. Kurt has always been a fallen angel, a bodhisattva, an orphan looking for a home…an incorruptible oustcast – a rogue of good heart. He fulfills his destiny every panel and every page...on and on and on

016.jpg

[TheMutantJinx]

Once again, sungila has put into words things that were before mere feelings. Bravo! (You wouldn't mind if I used those concepts in a story, would you?)

[Ricochet Rita]

I like your notion of Nightcrawler as a permanently open gate, Sungila :-) .

I'd say there is definitely a strong sexual charm to the tempered innocence and humble courage of the Pure Heart Terroist. That's sooo much who Longshot is to me. That's why his Ultimate alternate self was the best thing about Ultimate X-Men...I don't know if the creators even knew what they had stumbled upon - or if they just got lucky ;-) but to portray Longshot as a darker-edged freedom mercenary (who in action exudes the same sort of crazy benevolence that is fated to catalyze growth) was genius!

Anyone would think I may take offence of this warped version that’s Ultimate Longshot. No way! I love him! The concept of a murderer (not mercenary! he's the contrary: a fanatic killer) Longshot –even more, a liar Longshot- is simply brilliant since it’s inconceivable, and it supplies endless possibilities. On the other hand, I can’t express how much I like his beard ^ ^ .

The original Longshot, he was a blonde and dashing handsome Zen Master Fool..(in Zen they say the wisest are those who retain the beginner's mind...who to sit...means, just sitting...and who never retain knowledge...never attain anything...who are but the hollow bone of the song moving through them). How often the true story of these fools is laden with sadness and isolation...for I fear the fate of any Longshot is to be a person 'without' what all others have...and that 'without' is a sanctuary for all those in need.

Yes, Longshot is kinda Zen master…without expecting for it, the same way Winnie the Pooh is a Tao master (i.e., the best way to be it). Unfortunately, Longshot was emptied by force exercising Spinless’ abuse, who stole his identity and purposes.

The hero we got to know prior to his inner conflict which began with the demon possession in Inferno and worsened to him leaving the team, questing into Gateway's dreamtime after the missing 'pieces of himself' was the true sense of the sacred fool. Oh it breaks my heart(s) to think of his loss and sensing that shadowy despair of self-doubt and fear that manifested into his obsession 'to know' all the memory that he had not had. That memory, that knowing doesn't even exist...it never was...and the search for it became the poisoning of his 'spirit' - that hero becomes a ghost...a vapor..and it was his lack of faith in himself (which in a way was the first 'faith' he ever had) that 'ghosted' him into a haunting desire to 'know' when the 'not knowing' was the essence of his strength and the quest a fall without a bottom.

You’ve expressed it in an unbeatable way --thanks for put my intuitions into words! Longshot’s struggle is always between the desire of know who is he and the ascertainment that the closer he is to the truth, the more he loses himself. As he said in his mini: “I don’t wanna memories anymore, I wanna be a man without them. Rita loved me because of that”.

Love could have been that bottom...Dazzler could have been that net...but we never got that Longshot back...not really...for no matter how many times he becomes an amnesiac - the only way through this conundrum now is to let it go...and to do the hardest thing - to do what Whitman says...to hit the open road..."henceforth I ask not good fortune...I myself am good fortune" - To start the long walk of forgetting...of getting lost...and going and going until you are no longer lost because there is no lost...there is no place, no now, nothing to know...but here, this, the moment.

I am really looking forward to reading more from you about this RR.

Do you think that LOVE was the thing - the first blow - that feeling of wanting to be what both Rogue and Dazzler wished him to be - and being it meant hurting somebody...living in the world means hurting somebody...
Is that why so many sacred fools take to the mountain mists and spend so much time alone?

Ah, l’amour… Look, I think there’s a lack in all these Holy-Pure-Heart-Fool-Terrorists. Harmony and purity are physically sterile. Fertile life, romantic love, come from flaw, imperfection and certain “selfishness” --since it implies a preference of the part over the whole.

I don't know if you're familiar with The Sandman, but this page from the mini “Death: The time of your life” explains it very well:



Death and Longshot are obviously very different characters, but you know what I mean. If you love everyone you can hardly be in love with someone. Though each one of them hopes so, Longshot can't love only Rogue, or Alison, or Rita, 'cause “in my hearts there's room for many people”. That's his glory and his tragedy –the glory and the tragedy of bodhisattva.

The poem and quote by Nanao Sakaki are beautiful. Thank you.

[sungila]

Once again, sungila has put into words things that were before mere feelings. Bravo! (You wouldn't mind if I used those concepts in a story, would you?)

Thank you Jinx. I'm never sure I'm making much sense when I attempt to write out these 'feelings' about Kurt - it means a lot to know some of that feeling is understood and felt by another.

I would be thrilled to read your story - I hope you'll share it. If it helps at all or if it's useful, you're more than welcome to use anything I've written. Actually, I think that story writing...taking all these feelings, ideas, conversations and not-yet-realized possibilities about Kurt is the most noble and beautiful way to express it all. I have a friend from these forums who has written the most incredible Kurt Darkholme stories...they have been such a gift to experience, deeply intimate and profoundly moving.

I'm really excited to read whatever you're willing to share Jinx!

[sungila]

[QUOTE]

I like your notion of Nightcrawler as a permanently open gate, Sungila :-) .

Thank you RR. In a way, we all are perhaps...the thing about Kurt is...sometimes I wish he weren't so open...that he didn't get used as a thruway so much. See, while we're all corridors extending through and to one another...part of what makes Kurt so special is that he is afraid or unable to trust the thruway others offer him - even Heaven isn't safe or secure...perhaps his 'gate' is himself...perhaps through that he'll emerge into his sanctuary...

Anyone would think I may take offence of this warped version that’s Ultimate Longshot. No way! I love him! The concept of a murderer (not mercenary! he's the contrary: a fanatic killer) Longshot –even more, a liar Longshot- is simply brilliant since it’s inconceivable, and it supplies endless possibilities. On the other hand, I can’t express how much I like his beard ^ ^ .

I think I was reluctant to realize the completeness of this utter opposite reflection (hence, equally true) of the Longshot from E616. YES! A lair, a murderer - a contrary killer and still, a FOOL. I love his beard too (oddly i was just wondering do I shave, or do I let this little hint of a beard on my face grow - if it's willing or able...so I have settled...now, on not shaving )

Yes, Longshot is kinda Zen master…without expecting for it, the same way Winnie the Pooh is a Tao master (i.e., the best way to be it). Unfortunately, Longshot was emptied by force exercising Spinless’ abuse, who stole his identity and purposes.

I like the idea of Longshot being like Lao Tzu Pooh...“The wise know their limitations; the foolish do not.” Better not to be 'wise'

You’ve expressed it in an unbeatable way --thanks for put my intuitions into words! Longshot’s struggle is always between the desire of know who is he and the ascertainment that the closer he is to the truth, the more he loses himself. As he said in his mini: “I don’t wanna memories anymore, I wanna be a man without them. Rita loved me because of that”.

I still feel bad for running away with your ideas before letting you yourself flesh them out. It's the 'fool' in me I guess...I just got way too excited. I am really happy that you forgave me and have continued to share your intuitions...which totally beat my unbeatable way...Alas, it's too late for me to be a man without memories...which makes me wonder...there's this idea that children are born knowing all...not knowing anything but all...and that learning to live in life in the world in a body involves always forgetting parts of that all...building constructs to keep the 'all' from slipping back in...but then there is music, there is silence, there are dreams...and the light in the eyes of those we meet...and that 'allness' is always reminding us...that the great mystery remembers us well.

Ah, l’amour… Look, I think there’s a lack in all these Holy-Pure-Heart-Fool-Terrorists. Harmony and purity are physically sterile. Fertile life, romantic love, come from flaw, imperfection and certain “selfishness” --since it implies a preference of the part over the whole.

I don't know if you're familiar with The Sandman, but this page from the mini “Death: The time of your life” explains it very well:

Death and Longshot are obviously very different characters, but you know what I mean. If you love everyone you can hardly be in love with someone. Though each one of them hopes so, Longshot can't love only Rogue, or Alison, or Rita, 'cause “in my hearts there's room for many people”. That's his glory and his tragedy –the glory and the tragedy of bodhisattva.

I am just about to read all the Sandman books...and now I'll have to track down the Death books too. Seriously, how did you know? I read 'American Gods' many years ago and then 'Dream Hunters' and then 'Ocean at the End of the Lane' but was always so busy with poems and X-books that I kept putting off gathering up the Sandman volumes and reading them. Only a few days ago I finally got the whole Trade Collection and have been making my way toward them! Death and Longshot do seem to have that same sort of dilemma that no mortal should have to endure...Death, I guess is immortal...Longshot isn't. Part of that 'great forgetting' that makes us human...is redeemed through the perhaps even greater mystery of love. Love...perhaps is why we choose to live and to fall to Earth and to loose all that infinite oblivion...why else would we keep on striving...why else would Death love us all equally? Death loves life...because life is love.

[Ricochet Rita]

Seriously haven't you read The Sandman??? O_O Ohboyohboyohboy, you're gonna flip out. Specially you.

Part of that 'great forgetting' that makes us human...is redeemed through the perhaps even great mystery of love. Love...perhaps is why we choose to live and to fall to Earth and to loose all that infinite oblivion...why else would we keep on striving...why else would Death love us all equally? Death loves life...because life is love.

Just in case you don't know it, I post for you a sonnet by XVII Spanish poet Francisco de Quevedo:

AMOR CONSTANTE MÁS ALLÁ DE LA MUERTE

Cerrar podrá mis ojos la postrera
sombra, que me llevare el blanco día,
y podrá desatar esta alma mía
hora, a su afán ansioso linsojera;

mas no de esotra parte en la ribera
dejará la memoria en donde ardía;
nadar sabe mi llama la agua fría,
y perder el respeto a ley severa;

Alma a quien todo un Dios prisión ha sido,
venas que humor a tanto fuego han dado,
médulas que han gloriosamente ardido,

su cuerpo dejarán, no su cuidado;
serán ceniza, mas tendrán sentido.
Polvo serán, mas polvo enamorado.

And here English translation by Prof. Alix Ingber:

LOVE CONSTANT BEYOND DEATH

Perhaps whatever final shadow that
the shining day may bring could close my eyes,
and this my soul may well be set aflight
by time responding to its longing sighs;

but it will not, there on the farther shore
its memory leave behind, where once it burned:
my flame the icy current yet can swim,
and so severe a law can surely spurn.

Soul by no less than a god confined,
veins that such a blazing fire have fueled,
marrow to its glorious flames consigned:

the body will abandon, not its woes;
will soon be ash, but ash that is aware;
dust will be, but dust whose love still grows.

I put in bold the last lines because they're become almost a saying. But I think this translation is not entirely right, as long as it's pretending to be rhymed --I would rather say "dust in love" instead of "dust whose love still grows". It's different.

[RLAAMJR.]

Ororo Munroe aka Storm.

Started knowing the X-men through X-men:TAS. I was in love with Storm because of her ability to control the weather and her character being compassionate to her fellow x-men members and nature (which I am to both too). After that, I started knowing she became a leader which I think she's the most known female leader in comics ( I was a student leader before and I wish to become a leader someday ). I also love her mohawk. I also felt sad knowing what happened to her parents when she was a little child and became an orphan ( I can relate to her on this because though my parents were alive, it felt like they were not there for me, especially my father. I think it's more painful to have parents but are not there for you and worst of all, doesn't support you but keeps on discouraging you.). Her physical appearance was different, especially the hair. The differences of the x-men from humans made me relate to them in general.

Because of Storm, I used to like to try to make it rain, stop the rain, make a rainbow, make it snow, call the winds, etc.

I even dreamed of Storm becoming my wife!

We do always have typhoons here but we get used to it so I was actually enjoying it because there's no school, etc. However, when typhoon Haiyan struck, that's when I realized I shouldn't be happy when a storm/typhoon is coming. I was not directly harmed because I was working at a different city (signal #3) which is on a different island but my hometown (Tacloban City, signal #4,) was the center of the typhoon.

Everytime I see a typhoon or when a typhoon is being discussed, I get teary eyes. That's why when I saw the Storm #1 preview (unlettered) I cried. I cried because we need a real Storm in this world to stop tsunamis, typhoons, hurricanes, etc. I cried because Storm was saving fictional people. She should be saving real people. Storm should have been able to stop typhoon Haiyan and thousands would have not died.

I was thinking that since we can check in advance if a storm/typhoon is coming, there must be a way to stop it. I've created threads about it and got funny and serious answers (they post an image of the Philippines and put pictures of big electric fans) but the serious answers ( deploying submarines : http://www.popsci.com/technology/art...-chilling-subs ) were not proven effective. I hope one day, somebody can create a machine to stop typhoons.

For now, I'll just keep on dreaming that a white-haired, blue-eyed weather manipulator will appear someday and save the world.

Sorry for the long post. This is actually really, really shorter than what I have started earlier.