Framer my favourite cousin, who is a serial
movie freak introduced me to “A Game of Thrones” and from the word go, its
storyline reeled me in like I was a hapless cod. That is how it usually works
for me, for a serial to thrill me it has to appeal to me right from the very
start, just run off with me. I think that is why “Rome” is still my best till
date. No matter the ratings, if it doesn’t grab me from the beginning, it would
most likely never move me. I also said in an earlier post that I know a movie
or a book has sunk its fangs into my veins when I see, smell, taste and dream
it. It saturates me like a cloud of garlic (it’s just that in this case, the
saturation is redolent of something more fragrant than blossoms from the Garden
of Eden). Such experiences are epiphanic and make me proselytize with the
vigour of an early apostle. It was during such proselytization that my brother
mentioned that the film was actually adapted from a book. That triggered a
faint awareness which made me search my library to discover that I have two out
of the seven series of “A Song of Ice and Fire” from which the stories came.
Following this I stopped watching and started reading. I usually prefer reading
because most movies usually come short of great books with the “Godfather”,
Lord of the Rings” and “Shawshank Redemption” being a few of the exceptions.
The book was exceptional and contrary to my
usual pattern, I immediately picked up the second one in the series, “A Clash
of Kings”. I get bored easily so I try not to read tomes by the same author
back to back but “A Game of Thrones” broke my habit, I just couldn’t stop at
the first book. As I traverse the pages, I find myself in an enchanting magical
world. With a dollop of mysticism, a sprinkle of the mythical, a dash of the
historical, a pinch of the medieval, a spoonful of heroism, a portion of
wizardry, a seasoning of chivalry, a mix of warfare and everything peppered
with fantasy, George R.R Martin cooked up a literary sumptuous fare. His books
are finger licking sweet. It is actually a wonder I have not gotten to the
point of chomping on the pages. It is in the league of the “Lords of the Ring”.
It’s just that I think the J.R.R Tolkien’s is more poetic with a wilder and
crazier imagination but like the journey of the hobbits somewhat harder going.
George’s is simpler especially if you can remember all those names and houses. There
must be something about the letters R.R that equates to literary genius. I have
been wondering whether I should add them to my initials. His descriptive powers
enthroned him amongst the kings of imagery like Wilbur Smith, Dean Koontz and
J.R.R.Tolkien and if we had to add a queen to this pantheon that would be Chimamanda
Adichie of course. All in all the collection of books and movies of “Song of
Ice and Fire” that I have seen so far are divine (even the motion picture is as
good as the book). The musical score of
the movie is heavenly; I could listen to it all day. Ramin Djawadi the composer
was at his beautiful best.
In the past few weeks, I have been amazed
at the absolutely mindboggling creativity of Mr. George and have been thinking
that that is how human beings are supposed to be and function. The taste of
divinity in his books is actually scriptural. Kudos to GRRM, a Caesar of
literature, I salute thee “Ser”.
First thing we know about God before any
other is that he is creative. Genesis 1:1 tells us that “in the beginning, God
created……” Before we get to know
anything about Gods might, His love, His power, His wisdom, His grace, name it,
the first thing that is brought to our attention is His creativity. Since we
are made in His likeness, that means we have the innate ability to be creative.
If a monkey’s kid cannot swing or climb, it’s an aberration. If we cannot
create, it’s an anomaly. When we create, we exhibit the divine; we assume the
celestial and manifest the heavenly. When we write something on an empty page,
form art on blank easels, build on bare land, design with formless materials, cook
gourmet meals out from raw ingredients, bring what has never been to be, we
become like God our father who created a beautiful world out of nothing. We
bring the eternal to bear on the ephemeral; we bring divinity to impact on the
earthly. We conjure light out of darkness. Of course this is when we create
something good that benefits mankind. Creativity makes the creator rule, IT GIVES DOMINION. Little wonder Times
Magazine named George R.R Martin one of the most influential people of 2011. It
also does not come as a surprise that countries where inventiveness is the
order of the day are perpetually in the limelight and rule over those who do
have such culture. One of the things that enabled the Romans to conquer the
world was the building of roads and incredibly some of those roads are still
standing today after hundreds of years. In Nigeria, it’s a miracle if our roads
last for a couple of months. For Nigeria as a country to progress, we need to
pay more attention to creation of things.
In my last post, “http://ekpoeze.blogspot.com/2012/08/apples-of-seduction.html”, I mentioned how Esau traded his birthright for Jacob’s food. Esau traded and
Jacob created and at the end, he who traded was left holding the short end of
the stick. That sounds familiar, does it not? It is exactly the way our
ancestors sold the future of a continent for mere trinkets that were created by
foreigners. Same way we trade our time to work for organizations created by others, at the expense of all that we hold dear sometimes. Creators own the world; the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness
thereof. God could lay claim to the cosmos because He created it. Let us work
towards the creation of good homes, schools, businesses, industries, healthcare
facilities and we will end up with a better country. Creativity is one of the
chief ways in which to make Gods mandate for man a reality. It was the way the renaissance brought Europe
out of the dark ages. I am sorry to burst someone’s bubble but the words below
are not only for procreation of babies…
BE
FRUITFUL, MULTIPLY, REPLENISH THE EARTH, SUBDUE IT, HAVE DOMINION……
