Monday, March 26, 2007

my stupid mouth and the bloody chamber

I'm never speaking up again
It only hurts me
I'd rather be a mystery than she desert me
Oh I'm never speaking up again
Starting now
Starting now

One more thing
Why is it my fault?
So maybe I try too hard
But it's all because of this desire
I just wanna be liked, just wanna be funny
Looks like the joke's on me
So call me Captain Backfire

-- John Mayer, My Stupid Mouth

I love his lyrics! They always, always ring true. Imagine this poor guy who's trying to impress the girl of his dreams!



I just bought a collection of fairy tales edited by Angela Carter, which made me feel like buying her celebrated book of short stories, The Bloody Chamber. The title story is based on the dark fairy tale Bluebeard.



Synopsis of Bluebeard from Wiki

"Bluebeard was a wealthy aristocrat, feared because of his "frightfully ugly" blue beard. He had been married three times, but no one knew what had become of his wives. He was therefore avoided by the local girls. When Bluebeard visited one of his neighbours and asked to marry one of her daughters, they were terrified, and each tried to pass him on to the other. Eventually he persuaded the younger daughter to marry him, and after the ceremony she went to live with him in his château.

Very shortly after, however, Bluebeard announced that he had to leave the country for a while; he gave over all the keys of the chateau to his new wife, including the key to one small room that she was forbidden to enter. He then went away and left the house in her hands. Almost immediately she was overcome with the desire to see what the forbidden room held, and finally her visiting sister convinced her to satisfy her curiosity and open the room.

However, the wife immediately discovered the room's horrible secret: Its floor reeked of blood, and the dead bodies of her husband's former wives hung on the walls. Horrified, she locked the door, but blood had come onto the key which would not wash off. Bluebeard returned unexpectedly and immediately knew what his wife had done. In a blind rage he threatened to behead her on the spot, and so she locked herself in the highest tower with her sister. While Bluebeard, sword in hand, tried to break down the door, the sisters waited for their two brothers to arrive. At the last moment, as Bluebeard was about to deliver the fatal blow, the brothers broke into the castle, and as he attempted to flee, they killed him.

He left no heirs but his wife, who inherited all his great fortune. She used part of it for a dowry to marry her sister to the one that loved her, another part for her brothers' captains commissions, and the rest to marry a worthy gentleman who made her forget her ill treatment by Bluebeard."

Angela Carter's version has some plot twists which should not be Wiki-ed lest it spoils your reading pleasure. Boooo. Really wanna read it.