I know you are my Candyman

Another year, and yes, another retarded video! Check out our latest and greatest lip sync RIGHT HERE (or better yet, in high quality on youtube!) Don't forget to comment and rate (5 stars, of course :P)



I'll have a real post coming in the next week or so, so stay tuned!

-Funkin' out

Dune

Hey guys...I'm BACK! Ha. Okay, so it's been a while (what? Almost a year? Noooo...) since I've graced the interwebs with my stunning presence, and for that I truly am sorry. I hope you'll be able to find it within the infinite depths of your hearts to forgive my absence; really, I have no excuse. Well, I might a have a bit of an excuse: nobody seemed to CARE anymore. I mean, really, did you see the comment pages for my last couple of blog posts? Laughable.

Anyway, I hope restore interest in the once highly esteemed Lair of Funk with a few new awesome updates, the first of which being a review to the ultimate sci-fi epic: Dune. Seeing as how I wrote this for school, the tone might be a tad more drab (assonance, anyone?) than usual, but I wasn't about to go rewriting it just for the sake of the blog. So deal with it. Also, I hope to find the time within the next few weeks to give my own take on the recent events of E3 (I've done it for the past 2 years, how could I break the habit now?), so y'all can look forward to that. And I just might have a few other tricks up my sleeve. I dunno, you'll just have to wait and see.

Right then:

Dune - Science Fiction's Supreme Masterpiece

Science fiction has always been a genre of heated controversy. Many adore it—find themselves lost in its intricate alternate universes, in the sharp and imaginative subtleties that hint at a world which sidles along the edge of our own reality. Then there are those who are not quite so taken with the style. They scoff at its implausibility and wonder why anyone could be so engrossed in a subject that bears so little relevance in the real world. In this, Frank Herbert’s Dune can be considered much more than the average science fiction novel. While the book tells an inventive and surreal story holding true to the traditional conventions of its genre, it also conveys several deeper elements that cement it firmly in the realm of great literature.

Dune begins its tale in the dreamy paradise of the planet Caladan, where the protagonist, fifteen-year-old Paul Atreides lives a life of peaceful luxury with his father, the Duke Leto of House Atreides. The universe of Dune exists many thousands of years in the future, where the Great Houses of a somewhat archaic feudal system all owe loyalty to a single monarch, the Padishah Emperor. The harmony of the Atreides’ existence is soon shattered at the emperor’s request that the Atreides accept the fief of Dune, a harsh desert planet formally called Arrakis. The Duke finds the emperor’s persistence suspicious, as Arrakis has for generations been under the control of the Harkonnens, long-time enemies of House Atreides.

It is soon revealed that the Duke’s suspicions are not unfounded. The conniving Harkonnens have devised a plot to bring about the utter destruction of the Atreides, and quickly set it in motion with the help of a traitor. All of these events occur within the first volume of the novel, and essentially set up the foundations on which the protagonist, Paul, is able to establish himself as a messianic figure to the native people of Arrakis, the Fremen.

Dune is built around a complex framework of symbolism and meaning. It is not hard to find the ecological, political, and religious themes thinly veiled within Herbert’s intricate plot. For example, the Fremen’s all but vain attempt to turn their hell-world into a paradise is perhaps more relevant in today’s society, where we know all too well the influence of human activity on the environment, than it was when the book was written. Additionally, the devious schemes of the emperor and Harkonnens provide a grim take on the greed and corruption ever-present within the governments of our own world. And finally, the skewed vision of the Bene Gesserit, a religious group who have for generations crossed bloodlines to create a prophetic being (Paul) who they believe will cleanse the human gene pool through a terrible and bloody war, demonstrates Herbert’s chilling awareness of religious power to incite hate and violence.

Throughout the novel, Paul, who is soon known across the universe as the prophet “Muad’Dib,” struggles with the internal conflictions to which his newfound powers give rise. As friends become worshippers and the stories of Muad-Dib become legend, Paul realizes the terrible possibilities of his leadership. Each minor character in the story has his own part to play in the developing of Muad’Dib, and the other major characters are each given significant depth without distracting from the novel’s primary focus on Paul.

If anything negative can be said of the book, it would be on the abruptness of its conclusion. The final pages left me with a feeling of dissatisfaction, as if Herbert had deliberately refrained from the tying up of several loose ends. This may have been due to the fact that he planned on writing a sequel, and indeed, he ended up writing quite a few.

Apart from this minor blemish, Dune is exquisitely well-written, perfectly blending elements of traditional science fiction and fantasy into one epic masterpiece. Herbert’s ability to create a living, breathing world is remarkable, rivaled only by the likes of Tolkien himself. For this, and for countless other reasons, it is not hard to see why so many claim Dune to be among the greatest novels ever written.

-Funkin' out

ASLO, BROOK ISS AWESUM 4 SHOWWING MEE DOON!!!!!11!!1!1