Roman review...

Well, it was an interesting introduction... I think it would have made more sense at the end if they had aired a two-hour premiere, instead of just the first hour though because it ended on a kind of "quoi?" note.

They've done very well with the sets and costumes that I've seen so far. I know that the costume designers said that they were being careful to use only period materials, but I'm not sure that they had double-weave silk in the 1st century BCE. Silk, yes, but double-weave? I just don't know. I've heard that they did have that in Europe by the mid-1500s, but I don't know about the Roman period. At least there's no gold lame! And the city really does look more like Calcutta than the Rome of movies like "Cleopatra" and "Gladiator." It's dirty and colorful and dare I say, exotically beautiful. (Paradoxes, I love them!) The language is also very interesting... "Impudent whelp" instead of "S.O.B." and the like... Excellent job there. There were a lot of other interesting idioms that I thought at least sounded very authentic... Things that modern people probably would find awkward in everyday conversation. I'll have to watch it again to come up with specific examples. I liked the lack of explanation... There was a feeling that everything that was going on with the characters was very everyday for them, so why would they need to explain anything? I love it when movies do that.

I also liked the vulgar pagan superstitious nature everyone casually possesses... and yet there's a touch of... what would it be called... Cynicism about it, very like Romans are reputed to have had. Like when Atia goes through this elaborate ritual involving the sacrifice of a black bull. She gets completely covered in blood, and she just turns around and looks expectantly (as if to say, tiredly, "Is that enough? Are they appeased?") at the priest when it's all over, and he tells her that now Octavian will be protected while he's traveling to Gaul. Or when Pullo is desperately praying to every god he can think of in front of a makeshift alter he scrambled together to get himself out of prison, and he says something like, "...If you are the right god to address this to and you get me out of here, I'll sacrifice a white goat to you... Or, if I can't get one that's good enough... or at the right price... at least six pidgeons!..." Great! The man's going to die in the arena if he's not pardoned and he's basically got his fingers crossed behind his back while making promises to the gods for their help. (Incidentally, he is released right after he finishes that little speech.)

The contrast between the common Roman citizen and the nobility is also striking. From what I understand, this is to be expected since this is the end of the Republic and corruption was rampant at the time. There is Octavian, though a child, casually threatens and slap slaves around for every minor "mistake" they make, and Atia, who throws her money and power around like it's dirt to gain even more, blatantly using her own children as pawns. Then there is Vorenus, who though a soldier is not of the nobility and is surprisingly conservative in his behavior, and is appalled by the very idea of being disloyal to his wife, Niobe, eventhough he hasn't seen her in nearly 8 years. At the same time, completely turning that stereotype on its ear, there are vulgar theatrical performances in the street which delight the common people who have come to watch it, but shock Cornelia, a nobleman's widow of at least 30 years of age, so much that she asks her father to take her home before her reputation is ruined.

The one thing that was slightly erksome was that the Germanic tribes were looking a bit like a cross between 12th century British peasantry and unwashed Highlanders after Culloden... I didn't get a terribly good look at them though, just glimpses; they were very background, so there might be nothing at all wrong with the way they looked. At least I didn't see any horned helmets. I'm not sure what sources they are using for them, but at least if they're using the Roman writings about the Germanic tribes they aren't taking them seriously because they tend to be about as accurate as the National Enquirer. Also, I think that the number of people writing and reading their own letters is strange... especially that all the high-born women seem to be able to read and write. I'd have to double-check in my text books to be totally certain, but that doesn't seem correct. I could be wrong though. And I'm not terribly sure that they used arsenic in cosmetics... White lead, yeah... But arsenic? I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that arsenic wasn't isolated by chemists as an element and not a compound until the Renaissance in Italy. Honestly, if they are going to go this over the top trying to be historically accurate the least they could do is get little things that don't require huge amounts of money correct. (I do nit-pick, don't I?)

Overall though, I liked it very much and I'll be sure to watch the new episode next Sunday.

"Rome"

It is a series with 12 1-hour parts... They are still being somewhat ambiguous as to whether it will come back for a second season or not. It can be seen just about every night this week on HBO, and then new episodes will premiere on Sunday nights at 9pm, eastern time. Check your local listings for time and channel. I haven't seen it yet. It won't be airing on the West coast feed for another hour and 45 minutes in my time zone. I caught the last 5 minutes of the premiere airing a little while ago, just in time to see 14-year-old Octavian bludgeon to death this guy who was the lone survivor of a gang of men who had apparently kidnapped him and then the few scenes left after that. It looked pretty good, but I was a little confused about what was going on since I missed the first 55 minutes of the show.

The actor playing Octavian looked really familiar, so I looked him up on imdb.com. He's Max Pirkis and he played "Midshipman Blakeney" in "Master and Commander." Good actor! He had a really scary, vicious look in his eyes while pretending to bludgeon that guy to death. Strange thing though is that another actor of the same age, Aaron Johnson, is also listed as playing Octavian in "Rome"... So I don't know what's going on there... His mother "Atia" also looked familiar. I looked her up too, and found that I recognized her because she's Polly Walker, who played the elegant "Jane Fairfax" in "Emma" (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow).

This got me curious about who else is in "Rome" that I'm going to recognize, so I scanned through the list of actors, and this is what I found. Kerry Condon is in "Rome," playing "Octavia of the Julii." She was in "Ned Kelly" as Ned Kelly's eldest sister, "Kate." Lindsay Duncan is playing "Servilia." She played "Mrs. Price/Lady Bertram" in "Mansfield Park," and "Lady Markby" in "An Ideal Husband." Ciaran Hinds is playing "Julius Caesar." He's been in a ton of stuff, including "Calendar Girls" as "Rod Harper," "Lara Croft 2" as "Jonathan Reiss" (the bad guy), "Jane Eyre" (1997 TV mini) as "Edward Rochester," "Persuasion" (1995) as "Captain Wentworth," "Circle of Friends" as "Professor Flynn," and "Excalibur" as "Lot." The oh-so-lovely James Purefoy is playing "Marc Anthony"... And boy, if Anthony looked like that, I'm surprised it took Cleopatra so long... seriously... He played "Brendan" in "Bedrooms and Hallways" (opposite Kevin McKidd [who is also in "Rome"] and Jennifer Ehle - it's a very strange movie that is, I think, pretty much the product of British people coming out of their Victorian repression), "Tom Bertram" in "Mansfield Park," and "Sir Thomas Colville a.k.a. Edward, the Black Prince of Wales" in "A Knight's Tale." Kevin McKidd has done almost everything... except something set in ancient Rome, which he has now covered with "Rome" (and with "The Last Legion," which will be released next year). He's playing one of the "every man" Roman soldiers, "Lucius Vorenus." Other things I've personally seen him in are "Bedrooms and Hallways" as "Leo," "Hideous Kinky" as "Henning," "Topsy-Turvy" as "Durward Lely (Nanki-Poo)," "Nicholas Nickleby" as "John Browdie," and, most recently, in "Kingdom of Heaven"... where he was somewhat in the background as "an English Sergeant."

The official site can be found here: http://www.hbo.com/Rome/

Stay tuned for my review of the first ep.

I'm baa-aack...

I got back home yesterday evening from my wonderful trip to the Carolinas. I had such a nice time and it was so great to see everyone there. I really enjoyed staying at the Borough and helping get the new house (or "the hidden house," as the bitties are calling it apparently) in order. Even painting furniture when it is 105 degrees in the shade was fun with the right company, and it's good to get things like that accomplished. The antique shops in Waxhaw are awesome! I highly recommend checking out Waxhaw, NC and the Waxhaw museum to anyone interested who might be reading this. Also, the Rosedale Plantation and the Charlotte Museum of History are well worth seeing in Charlotte. Very cool places! I got a lot of decorating ideas while I was there. I'm going to have to look around in the Tampa area and see if I can find comparable items. And there's a lot going on at the Borough. I'm thinking that if I really get into the Archaeology class I'm taking this semester, if I'm good at it and do well, that I'll try to apply when they offer internship or just volunteer when they are doing digs. That would be really cool, I think. Who knows, I might end up an archaeologist yet...

Since getting home, I've been trying to get caught up on everything that I missed while I was away. The roses have totally gotten away from my mother and I have to do some major work on them before I start back to classes. The rains haven't let up a bit and the air is wet all the time, so blackspot has become a major problem on some of the in-between plants (the young ones and the very well established one seem to be free of it, but most of the ones that aren't quite established but are at least a year old have got it bad). On the good side of things, I've found that I have about a dozen volunteer peanut plants in the garden (goodie, goodie!), and the peanut harvest that I left to dry is doing well in that. The garage seems to be a very good place to dry things, much to my father's chagrin. He's said that I'm not to plant peanuts anymore because he didn't build a $10,000 third-garage for me to use to dry peanuts. But he just doesn't understand that I'm going to install some metal shelving high up on the walls so that they aren't in the way of things to use for drying things... not just peanuts, but also herbs and flowers and other things. I would have already done it, but I haven't been here. ;D So everything will be well enough. He just doesn't know it yet.

Other than the garden, the house is looking good. My parents have been working on getting all the storage space installed in the utility room and the furniture for the new den in place, as well as painting rooms that need painting. I'm going to leave them to that and work on getting unpacked and all my clothes washed and put away properly. Most of the time, they would end up where they land, but I'm trying to change my ways and be organized now.

Zinzi did come to the airport with my dad to pick me up. She wanted to see me and get me caught up on gossip basically. There is drama going on with several people of my acquaintance here in town. I am valiantly trying to stay out of it, but it is difficult when some people are actively trying to drag me into it. But honestly, it has nothing to do with me - even indirectly - and it's none of my business to get involved in it. So, I'm going to pretend that nothing is going on at all. Wish me luck with that! I'll need it!

Topics... topics... topics...

I don't know what this entry is going to be about... I've got a lot on my mind. That is not to say that I've got problems. Thankfully, I don't right now. ::knocks wood:: But this is going to meander.

Zinzi graduated this evening. Well, she had her nursing college convocation anyway. Tomorrow, is the official graduation at the Sundome, where she will receive her degree cum laude. We're all very proud of her.

Note to self: Do not wear shoes that are 2" or higher without stockings again for any amount of time. Bad idea if I don't want blisters.

Andrea is flying up to Chicago tomorrow. She will miss Zinzi's graduation by mere hours. She's taking most of clothing up there to partially move. We're all very worried about her. She was only released from the hospital this afternoon. She's been having severe abdominal issues for most of the week.

I am flying to South Carolina on Sunday. Quite excited about this... and I need to pack tomorrow at some point... and go shopping...

I'm watching a show on Discovery Science Channel right now. It's called "Metropolis" and is a series about the great ancient cities: Athens, Babylon, Carthage, Rome, etc... This one is about Rome. It's very interesting as it doesn't deal with the history or influence of the city as much as how the city operated day-to-day and the culture that ran it. It's been talking about the night life, the sewer system, the aqueducts and who got the water from them as opposed to from the Tiber, the diseases that Romans were plagued with because of the size and consequent filth of the city, the garbage dump (aka Rome's eighth hill)... All quite interesting and *none* of it was covered in my Roman Civilization course last Spring semester. tsk, tsk, tsk... This would have been more interesting than watching Ben Hur with Charlton Heston, let me tell you! (I would also add "Spartacus" and "Gladiator" to that, but I actually like those movies, historical inaccuracies notwithstanding. Tony Curtis, Lawrence Olivier, Kurt Douglas and Russell Crowe... Can it get much better than that? I don't think so...)

But this brings me to another topic: HBO is going to be airing a new mini-series/series (they talk about it like it's both at the same time, so I'm not sure if we're getting multiple seasons or what) called "Rome." It begins during the Caesar vs. Pompey civil war. Cleopatra will become involved before the end. It's going to get up close and personal with these historical figures and many others, as well as common people who are mentioned in the biographies of the famous ones. The producers are getting meticulously and obsessively historical, no matter what previous theatrical depictions of Rome would have us believe about her and her people. The set designer for example went and talked to archaeologists and historians about what Rome looked like and then rebuilt all the major sets on a five-acre lot outside of Rome in Italy. There won't be white marble everything like we've seen in every other historical film involving Rome because Romans were, in fact, obsessed with color and painted everything in bright, beautiful colors. It's going to look more like what people would think Babylon looked like rather than Rome. One of the designers said, "think of Calcutta today, and you have ancient Rome with cars and bicycles." They made all of the costumes out of the materials they would have been made of in the 1st century BCE. No polyester rags for the peasants, no aluminum breastplates for the soldiers. And this truly impressed me... Not only did they find an actor who looks pretty close to a middle-aged Caesar, but Caesar is going to actually live up to his reputation as the "wife of every husband and husband of every wife." Scandalous by Hollywood's and Middle America's standards, but accurate! Not only that - and this truly shocked me - but Atia, the mother of a 14-year-old Octavious (Caesar's great-nephew) will be trying to nudge him into Caesar's sights, among other things, in order to gain favor with Caesar. Utterly horrifying on a number of levels by modern standards, but it happened and often in ancient Rome, and that's honestly not the half of it as far as the messed up, torturous, agonizing ordeal that Roman children were subjected to for what was believed to be their own good by their parents (There were reasons that the mortality rate of children under two was 70%, and 50% from 2 to 10. Only 15 out of every 100 children born safely lived to see their 11th birthday. And since it had a population of approximately 1 million, it boggles the mind how many children were born but didn't live. "Brutal" doesn't even begin to cover it.). This unflinching dedication to extreme accuracy can only, in my opinion, deepen the modern understanding of the past (in this case, the - debatably - greatest ancient civilization of the Western world). I will be watching for more info on "Rome."

I am hoping that this will usher in a trend in historic film; that they will become obsessive in their accuracy and show the past with all its flaws and foibles, as well as all its wondrous, magical moments and beauty. Perhaps their is hope for "The Iliad" as I see it afterall...

::deep breath::

I just submitted my entry for the Knitty.com Calendar Contest... #1, #3, and #4, which got the highest number of votes in my improptu photo election. Now, I just have to wait. They will e-mail the finalists in early September, near when the Fall issue goes live. Ugh! Two reasons related to knitting that makes me antsy for September's arrival.

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

Vacation, had to get away...

That song has been in my head off and on since I booked my flight. I can't wait for my trip up to the Carolinas - and Virginia? - next weekend. I'm very excited that I'll get to see all my family and friends in the Carolionas and Virginia, and to catch up on their lives. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait! I am *so* in need of a change of pace and space and everything... I'm getting to be in a rut, which is bad. I've been waking up too late in the day and going to bed too late at night to be healthy. I need to stop doing that. I'm going to try to go back to aiming for a 11pm bedtime and a 9 am wake-up time. Yeah... wait a second, that's 10 hours... maybe an 8am wake-up time... I've still got some organizing to do in my room and bathroom. Maybe if I engross myself in that, the time will pass faster and I will have gotten something useful done in the meantime...

Oh, good news! I found out today that I still have a job for this school year. Yay! ::cheer for me!:: And being out of town for two weeks will not be a problem. Should have probably checked on that before booking the flight, but it all worked out anyway. I drive the son of a former USF professor from his after-school day care in the Westchase/Citrus Park area to his Bar Mitzvah Hebrew prep classes at the synogogue around the corner from my house twice a week. For this, I get paid $100 a month, 9 months out of the year. This year will be the third. It's not much money, but then, it's not much work. And it's good to have "pocket change," as my dad calls it... or "pin money," if you will. :D

Eminent domain

So, as many people know, the Supreme Court expanded the right of local government to seize property for commercial development. CNN did a story this morning on the effects of this expansion. They highlighted a poor, retired couple, the Vendettis, who own their beach front home in New Jersey. But the city council has tried to seize their property in order to sell it to a developer who wants to put up high-priced condos at more than three times the price that their home is worth. CNN talked to some of the locals who live in the new condos, which sell at 3/4 of a million dollars. One of those, Maura Lucerelli, said, "It has to be developed. It [the new crap] looks gorgeous. It brings income to the community... So I feel bad, where are they going to go? For-- It's very expensive around here. But it's part of life. I mean..." (I would say something extremely disparaging about her character here, but I think she already did it for me...) The Vendettis and thirty other families who are under the same threat are fighting it. They say they will keep fighting until they are dragged out. The good news is that if they can hold out long enough, they might be able to save their houses. The New Jersey legislature (along with those of Florida, California, Oregon, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois) is trying to pass legislation that will explicitly limit eminent domain and protect property owners. The Governor of Alabama has already signed property protection legislation into law. Federal legislation that will limit eminent domain has also been introduced, by a Republican Senator from Texas of all people... I have yet to read up on any of this proposed legislation, so I don't know how much it limits the new expansion of eminent domain laws, but it's good that they are doing something.

If you live in a state that doesn't yet have proposed property protection legislation and you think they should, go to http://www.c-span.org/states/legislatures.asp?Cat=Current_Event&Code=St_Pol to find links to their official sites. I encourage everyone, even those who live in states with proposed legislation, to go to write their elected officials and make their views heard. It's fun, doesn't take a lot of time, let's them know that they are being held accountable, and it just might make a difference.

If you want to write to your Senators and Representatives in Washington, go to http://www.senate.gov/ and http://www.house.gov/ to find links to write to them.

Josh is home

Josh arrived home early this morning... around 4 o'clock. He leaves again on Sunday to go to Philadelphia. I don't know what for - something with some of his friends who live there, I think. And I don't know when he'll be back again. I don't think it's for a job. He goes out on tour sometime this fall.

It's terrible for me to say, but I get along better with him when he's not at home. Not even 12 hours since he got home, and already he's invading my space without reservation or remorse. If only he'd have the slightest respect for me and my things, I could probably deal. But he comes home and immediately begins complaining about how I should organize my things better in *my* bathroom... Neverrmind that I cleaned his bathroom for him early this morning while he was still sleeping so it wouldn't be dusty or grimy for him. And do I get a "thanks"? Nooo... I'm quite sure he didn't even notice. And when he started unpacking his car, he put all of his luggage and boxes in my darkroom, which was only finished yesterday. I asked him to find somewhere else to put it all because it's my darkroom, but he says he won't unless mom makes him because "if you can put things in there, then so can I." ::rolls eyes:: I hate sibling rivalry.

And if that weren't bad enough, he's started smoking cigarettes since he's been in California. I caught him smoking outside around noon with a friend of his who looks perpetually stoned. At least it wasn't pot that they were smoking, although I know he occasionally smokes that too. ::sighs:: He's my father's biological son, and he knows that cancer runs in his family, that dad is already having lung problems, that Zadde died of lung cancer and so did Bubbe, and still he chooses to smoke. I don't get it. I just don't get it...

Okay, hopefully, I'm done with my immature rant about my brother. I know I can't control his life, but honestly, he could make better decisions and be a nicer person.

I've also got my new computer working. I just needed a disk that my mom had misplaced. Once she got home, it was all done in about 15 minutes. And today, our contractor, Jay, got everything squared away with the last of the touch-up painting and baseboards, and the inspector from downtown came and did the final inspection. So everything is all done now (Yay!! ::wild cheering::) and my parents are going to start moving their furniture this weekend. It's beautiful. I'll eventually take pictures of the new rooms and post them.

Another productive day

Today has been good so far. I've gotten a lot accomplished.

I went out and returned some yarn to Walmart at 8 this morning, bought a rug for my mom, a dog bed for my dog, Baby, and "Alexander" for myself.

Walmart was pushing the Director's Cut of "Alexander," much to my dismay. It had a discounted price. But there's no point in buying that one 'cause it's what the WB forced Oliver Stone to produce to try to up sales on the DVD, "especially in the South" (very subtle of them). They wanted a more "straight" Alexander... something "more like Brad Pitt in 'Troy'." Pu-leeze... ::sigh:: So as a consequence, there's 20 minutes added (mostly stuff with Roxane, played by Rosario Dawson) and 40 minutes removed. So almost no Hephaistion, played by the oh-so-lovely Jared Leto, in the Director's Cut, and even less of Bagoas, as if there were very much of him to begin with. And Francisco Bosch was very good in that role. The doe-eyed sad face was very effective. (Francisco is a Spanish ballet dancer, only 3 months older than me, and this was his first film. - Lucky boy! - Made Andrea very jealous with his dancing. It was quite impressive. She also said that he looks like the perfect "Romeo" and I'm inclined to agree. See here: http://imdb.com/name/nm1492209/ If only he danced in the US and not in England, I might get to see one of his performances.) Imho, Jared and Francisco are two guys who should be allowed and encouraged to wear eye-makeup... especially Jared... Had to travel far afield to find a pics of him with eyemakeup from the movie, but finally found some thanks to JaredLeto.org. See...

But I bought the theatrical cut there anyway, and on my way to my car thought it would be a good idea to check the Target across the street to see if they had it too... I love Target 'cause not only was "Alexander" a full $5 cheaper, but they didn't even have the Director's Cut in stock! (If only there was a SuperTarget nearby, I'd go there on my 2am shopping outings instead of the 24-hour Walmart that's less than a mile from my house. But the closest SuperTarget is all the way out in New Tampa, about 2 miles from the county line... far, far away...) So I bought it again there, and then went back across the street to Walmart to get my money back for the other copy.

I came home and watched it while I was setting up my new computer. Thank goodness! I really needed a new computer. The other one hadn't quite crashed yet, but, at 8 years old and counting, it was getting close. I made the back up disks and was trying to get the internet to work when I got hopelessly confused. So I have to wait until my dad comes home and see if he can help me. I might even have to call Joe and ask him to help.

After a quick lunch, I went out to do some yard work. I planted a rose that I've had in a pot since March, cut down the okra (it was beyond help), and harvested 8 peanut plants and hung them to dry. Now, I'm going to turn off the sprinklers, shower and figure out what I'm going to do for dinner. My parents have open house tonight at their schools so they won't be home until 9pm. Josh is on his way home from LA. He should be home tomorrow late or Thursday. He got to El Paso, TX yesterday around 7pm their time and got a hotel room.

or so I thought...

Well, I accomplished quite a lot this weekend. I completely cleared my brother's room of all mine and my mother's stuff, got it all organized and put away in it's proper place... And if that weren't enough, I got the photo submission for the contest I'm going to enter all put together and pretty much ready to go. I've got until August 15th, so I'm waiting to hear back from a few more people about which ones they think I should submit. #1 and #3 will definitely be submitted. #2 definitely no. I just need to figure out which of the blue sweater would be best, #4 or #5, and that will be that.

Today, I went out to lunch with two of my high school friends, Maria and Laura. We had a very nice time catching up and discussing the latest turn in local politics. We really need to do it more often. Then I came home and finished up some of my other recent projects. I planted the hydrangea and the banana tree, fertilized several plants, and checked over the garden just before the thunder started rumbling, and I supervised the installation of the mirror and shower door for my parents' new master bathroom.

On an even brighter note, I found out this morning that "Beowulf and Grendel" will be in theaters in October! That's a full six months sooner than I had thought. Here's the official site if you would like to check it out: http://www.beowulfandgrendel.com/ It was filmed in Iceland! ::squee!:: I can't wait to see it!

photo contest entry

No cleverness today... Just this: http://www.geocities.com/gabrielle266/knitcalendar.html I welcome comments here or through e-mails.

the things I come across...

I was looking for a Viking joke... a really old one that's about as funny today as it was when it was first told 1000 years ago, if you tell it to the right people... You know - ironic, black humor... that shouldn't be funny, but if told right, it is. I found something else though... A quiz to determine what one's Viking name is. Here's mine:

"Herdis Goatflattener (Well, actually, that wouldn't really be your name -- since you're female, your name would be something like "Herdis Bjornsdottir," But this is the twenty-first century, and you want to be known for who you are, not for who your father was, right? Right.) Your Viking Personality: You're a fearsome Viking, but you aren't completely uncivilized. The other Vikings make fun of you for that. You are strong and tireless, frequently shouldering burdens that would tire lesser women. You probably know which end of a sword to hold, but you're not a fearsome fighter by any stretch of the imagination. A long sea voyage aboard a Viking longboat would be difficult for you, but you might be able to manage it. Other Vikings tolerate your presence, though they're not quite sure if they can trust you to fight dirty. You have a fairly pragmatic attitude towards life, and tend not to expend effort in areas where it would be wasted. Other people tend to think of you as manipulative and conniving."

:D Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say "manipulative and conniving." Who do they think I am, a disciple of Loki? I think not... Would love to know the story behind "Goatflattener" though... Also, the "Goatflattener" thing is possible, even if I am female. There was Unn The Deep-Minded afterall... Here's where to go if you want take it too: http://www.thequarter.org/Media/VikingName.php

I eventually found the "joke." It's from Njal's Saga, and is typical of the humor to be found in most of the Sagas.

A band of men who were enemies of a man named Gunnar came to his homestead to slay him. Gunnar saw them coming and, because it was night, used the darkness to conceal himself in a corner of his hall with his ax. The band of men surrounded his home and the leader, Gizur, sent one man, Thorgrim, into the house to find Gunnar. Thorgrim crept around and as he passed by Gunnar, Gunnar hit him in the head with his ax. Thorgrim walked back outside, with the ax still stuck in his head, to where the other men were waiting and Gizur asked, "Well, is Gunnar at home?" And Thorgrim said, "I don't know, but his ax is," then fell over dead.

Don't know if everyone would appreciate that as much as my Viking History class did, but there you go... I think it's how over-the-top it is that does it...

distant priority #5...

I need to find a good unabridged translation of The Iliad and other Trojan Cycle stories... There is always the MIT Classics Index, but... Well, just click it at right and see - it goes down all the time! There's no reliability.

I'm working on adapting the Trojan Cycle for the screen and I need to be able to makes notes in the margins and whatnot. I actually should probably get several translations done by different people since I can't read ancient Greek and have no time to learn at the moment. See, I'd like to eventually see an historically accurate, unbiased or colored by modern eyes, and complete dramatization of the great Greek epics done. And since no one else seems capable or willing, I think it will have to be me who writes the script. I'm suspicious of everything "historical" that Hollywood does after this last year of stunning disasters ("Troy," "Alexander," "Kingdom of Heaven" ::shudders::), not to mention the year before - "King Arthur" (gag me!). I'm thinking that they shouldn't be allowed to do period films anymore without adult supervision. Although, they could turn things around if "The New World" and "Beowulf & Grendel" live up to expectations... but I'm not really holding my breath.

I started making notes the other day. The Fates will be the Chorus. I think that's appropriate, since they are a neutral force in the Trojan War and Fate is a major theme in all of the Greek epics I'll be dealing with... I want to go at least from the marriage of Achilles' parents through the epilogue of the Iliad, if not the back-story to it all (Zeus' affair with Leda and Hecuba's dream) through the epilogue of the Odyssey... I'm not fond of Odysseus, despite the fact that the reader is supposed to like him. Unlike Athena, I do not find his manipulations and machinations "cute." I think he's jerkier than most ancient Greek men, and I'd just as soon not rehash his story of personal discovery ::rolls eyes::. I realize that everything he did was culturally acceptable and even expected because nearly all ancient Greek men were chauvinist pigs, but I've got to draw a line somewhere. And well, even if I can grit my teeth and bear his wife remaining completely faithful to his memory while he's gallivanting across the Aegean like a 10th century BCE Lothario because he *does* love her so much that not even goddesses dangling immortality in front of his face and terrible monsters can keep him from her in the end, he crosses it one too many times with getting Iphigenia "sacrificed" by trying to incite a riot. In any case, this would obviously have to be a mini-series.

continuing strange

I'm continuing to work on my knitting projects. I haven't finessed any of them yet. I need to photograph the baby hat, the cloth hobo bag and the off-the-shoulder sweater that I've made for the knitty.com calender contest. Three photos are due by the end of the month, so I really don't have much time, but with 1-hour photo, I have enough... As long as I get film tomorrow and get the pictures back by the next day, I'll be fine. They want real photos of knitted items from patterns on their site... and by "real," I mean "fine art." I really like that idea. And thanks to Adobe PhotoShop 6.0, I'll be able to get them to look exactly like I want them to look without processing and printing them myself. Yay!! So that's my # 1 priority for today.

Priority #2 is getting some of the peanuts harvested. There are several plants that are ready. The rest of them need to be fertilized. Thankfully, they have been doing well this season. ::fake spit, fake spit:: (Don't want to jinx it.) Apparently, we have ideal soil for them... Strange when it's not ideal for almost anything else. Usually have to amend it like crazy! It drains just fine, but doesn't have enough organic material... little too sandy. But peanuts like sandy, so I like growing peanuts.

The roses are also doing much better. The rain still comes in the very late afternoon almost everyday, but the fungicide finally seems to be controlling it. The okra is another matter. We're pretty sure it's got some sort of blight. And the eggplants are right next to the okra... For some reason, they aren't putting on any fruit though. We can't figure out why. The leaves are all perfectly green and healthy looking. They'll get flowers every week or so, but the fruit just isn't taking. Strange, because they usually do better in hot weather according to Mom. If anyone has any idea as to what's going on, I'd surely appreciate any info you have.

I really feel for people living further north who are getting the disgustingly hot weather that we usually have to contend with here. Whether humidity is at 0%, 50% or 100% (which doesn't always mean it's raining, contrary to popular belief... The humidity has been at 100% for days before without any rain, just air as thick as pea soup), 95 degrees F is still hotter than hell. And 103, oh, forget about it and just stay inside! It's ridiculous, this weather. Some say it's because of global warming... I don't think I buy it. 1.) We're in a cold period for the earth's history... still crawling out of the last ice age, really. 2.) We really don't have enough data to prove that it's due to green-house gases that temperatures are rising, which fluctuate naturally over time. 3.) The 13th century had weird weather patterns similar to those we're experiencing now. On the other hand, 4.) There is more CO2 being deposited in glacial ice now than there has been in the last 2.5 million years... in fact, it's exactly double it's highest concentration in that period. We've been on an exponential upswing for the last 10,000 years (or was it 100,000?... something like that anyway), but around industrialization, CO2 reached the highest 2.5 million year level, and at present has surpassed it by 100%. Worrisome, but at the same time, I'm not particularly worried... We're likely worrying over something we can't do a thing about, and certainly nothing quick. Now, this is not to say that I don't fully support that cars and factories should be cleaner... Just because I don't buy that it's a long-term problem, doesn't mean that I don't think it's a short-term one. I certainly think we could improve world health if we cut down on fossil fuels or eliminated them entirely. I just don't think that it would significantly impact global warming.

My goodness, that was a tangent!

Anyway, here in Tampa, we have the rains almost every afternoon, but it doesn't cool anything down significantly, just keeps enough moisture in the air to prevent it from getting hotter than it already does... and of course, encourages the mosquitoes to breed like mad. I want to put a bat house out on the back part of our property to get them to stay around and eat the mosquitoes, but Mom seems to think that's a bad idea. She doesn't like bats, but I know we have them around here anyway. Every evening there will be at least 4 or 5 flying around directly above the house snapping up mosquitoes as fast are their radar can find them. I like bats. As far as I'm concerned, they can stay. And soon we'll have even more because I'm planting a banana tree... somewhere. We haven't picked out a spot yet, but it's sitting out on the front walk right now. According to what I've heard, if it weren't for fruit bats, banana trees wouldn't be able to pollinate. So yay for them!

Priority #3 for the day is continuing to organize my room because Josh is coming home from Los Angeles next week and I can't continue using his room as my personal storage space. And priority #4 is planting the roses that are potted, the banana tree and a hydrangea that I got at Home Depot 2 months ago (It's doing quite well evenso.) I probably won't get around to that until later in the week though.

let's see if I got it right...

If this has worked, two photos of the baby blanket I did for my cousin's new baby should be at the left here (with our messy dinning room in the wide shot). This is the best I can do at the moment. They were taken with my new camera phone. The pattern is a moss stitch border with a ground of a repeated hourglass-cable/eyelet pattern, it measures about 45"x36", and the yarn is 100% worsted weight cotton. It was not my pattern; I'm not that good... yet! (Give me time... hehe.) I found it here. It took one 1 pound cone and one ball of Peaches & Cream 100% cotton yarn in white.

Oh, and I just remembered a few other projects that I've tackled this summer. I knitted a "hobo" bag out of stripes of ripped cotton shirt fabric... It's not completely done because part of it needs to be reworked, but technically it's off my needles. Also, I'm trying to learn how to spin with a drop spindle. If I were truly ambitious, I would get a bit of soapstone and make a Medieval Viking-style spindle whorl and grab a sapling out of the yard to widdle for the shaft, but I'm not really that ambitious, and I bought a modern one from an online supplier along with some ready-to-spin black merino wool. At least, I'm not that ambitious at the moment. I'm sure I'll eventually make a replica and learn to card wool straight from the sheep. I fully believe that an historian should recreate things that the people they study made/did, if at all possible, in order to better understand them and their time. But more on my academic philosophy later... Now, I really need to go to bed.

what I've been up to

I'm currently on summer break from school... a very much needed break too, let me tell you. I've been taking my time to relax and do fun things.

I've been gardening, although the weather has been odd this entire growing season and most everything has gone impossibly awry. The corn was decent but could have been better if the spring hadn't had schizophrenic weather (hot, cold, hot, cold), which stunted its growth. And we had good tomatoes for only about three weeks when it should have been almost two months. The peppers have been *tiny* (bells 2"x3"), even with fertilizer. The okra, which we were overwhelmed with last year with half as many plants, has only been trickling in. The eggplant did well early on, but are having problems now with insects and spiders just not buggering off. And worst of all, the roses are all plagued with black spot, even with weekly spraying, because of the late afternoon rains and lingering humidity (usually this is not a problem until late August). I lost one of my rugosas to it... Lucky for me, I got 5 seedlings off of it before it had to be axed. With more luck, by next year at least one will have survived and I can replace the lost one without having to buy a new one. Pray the rain comes when it should be coming this time of year, the early afternoon, so things won't continue to get worse.

I've also been knitting like a mad fool. I've done a baby blanket, three pairs of booties and three hats for my cousin who is expecting her third in October. I've also already finished several Christmas presents. I'm currently working on a lace shrug for myself, a pair of socks for my mom (my first socks!) and an afghan. And of course, my yarn stash grows by the week no matter how many times I've resolved not to buy more. (I can't help it! Yarn keeps going on sale...)

My friends and I see a movie every weekend. This last weekend we saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." I liked it although it was darker than the first movie version. I could definitely see Tim Burton's hand in it. And his other movie, "The Corpse Bride," will be out in September. I'm not sure I'll see that one or not. "Nightmare Before Christmas" scared the bejezzus out of me and still does if I watch the whole thing, and to be frank, "The Corpse Bride" looks like it would freak me out even more. Very, very macabre. I would definitely leave the kids at home... If I had kids anyway...

Now I need to figure out how to publish photos on here...

First post

Wow! I have a blog now. I've been thinking about starting one for a while, but never had a pressing reason to do it. But I wanted to post comments on the blogs of friends and relatives so I had to do one quickly. I hope I remember to post regularly. At the very least, I'll probably be using it for picture sharing.

Bye for now!