Figure of Speech Gets Own Movie

I have no idea what the plot of Charlie Kaufman's new movie, Synecdoche, New York, is about (aside from a miniature reconstruction of New York, which might well be a McGuffin). But I do intend to go and see the film because of its prominent titular reference to the figure of speech with which we are so familiar from our Vergilian translations.

Three cheers for literary references in movies! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

(And if you're a young whippersnapper who didn't understand my reference to a McGuffin, look it up and learn a bit of cinematic history.)

Sacred Moly!

It's been quite the long while since I've posted. That's what a full-time job teaching public high school will do to one's free time...

I'm looking forward to attending a talk this coming Tuesday evening at Williams, by Classics prof Luca Grillo of Amherst College. Title: "'De Amicitia', or on the Cold War between Cicero and Caesar." It's at 7 pm in Griffin Hall - tell your friends! If you're one of my students and you're reading this, show up and get extra credit...

New Statue of Roman Emperor Discovered

The BBC News reports today that archaeologists have uncovered fragments of a massive statue of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180 CE) in a frigidarium in Sagalassos. To give you some idea of its size, the statue's right arm is 5 feet long, and the head is 3 feet high.

Check out the story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7580745.stm .

Win a Pelly, learn some Latin.

If you're into gaming, check out

www.ludumdare.com

Ludum Dare, a community-driven game development competition, whose name just happens to be in Latin.

Why maybe I should have studied archaeology too.

The Villa of the Papyri is one of the two most energizing and awesome contemporary projects in the world of classics today. (The second, the Antikythera mechanism, will likely be the subject of a future blog post as well.) Check out this article from The Australian newspaper a couple of weeks ago that explains why I am currently contemplating moving to Italy...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24096948-25132,00.html

Can we say 'Aristotle's second book of the Poetics', anyone??

...and we're back!

National Convention was a blast, as expected. It's been tough getting back into the getting-ready-for-school-in-three-weeks mode...

Goin' to Oxford (Ohio, that is)

As any JCLer at Mt. Greylock will tell you, JCL Conventions are a confabulation of classical culture, contests, corny puns, and general Latin tomfoolery. National Convention even more so. This year's NJCL Convention is at Miami University in Oxford Ohio, starting Monday, and running through Saturday. Thus, it is my sad duty to put the Public Vlog Maroon on hiatus whilst I'm away. I can't guarantee that I'll have web access (though I am taking my XO just in case), so check back in a little over a week! I'll be posting one or two photos from the Convention.

Troy Trilogy

It makes me quite happy whenever I see classical literature being re-appropriated into 'popular' culture - movies, music, graphic novels. (Some Classics snobs might consider this a bad thing. Ignore them.) It's especially gratifying for me when I see my own personal faves make their way into the mainstream. Consider the Troy Trilogy, a series of three (duh) books by the author David Gemmell. I picked up the first in the series, Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow a couple of weeks ago to while away some idle summer hours. I was hooked. The trilogy is a sort of alternate-history take of what preceded the Trojan war, and follows some of the major characters involved from a completely different angle than the usual. The central character of the first book is a fellow named Helikaon, a prince of Dardania. (By the way, Helikaon is what his mother calls him. His father Achates insists on calling him by the thoroughly unmelodious name Aeneas.) Known around the Mediterranean as 'the Golden One', Helikaon/Aeneas has made his reputation as a sort of bigger-than-life adventurer, ridding the seas of pirates (who are secretly supported by the war-mongering king of the Mykene, Agamemnon). It goes on from there, but it's an entertaining and engaging read. Check it out!

The Aeneid: The Musical

Well, not exactly. But, whilst browsing the interwebs this morning, I happened across the site of a project devoted to developing a "soundtrack" to the Aeneid. You can check it out, and download mp3s of the work, at http://vaeilium.indigetesdii.org/ .

Lavinia

If you've done any background reading on the Aeneid (and, at this point in the summer, I surely hope you have!), you probably know who Lavinia is - King Latinus' daughter, promised in marriage to Aeneas. Phenomenal author Ursula K. LeGuin, who has been writing for years, and has accumulated awards such as the National Book Award, multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, and others, has just published (2008) her latest novel Lavinia. It tells the story of the Aeneid with Lavinia as narrator.

Buy this book! It's exceptionally well-written (if you know LeGuin's work, this shouldn't surprise you), and it takes a well-known work of literature in a refreshingly new narrative direction. Plus, it's simply a rollicking good read.

Thought of the Day...

You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.
-Norman Douglas, novelist (1868-1952)

The Aeneid in Renaissance Art

Lest you assume that the only people who cared about Vergil's epic poem were the Romans (and we pesky Classics scholars)...

The Renaissance, that flourishing of literature and the arts in 16th-century Italy (OK, OK, Europe generally. But it started in Italy.), drew immensely upon classical themes, literature and culture for its subject material. Boticelli's Birth of Venus; Raphael's School of Athens; and, more relevant to our curriculum in the coming year, the image posted above, Federico Barocci's Aeneas' Flight from Troy, ca. 1598. Can you identify the lines from the Aeneid which the painting depicts, and all of the persons in the scene?

Tribute to Bill Creran

Bill Creran was my Latin teacher when I was a mere stripling lad in high school. He passed away earlier this year, and I had the honor to speak at his funeral ceremony. He was a true gentleman scholar who inspired in me and in others a sincere appreciation, respect, and love for classical studies.

Te saluto, Magister; requiescas in pace.

Usher: Latin scholar

Ma Keeley has said it many times - you can't escape Latin. Here's yet another instance for ya. Consider these lyrics from Usher's recent popular song "Yeah":

Me and Ush once more and we leaves em dead/
we want a lady in the street but a freak in the bed

Now compare with the final verses from an epigram by Marcus Valerius Martialis (40-102 CE):

Si te delectat gravitas, Lucretia toto/
sis licet usque die: Laida nocte volo.

Understanding the cultural references (who Lucretia and Lais were, respectively) is essential to 'getting' Martial's point. By the way, if you are concerned about propriety, be grateful that Usher saw fit to limit his use of Martial to this (relatively innocuous) couplet - the rest of the poem is a bit less, shall we say, circumspect...

Salutationes Aestivae!

The video speaks for itself...

Obstipui!

Well, I guess it works! I do believe all I have to do now is create the vlog entries themselves, a project I expect will occupy me rather a lot during these sultry summer months. I've already begun to mix some of the background music for the audio podcasts I intend to post. That's right, folks: Vergil in audio AND video...

Post Primus

Salvete, discipuli... I've created this blog primarily for the AP: Vergil class, but I may occasionally direct the Latin IV/V and English 11 classes here for particular assignments. Take a look around: you may notice some features that are prima facie inscrutable...these are most likely 'in-jokes' for the erudite Latin cognoscenti. Locate and properly identify one or more, and receive your very own aureum ramum! Not really, but you will get bragging rights and a token of Dr. P.'s approval.

I'm just setting this up, so I don't yet know its capabilities; but I hope to be able to post a series of podcasts here - mini-lectures and other audio featurettes that will Vergilize your iPod. Stay tuned...