Random Banter #117

[Fredthefighter]

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@Fred: Catullus was a Roman poet, famed for his poems addressed to the lady "Lesbia". They're very good, you should read them if you get the time.

A tautology is a pair or set or words which say the same thing, making the use of both or all of them redundant: Tautology

I know, I just used wikipedia to find out. Also, thanks for the tautology explanation.
Anyway, people, I must bid you all a fond farewell, I have to go to sleep now. Thankyou for the lessons in poetry, although I think I shall stick to Pratchett and the Shadowrun novels for now, until I can get into some Homer and Catullus.

[Quincunx]

Exactly so, Phaedra--I just called it a circle as an oversimplification. You've read enough to know when someone isn't varying their voice or viewpoint.

If it helps your research, Odi et amo is Catullus 85; his poems were numbered instead of named. Wikipedia has very simplistic, very literal translations of the Latin poems I've checked so far, good for raw material. I do wish I hadn't misplaced my copy of Dorothea Wender's translations of Roman poems though. She had a gift for snappy, if not faithful to the original, verse forms.

[EDIT: A caution. If you're planning to write more poetry, be choosy about your reading material. Poetry cross-pollinates even worse than prose does. If you read a chunk of similar poetry at one sitting, it'll warp your output until it looks more like what you've been reading. Just make sure to read poems that are at least a little bit better than what you can imagine writing yourself. Don't settle for "accessible" verse.]

[Kaelaroth]

Spoiler

Show

Sleep? It's ten o'clock.
...
Bit early.
All I'm saying.
<.<
>.>
Jeez.

You know what I hate? The sky. It's so big. And, sure, that sounds crazy. But it's this huge, angry incorporeal shell, trapping us to its imagined fates.

[Quincunx]

It isn't trapping us any more, Kaelaroth. A civilian has touched the edge of space without a whiff of government support. Hm. . .Touched the edge of space. That could be iambic. On the other hand, it's already been written. There goes that contamination I was warning against. Maybe you should just get a flying license and a parasail.

[Kaelaroth]

It isn't trapping us any more, Kaelaroth. A civilian has touched the edge of space without a whiff of government support. Hm. . .Touched the edge of space. That could be iambic. On the other hand, it's already been written. There goes that contamination I was warning against. Maybe you should just get a flying license and a parasail.

Prove it. Space? The final frontier? Or a transient semi-deity, with wings as blue as forget-me-nots, and eyes as stormy as the choppy Irish sea, which curls about our fair navy orb with malice in its conspiratorial expression. It forces the weak to work for it, it enslaves the birds, and the bees.
And the hellflaming government.

[Quincunx]

I'm sorry, but I am having more trouble than should be expected with the idea of a hollow sphere of a god. The idea of the sphere of earth having a soul? Easy-peasy. The idea of the jacketed, ungodly space being an object of worship? Not so easy. I could just as easily bow down before a soap bubble or a glass bottle. That being said, comets trailing out of the corners of eyes squinted into slits against the astral wind works perfectly well.

[CurlyKitGirl]

That feeling there that you're feeling there Kaela is the sublime power of nature. That's how Romantic poets often felt.
And the sky has been personified many times over in mythology. Egyptian has Nut, goddess of the sky and Horus, ruler of the sky; Ouranos in Greece and Zeus the cloud gatherer of the Iliad, so naturally Jupiter in Roman; Veranos somewhere in Asia; Tian (sky father) in China. Raginui the sky father of Maori mythology embraced Papatuanuku (earth mother) and begat divine children.
And they're all direct personifications of or rulers of the sky.
Admittedly, this is peronsifying rather then the sky being one, but it was the same thing to them really.
I don't think that really answered anything much did it?

[Kaelaroth]

*ahem*
I think, my dear Koorly, that our friend Turner would want us to refer to it as the Sublime with a capital S, not some lower case division of nature, eh? After all, the Sublime is so much more than the.. the.. wilder, scarier side of nature. The sublime is rage, power, primordial iridescence, as Thomas Hardy said, the prime apposite to the weak Pastoral ushered in by humanity.

[Recaiden]

*ahem*
I think, my dear Koorly, that our friend Turner would want us to refer to it as the Sublime with a capital S, not some lower case division of nature, eh? After all, the Sublime is so much more than the.. the.. wilder, scarier side of nature. The sublime is rage, power, primordial iridescence, as Thomas Hardy said, the prime apposite to the weak Pastoral ushered in by humanity.

I don't like that definition. Let's change it. Humanity isn't always Pastoral, so we need a new Sublime. The sky does seem pretty powerful, so I can see where Kaela might be coming from.

[CurlyKitGirl]

*ahem*
I think, my dear Koorly, that our friend Turner would want us to refer to it as the Sublime with a capital S, not some lower case division of nature, eh? After all, the Sublime is so much more than the.. the.. wilder, scarier side of nature. The sublime is rage, power, primordial iridescence, as Thomas Hardy said, the prime apposite to the weak Pastoral ushered in by humanity.

I has been owned.
Yup, Kael beat the Book Geek at her own game.
Though only on a very technical technicality.
Take long? :smlltongue:

[Kaelaroth]

I has been owned.
Yup, Kael beat the Book Geek at her own game.
Though only on a very technical technicality.
Take long? :smlltongue:

Would it detract from my intellectual points if I said my lateness was due to watching Heroes?

[Thufir]

Hmm. I like the simple thread title. It's... very The Rose Dragon, somehow.
@Curly: There's a Paradise Regained?
The other 3 books on your list I already plan to read.

Now, Heroes has finished recording, I must go watch it.

[CurlyKitGirl]

@KAela: No; just shows another side to your geekiness.

@Thufir: yup. It's the lesser known sequel. It's only four books long and yeah, it's about Satan failing to tempt Christ while he's out in the desert.
I have a link to an online text of the Comedy if you want?

[Kaelaroth]

@KAela: No; just shows another side to your geekiness.

Yaay! Now, to work on my instantaneous space-time folding!
BAMF!

[PhoeKun]

@Thufir: yup. It's the lesser known sequel. It's only four books long and yeah, it's about Satan failing to tempt Christ while he's out in the desert.
I have a link to an online text of the Comedy if you want?

From my understanding, it was written largely because the reaction to Satan in Paradise Lost was so... sympathetic. People felt bad for Satan (terrible stuff he did aside - he's still the devil), and Milton screamed at the top of his lungs from the rooftops, "No, no, no! This is all wrong! He's the bad guy! The bad guy!" And then wrote Paradise Regained to try and put the emphasis back where he wanted it: on the glory of heaven. It was considerably less well received, much the same way Dante's most talked about book is Inferno. People like reading about Hell. Heaven, they'd rather imagine for themselves.

@Kaela: You asked for elaboration? Unfortunately, there isn't a heck of a lot of elaborating I can do. I haven't been employed in months, because the job market for any sort of writer or editor is apparently not that wide in Salt Lake City. I've tried applying for online correspondence jobs, but I'm never the best candidate (recent graduates have it rough...), and I've tried swallowing my pride and applying to less intellectual endeavors, but it turns out for those I am over-qualified.

So I've been watching my money slowly dwindle down to nothing. Which, according to my bank statement, just happened today. I've got a couple of days before I need to figure out how the heck I'm going to pay for student loans and rent, but...

edit: I'm apparently going to be minority opinion here, but... Catullus? Really? Why are we praising him, when we should be talking about Sappho? Without her, he would be nothing. And that's even discounting the however-many-odd poems he wrote specifically lusting after her. Ugh.

[Alleine]

Don't worry, I get it. I was watching it on demand just a few days ago.

Huzzah! We are saved!
I was getting worried for a second there.

[Phase]

Okay, first trial run of my costume went well tonight, expect pictures tomorrow.

[Coplantor]

Okay, first trial run of my costume went well tonight, expect pictures tomorrow.

you mean mcninja costume?

[Assassin89]

Did someone say Catullus? I translated some of his poetry in high school. The subjects of each poem were quite interesting.

[PhoeKun]

Rawr!

... I am filled with poet rage. I sigh a little sigh, and go off to weep in my dark and tiny corner.

[Phase]

you mean mcninja costume?

Yes.

But know, Gods I need sleep

[Coplantor]

Speaking of costumes...

In case that I'll ever wear one to go to a geeky con or something, a friend and I already decided that we should go as the characters in Monty Python's the meaning of life "The Middle of the Film" Sketch. He already called dibs on the guy with long arms so I should go as the multicolored tap-nippled transvestite. Two questions, how can we make the double arms? And... should we really do it?

[Sneak]

Speaking of costumes...

In case that I'll ever wear one to go to a geeky con or something, a friend and I already decided that we should go as the characters in Monty Python's the meaning of life "The Middle of the Film" Sketch. He already called dibs on the guy with long arms so I should go as the multicolored tap-nippled transvestite. Two questions, how can we make the double arms? And... should we really do it?

YES. Yes, you should.

Dunno how you'd make the double arms...but I believe the powers of hilarity will guide you on your way.

Godspeed, my friend. *solemn face*

[Coplantor]

Lot's of people will be rolling for SAN. Speaking of wih, I have the psychological test tomorrow before I can start working, am I going to need luck or a miracle?

[Recaiden]

From what I hear, just luck. But possibly a lot of it. Have some of mine. And by now, I don't think very much here can deal me any SAN damage.

@V:Mildly unsettling. And goodnight Playground.

[Coplantor]

From what I hear, just luck. But possibly a lot of it. Have some of mine. And by now, I don't think very much here can deal me any SAN damage.

No san damage for you? Then you are not trying hard enough to imagine me wearing lingerie, leather boots, make up and taps in my nipples.

[Pyrian]

Lot's of people will be rolling for SAN. Speaking of wih, I have the psychological test tomorrow before I can start working, am I going to need luck or a miracle?

Just ask yourself, at each question, "What would a supposedly normal person answer?"

[UncleWolf]

Alright, I'm off to bed guys.

I'll see you all in the morning.

Good night, and hunt well.

[Nychta]

Zomg new photo of Pyrian.
... Is that also a new hat? Dang, I can't tell.

Reading through the RBs, I wish I had been here more the past month or so, but school is awesome.

ARGH THEY'VE BRAINWASHED ME ALREADY

[Alleine]

but school is awesome.

Agh! Don't get any of it on me! Heaven forbid I become responsible or some such frippery! I'm clearly too cool for school.