NE CEDE MALIS
Translated from the Latin, it means "Yield not to misfortunes."
Strive always.
An Update to Last Week's
Update within an Update
I made the Great Decision on Friday night (10 January) and preregistered for all four days at the Origins 2003 convention in Columbus, Ohio. As I mentioned last week, I plan to run at least four Fudge events and maybe some others in addition to the events in which I shall be participating as a player. Shopping and hobnobbing are likely to occur also.
If I could foretell my financial future and schedule far enough in advance, I would register for GenCon, too. I am already taking a risk on Origins this year, so GenCon must wait. There is hope for next year. This year, by the way, marks GenCon's first year at Indianapolis, Indiana. Most of the GenCons I attended were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Having defeated my tendency to procrastinate, I may now concentrate on saving enough money for food, lodging, and purchases in the exhibit hall. And I'd better work on those events, too -- perhaps a Fudge scenario set in ancient Rome...
Succinct Notes
Added more recent photographs of myself to the pictures page.
Site-Seeing
The Perseus Digital Library is a great resource for students of the humanities, especially the Greek and Roman classics, and even includes entire Latin grammar texts! (And yes, that exclamation point at the end of the preceding sentence was intentional. So there.) You can also visit "exhibits" such as The Ancient Olympics and Hercules: Greece's Greatest Hero (which features an image of Hercules from an ancient vase in the Toledo Museum of Art (of interest to those of us not far from Toledo, Ohio (a great museum, by the way, if you are ever in the area))). It is a non-profit project by the Department of the Classics at Tufts University.
From the Bookshelf
I, Claudius and its sequel, Claudius the God (both by Robert Graves) are probably two of the finest works of historical fiction ever written. It is easy to forget they are novels when it seems as if Claudius himself is reaching across time and speaking to us personally. If any author were truly capable of channeling spirits, is it surprising that it would be Graves?
By Jove, I love to read.
At the Cinema
Who has never heard of Spartacus? One of the greatest film epics by one of the greatest film directors (Stanley Kubrick) and starring two of cinema's greatest actors (Kirk Douglas and Sir Laurence Olivier) in a story of heroism, hardship, and the struggle for freedom. Yes, I sound like the narrator in a movie trailer from the Golden Age of Hollywood, but it's that good. If you have never seen this masterpiece, go forth and treat yourself. And if you ever get the chance to see it in a cinema, seize it!
Did I mention the film is about Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who led the Slave Rebellion against the Roman Empire in the First Century B.C.?
On the Telly
The thirteen episodes of the 1976 British mini-series I, Claudius are legendary in the history of the medium. The performances are unsurpassed and the adaptation from Robert Graves' novels (q.v.) is flawless. The cast includes Derek Jacobi as Claudius, Brian Blessed as Augustus, John Hurt as Caligula, and many others. Patrick Stewart and John Rhys-Davies are two other well-known names that spring to mind. If ever there were a television drama worth owning in one form or another, this is the one.
I'll keep posting if you keep reading. Be seeing you... :-?
