end of term, doctor who, polybius, cosmetics
Happy Saturday!
The end of the semester is approaching fast, which means things are about to get awfully exciting on my end. Exams, term papers, Christmas shopping, getting up to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving, getting final grades in for my students, and arranging to move come January--someday, it will all be done, but the when and where and how of it remains to be seen.
Fortunately, I've managed to be productive over the last few days, so that's good. We've pretty much found our new housing, and should be able to start filling out paperwork very soon. What's more, my Latin group came over and we managed to write a dialogue in Latin between Scipio Aemilianus and his mother Papiria, something we thought was going to be impossible. It managed to be not so bad once we were working together, with enough good food to sustain us and the promise of "Waters of Mars" when we finished.
That said, reactions to "Waters of Mars" are as follows:
It wasn't bad--kept me entertained for an hour, anyway, though in some places it did feel a bit like Russel T. Davies trying to write Stephen Moffat and ending up as Russel T. Davies anyway. I felt like they showed too much of gravely-mouthed waterspout people for them to be truly creepy, and of course RTD pulled his whole backlit!jesusy!Doctor thing.
I did, however, find myself liking a lot of the little touches. The international nature of the colony, for one thing, and the lines about how they had to conserve things in space and how precious food and fuel and water all was. You don't often get that in sci-fi, particularly in Doctor Who, and while sometimes you want a world where all that stuff is working fine, sometimes you want the pioneering aspects of space, too.
Yay for the shout-out to Yuri's gay and happily married brother like it's nothing. In fifty years, maybe we'll be getting to Mars, and maybe we'll finally have shut up about how the gays are ruining marriage oh em gee.
I thought Lindsay Duncan's performance as Adelaide was magnificent, and found her my favorite part of the episode, down to the very end when she put a (laser?) bullet to her head. Yes, she was another strong older woman challenging the Doctor who died because of it, but I think she came off as right in the end when she stood up to him, and her death meant something. I'd definitely call her heroic, rather than menopausally insane, and that's a step up from what happened to Mercy Hartigan in the Christmas episode.
Also, holy shit Ten. Pick up some damn Sophocles for that hubris. You have basically become those folks One rebelled against years and years ago. But, at least we don't get the sense that Ten is right about the part where he thinks he's god anymore. I'm hoping the wake-up call comes soon.
Had a great debate with Kate at the end of the episode--does Adelaide kill herself simply because the laws of time make her and the Doctor can't defy the laws of time, or because she herself chose to so she could prove that point to the Doctor? Either way, it means the Doctor is cracked and hubristic, though I do like the notion that she has agency in the matter. I had a nicely little theory worked out that the laws of time account for free will, but was not able to spin it out further due to the part where I'm attempting Whovian philosophy after a great deal of Latin homework. So, perhaps more on that later.
Feel free to link me to your own entries about the episode--I'd love to see them! And I didn't get to last week, as I was avoiding spoilers.
Just a few more points before I stop tormenting y'all with journal entries! First of all, for the Latin project today, we had to read some of what Polybius said about Scipio Aemilianus. Now, in class, my prof had implied that Scipio and his Greek buddy Polybius may have been having the buttsex. I didn't quite believe it, because basically my prof likes to make up rumors about everyone. AND YET. Once I turned to the primary source material, I totally saw her point. This stuff reads like slash fanfiction meets memoir.
Says Polybius:
Now that the progress of my narrative and the date call our special attention to this family, I wish in order to satisfy the reader's curiosity to execute a promise I made in the previous book and left unfulfilled, and this was that I would tell how and why the fame of Scipio in Rome advanced so far and became so brilliant more quickly than it should, and to tell also how his friendship and intimacy with the author grew so great that this report about them not only spread to Italy and Greece, but that even further afield their liking and intercourse were a matter of common knowledge. Now I have already explained that their acquaintance took its origin in the loan of some books and conversation about them. But as their intimacy grew, and when the Achaeans in detention were sent off to provincial towns, Fabius and Scipio, the sons of Lucius Aemilius, urgently begged the praetor to allow Polybius to remain in Rome. This was done, and their intercourse now becoming much slower, the following incident took place. On one occasion when they were all coming out together from the house of Fabius, the latter happened to take a turning leading to the forum, while Polybius and Scipio turned off in the opposite direction. As they advanced, Scipio, addressing Polybius in a quiet and gentle voice, and blushing, slightly said: "Why, Polybius, since there are two of us, do you constantly converse with my brother and address to him all your questions and explanations, but ignore me? Evidentally you also have the same opinions of me that I hear the rest of my countrymen have. For, as I am told, I am believed by everybody to be a quiet and indolent man, with none of the energetic character of a Roman, because I don't chose to speak in the law courts. And they say that the family I spring from does not require such a protector as I am, but just the opposite; and this is what I feel most."
Polybius was surprised at the way in which the young man opened the conversation; for he was then not more than eighteen years old. "For goodness' sake, Scipio," he said, "don't talk in that way, or get any such notion into your head. I don't, I assure you, do this because I have a low opinion of you or ignore you, but because your brother is your senior. I both begin conversation with him and finish with him, and as for any explanations and advice, I address myself especially to him in the believe that your opinions are the same as his. However, now I admire you when you say that you are pained to think that you are of a milder character than becomes members of this family; for that shows that you have a high spirit. I myself would be delighted to do all in my power to help you speak and act in a way worthy of your ancestors. For as those studies which I see now occupy and interest you, you will be in no want of those ready to help both of you; so great is the crowd of such men that I see flocking here from Greece at present. But as regards what you say now troubles you I don't think you could find anyone more efficient than myself to forward your effort and help you."
Before Polybius ceased speaking, Scipio, grasping his right hand in both his own and pressing it warmly, said: "Would I could see the day on which you, regarding nothing else as of higher importance, would devote your attention to me and join your life with mine; for then I shall at once feel myself to be worthy of my house and my forefathers." Polybius was on the one hand very happy to see the enthusiasm and affection of the young man, yet was embarrassed when he reflected on the high position of the family and the weather of its members. However, after this mutual explanation the young man never left his side, and preferred his society to anything else. From that time onwards continuing in the actual conduct of life to give proof to each other of their worth, they came to regard each other with an affection like that of familial love or something like it.
Familial love? No. Boyfriends. Totally boyfriends.
My major pretty much brings the slash to the door, even when it says it doesn't.
Aaaaaand to finish this off, point one: since I am going out to the adult world and looking for jobs in teaching this spring, this winter is my last hurrah for things like hair dye. (I think it's silly that teachers can't dye their hair fun colors, but I see why we're not supposed to do it?) Thus, I put some new streaks in my hair this weekend--gold and blue, to be exact, in just one streak on the left side of my head. When my hair's down, the hair falls together and looks sorta green, which is cool 'cause that's my favorite color. Then, when I pull it back, the blue and gold arranges itself more intro stripes. It's a blue like my college lantern, which makes everything even better.
Point two: I found a new dress at H&M for twenty bucks yesterday, which falls into that category of "things I would never expect to own and wear but which are nevertheless oddly me." This dress is strapless, dark purple with a black lace overly, corseted top, high waist, and roughly knee-length full skirt with black tulle-ish bits underneath. I can actually pair it with a lot of looks, and, well, it's really cute. Really cute. In fact, it's hotter than about anything else that I own, so I'm a bit intimidated by it. I am not supposed to have hot clothes! I am not supposed to be hot, either! I am supposed to be grumping around in jeans, boots, and long-sleeved Shakespeare shirts, amirite?
I'm still wondering how I managed to get it for 20 bucks, though I'm certainly not complaining about that much. Thanks, motherland, for pulling through on occasion.
The end of the semester is approaching fast, which means things are about to get awfully exciting on my end. Exams, term papers, Christmas shopping, getting up to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving, getting final grades in for my students, and arranging to move come January--someday, it will all be done, but the when and where and how of it remains to be seen.
Fortunately, I've managed to be productive over the last few days, so that's good. We've pretty much found our new housing, and should be able to start filling out paperwork very soon. What's more, my Latin group came over and we managed to write a dialogue in Latin between Scipio Aemilianus and his mother Papiria, something we thought was going to be impossible. It managed to be not so bad once we were working together, with enough good food to sustain us and the promise of "Waters of Mars" when we finished.
That said, reactions to "Waters of Mars" are as follows:
It wasn't bad--kept me entertained for an hour, anyway, though in some places it did feel a bit like Russel T. Davies trying to write Stephen Moffat and ending up as Russel T. Davies anyway. I felt like they showed too much of gravely-mouthed waterspout people for them to be truly creepy, and of course RTD pulled his whole backlit!jesusy!Doctor thing.
I did, however, find myself liking a lot of the little touches. The international nature of the colony, for one thing, and the lines about how they had to conserve things in space and how precious food and fuel and water all was. You don't often get that in sci-fi, particularly in Doctor Who, and while sometimes you want a world where all that stuff is working fine, sometimes you want the pioneering aspects of space, too.
Yay for the shout-out to Yuri's gay and happily married brother like it's nothing. In fifty years, maybe we'll be getting to Mars, and maybe we'll finally have shut up about how the gays are ruining marriage oh em gee.
I thought Lindsay Duncan's performance as Adelaide was magnificent, and found her my favorite part of the episode, down to the very end when she put a (laser?) bullet to her head. Yes, she was another strong older woman challenging the Doctor who died because of it, but I think she came off as right in the end when she stood up to him, and her death meant something. I'd definitely call her heroic, rather than menopausally insane, and that's a step up from what happened to Mercy Hartigan in the Christmas episode.
Also, holy shit Ten. Pick up some damn Sophocles for that hubris. You have basically become those folks One rebelled against years and years ago. But, at least we don't get the sense that Ten is right about the part where he thinks he's god anymore. I'm hoping the wake-up call comes soon.
Had a great debate with Kate at the end of the episode--does Adelaide kill herself simply because the laws of time make her and the Doctor can't defy the laws of time, or because she herself chose to so she could prove that point to the Doctor? Either way, it means the Doctor is cracked and hubristic, though I do like the notion that she has agency in the matter. I had a nicely little theory worked out that the laws of time account for free will, but was not able to spin it out further due to the part where I'm attempting Whovian philosophy after a great deal of Latin homework. So, perhaps more on that later.
Feel free to link me to your own entries about the episode--I'd love to see them! And I didn't get to last week, as I was avoiding spoilers.
Just a few more points before I stop tormenting y'all with journal entries! First of all, for the Latin project today, we had to read some of what Polybius said about Scipio Aemilianus. Now, in class, my prof had implied that Scipio and his Greek buddy Polybius may have been having the buttsex. I didn't quite believe it, because basically my prof likes to make up rumors about everyone. AND YET. Once I turned to the primary source material, I totally saw her point. This stuff reads like slash fanfiction meets memoir.
Says Polybius:
Now that the progress of my narrative and the date call our special attention to this family, I wish in order to satisfy the reader's curiosity to execute a promise I made in the previous book and left unfulfilled, and this was that I would tell how and why the fame of Scipio in Rome advanced so far and became so brilliant more quickly than it should, and to tell also how his friendship and intimacy with the author grew so great that this report about them not only spread to Italy and Greece, but that even further afield their liking and intercourse were a matter of common knowledge. Now I have already explained that their acquaintance took its origin in the loan of some books and conversation about them. But as their intimacy grew, and when the Achaeans in detention were sent off to provincial towns, Fabius and Scipio, the sons of Lucius Aemilius, urgently begged the praetor to allow Polybius to remain in Rome. This was done, and their intercourse now becoming much slower, the following incident took place. On one occasion when they were all coming out together from the house of Fabius, the latter happened to take a turning leading to the forum, while Polybius and Scipio turned off in the opposite direction. As they advanced, Scipio, addressing Polybius in a quiet and gentle voice, and blushing, slightly said: "Why, Polybius, since there are two of us, do you constantly converse with my brother and address to him all your questions and explanations, but ignore me? Evidentally you also have the same opinions of me that I hear the rest of my countrymen have. For, as I am told, I am believed by everybody to be a quiet and indolent man, with none of the energetic character of a Roman, because I don't chose to speak in the law courts. And they say that the family I spring from does not require such a protector as I am, but just the opposite; and this is what I feel most."
Polybius was surprised at the way in which the young man opened the conversation; for he was then not more than eighteen years old. "For goodness' sake, Scipio," he said, "don't talk in that way, or get any such notion into your head. I don't, I assure you, do this because I have a low opinion of you or ignore you, but because your brother is your senior. I both begin conversation with him and finish with him, and as for any explanations and advice, I address myself especially to him in the believe that your opinions are the same as his. However, now I admire you when you say that you are pained to think that you are of a milder character than becomes members of this family; for that shows that you have a high spirit. I myself would be delighted to do all in my power to help you speak and act in a way worthy of your ancestors. For as those studies which I see now occupy and interest you, you will be in no want of those ready to help both of you; so great is the crowd of such men that I see flocking here from Greece at present. But as regards what you say now troubles you I don't think you could find anyone more efficient than myself to forward your effort and help you."
Before Polybius ceased speaking, Scipio, grasping his right hand in both his own and pressing it warmly, said: "Would I could see the day on which you, regarding nothing else as of higher importance, would devote your attention to me and join your life with mine; for then I shall at once feel myself to be worthy of my house and my forefathers." Polybius was on the one hand very happy to see the enthusiasm and affection of the young man, yet was embarrassed when he reflected on the high position of the family and the weather of its members. However, after this mutual explanation the young man never left his side, and preferred his society to anything else. From that time onwards continuing in the actual conduct of life to give proof to each other of their worth, they came to regard each other with an affection like that of familial love or something like it.
Familial love? No. Boyfriends. Totally boyfriends.
My major pretty much brings the slash to the door, even when it says it doesn't.
Aaaaaand to finish this off, point one: since I am going out to the adult world and looking for jobs in teaching this spring, this winter is my last hurrah for things like hair dye. (I think it's silly that teachers can't dye their hair fun colors, but I see why we're not supposed to do it?) Thus, I put some new streaks in my hair this weekend--gold and blue, to be exact, in just one streak on the left side of my head. When my hair's down, the hair falls together and looks sorta green, which is cool 'cause that's my favorite color. Then, when I pull it back, the blue and gold arranges itself more intro stripes. It's a blue like my college lantern, which makes everything even better.
Point two: I found a new dress at H&M for twenty bucks yesterday, which falls into that category of "things I would never expect to own and wear but which are nevertheless oddly me." This dress is strapless, dark purple with a black lace overly, corseted top, high waist, and roughly knee-length full skirt with black tulle-ish bits underneath. I can actually pair it with a lot of looks, and, well, it's really cute. Really cute. In fact, it's hotter than about anything else that I own, so I'm a bit intimidated by it. I am not supposed to have hot clothes! I am not supposed to be hot, either! I am supposed to be grumping around in jeans, boots, and long-sleeved Shakespeare shirts, amirite?
I'm still wondering how I managed to get it for 20 bucks, though I'm certainly not complaining about that much. Thanks, motherland, for pulling through on occasion.