You could say that it 'turn down for WHAT'! Don't you just love this stuff! And how dare it suggest that pop whore, C.S Lewis, is a philosopher.
Amoung other things I read the future, mainly my own. The methods by which I do that include dream divination and tarot. I have read my own future for perhaps the thousandth time, and the clarity is always the same. That which I most desire in life will not be had. Love simply is not for me in this lifetime. And yes my life to date thoroughly reflects this. Lust I can have, borrow people for a short time I may. But there is no real regard for me as a person in any of it. So why then does it bother me so much? Why can't I just settle into that knowledge, accept it for what it is and turn my mind to other things. Why must I endlessly seek that which will not come and why must I endlessly ask the question....why not? If here was one thing I could buy, it would be my acceptance of this fact. Peace in my mind at last.
Any Australians: how do you feel about Hawthorn smashing Sydney in the GF? I'm a Richmond supporter, but man, I was glad to see Sydney go down like that. Not that I hate Sydney. I just don't particularly like them.
@Lemex, Eric Johnson has been a virtuoso's virtuoso for decades now, and he is famously obsessed with tone. The thing I appreciate about him is that, compared to other high-end fretboard gymnasts (I'm looking at you, Steve Vai), he has good taste! I used to try to play that kind of music - blindingly fast, complex, difficult music - but I eventually realized that it took so much practice that I'd have to choose between a) guitar, and b) everything else in life. I dropped out of the technical battle.
Have to figure out how to describe an attractive woman who my bisexual female perspective character is in a relationship with without sounding corny or immature.
Random question folks: was it ever explained in the books or the movies how Sauron came to being? I get that he wore the One Ring to Rule Them All, but was he a mortal who turned corrupted or was he some dark demonic entity that took a shape?
I confess that I never read that book (I have it though. At least I think I do, it's The Silmarillion.) Interesting, though. I never thought he was a demi-God. Would explain everything.
His Dark Lord magic power could shoot them out of the sky. Better to have an epic journey where Frodo and Sam potter around for a bit talking about mushrooms, before doing anything interesting. Seriously, is that the whole of the second part of Two Towers? Yes, that eagle thing is a well-known plot-hole, but I think it can be filled - I've just not heard a totally convincing explanation yet. I must admit, I have a fondness for Lord of the Rings, though in every way I think The Hobbit is better.
@Link the Writer , Sauron was a demi-God, he was a servant of Morgoth (a bad guy even worse than Sauron). When good gods and elves defeated Morgoth, Sauron managed to escape with some trickery if I remember correctly. This might be interesting: eagles are sort-of demi-gods, and the five wizards actually are demi-gods However, they weren't allowed to use their power, their task was to guide people to walk the right path. That is also the reason why eagles don't help. They are not allowed to. When great eagle Gwaihir saves Gandalf from Orthanc, he actually says to him, that he cannot carry him. Gandalf was pretty lucky, Gwaihir came only as a messenger from Radagast, but when he saw Gandalf in trouble he saved him. But he carried him only to Rohan, no further.
Well, after racking my brain for about a week, I have boiled a few potential PhD proposals down to three ideas, as titles: The Poetic North – an examination of the impact of ancient north European poetry for the modern world. (with the one above I could also argue for more focus on north European poetry, especially Nordic poetry, in schools, so I can bring Pedagogy to the table). Epic Heroes – an examination of the appropriation of epic poetry in modern culture. The Dark Frost - an examination of the philosophy informing the poetry of Robert Frost. Now which one to pick?
I laughed when I first read this, but honestly though, that's not bad. It could make a very interesting psychology paper. To be honest, I'd be shocked if someone hasn't done it already.
Just off the top of my head, here....Without knowing more, I'd say the one that appeals to me the most is the second one. I think it's got more direction. How do epic heroes affect modern culture? (Or maybe modern literature and film?) Heck, we see that influence everywhere, don't we? Might be fun to take that in a direction or two. The Poetic North appeals to me personally, but has it really had an impact beyond itself? If you think it has, that would be my second choice. The philosophy of Robert Frost choice is something that sounds interesting, but I'd be concerned this might already have been done to death in certain circles. Maybe not—but he's a very popular poet to study on the other side of the Pond. I'd research that one a bit, before embarking on it. Unless you've got something extremely personal and unique to say about it. It's a good topic, but it might not be a unique choice.
It is, the first thing I thought of was how both The Iliad and Beowulf have seen popular film adaptations within the last ten years, one was a huge, Bruckheimer piece staring Brad Pitt as Achilles. But I think, in a way, we could say characters like Aragorn is a sort of Siegfried from the German forest myths, so the characters have changed, but the heroic ideal is still strong in our cultural imagination. I could even use Orestes as a sort of precursor to the anti-hero. With enough research I'm sure some interesting facts could be discovered that could lead me to argue that classics such as Homer are still very important in modern society. I'd like to think so. To be honest, it's my first choice because it directly relates to more recent English literature - I could argue that with stuff like Heaney's Beowulf and Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - and even the publication of Tolkien's Beowulf (which still surprises the hell out of me) that there is beginning to be a cultural re-evaluation of these poems from The North. The Icelandic Sagas are starting to be translated into increasingly popular editions (you might have seen that beautiful translation of the sagas in Waterstones with the sort of frayed page-ends?) and Heaney in his original poetry making numerous references to the entire Northern tradition that has been largely ignored for so long - too long. Also, I was in Waterstones on Monday and saw a new translation of The Canterbury Tales on the shelves, and a Norton Critical edition of the middle English original. The Edda and Beowulf are receiving more and more attention these days, and I am praying that this is not just down to the films of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. And also Skyrim seems to have helped, but I hope that it is not just a fad. I could recommend a way of teaching this to school children too - make use of my knowledge of pedagogical theory - and say that a day in a replica Anglo-Saxon mead hall would serve to make that 'world' more real, and thus when they go on to read these poems in class it becomes much easier to relate to the texts. You are right, because the way PhDs are going they need to be increasingly salable. You can't do something that just interests you anymore, it needs to have a cultural importance. The biggest problem here is that it's hard to call which way the focus is shifting. It could be that what we are seeing now in society is an unstructured quagmire of too many different flavors to pinpoint any new bedrock for it. Yeah, you are right. That is a bad one.
Well, choice one and choice two could almost be combined, couldn't they? Maybe start right now. Every time you see an instance of anything that could be tied to northern heroes or poetry, take a note of it. Even modern politicians and their followers? Do popular politicians of the day have anything in common with nordic heroes? What about modern day 'monsters.' In other words, these sagas meant something to the people who created them. And they didn't create inside a vacuum. They were dealing with the real world. While technology, science, etc, has changed ...has human nature changed? Do we still look for the same kinds of goals, crave the same kinds of comforts, and look for the same kinds of people to give these things to us? Interesting. Maybe don't go the obvious route here with movies, etc ...the Tolkien heroes are clearly derived from Norse mythology and legend. (Tolkien was a big fan.) Maybe push into the subconscious of real life. And maybe also the difference between a northern European outlook and, say, that of Africa, China, Native American, or any other culture that has developed independently? All ideas to play with.
... damn, that's genius! I was just thinking as I wrote my last post, almost wrote it too, that I feel between two worlds. The Greek-Roman tradition I have very much in the back of my mind all the time, but now I also have this new world of the Nordic, warrior poets that is also becoming ever present. And also, I live on the North Sea, so it's easy for me to feel these poems as if they are alive. Maybe those two worlds do actually have many the same questions to ask? Maybe the same. Both worlds were polytheistic, both had their monsters (Dragons for the Nords, Cyclopes for the Greeks and Romans), both had their values of Heroism. What are the common themes? What is the common soul? With three years research I could try to find out that there are objective, eternal problems all human societies face? Mind = blown. I need to come up with a title now, and get started on this proposal over the weekend! Thank you. I really mean that. Edit: This is now the working title: Pagan Poetry – an examination of the common themes between the epic poetry of the Mediterranean and the epic poetry of the North Atlantic, and their appropriation by modern culture.
