the Greater Nomadic Council

Movie Poster Mash-Ups

The monkey posted these mixed movies over at Annatopia. I think my favorite one is this one, but it's a pretty hard choice.

Follow Up to Canterbury Rap

Jeff writes a thoughtful response to my preceding post about the Canterbury Tales in rap. I agree with pretty much everything he writes, too. I did, after, all, say in my original post that I find any translations of Chaucer into other forms of English unnecessary. I do take minor exception to this, though:

Likewise, rap is well suited to boasting, brashness, and bawdy humor, but when it aims higher, the results are unintentionallly hilarious.

While I would never dispute that Chaucer's range was far greater than any rap artist (Chaucer, after all, was writing literature, not music; the spoken-word nature of rap too often leads to unfair comparisons with more complex written works), Jeff nevertheless gives rap short shrift. It certainly has its braggarts, but there are numerous rappers speaking well, thoughtfully, and movingly about a staggering array of topics. It also has a long history of socially-aware, soul-baring, and touching lyrics. That said (and unnecessarily so), Chaucer still blows them all away. He was, as Jeff points out, an incredibly learned poet, aware of and interested in just about every major debate in his day, be it scientific, philosophic, poetic, or something else. He spoke many languages, was a well-traveled and respected diplomat, managed important building projects, and had the most powerful man in England after the king as his brother-in-law and close friend. Speaking of building and thoughtfulness, these lines from Troilus and Criseyde seem apt:

For everi wight that hath an hous to founde
Ne renneth naught the werk for to bygynne
With rakel hond, but he wold bide a stounde,
And sende his hertes line out fro withinne
Aldirfirst his purpos for to wynne.

                       (I.1065–69)

For those of you not familiar with Middle English, here's a quick vocabularly list to help you interpret this:

wight: person
rakel: rash, hasty
aldirfirst: last of all

The rest is pretty much like Modern English, just spelled differently. Reading it outloud should dispel any remaining confusion. Enjoy.

Canterbury Rap

Since the site appears to be back up after appearing on Boing Boing, check out these rap versions of the Canterbury Tales. It's pretty good, certainly a more fluent translation of the tales than many of those more scholarly ones in modern English. Of course, anyone who wants to read Chaucer should read the original. It's well worth the rather minimal effort.

A Few Lines from Lucretius

As some of you already know, I love to collect quotes from various authors. I have a program that randomly chooses from among them and appends one to each email I send. In my continuing attempt to provoke discussion, I thought I'd share the latest addition, some lines from Lucretius's De rerum natura:

O genus infelix humanum, talia diuis
cum tribuit facta atque iras adiunxit acerbas!
quantos tum gemitus ipsi sibi, quantaque nobis
uulnera, quas lacrimas peperere minoribu' nostris!

O unhappy tribe of men, when it attributed
such deeds and coupled bitter anger to the gods!
Then, what groans for themselves, what wounds
For us, and what tears for our descendents
Did they bring forth!

That second line is a bit awkward, but I think the sense comes across. Lucretius was not, however, an atheist. He thought the gods just didn't care about humans and that things happen by chance, thus indulging in the rituals and superstitions of religion only makes one unhappy. He goes on to say that true piety is not praying to altars or making sacrifices,

sed mage placata posse omnia mente tueri.

but more to be able to look on all things with a tranquil mind.

I don't think any of this really needs interpreting—Lucretius here speaks for himself—so I don't have anything to say in conclusion. I just thought I'd share and get some more practice translating.

Yes, We Have No Aural Hallucinations

Careful. Your iPod wants you to hallucinate.

Berry, Lennon, and Oh No!

Check out this page discussing a disastrous performance from Chuck Berry with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. There's even video.

(via BoingBoing)

Our Christian Nation

Although the entire Harper's article isn't available online, enough of it is to make the point:

Every other statistic one can cite about American behavior is essentially also a measure of the behavior of professed Christians. That’s what America is: a place saturated in Christian identity.

But is it Christian? This is not a matter of angels dancing on the heads of pins. Christ was pretty specific about what he had in mind for his followers. What if we chose some simple criterion—say, giving aid to the poorest people—as a reasonable proxy for Christian behavior?

While religious hypocrisy is nothing new nor is it something that's hidden in this nation, this article lays it out succinctly. Not only are we a nation or morons, but also a nation of self-righteous hypocrites ignorant of their own religion. While I respect those people who study their particular religious texts, are well-informed about their doctrines and attempt to follow them humbly and sincerely, those sort of people also seem to be in the minority. Instead, most people seem to be slotted into a religion by default and follow the rituals with varying degrees of conscientiousness while neglecting their meaning. And for this, they consider themselves righteous and moral. This a pernicious effect of organized religion—it allows "believers" the delusion of morality without the requisite questioning of their actions and intentions. They thus reduce religion to a fashion statement: those wearing the right label are inherently better than others unable to buy it.

Ancestral Investigation

Via Pharyngula, a nice outline of our evolutionary history. While nobody who is already moderately well-informed about evolution will find it surprising or even that highly detailed, the calculation of ancestral distance combined with the comprehensive timeline (though itself only a sketch) makes the whole thing rather compelling. Plus, there are pictures. As one commenter puts it, the post is reminiscent of the powers of ten.

A Poem By Catullus

Last winter, I attended a lecture about hospitality poems—invitations to drink, eat, and be merry. The lecturer (whose name I forget) briefly traced the history of this sub-genre, beginning with a poem from Catullus, a poem which I reencountered today while studying. It's a funny, charming, and ultimately touching poem, so I thought I'd attempt to translate and share. There are translations available for free online, but since they don't seem any better than what I can do, I want to try my hand at it:

cenabis bene, mi Fabulle, apud me
paucis, si tibi di fauent, diebus,
si tecum attuleris bonam atque magnam
cenam, non sine candida puella
et uino et sale et omnibus cachinnis.
haec si, inquam, attuleris, uenuste noster,
cenabis bene; nam tui Catulli
plenus sacculus est aranearum.
sed contra accipies meros amores
seu quid suauius elegantiusue est:
nam unguentum dabo, quod meae puellae
donarunt Veneres Cupidinesque,
quod tu cum olfacies, deos rogabis,
totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, nasum.

At my home, in a few days, you will,
If the gods favor you, dine well, Fabullus.
But only if you bring a good and great
Feast, not forgetting the lovely girl,
Wine, salt, and laughter. If, I say,
You bring these things, my charming friend,
You will eat well; for your Catullus
Has a purse full of only cobwebs.
But in return you shall receive pure passion
Or a thing sweeter yet and more elegant:
For I will give you perfume which
Venus and Cupid gave my love
And when its scent you smell, you will beseech
The gods to make you nothing, Fabullus, but nose.

There are several things that make this such a successful poem. First, and most obviously, the humor. The tone is light-hearted and the poem itself quite witty. The jokes, furthermore, are better in Latin because of the way Catullus separates the adjectives from the nous that are the punch-line. For example, the first joke, that Fabullus must supply the meal, gains force from the fact that meal (cenam) is enjambed; we expect Catullus to suggest that Fabullus bring something standard like wine. Next, the line "plenus sacculus est areanarum" reads literally, "full little purse is of cobwebs." Placing "plenus" at the beginning of the line increases the tension by letting us know that his purse is full of something far earlier than we know that it is full "of cobwebs" (areanarum). Likewise, the last line separates "totum" (all) from "nasum" (nose) while adding yet another delay through the addition of Fabullus's name right before the last word. I tried to capture this, but the best you can do in English is to hold the joke to the end of the line or enjamb it. You can't make the reader's expectation come so much earlier than the payoff. Another aspect of this poem that I particularly enjoy is the turn in the last four lines. Catullus moves from joking about poverty and the expectations of hospitality to offering his guest something far greater, a present from the gods of love that, while divine, will overwhelm Fabullus's senses, a mixing of the sensual and the spiritual that mirrors the satisfying communion found in a meal with friends.

Tasty Johnny?

You cannot be serious.

You be the Judge

I guess my mind was wandering a little this afternoon. We're going to find out who the President's Supreme Court nominee will be in a couple hours, and for some reason I started thinking about Chief Justice Rehnquist and the funny golden stripes on his robe. He first started wearing them during President Clinton's impeachment trial in the Senate (and later donated his original robe to the Smithsonian, presumably for a handsome tax deduction), and now wears them full-time.

Anyway, I did a little search for judges' robes and came up with this interesting site. I didn't read most of the text, so I can't vouch for the information, but there are some fascinating images of judges from around the world. Here is a pic of a Ugandan Judge:

Like the author of the site points out, "nothing screams 'legacy of colonialism' quite like a black guy in a white wig."

Rubber Johnny

Check out this strange video. It's a bit long, but fascinating. I can see it being played at a (particularly demented) rave.

Life is Hell

I think Matt Groening's "Life is Hell" series of comics had a profound effect on me. I bought a box set of those comics when I was fairly young that contained "Work is Hell," "School is Hell," "Love is Hell," and I think one other that I can't remember. Today, browsing around the blogs, I see that John Bruce discovered Groening's early work recently and linked to this cartoon about grad school. Obviously, I didn't heed the warnings, but thankfully, my experience to date has not matched the poor schmuck's in the cartoon. Fear not, though; doubtless, my enthusiasm and optimism will eventually be crushed. That, after all, is the inevitable result of grad school, right?

Manuscript DNA

Via Jeff at Quid nomen illius?, I found this project proposal from an imaginative medievalist. He proposes to extract DNA from ancient manuscripts in order to find previously unknown relationships between works. What a wonderful interdisciplinary idea. I hope it works.

The Death of Dumbledore

No, I'm not a Harry Potter fanatic. This selection of Dumbledore death scenes in the style of various authors is quite fun, though. I particularly like the Chaucer, T.S. Eliot, and Zork versions.

(via BoingBoing [where else?])

World Series of Poker

Slate is running one man's experience in the WSOP. There are three articles already, so check it out. Should be interesting.

Why Not Kill the Professors?

Compare this mindless hatefulness and anti-intellectualism with this long and thoughtful post defending literary theory by a professor. Note: I'm not asking you to compare the substance of the posts—that would be patently unfair—but the mental and emotional stances that inform them. The former is the product of close-mindedness, laziness, and hate, an unwillingness even to attempt to understand different ideas or people; the latter, curiosity, hard work, and a desire to teach. Neither sets of qualities are exclusive to the left or the right of the political spectrum, but it certainly seems sometimes like the unfavorable ones are more likely to be found expressed by someone like an NRO writer and the favorable ones by those evil professors. My motivation for this post, however, was not to compare the worst characteristics of one group to the best of another (or even of two individuals). Instead, you should just read the second link, a detailed discussion of literary theory focusing on Deconstruction by Michael Bérubé. Ignore my rant.

Pictures from Japan

As I alluded to in a previous post, sleepnotwork is in Japan at the moment. He's taking pictures to make us envious, though. He claims he'll be updating with more photos as his trip progresses, so check it out. I hate you, snw.

Growing Meat

No, this doesn't have anything to do with porn, you sicko(s).* Scientists are working on ways to grow meat in vats:

In a paper in the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, a team of scientists, including University of Maryland doctoral student Jason Matheny, propose two new techniques of tissue engineering that may one day lead to affordable production of in vitro - lab grown -- meat for human consumption. It is the first peer-reviewed discussion of the prospects for industrial production of cultured meat.

"There would be a lot of benefits from cultured meat," says Matheny, who studies agricultural economics and public health. "For one thing, you could control the nutrients. For example, most meats are high in the fatty acid Omega 6, which can cause high cholesterol and other health problems. With in vitro meat, you could replace that with Omega 3, which is a healthy fat.

"Cultured meat could also reduce the pollution that results from raising livestock, and you wouldn't need the drugs that are used on animals raised for meat."

I wonder what effect this, provided it caught on, would have on vegetarianism. It seems like the ability to produce chicken nuggets and beef patties without killing any animals would eventually negate the reasons for vegetarianism (other than self-righteousness, of course).

*Assuming we have more than one reader.

Existential Query

How many blog posts can one make apologizing for not posting regularly before a blog ceases to exist? That is, do apologetic posts count as content or are they some sort of ultimately empty meta-post? That aside, we nomads have had good reason not to post lately. One of us broke a collarbone and defended a dissertation; another left for Japan; another is studying for the bar exam. Myself, I'm learning Latin and getting my summer reading done, but that hardly takes so much time that I could not post regularly. There is another culprit: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I must admit, my spare time the last week or so has been consumed by a simulated gansta-life. If any of you are Vice City fans, I highly recommend San Andreas. While there are still some stability issues on the PC (I hope Rockstar is working on a patch), you can tweak the game with help from forums so that it can run for at least a few hours before crashing, plenty to make the game enjoyably addictive. This game provides a sense of scale that was lacking in Vice City; Los Santos feels like a big city, not a computer version of one. You can drive for long stretches on the freeways; the exit signs are accurate. Also, there are many small goals other than mission completion. Your skill with each weapon can be raised, ultimately permitting you to carry two machine pistols, for example. You can increase your stamina and muscles. You can get fat or burn fat, etc. Great game. I'm already to the point where I can't let myself play it until I've got everything done for the day that I need to or those things just won't get done. Since blogging is optional... well... I'll try to do better.