A Day Late, But What the Hey!

I've been traveling all day, all day yesterday, and didn't have Internet access all break, so truly this is my first chance since Thursday since I've had to blog. If my grade gets docked because of missing, oh well! At least I know that I blogged as soon as I could, I guess.

Dante's Inferno is beyond weird. One thing that I remember about it (it's been a long/short break) was the bloodthirsty were forced to stand in a river of blood, guarded by centaurs, and the more people you've killed, the deeper you were in blood.... *shiver*

I am so happy we get to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail in class. I remember the first time I watched that movie (I think it was 7th or 8th grade) and I DID NOT get the humor of it. I thought it was absolutely dumb. But since then I've watched it another 278 times (kidding) and it's still absolutely hilarious. I was surprised how many people in our class have seen it before! And for the ones who had never seen it before, I could tell some of them thought it was absolutely dull and stupid. I think for a movie like that, it takes a couple times of watching it to really "appreciate" it. My favorite part is probably either the very beginning with the swallow and coconut argument, or the Knights Who Say 'Ni!'.....
 
I'm just glad we had the opportunity to see it, and I hope we finish it up on Tuesday. That's the other thing. I can't believe how quickly this semester went by!  .....

Dante's Inferno

I think out of all the books on our list for this semester, this was the one I was most excited to read. I've heard a lot about it, have been told that it should be on my "must read" list, and have since been interested in reading it. So far, the circles of Hell remind me of Tartarus, the Hell of Greek mythology (I'm impressed I remember this stuff from 7th grade!!) The punishments in Tartarus included someone who had to eternally push a boulder up the side of a mountain, and another who was standing in the middle of a lake, throat burning with thirst, but every time he would try to drink the water it would evaporate.

It would suck to be cast into Hell and eternally tortured by the sin that you committed during your life. The two examples we talked about were the lustful lovers being so close to being reunited until they were swept away from each other by a storm, and also the gluttonous having to live in their own filth, with constantly crappy weather (literally).

Kinda makes class depressed since all we talk about now is eternal damnation.... Ah well!

Romanesque Feudalism

I'm usually not really interested in architecture, but when it's from hundreds and thousands of years ago, it's a bit easier to catch my attention. I thought it was really cool how the churches back then, though they weren't too appealing to the eye, actually doubled as fortresses. Also, the symbolism tied into Romanesque architecture is very intricate. With portrayals of Hell and suffering, the path to salvation, and everything in between. I thought it was pretty cool how they would design the churches to look like a cross if you viewed it from above, too. As for all the different relics that the churches possessed, I don't really see the point in them. It honestly reminded of Pokemon cards or something... Who has the rarest one? Yes, I was a geek as a child, but that's not the point. Who cares if someone has the leg bone of Mary Magdalene? We're not supposed to worship HER, we're supposed to worship God, aren't we? And yes, she was an important character in the Bible, but it's just kinda creepy to keep her bone as a souvenir.... Tell me now if you think I'm wrong.

Song of Roland

It's cool seeing how many parallels are drawn between this book and Christianity, for example,  when we talked about how Roland refuses 3 times to blow the horn and call the other soldiers back into the pass so they won't die. This is written to resemble how in the New Testament Peter denies Christ three times. Also, there's Charlemagne's 12 men, and the 12 Saracens that are specially selected and all die in the order they were chosen in the first place. Then there was also where Charlemagne hangs 30 innocent people, which is symbolism for when Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, then tries to give it back, and ends up going out and hanging himself.....

We also brought to attention the comparison of Roland to Achilles. They both are considered the heroes of their story, but at the same time have that tragic flaw that just screws everything up for them. For Achilles, it was his anger, and for Roland, it was his pride.

Song of Roland

Just a quick entry for right now... Still need to read the next part of Song of Roland for Tuesday, but it has my interest. In class we talked about how many different symbols for Christianity were included in the Song of Roland. One of the examples that I remembered was how the numbers 3 and 12 seem to show up a lot (Charlemagne's 12), and also how the the Christians would die a heroic death and be delivered straight to heaven while the Saracens would die brutally and be dragged off to Hell by demons.

While reading our next portion of the book for Tuesday we were advised to pay attention to how each person died, so I will look forward to doing that and adding more to my blog once I have something new to write about.

Until then.

Midterms Returned and Other Stuff

I'm very satisfied with my grade on my midterms!! I just wish I had done better on my essay about the internal conflict of the Iliad (which is weird because I thought I would do best on that one). Perhaps I strayed too far from the subject by talking too much about Hector and his family, but oh well! I was just pleased that I put a full page response for each question and got an A on it ;)

Now we've started talking a lot about Christianity and God, which I personally think is cool since I'm a believer. I've never really studied how Christianity developed in Rome, so it's really fascinating. I do recall a friend telling me about a series of books she was reading called the "Mark of Lion" series, and I believe they take place in Rome and of course have something to do with Christians being thrown into the pits to be mauled by lions and such, like we talked about in class. I'm interested to learn more!

P.S. Thank goodness we're not being penalized by not blogging over break! And I love the fact that every now and then we cancel class to enjoy the nice weather :) but, of course it only gives me an extra half hour or so before I go to work... It's still nice though!

Overdue?

Ok, so I really have no excuse to be this late on my post. Truth is, I spent all Saturday out of town and didn't even think twice about my blog. And now I'm a couple days late in catching up. But even if I had remembered to post, I wouldn't have had anything to talk about... So yeah.... I don't know. I can't remember how much this is going to screw up my grade, but I hope it's not too much, since the reason I missed was simply because I was not in the mindset of school. We'll see, I guess.

Class is today. I think we might get our midterms back. I hope I at least did alright on those.... :/

Midterm Break

Midterms went better than I thought they would! Luckily the three essay questions on the test were the ones that I were best prepared to answer, so I had little trouble writing a whole page for all of them.... I just hope I did alright.... I guess I'll find out! I think the question about whether the Iliad was more about internal or external conflict was the easiest. There was so much internal conflict!! And we only read a few books from it, too! I can't imagine how much more we would have encountered if we had read the whole thing...

Due to boredom and complete lack of exciting happenings during the next 10 or so days, I think I'll start reading Song of Roland or Dante's Inferno just to get ahead... Hey, I thought it was a good idea!

Yeah, not really much to talk about since I don't know how I did on my midterms.... Maybe I'll post in a couple days once I've read something.... Yeah, sounds good.

Midterms....

Yeah, I should probably start studying for our midterm.... The problem is, I just feel lost and confused, but it's mostly my fault.... I missed class last Thursday and this Tuesday because I was sick, and the day I'm finally ready to get back to class..... he doesn't show up... haha it was ok by me at the time because I still felt like crap and wanted to go take more Nyquil and sleep again, but I'm still kind of worried because I've missed too many classes to my liking..... Ah well, I guess I'll study with a few good friends of mine that have been faithfully attending class and try again next week.

Ha, I'm looking at the study guide for the midterm... The question that asks which Socrates you would rather have a conversation with cracks me up. Umm let me see.... NEITHER. ;)

More later

Clouds

I will never forget Tuesday, February 15, 2011. Ok, maybe I will someday, but not for a while. That was just plain awesome. Just for kicks, I'll put the sequence of events in a play format.

[A beautiful, fair weathered day in mid February. Clear blue skies, mild temperatures.]
[A college classroom. One by one students enter and take their seats, chatting with their neighbor, all have brought their play "Clouds" by Aristophanes.]
*Enter the professor, Dr. Tucker.*
Tucker: Hello, class!
Class: Hi, hello, etc.
Tucker: OK! Describe to me what the young men in the thinkatorium looked like.
Class: ...
Student: Uhh, weaklings, kinda scrawny?
Tucker: Yes, yes. Very scrawny, and verrry pale. Why is that? Because they spend all day inside studying with their noses in books and aren't outside enjoying the 60 degree weather while we have it. Class is cancelled! Go and do something outside!
Class: What?! Sweet!!
*Exit students*
FIN

That's pretty much how it went! I went on a lovely, but short walk with my suitemate (also in Humanities with me) and my room mate. It was only a short one because, sadly, I had to go to work. But I was pretty happy to be outside for a bit nevertheless! Aaaand then I got sick on Thursday and didn't make it to class.... Bummer.

But anyway.... Clouds was ridiculous to say the least! Pheidippides kind of annoyed me.... It's funny how at first he was obsessed with horse racing, but then after he went to the school, he was all about sophistry and reasoning.... It was easy to read, but I didn't enjoy it all that much.

Yep, that's my blog for today. I'm off to Rapid for the weekend.

Posting 25 Minutes Late....

Hey I was supposed to post on Friday, but as of 25 minutes ago, it's Saturday, so TECHNICALLY I'm late.... I hope it won't be counted against me, though :\ .... My Fridays are so hectic and busy these days anyways. This is my first chance to post...

So anyways, reading Clouds is definitely an interesting experience. I can't say that I'm impressed by the humor used in it, because I don't find it amusing. You can be funny without all the curse words, sexual innuendos and farting jokes. It's like today's "humor", only it was created a couple thousand years ago.

Well, I'm off to bed. I'll post more later today when I'm in a better mood and not about to collapse on my laptop in a puddle of drool. Good night!

Socrates

Our class discussion on Socrates and his trial and death were.... interesting. In my opinion, Socrates sounded like that nerdy guy in high school who would start up a conversation just so he could turn it into a heated debate to prove how "brilliant" he was.... Basically he existed just to bug the crap out of everyone. Sure, he may have been super intelligent, but with all that knowledge in his head, he lacked the sense to keep his mouth shut....... Yeah. I don't know a whole lot about Socrates, but that's the kind of guy that I was immediately reminded of.

Our discussion on Greek Theatre and how Aristotle's views and ideas on theatre are still used to this day were fascinating too. And no, after playing video games, I do NOT feel like going outside and sniping someone in the head.... Though I could see an alteration in behavior if a person were to play video games nonstop and completely sever their ties with the "real world"... Maybe... Sounds like my little brother, anyways!

Looking forward to class on Tuesday!! :)

The End of the Iliad

Yes, so it seems we are already through with the Iliad. Our last reading assignment for it was to read books 18, 22, and 24 for class on Tuesday. I almost wish we had gone through the whole book instead of skipping to do just the important parts. I like to get the full story and the full effect of books when I read them, but I understand that there's simply not that much time to cover everything in class.

When reading the description about Achilles' shield, I was surprised by how much detail and meaning was engraved in it. So many opposites, portraying both sides of the story...

Also, I was intrigued by the ending of the story where Achilles' heart is beginning to change for the better, funny enough, because of the very man he had just killed and drug around behind a chariot all day. But, after reading so much about a man that was so worthy to be hated and looked down upon, it was nice to see that there is hope for such a person in the future. At last I see a visible similarity between Achilles and Hector.

Hector or Achilles

Even though we talked about the differences between Achilles and Hector all the way back on Tuesday, I still would like to mention some things about these two men. It was clear that the narrator was all for Hector, simply because he portrayed him in a way better light than Achilles. If I were to choose the side of a man who is ready to die for his country and his family, or a man who's only gain from the war is possessions and when things don't go his way, cries to his mother... Well, It's not too hard of a decision who I would be more loyal to.

It's been years since I've read large bits of the Odyssey in my English class, but luckily I can remember the gods and goddesses and keep them all straight in my head! The Iliad is a very interesting read so far.