Thursday, March 29, 2007

The Purimspieler

One of the advantage of a shorter winter work week and setting your own hours is that you can go to events during the day you might otherwise miss. So today I went to the JCC to see the Purimspieler, a 'classic Yiddish film'. The room was full of elderly Russians, and the presenter was speaking in Russian. I was pleased to note that my Russian aural comprehension, although spotty, had not vanished entirely. The film itself was in Yiddish with English subtitles. My rudimentary German allowed me to understand portions of the original dialogue.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Borderlands and Amazons

I finally made it to Borderlands, the science fiction and fantasy store on Valencia. As usual, it is invisible while walking down from 18th, although that seems appropriate for a bookstore of its kind. Ripley, the hairless Abyssinian, the confluence of tradition and practicality in bookstore animals, was at home, and I decided not to buy a post card of that peculiar cat. I bought a copy of Naomi Kritzer's third book in her trilogy. I had been meaning to buy Freedom's Sisters since June, since I had promised I would. My biggest thrill is that Kritzer makes Alexander imprison Zeus (if any mortal would, Alexander would).

I've been reading a book on the history of the state of Israel. It's very complicated.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Yale, Yale, Yale

I don't think I'll do this on a regular basis, but I'll forget the details if I don't post now. I'll just have to post the investigation into Trinidadian Benedictine identity theft. After a day in the quiet confines of the Mechanics Institute Library, where I finished reading the Canaanite mythological corpus so that I could return the book on Wednesday, I mounted the hill to the University Club via Powell. I was temporarily is blocked by the incessant crimson of the cable cars. Then I arrived at the University Club, where there was to be a Yale group singing - without a brawl. It turns out that one of the female members of Red, Hot, and Blue, was the friend of Andrew, who is a fellow CSB alum. The only girl in jeans there was a friend of Andrew's friend; she had gone to a familiar local school on the other side of the bay.

The 300

I finally saw the 300. I loved it. It was what a movie about a glorious last stand should feel like. I can forgive the abundant free license in the source material (courtesy of Frank Miller) if it encourages the appropriate katharsis. The one thing, however, which does worry me, is the vivd racial distinction in the film. Since the graphic novel from which the images were taken was intended to invoke the black, white, and red of Greek pottery, in that format it is logical. The portrayal of Xerxes as the big black menace, howver, is more provocative in a movie than a graphic novel.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Palace of Legion of Honor

Today I went to the Palace of the Legion of Honor. I don't like the cabbageware in the ceramics room; I prefer two-tone patterns when I think about such things at all. The multicolored ones offend me greatly. I also visited the dark little room next to the cafeteria, in which There was an exhibit of paintings inspired by a rambling country preacher. The jewelry exhibit was what I was there for, but Art Deco still does nothing for me. The necklace of Mumtaz which Elizabeth Taylor recieved from Richard Burton interested me more for its historical value than than its entertainment value (unless I'm watching Blue Velvet, I don't give a fig for Elizabeth Taylor). A jewel associated with the Taj Mahal, on the other hand, is fascinating.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Great Caesar's Ghost

In honor of Caesar's demise, I have decided to blog on the chthonic spirits of the Roman people. Ghosts and ancestors are universal and particular; no culture lacks tales of the dead and undeed, and yet each culture provides its own perspective. In the Romans' case, the line between ancestors and divinities was ambiguous. The 'lares', of which so many who have studied Rome have heard, were domestic guardian spirits (a word, incidentally, which encapsulates perfectly the aforementioned ambiguity). The 'manes' were the ancestors of the household paterfamilias.

The spirits of which I wish to write, however, are the less benign variety. As is common in Roman religion, these malicious forces were mentioned in the plural. Today most would associate the word 'lemur' with wide-eyed Malagasy mammals, but the (white) naturalist who discovered them named these strange and fascinating animals 'lemurs' after 'lemures', the spirits whom the Romans propitiated during the holy days of the Parentalia (in Latin, 'parentes' means 'relative' rather than 'mother and/or father'). The innate cuteness of the mammal has dissipated much of the dread and deathliness the Roman would attach to the name, but the other designation of the Parentalia threats retains a visceral and mortiferous response for the English-speaker: 'larvae'.

In short, there is no single word for 'ghost' in Latin, and yet referring to 'a ghost' in the singular is contrary to Roman usage. If Caesar wishes to haunt the classicists of today, he will have choose a companion!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Aeneas and Dido

In consideration of the sad ignorance of many of my friends of the glorious language of Cicero and Caesar, I have established a separate blog into which my attempts at recreating that noble tongue shall reside.

I went down to the JCL (Jewish Community Library) yesterday and discovered that it was hidden, oh so cleverly on the second floor of a high school. Although I had come there originally in search of a Hebrew primer and a Harry Kemelman mystery, I rejoiced upon discovering a collection of the four extant Ugaritic myths. I love mythology, I devour it, but this was the first time I had found a volume of these myths unencumbered by apparatus critici, or too precious to read at leisure. I also checked out Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Christianus ad Purim

Die Iesu Xpi dno nro post in templo Divi Didaci a nostra presbytera alteram partem sermocinii de persona et umbra secundum Iuuenum doctorem mentis audissem, post in domo meae matris eius canem salutassem et pianoforte lusissem, tunc ad Centrum Civitanum Iudaeicum Franciscopolitanum et ad dies festivales nomine Purim celebrandos et spectaculum eorundem Purim spectandum iter feci, ubi matri obuiam iui. Multae hamantasae comesae sunt. Puella partem Esther actura pulchra corpore secundum suum genus in atrio Centri matri de sua imagine capta photographice querabatur. Hoc anno ista aula ubi omnes more maiorum spectaculum Purim spectent sedibus eleuatis egit.