Geven a tsayt

[sovay]

One of the flat-out coolest people in the western hemisphere.

This weekend was, in several respects, the interstitial aim of my life. There was Classics, there were books, there was music, there was storytelling, and there was exceedingly good conversation. (There was also intermittent snow, which nonetheless took its job very seriously and made walking conditions somewhat more arctic than they had been earlier in the evening.) Who could ask for anything more? Friday through Sunday morning, I was in Boston for the annual APA (American Philological Association) meeting, otherwise known as January 6—9: Classicists Take Over the Sheraton Boston; also bits of the Hilton Boston Back Bay and Hynes Convention Center, for good measure. I must confess my slight disappointment that nowhere in this four-day takeover was there a phalanx charge; but there was extensive exploration of the (alas, now-dwindling) bookstores of Harvard Square, and that will more than make up for most things.

Probably the sessions on "Nocturnal Greece and Rome," "Using Linguistic Evidence to Enrich the Teaching of Classical Languages and Cultures," and "Troy, the Movie" were my favorites. I had opportunity to talk with friends and professors whom I hadn't seen since I left Brandeis, and to observe the orbital conversation that is Greg Nagy in action. I missed the stage reading of Plautus' Persa—here presented as Iran Man—but did make it to the Vergilian Society and Yale University receptions, and nobody had warned me there'd be the academic equivalent of a dealer's room on the second floor. Between that and the Harvard Square ventures, I'm amazed I can still pay my rent this month.

And Greer Gilman's apartment was fathered by a library out of a used book store, with chairs from the comfortable underworld. Squee.

A very good weekend.

Comments

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

"Nocturnal Greece and Rome" sounds really intriguing.

Dare I ask what the conclusions of "Troy, the Movie" were? (Now I'm picturing a, "'Troy, the Movie', the Movie", and so on. Sort of like a painting within a painting within a painting...)

[sovay]

"Nocturnal Greece and Rome" was terrific. Among other things, it featured a paper (by Peter Mazur, Yale grad student) about Hermes and Apate—Deception—as the tricky, ambiguous children of Night, and who could fail to love that?

(Are my obsessions showing?)

I had to run out three-quarters of the way through the session on Troy and only returned for the last round of applause, so I can't vouch for the conclusions, but I think some of them might have been "Hollywood blockbuster formula: Homeric epic: do not play well with one another" and "Peter Jackson, where are you?" (Other conclusions could well have been "Don't watch this movie. Please. Please . . . We told you so.") Of all the sessions I attended, it was definitely the most entertaining. Nick's talk on "Writing Troy" included excerpts from the glorious "Troy in Fifteen Minutes" and deleted scenes from earlier drafts of David Benioff's screenplay. Other panelists offered clips from Troy and other classical movies, such as the 1956 Helen of Troy and the staggeringly bad TV adaptation of the Odyssey that had me wanting to apologize personally to the epic tradition after about thirty seconds of viewing. Also much intelligent and interesting criticism, which made up for all the brain damage incurred by the film clips.

[nuqotw.livejournal.com]

What the heck is the origin of this "squee" thing? You have never, in my memory, squeed in person or in any other form of communication. But it's a good noise, so squee away, I suppose.

[sovay]

. . . It's a sort of running joke. (I have no idea what the actual origin of "SQUEE!" is. I imagine onomatopoeia. I am now attempting to introduce the postmodernist, deadpan squee, but I think it's probably doomed from the start.) If I do squee in real life, feel free to locate a suitably heavy book and try to dent it out of me.

[nuqotw.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to say. Squee, I guess.

[weirdquark]

You were part of the Classicist take over? One of our housemates (Ada -- who is called Thrud on LJ) was there reading a paper. (I'm one of gaudior's housemates by the way.)

If you wanted a phalanx charge you should have talked to Ada. She's usually up for arranging such things. Perhaps at the next meeting?

[sovay]

Anybody wants to organize a phalanx charge in Montreal, I'm all for it.