Fall 2013 Season

[hanbran]

Well, my last app was due yesterday, so I thought that I'd start this, so that I have something to do while I wait.  I'm not sure how many classicists regularly come to this board, but, if you're there, talk to me about Cicero and stuff.

[videro]

Yeah, let's talk about something that isn't 'OMG IM NERVOUS' ....which is the thought that greets me when I wake up every morning. Have you discovered this?

 

http://whatshouldwecallmeclassics.tumblr.com/

[hanbran]

No, that's pretty entertaining.  But hexameter is super difficult to grasp.  Sometimes you have a dactyl, but sometimes you don't!  This is good for a laugh too:  http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/Arkhilokhos/arkhilokhos.htm

[hanbran]

Also this:  http://waywardclassics.blogspot.com/2010/01/latin-tattoos.html

[videro]

Actually, if I get into graduate school, I'm seriously considering getting a Greek tattoo and dying my hair. I'd only dye my hair for the Spring, but the tattoo would sort of remain as a memento for my new life.

[Fockatar]

No, that's pretty entertaining.  But hexameter is super difficult to grasp.  Sometimes you have a dactyl, but sometimes you don't!  This is good for a laugh too:  http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/Arkhilokhos/arkhilokhos.htm

I...ugh...don't even know where to start with the Daitz stuff, which is hilarious because he's so militant in his stance, he must betone deaf or something.

Yeah, let's talk about something that isn't 'OMG IM NERVOUS' ....which is the thought that greets me when I wake up every morning. Have you discovered this?

 

http://whatshouldwecallmeclassics.tumblr.com/

Some of these almost killed me, laughter is a potent medicine.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Fockatar

[hanbran]

Actually, if I get into graduate school, I'm seriously considering getting a Greek tattoo and dying my hair. I'd only dye my hair for the Spring, but the tattoo would sort of remain as a memento for my new life.

I understand the tattoo, but not the hair dye.  Why the hair dye?

[videro]

You'd have to know me for it to make perfect sense. I'm very neat-looking. I don't think I've been seen in public without a collared shirt since high school, and part of me was definitely motivated by a sense that I had to impress professors to earn their respect. I've come to realize how ridiculous that is/was, so I'd like to see how the other half lives: messy, dyed hair, shave once a week, wear v-necks and flip-flops to class.

 

If anything, it'll be good prep for Berkeley, which is one of my top choices, although I'm worried about their funding system.

[videro]

I've always wanted to start a Youtube channel where I read Homer/Virgil aloud, just so that when people search 'what does Homeric Greek sound like' they have an option besides Daitz. I tend to imagine one of the frogs from the Baktrakomuomachia is performing whenever I hear him.

[hanbran]

The grad students at my MA program are super informal, even the PhD students.  Only two regularly wear formal clothing, and even most of the TAs wear jeans and non-collared shirts.  I have a professor who went to Berkeley, and he's had a pony-tail since graduate school (I think he graduated in the 70s).

[Fockatar]

To be fair, did anybody know what was going on in the 60s and 70s?

I'm all for semi-formal dressing to be honest, but them I'm also used to wearing academic robes. I've never really cared what other people wear either, as long as you're comfortable. And not wearing something offensive, obviously.

Yes, any alternatives to Daitz are appreciated, I mean its not hard to avoid anglophonicism and use pitch without sounding like a maniac, but then I grew up multilingual, speak (modern) Greek etc. Oddly, I'm not good at accents within English, I've been trying to do an American accent for ages and just can't shake my British one....

[hanbran]

I've heard some good Sappho readings, accompanied by music, but I can't seem to find them at the moment.

What sort of American accent are you trying to emulate?  Perhaps you simply need to go for something more distinctly colloquial, like a deep Southern accent.  I feel like that's as far as you can get from British English.

[Fockatar]

The basic stereotypical New York (Brooklyn?) accent you see referenced in Friends etc.

EDIT: Basically, it keeps coming out a bit...drunk Yorkshireman rather than bona fide Brooklyn. Which is odd, because when I try to do a Yorkshire accent it comes out all weird....

Edited January 18, 2013 by Fockatar

[videro]

I really think you should stick with the British accent. They have sex appeal here, and Americans tend to assume they imply intelligence.

[Fockatar]

I'm used to wearing academic robes too! It's unusual in the United States. I think I went to the only college that does so. I tend to dress formally anyway and will probably do the same in grad school. (Fingers crossed!) I do like wearing jeans though...

 

I've never heard of Daitz. I'll have to look him up. I'm the kind of person who enjoys the look of surprise on someone's face when I recite Homer. It's amusing.

Sorry I missed this! Yeah I'd never heard of Daitz until relatively recently, he sort of sticks in your head. Whenever I've had to teach Greek, I spend a few hours just getting students to repeat after me, clearing up the consonants, widening their vowels, learning to follow the accents and length - it makes learning forms in general much easier and, if they choose, the progression to modern Greek is less difficult and a matter of following some simple sound changes. However, for the lolz, I will start Daitzing it. Yes, its a verb now.

I didn't know they wore robes in the states too! It feels amazing doesn't it? Makes dinners, lectures (which require them - sadly few) and special occasions a bit better. I don't know, there is always something so comforting in putting the robes on before an exam, like an Iliadic arming scene. I will miss them to be honest.

Mease, don't worry, I'm not intending to change my natural accent, just wish I could make a few in English that's all.

[hanbran]

I've never heard of Daitz. I'll have to look him up. I'm the kind of person who enjoys the look of surprise on someone's face when I recite Homer. It's amusing.

 

Daitz is...passionate:  http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/Iliad/iliad.htm  Let me know if you can sit through 50 lines of his recitation of the Iliad.

[hanbran]

Congrats to the first batch of accepted people.

[videro]

Congrats to the first batch of accepted people.

 

What? I have no clue what you're talking about. Is there breaking news somewhere? 

 

Basically, it's been my standing assumption that there won't be any decisions for another week or so, and then in the last week of January/first of February, quarter-system schools like Stanford and Berkeley start releasing decisions (the same ones that have an early deadline). 

 

Edited January 19, 2013 by rsmease

[hanbran]

Search classics on the results search engine. Wisconsin-Madison seems to have been the first to notify this year.

[videro]

Oh, all right. Wow. There's so much on this website I'm unaware of.

[videro]

Do y'all know of any compelling classics-minded television shows, other than Rome? I need a distraction these days.

[hanbran]

The only one I've liked is I, Claudius.

[videro]

Oh, BBC. That bodes well. Which one's haven't you liked? I really don't know of any other than Rome.

[ciistai]

Do you like Spartacus? There are a lot of inaccuracies so it's not your cup of tea if those send you into a rage, but I love the show - I feel like it depicts very seriously (and accurately) a lot of the realities of slavery in the ancient world. The cast is also very diverse with many persons of colour playing main characters and apart from some instances I would say the representation of queer individuals is very good. At first I thought it was super cheesy but I can't get enough of that show now. (It's too bad Andy Whitfield passed away :[ )

 

Also - delurking since results are coming in soon. Hi everyone, and good luck!

Edited January 20, 2013 by ciistai

[Fockatar]

Not a series but the film Agora was quite good, in fact in terms of films the Irene Papas ones are great if you speak Greek. There's a BBC production of Aiskhylos' Agamemnon en Anglice on Youtube somewhere, which is something. I actually can't think of many...