April 22, 2008
The Video Arrives
Thanks entirely to Professor Moss, I am proud to present my final project. I hope that it isn't too much of a let down after all of my frustrations with uploading it. There are a few things that I want to explain to all of you that is going along with it.
I used Roman fonts for all of the Roman footage and influence. I chose to have darker tones for Rome, with white words starkly standing out, as Rome stands out from history. This is also the reason why I had the legacy pages in shades of gray that were harder to read and distinguish. The "alternate influences" page is brightly colored, vibrant, and very different, but the words are still Roman-letter-based Times New Roman font.
The pictures with the flags come from war monuments, Washington monument, 9/11 rebuilding, and the moon. The moon I chose because it is our version of Roman and Greek colonization: claiming new land as their own with just a standard. The line in the Arlington Cometary comes from Homer's Iliad (Greek Work) which was reused with a different meaning in Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est." I thought that it really embodied the idea that the modern world has kept the legacy of Rome and Greek but changed the meaning of a lot of it. Yes, we respect Greek democracy, but reject their idea that only land-owning men are citizens. We've taken their ideas and made them ours, made them better, made them American.
The idea for the final image came to me as I was walking around campus really noticing the Corinthian architecture that is in the Clemens library in particular. Do we want to imitate? Is that why we made Washington so like Rome? I don't think so. I don't think we imagined we would be seen as the children of Rome, but maybe we just wanted to be as known and respected by cultures two thousand years from now as Rome is to us.
I decided to focus on the founding legends of Rome and America, of the great men who we worship like Greek gods, and the way that we want so much to be original and ancient at once. The poem over the darkened Roman Forum stems from that idea. From the molding of the past and the present. I messed with tense as best I could while not sounding insane.
I considered putting in songs--the national anthem, Mozart-- but decided that the legacy was a silent one. Seen and believed and lived every day without anyone talking about it.
I hope you see now how odd it is that I we chose such an overwhelming legacy for our own.
Posted by kjmath at 04:11 PM | Comments (2)
April 21, 2008
Final Project
Several Failed Attempts to load my movie have resulted in this piece-meal thing that I am about to do. I will explain it all in further detail through edits. I changed things around so that most text wasn't covered by the later pictures in the animation, but there are a couple of slides where the animation, I thought, was key, and I didn't want to reorder it. Here are my slides:
Covered Text by animation: Sing, oh Muse, of America's hands, grasping still for broken stone.
Slide Eight (above) has a picture of Augustus with "Pax Romana" written above him, which is covered by a portrait of Washington that is in the same pose, then a statue of a Roman emperor on horseback that the picture you see mimics.
Slide 10 above starts with the statue of Zeus at Olympia, then Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial, then the Lincoln memorial, then the picture that you see. I wanted to show that while we never claim to deify our presidents like the Romans did their Caesars, we still worship them like Greek gods.
We still give them the same monuments.
and put them on coins like the old gods, using their language.
This is a series of pictures of the American flags, which bears the same Eagle on top of the standard at the Washington monument that the Romans had on their standards. It also has a picture of the flag on the moon and the world war two memorial, showing how we fight and die for a symbol.
this covers a picture of Arlington cemetery--all the white crosses-- and the words "Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori" the last lie to Owen's poem that always struck me.
This covers a picture of the senate house and the words, "Our nation is a grand imitation of an empire that pretended to be a democracy."
Posted by kjmath at 02:50 PM | Comments (1)
April 20, 2008
I'm off to go cry now...
WHATEVER! IT STILL DIDN'T WORK AND I CAN'T WAIT AROUND ANOTHER THIRTY MNUTES WAITING FOR IT TO UPLOAD TO YOUTUBE!
So I am just going to go to church at five, and then spend all day tomorrow figuring out how in the effing world I am going to get this project up onto this blog.
JUST YOU WAIT! IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!
Posted by kjmath at 04:38 PM | Comments (1)
Project X 12
okay. I figured out how to change the timing on the slides. It only took like twelve hours, and then there was a lot of guess work since Quicktime hates me and would mess things up for fun, but this is a good version of what I wanted to make. I wish that I could change a couple of things, but I don't know if that's possible with the time constraints. So let's just pray that this works.
Posted by kjmath at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2008
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!
It's won't upload.
Well, I have until Monday to figure this out so... HA!
Posted by kjmath at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
Okay. I am really, really proud of how my project has turned out IN POWERPOINT. However, converting it to a movie made the entire thing freak out. It will require that you pause it several times to read some of the lengthier texts. I tried to upload it into iMovie, but couldn't. Does anyone know how I could do that so that I could edit it? I really don't have to have to start from scratch again and make the entire thing in iMovie before Monday. I don't know if I'd have enough time to do that. I could try, but I would really prefer to just work with this one... though the animation is also off so now when it was supposed to zoom in on the "e plubis unum," it just doesn't, which makes it really awkward when the "from many, one" pops up on screen seemingly randomly.
Maybe I could upload the powerpoint? do you think I could do that? Anyone? Anyone?
Sigh.
Here's the version of it that I don't like, anyway, to give you an idea of what I've been doing:
Posted by kjmath at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2008
Poems
Of the poems that I wrote, I want to use 5. Halfway through their creation, I started to realize the power of rhyme and rhythm to convey the echoing, interactive, morphing nature of Rome and America. One depends on the other to make sense, the second line always gets its rhythm from the first, though the first has no say over the content of the second. It simply frames it as Rome frames America, without foresight, without direct say, without knowledge, and inextricably. It changes the meaning of everything coming after simply by coming before, changes the word choice, shapes the images. I love that.
Posted by kjmath at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)
I am going to increasingly lessen the white borders around the edge of the pictures and have all of the pictures of non-roman things in black and white, to symbolize the fact that they are imitations, no matter how splendid. The last page will have the end poem about the fissure of Rome matched up with pictures that are smaller than the page, that leave lots of blank space. Because they are all a part of the legacy left by Rome.
I am also really liking the idea of progressing through fonts front old-school column style to "Times New Roman" because it just FITS.
Okay. More later.
Posted by kjmath at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2008
Project
I am currently in the process of writing several poems to have at moments in the notebook. The only problem is that I don't know how blatant to be about the ancient references. For instance, should I consider having the "Washing is just like Augustus" beat you over the head or should I assume knowledge? I think I will assume knowledge because that further emphasizes the connection shared.
Still, though, I will have some poems like the one below that reflect on the history of Rome itself.
Beginning
If blame should be assigned for Alba,
Proca bears the deepest burden—
father of Amulius and Numitor—
who never realized the flaws of men.
Sin of ignorance. Sin of faith.
Them he gave the kingdom to share.
As Numitor to weakness
and Amulius to pride,
so to trust fell Proca.
The son of Numitor killed. Daughter enslaved.
Family broken and by divine violence saved.
But it started with the father,
Who didn’t know his sons,
Who asked that they be equals,
Instead of hurting one.
Have we learned our lesson about sharing?
About giving too much to the young?
About family and power and houses divided?
About what occurs when the brilliant collided?
Do not ask me to trust my fate to the many.
Give me instead the rule of Rome:
Killers of tyranny. Citizens first.
Who live in houses and wear no crown.
Posted by kjmath at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2008
Project... YAY
I am going to start my project with an ode to the epic poem, which always (always) start with the narrator addresses a muse, asking for guidance (as in The Iliad, Odyssey, Canterbury Tales, and Spencer's epic that I can't name right now). I think it'll nicely reflect the idea of influence that permeates our culture from th classical world.
I also found the perfect notebook. Brent was underwhelmed by it, but I love it. It's black on the cover and has squares on the pages and is great.
As I was considering the play on words that the Romans used to designate leader--carefully always calling them "first citizens" and "equals"-- I began to realize that the US used the same sort of tricks, but that they were so common that we don't even think of it anymore. While most governors live in mansions, the president lives in a "house." specifically a white one, but still supposedly a house. Which is a load of bull.
He doesn't open doors. Doesn't pay any bills. Doesn't make his own calls. Isn't seen walking freely around. Certainly doesn't buy his own groceries or really interact with everyday people, yet he is one of the people? How? As much as a Caesar was, I suppose.
And our leaders, just like the Roman emperors, look alike. Whether we acknowledge it or not (and mostly we don't): we like good looking, strong leaders with all of their teeth. And the voting process in American, just like in the ancient world, requires great personal wealth and name recognition. Despite all of the checks and balances that we have, rich men win the presidency. Always.
I am going to hopefully show this.
Posted by kjmath at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2008
More Project
I think that I am going to use a marble notebook rather than a spiral for a lot of reasons.
1) I want to show that the connection isn't something that can easily be removed without leaving scars. And since I'm moving from Greece to Rome to America in the notebook, it makes sense that the entire thing is made up of paper that is folded in half. Ripping own from the beginning, the past, out will reflect in the later pages, showing the effect of past on present
2) It will feel more like a book, like the living embodiment of the history that I am trying to represent.
3) The current version of the marble notebook was invented in 1969, the same year that we went to the moon for the first time in a craft called the "Eagle." While it is said that the "Eagle" was named for an Indian prophecy that said an eagle would land on the moon, the eagle was also the symbol of Rome that we adopted despite Thomas Jefferson really wanting us to be represented by the chicken.
4) The criss-crossing black and white of the cover works well with the theme of influence that cannot be seperated
Posted by kjmath at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2008
I want to make a notebook. Starting with pictures from Rome and Greece, excerpts of speeches and quotes and pictures of famous statues.
I'm trying to decide if I want to have American and Classical figures on the same pages--Augustus and GEorge Washington--or have it be a progression from Greece at the start to America. I am also trying to decide what to do with Indians. I think I should put them behind the American stuff, just barely peaking out. Oh. No! I should put them behind the Greek and Roman.
I want to put all of this in a notebook form because the one everlasting thing that we took and kept was the Roman alphabet despite the fact that much of our language is based on Germanic roots, with Germany being one of the rare exceptions that was never fully conquered. So we are already seeing the contradiction between the actual roots of our country and what we choose to show.
Focuses:
-- Coins--quarter versus owl coin
-- monuments--Lincoln versus Zeus (a legacy so big that we wanted the statue not to be able to fit in the building standing up); Washington monument versus Augustus's obelisk; temples
-- wars, this will be a very, very big section
-- eagle standards
-- Washington crossing the Delaware v. Augustus's statue
-- Gettysburgh address versus Percileas second speech
-- imperialism
-- second continental congress
-- words. I want to show the progress of words from Latin to English, with Ojibwa hidden in the background
The most striking thing for me is the legacy built up around the founding fathers of our country and the religion based on the first Roman emperor, Augustus. He called himself the "first citizen" rather than the king or leader, which was kind of brilliant. And the long, long struggle that we had to get from that point to where we are today. Because Rome and Greece never had that chance. They remained until they fell, strange nations of racism and slavery.
I want to be clear that I love Rome and Greece. Love. Have studied them all four years. Went to Italy. hope to go to Greece. Saw the aqueducts in Spain. I think that they were powerful people with a new set of ideals that allowed art and literature to flourish. But not for everyone. They were limited greatly by their own beliefs. I just want to explore the legacy that America chose from its inception. A legacy that attaches us to England in a strange way, despite the fact that we were trying to break away from them. It was as if we were claiming to be the true heirs to Rome. And I understand that the study of classics was required in the 1700s and that people knew how truly brilliant, powerful, and vast Rome was and they wanted to be a part of that greatness. But today the connection is so basically in our lives that most people don't even notice when Bush paraphrased Cicero or Obama uses phrases first coined in Herodotus's Histories.
For instance, did you know that the Washington Monument derives from an obelisk dedicated to Augustus as a god, and that the reflecting pool was an architectural motif of Greece that is shown at Emperor Hadrian's home in the second century?
Augustus's obelisk was looted, so I only have a reconstructed picture. sorry. And clearly we decided to go bigger since people fit inside Washington's monument, but can you deny the influence?
(The pics come from http://www.vacationlovers.net/washington_dc/washington_dc_10.html; www.dioi.org/cot.htm; and http://www.romeguide.it/mostre/dacranachamonet/dacranachamonet.htm)
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”-- Pericles
This is the theme of the project: why we absorbed a bloody legacy of marble and brilliance.
Okay. Lot to think about.
If you want to know about Augustus, this is a pretty good outline:
Posted by kjmath at 08:40 AM | Comments (1)
