Fourr Things About Homer, The Iliad, The Odyssey (The Story And Movie)

 First, there is a debate over if Homer wrote both the Iliad and the Odyssey.  If you use the Greek text....the wording is different between the two. 

What people believe? Some folks suggest a Homer-1 and a Homer-2.  My belief?  I think verbally....a Homer-1 developed both as entertaining pieces to be told around the camp-fire at night.  Along came some Greek to write down the story....earning the title of Homer-2, and  later....a third Homer (Homer-3) pieced together the last story.

Second, the entire story of the Iliad laid out in simple fashion? Well...it goes this way:

Homer tries to lay out the final weeks of the Trojan War (a 10-year epic period over Troy.

The 105 months of the war?  Not mentioned....just the ending.

So the weight of the story is about guy Achilles...a Greek warrior (described as the greatest of the great).  The Greeks  have raided some town and taken a virgin-gal captative (this is Chryseis....if you were curious).  Her  dad demands the return.  Eventually....this occurs....but the Greeks did go and grab Achilles’ own prize, Briseis.

There's some chatter where Achilles talks to Gods....at least he says this, and Homer relates it.

So we have this week where the Trojans lack Achilles....to make  up for that...Achilles’ close friend/buddy....Patroclus puts on the Achilles gear and pretends to be him.  He dies in a fight with Hector.  

Achilles arrives....peeved....bothered greatly....killing off a bunch of folks, and finally getting to Hector (killing him).  It's a messy end....He drags Hector’s body behind his chariot.

The poem ends with some words over Hector’s funeral.  

For a camp-fire story?  It's five-star, and a epic.  

Third.....the Odyssey?  I  consider it the 'lesser' of the two  (my humble belief).

This story the Greek hero Odysseus (king of Ithaca).  Oddly the Trojan war has ended after ten years, and his journey (about 300 miles in reality) consumes 10 years itself (part of the bogus-nature of  the story).

Here....Homer skips almost all of the 10 years of the war, and 95-percent of the trip home....talking mostly about 6 weeks of adventure.

 The key story-piece?  Back in Ithaca, Odysseus’ wife....Penelope...has stayed loyal (for almost 20 years).

Toward the end....they now assume that Odysseus is dead.

There's some words over Athena....goddess of wisdom....helping the son.

Apparently....at some point Odysseus has been held for years by sexed-up gal (Calypso) on her island. He finally escapes....gets shipwrecked and washed up among the Phaeacians.

There's some witch adventure....then a Cyclops adventure....then a Underworld adventure....then a monsters adventure (Scylla and Charybdis). 

The boys finally bring him home to Ithaca. He gets back with the wife....after 20 years.

Fourth, my view of the movie deal?  I think Nolan was led to make a movie that ha little  to do with Homer's story.  If this were Frankenstein....it'd been done with the guy being half-man, half-woman, half-beast (ManBearPig).  If this were Uncle Tom's Cabin....it'd been mostly a story of a Mexican 'Tom'....growing up in  Texas.

Are folks going to the movie?  I really don't buy into that....unless it's a money-laundering operation.  To be honest....I could  design the movie and the theater creation....as such.  

Debt BS

 "Nearly 10 million people in the U.S. age 50 and older have student-loan debt," per WSJ.

I paused over this.....reading several times.

To be fair....debt in general is a national issue  now.

I read a piece last week.....working couple....early 30s....both own 'new' cars.....each in the range of $70,000 spent on their car.....8-year loans.  Together....they still had around $60,000 left on the loans, with 3-to-4 years left to pay.

Somewhere....probably around 2035 to 2040....there's some massive financial collapse coming.

The four 'folks' who are going to be hurt the most?

I'd say the BIG banks, four-year university operations, the car-makers, and the housing market.  

Crazy-Crazy

 Past 3 days....I've watched this cop-video....University of Florida scene...trans-lady....goes crazy for about 8 minutes.

You can browse for it over YouTube....Hicks is the last name of the 'gal'.

Cop is responding to a call from the college....out-of-control nutcase.

I figure....I've watched it at least six times. 'She' is desperately seeking a 'safe-space'.

What bothers me....there are probably 20,000 individuals like this in the US presently....making me wonder about everyday interaction that you might be drawn into.

Mentally unbalanced?  Yeah....from this is the prospective of rural Alabama and growing up in the 1960s/1970s.  Up until 1980....I'd probably only run into two or three nutcases, and I was mostly entertained by the characters.

By the 1990s....at least once a year....I'd run into a full-blown nutcase.

That 3.5 years of work in Arlington, VA?  Oh, I ran into a nutcase at least once per week....but none of them were trans-types.

Here in Germany?   If I try hard.....discounting drugged-up cases....I might run into one  nutcase every six months.

What the court ought to do with this Jarrett-character?  I'd give him 60 days of a 'stay' at a mental clinic, and stipulate.....you need to have a normal interaction with people, or you will stay for a extended visit.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua’s socialist President, Daniel Ortega, has announced a change....to end Presidential elections. 

Reason?  He’s doing this to stop popular right wing opposition from coming to power. 

What replaces elections?  He's not really clear about that.

This being a 'winner' for a comedy script....3rd world country that 'saves' democracy....by ending  it.

If You Are On Public Assistance/Welfare, and Sending Money Out Of The Country.....

 I've tried to make sense of this.

Obviously, welfare situation....yet you seem to have a cash-flow that makes no sense.

Either you have a secret income  (like selling cocaine or selling sex)....or you fence-off stolen goods.

Seems like the logical Trump 'fix' would be....put a 75-percent tax on money-transfer that exceeds 50-percent of your monthly income.

Eight Thoughts

 1.  If you lined up the thousand-odd comedians of the US....on my index of 'funny'....at least three-hundred are not funny....to the point that they need to return to Pizza Hut or selling tires.

2. Every time that I see...."SHOCKING ADMISSION FROM A CERN SCIENTIST: "BEINGS ARE COMING OUT OF THE PORTA".....I'm pretty convinced that drug usage is massive.

3.   Personally....if you are without an ID of any type....I don't see how you can function in the modern era.   You could have done this in the 1960s/1970s....but not today. 

4.  Mayor of New York....Zohran Mamdani....says he will launch a pilot program offering parents free babysitting during a night out.  

I pondered this....NY City....night-out....it's not like living in Iowa or Kentucky....you'd need a minimum of $100 for  dinner/drinks....before you even get to the theater.  Where does that money come from?

5.  In the 1970s....there might have been  2,000 Americans confused about their sexuality.  Today.....it's probably near 5-million.  What happened?

6.  These CIA burn-bags that were supposed to be burnt....weren't.  Why?

I have this theory.  I think the 'gang' involved in the anti-Trump 'mission'....reached a end-point where the mission collapsed, and they left the job for some low-ranking guy in the agency to perform, and he never got the message to burn the 500-odd burn-bags.

I also have another theory....that the CIA guys will come to admit they've found six additional rooms....from the 1940s to 2010....each with some weird purpose to fake intelligence realities, and each left hundreds of burn-bags....that  were never burnt.

7.  Paul Pelosi....husband of Nancy....probably has a drinking problem.

8.  If you graded states by allocation of SAFE-SPACES.....Alabama probably has the lowest allocation.

You can ask a resident of Alabama....where there might be a SAFE-SPACE, and most likely the answer will be the barn-loft, or some snake-infested area of Bankhead National Forest. 

Ten Opinions

 1. 2020 Senate 'winners' in Georgia....Ossoff and Warnock....probably never got more than 25-percent of the state vote.  The question is...how would you yank both out and run a fresh new election?

2.  CNN has done everything possible this past week....to convince me....they are still corrupted/screwed-up.  

3.  You could kill 10,000 of the Iranian Mullah-bosses tomorrow, and the system there is designed to replace them in a matter of minutes. This design....is something Trump can't defeat.

4.  This AZ Senator....Gallego.....is 'toast'....he'll be gone by the end of the year....on sex-stuff.

5.   This Maine Democrat....Ashley Webb....translady....claims in Reddit posts that he "ovulates" and has a monthly period.  However....the way he describes the blood....it's out of the anus and likely to be ongoing bouts of hemorrhoid's.

It doesn't appear he wants to 'cure' the hemorrhoids.

6. For some reason....whenever I watch TV news....I'm  always assessing propaganda value....like it was old Soviet or DRR crap-TV.

7. At least 10-percent of the leaders/'bosses' of the Democratic Party....probably should have a mental or IQ test performed.

8.  If you've ever been to Italy....going back to the US and eating at the Olive Garden....makes no sense.

9.  I suspect that a quarter of the Democratic Party agenda....is to shock you to such an extent....that you fumble around and wonder if it's a Twilight Zone episode.

10. As much as Epstein's stuff with juvenile girls seem to shock folks....a Muslim guy marrying a 11-year old girl doesn't seem to have the same shock value.