Kenneth J Cameron

pop music, tv drama, films, comedy, theatre, musicals - the human arts

The conclave hasn't started yet but the cardinals are in Rome, so there has been some news in the last day or two, about their discussions, as you will know. But it will probably go quiet when the conclave starts, apart from speculation.

Yes, it's a pity: because it all happens behind closed doors, there won't be regular news updates to feed our interest.

It's the mediaeval equivalent of a luminous jumper 😎

And also cleverly allusive in Virgil-style, as the jumper will be made of wool 🐑

A multi-sheep jumper sounds suitably pastoral/agricultural and Virgilian. 🐑🐑🐑👕

That's great to hear There is great rejoicing amid novelty jumper fandom ! 😊💫👏

I wasn't thinking AS had gone macro-cephalic due to new-fangled status - more that refined publications require staid attire: as when an undergrad joins a company and must leave behind casuals for corporate dress.

This is the kind of enargeia we want to see AS bringing back to his lectures. Colour, pop music, snappy phrases.

The phrase by Chappell 'I want non-fiction' works with classes on oratory, letters, philosophy.

The suit-and-tie approach confers 'dignitas' but may well be a creative dead-end ....😟

YouTube video by jose navea GET BACK TAKE 1 | THE BEATLES ROOFTOP CONCERT

When The Beatles lost their way, they decided to 'Get Back' to their rock and roll roots.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI8A...

Yes, AS needs to go back to his luminous jumper roots.

Bob Dylan has done this: his very good work of the last 25 years largely involves working with folk, blues, old-time (Love and Theft, Modern Times, Tempest, Rough and Rowdy Ways).

AS going from novelty jumpers to suit and tie:
it's like a pop band going from psychedelic-electric to plain and trad.

We want the old AS back !

yeah, he mustn't give them up

AS has got to be one of the few people in the world who can accurately quote both 1st-century BCE Roman political oratory (mainly Cicero) and also pop songs of the 2020s (eg Chappell Roan)

Indeed !

Perhaps AS believes these books require the 'dignitas' of a suit and tie .... and the luminous jumpers are not as good a fit in this part of his creative odyssey.

AS still sings pop songs, though 🎵

Cicero: Selected Letters & Speeches​ Rome’s greatest orator, Cicero, offers a vivid insight into the late Republic through his powerful letters and speeches. Curated by classics expert Andrew Sillett, this Folio edition features Neil Bou...

2. Cicero. Selected Letters and Speeches.

www.foliosociety.com/cicero-selec...

Well, he has published two big glossy books recently

1. Rome. A Definitive Visual History

www.dk.com/uk/book/9780...

AS has changed his Twitter/X photo from luminous jumper to one with a suit and tie.

The next step is for you to actually deliver Bee Movie in Latin at a conference !! 😀

75 minutes in and you're on 500 likes ! Looks like you'll reach 1000 !

Bare trees silhouetted by a sky of broken cloud and sunlight

February skies

Would be interested to know in which ways he 'predicted the mess we're in'. End of the gods ? Emergence of the Superman ?

I'm interested in classics and theology which were areas he covered.

Thanks ! I only know the generalities but Nietzsche strikes me as troubled and brilliant, as a philosopher and a writer.

Well done ! V different from Keats, another of your books 🙂

Perhaps 'ratio' would have been better.

Indeed. 'Verbum' isn't the right word.

However,there must be merit in his translation generally, since it was widely used for a long time.

The Lives of Nepos are fairly straightforward but have good classical Latin. Mainly about eminent Greeks with some eminent Romans.

Jerome's translation of The Bible: probably mostly fairly easy and quite interesting but not classical Latin.