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xanithofdragons"Aspice num mage sit nostrum penetrabile telum"
Vergil's Aeneid, Book X line 481
I know I haven't read anywhere near all the lines of the Aeneid, but I still have to say that this is probably one of the most powerful lines in there. It's not all that striking out of context, so it might be hard to understand out of context. Still, when I read this line I felt pierced, struck, probably not unlike how Pallas felt with a spear sticking out of his chest... Okay, not quite so completely struck as having a spear sticking out of me would probably feel, but this line left me completely awestruck. So awestruck that I felt I needed to say it.
See whether our weapon is more able to penetrate.
This one-line quotation from Turnus after he throws his spear after Pallas' spear only grazes him is all the more powerful since most quotations in epic poetry run for several lines. This is the kind of thing that makes me believe that Vergil was actually an honestly good writer.
The week before last, I bought a bunch of stuff. Two video games, one volume of manga, and two books.
The video games: Summon Night Twin Age. Pretty fun, pretty easy, too short. I already beat the whole main story, and my playtime is < 20 hours. On some RPGs I've played, I easily get > 100 hours, so < 20 seems really short to me. Oh well, there's still extra stuff to play through.
The Dark Spire. Kinda difficult and requires major grinding, but I don't really mind grinding all that much, so I still have fun with it. There's not much of a plot, but exploring all of this tower and completing quests is enough to keep me fairly interested. I recently figured out how to open up the way to a lot more map, so I'm pretty happy with it, although I'm fairly sick of fighting bats...
Manga: volume 1 of Voice Or Noise. I started reading it in a bookstore this one time a while ago, and it seemed pretty interesting. I suppose that it's BL, and it involves people who can talk with animals, including cats who talk about parallel universes. The main characters seem pretty introspective, and their relationship at the end is pretty much each one helping the other's soul-searching, so it's a fairly pleasant read. It's something I'd want to let my friends borrow.
The books: A Brief History of the Private Lives of the Roman Emperors by Anthony Blond. More interesting than the title probably makes it sound... If you could see the cover, you'd understand; there's a bunch of mostly naked men on it. ^_^ I've wanted this book for months, so I was really excited to buy it, and brought it to school with me the day after getting it. I must say that the author really knows how to draw readers in, making the first section after all the introductory stuff an essay about Roman society titled "Sex" and all. This is the section that made me all excited about this book. Yeah... Anyway, the writing style is pretty fun to read, and the book's very informative, and includes information about all the other books it references in footnotes, so you know what else you should be reading!
The Twelve Kingdoms Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono, the first book in The Twelve Kingdoms series. I more or less impulse-bought this book because it was written by the creator of Ghost Hunt and I haven't started reading it at all yet.
In other other other other news, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, in which I will hopefully learn what the results of all those blood tests mean. Hooray!
Vergil's Aeneid, Book X line 481
I know I haven't read anywhere near all the lines of the Aeneid, but I still have to say that this is probably one of the most powerful lines in there. It's not all that striking out of context, so it might be hard to understand out of context. Still, when I read this line I felt pierced, struck, probably not unlike how Pallas felt with a spear sticking out of his chest... Okay, not quite so completely struck as having a spear sticking out of me would probably feel, but this line left me completely awestruck. So awestruck that I felt I needed to say it.
See whether our weapon is more able to penetrate.
This one-line quotation from Turnus after he throws his spear after Pallas' spear only grazes him is all the more powerful since most quotations in epic poetry run for several lines. This is the kind of thing that makes me believe that Vergil was actually an honestly good writer.
The week before last, I bought a bunch of stuff. Two video games, one volume of manga, and two books.
The video games: Summon Night Twin Age. Pretty fun, pretty easy, too short. I already beat the whole main story, and my playtime is < 20 hours. On some RPGs I've played, I easily get > 100 hours, so < 20 seems really short to me. Oh well, there's still extra stuff to play through.
The Dark Spire. Kinda difficult and requires major grinding, but I don't really mind grinding all that much, so I still have fun with it. There's not much of a plot, but exploring all of this tower and completing quests is enough to keep me fairly interested. I recently figured out how to open up the way to a lot more map, so I'm pretty happy with it, although I'm fairly sick of fighting bats...
Manga: volume 1 of Voice Or Noise. I started reading it in a bookstore this one time a while ago, and it seemed pretty interesting. I suppose that it's BL, and it involves people who can talk with animals, including cats who talk about parallel universes. The main characters seem pretty introspective, and their relationship at the end is pretty much each one helping the other's soul-searching, so it's a fairly pleasant read. It's something I'd want to let my friends borrow.
The books: A Brief History of the Private Lives of the Roman Emperors by Anthony Blond. More interesting than the title probably makes it sound... If you could see the cover, you'd understand; there's a bunch of mostly naked men on it. ^_^ I've wanted this book for months, so I was really excited to buy it, and brought it to school with me the day after getting it. I must say that the author really knows how to draw readers in, making the first section after all the introductory stuff an essay about Roman society titled "Sex" and all. This is the section that made me all excited about this book. Yeah... Anyway, the writing style is pretty fun to read, and the book's very informative, and includes information about all the other books it references in footnotes, so you know what else you should be reading!
The Twelve Kingdoms Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono, the first book in The Twelve Kingdoms series. I more or less impulse-bought this book because it was written by the creator of Ghost Hunt and I haven't started reading it at all yet.
In other other other other news, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, in which I will hopefully learn what the results of all those blood tests mean. Hooray!
