#do people still use tagamemnon?

[iamnotshazam]

having a blorbo in greek mythology and epics is like the ancient world version of realizing the tv show had a different writer for the one episode your critter was wildly out of character and everyone is like "oh that's so them!" ??? did we watch the same show? helen of troy/sparta is a slut no wait she is a perfect woman no no she is a flawed human being no hold on she's a woman making her way in a man's world wait no she is the archetypal victim no wait-

not coincidentally i am reading madeline miller's the song of achilles for the first time and odysseus just showed up halfway through and odysseus'ed across the page so hard he made me fall in love with him all over again. achilles/patroclus is some foundational tragic queer romance, yeah i respect that, but odysseus. the laughing snake that tricks you into forgetting he is always ready to bite. my man

i bet he is a tricky character to write well but as long as he falls somewhere on the wile e. coyote <--> bugs bunny spectrum he is probably in character. because his character is to be tricksily varied. is he just a dude trying to get home? is he a larger than life hero? a rat bastard nobody can trust? the one male in hellas with a working brain who doesn't listen only to his dick or his overinflated ego? a wifeguy (positive)? a wifeguy (negative)? athena's special boy in this generation (telemachus and orestes wiping their noses on their blankets still)? or her latest mortal hackeysack, legs blurring in a looney tunes run between zany schemes, just a bit faster than the other doomed shmucks? all are intensely valid interpretations and go all the way back to homer 2800 years ago. incredible.

someone in the book is making fun of odysseus for bragging about how much he likes the ship, fresh from ithaca!! penelope modeled for the figurehead!!! he gets to see her while they're apart!!!! and that's why i set the book down for a minute. hgn. hdmahflshsk. odysseus sweetie pie i hope you still like it twenty years from now. the ghosts of my middle school english notes defining "dramatic irony" scream in ecstasy from the great beyond

[babyrdie]

Some of your posts gave me the impression that you don't post about characters even though you are interested in them!! Is there a reason for that?

Okay

Because even though my account is small, Tumblr is still a very public site. It's not like I can make my account private like I can on Twitter (I think Instagram has that option too). And honestly, there are some things that are better left unsaid to avoid headaches. Sure, I have the option to just not post here if I have a problem with attention, but I like the posting system and I like running a blog, so the most I can do is avoid drawing attention to myself. That is, avoid using popular tags (e.g. tagamemnon) and, in general, avoid interacting too much. I certainly respond to people who start a conversation with me (whether it's in the comments, reblogs, asks, DMs, or by tagging me in a game post), but it's less common for me to go to someone else's post.

For example, I've already received about 4 really annoying asks from Odysseus fans (which is part of the reason why I currently don't allow anon asks). So, no matter how much I like the character, I prefer not to interact with posts about him or even post much about him. Yes, I still post, but not as often as I could. And that's because his fandom has given me a headache. In fact, when I see that an account is 100% Odysseus, I block it even if there's nothing that displeases me. Tumblr's tag blocking system is practically useless, so blocking his tag would be ineffective. The only thing I can do to avoid this headache again is to avoid as much as possible profiles that are very passionate about this character and, since there's no option to mute profiles like on Twitter, the only thing left for me to do is block them.

I don't interact much with Patrochilles posts, even though I'm part of the fandom. And that's because I simply don't fit into the "proposal" off this fandom. Not because I felt bad there, we just don't have the same interests most of the time. For example, they usually have no interest in Antilochus, Teucer, Deidamia, etc. Talking about the couple itself is nice, but I would also like to have the opportunity to talk about their other relationships. And I don't really get to do that in the fandom.

There are certain characters that I don't give much of an opinion on because there's potential for unnecessary arguments. For example, I believe that Helen chose to go with Paris, since I rarely see anything in the ancient sources that explicitly states that she was kidnapped. And no, "Aphrodite influenced" isn't really a convincing argument, many times Aphrodite and Eros were used to represent the feeling and not necessarily to state that the person has total 0 agency. Medea also only fell in love with Jason because of divine interference (Eros), so why doesn't anyone claim that she has no responsibility whatsoever for what her feelings for Jason made her do? And yes, Medea certainly did much worse than Helen, but I used an extreme example precisely to illustrate the situation better. So, for me, Helen chose to cheat on Menelaus and chose to leave her daughter behind. I'm not saying that she WANTED to hurt them, but she certainly hurt them by not thinking better. And by "thinking better" I don't even mean sleeping with someone else (Menelaus did the same thing, after all. He's really not one to talk about fidelity), I'm talking about leaving Sparta. And I don't think Paris is worse than her, I think they were both irresponsible. It doesn't make them the worst people in the world, especially when there are examples of people with worse attitudes in the Trojan War (i.e. Patroclus and Hector wanted to dishonor a corpse, Odysseus and Achilles have countless attitudes on the list, Agamemnon made the people suffer twice because of his hubris… once with Artemis in Aulis, once with Apollo in Troy), but they aren't little silly saints without any flaw. I don't think Helen is a poor thing like the rest of the people think, sorry.

But yeah, you can be sure I've had thoughts about characters I don't post about. Hell, I've even had thoughts about Philoctetes. Like, who thinks about Philoctetes? And you can't imagine how many times I think about Penthesilea and just don't post about it. Even characters that have no relation to the Trojan War, like Medea, Jason, Theseus, Antigone, Cadmus. So yeah, I think about a fair amount of characters even if I don't post about them.

I've had unbearable experiences with fandom on fic sites (deleted accounts), Amino (deleted account), and Twitter (now a private account). I don't want the same for Tumblr, so I'm in this situation. If someone wants to be my moot and wants to interact with me, I'm more than willing! But no, I don't think I really want to draw attention.

[locutus-sum]

tagged by @divaivlia - it's been really nice talking Latin with you, so thanks :)

tagging @teabooksandsweets, @mjltranslations @marcus-tullius-cicerhoe

1) Why did you choos your URL?

I'm a big Star Trek fan and Picard's borgified character is called Locutus and says 'I am Locutus of Borg' which would translate as 'locutus sum' in Latin which, coincidentally (probably) means I have spoken so I thought it was kinda neat and combined my two interests

2) Any side blogs?

@cosmic-chelonian for all my Classic Who/All Creatures/Other Sci-fi or British TV musings

3) How long have you been on Tumblr?

Not long at all! Only since about December last year. Unfortunately that means many blogs for my niche interests are now no longer active :(

4) Do you have a queue tag?

No because I don't post often enough to use the queue!

5) Why did you start this blog in the first place?

Discovered Tumblr while searching for Dr Who memes. Discovered the #tagamemnon. Realised a Latin fandom actually existed. Decided that they were the perfect people to scream about Cicero to. Never looked back.

6) Why did you choose your icon?

I made it using the powers of Microsoft Powerpoint and Paint 3D (the fact that the latter actually exists makes me laugh). It's a borgified image of Cicero, the original locutor, one might say. It just made me laugh.

7)Why did you choose your header?

Combines Cicero my beloved and purple my beloved. I made it myself on Canva (I know, look at me with all my pro software!) I realise the words aren't all visible either on PC or on the app though so I think I need a new one.

8) How many mutuals do you have?

I mean it's not about the stats is it, but let's just say it's more than I ever hoped. (It's 14. 14 people are mad enough to follow me back. Thank you <3)

9) How many followers do you have? As of now, 67. 67 people listen to (/scroll past, it's up to them) me waxing lyrical about some guy who's been dead for 2000 years. Still in shock tbh. God, I love Tumblr.

10) How many do you follow?

57. Not loads, I know, but I mostly drift around in small fandoms. Most of the blogs I follow are on hiatus :(

11) Have you ever made a shitpost? Have I made a shit post? Yes. Without a doubt. But a shitpost? It's a different thing, apparently. So... no?

12) How long do you spend on Tumblr per day? No comment.

13) Did you ever have a fight with another blog? So far, everyone's been lovely to me, and I'm not in the habit of throwing punches without a reason. I mean, even if there were a reason, I'd probably just stand there and let them beat me up. Unless it was about something I cared about, like LGBT rights or whether Cicero is a splendid chappie (HE IS.)

14) How do you feel about 'you need to reblog this' posts? Shaming tactics are deplorable and can lead to the distribution of misinformation. I always do my research before I reblog something.

15) Do you like tag games?

I... I guess so. I mean, I'm doing one now. A lot of the time I don't know the answers though. I mean, what movies do I watch? I don't!

16) Do you like ask games? YES! Please talk to Cicero in my ask tab, he's getting very lonely :(

17) Which mutuals do you think are tumblr famous? Still don't believe that catullan and interretialia follow me!

[drxiocht]

A note on short-term studying, aka how to cram the fuck out of your arts exam

I am a massive procrastinator. It’s probably my worst trait, and although I know that I need to not only pass my exams, but do well in them, I still just don’t have it in me to start studying in advance. So I have a strategy that seems to work well for me. It’s geared towards arts subjects; I study classics and music technology (which includes musicology, a pain in my ass). In no particular order, here’s how I get through my exams from literal scratch (embarrassing as it is to admit, there are some classes that I have no idea about - I’ve had a terrible semester and I haven’t attended some classes at all. I know, I know, I’m shit)

Take stock of how much time you have. Currently, I have tonight, and then my exam is in the morning. I started revising yesterday though, so I’m a bit ahead. I have another exam the day after tomorrow though, and I haven’t even thought about that yet, so yeah. Fuck.

My exam topic is the Aeneid, so I’ll use that as an example. I started by going on tumblr (no lies, it’s a good resource) and searching through appropriate tags: aeneid, tagamemnon, aeneas, dido, etc etc

Through searching on tumblr, I usually find some good opinion pieces and even memes. These are useful, even though they don’t sound like it. 

Trust me, lads. I’m a pro at this last minute shit. Even without ever having read the Aeneid (sidenote: WHY did I not read it before?! Fuck you, depression, I could have been happy this semester with this absolute treasure of an epic poem), I managed to get the gist of the story and I even picked up some ideas about how to go about criticising it academically. Reading other peoples’ opinions and criticisms is the best way to inform yourself about a topic, especially if your exam is essay-based. This makes life much easier for yourself when you go to step 2, which is in this case to read a basic outline of the story. In your case it might be to recap on a novel or a movie, or whatever you’re studying - the point is to get to grips with the basic facts. 

This mixes with the opinions and the deep reading you did while scrolling through tumblr, and it links the plot and the basic facts with your extra information. 

The next step is to read into the characters. I go with tumblr or shmoop/sparknotes, but any website offering a good* character analysis will do. 

*a good character analysis will include some quotes, and will chart the character’s journey through the book while offering some extras like opinions, popular beliefs about the character, themes associated with the character etc. 

Once this is done, it makes it easy to go back and scroll through your tags on tumblr again. If you’re pressed for time, skip this and go straight to the last step: exam papers.

Exam papers are your best friend. Read through the questions from the past papers, answering them in your head or on paper. If you feel confident about going into your exam and being able to answer the questions with a bit of depth, congratulations: go back to tumblr and delve deeper into the tag. The more random and diverse opinions you can offer an examiner when you’re doing your exam, the deeper they think your knowledge lies. 

Checklist for exam success:

Be able to bring up popular opinions about characters/themes relating to your topic, and make sure that you can add a new perspective to that popular opinion, e.g. Aeneas is the hero that was needed, and not necessarily wanted in the Aeneid (in comparison to the popular opinion that Aeneas was a bit wimpy and was too emotional to be a hero)

Know the basic facts, so that no question can surprise you. Be able to build on the facts based on the things you have read and the deep digging you’ve done.

Have at least three or four quotes memorised; even short quotes can be effective. Try to have one per main character, and one that can be applied as a generalisation, like this one that is a good umbrella quote: “The minds of men are ignorant of fate.” - this is Vergil speaking about Turnus’ dishonourable behaviour, when he removes Pallas’ belt after he kills him, but it can be used throughout an exam relating to (well, actually, anything tbh) the Aeneid. 

Remember that you definitely have another attempt at this exam if you fail, and even if this is your last attempt - it’s not the end of your life! It is not the be-all and end-all, it’s an exam and literally all you can do is your best. If you’re super stressed, talk to your professor or a counsellor, even talk to me! I might not be able to help but I certainly appreciate a good venting so lay it on me, bro 

A good extra site: quora is really good. Search your topic and there should be some Q&As about it, often with answers by industry professionals and lecturers etc, so don’t feel lost!

Go, my children, succeed and be happy in ur college endeavours <3