Barbar Black Sheep. The tyranny of the masses?

I wrote 200 words, and then deleted them. Back to Cicero for me, and I will come back when I have something cogent to say. See if you can guess from the title what it was all going to be about.

Another day full of lost thread

I am having a funny week. Nevermind, I have just appeared in print in a respectable publication for the first time. My review of Morley (2004) Theories, Models and Concepts in Ancient History appears in Classical Review (2005:2) pp. 657-8. It will be on Jstor shortly.

I have recently rediscovered Tom Wait's Small Change. I am not sure I would recommend it as a starting point for the great man's oeuvre, but for the initiated or curious, it is a terrific drunken jazzy romp.

Meanwhile, dolphins have acquired a bored, puerile enemy. Weird.

"For love of the ox the Wolf licks the yoke" (Catalan proverb)

I was going to write about why Holocaust denial should remain legal in Britain, but managed to do so in the proper forum for spleen venting, ukplc.

Instead, a bit about a book I have just read. Called something like "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," and responsible for winning Michael Chabon the 1991 Pulitzer, it is an American novel about comics. And escapology. And forbidden love of a Brokebackian bent. As it were.Readable and entertaining enough, it was packed with the kind of pithy cod-profundity that leaves you wondering where the beef is. Like a McVeggieburger, it was deeply unsatisfying.

Now in possession of a mini Ipod, I am able to insert the odd outsider into my daily diet of Smashing Pumpkins, Shola Ama and Waylon Jennings. Which means Chopin, Liszt and Brahms make the odd appearance. Listening to these compositions has not made me cleverer, which is also deeply unsatisfying.

I am being stalked by a mad Christian. Simon and I parted with our email addresses in return for a free annotated Gospel of John. Now a Portugese bloke called Emmanuel is trying to save my soul. It should be easy to just ignore his evangelical email. But he loiters around UCL, and has now twicw accosted me, and asked me why I have not replied. I am a bit concerned that we are in wierd Enduring Love territory. Fortunately, someone has offered me a no questions asked kneecapping service, so if it comes to that we can martyr him. Which might be deeply satisfying.

Finally, I will be speaking at the Institute of Historical Research's annual 'Anglo-American Conference' which runs from the 5th to the 7th of July in London. The theme is religion and politics, and I appear to have submitted the title "Getting Around the Gods: Caesar's first consulship in 59BC." I seem to have forgotten what I thought I was going to talk about, but will nevertheless appreciate any friendly faces, not least because I am on a panel with some very clever Professors, which has made me feel quite scared.

Keep the rhythm

Methodists? Maybe. Whoever they are, they are camped between UCL and ULU giving Reform Bibles away. Emmanuel, one of their public faces claims that any organised groups are not Christians. This makes me wonder whether he counts. A group that publishes its own literature seems kind of organised!

I have, after a long search, found a book which makes sense of poststructuralism. This was an aim for last year, but this book has only recently been published. About time too. It is called Understanding Poststructuralism, and is by James Williams (2005). No Ricoeur, though, which is a great shame.

An odd occurence in the states. Parents have expressed concern that a Harry Potter toy broomstick, which vibrates to simulate the sensation of flight is providing more than childish fun for their daughters.

Nice Guy Eddie is dead!

Yep. Chris Penn is officially an ex-nice guy.

Meanwhile, the gas wars are hotting up, with the Ruskies accusing the Ukranians of gas-hoarding. The Ukranians object that they are using more than anticipated as it is, in fact, very cold!

And you thought British trains were bad? In China, long distance commuters have no toilets and have to wear nappies!

Right, I am off to teach a class about that charming chap Pliny the Younger. What could be more pleasurable? as the man himself would say. I will as a result miss George Galloway discovering what the public really think of him.

Don't persue culture - you'll scare her to death.

Ah, the urbane world of academia. PJ Rhodes has retired as Professor of Ancient History at Durham and been replaced by Edward Harris. Harris came to London yesterday to speak to the Institute of Classical Studies seminar on the promising sounding topic "Who enforced the law in Classical Athens?" So now we all know. So far, so mundane. What elevated this particular paper was the novelty of a speaker announcing, with the style, pomp and gravitas of a Catholic archbishop intoning "This is the Word of the Lord" that unanswerable assertion of supreme authority:

"...that is a QUOTE from Professor Ernst Badian!"

I had not realised that over the pond that man had been elevated to the status of a font of unquestionable knowledge. Here he is better known as a vehement anti-Marxist, as might be expected of a man whose University career began in 50s America. His great early achievement, Foreign Clientelae, is punctuated every few pages by the assertion "...and at this time there was no class antagonism in [locus]..."

All of which made me wonder whether my generation will at last be able to take a step back from the impact Marxism has had on historiography. Will it ever be possible for Marxist analysis to join the ranks of other analytical tools, and become another interesting way of looking at a problem, used by historians without a prior ideological committment? Perhaps, but the generation of historians about to retire will continue to bemoan the fact that we have not been taught Marxism properly at school. This is perhaps indicative of the fact that such a process has already been irreversably set in motion.

Tenuous as the link is, the producers of Big Brother are to be congratulated for incarcarating George Galloway and Jodie Marsh together, if only for the priceless moment when George said to Jodie: "You're a wicked, wicked person." Whereas Mr. Hussein, George...

Finally, a 'Migrane Boy' strip that made me laugh.