A Few of My Favorite Things

I haven’t stopped thinking about Helen’s last line, asking Telemachus to pass along an apology to Penelope, another presumed widow of the Trojan War.

People have already pointed out how Odysseus dodging the guilt and responsibility of the sacking of Troy contrasts to Robert Oppenheimer feeling crushed by the legacy of the bomb. But with Helen, we are given a character whose guilt is not her own.

There’s those who run from it, those who can’t ignore it, and then there’s those who are forced to carry it.

The last line of the movie goes something like “history will forget our flaws.” History will also stain the legacies of the innocent.

When Helen was of age to be married, all the Lords of Greece came to seek her hand. This was an issue for her stepfather the King of Sparta who could only pick one husband and then would have to deal with the far greater number of angry rejected suitors.

One suitor was Odysseus, then a younger man. He quickly ascertained that he had no chance of marrying Helen. Ithaca was too poor for him to even bring any proper gifts, let alone a dowry. But he did catch the eye of the King's niece, one Penelope.

Now Penelope was still a bit out of Odysseus' league, but not so much as Helen was. So he makes a deal with the King of Sparta. Support my bid to marry Penelope, and I'll give you a solution to this suitors problem. The King agrees, so Odysseus suggests all the suitors swear an oath to defend Helen's marriage from anyone who might strike against it. They all, including Odysseus, so swear, and Helen is married to Menelaus. The King proves as good as his word, and Penelope is wed to Odysseus.

Of course this means that Odysseus has now bound himself to fight for Helen and Menelaus. After an attempt to feign madness he is forced to fulfill his duty.

The nonprofit’s set to receive a donation of 21 tons of tubers this weekend from suppliers in the Midwest. Hoping to get the starchy vegetables to people in need, the nonprofit will host a “Potato Palooza” event on Monday in Park Hill. “Anyone is welcome to come. They can bring tote bags, wagons, you could back up your pickup truck if you wanted to,” Hissong said. The event is 9 a.m. to noon at the Park Hill Food Recovery Hub, 6090 East 39th Avenue, on July 27.

This is the dream

People near Denver, Colorado.

Potato alert. Potato alert.

Free food. Unlimited free potatoes.

Potato alert.

🥔 ⚠️ 🥔 ⚠️ 🥔 ⚠️ 🥔 ⚠️ 🥔 ⚠️ 🥔 ⚠️

I actually do not give an actual fuck about (most of) the perceived inaccuracies and adaptive flourishes of Nolan's Odyssey and I think that some of you need to understand that stories can be good even if they are changed to fit a different thematic structure. I simply do not care about perceived mischaracterizations of one of history's oldest blorbos: Idgaf that it didn't include the Nobody detail when Odysseus' connection to the gods is tenuous and his sponsor god/the personification of his guilt wears the face of an innocent murdered as a result of his violations. His defining character traits are established much differently, and in my opinion, serve the medium far better. I think that some of you need to stop the rehash and enjoy a piece of art that claims inspiration, not accuracy.

- The body horror of Circe transforming the men into pigs was beautifully disgusting

- I loved how the existence of the gods was never fully confirmed or denied. Were the storms Poseidon’s wrath or just bad weather? Was Athena appearing to Odysseus with the face of the woman he let die or was he hallucinating out of guilt? Magic clearly existed, because we had a cyclops and a witch and shades of the Underworld, but there’s magic and then there’s divinity. Is everything they say about the gods true or are they just an excuse?

- The removal of the Nobody scene was necessary actually. In the poem, Odysseus gives Polyphemus his real name in a moment of hubris and this causes all the problems later on because now Poseidon knows the name of the man that disrespected him. In the film, the problems are caused by the Greeks breaking Xenia by invading Troy. Keeping the Nobody scene would have detracted from the root cause of all the problems.

- I could write an entire essay about how cleverly Nolan uses events from the Odyssey to make a point about today’s society:

The Trojan War was about trade routes and Helen was just an excuse — just as wars today are waged for oil and resources, and governments give excuses to their citizens to make it seem better.

“The people from the sea” are feared as an invasion of bogeymen threatening innocents, but they’re actually just desperate men trying to find safety.

The Greeks pillage an island and ask “why didn’t you just give us what we wanted? We’re the good guys!” while the village burns behind them, not realising that to the villagers, Greeks and Trojans are all the same.

- Whoever let Anne Hathaway freeze her forehead should be fed to Polyphemus

Trump claimed executive privilege and was denied 5 times in court. The BBC now is arguing in court that since there was no executive privilege, they want those records unsealed, likely to look at Trump's ties to J6, thereby disproving Trump's claims of defamation. Yep, they've asked for Jack Smith's grand jury testimony to be unsealed.

Trump must already hand over his detailed financial records, opening the door for the BBC to examine more than 400 companies tied to Trump's family trust.

I think about mean!Simon not wanting you to leave his place after staying at his place for too so long.

He’s very good at playing house with you, from cooking dinner and you washing dishes, hours spent in his arms and laughing at his corny jokes, trying your best to kick him out the bathroom while you go to the bathroom or do your hair. Your little conversations to yourself as he passes the room you might be in, finding you blasting music and going through photos. Whisky brown eyes glued to your thighs in his shirt that you’re wearing. The man likes the fact that he can come home to you, let you talk his head off or vice versa. Slugger, his dog, is more than happy to have two parents rather than one.

So when it’s time for you to go home— why is that even a thought that crossed you mind?

Simons mid bite of his sandwich when his ears catch the ‘thud’ of one of your duffle bags full of clothes is dropinh to the door.

His eyebrows are knitted together when he sees you coming down the stairs with another duffle, “Tho’ y’were jokin about leavin kitty.”

You bite back a smile, cheeks growing warm, “I can’t stay here forever Si, I gotta wash my clothes!”

“‘Ve got a washer ‘nd dryer.”

“I can’t wear the same clothes for ever! My closet is calling me.”

“Shops callin us then, yeah? Can get ya new clothes.”

You giggle through a groan, “Simon!” 

The rugged man is already pulling you by the waist and into his chest, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck. He can’t say it, won’t say the words ‘don’t go’ or ‘I’ll miss you’ formally. But it bleeds through everything so blatantly, you can’t help but let out a chuckle. Rubbing his broad and scared back. Your fingers glide through his blonde locks of hair, scratching his scalp. “Why’re you bein cute, huh? so big ‘n bein cute.“

It’s got his heart pounding so loud, he lets out an incoherent grumble, as to quiet his own heart. Such a baffling yet peculiar feeling that the man has only groan more and more fond of with each passing day with you. Before you can even realize it, you’re being thrown over Simons shoulder that makes you yelp out. Slapping at his back to put you down, which he does, on the couch, not hesitating to lay atop of you and inhale your scent.

“You’re bein a fucking brat Simon, come on!” You giggle, it’s exactly how you ended up staying another week. Simon lifting you off your feet and taking back to bed because, ‘it’s too late to drive at night’ when it was only 6pm, and then in the morning, ‘it’s rainin too much’ when it was only drizzling.

Today’s no different, now, sandwiched between his chest and and the couch, head resting on his bicep. Letting him wrap his strong arms around you, so easily leaning into the soft touch of his calloused fingers at the back of your nape, your eyes closing.

“Is this how you usually treat the other girls around you?” You tease ever so lightly, not even expecting an answer.

He gruffly answers, distinct, “Why would I want anyone else ‘ere but you?”

GO OFF BESTIE

Children are capable of understanding more than we give them credit for. Teaching kids to be kind is important, but so is teaching them to recognize patterns of unfairness.