When old voices speak to us

I won't pretend to understand all the mythological, historical, and poetic references and underpinnings in Bacchylides' work, but who can dislike this?

So Lord Apollo, true to his mark,
Gave warning to Admetus:
"Men must breed twin minds;
Consider tomorrow's sun your last—
And think you'll live out fifty years,
Each one steeped in wealth.
But strike your stand in piety:
There all the gain and gladness lies."

A better vision of that difficult dance of living in the moment and thinking to the future is seldom seen.

Or, for writers and artists struggling in the moment, consider this short paean on art and inspiration:

One writer picks another's brains—
Call it tradition:
Taking the gates of a new song
Is no small job.

There is so much wisdom and human history and human growth and difficult yet resonating ideas in the Greek and Roman classics. I will never regret the time I spent in my college and graduate school years on works from long ago. And I love the time I have now—and the resources available—to read and appreciate ancient works in new spheres.

Friday Film: Sir Collects-a-Lot

This week I'm droppin' some knowledge on yo ass.

Check the hoarders.

POSSESSED from Martin Hampton on Vimeo.

An update?

The baby has been in good spirits, the Fourth of July weekend was full of family togetherness and solid chores (hung some errant blinds, weeded the backyard with Terri, organized all the books according to fiction and nonfiction alphabetically in the basement and the guest bedroom). It's also been full of wonderful reading.

I'm a quarter into Henry Fielding's Tom Jones and loving it. The writer/narrator was wonderfully ahead of his time in both humor and self-referential charm.

I read the second of Terry Pratchett's books for young adults, and it was just as stellar as the first.

I'm toying with the idea of collecting H.P. Lovecraft books of all sorts, but I laugh at the idea in my lucid moments. Instead, I've spent $3.20 buying very nicely formatted Kindle volumes of Lovecraft's fiction output.

Work is very busy, but more rewarding than usual. I'm afraid of a big, big trends story I need to write this week and have been interviewing for for the past couple of weeks. Anyone can relate to that dread we feel when we're not sure how it's going to come out, and we're not quite sure we're on the right track. *shudder*

Bryan, John, Mike, and I are also having a splendid time on our blog.

That is all.

Friday Film: Bat vs. Cat

I have nothing important to say.