About Me
Zenpundit is a blog dedicated to exploring the intersections of foreign policy, history, military theory, national security,strategic thinking, futurism, cognition and a number of other esoteric pursuits.
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February 17th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
i have posted quite a lot on this recently.
do you also like Gates of Fire? i do.
too bad i don’t live in Chi-Town. we could go to the premiere together!
February 17th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Hey Sean,
I’ll have to check that one out. Someday, a mini-blog convention is in order -tdaxp, you, me, Lex, Coming Anarchy -the whole circle.
February 17th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I’m totally up for that. Get Lutas in on it, too. Barnett’s blog roll, basically. Do it in Chicago — work and kiddies keep me rooted near home, though.
Also, I totally want to see 300. It looks awesome.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:35 am
Hi Lex,
Absolutely – it would be a great evening I think for everyone.
February 18th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I’ve been dying to see this for months. While having Spartans wax on about freedom is a bit rich, the film looks to be otherwise fairly close to the original story and without a doubt well done. Too bad I’ll be in Turkey when it comes out.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
“…having Spartans wax on about freedom is a bit rich…”
All the Greek poleis had what David Hackett Fischer calls “hierarchic liberty”. It was an idea of freedom that did not include equality as we think of it. The number of free men was small Still, it was a step on the ladder toward a more general idea of freedom. Under Persian or Egyptian despotism, all were slaves of the emperor. In Greece a minority were free, and had to deliberate and argue and persuade their peers about how to govern and what to do for the common good. And Sparta had this. So Leonidas, like George Washington, would have been serious when speaking about freedom — if he ever did — and as a master of helots, or slaves, would have had acutely before his eyes at all times what it meant to be a slave, and why death was far preferable.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
” It was an idea of freedom “
Would that be “Euletheria” ?
I agree, BTW.
February 19th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Eleutheria, actually.
You got your “u” mixed up in there.
I suppose that is right. I lack the expertise to say if what the Spartans and Athenians both thought they were fighting for was “eleutheria” — liberty — or whether they used other terms.
Who do you know who has read Herodotus in the original?
February 20th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Thanks, I wasn’t sure of the spelling & I’m far too lazy to spellcheck ancient greek transliterations. :o)
I have a friend who probably could read Herodotus in the original- a linguist trained at U. of C. – but that’s not to say he has has.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:03 am
I’m cautiously optimistic, but Miller’s tendency toward the fantastic downplays my expectations. I doubt it will be better than The 300 Spartans.
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Judging on Frank Miller’s past work, prostitutes or exotic dancers will probably figure into it somehow.
February 24th, 2007 at 4:18 am
“Judging on Frank Miller’s past work, prostitutes or exotic dancers will probably figure into it somehow”
Ouch. ;o)
There’s room in the arts for even extreme visual stylization. Think Anthony Hopkins in Titus, Ian McKellan in Richard III, Kurosawa’s Ran and so on.
February 24th, 2007 at 6:01 am
of course, should Jessica Alba return many of my friends certainly wouldn’t mind.
All jokes aside, I really liked Sin City. And I think The 300 will be just as good. It embraces the influence of the Greek Gods, the supernatural, and the mythical that actually characterized literature and legend from that time. Without that element, you just get warmed-over pap like (Brad Pitt vehicle)Troy or Oliver Stone’s Alexander.