Monday, December 10, 2007

eight meme

Alfonso VIII of Castile.

I have been tagged by William and retagged by Talmida, so here is my "eight" meme.






8 Passions in my life
:

Imperatrix pulcherrima Africae occidentalis
Medieval History
Latin
Spain
Liturgy
Music
Cooking
Poetry


8 Things to do before I die:

Camino de Santiago
Return to Jerusalem
The Silk Road on camelback
See the Aurora borealis
Learn Greek
Roast a whole lamb in my yard
Finish my dissertation
Dine in Lyon and Bologna


8 Things I often say:

I'm so tired.
&%@+*&%!
Hot sauce and white sauce.
Amen.
I love you (see first entry of first list).
Have you done your homework?
Mishea,* let's take a nap.
Mitt Romney is a d*******g.


8 Books I read (or reread) recently:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis
The Historian
Antichrist
Snow Crash
The Clouds
Medea
The Iliad


8 Films that mean something to me:

Casablanca
Caro Diario
Intravista
The Road Home
Black Cat, White Cat
Galaxy Quest
The Night of the Hunter
Simple Men


8 Songs that mean something to me:

Pale Blue Eyes (The Velvet Underground)
A Love Supreme (John Coltrane) (what Garpu said)
Didi (Khaled)
Pe' Dispietto (Nuova Comagnia di Canto Popolare)
Any one of a number of Nick Cave songs
Any piece by Palestrina
You're Innocent When you Dream (Tom Waits)
It's All Right, Ma (Bob Dylan)


8 Living people I'd like to have as dinner guests:

Nanni Moretti
Nick Cave
Tom Waits
Seamus Heaney
Lauren Bacall
Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini, SJ
Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ
A really good medium, because there are a lot of dead people I want there.


8 People I'm passing this on to:

Sandalstraps
Fayrouz
Brian
Gabriele
Ted
Kevin
mi primo
and whoever else wants to play...

*my cat

12 comments:

Garpu said...

Are you a big Neal Stephenson fan? I thought Snow Crash was interesting, but I liked Cryptonomicon better. One of these days I'm going to do an opera on The Big U. (I'm trying to get rights.)

Liam said...

Crash was the first one I read, but I really enjoyed it.

Garpu said...

Definitely check out The Big U when you get a chance (and if you can find it.) I think any academic would appreciate it, even though it's very much a first novel with typical first novel problems. (If you can't find it, shoot me an email.)

crystal said...

Snow Crash and The Iliad - both great.

The Silk Road on camelback - I rode on a camel once but sadly it was at a theme park, not on the silk road.

Lauren Bacall - what stories she could tell.

Mishea,* let's take a nap - I hear that :-)

Sandalstraps said...

I accept the tag, and will get to it after finals!

Jeff said...

See the Aurora borealis

Me too! How could I forget that one? As far as the night sky goes, I always lamented that we'd never see a comet, but we wound up seeing two.

What would the medieval mind have made of that? Good portents or bad?

Liam said...

Jeff,

From a 14th century Florentine chronicle:

"E in questo tempo apparve in cielo la stella comata, la quale, secondo che dicono i savi astrolagi, significa gran cose e mutazioni di regni."

"And at this time a comet appeared in the sky, which, according to what the sagacious astrologists say, means great things and changes of kingdoms."

By the way, "stella comata" means literally "long-haired star."

cowboyangel said...

Alfonso 8. Nice touch.

Neither one of us listed Beer as a passion. But wouldn't spending so much time and money on something be an indication of passion?

Interesting things to do before you move on. You're gonna have to get a yard before you can roast the lamb. But I'm more than willing to help on that one.

I've roasted an entire deer in an overnight cooking pit by a beautiful lake. Close.

I almost put Gat Negro, Gato Blanco! Why do we like that one so much?

I totally spaced on Simple Men. I would drop Christmas in Connecticut for that one.

Nice list of people. I tried to think of a living poet I wanted to invite, but no one seemed to really strike me. If we were in 1980, I would've said Carolyn Forche, but we're all older now. Thought of Simic. He would pprobably be funny and intelligent. But I'm not a huge fan - just haven't read that much. Freank, obviously, would be a great choice - I'm sure he was fun at a dinner party - but there's teh being dead thing. Seamus Heaney's a good choice - I forgot him.

Sandalstraps said...

I couldn't help myself, and so even though I'm not quite done for the semester, I wasted time this morning posting part of my contribution: you'll find 8 songs that mean something to me (with minimal commentary)here.

Gabriele Campbell said...

Yikes, I hadn't noticed I've been tagged. I'll get at it, I promise. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm really late to the tag. I will participate, though-- better late than never!

Anonymous said...

Mischief managed.