Attitude Modifications

Off the top of your head, make a list of some of the most humorless groups in the world.

I doubt any of you named people into body modification, that is people enough into it that they frequent a blog entirely dedicated to the practice.

I stumbled upon such a blog recently via a link from Fark, and saw this post that included this picture:










Clearly, somewhere the executives at EA are dancing for joy at the prospect of their corporate logo sprouting a layer of winter fur. But that's another point.

So perhaps feeling a wee bit snarky, I make a comment on the blog with the following helpful suggestions:

"Seriously, if you are into body modifications, I have a couple initial thoughts for you:
1. Slimfast
2. Laser Hair Removal"

From the reaction, you'd think I'd canceled Festivus.

Insults rained down on me. I was accused of being an "asshole," someone who was trying to "ruin it" for other people, not accepting of alternative body types, a "cock," and a hater of French Canadians.

ALL TRUE, yes, but the fact is you would think people who are into piercing, cutting, stitching, inking, burning, implanting things etc into their own flesh for public display wouldn't be so bloody sensitive.

Bad Bad Basil

Its sad, really. This musty old blog sitting by itself. Some surfer randomly comes across it and wonders if the creator has been hospitalized, died, or simply is too much of a lazy ass to pound out a few words every couple days.

So much for the idea of writing a novel in a month, if I can't even knock out a stream-of-consciousness blog entry every so often. To that point, however, I did discover that someone has already written a novelized chronicle of Themistocles' life. Farewell, Great King by Jill Paton Walsh has been a very gratifying read so far.

She tells the story from the perspective of Themistocles, who as he prepares to commit suicide (how some historians have said he met his end), has his life story written down for Artaxerxes (the Persian "Great King" of the title). I too had considered Themistocles himself as being the right voice for his own story, but was outlining a novel broken into segments to be told by Themistocles to various people as he flees Argos and makes his way to Persia (and eventually to the court of Artaxerxes).

She also makes a very big deal over Themistocles' love/hate relationship with Aristides (another Athenian politician), which while very important in their personal history as well as that of Athens, does not seem as important to me as the relationship between Themistocles and Pausanias (the Spartan). Themistocles stood for Athenian freedom at call costs, while Aristides stuck to the rule of law, and Pausanias wanted security (and power for himself). In both cases, Themistocles steadfast adherence to freedom, and willingness to lie, cheat or steal to keep it, put him in some contrast with the other fellows.

Anyway, hopefully finishing the novel will help me put away that little historical obsession, and get back to the business of having totally random, off the wall thoughts.