Update:Τα 18.

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller

Rating: No Good Genre: Fantasy Representation: Gay men, Greek/Mediterranean cast Trigger Warnings: rape, rape culture, explicit sex scenes, child sexualization, exotified ethnicity, character death

I stopped reading The Song of Achilles a third of the way through.  I started the novel with high hopes, as The Song of Achilles promised to be an exploration of the romantic relationship between Achilles and Patroclus—taking what The Iliad only implied and putting it to paper.

Here’s what I was hoping for: an honest exploration of the ancient Greek conception of sexuality, taking into account that homoeroticism that we today would call “homosexual” was not considered part of one’s sexual identity, simply what one did (in addition to taking a wife, of course).  What would a boy growing up in (mythical) ancient Greece, a land where even Zeus took male lovers, think about his own romantic and sexual desires?  Does he desire only men (in The Song of Achilles this is true of both Achilles and Patroclus), and what does that mean for him personally, as compared to what it would mean for us today?

Here’s what I got: The Song of Achilles reads very much like the erotic fantasy of a straight woman about gay men.  I was made personally uncomfortable, especially considering how young the characters are in the first 3rd of the book (9-16). The Song of Achilles revisits tired tropes that seem very out of place in the ancient Greek setting–a culture notorious for its fluid sexuality. Thetis (Achilles’ mother) behaves more like a small town republican than a goddess. She’s upset that Achilles and Patroclus kiss and makes it her mission to separate them. This makes absolutely no sense considering that, as a goddess, she should be above the petty who’s-kissing-who of mortals, and makes even less sense when you consider that Zeus himself took male lovers. The bigotry is only included in the text because Miller has no idea how to deal with queer characters outside of the angst of the present day.  I was expecting this story to at least acknowledge that ancient Greece is not the same as Victorian England just because both periods happened out of living memory.

Neither Achilles nor Patroclus consider themselves as part of a greater social context.  If Patroclus really had exclusive feelings towards men, there would be some internal narrative exploring how he feels about his feelings–how does he see himself fitting into his culture? Instead, the entire narrative focuses on the external–how attractive Achilles is, and the external consequences for their relationship (such as the disapproval of Achilles’ mother). This is what really convinced me that this book was written for straight readers. A coming of age story about queer children, yet they spare no thought for their own identities? No thoughts of the future, or considerations of whether there are others like them? I would have been incredibly interested in a well-researched novel which explores the unique challenges (and enjoyment!) of queerness in an ancient context. That would have been a truly unique novel. The Song of Achilles, however, reads like Miller read one Alex Sanchez novel and thought she was somehow qualified to write this book.

Further, Miller struggles with separating her own voice from the voice of her first person narrator, which makes for some very uncomfortable narration surrounding the bodies of 9-13 year old children. Patroclus, 9 at the time, describes Achilles as “still plump with childhood” and with “hair lit like honey in the sun.” Later, at 13, Achilles is “supple.” This is the language not of a child, but of an adult observing childhood. A child would never say another child their age was “still plump with childhood.” Patroclus’ voice gets lost in Miller’s desire to write in a sophisticated style, which has the horrible repercussion of making her novel voyeuristic.

Related to this is the fact that Miller exotifies the nationalities of her characters. Everyone has “skin the color of freshly pressed olive oil” which is so silly coming from the point of view of Patroclus, who has grown up seeing Mediterranean people all his life–and looking just like them. Frankly, it’s racist. It’s a white woman looking in and impressing her own observations, not the observations of a young Greek boy, on the narrative. Some further racism: Achilles, hyperattractive demi-god that he is, is portrayed as “whiter” than everyone else–and his beauty is almost always described by the color of his “golden” skin. His hair is honey and his eyes are green, in contrast to the dark eyes and the “nut-brown” bodies of the rest of the Greeks.

So, not only is The Song of Achilles a disappointment for queer readers looking for good representation, it’s not that well written, constantly breaking point of view to give us an uncomfortable dose of child sexualization and racism. The premise of this novel had a lot of potential, but Miller couldn’t follow through with an inoffensive execution.

For more info on Madeline Miller, here’s her website

A floating market is a market where goods are sold from boats. Originating in times and places where water transport played an important role in daily life, most floating markets operating today mainly serve as tourist attractions, and are chiefly found in Thailand,Indonesia and Vietnam. (Source)

Minimal study

Source: 1 2 3 4 5 6 If you want more facts, follow Ultrafacts

Why is this turtle being mobbed by fish?

A few months ago while researching in Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA diver Mitchell Tartt caught this turtle on camera. Although they may seem like paparazzi swarming this green sea turtle, the yellow tang here are actually doing the turtle a favor.

Over time, turtles and other marine animals accumulate algae and parasites and small invertebrates. But to the yellow tangs and other fish, those parasites are something entirely different: a meal.

These fish gather throughout Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary in what are known as “cleaning stations.” When the sea turtle swims up, the fish surround it – it’s dinner time!

This relationship is just one example of a type of symbiosis in the ocean, called mutualism, in which animals of different species form relationships that benefit them both. Many sea creatures depend on symbiotic relationships to survive, from sea anemones and clownfish, to corals and zooxanthellae, to remoras and sharks.

What’s your favorite example of symbiosis in the ocean?

Badass Playlist

(The playlist you need to play when you feel like you need 50 strippers backing you and angels with hair as high as the heavens (hair metal bands)) (This also works great to drive to)

1) Wild Side–Mötley Crüe 

2) Hunger–King Kobra 

3) Breathless–Quiet Riot 

4) The Wild and the Young–Quiet Riot 

5) Shout at the Devil–Mötley Crüe 

6) Girls, Girls, Girls–Mötley Crüe 

7) Sumthin’ for Nothin’–Mötley Crüe 

8) Highway Tune–Greta Van Fleet

9) Uncle Tom’s Cabin–Warrant 

10) Nobody’s Fool–Cinderella 

11) Cherry Pie-Warrant 

12) Kickstart my Heart–Mötley Crüe 

13) Push, Push–Cinderella 

14) Gypsy Road–Cinderella 

15) Dancing on Glass–Mötley Crüe 

16) Still of the Night–Whitesnake 

17) Shake Me–Cinderella 

18) Let’s Get Crazy–Quiet Riot 

19) St. John–Aerosmith 

20) All in the Name Of…–Mötley Crüe (Even though the lyrics are quite questionable)

21) Looks that Kill–Mötley Crüe

22) Ten Seconds to Love–Mötley Crüe 

23) Hell on Wheels–Cinderella 

24) Somebody Save Me–Cinderella 

25) Put Up or Shut Up–Quiet Riot 

#justiceformuslims

all this discourse about how to spell vergil…if ur not on a first name basis with ol publius then why are you even bothering