-
11 December 2005
Sun, 11 Dec 2005 01:40:04 GMT Albert Camus: The myth of sisyphusvia Kjell Olsen1124 days agoThe workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that can not be surmou nted by scorn.
The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.
-
01 December 2005
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:05:02 GMT A Little About Vlad Tepesvia Kjell Olsen1133 days agoThe inspiration for Dracula (meaning Son of the Dragon):
The word “tepes” in Romanian means “impaler”—and Vlad was so-named because of his penchant for impalement as a means of punishing his enemies. Impalement was a particularly gruesome form of execution, wherein the victim was impaled between the legs—to put it politely—upon a large, sharpened stake the width of a burly man’s arm. Vlad especially enjoyed mass executions, where several victims were impaled at once, and their stakes hoisted upright. As they hung suspended above the ground, the weight of their bodies would slowly drag them downwards, causing the sharpened end of the stake to pierce their internal organs. In order to better enjoy these mass spectacles, Vlad routinely ordered a banquet table set up in front of his victims, and would enjoy a leisurely supper amid the pitiful sights and sounds of the dying.
-
Also somewhat recently
