So the scene where he strings the bow is particularly interesting in contrast to Pasolini’s The Return, in which he warms the bow over the fire to make it more pliable. That’s similar to the kind of trick that the *suitors* try in Homer, and in Nolan’s version. Pasolini makes it about Odysseus’s vaunted cleverness rather than physical strength. But Nolan’s version is actually closer to the original in that here it’s the suitors who try to game the system and Odysseus doesn’t outsmart them—he’s just stronger. I think it really demonstrates how brains *and* brawn are part of what it means for him to be a complete hero, a man in full. There’s also a musical cue in Nolan that’s taken right from the similes in Book 21, where stringing the bow is compared to stringing a musical instrument and its sound is like that of a swallow. It’s one of the places where I think you can see Nolan is really attending to the text, whatever you make of how well or badly he interprets it
I finally attended the group chat meetup me and the guys had talked about for years and literally everyone had Down syndrome. And then I looked in the mirror of the bar and realized I had Down syndrome as well and that was when I finally relaxed and started to laugh and laugh
“What if the Odysseus you knew lost his way? What if...one night, in a strange city, he saw things that made him think the home he knew couldn't possibly be there anymore. What if…when he left the belly of the horse, and opened the gates of Troy, he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night?
We left them a gift, an offering of peace, that they took into their home. We violated all that's ever sacred between people. It turned a fight into a hunt.
To burn the walls of Troy was to burn the world-entire. Including his home.
What if he knew, that very night, as he walked through fires, anarchy, and pain—and in a daze of sweaty celebrations that follow—what if he knew exactly what he'd done?”
Lindsey Graham knew that the surgery to remove ribs in order to suck your own dick had risks. He went forward with clear eyes and a full heart. He died on his own terms.