All I know about Rome is that it involves togas, and frontal nudity, and possibly prancing.

Someone on my LJ friendslist asked whether people in the Roman era really shaved their armpits, e.g., and the classicist who is also on my friendslist noted that the Romans did not shave; mostly, they plucked body hair or singed it back to the root to get that cool, hairless look. Yipe!

Of course, these were also people who had no problem with barfing. Historical folks, they are strange.

Salon article: Let's Iraq and roll

In a surreal twist on the public demonstration, the Pentagon put on a show Sunday to mark 9/11 and honor U.S. troops serving in the war.

OK, this part disturbs me:

The march started at the Pentagon and went across Arlington Memorial Bridge to a site adjacent to the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial, where country singer Clint Black serenaded the crowd with vague, seemingly nostalgic platitudes of word and song.

Black told the crowd he's not a politician. "I'm gonna let the music do most of the talking," he said, before he launched into a new song with the refrain: "The code of the west is black and white, the good guys and the bad. You always know who's wrong or right, by the color of their hats."

So, um, he's saying that people fall neatly into two categories, 'good' and 'evil,' and that it's easy to tell who is in what category? and he's saying this, what, without irony?

I get the sense (I may be wrong) that country music really isn't about the irony.

What do you like about Rome, Gus?

Sweaty humans, engaged with the issues that will effect their lives.

Sweaty humans, engaged with the issues that will effect their lives.

Sweat = dramedy gold. (cf., Body Heat, 12 Angry Men)

Sweat, and skirts! Short skirts, if I remember Spartacus aright.

Also, possibly, some depravity.

I get the sense (I may be wrong) that country music really isn't about the irony.

I dunno, have you ever heard James McMurtry?

See, I figured I'd be proven wrong. But Clint Black? Doesn't sound much like he's into irony.

Oh, and this morning I woke up with an earworm of the Wizard of Oz song "The Lollipop Guild" - except the words "lollipop guild" were replaced with "underpants gnomes." I blame Consuela's tag.

(for posterity: Underpants gnomes are never a valid step in an argument. -- Nutty)

I don't know. Clint Black is that sort of country I don't listen to.

ETA: If You're interested at all here is a little about McMurtry with links about his song "We Can't Make It Here." It's an amazing -insert whatever kind of song that sort of thing is- about the clusterfuck that life today is