2.26.2025

computer number 3

good news my club, i have a new computer once again!!! it is a macbook pro from 2016 and it has half peeled stickers on it of sea creatures and ghosts. i will not be removing them. i hope to not have anymore laptops after this one for at least 6 months. however no one talks about the complicated transition to a new computer. i have done it too many times recently. to be honest i miss my laptop from middle school. it had puffy stickers on every inch of the keyboard. it was heavy as hell and my dad would have to use it in public sometimes.

now i am transitioning to this smooth macbook (my first ever mac, might i add) from my slow dell laptop. but my slow dell laptop has all my things. all my passwords and videos and my softwares. but this computer is slick and was gifted to me by someone i love! and it blogs so quick.

one resolution of mine is to blog weekly again. it was very freeing. i love you blog. today i will talk about my recent trip to belize. actually i am kind of sleepy and its almost 11 pm. so i will show my scrapbook scans and be gone for a minute.

in other news, i am really into writing letters. maybe that's why i haven't been online: i am analog now?! no i will never be analog and we all know this. in fact i am more obsessed with robots than ever before.



i also went to the library and borrowed some dvds to watch

i love dvds.
reviews are soon to come

1.26.2025

amtrak to boston

i write this on my phone because my laptop is once again so broken. i need the robots to come in and repair it. but for now i have an hour left to boston as i sit with my two sleeping best friends. we all woke up too early.

i feel like i need to embrace writing again. i need my life to slow down. i need to be creative. that’s why i brought my travel scrapbook with me to boston so i can stitch together these moments and enjoy them too. i’ve been reading We by Yevgeny Zaymatin and writing more music and watching a lot of movies. albeit bad movies but they just make you appreciate the good ones more. my favorite movie i've seen in the year of our lord 2025 so far is Twelve Angry Men. i am the thirteenth angry man because i was really hoping it was not that good and it’s just pretentious people praising it, but it was really good unfortunately. it makes me want to go to the theatre and watch a play. maybe even write a play one day, but i need to write a movie first.

i am on a break from school, and i intended to start writing my short film but instead i’m going to boston. a lot of great films take place in boston, so maybe inspiration is nigh. i think my film will be about microscopes because i have 5 of them and i think they could be utilized. maybe it’s a drama about a boy who wants to live life at the microscopic level. maybe it’s a psychological thriller about an obsessed lover who must observe every millimeter of their girlfriend. maybe it’s a low budget sci-fi about a rapidly multiplying alien cell, so rapid that 5 microscopes are needed to look at it. i am not sure yet but i have ideas.

i went to the metropolitan museum of art in december and took lots of reference images, but this one sticks with me. i want to replicate this, maybe not in the microscope film, but another. or maybe all of the microscopes assume the positions around jesus and the mad scientist lays in the middle. i am not sure.

i took a lot of pictures in the met anyways, mostly of reflections and windows. there’s too many to dump here so take 3.



maybe the rest will be revealed later.

this post was to express my hope for the future and my creative endeavors. a lot is happening in my life now but also nothing at all? are things closing up or opening i don’t know. i will find out soon enough. maybe the answer is in boston written in the harbor with tea leaves. maybe the answer is from my pair of friends. maybe my answer is asleep at home. 

boston vlog coming soon? 2025 is the year of youtube. only 3 months until the blogaversary

1.11.2025

dog eyes

 i am sick with norovirus but i miss my blog badly. happy 2025 my club. the blogaversary is coming up soon!

to keep you fulfilled i am going to post some analysis i did on the phrase "dog eyed" in homeric poetry.

i was reminded of this writing by song lyrics i wrote with my friend:

dog eyed runner where do you run

with chaos walking beside you 

These 3 scenes all use the same word: κῠνώπης, derived from κῠ́ων (dog) and ὤψ (eye/face). Literally, it means “dog-eyed” or “dog-faced.” It is always some sort of insult, usually directed at women. Clytemnestra is shameless in killing her husband. Helen is shameless in starting a ten-year war. So it is especially impactful when Achilles calls Agamemnon κῠνώπης. 

I wanted to observe the significance of κῠνώπης as it relates to dogs and women. This word seems reserved for the most despicable of women, as Agamemmnon describes Clytemnestra in Book 11. He says there is nothing more κύντερον (translated as “shameless”) than a woman who has this much passion in an act like this, murdering her husband. κύντερον also has origins from κῠ́ων and it literally means “dog-like.” Murray’s translation of the word in the Odyssey reminds us of Priam’s speech in Book 22 of the Iliad; dogs feast upon their masters without a shred of shame. Dogs are seen as shameless beings, living with no regrets of their desecration, only looking for gluttonous gratification without considering others. While Clytemnestra obviously did not consider Agamemnon’s feelings in his murder, how does Helen relate to this? 

κῠνώπης is reminiscent of the English phrase “puppy eyes,” used to describe big, soft, vulnerable eyes that could persuade anyone to do anything. I feel like a similar idea is applied to κῠνώπης , but with an emphasis on shameless and selfish seduction, only demonstrated by conniving women. 

Clytemnestra is generally known as Ancient Greece’s worst wife, as shown in Book 11 of the Odyssey. This speech is told by Agamemmnon, husband and victim to Clytemnestra. He describes her with utmost hatred, trying to convince Odysseus of her evilness, with imagery of how once she killed him she turned away (νοσφίσατ᾽, οὐδέ μοι ἔτλη). Clytemnestra even refused to shut his eyes, a custom of respect for the dead (Od 4.426). Agamemnon speaks with a bite in his tone, as seen in the alliteration of ‘τ’ in line 428 (ἥ τις δὴ τοιαῦτα μετὰ φρεσὶν ἔργα βάληται), discussing her premeditated action. He emphasizes Clytemnestra’s agency in her deed, her conscious choice to kill her. There is a repetition of ἔργα... ἔργον (Od 11.428–439), accentuating the gravity and deliberateness of her betrayal. He finishes his speech with a bold and generalizing statement: her actions put shame unto all women, even those of the future (Od 4.434-435). He employs the comparative of θῆλυς (female) in line 435, adding to the generality of the statement. 

The passage from Book 4 is very revealing of Helen’s character. Here, she is portrayed as self-aware, critically thinking, and having emotional depth. She opens with a rhetorical question to Menelaus (Od 4.138-139), highlighting her perceptiveness as an individual, not needing validation or a response. Her speech flows from one line to another with enjambment (Od 4.144-145), showcasing her spontaneous thought but also depth of feeling. She uses epithets for both her husband Menelaus (Μενέλαε διοτρεφές) and Odysseus (Ὀδυσσῆος μεγαλήτορος), portraying them as divine and heroic to Telemachus, while she is κυνώπιδος (line 145). Overall, her speech is riddled with guilt, as she feels to blame for the loss of Odysseus. Still, Helen displays that she is more than a pawn in a war or a wife. 

Finally, Achilles uses κῠνώπης to describe Agamemnon in a heated argument over Briseis, a war bride that Agamemnon took from Achilles. The use of κῠνώπης is most insulting here, as describing a man and his self-gratifying impulses. Achilles’ speech is full of rage and pride. His repetition of negative phrases like οὐ γὰρ πώποτ᾽ (Il 1.154) οὐδὲ μὲν… οὐδέ ποτ᾽ (Il 1.154-55)  οὔ τι μετατρέπῃ οὐδ᾽ (Il 1.160) suggest his absolute refusal and feelings of betrayal. He alludes to his past in Phthia with flourishing language (ἐριβώλακι), evoking pathos for his leaving of home just to be cheated by Agamemnon. Adding to the emotional intensity, Achilles uses direct address to Agamemnon (ὦ μέγ᾽ ἀναιδὲς), calling him shameless, and later κῠνώπης as well. κῠνώπης fits perfectly into Achilles’ upset, the ideal insult in this moment of wrath and Agamemnon’s sexually-charged prideful impulses.


1.02.2025

blogalicious recap

 posting this to hold myself accountable

edit: i changed my mind. i got norovirus

welcome

welcome to robotics club

I don't know what possessed me to make a blog at 6:55pm on a thursday but I did. I didn't realize how much work it would take to mak...