Movies and Events: Unfortunately, I took an afternoon off to go to "Mission to Mars". Despite a cast of talented actors including Gary Sinise and Tim Robbins, this movie was an unvarnished attempt at public relations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The plot was plodding and unimaginative with practically no character development at all. At least when Disney's Touchtone pictures collaborated with NASA on "Armageddon", we had tension, action, and, albeit course, humor, even though the attitude towards "the end of the world as we know it" was hardly somber enough for the reality. I guess I'll have to pin my hopes for a sci-fi thriller on "Battlefield Earth" although John Travolta may, in his adoration of the story's author, founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, push his performance a little over the top.

I also explored a new exhibit at the Portland Art Museum, "Stroganoff: Art of a Russian Nobel Family". It was not nearly as extensive as the "Treasures of Russia" exhibit that I attended in Las Vegas two years ago but interesting nonetheless. It showcased art collected over five centuries by one of Russia's richest families. It featured paintings, orthodox icons, items crafted of malachite and lapis lazuli, silk embroidered chairs, chests inlaid with mother-of-pearl and rare hardwoods, and artifacts from Etruscan, Aztec, Mayan, and Ming civilizations. My favorite pieces included two fireplace screens painted with portraits of the Stroganoff's pet poodle and spaniel and an ornate clock depicting the fall of Phaeton, a beautiful jumble of horses, chariot, and ancient warrior plated with gold. I was also awestruck by a huge picture frame that resembled twisted grape vines highlighted with sculptures of Russian wolfhounds and magnificent stags all covered with gold leaf. The painting it contained was also beautiful but I was more intrigued by the frame. I took my digital camera with me but the guard refused to allow me to photograph any of the exhibits even though I had the flash disabled. They must be afraid it will hurt the sales of their souvenirs or something. I would not have attempted to take any photographs if they had posted signs. They didn't mention it on their web site either.

Readings: I finished reading "Memoirs of Cleopatra" by Margaret George. It held my interest but I must stand by my first appraisal: It is well written but lacks the strength of McCullough's dynamic dialogue. George obviously is a talented writer but lacks a mature understanding of human relations that McCullough seems to possess. I have been researching a number of classic sources in an effort to determine how much of McCullough's work is based on actual historical accounts. Plutarch does mention the existence of a Syrian prophetess named Martha that was highly esteemed by Gaius Marius but does not mention any official prophecy of the unprecedented seven consulships. Julius Caesar's short career as flamen dialis was viewed by Plutarch as Caesar's own arrogant attempt to thrust himself into a public position rather than a handicap thrust upon him by Marius in the days of his final consulship. But I would think McCullough's spin on the events ring more true. I will have to check other sources. I was surprised that the works of Suetonius do not appear in the Internet Classics Archive. Some scholars have viewed his work as that of an untrustworthy gossip but who is to say that his reports are less influenced by politics than Plutarch. I was also surprised to learn that Caesar actually wrote a book of jokes and sayings. Unfortunately, it supposedly did not survive. Too bad. You can often tell a great deal about a man's opinions by reviewing his humor. One thing that has become abundantly clear to me in my search for the real Julius Caesar - formal historical writings are not necessarily a recounting of facts. You have to check and cross check a number of sources from a variety of social or political positions to even begin to untangle what appears to be fact as opposed to conjecture or in some cases, overt attempts to influence your opinion. I am also surprised by modern scholars who appear to purposefully cast a historical character in an unfavorable light. Surely, someone who died over 2000 years ago should have little impact on today's political arena. I am reading a modern biography of Cleopatra where the author casually mentions Caesar was bisexual. The only two references I have found to Caesar's romantic relationships which may have implied this proclivity was a rumor started by Lucullus and motivated by jealousy, that Caesar had procured a fleet of ships from the King of Bithynia by offering his youthful body to the notoriously seductive ruler. Caesar always vehemently denied the accusation. Then, just recently, I read an article that said Marc Antony, in his anger over the inheritance of Octavian, attempted to slur Octavian by claiming Octavian served other than military purposes when he accompanied Caesar on several campaigns. Both of these statements should have hardly been viewed as statements of fact.

I watched an A&E biography of Julius Caesar that was also less than flattering and omitted many of the positive aspects of the man. Likewise, I watched a TLC presentation on Alexander The Great that was very positive and totally ignored his documented alcoholism and murderous rages. Could it be that our society chooses to glorify someone commonly thought to be a Greek (he was actually Macedonian) because Greece remains an enduring symbol of "democracy" while the accomplishments of Romans are clouded by the prejudice of Judeo-Christian society because of a brief period of martyrdom? In my opinion, I have found our society to be modeled more after the Roman Republic than early Greek democracy but I'm sure our politicians would prefer to have the average person believe otherwise.

I also read a book called "The Messiah Stones" by new author Irving Benig. This book, although marketed as mainstream fiction, was a thinly veiled attempt to preach fundamental Christian concepts on the end of the world. It had no tension and wandered without a plot. I enjoy archaelogical thrillers and the summary seemed to promise this type of story but I was roundly disappointed. The discovery of the Messiah stones was an event that could have been used as a narrative device to drive the story forward. The author hinted at a conspiracy to hide the truth from the world but didn't develop this possible plot line. The original discoverer of the stones abandons his family for no apparent reason and none is revealed as his estranged son takes up the quest to rediscover the location of the stones. When one character who is supposedly "called" to Jerusalem in the final days recounts her "strange" dream which is the exact recounting of the traditional "Garden of Eden" story, in a long drawn-out sequence in which it is retold as if it is a breathtaking revelation , I was so disgusted I almost turned off the tape.

I also listened to "Neanderthal" by John Darnton. I had purchased the paperback several years ago and tried three different times to read the thing. The story was so plodding I couldn't get past the first third of the book. So, when I saw it in abridged audio format, I thought, perhaps , it would have been compressed enough to cut to the chase. Unfortunately, it still took over half the tape to get going then it seemed to be a retelling of H.G. Wells "Time Machine" with the gentle Neanderthals representing the Eloi and the vicious Neanderthals, the Morlocks. However, the story did take a slight turn and developed into a takeoff of Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead" or perhaps, Beowulf, which, of course was the basis for "Eaters of the Dead".

Technology:

I am still hard at work on my virtual Julius Caesar project. He is now online at http://interact.uoregon.edu/maryh/caesar/fullbodyframe.html I have been a little discouraged by the unreliable nature of the WebGuide software. Unlike most programs I have used, you cannot use the scripting "rules" detailed in the manual with 100 percent success. Perhaps it is a result of the "fuzzy" logic of the SmartEngine but it makes the scripting process rather tedious. In fact, I sent an e-mail to the software developer, Artificial-Life, Inc., about the failure of the product to react as stated in the documentation. I was advised to upgrade to their enterprise edition. However, I have not been assured that the pattern matching algorithm has been improved so I am unsure if the upgrade would produce any better results. I am presently waiting for a response to my questions about any product improvements before I decide to proceed with the upgrade.

I have also been searching for a decent text-to-speech product to ease my eye strain. Most products developed for the visually impaired are not only expensive but very machine-sounding. Since they have no other alternative, they have had to settle for these less than satisfactory incarnations of the technology. But, I am looking for a product of convenience so can be more discriminating. I don't understand why highly accurate programs can be developed for the more difficult task of converting speech to text and sold for a reasonable price of less than $100 but the less difficult text-to-speech technology commands a premium price.

I have also been experimenting with the Glassbook Reader (http://www.glassbook.com) to see if I can take text from the Internet Classics Archive, paste it into Word 2000 and convert it to an Acrobat .pdf file so I can view it with the Glassbook Reader (The finely tuned zoom function really relieves my eye strain). I discovered I can do this but am experimenting with the page size settings in the "Job Options" of Acrobat Distiller so I can convert the document with page sizes that do not require scrolling with the Glassbook Reader. Although I can view .pdf files with the Glassbook Reader, I also have not yet figured out how to add files to the Reader's library without going through the download process from Glassbook's website. I guess I'm going to have to e-mail them to find out.