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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Master_Keralys, Jan 1, 2009.

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  1. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    Remember, the first few episodes really do need to be mostly episodic to help draw in an audience and set up the characters and setting. Then they can start building up the mythos. Remember how Fringe started? Or Buffy?
     
    Ulicus likes this.
  2. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

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    Jun 29, 2003

    Eh? Am I gonna have to watch this show now?
     
  3. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    Just the first part of the second episode. Then report back.
     
  4. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 24, 2005
    I am enjoying AoS...

    ... but PoI is way better. Sorry, it just is. IT'S SO GOOD.

    Buffy S1 is pretty painful to watch, honestly. I'm so glad I started watching in S3 and then went back... else I'd have never stuck with it.

    It only becomes REAL BUFFY, IMO, once we get to School Hard. And early days Spike.
     
  5. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2003
    *headdeskheaddeskheaddesk*

    It's Maya. They've got a temple from the last phase of the Maya (c. 1000 AD) next to an Olmec head, and the Olmec were about 2000 years older. And different part of Mexico.

    Inca started 1300 AD. Not to mention y'know, different continent and all.

    BUT HEY THE ROMANS WERE CHINESE, RIGHT? RIGHT????
     
  6. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

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    Oct 23, 2004

    Difference being... both those shows did not actually turn out to be all that good. :p


    Funny enough, friend on mine is currently writing his thesis on possible Roman settlers in China and India. :p
     
  7. Lugija

    Lugija Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2009
    If I know my TV education, the Romans were British.
     
  8. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

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    Nov 4, 2012
    ALL Imperials are British! ;)
     
  9. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

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    May 23, 2005
    So this is what having an Arch-Nemesis feels like. :p
     
  10. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

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    Oct 23, 2004

    A properly just me hating the genres those two shows represent with a deep passion. Fringe seems to just be a more out there X-Files and I could already not stand that show and Semi-Romantic Mythological Fantasy Mystery with a little Horror shows being so popular and flooding the market is what I blame Twilight and its ilk on. :p Though Buffy is way beyond stuff like Twilight simply alone because the acting and writing are actually pretty good.
     
  11. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

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    Jun 29, 2003
    That's the crux of the issue! We have evidence up the wazoo that the Romans were in China (and vice versa). But there's absolutely zilch evidence the Inca had anything to do with Central America. If they had we'd be seeing it in the art, DNA, animal/plant remains, etc etc etc. But we take their land, live on top on top of their cities and wipe 90% of their population out with smallpox and don't have the gall to learn who they were.

    *grumblegrumble*
     
    Mia Mesharad, jSarek, RC-1991 and 2 others like this.
  12. Lugija

    Lugija Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2009
    Today's Cracked has an article of the Malak fight of KOTOR. After the usual terrible "Everything after 1983 sucks"-jokes it gets funny.
    Bad words even in the link so I'm not linking.
     
  13. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 24, 2005
    YEAH BUT THEY ALSO HAVE SUPERHEROES AND NORSE GODS SO WHO ARE YOU TO SAY WHAT THE MCU'S HISTORY LOOKS LIKE!? EH!? EH!? MAYBE THEIR INCAS ARE DIFFERENT. AND BETTER.
     
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  14. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

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    Jun 29, 2003
    Their Inca... are Maya.

    And they're both alive today. And are as different as modern Chinese and Italians.:(
     
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  15. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 24, 2005
    Maya be, maya be not.
     
  16. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

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    Nov 4, 2012
    How's that calendar going?
     
  17. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

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    May 23, 2005
    You do realize that Buffy came along long before Twilight ruined literature and vampires forever. Buffy also blended the horror and teen drama genres in a way that defied most of the cliches of either.
     
  18. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Dec 2, 2009

    Huh, what are his lines of evidence? I know that caches of Roman coins have been found on the coast of Western India, which would indicate some level of trade, but I can't see actual groups of settlers founding Roman colonies out that far. Aside from them having to go through hostile Eastern polities (Parthians, later the Sassanians), these are the same Romans who didn't even bother to settle Ireland.
     
  19. MercenaryAce

    MercenaryAce Chosen One star 6

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    Aug 10, 2005
    As someone who specializes in pre-modern long distance trade and contact, I do have my doubts about that. I mean, Rome and China knew of each, but from what I understand they were never able to establish official relations because of the distance involved and because Persia really didn't like the idea of those two getting chummy. Settlers would have an even tougher time. Plus, China seems a little too populated to be good for settling.
     
  20. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

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    Oct 29, 2005
    I recall reading an article recently about a translation of a Chinese book that gave a description of the Roman Empire; I don't believe that it indicated any 'official relations' but it was fairly detailed. (Comparatively, it was also a lot less full of bizarre nonsense than a lot of Western explorer travelogues - especially the well-regarded for his time John Mandeville).
     
  21. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

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    Jun 29, 2003
    There were a ton of people living in China long before Rome, unless you're referring to Tibet. There's not a lot of archaeology that has been done in Tibet for various political reasons, so we really don't know what was going on there. A lot of trade was done going through India and across the Arabian sea. The Chinese and Rome were certainly aware of each other -- even if we take the exchange of domesticated animals/plants out of the picture and inventions like paper, they were writing about each other and sending envoys back and forth. And India was certainly no stranger to Rome. I mean Rome's always got like, peacocks and stuff in their art. They were getting a lot of that from India.

    Were there settlements? Probably not -- it's not like people weren't aware of property lines back then. There were people everywhere. Any Romans trying to settle as far out as China would have needed to be in communication with someone, either friend or foe. Unless there was some zany Roman Beverly Hillbilly situation, I doubt anyone but envoys and merchants were hanging around China too often.

    Now one of you Classicists go make a Roman Beverly Hillbillies in China show.
     
  22. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Nov 28, 2000
    Hah, so I was right to begin with then -- it was Mayan! See RC, I win. :p

    Of course, that doesn't stop the comic fans in JCC from wondering what exactly the big deal is... I get that it's just a TV show, but you'd think that if they did just enough research to namedrop local geography (like the "Sacred Valley") that they could do a basic google search on what an Incan temple looks like. I guess I'm glad they didn't use teepees or something.

    Parthia, actually -- the high point of Roman-Chinese trade was during the early Empire, during which the Parthians jealously prevented any official contact between the two. However, they were aware enough of each other for Roman mapmakers to have a reasonably accurate if hilariously distorted map of the east -- heck, the Romans were aware of the Japanese and some of the Indonesian islands as well, mostly because that's where they got spices and stuff from.

    India and the Roman Empire did actually have official contacts: Livy reports that ambassadors from India met with Augustus.

    Anyway, as for settlers... doubtless there were unofficial travelers and the like. Merchants definitely traveled as far as India and China, it's just that official representatives never did. We know this because Roman coins have been found in India in large enough quantities to suggest more than just trade was going on. There are also the persistent stories of ex-Crassan soldiers settling in China after Carrhae. More definitively, Hellenistic Greeks from Bactria definitely settled into India and provided the locals with a flavor for more realistic looking Greek-style figures while importing concepts like the Buddha, lions, peacocks, and Asiatic tigers back to the Mediterranean... as well as Buddhist and Hindu philosophy.
     
  23. darthcaedus1138

    darthcaedus1138 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2007

    WIBBLY WOBBLY TIMEY WIMEY
     
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  24. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    Of course I know, but the stuff has not gone away since then and it keeps getting worse.



    I'll ask him when we meet again. Though I think it will properly be stuff like Jello mentioned.


    Edit: AC 4 can now be preordered on Steam :D

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/242050/
     
  25. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    blargh.

    I'm going to follow the LI policy and not bother until it's on sale a year or two from now, methinks. Sigh.
     
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