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2020 has not been a great year, generally speaking. It was not the best year for me, personally. But despite a mental health rollercoaster there were a lot of good things, and I pushed myself to do more. I want to share some of that here.
My mission to bring the ancient world to life in a fun way and keep classic English-language poetry alive is really important to me. To that end I opened the year by reading the opening lines of the Aeneid as Shao Kahn, from Mortal Kombat. That's right.
I read a number of classic English poems as The Joker. That was really fun. I also did an impression of Morgan Freeman reading "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" that is now one of my most popular and most searched-for videos.
I truly believe that literature, great literature on universal themes of love and death and loss and joy is one of the few lights we have in this world, and it makes me smile to imagine fictional characters and famous celebrities regaling us with these stories, so I imitate them.
I also embarked on a complete reading of the Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. I'm still working on it, but I finished the General Prologue this year, and I've gotten some very kind comments on it.
One of the projects I'm most proud of is my translation of Tolkien's "The Fall of Gil-galad" into Classical Latin, complete with authentic dactylic hexameter. It took me months to translate, but the reading was pure joy.
I continued with one of my great loves, Old Norse lit, by focusing heavily on it, both beloved classics and lesser-known works. I read and translated the wave riddles of King Heidrek, various accounts of the Norse discovery of America, and even Morgan Freeman reading rune poems.
I also read and translated classics like Þrymskviða, the gorgeous and hilarious narrative poem about Thor's journey to Jotunheim in a wedding dress, in the original Old Norse. I think the world needs to hear these stories as they were originally told.
I'm perhaps most proud of my complete reading of Hrafnkels saga, the final chapter of which I just posted. Hrafnkels saga is my very favorite Icelandic saga, a truly masterful epitome of medieval Iceland. It's gorgeous and should be more widely known. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM4iKTFTZcojSL4icvnWiEPobJLqJPcw4
On the sillier side I did a reading of the opening lines of the Aeneid as BERNIE SANDERS, which actually had a Facebook Latin group and a lot of other people briefly fooled into thinking the Vermont senator had actually read the damn thing.
The funniest thing about this were the nasty comments that came from those who apparently disagreed with the Bernie phenomenon. "BARBARIC SOCIALIST READING", read one Facebook comment. Another said that only a socialist could so badly mangle the meter (which is really hilarious).
Another one really special to me was my continuation of the Ancient Greek Orphic Hymns. Presenting an alternative view of Greek cosmogony, they are highly ornate and mystical in their epithets and adorations of the gods, as in this Hymn to Herakles.
According to my ex, who was herself Greek, the Orphic Hymns were little studied even in Greece, and it meant a lot to her that I had heard of them and recited them. That always meant a lot to me, so I hope that I do the Hymns justice, as they're very beautiful and sacred to me.
I redid my reading of the Ring Verse from Lord of the Rings translated into GOTHIC...
I translated the Macarena into Old Norse and SANG AND DANCED IT on TikTok and YouTube, almost certainly the first person in history to do so...
I read Sir Orfeo, one of the most captivating Middle English lays, a medieval retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, in its entirety, in Middle English...
The Harrowing of Hell, a York medieval English play about Jesus' descent into Hell to redeem the souls of the damned, complete with hilarious medieval depictions of comical demons and saints...
I did a series in which Darth Vader counts in ancient/medieval languages, including Greek, Latin, Old Norse, and COPTIC EGYPTIAN...
And, perhaps most importantly, I started a podcast with my amazing and talented girlfriend, @Livnatkris, called On the Waters, about religion and world myth.
