Tag Archives: Euripides

My bloody brain

Yup, it tends to happen. I am out here trying to insert a side of the story to my script Engonos and also the script to Vitam Exhaurire and as it happens I suddenly have another idea. I am working on three scripts at the moment (the third will be on the back burner for a little while) there is no way I am starting another script. I’ll end up with a dozen of scripts and only one finished. Still, the idea has merit. So perhaps I can give it to Matt Damon. He might be busy, but it could help the students involved in Project Greenlight, an American documentary television series focusing on first-time filmmakers being given the chance to direct a feature film. Perhaps it would be useful for them. On the other hand, first time film makers tend to have their ideas on a rope, as such. I am not sure if it would be of any help. I’m thinking that any idea that hits a director (or visionary) who sees the idea might think that he (or she) could make something of this and I was never unwilling to give assistance to the creative mind. Beside that I am already working on projects 2 and 3 (4 comes later) and in that instance this idea would be redundant in my mind as I am focussing on something else.

The Idea
The idea is surrounding Euripides, the Greek writer and a Greek tragedian of classical Athens. He lived between 480 BC and 406 BC and is said to have voiced over 90 plays and several were made into movies (after he died). So I got to thinking. What is this movie is about Euripides. Starting as a young Greek (around 455 BC) and from there we get to see two settings. The first is his daily life and set this in an authentic looking life (at that time) and in between he goes on dream quests and envisions some of his works like Orestes and how he envisions how the Furies to be. We see him thinking through grief in Hecuba and how he sees the unfold through grief over the death of her daughter Polyxena and the revenge she takes for the murder of her youngest son, Polydorus. We see him shape Children of Heracles and how he opposes war. And in that setting and these plays he shapes tragedy as we know it to be now. You see, we see his plays and the versions that made it to the movies, but we don’t ever see Euripides himself and how this darkness is shaped into the massive hit it is now and has been for over 2000 years. There is also the thought that he might have been a doom sayer, brought to the surface in his plays and how it shapes him and darkens his soul. He died at an age over 70, in those days a real rarity. As such, the end of the movie should include The Bacchae which was published after he died, yet that part is ‘performed’ in the movie whilst we see Euripides as a ghost between the people watching his work lighting his should up. As we see The Dionysus in Euripides’ tale is a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of Cadmus, has denied him a place of honor as a deity. His mortal mother, Semele, was a mistress of Zeus; and while pregnant, was tricked by a jealous Hera to request Zeus to come to her in his true form. But in the movie Dionysus is the ghost of Euripides, showing him angered by the people who mocked him in his life. And he is taken by three women Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter), and Atropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death) telling him that his work will survive thousands of years and he did well and Zeus will congratulate his efforts and the inspiration he was to greeks until time ends. 

This was the idea I had an hour ago. The plays are a bit open, but The Bacchae is essential to be at the end as it was published after he died. 

So that one is for Matt Damon to use in Project Greenlight.

Well, that is my creatively created $0.02, not bad for a 02:00 piece of work. Time to catch some snores as I prepare for the day ahead which starts in 3 hours. Have a great day.

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The added parts

A little over a year ago I had an idea. It was founded on the God of War 3, not a game copy, not some replica wannabe. But a full grown RPG, based on the foundations of Olympus. I saw what I initially had and I decided to give parts a rewrite. You see, we can only be as unique as we make ourselves to be. The game wasn’t a copy, but it lacked a few sides. I thought that this needed adjustment. The first setting was good, but I wanted more, an introduction outside of Olympus. And that was where I had an idea. The original story was ‘It was this simple’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/15/it-was-this-simple/) and I wrote it in January 2024, a little over a year ago. I considered the stage and it was too predictable. As such I wanted to add an intro level. After you go through the mirror, you get to a field with houses, these houses are meant for the upper slaves of Olympus. They had a little more. The houses are in a circle and there is nothing more to see, yet as you enter the houses, they will seem to have security active, these systems have been dormant for millennia, but once activated the become active. I want to set the stage that the upper slave of your deity is save to enter and as such you will learn to interact with objects, you will see the security drone ignore you (in one house only) so you can practice stealth. As such you will have motion, observation and interactions set. You could also enter the other houses, it is not essential at this point but the houses have part of the lore of the story. And you can always revisit the circle of houses when your rank goes up. There are 11 houses for the 11 gods, the 12th house is in Tartarus (in the palace of Hades). The second play through you can select Hades as your deity. 

Then there is the lore of the story. The lore of the upper slaves lead to the lore of the slaves and to scrolls, tablets and jewelry that enables you to select the houses. It was here that I considered another side. As a female you would have the diadem of Aphrodite. But as a male you cannot enter her domain until you have a much higher rank and as such you could gain the bracelet of allegiance to Aphrodite or the Diadem for men of Zeus or the trinket of a god equal of higher then Aphrodite. This comes down to the jewelry of Zeus, Poseidon or Hades. I have yet to create a structure on this. There is Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the rest are nearly all equal except Athena, Apollo, Ares and Hermes. So they have access to nearly all others (except three) Hades, Makaria,  Zagreus and Melinoe. 

The lore is set to stories on scrolls and tablets. I need to see if it is an IP violation if I use part of the stories of Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Pindar and Apollodorus. If it is, I need to write passages in their styles to give the feel of authenticity. 

So whilst we are about to put ‘life’ bank into Olympus, I need to consider a few other sides. I considered that this might have an alternative use. And if that works it would be some feet to achieve it. But that is for later. 

For now I have to look at what I am seeing not. You see the Guardian gives us “The US vice-president was hypocritical and insensitive, but bracingly clear in his resetting of relationships” You see, we are given a story that fits the need of the Trump administration. And when you take the tariffs and this “Vance portrayed a continent that had lost its way. Why was the security conference talking about defence budgets when it was not clear what they were actually defending? he asked. It was clear “against what” they were defending, but not clear “for what reason”.” This set may mind at work. You see, it is about money (it usually is) and America has nearly none left. America has $36.22 trillion in debt and last year the US budget deficit tops $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2024, third-largest on record whilst they got $4.47 trillion in collected taxation. And the bad nows here is that they had a decrease of 15.5%, a drop from the 14.3% increase we saw between 2021 and 2022. So they are getting less tax dollars and they are borrowing more. So how can that continue? America wants out of NATO because it can no longer foot the bill and the Trump administration has 4 years to go. So when America starts handing out the IP in their patent offices to foot bills, American businesses are up for a massive panic attack. 

That is how I see it and I could be wrong, but after the tariff wars (still ongoing) and their attempt to annex Canada, is the idea so far fetched? Add to that the entire DeepSeek dilemma and whatever they tend to achieve with their StarGate is my idea so preposterous?

As such whatever ideas I have I need to hand to Japan, Saudi Arabia, or the UAE whenever I can, because life in the Commonwealth is about to become nearly unlivable. And the media is still not covering the massive debt that America has and how that is fueling their actions. Is it that hard to see? I reckon that a stronger unification of the Commonwealth will be required and a lot sooner than some non-Canadian politicians imply. And now as Australia gets the tariff bill, there is a chance that Anthony Albanese might seriously reconsider finding solutions with Canada, India and the UK. Ah well, perhaps living under the Greek gods was a lot simpler. 

As such have a loverly day and consider what YOU can do to support Canada in its hour of need.

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Something really new

That was my thoughts at some point today. You see, I have heard the news that there would be coming a remaster of the very first three God of War games. I have no idea how true it is, but I started to think of a different setting. You see the first game scored 94% and was pure gaming heaven (or hell depending of your point of view). 

The game was excellent and checked pretty much every box on what makes a great game. As such I very much doubt whether Remake or Remaster will do the trick. I think it is time to add the Reengineer term to the equation. They should go (if possible) with the same cast. They did a magnificent job and this was on the Playstation 2. 8GB is pretty much the best you could get and that was in a system that only had 32MB at its disposal. Now the picture changes. And it goes way beyond the ‘expected’ settings. Yes to Unreal Engine 5, yes to the enhanced audio. But what more? Well, how about adding another track to the game with environmental settings by Bear McCreary? So we have one score, one basic music added to the game, but depending on where you are the Aegean Sea, Athens, the desert, the temple of Pandora, the realm of Hades. That music alters with musical instruments and perhaps some rhythm. Added, not replacing the original music, which was awesome by the way. Now we get to the story. The story was perfect, yet more could be done.

Books
To give the gamer that little bit extra. The 5 games, all get a book. As you complete the games the story remains the same, but with added findings the books get embossed with additional materials. The books in the styles of Homer, Aeschylus, Hesiod, Euripides and Herodotus could be created in game (sort of) and when the game is completed you can read it on the PS5, or export the PDF file. So if you find all the secrets and optional side missions a book is 100% complete. The book will show you how complete it is. 60% is the main story and the 40% could be added as you find all the eyes and feathers. Why? This has never been done before and to get a new stage, we need to add things, we need to give the gamer who did play the original a game that is more than mere better graphics and music. 

Items
Like in the third game there was an option to find things to make the new game plus a more rewarding event. That could be done in the other four as well. The same items from the original remains. But what happens when you find the Dolphin bracelet of Poseidon? Perhaps in water you regenerate. Just a thought. I am not telling Santa Monica how to do their job. They have shown mastery several times over. But my mind went spinning on what more could be possible.  

They are talking about the first three, but we saw the third being remastered on PS4 (and it was awesome) as such getting all 5 done (optional in two master releases called the Kratos, the Greek era) and beyond that I wonder what more is possible. The first two games were released on systems three generations old. So much more is possible now and the added icing on the cake? It is still a Sony exclusive. It Sucks to be Microsoft here. And the idea to see Cronos in unreal 5, to see so many settings in todays graphics would overwhelm gamers everywhere and having optionally two master collection as well as the new concept of reengineered games would open so many other doors too. Too many ideas are entering my mind (some actually very useless) but the idea that I can play almost 20 years of God of War again is overwhelming my senses. 

If all this becomes reality 2025 might become the greatest year of gaming for Sony lovers. I just rewatched (on YouTube) someone doing the first game in 5 hours and change. I took a lot longer and I saw coffers with items in places I had never considered looking. It was awesome to see a 2005 game pleasantly surprise me 18 years later. It made me consider that some changes would be essential. The small shiny star on things to do was all there was in the PS2 era. Now we an do so much more, as such the reengineer option becomes ever more clearly and that has the benefit of not having been done before to this degree ever. Another new stage for the PlayStation. I can only hope I am still alive when these games are released (traffic is a killer in Sydney).

Enjoy your day, it’s Saturday here now.

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It is the same coin

I got alerted to something via Twitter. It has two sides and a friend of mine had one side, as such I give you the tweet below. This of course made me look at the YouTube by Simon Pegg (the Hot Fuzz man). 

He was emotional and he has a point, but so does my friend. Optionally they do not realise that they are both a side of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other. It is a flaw in those heralding science as the one solution, it never is. It merely becomes some Theranos creation, all science and too much of it debatable. You see my friend had the answer in her tweet. Alan Turing created something from nothing. A setting that is utterly impossible. He got there through an artsy side in him. Alan Turing created the foundations of computers and AI, both required an art element to get there. You see, even when we realise it was all science, his brain had to make some leap of faith and that requires art, science alone will not let you do that. He created these two and his foundation of AI is still used today, over half a century later, with all the elements of evolved science, his artsy side overcame what did not yet exist. It is one of the reasons that (even if I was not eligible), I would have voted for Brian Blessed to become Chancellor of Cambridge in 2011, but I was not eligible. It became Lord Sainsbury of Turville, my issue here is that science was taking too big a chunk of what was almost an even Steven setting. I personally believe that Science without art is pointless, art without science is useless. It is not completely true, but as an axiom it often works. Science without art cannot grow because science for the most relies on previous data and as such NEW technologies cannot evolve. Alan Turing created (for the most) the foundations of electronics. It required investigations into the electron as well, but when you see that Alan Turing created AI half a century before we had any partial foundation of that is optionally evidence enough. 

The other side needs to be illuminated as well. Simon Pegg did this (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHEpywFCtwA) in his own emotional way and he does have a point, but so did my friend. The artsy people tend to ignore that science is their friend. Take any movie, the lights are set up to maximise the effect, it is not art, that foundation is science, science created the camera and a lot of other parts. They use that technology and they use it well. But it supports art and that is forgotten. That being said that children need maths, but they need art too and the science pushers are all about ‘forgetting’ the art and that power. You see, if you have all science and no art, you end up creating Theranos minded creators. The ones that are convicted for fraud and end up well over 11 years in prison. Art might have prevented this (and created an actual solution). In that same setting it might be the flaw that created FTX and the $33,000,000,000 losses it ensued. 

I myself tend to grasp back to an old Market research credo. “The scientist, or mathematician will show you the course of best margins of profit, or best results. The presenter, or politician makes sure that you look forward to the attached invoice” it is a bit artsy but therefor not any less true. We need to realise that art and science are to sides of the same coin. Science made it circular and the artsy people gave it a nice image. We need another and there is one part we should all agree to, if Rishi Sunak wants to imbue a sense of science, he better be ready to imbue an equal measure of art in these people, because Simon Pegg is right about that part. Science without the art will have far reaching negative impacts. We need one another to see it, one shows us, one presents it and that has been the case from before that writer William Shakespeare became a reality. It goes back all the way to the outdoor Theatre of Dionysius where in 500BC Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, and Aristophanes performed, but we forget that science created the stage for over 15,000 people to enjoy, that part was science, not art. And it was there centuries before Christianity became reality.

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