(no subject)

[petermarcus]

Ah, Omar. 900 years ago, yet the words are pretty still, even in translation:

Ah Love! could you and I with Him conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits - and then
Re-mould it nearer to the heart's desire!
-- Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat (translation by Edward FitzGerald)

Comments

remold it....

[rhondak.livejournal.com]

Re..mold...it....

I think I used to work in one of those stores.

By the by, in Europe did you see any interesting...UMM...over the counter aphrodisiacs for men with florid photos?

Re: remold it....

[petermarcus.livejournal.com]

Omar was ahead of his time. Or, rather, 11th century Persia was ahead of 21st century America when it comes to love poetry.

I didn't see any male aphrodisiac stuff. I saw some of the male photo-proof stuff in Mexico last winter, but Europe was mostly a lot of female images in stages of undress. From cigarette lighters with little lights on the nipples that would blink when used, to full-frontal-nudity posters selling yogurt products (I think the theme played off of "nada" calories or fat or something). Lots of out-and-out porn in Spain in every single streetfront store, in Spanish, English, and German. The UK was full of tasteful, glossy tease instead, in English and a bit of French. Public displays and TV in any part of Europe would still give heart attacks to the bible-belters down here in the SE.

Everyone's going homogenous in Europe, though, with this EEC thing. The female models on TV and posters look just like Americans. The male models still have that David Hasselhoff Euro-sleaze factor going for them, though. Interesting, though, while most of the female images were full or random body parts, the male images were almost exclusively face shots with full, pouty lips.

I didn't see any woman under 40 in Spain with blonde hair...the GenX/Y crowd was mostly dark auburn with the occasional jet-black goth look. The UK had more blondes, but a lot of green/purple/blue as well. Much more than Spain. A lot more public display of male homosexuality (in media and real life), very little of female homosexuality in comparison, which is almost the reverse of the States at times.