The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This movie, based on the book by Steig Larsson, is one of my new favourite series. The late Swedish author created a novel centered around an unusual heroine, Lisbeth Salander – a tattooed, pierced and anti-social personality that has a photographic memory and incredible hacking abilities. The Millennium trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) is an action packed, suspense, mystery and romance genre all rolled into one. Lisbeth Salander (the aforementioned girl with the dragon tattoo) is described as having multiple body modifications which renders her even more of an outsider by her peers and co-workers. In the book she is said to have a large dragon tattoo tracing down her back, a tattoo of a wasp (after her nickname on the internet) on her neck, an eyebrow piercing, and nose ring just to name a few.

Body modification has been happening for centuries, and is for aesthetic, affiliation, or religious reasons. The most common type of body modification include piercings and tattoos. Ears, noses, and navels are very common areas to have pierced in today’s society. Other areas one can have pierced are extensive: tongue, lip, genitals, nipples, etc. One of the newer types of body modification are microdermals and transdermals which are placed under the skin and held in place by a type of anchor so that they don’t come out/ move. More bizarre types of body modification include tongue splitting, foot binding, tooth filing and ear gauging. I’m all for the freedom of expression and we live in a free country, but for those people who have extensive body modification when they are young probably aren’t thinking what they’re going to look like in 30 years.

I, like thousands of other people, have piercings and tattoos. I have 6 piercings: 4 in my ear lobes, my helix and my nose done. I also have 3 tattoos: my zodiac sign with 3 stars (representing me, my brother and my sister on my left shoulder), a French quote on my foot that reads: “La vie est un défi à relever, un bonheur a mériter, une aventure à tenter.” French is super important to me – I did my university degree in French and when I become a teacher, it will forever be a part of my life. My last tattoo is a Stephen King quote: “Be brave. Be true. Stand,” between my shoulder blades. King is my favourite author, but the quote also has special meaning to me as it is my motto as part of my recovery from G.A.D. (generalized anxiety disorder). There are 3 more tattoos that I would like to get eventually, but gosh darn they are expensive so I’ll have to be waiting (and saving my money) for a while yet.

I am very supportive of those who wish to get piercings and tattoos, permitted that doing these things won’t prevent future job prospects and that they have meaning (more so the tattoos in this case.) I love the TV series LA Ink, Miami Ink and NY Ink. Kat von D is absolutely incredible. She is a wonderful artist and if I could afford it, I would love if she did one of my tattoos. I’m not a great artist, so I have the utmost respect for artists that are able to transfer artwork onto the skin with only one attempt to get it right. That being said, some of the things that people decide to have permanently put on their skin astounds me. Even Kat von D, as gorgeous as she is – I can’t help but think about what’s she’s going to look like when she’s older. Tattoos that are done in memory of someone I think are a wonderful display of your love for that person, and that is something that is never going to change. Getting the name of your girlfriend on your wrist is not a terribly bright idea. Those people who get Chinese characters don’t strike me as very smart either.

While tattoos are removable by laser, it is an expensive and painful process, so before you get inked you should consider a few things.

a) Check out the prices and shops in your area, look through artists portfolio’s to make sure you feel good about your choice.

b) Colour or black and white? Colour tattoos are more expensive and some tattoos look better in greyscale.

c) Bring a friend with you if it’s your first tattoo (and make it smallish if this is the case). Everyone has a different pain tolerance and it’s always more comforting to have someone there to hold your hand and support you.

d) Think about what you want to have tattooed for a couple of months. Don’t get an impulsive tattoo – you will likely regret it.

e) Placement on your body. Where do you want your tattoo? Will it affect you getting a job if you plan to work in a professional environment? If this is the case, make sure that you get tattooed in a place that is coverable. While not all workplaces discriminate against those with tattoos, take it into consideration.

Happy Inking!

Bacon, le film

This Québécois film, directed by Hugo Latulippe follows the social impact and consequences of the mass-produced meat products here in Canada. The film garnered major recognition being an official selection at film festivals in Barcelona, Montreal, Halifax and Edmonton. The globalization of the meat market but also of the food industry is quite disconcerting. Food rarely comes home-grown on the farm, as it is not profitable. Instead factories and farms are becoming a sort of assembly line, mass producing food for the world and shipping it thousands of miles away. Taking the 200km challenge is incredibly difficult, meaning not eating foods that come from any further than 200 kilometres from your place of residence. The quality of food and meat has decreased immensely. Organic and free range products are still available, but they are harder to find and more expensive. Due to all the pesticides, hormones and treatment of animals in these factory-farms, many people have turned to being vegetarian or vegan.

I was a vegetarian for just over two years. I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian; someone who refuses to give up eggs and dairy products – I could not live without my yogurt, cheese and milk. I also figured it can’t be that healthy to be eliminating major sources of protein and calcium from your diet. I avoided all meat, including seafood (which proved to be my vice). Not eating meat exposed me to a variety of new foods and forced me to get a little creative with my cooking. I tried lentils, bean salads, tofu, ground round, and soy milk for the first time. I would substitute the ground beef in lasagne with sliced zucchini and eggplant, chicken slices with refried beans, sour cream and salsa in fajitas, and traditional beef burgers with Portobello mushroom Swiss ones. It really wasn’t a major ordeal for me. I love all veggies, from broccoli (steamed and smothered in cheese sauce) to celery (with peanut butter and raisins on top) to radishes (with ranch dip) to Brussels sprouts (with butter, pepper and salt).

I didn’t become a vegetarian for moral reasons. I have nothing against eating meat. My father has been a hunter for as long as I can remember and I have eaten most meats known to man from duck to rabbit to venison. I didn’t become a vegetarian even for health reasons. I could probably afford to lose another 10lbs but I’m in pretty good shape and on my multiple doctors’ visits my blood pressure is normal. I became a vegetarian sort of as a challenge to myself. In university I had 4 close friends who were all vegetarians, and I challenged myself to give up meat for just a week, to see if I could do it. The first week was actually pretty easy. I have never been a picky eater, so I didn’t even miss meat in my diet. One week became two weeks, which became a month, which turned into a year. My family wasn’t terribly supportive of this new lifestyle I’d adopted, largely because we were always an omnivorous family. Coming home to visit was always a little touchy just because my mother didn’t cater to my not eating meat, and the main course usually comprised of something chocked full of it.

Even now (no longer a vegetarian) I don’t eat much red meat and I despise pork. I read an article in a magazine talking about how whatever an animal eats turns to meat on their bones. Pigs eat everything, including their own feces – hence all pork products are laced with viruses and e coli. As soon as I found that out, I was completely turned off ham, bacon, and pork chops. I do eat a lot of chicken and seafood. Chicken and seafood contain far less saturated fat than red meat, but still have the same protein content. Both are pretty versatile too. Chicken can be used in fajitas, stews, sandwiches, salads and soup while seafood is awesome in stir-fries, with pasta, and on crackers with cream cheese. Seafood is probably one of my favourite food groups and I cannot imagine being allergic to it. Sushi is divine (anyone who wants to win major brownie points can take me out to a sushi place anytime), scallops are incredible and shrimp are so tiny and yet so tasty.

As it turned out, seafood turned out to be the reason why I didn’t continue being a vegetarian. I caved one day and splurged on seafood lasagne. My mouth exploded with flavour and my resolve collapsed. I started eating fish on a weekly basis, so I could no longer call myself a vegetarian. Fish turned to chicken, which turned into the occasional beef hamburger *gasp*. Even now, I toy with the idea of going back to being a meat-free individual, but I grapple with having to give up seafood again. I really have no issue with not eating beef or chicken again. I don’t eat a lot of foods that are processed – you won’t find sugary cereals (Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops or Count Chocula) or white bread in my cupboards. I do however love a good dark chocolate bar. My last grocery trip consisted of: pumpernickel bread, hummus, giant stuffed olives, yogurt, Cheerios, milk, eggs, 2 cans of condensed mushroom soup, 3 pints of blackberries, ground chicken, chow mien noodles, frozen veggies and almond butter. Food really is the fuel that you put into your body to keep it going. Garbage in, garbage out. I love eating and I love healthy food. While buying organic is not always practical or possible, you can still read the packaging. If you can’t pronounce some of the ingredients, you should leave it on the shelf. Period.

Bowling for Columbine

Bowling for Columbine was the making of director, producer and writer Michael Moore (same man who brought us Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko). The focus of the film is the prevalence of guns in American culture, focusing on gun violence and youth; the easy access that anyone has to these deadly weapons and the need to enforce gun control laws. The title references the tragedy at Columbine High School in April 1999, where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting spree, killing a dozen students and injuring dozens of others with stray bullets. While violence occurs in other countries, the number of gun-related deaths in the United States is ten times greater than any of the other countries mentioned. For those of you who haven’t seen Chris Rock’s stand-up skit about gun control should check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuX-nFmL0II

The whole Columbine incident has fascinated me for a number of years. I’ve watched a couple documentaries on it and read a book that came out about a year ago: Columbine by Dave Cullen. In fact, any criminal activity, namely serial killers have mystified and intrigued me for a long time. What possesses people to commit these horrendous acts against other human beings? What makes these individuals tick and how can they possibly think that doing those horrible things is ok? I have never taken a psychology course and I’m no expert in the field but I have read piles of serial killer biographies and the whole field of criminal psychology really peaks my interest. As I consider myself a “normal” person with a conscience and morals, the factors that shaped these people’s lives must have been monumental in their development as young adults and also later in their lives. My life is still being written and only within the last couple of years (and several hours of psychotherapy) have I realized that events in your childhood definitely wire you the way you are.

I have read the biographies of: John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, Gary Ridgeway, Aileen Wournos, Andrei Chikatilo, Paul Bernardo, Robert Pickton, Levi Bellfield, Albert Fish, Jerry Brudos, Henry Lee Lucas and David Parker Ray just to name a few. In all these cases, they suffered turbulent childhoods, from fetishes, to a severe dislike of women, to abusive fathers, to violence against animals, to abandonment by one or both of their parents. Seeing how important childhood is to the development of a person makes me want to make damn sure I’m ready to bring another life into this world. I really did have a great upbringing. My parents were emotionally, and financially stable. I’m not saying that I’m without my flaws because that’s simply not true. Of course events in my life shaped who I am but I was spared any severe deviations and trauma largely due to, I believe, a stable home life.

TV shows such as the CSI Franchise: Miami, New York and Las Vegas tap into this unnatural way it seems that thousands meet their end. While forensics is often the way that serial killers are brought to justice (either with DNA or fibre matches) and linked with their victims, the way that this evidence is miraculously found irks me. Some of the actors annoy me too, most specifically David Caruso (Horatio Cane on CSI: Miami). He is a horrible actor, and the sunglasses and red hair make me nauseous. He is an absolute joke, as you can see from multiple parodies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NCTUwfTq2I&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL82ADD1E6D99BE672

I know that I cannot be the only one with this unusual fascination with the deviated brain. Criminal Minds takes this idea even further, delving into the psychology of humans on a wide scale. Detective Reid (Mathew Gray Gubler) also provides some delicious eye-candy. Each person is unique and their life experiences aren’t the same, but sometimes some of the story-lines and scenarios I find to be a little far fetched (I know it’s a TV show and for entertainment purposes but still.) I’m sure many people have twisted and violent thoughts in a moment of rage, but there are only a small fraction of those people that actually act on those. People who are able to take the life of another have no empathy for others, and no conscience. This is such an unusual concept for me, as I have always had a very guilty conscience, ever regarding the most trivial of things. I feel bad if I’m five minutes late for meeting a friend for coffee, or having to cancel appointments last minute, whereas psychopaths seem to show no remorse or issue with taking the life of another person.

Mean Girls

There are very few people my age that cannot quote parts and pieces from Mean Girls. The film is a cult classic and is chocked full of memorable quotes:

“Four for you Glenn Coco, you go Glenn Coco!”,

“I’m kind of psychic, I have a fifth sense.”

“If you’re from Africa, why are you white?”,

“...and on the third day, God created the Remington bull action rifle, so that man could fight the dinosaurs…and the ho-mo-sex-uals. AMEN!”

The film’s focus is the socialization, cliques and girl on girl victimization in high school, with Lindsay Lohan playing new girl Cady Heron. The movie came out nearly 10 years ago and though I’ve seen it over seven times, it never grows old. One part of the movie that I can relate to is the claim that Cady joining the Matheletes would be “social suicide” in the eyes of both Damian and Regina.

There was never a competitive math team at my high school (and frankly I was never a stellar math student), but there was a trivia team. I have always loved (and been pretty good at) trivia game shows: Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Are You Smarter that a 5^th Grader?,etc. My long term memory has always been good, which is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I breezed through school and found studying for tests and exams pretty easy. On the other, it is very hard for me to forget painful memories or irrelevant information. My brain is like a sponge, it is constantly absorbing things. I read all the time, so I’m constantly learning things without even really trying.

In Canadian high schools, the principal academic competition circuit is called Reach for the Top. I played for my high school all four years. We never did particularly well as a team, but it was fun and my teammates were all friends of mine. I even got to go on TV three times because of these trivia competitions. The team really didn’t have a coach, so none of us took it very seriously or even practiced to be honest. Our teacher supervisor was incredibly lax about the whole scenario, simply encouraging us to watch Jeopardy every night, and that would count as studying. I loved trivia because it was social, it was a place where I could hang out with my friends and share a pile of laughs over some of the ridiculous things people would answer to the questions. I wasn’t particularly competitive or serious about it, trivia was simply another extracurricular that I did in high school.

When I went to university, I wanted to keep playing trivia. As it turned out, there is no Reach for the Top at that level. There is however NAQT (National Academic Quizbowl Tournaments), often shorted as Quizbowl. I was pretty confident going to my first university trivia practice, after having nearly 4 years of experience playing in high school. I didn’t answer a single question. The structure and difficulty of the questions was substantially different that what I was used to and was pretty overwhelming. I debated whether even or not to go back, but decided that I needed an excuse to meet people outside of my residence and that maybe with time I would get better. This was the case, and once I adjusted to the new system of playing I enjoyed myself a lot more. I wasn’t a particularly strong player that being said. My area of expertise in school (French) is so specific that the opportunity to answer a lot of questions wasn’t there. I guess I consider myself like that athlete in the Olympics who finishes 23^rd. Compared to the average population, I’m pretty darn good, but if you throw me into the ring with a bunch of other Quizbowl players, I’m not even a blip on the radar.

I quickly realized my strengths lay in the administrative end of trivia. There are people needed to organize tournaments, moderate the games, score keep, purchase the trophies and prizes, book the rooms, write the questions, and make the schedule for all the teams attending. I was president of my university club for two years. I worked my tail off, ordering team jerseys, hosting and writing questions for 3 fundraiser tournaments to help cover the costs of going to tournaments, staffing the clubs tables to attract new members, and a whole pile of networking with other clubs on campus and the local high schools to promote trivia within the university and the city. It was all voluntary but I did it because I loved it. I was important in the success of the club and the team, and ultimately as president, was in charge of a lot of aspects.

I have also moderated (read and score kept games) at Reach for the Top Nationals for the last two years and plan to do it again in 2012. I fully support any sort of academic competition and to see the best teams in the country is very humbling (I was certainly not that good at their age). I got an official press pass each year, a free t-shirt, a couple of lanyards, as well as an entire weekend in Toronto free of charge (the organization covers the cost of hotel and meals for all moderators). Currently I am also on the executive for the Ontario Quizbowl Association, which promotes Quizbowl to high schools across the province; so that when they encounter NAQT in university it isn’t such a shock. It is interesting to note that Reach for the Top does not like people involved with NAQT. They see Quizbowl as stiff competition in the academic world and don’t want to get pushed out. Reach is a purely Canadian thing, whereas Quizbowl circuits are established all over the United States, Canada and parts of the United Kingdom. All the Ivy League schools in the US play Quizbowl (and Harvard has won Nationals for gosh only knows how many of the last few years.)

There is a large trivia circuit out there, but unless you are involved in it, it remains very much underground. I love learning, which is why I suppose I love trivia. My brain is stuffed full of useless information that no one cares about. But no matter how much I know, there will always be things that I don’t. It is a continual learning process. Like life.

Whale Rider

I watched Whale Rider in my first year of university, while taking a Women’s Studies course. The film actually happened to be my midterm exam, we had to watch the film and write a short essay as to whether we believed the film to be feminist or not. It tells the story of Pai, a young aboriginal girl trying to find her place in her tribe. She is next in line to become chief after the death of her twin brother, but her traditional and patriarchal grandfather believes that role is reserved for males only. Her grandfather is devastated with the death of her brother, and angry that he was left with a “worthless” female heir. He disregards her inheritance as chief and starts a school for the local boys and will choose a leader from among them. Pai, against her grandfather’s wishes eavesdrops on the lessons, besting the tribe boys in fighting stick competitions (which only angers him further) and learning all the traditional songs and rituals. Her persistence pays off at the end of the film when her grandfather asks for her forgiveness and she assumes her role as chief. The film is truly inspirational and portrays the difficulty women face living in a patriarchal society.

I am proud to be a woman. In Canada and other first world nations, as women we often forget the rights and privileges that women in other countries are deprived of. We have the right to choose who we get to marry. While arranged marriages occur in Canada, it occurs only in some cultures and the vast majority of women are able to date whomever they would like. We have the right to vote and select which party will be in power in our constitutional democracy. We have the right to an education, which is a major step towards being financially independent and successful in life. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."~ Nelson Mandela. Many economists believe that much of the world’s poverty could be eliminated with the education of women. Educated women are able to have jobs and better provide for their children, husbands or extended family. These new skills can be shared with others. Jobs promote the economy, further stimulating growth.

It is unfortunate that in some countries (namely India and China) women are not valued the same as men. Due to the one child policy in China to curb the population, families wanted only sons, someone to carry on the family name and to inherit the family estate. The only two options for families are to kill the baby (often drowning them in the rice paddies) or put the child up for adoption and try again to have a son. As a result, the orphanages in China are flooded with healthy baby girls (who through no fault of their own had the misfortune of being born female). This practice has resulted in a deficit of women, which has resulted in woman being auctioned off to the highest bidder because there are not enough women to marry the number of men in China.

As is custom in India before a marriage, the father of the bride must provide a dowry to the husband’s family. This is very expensive to many families, as poverty is rampant in India. Many young girls are abandoned or killed by their families in order to avoid losing family funds. Simply put, girls are too expensive to feed and clothe, let alone marry and therefore in the eyes of many, do not deserve to live. Another issue concerning the desire to have sons is related to religion. Parents believe that they will not reach Nirvana (heaven) unless they have a son to light the funeral pyre. Couples in poverty who already have five daughters will continue to try to have a son, solely for this purpose.

The “Honour killing” of women occurs mostly in the Middle East and parts of Asia. Women are killed because their husbands, brothers or other male family members believe that they have acted in a way that shames their family. Often this involves dating outside their race, having an affair, having a child out of wedlock, or being homosexual. This act of honour killing occurs in mainly patriarchal societies, where the man is the head of the household and has the ability to control women, simply because he is born male. Due to the absolute dominance of men in these societies, women are rendered powerless. Often honour killings are committed with no rational or justifiable reason, such as in 2008 when a woman was killed in Saudi Arabia by her father for "chatting" to a man on Facebook.

I do consider myself a feminist, but not a radical one by any means. I believe every woman should have the right to their own body (deciding who they have sex with, marry, and when they want to have children). They should also have the right to education. The Because I am a girl campaign addresses gender discrimination around the world. Being a woman, and being aware of women’s issues in other countries, I tend to give to women’s organizations and support the female gender. My sponsor child last year was a 12 year old girl from Bangladesh, and all the Christmas shoe boxes I filled were always for girls aged 10-12. I fully support organizations that promote women’s rights and help thousands of girls get out of poverty. Anything that can be considered a woman’s issue should be a human rights issue, and any transgressions should not be tolerated.

Wimbledon

Wimbledon, starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany came out in 2004, right before I really started following tennis. This rom-com tells the story of budding tennis star Lizzie and the should-be-retired former star of the male circuit Peter. An expected encounter between the two gives Peter new hope that he may stand a chance at the title this year. Sparks fly, much to the dismay of Lizzie’s father as she is neglecting her practice. The usual communication problems occur, as with any romantic comedy flick, and Peter finds himself in the finals. He confesses his love for her during an interview, Lizzie returns says all is forgiven; Peter wins his title, proposes to her which (of course) she accepts. They have two children (a boy and a girl of course) and watch them play tennis at their new home. It’s all a little fairy taleish for me. In fact, there are very few tennis couples on the ATP or WTA circuit, and none of them have met like that.

I’ve been an avid follower of tennis since I was 16, the same year that my high school decided to hold tryouts for the school tennis team. I’ve played badminton since I was about 9, and I figured the two were pretty similar (the lines on the court, serving cross-court, etc). The racquet is substantially heavier than my 30 gram badminton racquet. A tennis ball actually comes into contact with the court before you hit it as well, unlike a badminton birdie. I made the school team, and went on to place 4^th at Regionals.

Roger Federer was number one in the world at that time and even those people, who are not huge fans, cannot help but admire certain qualities of his. He is a great athlete. Anyone who is able to stay in the top ten in the world in their sport is in remarkable shape. Federer is now 30 years old, and is still 4^th in the world. He has great sportsmanship and has won the Laureaus sportsman of the year award over Tiger Woods and other great athletes multiple times. Born in Switzerland, Federer is fluent in English, French and High German. As a person who loves languages, I find this admirable. He has won every Grand Slam (Wimbledon, French Open, US Open and the Australian Open) at least once. As if there wasn’t enough to admire, he is also a family man now, marrying his long-time girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec and having twin girls. Federer was my favourite player for nearly a year until I stumbled across the likes of Rafael Nadal. Their rivalry has been one of the best on the ATP circuit, and although they meet in the finals often, they are good friends.

I have been smitten with the Spanish tennis star for over 6 years. Anyone who knows anything about me can attest to this. One look in my bedroom and I suppose it’s pretty obvious: every wall is adorned with posters, pictures of him and one wall even has the Spanish flag. I have his Vamos Rafa ball cap, a “Got Nadal?” t-shirt, and a copy of his biography which I have read cover-to-cover. I suppose initially I liked him because of his looks, but over the years his talent is undisputable. He has won the French Open six times in the last seven years (earning him the nickname “King of Clay”), won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and completed his career grand slam in 2010 by winning the US Open at the age of 24. Currently ranked 2^nd in the world after Serbian Novak Djokovic, Rafa is without a doubt my favourite athlete. There’s really nothing that’s not to like: he’s humble, he’s talented, he’s Spanish (and has the most gorgeous accent in interviews) and he’s a philanthropist. I actually got to see him play live at the Roger’s Cup in Toronto in August 2010, a small stop on the ATP circuit. I wound up getting tickets to one of the semi-finals and luck was on my side apparently. Though he wound up getting beaten by Andy Murray, the entire game was so surreal. I WAS IN THE SAME BUILDING AS RAFAEL NADAL! I took dozens of pictures as you can imagine; probably the best day of that entire year.

Back to couples on the tennis circuits…as I mentioned before, it doesn’t really happen. Most couples are from different walks of life, and if they do happen to meet through tennis, one of them has usually already retired. A relationship of two active players is not likely to work, as both circuits have their own schedules and destinations for tournaments. Roger Federer’s wife Mirka was a tennis player too – they met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but she soon retired due to injury. Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are another tennis couple – meeting after they won their respective titles at the 1999 French Open, but Graf retired a few months later and she continued to support him in his career. For those of you who have not done so yet, I encourage you to read Open by Andre Agassi. I really didn’t know much about Agassi, as he took his retirement in 2007, just as I was really getting into the sport. Even if you don’t follow tennis as closely as I do, it is an engaging, at times disturbing and eye-opening account of the life of one of the greatest tennis players in the Open Era.

Gladiator

I never have fully understood what draws people to any given interest. Since Grade 8, the history of the Roman Empire has completely fascinated me, most specifically the period of time revolving around Julius Caesar. Caesar was truly a remarkable character from what I’ve read in multiple history books and also the myth built around him. He and his heir Octavius can be held responsible for the transformation of Rome from a republic to a monarchy. The roman statesman and general was born into a wealthy family and quickly gained notoriety on the battlefield with his conquests in Gaul which extended the borders of the empire (during which he wrote his own accounts of his victories) and his political manoeuvres. He, along with Pompey and Crassus formed the first triumvirate in 60BC. With the death of Crassus at the hands of the Parthians, the relationship between the two remaining men became strained and a power struggle began. Pompey who held power in the senate was forced to take up arms when Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his troops, resulting in civil war. Caesar’s power was unrivalled and he assumed his authority over the entirety of the empire. He was declared emperor for life, though his dictatorship was cut short by a group of senators who conspired to have him murdered in the Senate. Even in death, Caesar’s legacy remains; the Russian word tsar and German word kaiser both take their meaning from the root of caesar. We still use the Julian calendar, and the month of July (my birth month) is named after Caesar himself. I’m not entirely certain how Caesar salad got its name, but it is yet another example of something that bears the name of the Roman emperor.

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator takes place long after the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the “Five Good Emperors”. Aurelius was not murdered by his son like in the film. However, the film accurately portrayed the eccentricities of his son Commodus, from his extreme paranoia to his desire to be a gladiator and be worshipped by the masses. He was an egotist (who thought of himself as a demigod and had several statues created depicting himself as Hercules) with neurotic tendencies and his rule as Emperor was highly criticized. Commodus was not politically nor military savvy which resulted in multiple conspiracies and attempted coups by other members of the administration. He participated and put on lavish gladiatorial shows in an attempt to remain popular with the people, but this did not win him much praise. He charged the people outrageous amounts to see him appear in the arena and would slaughter hundreds exotic animals. Commodus was eventually poisoned and strangled in his bath by those closest to him.

The character of Maximus (Russell Crowe) is based on several military men in Rome and gladiators of that time period but never existed as a historical figure. Gladiators in Rome did achieve celebrity status after winning battles and in a way can be viewed like movie stars today. They drew large crowds and were the objects of desire of many women, who would sneak into the lodgings of the gladiators after hours to have rendezvous’. The movie, which came out in 2000, not surprisingly won the Best Film Oscar. It was relatively historically accurate and the story of good triumphing over evil is always a crowd pleaser. Maximus did eventually get his vengeance for the slaughter of his wife and son, succeeding in killing Commodus and joining his loved ones in the afterlife. The movie is visually stunning, and the immensity of the Coliseum is overwhelming. I have every intention of visiting Italy at some point to see the ruins of the Roman Empire. It is remarkable that remnants of this iconic period still remain standing to this day.

Though there are hundreds of historical sources pertaining to the Roman Empire, written by philosophers and thinkers of the time, many people still have the typical images of Rome in their heads. Eating grapes while lying on lounge chairs, with servants fanning them, all wearing togas with a crown of laurel leaves is often the first image conjured up. I took a Roman civilization course in university, which was a combination of the history and culture of the empire, starting with the founders of Rome (Romulus and Remus) to the fall of the empire with the evasions of the Germanic tribes and eventual sack of Rome. It was an interesting and enlightening history of one of the greatest periods in human history. Not to mention my professor was amazing. Part of one class was dedicated to showing us how to properly put on a toga (which is far more difficult than you might think). We covered things from all the different types of gladiators there were, to the interesting fact that many of the “bad” emperor’s names start with the letter “C”: Caracalla, Commodus and Caligula. I think I only missed one class all semester just because it was so interesting. I love learning new things. Though I was not a history major, much can be learned from the mistakes of the past – not just in the world but in our personal lives.