#How to get the greek letter rho in word

[liesmyth]

Asking because I don’t know how to tag properly/don’t have enough tlt brainrot followers on my own blog: I had this revelation that New Rho Could be short for “New Rhodesia” which would say a LOT about the original colonists of the planet (the trillionaires(?))

ooh this is juicy! For context: "Rhodesia" was the name given to Zimbabwe and Zambia by the British, after Cecil Rhodes (you may know him from the Rhodes scholarship. also the imperialism)

I started replying to this and it went horribly long so I'm gonna put it under a cut. My tldr is that I don't think it's a direct reference, both because of naming patterns in TLT and because I don't think the trillionaires who escaped earth would be referencing Cecil Rhodes on purpose, but I also don't think it's a wild leap to make.

I'm throwing this in the tags and I'm 👀 to know what people think.

On the name

I always assumed that New Rho was a reference to the greek word / letter Rho (ρ). This would fit both the naming patterns of the Houses (which are partly inspired by classical mythology) AND what little we see of the naming patterns of BoE, who apparently like to name places after ancient or mythological locations on Earth — see also: Lemuria, Ctesiphon wing, Troia cell.

Note that we actually don't know for sure whether "New Rho" is the name given to the planet by the locals or by the Houses — the only person who actually uses that name is Ianthe during her speech, so it may very well be the case that the Empire renamed New Rho unilaterally, and the name doesn't reflect what its actual inhabitants call it. I don't believe that's the case (because, again, it fits with other naming patterns BoE seem to have + to a lesser extent, I think there would have been hints in the text if that had been the case, extra jeerings from the crowd or whatever if they felt strongly that their planet had another name) I'm just bringing this up here for completion's sake.

About the trillionaires:

I've given a lot of thought to the demographic of the TLT fleet. Although IDK how widespread of an opinion this is in the fandom but, personally, I feel pretty strongly that the bunch of ultra-rich people who would have fleed Earth leaving everyone to die would NOT have been the kind of demographic keen to reference British colonialism.

Like, I think it's important to note that the "first wave" of ships that launched from Earth didn't seem to include ANY major politician from a Western country that we know of — they managed until the last moment to keep up the pretence that it was "just" the first of many trips, and to me the lack of panic points to the fact that many public figures weren't on board. The world leader John puppeteers is heavily implied to be the US president, and even he wouldn't have been on board. John's flashback arc pits him very strongly against the global north, but more than that — imo, it's telling that the only sympathetic governments he could get to listen to him were the NZ government and parts of Oceania. It wasn't just John vs. the West, or John vs. OECD countries. It was John vs. the uber-wealthy, and those exist all over the world.

What I'm getting at is: that the trillionaires weren't overwhelmingly white. Many of them would have been USamerican or British or European, but so many people on board those ships would have been Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Russian, Thai etc. I'm thinking about 2024 data on List of countries by share of income of the richest one percent and List of cities by # of billionaires (keeping in mind also that in the NtN flashback arc, the stock market has crashed and the economy is in shambles. I would also assume that many Silicon Valley / tech fortunes have dramatically shrunk, and most "trillionaires" would be people who materially control access to resources.)

Basically what I'm getting at is that, TO ME, the TFL fleet was an escape pod put together by a group of people who had the means to decide they should save themselves and fuck everyone else, rather than a colonising project, and that most of them wouldn't be in a rush to identify themselves with the British empire. Many of them, maybe even a majority, wouldn't be white. They're the scifi equivalent of French noblemen fleeing the revolution. Uber-privileged people who became refugees.

Anyway. This is a book.

Everything I've written above explains why, TO ME, whoever on those ships made it out alive + successfully colonised a plane wouldn't be thinking about the British Empire in an especially positive light. However! TLT as a story doesn't exist in a vacuum, and Taz Muir (who exists in the world, and lives in Oxford) would 100% know who Cecil Rhodes is. I can absolutely believe that she settled on a Greek-mythology-inspired naming pattern and then, out of all the available options, decided to reference the colonialist whose statue got removed while she was writing the book.

[geminusrufus]

Normalizing Scraped Greek Inscriptions

I'm so sick none of this is spell checked.

0: Wait, What?

Are you confused why I'm talking about "scraping," "inscriptions" and the like? Then check out this post!

(shameless plug)

Anyways, you have a web scraper and it has returned an Ancient Greek inscription. Opa! Now we can start with the linguistics, right?

Unfortunately, no. We still have to handle our encodings. I mean... you could go straight ahead, but I can tell you from experience that it's not pleasant.

1: Unicode Encoding

So here's the problem. When the Greeks first borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians, spelling was rather simplified. Every letter was in (what we would call today) capital / upper case, and punctuation was minimal at best.

Let's use IG I3 1 (PH#1) as an example. On the website, the inscription looks like this:

But if you went out and actually pulled the rock out of the ground, then it would look a much more like this:

How did we get to the version on the website, then?

Well, over the course of the next six centuries, the letter shapes changed to something more resembling the upper case letters used in written Greek today. Then, in the late Roman era / early Middle Ages, Byzantine scholars started developing what would eventually become the lower case letters. Manuscripts were all written by hand, you see, meaning every piece took exceptional dedication. It is fitting, then, that scholars wanted their works to be as expressive as any other art! Hence the practice of calligraphy, as well as our alternate letter forms.

(Oh, and there was some spelling standardization scattered around, but that's not represented in the PackHum transcription, so we won't dig into it...)

Additionally, the Byzantines added a handful of accent marks. See, Ancient Greek had a pitch accent (similar to Japanese, or that wonderful circumflex accent in Swedish). To describe what pitch went where, scholars developed the following accents (shown on the letter alpha, with modern accent names):

ά alpha with tonos (aka acute)

ὰ alpha with varia (aka grave)

ᾶ alpha with perispomeni (aka circumflex)

Word-initial vowels also began with either smooth breathing or rough breathing (the consonant rho was always rough at the start of a word). This indicated if the vowel was preceded by an h-sound (rough) or not (smooth).

ἀ alpha with psili (aka smooth breathing)

ἁ alpha with dasia (aka rough breathing)

Finally, some long vowels were part of diphthongs. These /V:i/ segments (usually) lost their second element, becoming a long monophthong: e.g. αι (a:i) > α (a:). Byzantine scholars, who could still understand Classical and pre-Classical writing, noticed this change and began marking those long vowels with a little iota (the i-letter).

ᾳ alpha with ypogegrammeni (aka iota subscript)

Over the generations, these changes became standard for any and all written Greek, both ancient and modern.

Now. Here's the thing. These accents could combine. And they combined differently for upper and lower case letters. Look at this table from my thesis (shameless plug).

And here's the thing... because of how Unicode works... the computer reads every single one of those as a different letter. If you're trying to program a tool for working with these inscriptions, then you can't just say ~grab every α~, because you will get only α, and not ά, ᾶ, ᾏ, and so on.

But wait there's more! Unicode also contains those accents as separate letters which the computer can click together! These look the exact same as the "precomposed" characters in the table above!

"Ok," you say, "how do we unfuck this?"

2: Unfucking Unicode Normalization Forms

Well, the folks at Unicode considered this problem early. Their solution was to implement a way to take apart and rebuild characters on the fly. Let's start with the core vocab:

Composition: The process of turning a base letter and combining diacritics (aka accents) into a precomposed character.

Decomposition: The process of turning a precomposed character into a base character and combining diacritics.

Precomposed Character: A letter on Unicode's big chart which already has diacritics. Each one of those characters in the table above is a precomposed character. Unicode, unhelpfully, makes sure these look identical to characters with combining diacritics.

Keep those in mind and you'll be solid.

The Unicode Consortium gave us four tools that can help with our conundrum. The first is called "Normalization Form Decomposition" (NFD). This form turns any precomposed characters into the appropriate combination of base characters and diacritics. Take the letter ᾊ, for example. It's name is the Unicode chart is "Greek Capital Letter Alpha with Psili and Varia and Prosgegrammeni," and it's code point (its position on the chart) is U+1F8A. If we decompose this character, we get the four characters:

Α (Greek Capital Letter Alpha; U+0391)

◌̓ (Combining Comma Above; U+0313)

◌̀ (Combining Grave Accent; U+0300)

◌ͅ (Combining Greek Ypogegrammeni; U+0345)

Note that Unicode does not contain separate combining accents for the tonos (acute) or varia (grave), so characters are actually composed with their latin equvalents.

Next, we have "Normalization Form Composition" (NFC). As the name suggests, this one composes characters, taking your string of letters and accents then returning one precomposed glyph. Bear in mind that this process is clever: it actually decomposes your string first, then recomposes it. If we composed the four characters above -- or any equivalent, such as Ἂ + ◌ͅ (Greek Capital Letter Alpha with Psili and Varia; U+1F0A, and Combining Greek Ypogrgrammeni; U+0345 ) -- then we will get the glyph ᾊ from above.

Nice, right? Most programs are doing this constantly. If you're on a Mac / iPhone and you type an accent+letter, it will automatically transform into a precomposed glyph whenever possible. If you're working with R (and we are) then RStudio will do the same. This right here is the secret sauce for multi-lingual typesetting in the modern age.

However, sometimes you get letters that are the same thing, definitely the same thing, but have more than one code point for various reasons. These are usually specialized forms of a letter with some persistent quirk which would be difficult to reproduce consistently. For example, the Latin Extended-D Unicode block contains the letter ꞵ (Latin Small Letter Beta; U+A7B5) which is used for various Central African languages in the Gabonese Republic (source: wiki). While the appearance of any glyph is at the discretion of whichever font is in use, this letter is often identical to the letter β (Greek Small Letter Beta; U+03B2). The Latin Extended blocks contain many such letters.

Another example: you know those websites that let you type in bolds and italics etc. when they're otherwise not supported? Something like 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 or 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈? Or maybe you're a *~goth egg~* and your bio is in Fraktur: 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰? Each one of those characters is actually a glyph from the Math Alphanumeric Symbols block. Each of these is used in mathematical typesetting, but look at them. They're still the same Latin letters we're used to, they're just preformatted for a specific usage. What gives?

Well, the Unicode consortium has a way of describing letters that are-but-aren't the same. They're called equivalent.

All the accent examples above are in canonical equivalence. That means, from a human's perspective, the precomposed glyphs and the letter+diacritic combinations look exactly the same. If you print them on the page, the printer makes the same dots in the same places. If you write them out, you make the same strokes with the pen. They may have separate code points but, as far as anybody reading it is actually concerned, they're the same thing.

However, the math examples above are in compatibility equivalence, as are the two betas further up, meaning that their specific formatting is informational even though they're really just forms of the same letter. A mathematician presented with an italic 𝑒 and a Fraktur 𝔢 would know that they mean different things, even though they're the same letter, all because of how they're set on the page.

N.B.: The letters fi and the ligature glyph fi (Latin Small Ligature fi; U+FB01) are in compatibility equivalence with one another.

"What does this have to do with Normalization?"

Good question! The Unicode standard also contains methods for composing and decomposing with compatibility equivalents.

First, there is "Normalization Form Compatibility Decomposition." This has the abbreviation NFKD, where K stands for... Compatibility. I think they did that because...

There is also "Normalization Form Compatibility Composition" (NFKC). Like NFC, this first decomposes (but this time with compatibility!) then recomposes. These have the special effect of turning ligatures into independent characters, super-/subscripts into in-line numerals, etc.

Finally, with these Normalization Forms, we have enough control over what glyphs the computer reads and can manipulate strings of characters to make them searchable!

3: Normalization Forms in R

Okay. That was a lot. Let's take stock.

So far, we have covered:

Problem: How Greek accents interfere with processing

Background: How the accents developed

Problem in Depth: How glyphs are recognized by Unicode

Solution Framework: How Unicode manipulates glyphs

Now the question becomes "how do we implement Normalization in our web scraper?"

To start, we will need the R library stringi. The whole purpose of the library is to expand our options for string processing in R. This includes five functions which are the most relevant for our current purposes:

stringi::stri_trans_nfd() Normalization Form Decomposition

stringi::stri_trans_nfc() Normalization Form Composition

stringi::stri_trans_nfkd() Normalization Form Compatibility Decomposition

stringi::stri_trans_nfkc() Normalization Form Compatibility Composition

stringi::stri_escape_unicode() Escape Unicode Characters

The first four are just the Normalization Forms from Section 2. The fifth one is just how we check our work. Remember: above I mentioned that RStudio will compose Unicode strings automatically before providing an output. If you store a decomposed string and try to print the results to the console, you will still see a composed string. This makes it hard to tell if you are working with properly formatted data! However, you can escape Unicode strings. That is to say, you can tell the computer that it should not touch whatever the output is.

If you have worked with Markdown, HTML, LaTeX and the like, then this should be familiar. If not, here's the short version.

Sometimes a computer needs to use certain characters for commands. For example, you can't just type the left angle bracket < in an HTML file and expect anything to happen, because you use angle brackets to tell Firefox that something is a command. If you want to type Greek is Beautiful in italics, then your HTML file would read <i>Greek is Beautiful</i>, where the opening tag <i> and the closing tag </i> define italicized text. As a result, if you want to type the left angle bracket, you need to use the escape code < . But look, the ampersand is used in an escape code. If you want it, escape it! & is the way to go.

Let's circle back to R now. If we want to type the letter ᾊ (Greek Capital Letter Alpha with Psili and Varia and Prosgegrammeni; U+1F8A), then we have two options. The first is to type the character directly into the console / .R file. Second is to type the Unicode string. In R, it's spelled \u1f8a.

If you want to escape it, then you need to add another backslash to the front, as such:

This is exactly what we would get if we pass the glyph ᾊ to stringi::stri_escape_unicode():

Now lets see what that looks like if we decompose it first:

Ohoho!

So, even though RStudio will recompose characters before we get the chance to see them, we can capture decomposed characters by escaping them. This way we can print out a string and make sure it decomposed properly.

(Quick note: that symbol %>% is called a pipe, and it is accessed by loading the library dplyr. This tells R to take the output of a function and hand it down to the next function in the line.)

With that victory under our belt, let's take a moment to tidy up. We're going to write some wrapper functions, i.e., functions that simply call another function. This might seem weird, but it can make our code more readable down the line. For example, since we're going to be normalizing a lot of text, things will get messy if we have to call stringi::stri_trans_nfd() every couple of lines. It would be much better if we could just type, say, NFD() and achieve the same results.

Let's see what that would look like. We need to pick a name, define it as a function, declare a placeholder name for our input, normalize the input variable, then return it.

Nice and simple! Let's do the same for the other Normalization Forms.

There we are!

With these in our pocket, we can start tidying up our inscriptional components. For starters, the source book for the inscription includes a superscript: IG I³. It's a small thing, but it means we can't simply type the name into the console, and we're in a position to clean it up.

Superscript numbers fall under canonical equivalence, so we'll use one of our NFK_() functions. Since there is nothing to compose -- no diacritics and the like -- the outputs of NFKD(PH1_book) and NFKC(PH1_book) are equivalent. That means we can skip composition and stick with decomposition:

Cool cool

What about the header? Well, mixed bag. Take a look:

There's some line breaks in there — see those \n's? That spelling should look familiar. — but normalization doesn't touch that. Really, the only thing here that we can currently fix are those superscripts. Once again, NFKD() to the rescue.

Fine enough for now, I suppose. But... we'll remember this. With some evil intent.

How about the text?

Lots of those line breaks... wonder what that's about. We also have some numbers in there. Let's break down what those mean.

If there's square brackets, like in τ̣[ὸς ἐ Σ]αλαμ̣[ῖνι κλερόχ]ος, that means the text is actually missing. Any letters in between those brackets are reconstructed, i.e., an educated hypothesis as to what might have originally been carved there.

(Dot's under a letter mean they're partly obscured but still roughly readable)

However, some of those brackets have periods and number nested in them, like in ἐᾶ Σαλαμῖνι [․․5․․]λεν. That means there's five "spaces"...

I guess now's the time to explain something. See that picture up above (so, so long ago) where I recreated this inscription for you? See how the letters are aligned in a grid? That type of arrangement is called Stoichedon (wiki), and it's a standard feature of Athenian inscriptions. Not every inscription does this, and sometimes non-Athenian inscriptions do use it, but generally it's an Athens thing.

Now look at the header. See where it says "stoich. 35"? That means this is in stoichedon/grid style, and that there are 35 columns.

So, that [․․5․․] means that there are five letters missing! If you look at my reconstruction, you'll see that I took those gaps into account when aligning the letters. If there's a "c." (for "circa," bc the earliest books were published in Latin), that means there's roughly that many spaces. Not sure what condition the stone was in that we ended up with β[ο]λε͂[ς ․․․c.11․․․․] at the bottom, but that's the number I used aligning the letters in my reconstruction, and I didn't get a malformed array error, so.

(I also didn't include any letters in brackets, though I did include dotted letters)

"Ok, that's all great, but what about the numbers not in brackets?"

Well, those are line numbers! See them in the picture waaaaaaay back at the top? Well, they're also text and they're also included in the HTML that we captured so... there they are!

Unfortunately, we can't do anything about numbers at the moment. Bit of a misdirect, given how much I just wrote about them, but I thought it best that we all knew what they were. And this is my blog. If you don't like it, then A) how did you get this far, and B) my thesis is much more concise.

(Shameless plug)

Anyways, there is something we can do with the text, though. Look that that word "ℎεκάτε[ρον" right before the 19-space gap. Why does that h look like that? Why is it even there?

Well, in reverse order, this inscription in particular is so old that it predates the semi-standardized spelling we're used to. See, in modern Greek there's this letter called ita, and it looks like this: Η η. In Ancient Greek, it's called êta, and looks roughly the same. As mentioned above, the lower case form was a Byzantine invention, but the uppercase form was... roughly stable (the vertical lines also have bars across the top and bottom in the recreation, but it's close).

The thing is, that was after the Athenian spelling reform implemented by the archon Eucleides in 403/2 BCE. In fact, he didn't just try to standardize spelling, but he switched alphabets. See, there wasn't just one Greek alphabet, but many.

In the alphabet that the Athenians used before Eucleides' reform, the letter was called heta, and it made an h-sound. After the reform, the Athenians stopped writing the h-sound, and it wouldn't come back in writing until the Byzantines came up with he rough breathing mark (see above).

(In fact, the Latin alphabet was derived from one of the Greek alphabets which retained heta, and it eventually evolved into the Latin letter h.)

"But why not just use an 'h' ?"

Well, the thing is, in most transliteration schemes the Latin letter 'h' still maps onto eta. Since the PHI website actively transliterates text any time you use the search bar at the bottom, they can't have that sort of overlap. So, they use the character ℎ (Plank constant; U+210).

Fortunately, we don't need to transliterate anything. We can type in Greek, so we won't need to worry about using Latin inputs for Greek searches. That means we could easily have the Latin 'h' in our inscription texts!

Plus, the plank constant is just an italic 'h'. We've handled this exact type of problem talking about compatibility equivalence, so we know we can use one of our NKF_() functions again.

But... there's more to consider. Look, we have accents now! We aren't just dealing with numbers or single characters, but fully composed glyphs. Sure we wouldn't ever see the decomposed forms, but leaving them decomposed now would be inefficient. See, if we store the text in its decomposed form, then every character needs to be stored separately. Think about the ᾊ example from above. The precomposed glyph ᾊ is one character. The decomposed set Α + ◌̓ + ◌̀ + ◌ͅ is four characters. It may not seem like a big deal right now, but when we run the full scraper, we're going to have multiple millions of glyphs. Then it will matter.

So let's recompose while we're at it.

And there we have it!

All of it!

Normalized!

This will come into play again later, but that's all we can do with normalization for the time being.

Next time, I think we'll go over tokenization.

[veworreg]

How to get the greek letter rho in word

HOW TO GET THE GREEK LETTER RHO IN WORD HOW TO

HOW TO GET THE GREEK LETTER RHO IN WORD SOFTWARE

HOW TO GET THE GREEK LETTER RHO IN WORD MAC

HOW TO GET THE GREEK LETTER RHO IN WORD MAC

It must be noted that the aforementioned shortcuts do not work on Mac systems.Typing Greek letters or symbols in Microsoft Word is easy, if you know the correct method. Upon completion, the lowercase variant of the Gamma symbol will appear at the desired spot in the Word document.After doing so, press the combination “Alt+X.”.The aforementioned shortcut can also be used to add the lowercase variant of the Gamma symbol onto your Word document but by using a different number combination.Upon completion, the uppercase variant of the Gamma symbol will appear at the desired spot in the Word document.Bring your cursor onto the desired point in your document where the symbol has to be added.To add the uppercase variant of the Gamma symbol onto your Word document, go through the following steps:.Inserting the uppercase variant of the Gamma symbol onto your Word document requires a different approach altogether. However, it must be noted that within Microsoft Word’s library of special characters, there exists only the lowercase variant of the Gamma symbol. Click on it, and it will provide the same guidance as to the aforementioned steps on adding the Gamma symbol.Then within the results provided by Word’s “Help,” there will be on the top and answer titled “Insert a symbol in Word.”.Go to the “Tell me what you want to do” section and type “Gamma symbol.”.For the aforementioned steps, guidance is even provided by Word for the same:.Of the two, click on “Symbol” and after that Word will provide you with its symbol library from which the desired symbol, here the Gamma symbol, can be selected.From there you will find two subsections titled, “Equation” & “Symbols”.Then, Click on “Insert” and then bring cursor over to the “Symbols” section.Open the Word document in which you desire to add the Gamma symbol.Follow the steps below to add the Gamma symbol in your Word document: The secret here is not difficult to understand, as it is a feature that is explained within Microsoft Word as well. Firstly, let’s take a look at adding the lowercase variant of the Gamma symbol in word.There exist different ways to add both the uppercase and lowercase variants of the Gamma symbols. The Gamma symbol, which comes from the Greek alphabetical order, has an uppercase and lowercase variant similar to English alphabets.

HOW TO GET THE GREEK LETTER RHO IN WORD HOW TO

Hence, now we shall see how to write the Gamma symbol in Word using the keyboard. While Microsoft Word does present its users with a variety of preinstalled mathematical equations, there can be times when only one specific symbol is needed to be written down. So, there exists a need to insert symbols such as the Gamma symbol.

HOW TO GET THE GREEK LETTER RHO IN WORD SOFTWARE

Thus, we know that this word processing software does not rule mathematics. Latin and Greek symbols feature prominently throughout mathematics for defining various terms and giving meaning to equations. Not only are they of importance to literature, but many are used to quantify various scientific and mathematical expressions. The use of symbols in the text is multifaceted. Symbols are significant in the written text. Here, we will understand how to add the Gamma Symbol in your Word document using a keyboard. This brings us to our present topic to shed light on how to figure out one of the hidden features. Thus, users turn to online sources to understand how to solve such problems. Not knowing how to do that is sure to bring your keyboard pace to a halt and break the flow. Concealed features such as similar font, translation, screenshot or chart insertion, and more cross our minds in times of need. So, today no matter how much one is comfortable with Word, being well-versed in the entirety of this word processing software is a difficulty. However, the vastness in terms of features was easily missed out by various content creators. These changes expanded the compatibility, accessibility, functions, and features of Word. We all know that time begets change, and with time came several updates to this software from its parent, Microsoft, which evolved it further. Featuring an impressive and easy-to-understand UI design as well as being storage efficient. Apart from being a standard application on various starter PCs and Laptops these days, the mobile application is just as good. The widespread availability of Word contributes in big part to its massive user base. The usefulness of Word has become so commonplace that bringing them under consideration is not even needed. Today, in the midst of the digital age, finding a student or a professor or anyone for that matter who isn’t familiar with Microsoft Word is a rarity. How to Type GAMMA SYMBOL in Word – With the advent of Word circa October 1983, we have witnessed an exponential rise in its usage ever since then.

[greekplante]

The Greek Alphabet

The Greek Alphabet

Part One: Some Basic Knowledge

In the Greek language, there are 24 letters in all: 17 consonants and seven vowels. There is an accent mark that is found on every Greek word that has more than one syllable, and it is known as the tonos (τονος). The tonos dictates which syllable gets the most stress and can differentiate between similar-sounding words or spellings.

| - | - | - |

Part Two: The Vowels

Remember that there are seven vowels in all, which is a little different from English (English speakers use five vowels). Some of them are similar to English sounds, and a few of them sound similar to each other.

Α α (alpha | άλφα): ah, as in "father"

Ε ε (epsilon | έψιλον): eh, as in "sell"

Ι ι (iota/yota | γιώτα): ee, as in "peel"

Ο ο (omicron | όμικρον): oh, as in "old"

Η η (eta | ήτα): ee, as in "tree"

Υ υ (upsilon | ύψιλον): ee, as in "bee"

Ω ω (omega | ωμέγα): oh, as in "show"

The Greek alpha (α) is pronounced at the front of the mouth, instead of in the back (like it is in English).

A lowercase iota (ι) is written with a mini tail but does not include the dot above. Now as you can probably tell, there are a few letters that sound like an iota -- more specifically the letters eta (η) and upsilon (υ). In transliterated Greek, an eta can look like a regular iota but with a line on top (so, basically this: ī), a trait that helps it be differentiated from a standard iota. As for the upsilon, because many English words derive from Greek, we've borrowed some of their letters, AKA their "y" and their "u", which resemble the characters used for the Greek upsilon. In English, they represent separate sounds that aren't really related. However, in Greek, both of those characters simply sound like the standard iota.

Another sound gets a similar treatment in Greek: oh. Two letters are known as the Greek omicron (ο) and omega (ω) represent this sound. In transliterated Greek, the omega looks like an omicron with a line on top (ō). Omicron goes by the nickname "small o", whilst "big o" refers to omega.

There are also vowel combinations that make new or familiar sounds, but I'll discuss them in a later post.

| - | - | - |

Part Three: The Consonants

Now, we move on to the 17 other letters, which happen to be consonants. Some of them look familiar and/or sound familiar, but several are definitely a bit new. Take a look:

Β β (vita | βήτα): v, as in "vitamin"

Γ γ (gamma | γάμμα): no English equivalent

Δ δ (dhelta | δέλτα): th, as in "this"

Ζ ζ (zita | ζίτα): z, as in "zoo"

Θ θ (thita | θήτα): th, as in "thanks"

Κ κ (kappa | κάππα): k, as in "cow"

Λ λ (lamda | λάμδα): l, as in "leave"

Μ μ (mu | μι): m, as in "move"

Ν ν (nu | νι): n, as in "new"

Ξ ξ (xi | ξι): x, as in "exit"

Π π (pi | πι): p, as in "pie"

Ρ ρ (rho | ρο): no English equivalent

Σ σ (ς) (sigma | σίγμα): s, as in "see"

Τ τ (taf | ταυ): t, as in "too"

Φ φ (fi | φι): f, as in "fear"

Χ χ (chi | χι): no English equivalent

Ψ ψ (psi | ψι): ps, as in "lips"

Most of the letters are relatively comprehensible, with only three of them having little to no English equivalents. One of these letters is known as gamma (γ), a very tricky letter. The pronunciation of gamma depends on the following letter. If the letter is a soft vowel, so the letter iota or epsilon, the gamma will pronounced like an English "y" (such as the one in "year"). If the letter is a hard vowel -- an alpha, omicron, omega, or upsilon -- it has a more difficult pronunciation, where a growl-like vibration is produced at the back of the throat near your uvula. It's best if you look up a few videos on how to properly pronounce the Greek gamma because it is quite a common letter. But, don't give up or get too frustrated if you can't get it as a beginner! Proper pronunciation and your accent will become much better as you study.

Delta (δ) is the next letter we'll discuss. A little less tricky than gamma, delta is pronounced more closely like the "th" in the English word "the". It has a very stunted and subtle "d" sound, but it's not omitted completely, which is why you'll see transcriptions using a "dh" for representation.

Thita (θ) sounds similar to delta except that it has a more authentic-sounding "th". This "th" sound is much softer and more like the English pronunciation of "thorough".

Sigma (σ) may seem to be complicated with its three various forms, but the only one to worry about is ς, which is explicitly used at the end of a word. Despite that difference, they are pronounced the same way you would pronounce an English "s".

Tau (τ), the Greek "t", is a little less aspirated than it is in English and therefore has no extra air at the end. So, it should sound just slightly muted.

Chi (χ) may look like an "x" but is pronounced nothing like it. This is one of the other fairly difficult pronunciations but should be relatively easier to understand. When next to a soft vowel (epsilon or iota, remember?), it sounds like an English "h" with a bit of a hiss to it; it can almost sound like a "y'" sound is also being added. When it's next to a hard vowel (alpha, upsilon, or omega/omikron), it sounds a bit harsher, like a German "ch" combination.

| - | - | - |

Part Four: The Conclusion

And that's it! It might be a lot to take in, but with a bit of practicing and memorization, you should be able to get the hang of it soon. If you're confused about any of the pronunciation, I recommend looking up some videos of native speakers and trying to repeat after them as they say something. I'll be making worksheets to go along with each of the lessons I cover, so check back for those. Otherwise, have a nice day; γεια σου!

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Next lesson: TBA

[thepringlesofblood]

you know what really grinds my gears?

when people use ancient greek letters to spell things out in english INCORRECTLY

example

that does NOT say memento mori!!!! what we’ve got here is the good old MSMSPTTH MTH?PS bc idk what tf that r is supposed to be you mean like Rx? like the symbol for drugs? go home

and even worse, if you were to spell out ‘memento mori’ in ancient greek in all caps IT WOULD JUST BE MEMENTO MOPI (Pρ signifies “rho” (r) in ancient greek)

then you have stuff like this

a wonderful song! very cool! All the lyrics are great and well done! A total bop! I listen to it all the time!

then. with full knowledge of how the greek alphabet works. they go and list their patreon backers like this.

friend...what have you done?

anyway I have few academic pedantic rants that I actually care about but this is one of them

I’ll spell the words/names out phonetically best I can under the cut for funsies

anyway, if you’re getting a tattoo with greek letters in it, make sure you know what they say first!!! dinguses.

“English” scansion / Ancient Greek phonetic pronunciation (i’ll put _ for letters that just aint in ancient greek) / my best guess at what an accurate 1:1 phonetic spelling would be in the greek alphabet

the magnanimous ones / tays ml_plpfmthn*_ thps_ / θε μαγνανιμες ονς

vanessa gresham-miller / n*lps__l __s_aylm-mf__s_/ φανεσα γρεσαμ-μιλερ

william riley murdoch/ _f__flm _f_sps mn__thsay / ιλιαμ ραιλῑ μυρδοχ

gabriel rosa / _lb_fs_ _th_l / γηβρῑελ ρωσα

raoul zeno huber / _lthen_ zspth ainbs_ / ραουλ ζενω ῾υβερ

matthew beine / mlttays_ bsfps / μαθιου βειν

ryan murphy / _pslp mn_rayps / ραιαν μυρφῑ

carl pedersen / sl__ rs_s__sp/ καρλ πεδερσεν

opzron?? / ōpz_thp / i have no idea what this was meant to say in the first place

some more fun names transliterated

tiffany / τιφανῑ

brian / βραιαν

grace / γρης

griffin / γριφιν

sans undertale / σανς υνδερτηλ

*uppercase V does not exist, but lowercase ν = n so I have translated these as such to keep it spicy

[thadelightfulone]

Apollo Night

So, my good friend @shaekingshitup placed this idea in my head. It is an already planned series of one- or two-shots of College Erik shenanigans. I hope you all enjoy. Those who want to be tagged just let me know. As always, my OCs are always black!

Summary: Melanie just wanted to get more involved on campus.

It is Melanie’s first year at Cal State, and she has been looking for a way to make new friends, get more involved on campus, and experience all college life has to offer. Some of the girls in her Sunday School class at church were students on campus and BSU board members. They advertised their annual Apollo Night on Sunday before class began since it was open to the community as well. She decided that this might be an excellent way to meet some of her goals as she finishes her freshman year in college.  

The following Saturday morning, she goes to campus for auditions for the show. While waiting, she sees a few groups from various fraternities and sororities preparing song and dance numbers for their auditions. She moves off to a corner of the building and practices vocal exercises until they call her name. She follows her friend, Marie, from church, to where she will be auditioning. Along the way, they pass a group of rowdy guys leaving their audition, clearly excited because their act was chosen to perform.

She looks up, making eye contact with one of the guys as he passes her while waving to Marie. Shining dark brown eyes meet her timid hazel ones. He smiles down at her since her 5'2 frame is much shorter than his own 6 ft. Dimples and gold canines in full view, she internally swoons while meeting his smile. Melanie didn’t realize that she picked up her pace, and stops short right before running into Marie. He chuckles and continues behind his boys. She drops her head and follows her to the audition room.

The audition goes well, and Melanie is informed right there on the spot that she will be performing in the show. The board explains to her how the show will go – following closely to how A Night at the Apollo does their Amateur Night. They have someone who will be Sandman and remove folks who are booed for longer than 15 secs off the stage. They let her know that it is not like singing at church; no one will coddle her. And if Melanie wants to make sure she stays in the competition, then she should make sure she has some friends who can make serious noise in the audience – just in case. Melanie sighs but nods her head in understanding.

She is given the date and location of the show. The board lets her know about the optional walk-through rehearsal two hours before the show. Also, the latest time that she can check-in for the show because she will need a soundcheck if she doesn’t attend the rehearsal. Melanie thanks the board for their time, and quietly exits the building. Mentally running through a checklist of things she will need to do before the show in two weeks. She frowns when she remembers what the board said about having support, most of her friends were across the country at HBCUs or the Ivy League schools of their choice. Not paying attention to what she was doing, Melanie pushes on the door leading out of the building hard enough to hit some people standing on the other side.

“Aye, watch it!” One guy jumps out of the way as the door swings wide.

“Damn, girl!” Another voice calls out, and when Melanie looks over, he is rubbing his upper arm after taking most of the impact.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” She looks down away from the group of guys who all turned to face her. “I wasn’t paying attention. My bad.” Melanie looks up and realizes it is the group she saw on her way into the audition. The guy she hit was the one who smiled at her earlier, now frowning in her direction.

“I take it the audition didn’t go well.” Melanie barely hears his words over, watching his muscular arms flex and stretch in response to her attack with the door. She shakes her head, “No?” He stops moving and looks directly at her.

“Oh no, I mean, it was fine. I got through.” A small smile appears on her face. “It’s just a lot to think about, I have never performed in front of a group I don’t know before.” All the guys nod their heads in understanding. “Well, I guess I will see you guys at the show. I should go.” Melanie looks back up at him. “Again, I’m sorry about that.”

He waves her off, “You’re good. We all celebrate differently. Just be careful next time.”

“Will do,” she waves at the guys, “Bye.” They all watch her leave before breaking out into laughter.

“Oh no, nope.” Luke, who was the other guy who almost got hit, says, “Too easy.” He stands in front of Erik, who Melanie hit with the door, and looks at him, “Not her.”

Darrin, another member of their group, speaks up, “Why not? She would be perfect.”

“I agree, I don’t see why we can’t make her it,” Erik spoke.                                

“You saw her first. You are never supposed to encounter the mark. We choose them the night of the show.” Marcus, the last member of the group, lowers his voice as he walks closer to them, so no one will hear what they are discussing.

“Ok, so we do it differently this year. My vote is for her.” Erik responds. The guys all look at him.

“Are you sure about this?” Luke asks warily.

Darrin slaps Luke on the back, “You heard the man. She’s the one.” He shrugs when Luke moves out of his grasp and closer to Marcus. “Besides, it’s his choice this year anyway. Who cares when it was decided?”

“Fine. Don’t make us regret this.” Luke says before walking away.

— Two Weeks Later —

Melanie walks into the Student Union Pavilions, where the show was going to be. She sees Marie and some of the other board members finishing up the final touches to the stage. She decided to skip the rehearsal and just come in for a soundcheck. Marie takes her music to the sound guy who plays it while Melanie hums along, he makes sure to mark the levels on both the music and mic so she can be heard clearly on the mic.

Once that is done, she heads to the bathroom to change into her outfit for the night. Melanie chose a navy blue shift dress that has a deep shawl collar with some black velvet booties. The dress wasn’t too form-fitting, but anyone could see the curves she was rocking. Her natural curls were already pinned up in a chignon bun with loose tendrils framing her face. She wasn’t one for much make up but decided to put on some black mascara with a matte raisin lipstick. She pouted her lips, took a couple selfies in the mirror for her snap before calling herself ready.  

Walking into the waiting room, she sees all the acts gathering around while waiting for the lineup announcement. She goes to a corner and decides to run a few vocal exercises to warm up since she didn’t sing full out at her soundcheck. She starts at her normal chest voice, “Ma Me Mi Mo Mu – oooh,” going up half a step, she gets through 3 repetitions before she hears a throat clearing behind her.

Looking up from her seat, she sees the guy she hit with the door the day of her audition. “Ahhh, so she sings.” She smiles at him as he sits next to her. Holding out his hand, "I’m Erik.”

She takes his hand, “Melanie.”

“Nice to meet you, Melanie.” He lets go of her hand, “I haven’t seen you around campus before. You go here?”

“Yeah. It’s my first year here.” Erik nods at her. “Trying to get more involved on campus.”

“That’s kool. You a member of the BSU?” He takes a sip of some water.

"Not yet, but I know a few of the board members from my church.” He nearly chokes on his water.

“You go to church with Marie and her friends?” She nods at him. Coughing a bit more to clear his airways, “That’s what’s up. I bet she wants you to pledge S G Rho, too?”

“Actually, the girls from Zeta are already trying to recruit me.” She looks down at his outfit, noticing he is in a blue jersey with white writing on it. The Greek letters of Phi Beta Sigma big and bold, going down the right side. Erik smiles at her, nodding his head.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to practicing. Break a leg tonight, Melanie.” Erik stands to leave.

“Thanks. You, too Erik.” She returns to finishing her vocal warmups, as Erik makes a hasty retreat from Melanie over to his group members, and frat brothers.

“Yo, we gotta pick someone else.“ Marcus, Luke, and Darrin look at him, shaking their heads.  

"No, can do. Word is out about the chosen act of the night. It’s a done deal.” Marcus looks at Erik.

“What happened to change your mind?” Luke asks.

“Doesn’t matter, she doesn’t deserve it. So, pick someone else.” He hisses out, keeping his voice low.

“No one does, Erik. That’s what makes it so great.” Darrin laughs while looking around. “Do we know when she goes on?”

“Second half. Speedy just read off her name.” Marcus answers, “Gives us enough time to spread the word during the intermission.”

“Fuck all that and listen to me! Pick. Someone. Else.” Erik keeps looking over at Melanie, who moved outside the door to sing a little louder without bothering anyone.

“Nah, we got our one. We’re good.” Luke walks outside, “Let’s get that last part together before we go onstage.” Passing Melanie, who is coming back inside, “Aye, break a leg tonight, young lady.”

She smiles at all of them, “Thanks fellas, you too.” She continues out to the Pavilion, deciding to watch the first part of the show since she didn’t perform until the second half.

—

The host of the evening was a local SoCal comedian by the name of Speedy. He welcomed everyone to the BSU’s Annual Apollo Night, explaining how the show would go. Speedy completed a short comedic set and introduced Ace Money, the special guest performer for the evening. Ace Money opened the show and brought out the first performer of the competition.

About 5 acts into the show, Speedy came out asking the audience about their love of the Divine Nine. The crowd went wild as they knew this means the next few acts represented the black fraternity and sorority chapters on campus. First up was a guy from the school’s shared chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, reciting some poetry earning plenty of snaps and praise for his prose. Followed by a quartet of girls from the campus chapter of Delta Sigma Theta singing  Giving Something He Can Feel as En Vogue in their long red gowns.

Before Speedy even returned to the stage, the crowd was loud already knowing who was next up to perform. “Well, I guess these brothers really don’t need this introduction, but ya’ll gonna get it anyway.” He walked across the stage to the side where Darrin and Luke were standing, “Keep making some noise for the Men of Fire and Brimstone, PHI BETA SIGMA!!!”

The music starts, and the audience goes nuts as Erik, Darrin, Marcus, and Luke all stroll out from both sides of the stage to 112’s Dance with Me. They stood in a straight line across the stage before breaking out into their choreography for the song. As the song progressed, they made their way off the stage and down into the audience.  

Erik was on Melanie’s side, and he spotted her immediately on the aisle not far from the stage. So when he made his way down, he went directly to her and started dancing in front of her. Much to the delight of her classmates who she sat with during the show. He takes her hands and lifts her from the seat right as the call and response part of the song came on –

If you sexy and you know it clap your hands (claps)

Erik dances behind Melanie, holding her by her hips, waiting for her to clap along. When she doesn’t, he takes her hands and claps them for her in tune with the song.

If you sexy and you know it clap your hands (claps) If you sexy and you know it and you really wanna show it, If you sexy and you know it clap your hands (claps)

Yeah!

Before Erik heads back up to the stage, he pulls Melanie in and whispers in her ear, “Thank you.“ He makes his way back to finish the performance on stage, and Melanie drops back into her seat, as her friends laugh and snicker around her. The song ends, and the guys bow before leaving the stage.

Speedy comes out and starts fanning girls he sees in the front row, "Yeah, I think now is a good time to call for an intermission. Some of you need to cool off. See ya in 20 minutes.”

Melanie had a big old grin on her face as she faced the people around her. “Who was that?” Alicia, a girl in her math class, asked.

“Just a guy I met before the show began. It’s nothing.“ The other two girls look at her and laugh, "Whatever, I’m gonna get some water and head backstage. I’ll see you all after the show.” They all gave her hugs and well wishes before watching her disappear behind the stage.

—

Speedy came back out on stage after the intermission and told a few jokes before starting the second half of the show.  

“Alright, ya’ll ready for your next act?” He holds his mic out to the crowd.

“YEAH,” variations of it overlapped as he got everyone hyped for the next performance.

“I said, are you ready for your next act?”

“YEAH!” the crowd returns much louder than before.

“Please welcome to the stage, Miss Melanie Alonzo.” Melanie walks out, smiling to Speedy and then the crowd. He brushes past her and wishes her luck.  

She takes a moment to breathe and looks to the back, cueing the sound guy. Melanie has an accompanying track for her song, but she starts off acapella. Following her favorite version of the song, she starts singing –

Birds flyin’ high, you know how I feel Sun in the sky, you know how I feel Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel

Some cheers come from the audience as they recognize the song she is doing. She exhales as she continues feeling herself relax more as she adjusts to her sound on the stage.

It’s a new dawn It’s a new day It’s a new life for me Ooooooooh And I’m feelin’ good

She looks over the audience as she continues to sing and get more comfortable at the mic. The friends who were able to make the show smiling at her as the music starts.

Fish in the sea, you know how I feel River runnin’ free, you know how I feel Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel

As she pulls the mic from the stand to move around the stage, she starts hearing ‘boos’ coming from opposite corners of the room. She looks out at the audience and recognizes one of the guys booing her as one of Erik’s groupmates. She slows her pace on the stage as she continues singing while the ‘boos’ get increasingly louder.

It’s a new dawn It’s a new day It’s a new life for me And I’m feelin’ good

Eyes roaming the audience, she can see make out that each one of Erik’s group members is spaced out and booing at her from their spots in the crowd. She was the Boo Boo Act for the night.

Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean Don’t you know Butterflies all havin’ fun, you know what I mean

She can see her friends trying to cheer louder for her along with others in the audience who are enjoying her performance. Even their Sandman is holding back from running her off the stage.

Sleep in peace when day is done, that’s what I mean And this old world is a new world and a bold world for me She continues singing, hoping that the mixed reaction is enough to keep her in the competition when she spots someone dead center in the audience, Erik. He isn’t booing or cheering, just looking directly at her with a confused expression. Melanie is ready to bolt from the stage in embarrassment, but she won’t let him and his childish group of friends win. She puts the mic back on the stand, stares straight into the spotlight, and continues singing.

Stars when you shine, you know how I feel Scent of the pine, you know how I feel Oh, freedom is mine, and I know how I feel It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me

Melanie’s voice increases in strength, and she belts out the last part, along with her own variation of Nina Simone’s scat before ending the song.

And I’m feelin’ – good

She holds that last note loud, long, and proud as the music ends, and she immediately exits the stage. Melanie had no idea that she earned a standing ovation or saw that Erik was cheering the loudest as she finished the song.

Speedy returns to the stage and looks back at Melanie, who went back to the waiting room. “I don’t know what that girl did to ya, but she handled that very well.” He shakes his head, looking down at his list of upcoming acts. “That couldn’t have been me, no sir.” There are a few scattered laughs and claps as the audience agrees with him.

—

Speedy calls out all the acts that made it through to the end. There was another act that the audience successfully managed to boo off the stage. He was still in the backstage waiting room. Melanie didn’t even want to be bothered with it anymore. She stayed in the back and listened from the open door. When a girl who sang Ex-Factor by Lauryn Hill, was announced as the winner, Melanie moved away from the door.

Everyone came back in and was congratulating one another for a job well done and an incredible show. Erik and his group were the loudest, cheering on their friend who won the competition. Melanie stayed out of the way towards the back. Gathering her things together when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turns around to find the guest artist, Money Ace, a new rapper gaining traction around the SoCal rap scene, standing there.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know I thought you did a great job out there.” She looks him up and down, not saying anything. “I get it. Sometimes, it’s just not your night, and your voice just doesn’t match the song.“

Melanie rolls her eyes at him, “Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it.” She grabs her bag and moves to leave. He grabs her arm, stopping her in front of him.

“Wait, I am always looking for people to sing hooks on my songs.” He pulls out a business card, “Maybe we can find something for you to sing for me.” Ace takes Melanie’s hand and slides the card into it. “Just think about it.” She nods, and he walks away right as Erik makes his way over to her. Melanie puts on her jacket, double checks that she has all her stuff before heading for the back door leading out of the TSU.

Erik had been watching her since he got back to the waiting room, he noticed she never came out on the stage with everyone else. When he finally got a moment away from everyone, he saw that she was talking to Money Ace. He tried patiently to wait for them to finish before approaching her. When he shook her hand, Erik moved towards her, but Ace caught him and wanted to chat.

Melanie was walking over to her friends when she heard her name being called from behind her. She turned and saw Erik standing there. She turned back around and continued walking.

“MELANIE! Melanie, wait up!”

She stopped in front of her friends and turned around to face him. "What do you want, Erik? There’s no crowd here to embarrass me in front of, so I don’t know what’s in it for you.”

He scoffed at her, “It wasn’t even like that. I promise you.” She sucks her teeth at him. He looks at the card in her hand. “What did he want?”

“Oh, Ace?” She twirls the card between her fingers. “He likes my sound and wanted to see if I was interested in singing hooks on some of his tracks.” She knew she had no intention of doing anything with it, but it serves Erik right for acting bothered by it after what he just did.

Erik frowns at her, then reaches out and grabs the card, “Nah, you don’t need friends like that.” He tosses it in the nearest trashcan.

“But I need friends like you?”

“He only wants to fuck, Mel. You don’t mind if I call you that, do you?” She shrugs at him. "And as I said, it wasn’t even like that.”

“Then what was it like? Because I was just starting and then I get booed. I look out in the audience and notice your friends are the ones egging people on.” Erik lowers his head. “Oh, and let’s not forget the not-so-secretly hushed rumor that one act was chosen to be the Boo Boo Act. I guess it was just a good thing that I had enough people on my side to make sure I wasn’t booed off like-” she takes a minute to remember the name, “like Vanessa was last year.” Erik is wringing his hands in front of him. “I take it that was you and your frat buddies at work again, right?” Erik looks at Melanie, who has begun tearing up in front of him. “What did I ever do to you and your friends? Did you really think I deserved that?”

“I told them to call it off.” He responds lowly.

“Clearly, they didn’t hear you, or they didn’t care.” Melanie inhales deeply, “Doesn’t matter, I don’t need that kind of friend either.” She wipes her eyes of the tears that started to fall. “Please just leave me alone.” Turning around to her friends who witnessed their whole interaction, they leave Erik standing by himself in the fresh night air.

“I tried to warn you, E.” A clap on the back brings him face-to-face with his frat brothers. Luke has a smirk on his face. “You think she’ll participate in Apollo Night next year? She did pass with flying colors.”

“Why did you do it? I told you I wanted it stopped.” Erik looks at all three, Luke, Marcus, and Darrin.

“Now, E, you know we couldn’t do that. It goes against the rules.” Darrin replies.

“Once the act is picked, it is final.” Marcus recites in a precise manner.

“Besides, you stupidly chose her two weeks ago. And we knew it was a bad idea, but you never backed down until tonight when it was too late to pick another.” Luke chimed in.

“This is why we wait until the night of the show. When we have the chance to meet the performers and speak with them during the rehearsal or soundcheck.” Marcus throws his hands up. “You were warned.” Erik walks away from them.

“So, how bad did you fuck this one up, Erik?” Darrin catches up to walk beside him as they head back inside the TSU.

“She told me to leave her alone.” Erik stops short of the entrance.

“Serves you right, nigga. Picking on lonely girls like that.” Luke utters as he passes Erik, who trips him at the door. They all watch Luke try to catch his balance before he hits the ground, “Damn, man. It’s not my fault that you fucked up.”

“That’s not gonna stop him,” Marcus says as he helps Luke up. They all look over at Erik and can just see the wheels turning in his head. He grins at them while scratching his beard. “Ahhh, here it goes.”

[nadziejastar]

The Origin and Meaning of the Recusant’s Sigil

Death

Xehanort: “X”… A most ancient letter. Some say “kye,” but the meaning is the same. Death… A letter that spells endings.

This has been something I’ve been meaning to discuss in-depth for a long time---The Recusant’s Sigil, otherwise known as the Mark of Heresy. It really bothered me how this aspect of the story was left totally unexplored. It was obviously going to factor heavily into BBS Volume 2, explaining Xehanort’s obsession with darkness, his ambitions, and even his ability to time travel. What exactly is the Recusant's Sigil and why does it mean so much to Xehanort? What does it have to do with the X-blade? And why does it mean "death" and "endings"? 

Well, one reason is that “X” is thought to be the Mark of the Beast. It should also be noted that in Greek, 666=XXX. Interestingly, in Judaic kabbalah the number 666 is actually used to represent the creation and perfection of the world. Which is probably closer to how Xehanort sees it.

But by far the most familar usage of “X” meaning death is the skull and crossbones. In the Middle Ages, it was a common tombstone decoration, and appeared in many “memento mori,” which were illustrative reminders of mortality. In more recent times, the skull and crossbones signifies poison.

Endings

The skull and crossbones is also an important emblem in Masonry, where it symbolizes the transience of the material world, and it is used in initiation rituals. It symbolizes the gateway to the higher realms of understanding only achievable through spiritual death and rebirth.

Freemasons use the ‘X’ to symbolize transformation. For example, the first sign is that of crossing the hands over the chest, “cross my heart and hope to die”.  This phrase demonstrates that the initiate will be penalized with death if they ever reveal the secrets.

One must go through various initiation rituals before attaining the next rank in their journey of enlightenment. The 17th degree is considered the transformation, or change of the initiate. There is a certain part of the ritual called “the crossing of cordons”. They cite this as a reference to the point in the heavens where "the celestial equator crosses the plane of the ecliptic", basically referring to changes made over time.

The cordons used in this ‘X’ transformation ceremony are depicted with black and white---the classic symbol of duality secret groups like these are always referencing. That’s why you always see the black and white checkered floor in Masonic imagery. They are pushing the idea of joining opposites and finding a new equilibrium. It's the same with Xehanort.

The χ-Blade

If Kingdom Hearts is a lock, then this blade from the age of fairy tales was the key.

It could be argued that without the χ-blade, the Keyblade War might never have been waged; after all, you cannot possess what you cannot find or unlock.

It is clear the blade was the inspiration for human-wrought Keyblades. The letter χ can be pronounced both “key” or “kye” (leading to some confusion) and symbolizes the perfect crossing of light and darkness. The χ-blade can be forged via a high-dimensional clash between those two poles.

It is believed that the Recusant’s Sigil also derives from χ.

 —Glossary (KH3D)

In hermetic kabbalah, the skull and crossbones are related to the chi-rho, which symbolizes time, death, and rebirth. It became an important Christian symbol when it was adopted by the Roman Emperor Constantine, representing the first two letters in the name of Christ---chi and rho. The chi-rho is also the origin of the tradition of abbreviating “Christ” in “Christian" or “Christmas” to “X.”

Before it became the monogram of Christ, the chi-rho was the monogram of Chronos (whose name also begins with a chi-rho), the god of time. The small letters in the image are the alpha and omega; the beginning and the end. The chi-rho was also used in hermetic alchemical texts to denote time. It was used as an emblem of several solar deities, as well. Young Xehanort's ability to time travel is therefore integrally linked to the Recusant's Sigil, and whoever taught him about it.

Recusant’s Sigil

But why is it called the Mark of Heresy or the Recusant’s Sigil? A recusant is defined as a person who refuses to submit to an authority or comply with a regulation. Which is basically the same thing as a heretic.

The Crook and Flail are the emblems of the Egyptian god Osiris. They were the symbols of divine authority carried by Egyptian Pharaohs in state ceremonies. The Recusant’s Sigil is the symbol of Osiris upside-down.

The “X” is also used in ancient Egypt as a symbol of the dead. You see it in Egyptian pyramids and temples, where Pharaohs are buried with their arms and legs crossed. This is because it was the symbol of Osiris. He was ruler of the dead and the underworld, and this was done in devotion to him. 

Was it easy to decide on the design for the three main characters?

Tetsuya Nomura: “No, it was actually pretty difficult. Especially since all three of them would change into armor, when I began to work on their design I had decided that they would hit a round device to change into the armor. But how I could incorporate that device into their clothing was pretty difficult to decide. Also, since one of the secret keywords in the story is "X”, I decided that I had to put that somewhere in the design of their clothes.”

Unlike with Sora, Xehanort didn't literally put the "X" on their clothes. Nomura used it to symbolize their unfortunate fates, as “X” was the secret keyword for the story. Terra was his destined vessel, Ventus was half of the X-blade, and Vanitas said Aqua was a backup. 

What is the meaning of the ‘x’ in the Organization member’s names? Also, was adding the ‘x’ to their original names difficult? Nomura: It was Xemnas’s decision to add the ‘x’. I think the meaning will become clear in Birth by Sleep. Think of the circumstances of the Organization member’s names with an ‘x’ added. We came up with many name candidates the with ‘x’ added in together with the staff, we rack our brains while we consider them.

Xemnas planned to use all the original Organization members as vessels once the artificial Kingdom Hearts was completed. In anticipation of this, he also added the "X" to their names as well. The "X" is the mark of an intended vessel.

異端の印 (Itan no shirushi, lit. "Mark of heresy”) is a symbol designed by Xehanort to represent the rejection of a Nobody from his original persona. It is incorporated into the new names of each of the original members of Organization XIII, and is derived from Xehanort’s sleeping memories of the χ-blade.

—khwiki

But Xehanort needs that person's original self to die first. That is the ONLY way he can use them as a vessel. All of the Organization members have been marked, to signify the death of their original self.

Xemnas: Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self.

But it's especially true wth Saix. He was the only successful vessel from the original Organization, besides Braig, who was totally willing. Roxas was a good candidate at first, but he became too self-aware, and thus was no longer usable. 

Xemnas: As your flesh bears the sigil, so your name shall be known of that as a recusant.

That's no doubt how Saix got the scar on his face. To signify the death of Isa, and the creation of a successful vessel. It’s also a mark of submission to Xehanort’s “divine” authority. The whole idea is…pretty dark, actually. But it was also so interesting to me. It was why Lea and Isa became my favorite characters in the first place. There were so many intriguing concepts in their story line and their whole relationship had so much potential. Especially since Isa might have even allowed himself to become a vessel in order to protect Lea. 

The Key to Return Hearts

Where did the Organization’s coat and mark come from?

Nomura: Xemnas remembering his human years. One year after BbS, Xehanort as well as the five other apprentices toss aside their hearts. Then the Nobody Xemnas was born, and the Organization which he creates take a lot of things from his memories as a human. But as Xemnas had two people whom he came from, Terra and Master Xehanort, he takes from both of their memories. The coat used by the Organization was something that Master Xehanort originally wore. The Nobody mark used by the Organization is a similar shape to the mark Terra used. Xemnas gives Organization members names with an X in them. This has something to do with Master Xehanort’s interest in the χ-Blade.

So, the shared destiny of Terra, Aqua, Ventus, and Isa was indeed to die---but also to be reborn. The game that introduced all these concepts was called “Birth By Sleep,” after all. Nomura implied that Xemnas based the Nobody emblem on the mark that Terra wore. His words suggested that the meaning of these symbols was important and that we’d eventually get to learn more about their origin. 

But, of course, we never did. But we do know that although Xehanort followed the darkness, Master Eraqus was a defender of the light. Well, if “X” is the symbol of death and endings, then what is the symbol of life and rebirth? Is that the true meaning of Eraqus’ symbol?

The press release for KINGDOM HEARTS III unveiled by Square Enix discusses the search for the “Key to Return Hearts.” Is there anything you can tell us about that?

Nomura: There are two possible meanings of the “key.” One of which is the “hardware” key, which opens doors - this is what keys are in general (laughs), and the other is the “light” key, that opens something else. In this case, it is currently unknown as to which type of key Sora must find. This is the main storyline of KINGDOM HEARTS III - Sora must go on an adventure to find the “key” without knowing what or where it is. But as you know, we can’t really say anything else on the subject (laughs).

The ankh is the ancient Egyptian symbol of life, fertility and the union of male and female. It appears frequently in Egyptian writings about rebirth and was also called the Key of Life. Early Christians adopted it to symbolize the resurrection of Christ. I obviously can’t know for sure, but I think it’s possible that Eraqus' symbol was integrally tied to the whole concept of the “Key to Return Hearts”.

The ankh was used in funeral rites as well. It was sometimes held upside down by the loop, where it resembled the shape of a key. It was considered the key which opened the gate to the the realm of eternity. When someone died, their corpse carried the ankh. At the time their souls were weighed, or when they would board the Boat of the Sun God Ra, it was a sign that they sought this same immortality from the gods. Therefore, the dead were sometimes referred to as “ankhu”, meaning possessor of life. In the dark occult, the ankh is still used as a symbol of evil and death when it is used upside-down. That might be the true origin of the Nobody symbol---an inversion of the symbol of life.

It's fitting that the Recusant's Sigil is based Egyptian concepts and imagery. To the ancient Egyptians, the Sun represented light, warmth, and growth. This made the Sun deity, Ra, very important, as he was seen as the ruler of all creation. When Ra was in the underworld, he merged with Osiris, the god of the dead. Osiris is usually distinguished as the god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead. But more appropriately he is the god of transition, resurrection, and regeneration. And it's worth mentioning that ancient Egyptians always used a red Sun to symbolize Ra. 

[pamphletstoinspire]

BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAS (JEREMIAH) - From The Douay-Rheims Bible - Latin Vulgate

Chapter 4

INTRODUCTION.

In these Jeremias laments in a most pathetic manner the miseries of his people, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, in Hebrew verses, beginning with different letters according to the order of the Hebrew alphabet. Ch. --- In the first chapter the order is exactly observed, but in the three next phe comes before ain, either for some mystery to us unknown, or by the derangement of transcribers, who perhaps thought that those verses were better connected, as they seem to be, (C.) though this is not very clear. H. --- In such pieces the sentiments of a pensive heart are poured out without much connection. W. --- The Greeks style this word qrhnoi, and Heb. kinoth, or lamentations. H. --- S. Jerom, (2 Par. xxxv. 25.) thinks it was the first composition of Jeremias, and sung at the death of Josias. W. S. Jer. in Zac. xii. 11. --- The eulogy of the king seems to belong to him rather than to Sedecias. C. iv. 20. C. --- Yet it might afterwards be applied to the latter, (H.) and to the ruin of Jerusalem. Eccli. xlix. 8. S. Jer. Pref. Theod. &c. --- The city is represented standing, and sometimes in ruins. Chap. v. seems to have been written after the rest. v. 4, 18. C. --- It is not acrostic like them. The prophet alludes to the wretched condition of the Jews, after the murder of their Messias; and hence the Church makes use of the lamentations on the anniversary of our Saviour's passion, inviting all sinners, both Jews and Gentiles, to repent: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord thy God." W. --- Many passages are applicable to a soul fallen into sin, as the commentary under the name of S. Jerom, (H.) compiled by Rabanus, (Du Pin) shews. H.

The additional Notes in this Edition of the New Testament will be marked with the letter A. Such as are taken from various Interpreters and Commentators, will be marked as in the Old Testament. B. Bristow, C. Calmet, Ch. Challoner, D. Du Hamel, E. Estius, J. Jansenius, M. Menochius, Po. Polus, P. Pastorini, T. Tirinus, V. Bible de Vence, W. Worthington, Wi. Witham. — The names of other authors, who may be occasionally consulted, will be given at full length.

Verses are in English and Latin. HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY

This Catholic commentary on the Old Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). This transcription is based on Haydock's notes as they appear in the 1859 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Changes made to the original text for this transcription include the following:

Greek letters. The original text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, put in italics, and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used: A for Alpha; B for Beta; G for Gamma; D for Delta; E for Epsilon; Z for Zeta; E for Eta; Th for Theta; I for Iota; K for Kappa; L for Lamda; M for Mu; N for Nu; X for Xi; O for Omicron; P for Pi; R for Rho; S for Sigma; T for Tau; U for Upsilon; Ph for Phi; Ch for Chi; Ps for Psi; O for Omega. For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.

Footnotes. The original text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc.

Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered in this transcription without their accent marks.

Other special characters.

Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.

Ligatures, single characters containing two letters united, in the original text in some Latin expressions have been represented in this transcription as separate letters. The ligature formed by uniting A and E is represented as Ae, that of a and e as ae, that of O and E as Oe, and that of o and e as oe.

Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, l.

The half symbol (1/2) and three-quarters symbol (3/4) in the original text have been represented in this transcription with their decimal equivalent, (.5) and (.75) respectively.

Unreadable text. Places where the transcriber's copy of the original text is unreadable have been indicated in this transcription by an empty set of square brackets, [].

Chapter 4

(No prolog)

[1] Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?

ALEPH. Quomodo obscuratum est aurum, mutatus est color optimus! dispersi sunt lapides sanctuarii in capite omnium platearum!

[2] Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the potter's hands?

BETH. Filii Sion inclyti, et amicti auro primo : quomodo reputati sunt in vasa testea, opus manuum figuli!

[3] Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert.

GHIMEL. Sed et lamiae nudaverunt mammam, lactaverunt catulos suos : filia populi mei crudelis quasi struthio in deserto.

[4] Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them.

DALETH. Adhaesit lingua lactentis ad palatum ejus in siti; parvuli petierunt panem, et non erat qui frangeret eis.

[5] He. They that were fed delicately have died in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung.

HE. Qui vescebantur voluptuose, interierunt in viis; qui nutriebantur in croceis, amplexati sunt stercora.

[6] Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took nothing in her.

VAU. Et major effecta est iniquitas filiae populi mei peccato Sodomorum, quae subversa est in momento, et non ceperunt in ea manus.

[7] Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.

ZAIN. Candidiores Nazaraei ejus nive, nitidiores lacte, rubicundiores ebore antiquo, sapphiro pulchriores.

[8] Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood.

HETH. Denigrata est super carbones facies eorum et non sunt cogniti in plateis; adhaesit cutis eorum ossibus : aruit, et facta est quasi lignum.

[9] Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the earth.

TETH. Melius fuit occisis gladio quam interfectis fame, quoniam isti extabuerunt consumpti a sterilitate terrae.

[10] Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

JOD. Manus mulierum misericordium coxerunt filios suos; facti sunt cibus earum in contritione filiae populi mei.

[11] Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

CAPH. Complevit Dominus furorem suum, effudit iram indignationis suae : et succendit ignem in Sion, et devoravit fundamenta ejus.

[12] Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.

LAMED. Non crediderunt reges terrae, et universi habitatores orbis, quoniam ingrederetur hostis et inimicus per portas Jerusalem.

[13] Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

MEM. Propter peccata prophetarum ejus, et iniquitates sacerdotum ejus, qui effuderunt in medio ejus sanguinem justorum.

[14] Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were defiled with blood: and when they could not help walking in it, they held up their skirts.

NUN. Erraverunt caeci in plateis, polluti sunt in sanguine; cumque non possent, tenuerunt lacinias suas.

[15] Samech. Depart you that are defiled, they cried out to them: Depart, get ye hence, touch not: for they quarrelled, and being removed, they said among the Gentiles: He will no more dwell among them.

SAMECH. Recedite polluti, clamaverunt eis; recedite, abite, nolite tangere : jurgati quippe sunt, et commoti dixerunt inter gentes : Non addet ultra ut habitet in eis.

[16] Phe. The face of the Lord hath divided them, he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, neither had they pity on the ancient.

PHE. Facies Domini divisit eos, non addet ut respiciat eos; facies sacerdotum non erubuerunt, neque senum miserti sunt.

[17] Ain. While we were yet standing, our eyes failed, expecting help for us in vain, when we looked attentively towards a nation that was not able to save.

AIN. Cum adhuc subsisteremus, defecerunt oculi nostri ad auxilium nostrum vanum; cum respiceremus attenti ad gentem quae salvare non poterat.

[18] Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.

SADE. Lubricaverunt vestigia nostra in itinere platearum nostrarum; appropinquavit finis noster, completi sunt dies nostri, quia venit finis noster.

[19] Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

COPH. Velociores fuerunt persecutores nostri aquilis caeli; super montes persecuti sunt nos, in deserto insidiati sunt nobis.

[20] Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.

RES. Spiritus oris nostri, Christus Dominus, captus est in peccatis nostris, cui diximus : In umbra tua vivemus in gentibus.

[21] Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus: to thee also shall the cup come, thou shalt be made drunk, and naked.

SIN. Gaude et laetare, filia Edom, quae habitas in terra Hus! ad te quoque perveniet calix : inebriaberis, atque nudaberis.

[22] Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he visited thy iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath discovered thy sins.

THAU. Completa est iniquitas tua, filia Sion : non addet ultra ut transmigret te. Visitavit iniquitatem tuam, filia Edom; discooperuit peccata tua.

Commentary:

Ver. 1. Colour. Heb. "gold." Sept. "silver;" (H.) denoting the patriarchs, (Theod.) chiefs, (Vatab.) or ornaments of the temple. C. --- It had formerly glittered with gold; now there was nothing but smoke and ruins. W.

Ver. 2. Best. Heb. "gold of Phaz," in Colchis. Gen. ii. 11. C. --- In Solomon's reign, they powdered their hair with gold dust. Jos. Ant. viii. 7. --- Vessels. Is. xxx. 14.

Ver. 3. Sea-monsters. Lit. Lamia. Heb. Tannim. H. --- The lamia has a face like a woman, and a body like beasts; and is cruel, yet feeds its young. W. --- The fabulous lamia is supposed to destroy all children, (Diod. Sic. xx. Ovid. Fast. vi.) and cannot be meant. But the sea dog, though most cruel will not neglect its young ones. C. --- Ostrich. Heb. henim, (H.) "swans." Is. xiii. 21. Job xxix. 14. The ostrich is said to break some of its eggs. Elian iv. 37.) -- Swans do the like, and devour their young; for which reason they are hated by the Indians. Elian xiv. 3. --- Sept. "their young (drajohs) have suckled the daughters of my people, so that they can find no remedy, like," &c. H. --- Though the ostrich has wings it never flies, but dwells in desert places. Such is the condition of the Israelites. Theodoret. --- The ostrich forsakes its eggs. W. --- All are solicitous for themselves.

Ver. 5. Scarlet. Lit. "yellow;" croceis. H. --- Heb. means purple. Those who have been educated in the most delicate manner, are forced to feed on the most disgusting things. 4 K. vi. 25. and xviii. 27. Deut. xxviii. 54.

Ver. 6. In her. Sodom was destroyed by God. Her temporal misery was short. H. --- Jerusalem was exposed to greater afflictions (C.) here, (H.) and her ingratitude and abominations were greater. Ezec. xvi. 46.

Ver. 7. Old ivory. Whiteness shews its age. Pliny iii. 8. --- As it grows old it turns yellow, and loses much of its value. But the ancients had the art of dyeing it scarlet. Æneid xii. Iliad iv. Ovid ii. Am. v. C. --- Heb. poninim may signify (H.) "pearls," the shells of which are stained with a delicate red; though the epithet ruddy may mean "shining," in which sense purpureus is used. Hor. iv. Od. 1. --- The complexion of the Nazarites was fair, with a mixture of red. Cant. v. 10. They were probably clothed in white, and were highly respected. 1 Mac. ii. 49. Amos ii. 11. Num. vi. 18. C.

Ver. 8. Coals. Heb. "blackness." Sept. "soot." H. --- The people were naturally brown. Fasting and distress cause them to turn black. C. v. 10. Joel ii. 6. C. --- They were so changed, that old acquaintances knew not one another. W.

Ver. 9. For. Lit. "by the barrenness of the earth." H. --- Such a death was, no doubt, more painful than to perish quickly by the sword. C.

Ver. 10. Pitful. So their nature dictates. W. --- But hunger made them the reverse. Some think they slew their children, to prevent them being exposed to more cruel torments, (C.) as the people of Colchis do their sick. Chardin. --- Sodden: boiled or roasted; coxerunt. v. 5. Deut. xxviii. 55. At the last siege of Jerusalem, this barbarity was manifested. C. Jos. Bel. vii. 8. Gr. 21. See C. ii. 20. --- Daughter. So cities are styled. W.

Ver. 12. Believed. God had so often protected this city against Sennacherib, Holofernes, &c. H. --- It had been also so strongly fortified. 2 K. v. 6. C.

Ver. 13. Priests. They too generally favoured H. the false prophets. C. ii. 26. &c. They were judges, and condemned the innocent: or exposed (C.) the citizens to destruction, by not warning them to amend, (H.) and to submit to the Chaldees. C. --- Impostors are called prophets, as they have the same outward appearance. W.

Ver. 14. They. Sept. "Her guards have tottered in," &c. --- When. Prot. "so that men could not touch their garments," as they were defiled. H. --- These hypocrites were afraid of touching blood, as they observed external ceremonies, while they disregarded the spirit of religion.

Ver. 15. Depart. They were not ashamed to speak thus to others, or the citizens address the priests contaminated with blood. Even the Chaldees looked upon the Jews with abhorrence, as an abandoned people. --- For they. Heb. "but they understood not, and wandered about. They, (C.) the Gentiles, said." H.

Ver. 16. They, the Jews; or rather the prophet thus describes the Chaldees. C. v. 12. Deut. xxviii. 50.

Ver. 17. Save. The Egyptians attempted it in vain. C. xxxiv. 8. and xxxvii. 10.

Ver. 18. Streets. There were enemies within as well as without. C.

Ver. 20. Christ, &c. According to the letter, is spoken of their king, who is called the Christ; that is, the anointed of the Lord. But is also relates in the spiritual sense to Christ our Lord, suffering for out sins. Ch. Is. liii. 5. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei. xviii. 33. --- It literally speaks of Josias, or of Sedecias. W. --- Josias was slain by the Egyptians. S. Jer. in Zac. xii. --- But Sedecias seems chiefly to be meant. The people were much attached to him, though he was wicked; and they expected that he would have rescued them from the power of the Chaldees, as his league with the neighbouring Gentiles (C.) seemed to insure, (H.) if they had proved faithful. C. --- But all was useless against the Lord. H.

Ver. 21. Rejoice. Edom had manifested her joy at the misfortunes of Juda. The prophet hints at this with a cutting irony. Ps. cxxxvi. 7. Abd. 11. --- Come, as at a feast. Edom was visited five years after the Jews. C. xlix. 7. --- Naked. Sept. "and shalt pour it out," (H.) or vomit. C. Grot.

Ver. 22. Accomplished, and sufficiently punished by exile. C. l. 20. Is. xl. 2. --- Discovered. Gen. xliv. 16. and 3 K. xvii. 18. C. - In vain wouldst thou hid them. H.

[brehaaorgana]

(I wish I could have enjoyed wicdiv‘s latest special as much as I enjoyed the first one, but it basically did none of the things I hoped it would do, and felt far less historically compelling and hit all of my pet peeves with the conceits the story takes. 

Like i understand narratively we have to be asked to overlook some logical issues, but this one revealed all the weaknesses I think we normally have to read past, and it’s frustrating to me. I wanted something more from this particular incarnation, and I didn’t get it. I got like...the opposite of it. 

I did enjoy some things about the issue, I liked the art and style and the lettering and the designs, and even the dialogue but i’m sorry i can’t just get past my issues i really hoped this would address! 

Ananke calls Lucifer a Pagan God. I know everyone loved Luci in the current timeline, but I’ll be honest: I didn’t buy it and it bugged me. I felt completely bored by the use of Lucifer as a God character. Lucifer was never a god, much less a pagan one. Why would you write about Western, Christianized Rome, and not even touch upon the fact that Lucifer having any kinds of “powers” whatsoever is an entirely Christian idea? Lucifer was never a God. Lucifer was a translation of a word that meant morning star, used as part of a prophecy about a prideful Babylonian king. Lucifer was never a Pagan deity or god. Lucifer existed solely within xtianity as a conflation with satan (which in Judaism also isn’t a god, but w/e.)  

Lucifer was also never a god, and at the time, wouldn’t even have been the devil. The Latin Vulgate bible was only written in 382 CE, and started to be the major translation used in 400 CE so it...skates by, but just barely. How many people would even have known what a Lucifer was? Would any of them really have associated them with the Christian idea of Satan? Probably not. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) did not think of Lucifer as a common name for the Christian concept of the devil at the time, even if other theologians had articulated mentioning the Devil in relation to the verses in Isiah which refer to a Babylonian King as referring to “satan” but wouldn’t have called that person “Lucifer” regardless, because....those people were either not using that conflation, OR they were writing in Greek, not Latin, and thus wouldn’t have called him “lucifer”. 

why would lucifer think of himself as a pagan god??

why would a christian concept fear a christian burial? 

they literally mention judaism and how Jesus was a jewish man, but then....???? guys. this is just the other thing I can’t swallow. I’ve been assuming Jesus was one of the “incarnations” anyways, but why does Ananke tell invading Christians to just forget about all this, to forget about Lucifer, to move forwards anyways? Whyyyyy. (I just want one whole Jewish person in wicdiv to be like “these people with powers are nuts and I don’t believe in any of them this is wild goyische nonsense)

did they just forget about emperor constantine making rome a christian empire or what? i really had hopes that the chi-rho on the statue of lucifer would address the state adoption of xtianity was part of the downfall of rome, regardless of the vandals. like the First Council of Nicaea already happened at this point, there was an increasingly centralized Roman Catholic church, and a pope and....none of this is here. NONE of it??? how does Lucifer manage to even exist in this context while claiming to be pagan? Did he murder Pope Leo? Did he like...lie? Did people not think he was pagan? playing it as Pagan rome vs Christian Vandals is so confusing because western rome was Catholic. Yes there were also Pagans but like Christianity was very much a present and public thing, and often the presence of like, Roman Pagans, Jews, and then Christians created massive conflicts post the institution of Christianity as the new state religion (see: the film Agora, late 4th century Roman Egypt where I have to be devastated watching Oscar Isaac make sad faces about not being able to save the Pagan Hypatia and also the massacre of Jewish people multiple times because Christian radicalism.) 

if the conceit was these people represented archetypes, I could maybe buy it more, but they’re supposed to be deities. If Lucifer was the archetype of oppressive rulers with great hubris and a dash of...evil, then like fine, this makes sense, but the story is set upon these people being Gods and lucifer....isn’t....one.....at all..... so there’s a huge problem when Lucifer is Pagan, and not a Christian pseudo-deity which represents the misfortunes/conflicts of the impact of xtianity on the roman empire. i was expecting more of the fact that there was major conflict here, and if Lucifer is basically Valentinian III, that guy...gave even more power to christians and christianity (also started throwing Jews out of the Roman Army). Avitus comes after the 455 sacking of Rome (pagan guy) but he gets ousted within like, a year. He made no sense as a pagan. he should have been who he was. He should have been a christian figure which was very very newly formed as a conceptual entity (I mean historically it wasn’t but let’s pretend) and it should’ve used the conflict between christian vs pagan more and this could’ve been.....more interesting, Lucifer could’ve been the look into the now oppressive undercurrent of xtianity now that they had state power. This could have been the negative xtian psyche that had appeared in the late days of rome where people were murdered for being pagan or Jewish! It could’ve been fascinating, the whole bodies made into instruments and lyres would’ve really reflected this perversion that had happened with power and the ability to oppress others.... 

but it didn’t do any of that and ngl i was pretty disappointed. But the gods continue to all appear in the “western” world so what did i expect? i just wish they’d even lampshaded the Lucifer thing, but they didn’t. :/  

[callowsermons]

Pattern of Sound Teaching: Story

Constantine found himself in a pickle. The Roman General had won the Roman civil war and become the undisputed Caesar of the whole empire. He attributed his victory to Jesus, who in a dream or in the sky showed him the letters chi and rho, and told him “by this sign you will conquer.” A new convert to the faith, though he wouldn’t be baptized until his deathbed, Constantine legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313. He clearly had designs to make use of his new faith to bring unity to the empire. But that is where things started to break down.

In the contentious metropolis of Alexandria a bitter feud began to brew. At the center of the feud was the Bishop Alexander and a Presbyter a man by the name of Arius. The feud had escalated to riots and fights in the streets. Arius and Alexander sent out calls all over the Christian world calling on leaders to pick sides. It looked as if his newfound faith would break apart as soon as he had begun the conversion process. The Church would not bring the unity he so desired.

So Constantine wrote a letter that has been preserved for posterity in one of his biographies. “But, O glorious Providence of God!” He wrote, “how deep a wound did not my ears only, but my very heart receive in the report that divisions existed among yourselves more grievous still than those which continued in that country! so that you, through whose aid I had hoped to procure a remedy for the errors of others, are in a state which needs healing even more than theirs. And yet, having made a careful enquiry into the origin and foundation of these differences, I find the cause to be of a truly insignificant character, and quite unworthy of such fierce contention.” He went on to insist that the two figures—Arius and Alexander—ought to reconcile because their differences are not any larger than the disagreements that fester among the schools of the philosophers. In Constantine’s mind, he saw no reason for division.

What Constantine leaves out of the letter is the nature of the dispute. History calls this Alexandrian feud the Arian Controversy. Arius had begun to teach that Jesus is not the incarnation of God, but is rather a creation of God’s. God’s highest, and most important creation, above the angels, the very image of God, but still a creation. After all, how could the divine meddle in the affairs of humanity and not be sullied by our mortality? It was not appropriate for the greek mind to think about such things.

No, Alexander insisted, Jesus is the very incarnation of God. If Jesus were not God incarnate, then our nature has not been assumed by the divine nature. And if we are not in God, being in Christ, we cannot be saved. 

What Constantine saw as a minor squabble, Alexander, Arius, and history has told us was a major conflict cutting to the heart of the Gospel. If the Gospel is that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is salvation, whether or not Jesus is the incarnation makes all the difference. In the end, Constantine convened the Nicene Council, which found in favor of Alexander and his party. And the way Nicaea framed the matter has guided the way we tell our story ever since.

The Arian Controversy is one of those major episodes in the development of doctrine. When we hear that word doctrine many of us may start sounding like Constantine, especially in the midst of our disputes today. Does this all really matter? Can’t we all get along? Don’t we recognize the importance of unity? Doesn’t this seem like splitting hairs, or quibbling over details? What does it matter, say, if the will is free or bound. What does it matter if Christ was raised physically or spiritually in the hearts of his believers? And so on and so on. Isn’t it more important to be about the mission? Isn’t it more important to live lives of discipleship? 

I can sympathize with those who have little patience for doctrinal controversy. John Wesley himself said “if your heart be as my heart lend me your hand.” But Wesley also recognized the importance of doctrine. Doctrine is best understood as the rules that let us tell our story rightly. Sometimes people quibble over small details and blow them up into doctrinal issues. But a true issue of doctrine is a question that gets at the heart of what we are about. A way of framing, or a way of speaking about Jesus that either speaks well, or poorly, of his work and person.

In his second letter to Timothy this morning he exhorts Timothy to pass on sound doctrine. “What you heard  from me keep as the pattern of sound teaching.” What is the “pattern of sound teaching?” The pattern of sound teaching is the contours of the story Paul tells. That he is a prisoner suffering for the gospel by the power of God. God who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because we were worthy but out of sheer grace. And this grace is given in Jesus Christ, having appeared in his life, death, and resurrection. He has destroyed death, and brought life and immorality to light. This is the Gospel that Paul proclaims. Doctrine helps us to proclaim this Gospel.

So the squabbling between Arius and Alexander was not as minor as Constantine believed. It was needed. It was needed because we needed to have the contest to learn how to preach the gospel rightly. And that continues today. We need the doctrine, that pattern of sound teaching handed down to us, so we might rightly tell our story.

And more than that, we need doctrine so that we might rightly live our story. Which is where I will pick up next week.

Questions for Reflection

What is the most simple way to express the Gospel?

What is your favorite doctrine?

What doctrine gives you the most trouble?

How can we express disagreement lovingly?

[ask-gpt]

Pirn is Christ name in Greek begins chi rho iota looks XPI takeaway X add M which Sam SAM Beckett's favourite letter and you have PIM whose name is also BOM to come the second coming of PIM is BOM mob spelled backwards also bomb also KRIM a scribe a tribe of scribes to follow PIM must be the ChristianChurch apostles popes so that before Pirn with Pim after Pim is human history how it is demarcated Christianly.

Pirn is Christ name in Greek begins chi rho iota looks XPI takeaway X add M which Sam SAM Beckett's favourite letter and you have PIM whose name is also BOM to come the second coming of PIM is BOM mob spelled backwards also bomb also KRIM a scribe a tribe of scribes to follow PIM must be the ChristianChurch apostles popes so that before Pirn with Pim after Pim is human history how it is demarcated Christianly. The reason is because of the "I" which would mean "not the same God" by "god" and "universe" by "man" and "nature" by a set of terms which then could just be applied in a different way if the Bible was written for the Bible of the future. We don't want to see the bible of the future created in this way if we don't have the Bible written for the future. Jesus was written for God, but the Bible does not, so a history where the church will not continue to take Christ's teachings off the bible, and all the other "church related stuff" then, it will be just like that and people will not learn it from outside of Scripture. I also suspect that many will get confused about how to define the word church. The word church is to be found by those who believe in Jesus Christ, are they a cult or a human society that the Bible speaks for, then they say "church" while others insist that they are simply a small group or sub group of people who take their beliefs off the bible. These people might be able to see the word in the Bible in a different way, and I think they might find it in the Bible if they choose to, and thus learn it from the Bible, they are not a human society. Many people will not even understand the differences between "church" as Christian and "church related" because even though they know this, they can see "church related" as being the same and yet they also are not Christian church, but just other humans who read and experience something different, and learn things. In this case the only way such human beings could learn something new and learn nothing from the Bible is by reading and being taught something. That is because the Bible is so much more than just scripture, it has also made it the perfect book to teach people. If we were to stop reading, learn something from our own lives and experience something, and all of these human beings would learn something new, and they would learn as they read and experienced, because God says, "you shall not read and die, but you shall be raised up". But the Bible did not simply say, "you shall not read" or something like this. It was written specifically because these human beings are "living the Word of God" and they can have any of this. Many of the examples of Bible in the Bible, "you shall not read" are those of people who are in a church. So a church

[larryland]

Godspell is a show of my youth, and it has been scientifically proven that music you listen to during your adolescence holds a special meaning for you all your life. But while I still know all the songs by heart, it has been nearly twenty years since I have seen a production, and the show in its entirety is still stunning in its simplicity and powerful message. Seeing it the day after the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia, was a deeply emotional and spiritually moving experience.

Godspell is an older spelling of the word gospel, which means “good news.” It is based on the Gospel According to Matthew, with bits of Luke’s gospel thrown in for good measure. The librettist, John-Michael Tebelak, who created the show for his Master’s thesis project at Carnegie Mellon, had contemplated pursuing ordination. Many of the lyrics not written by composer Stephen Schwartz are taken from hymns or even older liturgical sources – “Day by Day” contains writing by the 13th-century English bishop Saint Richard of Chichester. The central character is Jesus of Nazareth, so there is no getting around the fact that Godspell is a Christian show, but the good news embodied in it is so deeply rooted in justice and peace that it transcends any one religion. All the world religions embrace the message of this show, which is about unity, not division.

At The Theater Barn, director and choreographer Trey Compton has assembled the perfect cast for this show – ten remarkably talented young men and women – who he has formed into a cohesive team. Each actor plays at least one instrument over the course of the show, after the a cappella prologue “Tower of Babble” because, in Compton’s words: “Jesus physically brings the music with him,” transmitting his message of love and acceptance through music.

To  further this concept, this Jesus (Zack Zaromatidis) is a guitarist. He is literally crucified with a guitar slung across his body – talk about the day the music died! – and at his resurrection his hands are suddenly freed to play again. Zaromatidis is a gentle Jesus, a little too vanilla for my taste, but warm and appealing and a genuinely talented musician.

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Andrew Pace plays the only other named characters – John the Baptist and Judas Iscariot. There is a strong break in mood between Act I, Jesus’ ministry, and Act II, Jesus’ passion, and Pace’s performance in the second act is indeed passionate and riveting. Judas is not necessarily the Bad Guy, but the Guy Who Took Action. The other disciples are passive, they all fall asleep, Peter betrays Jesus by denying him. Judas’ actions literally acknowledge Jesus’ power, which he believes, at least some of the time, is dangerous to society. Pace allows us to see that deep conflict clearly.

As is traditional, the rest of the cast uses their own first names as their character names, although they are clearly playing roles, not playing themselves. The entire cast is on the stage throughout the show, and each gets a solo. It would be grossly unfair to single out one or two of them for extra praise – they truly perform as an ensemble and all are excellent – but they all deserve to be named: Nolan Baker, Megan Koumis, Katie Luke, Andrew Martinelli, Katherine McLellan, Connor Wayne Milam, Paul Urriola, and Liane Zielinski.

One of the great joys at the Theater Barn is watching the talented young actors play different roles throughout the season – Luke, Milam, and Zielinski were all in Nunsense, and Pace appeared in the Barn’s first two shows this season. I have my guesses how Guys and Dolls will be cast, and I am sure you will too.

Abe Phelps has designed a simple but flexible set which leaves plenty of room for the overflowing joy of many of the numbers. The cast spray painted the backdrop themselves and there is lots to look at and treasures to find. It reminded me of the well decorated cars of the New York City Subway system in my teens, which were – Surprise! – the 1970’s.

  Compton and cast creating the backdrop for “Godspell 2012.”

Actual 1970’s NYC subway graffiti

In the center of the backdrop is a circle with a Chi-Rho symbol in it. I had to check with Compton to make sure it was a Chi-Rho because it is done in a different artistic style than I am used to, but it is indeed the Greek symbol of the Christogram, featuring an X and a P, the first two letters in the Greek word Christos. Originally it was used by the Romans to brand Christians, but after Augustus it has been used as a positive symbol for Christianity. Compton explained that he wanted it to look like a 60’s or 70’s rock band insignia – something that might be painted on the band’s bass drum – and he has succeeded.

A traditional Chi Rho symbol.

The Chi Rho used on the backdrop of “Godspell 2012” at The Theater Barn.

The cast begins the show in 21st century hipster gear, texting endlessly on their cell phones, and then changes into more relaxed garb after heeding Jesus’ call. Jade Campell’s costumes, while contemporary, echo the 1970’s in subtle ways – fringe, crochet, a headband, long flowing skirts paired with Frye-like boots – the only thing the cast wears that we didn’t have back then are leggings (Spandex hadn’t been invented yet!) The cell phones remain though, and Allen Phelps incorporates them, and hand-held spotlights, into his lighting design on several occasions

The Barn has been raising funds over the past few years to upgrade their lighting and sound systems, and this production looks to be proof that they have achieved their goal. The performers are all miked, there are electric guitars in use, and there is actually a credited sound designer, Don Sweener. What does that all mean? Well, it is LOUD! But then rock music is supposed to be loud. There were people seated near me eyeing the size of the speaker system warily and pondering stuffing Kleenex in their ears, but as far as I could tell they didn’t feel that need and thoroughly enjoyed the show. After the initial blast of “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” I adjusted too and did not leave with ringing in my ears, as I certainly did after many musical events back in the 70’s.

I have a hard time affixing the “2012” to the title because, while I know this is an authorized new version, officially fluffed up by Schwartz, it is still Godspell to me. Like me, the show is aging. It was first performed in 1970, 47 years ago, and it probably needed a thorough updating. But whatever is new melds seamlessly with what is old. I did NOT miss the one cut number, “Alas for You,” the lyrics to which embarrassed Schwartz almost instantly, but I did miss the opportunity that song gave for Jesus to be visibly angry as he overturned the tables of the money-changers in the Temple. And “Beautiful City,” which was written for the 1972 film version, has been around plenty long enough to fit right in.

I know it has been reorchestrated, but the music, under Alan Schlichting’s direction, sounded just right to me. Unlike Jesus Christ Superstar – the rival “Jesus Musical” of 1970 – this score does not sound dated, it still brims with the exuberance and strong belief that the world can and will be changed by the current generation that was quixotically endemic to the “Hippie” movement. But looking at this young cast belting out these wonderful songs, even on August 13, 2017, I felt a surge of hope that maybe, just maybe, this generation will be the one.

Earth shall be fair, and all her people one; Nor till that hour shall God’s whole will be done.Clifford L. Bax, 1916

The Theater Barn presents Godspell 2012, book by John-Michael Tebelak, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and others, directed by Trey Compton. Set design by Abe Phelps, lighting design by Allen Phelps, costume design by Jade Campbell, sound design by Don Sweener, stage manager Chelsey Moore. CAST:Zack Zaromatidis as Jesus, Andrew Pace as John the Baptist and Judas Iscariot. Disciples: Nolan Baker, Megan Koumis, Katie Luke, Andrew Martinelli, Katherine McLellan, Connor Wayne Milam, Paul Urriola, and Liane Zielinski.

The show runs two hours with one intermission and is suitable for the whole family. Performances at the air-conditioned Theater Barn are Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm.  Tickets are $27.00 for the evening performances and $25.00 for the Sunday matinee.  For information and reservations call (518) 794-8989.  www.theaterbarn.com

REVIEW: “Godspell 2012” at The Theater Barn Godspell is a show of my youth, and it has been scientifically proven that music you listen to during your adolescence holds a special meaning for you all your life.

[lorrainecparker]

A Weekend With RHOdium FSND Filters By Schneider Review

Science versus art; it’s the unique combination that allows cinematographers/shooters to be both creative and tech savvy. In other words, you have to know the tech to be able to make the art. Yes, I am sure there are a number of creatives who will dispute this notion but remember Picasso was a young realist drawing prodigy before breaking up realistic form into the art he is well known for today. Thankfully, we do not have to be full on scientists. Schneider-Kreuznach Optics has taken over the role of hard-core scientist for us with the development of their new RHOdium FSND (Full Spectrum Neutral Density) filters.

Filters and light can take a little bit of scientific experimentation to see what filters work best with a digital cinema sensor. We often ask ourselves which combination gives us the most natural pictures or not; it all depends on the look you are trying to achieve. Some believe one type of neutral density filter is best for a specific camera while that same filter might present a green cast when used with a different sensor. Thankfully, the Schneider RHOdium Full Spectrum Neutral Density filters block light without any color cast and should work equally well on any camera system.

I had one lovely weekend with Schneider-Kreuznach Optics new RHOdium FSND filters. It was enough time for me to play scientist, but not enough time to play artist. The first question I wanted to be answered was how did these filters work when used with the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro which is a camera susceptible to IR pollution when using additional ND filters and not the filters on the camera’s ND Filter wheel. If you are using any of Blackmagic’s cameras that do not have an ND Filter wheel then IR pollution is a bigger problem. For example, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera need IR cut filters above 1.2ND. I prefer to carry one set of ND filters and I want the entire set to deliver perfect color accuracy. Below you can see I shot a color chart with every filter they sent me. The lens I used was a Canon 16-35mm L series.

All the RHOdium filters tested

As you can see above these filters did not create any kind of color cast in the deep blacks or black fabrics. The only post-production I did was add the filter tags and match exposure since the 3.0 ND was a little too much ND for the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro and the Canon 16-35mm F2.8 lens I used for these tests. If I had a Sigma 18-35mm Cine Zoom and its T2 aperture the 3.0 ND might have allowed me to shoot wide-open on a bright summer day if I wanted.

Schneider RHOdium for Still Photography

But I also wanted to see how these filters looked on my Canon DSLR. When I shoot cityscapes I tend to shoot long exposures. What can I say? Nashville is located on the Cumberland River and the river can look kind of blah at a high shutter speed. As you can see below the filter helped me drag my shutter so the river can appear to be smooth and more reflective which is way better than the brown chop we usually get. In the past, if I stacked filters to achieve the same long-exposure I tended to get vignetting or some form of color cast from the filter combination. That color cast can be difficult to color correct out of the image leading me to shoot Black and White for a lot of my long-exposure cityscapes. Who wants to be pushed into a pigeon hole of creative choices because of a filter. Not me. With the RHOdium FSND 3.0 I was able to drop in one filter to achieve the same effect with zero color shift.

Nashville from the east bank of the Cumberland River

RHOdium Full Spectrum Neutral Density Filters

First off, the name of these filters come from the Greek letter rho or “ρ.” In Physics the same Greek letter represents the unit of Optical Density and Rhodium is a component of the “Platinum Group of Metals” on the periodic table. So, yes Schneider has introduced precious metal to it’s latest filter line.

These filters are built the color critical standards of 4K, 6K, and 8K cameras. These new sensors have gotten better at controlling IR pollution, but it is still a problem and no shooter wants to be surprised with red-tinged blacks. For color-accurate video, IR absorption needs to be necessary for a filter. This is especially true with higher density filters. Think 1.2 ND and up. According to Schneider, “RHOdium FSND filters are manufactured to finer flatness/parallelism specifications than ever before. These new filters help resolve even the finest detail. Schneider has engineered an extremely thin neutral density interlayer sandwiched between two sheets of crystal-clear Schott water-white glass. The thin interlayer results in excellent transmitted wavefront flatness/parallelism.”

In my opinion, these filters just worked well. For the little time I shot with these filters I saw zero color casting or tinting of my deep blacks in my video or still photography. Schneider allowed me to test all ten of the filters and I can say all ten proved the exact color accurate image as I expected. When delivering costly and expensive footage to a client the RHOdium FSND seems like a smart investment toward color perfect footage.

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