don't look to Hollywood for history lessons

I'm sure "300" is visually amazing and I am looking forward to seeing it. I love war movies. There are however concerns about its historical accuracy...

Here's a link to an interesting article about these historical inaccuracies and oversights ...

Sparta, Spandex and Disturbing Distortions of '300' by Ephraim Lytle

Here's an excerpt I thought was interesting...

"300's Persians are ahistorical monsters and freaks. Xerxes is eight feet tall, clad chiefly in body piercings and garishly made up, but not disfigured. No need – it is strongly implied Xerxes is homosexual which, in the moral universe of 300, qualifies him for special freakhood. This is ironic given that pederasty was an obligatory part of a Spartan's education. This was a frequent target of Athenian comedy, wherein the verb "to Spartanize" meant "to bugger." In 300, Greek pederasty is, naturally, Athenian."

The Iranians are especially upset about it. BBC story here.

Movie Time

There's no reason to stay at home fearing the cold, wind and rain anymore with short-sleeve weather here ( hopefully to stay ). Rip off your shirt, drag your woman along or get your buddy and slam a beer and go see 300. I haven't seen it yet, of course, but I will. But first we need to do a little work to impress our Taiwanese friends and/or significant other. Here is some of the Chinese I think and hope you will probably need to show off you linguistic skills.

Title: 300壯士：斯巴達的逆襲 - san1 bai3 zhuang4 shi4: si1 ba1 da2 di2 ni4 xi2
- ㄙㄢ ㄅㄞˇ ㄓㄨㄤˋ ㄕˋ:ㄙ ㄅㄚ ㄉㄚˊㄉㄧˊㄋㄧˋㄒㄧˊ
Terms: Sparta - 斯巴達 ; si1 ba1 da2 ; ㄙ ㄅㄚ ㄉㄚˊ
Persia - 波斯 ; bo1 si1; ㄅㄛ ㄙ
graphic novel - 繪本小說 ; hui4 ben3 xiao3 shuo1; ㄏㄨㄟˋ ㄅㄣˇ ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄕㄨㄛ
pecs - 胸大肌 ; xiong1 da4 ji1 ; ㄒㄩㄥ ㄉㄚˋ ㄐㄧ
abs - 腹部肌肉 ; fu4 bu4 ji1 rou4 ; ㄈㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄐㄧ ㄖㄡˋ
behead - 斬首 ; zhan3 shou3 ; ㄓㄢˇ ㄕㄡˇ
warrior - 壯士 ; zhuang4 shi4 ; ㄓㄨㄤˋ ㄕˋ
(movie) trailer - 預告片 ; yu4 gao4 pian4 ; ㄩˋ ㄍㄠˋ ㄆㄧㄢˋ
surrender - 投降 ; tou2 xiang2 ; ㄊㄡˊ ㄒㄧㄤˊ
Phrase: " Spartans! Tonight we dine in Hell!" - 斯 巴 達 壯 士! 今 晚 我 們 將 在 冥 府 大 吃 大 喝 !
si1 ba1 da2 zhuang4 shi4 ! jin1 wan3 wo3 men5 jiang1 zai4 ming2 fu3 da4 chi1 da4 he1 !
ㄙ ㄅㄚ ㄉㄚˊㄓㄨㄤˋ ㄕˋ ! ㄐㄧㄣ ㄨㄢˇㄨㄛˇ ㄇㄣˊㄐㄧㄤ ㄗㄞˋ ㄇㄧㄥˊㄈㄨˇㄉㄚˋㄔ ㄉㄚˋㄏㄜ !

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Movie review of movie that I've actually seen - The new Casino Royale : Great! Loved it! Didn't think it was possible, but Larry Linville really nailed the Brit accent.