Changes…

As you all have doubtless noticed, this site is changing in ways that I hope will provide larger, more vivid images, make text easier to read, and generally be more aesthetically appealing. Obviously it will take a lot of work to make the all the changes fully backward-compatible and I shall be working on that diligently for the next few weeks (yes, I know the screenplays are now messed up). Kindly bear with me here.

Progress in Research: Chapter Three, Page Four

Maureen goes in search of cooler tools.

(Click on the image for larger size.
Progress in Research: Chapter Three, Page Four written and commissioned by Dr. Faustus of EroticMadScience.com and drawn by Lon Ryden is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.)

It reflects a curious shift in culture, that whereas the word “passion” in ordinary English speech suggests something hot and sexy (“Dick and Jane were burning with passion for one another”) or at least enjoyably engaging (“Fred has a great passion for model trains”) the Latin noun from which it is derived, passio actually means suffering. Hence the meaning of “the passion of Christ.” It did not mean his interest in either Jane or model trains.

The forces of justice finally catch up with a notorious troublemaker

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), The Arrest of Christ

I fear I have little to add on the matter of the Passion of Christ, except for an apocryphal story about Oscar Wilde. Wilde was given for his Greek examination at Magdalen College the exercise of translating viva voce from the Passion according to St. Matthew. As Wilde was a brilliant classisist he was able to translate with great ease and fluency, so much so that a few verses in he was halted by his examiners.

“Thank you, Mr. Wilde. That is quite sufficient.”

“Oh please, do let me go on,” begged Wilde. “I want to see how it ends.”

Progress in Research: Chapter Three, Page Three

Time passes slowly for Aloysius.

(Click on the image for larger size.
Progress in Research: Chapter Three, Page Three written and commissioned by Dr. Faustus of EroticMadScience.com and drawn by Lon Ryden is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.)

The presence of a moving clock indicates the passing of time, here just in the narrative. But it’s worth remembering that timepieces are also artistic reminders of mortality, which seems especially appropriate here. Hourglasses are common in memento mori, and candles burning down can also serve that allegorical function.