Friday, December 16, 2005

Immortality, or Ozymandias Roolz

I didn't have a notebook on me, so I'm reconstructing this from memory, but here's what I read on the construction hoarding on the Garfield station platform last night:

"Man is created to do great works, to make his mark on the world, to create. He should aspire to leave his footprints in the sands of time."

Right below it, in a different color and handwriting:

"J-Man FOREVER"

5 comments:

  1. "construction hoarding"

    ? Que está ?

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  2. Maybe that's an English term--that's where I'm familiar with it from, although I thought that was just because all of London is always under construction, so there are construction hoardings everywhere. It's the wooden or sheetrock wall that's erected temporarily around a worksite.

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  3. Is this from Watchmen or the Shelley poem or both? I've only read the former, but that was a while ago...

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  4. I was thinking of the Shelley poem--I'd forgotten Ozymandias turns up in Watchmen, too.

    If I remember correctly, Ozymandias's fallen statue is inscribed with "Look on my works, ye mighties, and tremble."

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  5. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

    Ironically, as a result of archeological finds years after Shelley wrote the poem, Ozymandias -- a.k.a. Ramses II -- is now very well-remembered by humanity, probably second only to Tutankhamen among the pharaohs.

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