Monday, March 13, 2023, Sam Koperwas and Jeff Chen

exegi monumentum aere perennus
regalique situ pyramidum altius,
quod non imber edax, non aquilo impotens
possit diruere aut innumerabilis
annorum series et fuga temporum.
non omnis moriar multaque pars mei
vitabit Libitinam; usque ego postera
crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium
scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex.
dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus
et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium
regnavit populorum, ex humili potens,
princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos
deduxisse modos. sume superbiam
quaesitiam meritis et mihi Delphica
lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.

So would I have started and finished this review had not the three of us been somehow talked into continuing this blog. Today marks the tenth anniversary of our first post. It seemed to me like it would have been a good place to stop. Ten years is a long time to do something, isn't it? Especially for a Gen-Xer like me. Aren't we supposed to be the slacker generation? What's with all this routine? This reliability? 

The theme today, sadly, is not to my liking. MOCKTAIL is fine, I like the word, and the concept, but I do not like the parallels. To mock seems so much harsher than to kid, or to rib. I get it, they're all bullying sorts of activities, but I don't have to like it. Such is the prerogative of a "reviewer."

I'll just end with a translation of the Horace ode above. It's the last poem in his third book of odes, and I thought it might be a fitting close to the blog. With apologies to Terry Walsh, whose translation I bastardize.

[We] have crafted a monument more lasting than bronze

and loftier than the royal pile of the pyramids,

a thing which neither biting rain nor the obstreperous

North Wind can destroy, nor the countless run of years,

the flight of time.

[We] will not totally perish and much of [us] will survive

Oblivion; [We] will go on living in the praise of those who

Postdate [us], as long as constructors continue to submit

Puzzles to the New York Times

[We] will be read, where rushing Aufidus plunges, where poor

Daunus reigned over his rustics, from this poor place become 

Powerful, as the first to have brought a kinder, funnier voice to

NYTX reviews.

Will Shortz, accept the pride attendant on your merits, and

come, ready to crown [us] with the laurels of Delphi. 

(Italicized portions approximate.)

- Horace, the younger