EpicureaPoetica—Epicurean Themes in Poetry [Video Project]

Another stab at the artwork. This uses Erik Anderson's photo above. It lacks the gravitas of the earlier effort, but that may not be a bad thing. More bookish, and less reminiscent of a U.S. banknote. The text has problems, but it's a start.

Yes, that's the one. In any case the copyright would go to his heirs in (presumably) Oregon, unless he made other arrangements. I did send an email to the webmaster, but have not had a reply.

Since his photos are not archived on any stock image site, and we cannot reasonably trace his bequests or know his wishes (except that in his life he did readily grant permission to republish his writings on Epicurus), and further that the photos are reproductions of artworks millennia out of copyright, I don't feel that there's much of an ethical or legal risk here. I don't mind using it to create derivative informational work. I can only hope that his family understands!

I have a recording that I'm fairly happy with for a first attempt. I'll do a little light editing tomorrow before I post it. OBS Studio seems to do a fair job at audio, I didn't have to tamper with it at all! I need to put a little more work into scripting, but in other respects things are looking alright.

I have had a reply to my email, and will post it here when I have the sender's permission. The writer is indeed from the Netherlands, and has previously attempted to contact Mr. Anderson's family, but with no reply.

The letter itself is full of charm, which is why I am hoping for permission to publish it here.

Here is the email exchange with Koen;

Quote

Good afternoon,

I am Joshua Elbert [user jjelbert] writing in connection with the epicureanfriends.com forum, where I am active daily. I am a friend of that site, but not in any way a representative.

I am inquiring about the photography of Erik Anderson as it relates to the key figures of Epicureanism; Erik captured several photographs of ancient sculptures, including a portrait bust from Roman antiquity of Epicurus himself at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

I am hoping to learn of the copyright status of these photographs; who holds the claim, and whether permission can be granted for use in our videos, websites, and educational and informative material--with attribution to Mr. Anderson, of course.

I would appreciate any assistance or direction.

Thank you,

Joshua Elbert

Display More

Quote

Dear Joshua,

After his death I continued his website, by copying it integrally. I think his family inherited all rights? I tried to contact them to ask for permission to continue the website. But it did not receive a response.

Kind and epicurean regards from the Netherlands,

Vriendelijke groet, [n.b. "Kind Regards"]

- Koen de Heer

Quote

Dear Koen,

Thank you very much! And thank you also for maintaing his old site. Can I post your last email to the forum? We have others who are curious, and I am certain they would like to know that you gave your time and energy to revive it. Or I can leave out your name, if you prefer it that way.

I am pleased to know that Epicurus is remembered fondly by one at least, in the land of Huygens and Spinoza.

Gratefully,

Joshua

Quote

Dear Joshua,

Sure! No need to publish anonymously. (But please do correct my linguistic error. Perhaps I should add a note to Erik's website. Up until now I have been reluctant to change the content, even the smallest

detail.

Very pleased to know that it helped someone. As the website was very

insightful for me, in getting acquainted with epicureanism, which was a

philosophical revelation to me, I thought it was terrible that the website went offline, not benefiting others anymore. Erik did a superb job creating his website.

I am not familiar with epicureanfriends.com and I will surf there soon. Indeed, it is not very often you meet someone familiar with

Hellenistic philosophy.

Yours sincerely,

-Koen de Heer

Display More

I have not replied to that last, but certainly will—with gratitude, and an invitation to the forum! As to Koen's English, it is excellent and I have not edited any of it.

The email address I used was contact@epicurism.info

I've uploaded the first episode. I had more trouble than anticipated with editing due to technical problems that I don't even begin to understand, but I used other software than I was planning and it worked out alright. I've used the free version for everything;

Captured/recorded in OBS Studio,

File converted in VLC media player

Audio and Video edited in Lightworks,

Saved as .mp4 for publication on Youtube

Enjoy! I don't know how interesting or useful these will be, but they'll be very good experience for me in building toward other projects down the road.

Thank you for the feedback!

I need to look at writing a script before the next recording, to tighten things up a bit. I see that Eoghan arrived at the same conclusion on his videos. I think Don makes a good point about clearer introductions; I certainly should be aiming to interest a wider range of people!

The presentation itself was made in LibreOffice 'Presentation' (a PowerPoint analogue) and I'm simply using OBS Studio as a screen capture (with mic audio) of the presentation on a second display. So I'm actually recording the audio and video at the same time. OBS Studio doesn't have a native editing client, which is why I went to Lightworks.

Whether it makes more sense as a video project or a podcast (or both) is something I'll certainly think about as it develops. Does it help to have text/images on the screen?

Yes, I think 10 minutes or even shorter is a good target. And once I have a set of them done I can strip the audio and edit it down to a podcast length for a separate release.

I've read Swinburne, but not Pessoa. I'll look into it!