Queen's Thief Music

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Hello, all! I've heard this mentioned a few times over the last couple of weeks, so I'll post it. So yeah, not my idea, I'm just being... (lightbulb!) a well-behaved tool.
What are some of the songs that remind you of Queen's Thief? Here's a list of a few I've heard about from others, or came up with myself, and who suggested them:

• 'She's always a woman' by Billy Joel, hapaxnym (*goes to see if that's on itunes*)
• 'Viva la vida' by coldplay, peggy2 (So perfect, so Gen)
• 'I've got you' by Blake Lewis, thelasteddis (I've seen this as 'u' instead of 'you' as well, but who knows. It's totally Attolia.)
• 'Bleeding love' by (I think) Leona Lewis, thelasteddis (if you're feeling reprobatish)

So yeah. We should totally make a whole Queen's Thief Playlist! Oh mans!

Eugenides and the Art of Rhetoric

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

I was reading Quintilian this afternoon, and this passage about the superiority of figured language (i.e. being clever and saying what you don't mean, but so that people in the know will know what you do mean) struck me:

For, just as in fencing it is easy to see, parry, and repel direct blows and simple, straightforward strokes, while sidestrokes and feints are less easy to detect, and the art lies in making a threat which is not related to your real object, so oratory which lacks guile fights only with eight and drive, whereas if you use feints, and vary your approach you can attack the flanks or the rear, draw off the defence, and, as it were, duck to deceive. Nor is there any better way to induce emotions. If face and eyes and hands can do a lot to move men's minds, how much more can the face of the spoken word, as it were, do for use, when it is set to produce the effect we want!
-Instituto Oratoria9.1.20-1, transl. Russell, 2001

Isn't this precisely how Gen operates, both with swords and language?

De-lurking

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

Hi! *waves* I've been lurking around for a few weeks now and think it's time to say hi! Well ok, to be honest I'm coming out of lurkerdom because I have a nagging question...

A bit about me: I live in New Zealand and am about to sit my final high school exams, which, of course, is a great opportunity for online procrastination. I found this comm maybe a month ago and was absolutely shocked to find out that my favourite duology (The Thief and QoA) was really a trilogy! I pleaded and begged and someone gave me a copy of KoA for my birthday, thus fulfilling all my wildest dreams :) Since then I think I've become obsessed, and started collaring innocent classmates in corridors and asking if they've read these fantastic books. I persuaded my Mum to read them and she had a question that I couldn't answer, so I thought hey, why not ask the clued-up people over on Sounis?

So... question: Going right back to the Thief, Gen takes Hamiathes' Gift for Eddis because handing down the stone peacefully secures the line of succession, right? And when the stone is taken by force, the stone doesn't work any more. This is also why the magus wants it. BUT after Gen steals it, he gives it to the Magus, and then later STEALS IT BACK from the Magus without his permission. Doesn't this count as breaking the peaceful handing-down chain of events? Or is it fulfilled again because when Gen does get to Eddis, (the country) he gives the stone freely to Eddis (the person)?

To be honest, I'm stumped. So I'm really hoping someone here can help me out. *looks around hopefully* I'm not sure about LJ ettiquite either (though I've had an account for over a year!) - is it ok to post here straight off or should I have introduced myself beforehand?
Wow, this is way longer than I meant it to be. So, hoping someone can help! XD