Monday, October 16, 2006
Nemo Parker Rooney
Tonight at dinner with my friend Donna, she suggested I give Nemo a middle name. I fear she thought that Nemo wasn't literary enough, although she then remembered that it comes from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Not quite my genre, but still pretty cool. And Latin derivated with Homerian references. That's a good name. Plus kids love it.
Thank god for Wickipedia:
"Captain Nemo is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and The Mysterious Island (1874). 'Nemo' is Latin for 'no-one.' This name is aptly chosen. [you're telling me.] Nemo is a mysterious figure, about whom all we know is that he identifies with the oppressed, and that he has apparently lost his wife and children. He is a scientific genius who roams the depths of the sea in his submarine, the Nautilus. In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea he states that the laws of the world on the surface do not apply to him any longer, and that he has fled to the sea to escape the barbarism of the human race, with its wars and oppression. He claims to have no interest in the affairs of the world above, but occasionally intervenes to aid the oppressed, giving salvaged treasure to Cypriots resisting a Turkish invasion, or by sinking warships. Nemo goes out of his way to accommodate Professor Aronnax and his companions, and also, during a diving expedition, he risks his life to save a pearl diver from a shark attack. Nemo tries to project a stern, controlled confidence, but he is driven by a thirst for vengeance, and wracked by remorse over the deaths of his crewmembers and even by the deaths of enemy sailors. In the Mysterious Island, a still mysterious but gentler Nemo secretly helps the castaways of the island and in the end warns them that the island will perish in a volcanic eruption. Nemo dies of old age just before the eruption and is buried in his ship that is then sunk."
Other fun facts:
-his name is the Latin for "nobody" or "no one", an allusion to the answer given by Odysseus to Polyphemus in the Odyssey. [Gotta love that.]
-actors who have portrayed Capt. Nemo have inluded Jose Ferrer, Michael Caine, Patrick Stuart, and Omar Sharif. I myself see a more recent film version starring Vincent D'Onofrio, whom (as my friends know) I find not only big and burly and sweet but also the hottest thing ever.
-songs about Capt. Nemo have been recorded by Ace of Base and Sarah Brightman [gag]
Given this distinguished backstory, I decided to give Nemes a non-literary middle name: Parker, in honor of the boy who brought us together, who was named because there were already 4 "Buddys" at the shelter where Melissa took him and she'd found him in a park. It think it has serious street cred. As a middle name it also has the amusing benefit of creating the initials NPR. Which I may have to dork-out and have monogrammed on an L L Bean dog bed for Christmas.
Thank god for Wickipedia:
"Captain Nemo is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and The Mysterious Island (1874). 'Nemo' is Latin for 'no-one.' This name is aptly chosen. [you're telling me.] Nemo is a mysterious figure, about whom all we know is that he identifies with the oppressed, and that he has apparently lost his wife and children. He is a scientific genius who roams the depths of the sea in his submarine, the Nautilus. In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea he states that the laws of the world on the surface do not apply to him any longer, and that he has fled to the sea to escape the barbarism of the human race, with its wars and oppression. He claims to have no interest in the affairs of the world above, but occasionally intervenes to aid the oppressed, giving salvaged treasure to Cypriots resisting a Turkish invasion, or by sinking warships. Nemo goes out of his way to accommodate Professor Aronnax and his companions, and also, during a diving expedition, he risks his life to save a pearl diver from a shark attack. Nemo tries to project a stern, controlled confidence, but he is driven by a thirst for vengeance, and wracked by remorse over the deaths of his crewmembers and even by the deaths of enemy sailors. In the Mysterious Island, a still mysterious but gentler Nemo secretly helps the castaways of the island and in the end warns them that the island will perish in a volcanic eruption. Nemo dies of old age just before the eruption and is buried in his ship that is then sunk."
Other fun facts:
-his name is the Latin for "nobody" or "no one", an allusion to the answer given by Odysseus to Polyphemus in the Odyssey. [Gotta love that.]
-actors who have portrayed Capt. Nemo have inluded Jose Ferrer, Michael Caine, Patrick Stuart, and Omar Sharif. I myself see a more recent film version starring Vincent D'Onofrio, whom (as my friends know) I find not only big and burly and sweet but also the hottest thing ever.
-songs about Capt. Nemo have been recorded by Ace of Base and Sarah Brightman [gag]
Given this distinguished backstory, I decided to give Nemes a non-literary middle name: Parker, in honor of the boy who brought us together, who was named because there were already 4 "Buddys" at the shelter where Melissa took him and she'd found him in a park. It think it has serious street cred. As a middle name it also has the amusing benefit of creating the initials NPR. Which I may have to dork-out and have monogrammed on an L L Bean dog bed for Christmas.
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I can't think of better initials than NPR! I'm so happy that you've found true love and that you're sharing the journey with us. I can't wait to meet him. And let's not forget the reference to Nemo in "Finding Nemo," or are you deciding to ignore that? : )
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