standing at the beginning with you

Disclaimer:

All the names mentioned in this blog (excluding celebrities) have been changed. The blogger also wishes to remain anonymous and would appreciate if those who know “Minerva Raven” in real life could restrain themselves from disclosing any personal information. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

I would also like to point out that “Carmina Corvae” carries with it a recommended rating of 15+ (occasional coarse language, mild adult references, frequent supernatural themes and omnipresent cynicism).

Of course, I don't claim to be on speaking terms with the celebrities whom I write about, and neither am I claiming any ownership towards trademarks mentioned unless I specifically tag them with “© Minerva Raven”

What the **** is “Carmina Corvae”?

Not long ago I wrote a poem called “Ravensong”, a title which I hoped to transfer to my blog. Unfortunately several people had already gotten there before me (RavenSong.blogspot, RavensSong.blogspot, RavenSongs.blogspot, SongoftheRaven.blogspot...) The sad thing is, if you can think of it, it probably already exists on the internet.

But using my high-school Latin skills (this dead language has saved my life a number of times), I translated my desired title. The main problem was that the word for a Raven, “Corvus”, is a distinctly masculine noun. So, I tacked on a feminine ending (please don't kill me, purists). Literally, the title means “Songs of the Raven”. Poetic plural at work here, I supposed, and besides, for those of you who do Latin verse, “Carmina Corvae” fits into the last two feet of a line of Dactylic Hexameter, which gives a “jingle” to it.

All right, then why is your URL...

Hang on, I'm getting to that. In my early adolescence I made websites devoted to various Japanese cartoons, with rather unusual URLs. Most people can spell Pikachu, but I think Garurumon, Ikkakumon and Kabuterimon were probably pushing it.

I didn't trust my readers to be able to find CarminaCorvae.blogspot.com without a lot of frustration (and not of the good kind). A synonym for “song” is “tune”. Another advantage to using “RavenTune” is that it's a pun of “Rave In Tune”, which I suppose is slightly ironic. I got this image in my head of a bunch of rockers, high as kites on (illegal) cocktails and singing in four-part harmony. Il Divo meets Good Charlotte?

I hope there's more to your blog than singing ravens.

I hope my posts are slightly poetic (heh) and I love my music, but I'm going to predominantly concern myself with reflections of the psychoanalytical sort. Even the smallest things can shape who we are – little gestures, single words, semi-concealed objects...

But I have to know...why the obsession with ravens?

My name is Minerva Raven!

All right...thank you for reading my disclaimer. No it's not my real name – but I've always been intrigued by the creatures. Ravens have ancient reputations for aiding sorceresses as they . Secondly, they're associated with the night – and the hours of darkness are by far my favorite bits of my day (I don't like owls that much though). And lest we forget their color – the color of coal, of ebony, of the starless sky, as well as my own hair, which I will not be coloring anytime soon (this will be a topic of discussion soon though).

Want to get all metaphorical about it? Ravens, being creatures blessed with the gift of flight, see the world from a completely different angle – and that's what I hope my blog will force you to do.