I have the reputation of being a grump who hates everything. I deserve this reputation, as I have done everything possible to earn it. I am the sort of person who tries to understand what people see in football halftime shows that is remotely entertaining, and cannot do it. I don’t tend to like things… Read More Not-So-Quick Review: Frozen II
The idea of generations, especially as Demographers use them, is overrated. I’ve said so before, I’ll likely go on saying it. Being born at the same time as others gives you a set of shared cultural memories and not much else. Now, those shared cultural memories can be powerful, especially given the rate of pop… Read More Generations Are Arbitrary. Act Accordingly.
The Havamal is a collection of sayings attributed to Odin, Lord of Battles, Most Wise and Most High. Much of it is advice on wisdom. Some of what is said here is specific to the time and place of Medieval Scandinavia and needs to be considered with that in mind. But much of it if […]… Read More Wisdom from the Lord of Battles — Reblog from The Writer in Black
There’s an entire subculture of fantasy map-making and world-building, because Tolkein and Gygax together hammered into the genre of epic fantasy literature and gaming the need for a world to have an all-encompassing backstory, including a theogyny. I’ve been farting around with a fantasy world of my own devising, known as Cevalon, since I was… Read More Fantasy Maps and Cevalon
Robert Conquest was a historian of note in the middle of the last century. He is best known for his books about the Soviet Union and the purges thereunto pertaining. He is routinely quoted by those on the right (of which he was one) for his Three Laws of Politics: Everyone is a conservative about… Read More The Three Laws of Politics
Bret Easton Ellis, writing in his essay collection White, on the social-corporate demand of inclusivity: Most people of a certain age probably noticed this when they joined their very first corporation. Facebook encouraged its users to “like” things, and because this platform is where they branded themselves on the social Web for the first time, their… Read More We Have to Be Liked
Per historian A.J.P. Taylor’s The Origins of the Second World War, which was something of a classic when it came out, but has since passed on, due to its somewhat nuanced take. The first thing that Taylor argues, rather effectively, is that no one was more surprised than Hitler to find himself at war with Britain… Read More The Surprising Cause of the Second World War
Here’s what’s playing at My local Regal tonight: Charlie’s Angels 2019. Because if you keep scraping, the barrell has no bottom, right? Ford vs. Ferrari. Days of Thunder made palatable to critics by historical place-setting. The Good Liar. Old people intrigue, prompting a new generation to ask “Hey did you know Helen Mirren had her boobs out in… Read More Let’s Not Go To the Movies: A Continuing Series of Curmudeoning at the Debased Art of Cinema
Probably that’s not news. I haven’t felt at home in some time, really. Maybe that’s just getting old, but even when I was young I’ve found the pseudo-devotion off-putting. One thing I’ve said for years is that the reason I never became a Trekkie wasn’t because I didn’t like Star Trek, but because I didn’t… Read More I Don’t Feel At Home in Pop Culture Anymore
So suggests Variety. This explains what I’ve been wondering about, both here on the blog and on my podcast: Disney’s current strategy of “nothing but live-action reboots and Frozen 2.” It also jibes with the news that they’re done making Star Wars films for the time being (and with the rumors that the test screening for Episode 9… Read More It Appears Disney Is Going All-In on Streaming
Content Blues 