1. From my Classical History course this week, I learned that during the First Punic War a certain Roman consul wanted to attack the Carthaginian fleet, but the augurs warned him that it would be a disaster. The sacred chickens weren't eating, and that was a bad omen. The consul replied, "They won't eat? Let … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: History, Economics, and RIP Carl Weathers
Wednesday Politics: On America’s Military Record and Its Consequences
"America has never lost and will never lose a war" says Patton in the opening speech of the classic film. This, of course, rang sadly ironic to audiences in 1970 as the Vietnam War wound down, and is even more so today, though as someone pointed out, even at the time it required Patton to … Continue reading Wednesday Politics: On America’s Military Record and Its Consequences
Poem – “A Land Without Ruins”
"A land without ruins is a land without memories --a land without memories is a land without history.A land that wears a laurel crown may be fair to see;but twine a few sad cypress leaves around the brow of any land,and be that land barren, beautiless and bleak, it becomes lovelyin its consecrated coronet of … Continue reading Poem – “A Land Without Ruins”
Friday Flotsam: US History, Nintendo Games, and Dialogue
1. My US History classes this week have been entirely consumed by summarizing the course of the Civil War, and we've only gotten to the end of 1863. That's after about two weeks of going over the lead-up to the war. There is just so much to go over, even from my relatively superficial knowledge … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: US History, Nintendo Games, and Dialogue
Poem – “Nemesis”
Thro’ the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,Past the wan-moon’d abysses of night,I have liv’d o’er my lives without number,I have sounded all things with my sight;And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright. I have whirl’d with the earth at the dawning,When the sky was a vaporous flame;I have seen … Continue reading Poem – “Nemesis”
Friday Flotsam: Poe and the Flavors of Decades
1. I revisited Edgar Allan Poe's The Man of the Crowd this week. It's a very short read, and a fine, less-prominent example of the author's particular touch. Poe, so it seems to me, excels most at manifesting human darkness; the twisted nature of mankind taking form in his figures and incidents. In this case, … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Poe and the Flavors of Decades
A Telling Exchange
The following conversation occurred in Washington in early 1861 between fellow West Point alumni Irvin McDowell and William T. Sherman, both seeking commands in the newly-forming Union Army: McDowell: "Hello, Sherman, what [rank] did you ask for?"Sherman: "A colonelcy."McDowell: "What? You should have asked for a brigadier general's rank. You're just as fit for it … Continue reading A Telling Exchange
Poem – “Piano Man”
It's nine o'clock on a SaturdayThe regular crowd shuffles inThere's an old man sittin' next to meMakin' love to his tonic and gin He says, "Son can you play me a memory?I'm not really sure how it goesBut it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it completeWhen I wore a younger man's clothes" La, … Continue reading Poem – “Piano Man”
Commentary: When Good Characters do Bad Things
Another bit of storycraft commentary up at Noble Cobra Magazine. This time discussing some thoughts I had about heroic or righteous characters doing 'mean' or off-color things in fiction: pranks, unwanted jokes, nasty tricks, that sort of thing, and how it can be used for characterization purposes (and yes, more Fruits Basket, since that's on … Continue reading Commentary: When Good Characters do Bad Things
Friday Flotsam: Lincoln, Civil War, and More Manga
1. This week for my US History class I learned why most people only quote the first paragraph or so of Lincoln's 'house divided' speech; because after that it kind of devolves into a paranoid rant of how the Democrats want to impose slavery upon all the states, including speculation that Stephen Douglass etc. were … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Lincoln, Civil War, and More Manga
Serpent's Den 