Stark ravings on mythology, history & fantasy -
quips & koans, hot takes & pet peeves, betes noires & idees fixes.
"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!"
Exactly what it says on the tin - a period of large-scale migration, mostly Germanic migration, invasion and settlement of various tribes within Europe, establishing post-Roman European kingdoms
The Bronze Age Collapse - or Late Bronze Age Collapse - was the widespread collapse of Mediterranean Bronze Age civilization in the 12th century BC, argued to be worse than the collapse of the western Roman Empire or even the worst case of societal collapse in human history
Or compared to WW1 as a conventional stalemate for most of its duration as well as its inconclusive ceasefire, with a tendency to overlook both for WW2, or the Korean War for the Vietnam War (with even the M*A*S*H* series set in the former being more a commentary on the latter)
Indeed the penultimate country in the world to have a head of state with the title of Emperor, leaving Japan as the last country standing with an Emperor
No - he's not fictional but a real historical figure, albeit somewhat obscure these days but one of San Francisco's most prominent citizens in the nineteenth century, who has fascinated me since I first read about him (in the Illuminatus Trilogy)
The Comanche tribal nation occupied territory - known to history as Comancheria – in New Mexico, west Texas and surrounding areas
Indeed, it is not too difficult to see the stamp of Egyptian imperial chic even to the twentieth century and beyond, as in the Soviet Union but with a secular party priesthood devoted to the cycles of history as opposed to the Nile and cult of socialism rather than the sun god
Of course those states were necessarily on a small scale, as in the archetypal city-states of Sumerian civilization, and their imperialism was similarly on a small scale, as in city states conquering other city states or their neighbors
Despite styling itself as the Third Reich after the first German "empire" or Reich of a thousand years, the Holy Roman Empire, it didn't even last as long as the second, Wilhelmine Germany
Disappointingly, it is not an actual war between car manufacturers, akin to an escalation of the so-called Cola Wars or long-term rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
The Australian army was the best in the world, man for man, as it had demonstrated in the First World War, and would demonstrate by stopping the German army at Tobruk and the Japanese army at Kokoda in the Second World War, but it lost to emus in 1932
The Opium Wars opened what later came to be called the Century of Humiliation and saw the first of the so-called Unequal Treaties as an impotent China was forced to concede territory, privileges, concessions and reparations to European powers in a form of de facto colonization
THE CURSED EARTH (EPIC: progs 61-85 Case Files 2)
My primary revision is to crown The Lord of the Rings in its rightful place at the top of the list. Previously it was special mention - for Star Wars fans, Star Wars crowns my usual host of special mentions
It originated as a short story in 1959 (winning the 1960 Hugo Award for Best Short Story), which was expanded into a novel in 1966 and has subsequently been adapted into different media
S-TIER (GOD-TIER)
I suppose there may still be beach holidays or bikini girls in the background, as Australians are living out their last days in much the same way as they did before
The Northman showcased the same strengths of its director Robert Eggers as in his debut 'indie' film, The Witch, only more so for its greater scope and striking visual scenes. Eggers' films are above all atmospheric, immersing you giddily into the world of their story