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This week we’re looking at a specific visual motif common in TV and film: the arrow volley. You know the scene: the general readies his archers, he orders them to ‘draw!’ and then holds up his hand with that ‘wait for it’ gesture and then shouts ‘loose!’ (or worse yet, ‘fire!’) and all of the … Continue reading Collections: Why Archers Didn’t Volley Fire →
This week, I want to keep unloading my Tolkien-related thoughts, turning from last week’s character study to a look at the way ‘magic’ and spiritual power work in Tolkien’s legendarium and in particular to how contests between fundamentally magical beings in Middle-earth are decided. This is a topic that I think even the best adaptations … Continue reading Collections: How Gandalf Proved Mightiest: Spiritual Power in Tolkien →
This week (and probably next) I want to talk a bit more Tolkien, but in a somewhat different vein from normal. Rather than discussing the historicity of Tolkien’s world or adaptations of it, I want to take a moment to discuss some of the themes of Tolkien’s work, which express themselves in the metaphysical architecture … Continue reading Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien →
This is the final part of our five part (I, II, III, IV) series on the Siege of Eregion in Amazon’s Rings of Power. Last time, we looked at the orc siege and marveled at both their lack of works and also their nonsensical siege engines, concluding that Adar had launched a siege assault which … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part V: What Tactics? →
More in history
Smuggling Under the Cover of Plague JamesHoare Thu, 05/15/2025 - 08:59
Samuel Johnson was an English author and lexicographer who lived between the years of 1709 and 1784. He is best remembered by literary historians for his famous Dictionary. This dictionary, formally known as A Dictionary of the English Language, was published in 1755 and apparently made him worthy of becoming known widely—unofficially—as Doctor Johnson. […]
In the heart of the dense Amazonian jungle, researchers are realizing that what was long believed to be an untouched wilderness is anything but. Recent archeological discoveries indicate that the rainforest’s native populations spent centuries modifying and transforming the natural landscape. The so-called city-forest theory challenges traditional views of human-nature dynamics in the Amazon, […]
“I didn’t think. I had no reference point. I had no fear. It was all really simple. Peter Jones of the Record Mirror told me to go and see them. I did. It was good for everybody… I was quite happy doing PR and I became happier managing the Rolling Stones.” – Andrew Loog Oldham … Continue reading "An Interview with Andrew Loog Oldham" The post An Interview with Andrew Loog Oldham appeared first on Flashbak.
