Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Quarantine entry #11 - April 1



Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. At least now, the sink is unclogged and the weather has evened-out, and it is no longer raining. A puny yay, but still a yay nonetheless. What next?

Well, despite all the statement about how wildlife is coming back, so far, I saw little signs of it – just an occasional songbird or squirrel, and that is it. True, we are currently stuck in the suburbs, were almost everyone has a dog or a cat that needs to go for a walk or just out, and consequently, the more wild animals – songbirds, squirrels, groundhogs, deer, etc. – are keeping relatively low. Humans are one thing; cats and dogs, (and some of the local dogs are quite big animals), are another. Ergo, so far none of us is seeing any sort of a wildlife bonanza that the Internet, including Facebook, was talking about for a while. What next?

…Now would be the perfect time to talk about the ‘Tiger King’ documentary that was released on Netflix, but truth to tell, I am at a loss as how to tackle it. Despite its’ title, this documentary series isn’t just about tigers, but also about tiger trade, (especially in the U.S.) and about people who make money off the big cats, i.e. tigers and lions. It was a massive undertaking to make, air, etc., and it occasional wanders off the subject… but only slightly. Frankly, right now, discussing ‘Tiger King’ is out of my league, and so I am putting it off for now. What is left?

Well, I have re-watched yet another DW episode, this one being the ‘Persian Immortal vs. Celt Warrior’. Again, it was one of the better DW episodes, (though of course ‘Tiger King’ is still the more solid show out of the two). Why? Because of several reasons.

First, the Persian Empire did meet the Celtic tribes, chronology-wise, however slightly. Secondly, the weapons were not too typical, especially for the Persian Immortal – they included a battle-axe rather than a sword, and a chariot scythe. This brings us to the third reason – the chariots themselves. Horses – and warriors on horseback – came and went throughout the entire show, but this was the only DW episode that featured chariots and at least some chariot combat. Very remarkable and enjoyable to watch! …So why did the Celt lose?

Because he had the inferior weapons, when push came to shove, and inferior training too, I suppose. The Celts were always more individualistic than their Persian counterparts, (in the terms of the face-off in question), for at its’ heyday the Persian (aka the Parthian) empire rivaled the Roman…and both of them diminished simultaneously, and also fell at the same time – to the prophet Mohammed and the up and coming forces of Islam. Fun!

…As for the Celts, they would eventually ‘evolve’ into the natives of France, Great Britain & Ireland, Germany, and so on, and they would also pass on without a trace. They fell back against the Romans, while the Persians/Parthians were able to stand up to the Romans honestly, see above, and this was probably as to why team Persian was able to defeat their counterparts.

And the sling! Honestly! The sling appeared on DW several times, and it was always less effective than such as weapons as the bow and arrow. It may have been the second least effective weapon on DW after the various poisons, and so in S3, DW got rid of it, just as it got rid of the poisons in S2. Not that it helped it any – DW still got cancelled. Ah well, so passes the glory/fame of the world. Did I mention that real life sucks? (Just look at ‘Tiger King’ – some of the fallout following its’ release was clearly not intentional, but we’ll talk about ‘Tiger King’ some other time).

…This is it for now – see you all soon!

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