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!

Quarantine entry #1 - March 22

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about something else – DW, for exactly. Why DW? Because I’m currently in the New York State, which is on lockdown at least for the next couple of weeks, and everything is closed, (well, almost everything), and there’s limited material to go on, so let’s pull out something out of the old dusty closet; might as well be DW.

So, what to talk about in DW? Let us try with another old chestnut – the Roman Centurion vs. the Rajput Warrior. After all of those years that had gone by after this episode was first aired, is there anything new about this episode?

Sadly, no. It is still a well written and an exciting episode, but nothing more. The only notable thing about RCRW is that it is also an honest and a non-prejudiced episode, but we have talked about this problem of the late DW a long, long time ago, so what there is left?

Firstly, yes, the Rajput had the advantage here – the ancient Roman, (as well as the Greek), army often had had problems with one on one fight. Yes, there are all of those one on one battles in the Iliad, aka, one of the first two authentic Western novels, but I must confess I have my own doubts about the novels’ authenticity, some things just don’t add up – but that is another story altogether.

Anyhow, the Rajput here has the advantage because his weapons are not so much advanced as better designed for a one on one fight – in a team fight, the situation would have been reversed. Of course, there is also the question as to why DW had the Centurion team (hey, remember his FH incarnation, incidentally?), bring forth a Scorpion – a stationary oversized crossbow, essentially, but, hey, they had something similar in an earlier S2 episode, when Alexander the Great’s ballista took on Attila the Hun’s Scythian battle-axe. It ended badly for Alexander – Attila won that showdown. What next?

The movies are being postponed, which is good – I was beginning to feel as if my blog is turning into a list of reviews, and I do not want that. I do not know what I am going to do with my blog yet, but it will be more than just a smattering of reviews – of movies, TV shows, Netflix shows, no! There will be something else! Maybe even discussions about something!

…For now, though, the best part of my day so far was that I saw a blue jay through the window in the yard outside. None of us is willing to leave because of the lockdown, unless it is for the grocery shopping or something similar, and the animals know it, somehow. Will they take over the world back from the humans? Probably not, simply because fear fades, and humans get tired of being scared all the time, COVID-19 or not.

To make matters worse, people are taking advantage of COVID-19, and usually for the worse. That is a part of real life, and especially of the American dream, with its’ individuality and entrepreneurship – both direct descendants of the Protestant, (especially the Anglo-Saxon version) way of life. Fair enough, but it means that there isn’t only good things stemming from this root, but bad ones too – and the same could be said about communism, as the Chinese seem to be having their COVID-19 issues well under control…no matter the cost. The Russians, of course, are a different story, but that is because they are a different story – they always tried to be a part of the West, culturally and politically speaking, but because the Russian proletariat and the elite were almost two different cultures throughout most of Russian history…things got muddled, and the West didn’t do anything to help either. The 1990s were just the latest example of that – the missed opportunity for the West to fix the Russian issue for good…instead the West got whatever it got in the person of Putin, and it can’t be fixed; maybe the West doesn’t want it to be fixed, but then all its’ those fiery speeches about the virtues of Democracy begin to seem fixed. What next?

Well, real life still sucks. The COVID-19 is still going strong, but because people are taking advantage of it in different ways, or just reacting to it differently, it is hard to differentiate truth from fiction; in this case, truth may not be subjective, but with everything that is going on around here, it is getting hard to figure out just what truth here actually is, and that is just as bad. Hopefully though, real life will get its’ head out of its’ ass and sort it all out, or else it’s going to be Italy all over again, (and Spain isn’t doing much better either), that’s all.

…And by that I mean that we’re done for now – see you all soon!