About 2 weeks ago, a certain movie opened in American theaters. In those two weeks, it has managed to earn almost $130 million, and create a massive controversy, to boot. Here’s my review of the bare-chested spear-and-sandal epic. (more…)
TV Review: Rome- “De Patre Vostro” (About Your Father)
Well, it figures, I start reviewing a show, and it ends three episodes later. Yes, I knew it got canceled after Season 2, and that it would end soon when I started this, I just wish it hadn’t. And now that it’s gone, and Battlestar Galactica is on hiatus until next January, I have nothing to watch on Sunday nights. I will review earlier episodes of Rome, if I get my hands on them. (more…)
TV Review: Rome- “Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus” (No God Can Stop A Hungry Man)
I apologize for not being able to get the review up sooner, but I did not see the episode until Monday night. But its done at last. Hopefully I will not bore you with my ramblings about how much I love Rome, since I tried to keep it short. So, enjoy. (more…)
History as an Advertising Tool, Part II
More Bank Imperial ads (you can find Part I here). These commercials feature the work of the Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, famous in the US for directing the film Night Watch. Personally, I think he’s one of the worst directors who ever lived, but that’s just my opinion. He is good at making ads, though. (more…)
By the way…
And, speaking of witch hunts, what about the persecution of atheists, the most hated group in America? My very own professor, Karen Hunter, went on to say that they are making a fuss out of nothing and need to shut up.
I would have responded to the points raised in that video, but someone has already beat me to it. So, I present you with the following video:
Enjoy!
Not really history, I know, but I felt I had to add this.
A Modern-Day Witch Hunt
Most people know of the Salem Witch Trials that shook the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and led to the execution of 20 people, and the imprisonment of some 200 more. What you probably don’t know is that witch hunts are not merely a thing of the past, they are going on right now. Where? In Africa? In the Deep South? Try Long Island. (more…)
History as an Advertising Tool
In the mid-1990s, a Russian bank, the Bank Imperial (which, along with many other banks, went bankrupt in the 1998 Financial Crisis in Russia, which resulted, among other things, in yours truly coming to the USA) released a series of television commercials, which are considered to be among the best ever produced in Russia, and have entered the national consciousness. These commercials consist of a re-enactment of a famous scene from history, followed by the tagline – “World History, Bank Imperial.” A few days ago, I’ve ran across some of them on Youtube, and I now offer them for your viewing pleasure. (more…)
The Birth of the Blog
On History
The stream of Time, irresistible, ever moving, carries off and bears away all things that come to birth and plunges them into utter darkness, both deeds of no account and deeds which are mighty and worthy of commemoration; as the playwright [Sophocles] says, it “brings to light that which was unseen and shrouds from us that which was manifest.”
Nevertheless, the science of History is a great bulwark against this stream of Time; in a way it checks this irresistible flood, it holds in a tight grasp whatever it can seize floating on the surface and will not allow it to slip away into the depths of Oblivion….
-Anna Comnena, The Alexiad.
This account, written by a princess of the Eastern Roman Empire almost 900 years ago, is still, in my opinion, the best description of what history is, and what it should be. However, that quote does not tell the most important thing of all: why? Why preserve “both deeds of no account and deeds which are mighty and worthy of commemoration?” After all did not a prominent American industrialist once declare that “history is more or less bunk?” (more…)
TV Review: Rome – “A Necessary Fiction”
The Episode
In case you’re wondering (you probably aren’t) what I do in my spare time, here’s the answer- I watch TV. And what else to watch on Sunday nights than the critically acclaimed HBO/BBC series “Rome?” (more…)
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