My latest speed draw offering.
speed draw – Romano-British
My latest speed draw offering.
speed draw – Sassanid warrior
My latest speed draw offering.
on byzantines, Uber, The Last Jedi, and gender politics
A while ago I created a video illustrating the evolution of Roman infantry down the centuries. I thought it would just be a fun, nerdy little thing. But now the comments section is a nationalist warzone, with accusations such as – I kid you not – Greek scum, filthy German, and Turkophile being slung back and forth, based on such things as who does and doesn’t count as Roman, and whether or not the word Byzantine is an objective term or a filthy, Latin slur. It took very little for the nationalists to get them set off; I’m guessing they’re just so full to bursting with ethnocentric, self-righteous indignation, so spoiling for a fight to show that their race (whatever the hell that means) is the best, and why it should stop being persecuted, that they’ll see this struggle in any damn thing they come across. Continue reading “on byzantines, Uber, The Last Jedi, and gender politics”
on reaching out
Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.
Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.”
So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?”
They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message.” So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.
They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!” So they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled.
Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.”
Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.’ So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.” — Acts 10:17-33 (NLT)
You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, as the old saying goes. You can’t reach the top without stepping on a few toes. You can’t stay at the top without whacking a few heads. And you can’t build and keep an empire by being nice. Continue reading “on reaching out”
on the old airfield
It ends at the old airfield. I fall down and I bawl my eyes out, because it’s all gone and I can’t get it back. Then it starts raining and I have to get to the boat.
But no, that’s not right. That’s not how it ends at all. Continue reading “on the old airfield”
on faceless mooks
Houses on fire, screams in the background, heavily-armed, swastika’d soldiers and flame-spewing, mechanical beasts swaggering around.
“Monsters did this.”
“Not monsters – men.”
So starts the latest trailer to Wolfenstein II. The trailer itself is a gory, expletive-filled affair, but it deflates itself right off the bat. It fails to live up to its own rhetoric within the first few seconds. Continue reading “on faceless mooks”
warriors of the world
Kind of bittersweet, the culmination of years of Zen Brush drawings. I’d wanted to make these into an ebook at some point, but this will have to do. A very rough timeline(ish) of warriors from the dawn of civilisation to the age of wigs and gunpowder.
