Category Archives: Irony

The Awesome Epithets of European Nobility and Royalty, part 3

By terje | Published: July 7, 2009
It seems I promised you a series of these once, so let’s continue, shall we? Constantine V (741-775) of Byzantium: Kopronymos — the Dung-Named. Constantine was an Iconoclast, and hostile Iconodules referred to him as “the Dung-Named”, as he was to have defecated in the purple cloth in which he was swaddled during his baptism. Imagine how nice [...]
Also posted in Byzantium, Greek stuff, Impressions, Links, Lists, Medieval stuff, Roman stuff, The Awesome Epithets of European Nobility and Royalty | 17 Comments

How Things Change — 2009-07-07

By terje | Published: July 7, 2009
“My music taste is pretty limited, mainly ’cause I don’t prioritize it, so my favorite bands/artists are as follows; Led Zeppelin, Wolfmother, The White Stripes, ACDC, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Queen. Do you know of any other bands that may fit the genre (I spent a lot of money on a mp3 player and [...]
Also posted in Blogroll, Failed attempts at subtility, Links, Lotta, Music, Nostalgia, Paranoia, Quote of the day, This Blog, Whoa, lol | 2 Comments

Fight Club

By terje | Published: December 30, 2008
I watched Fight Club again, a couple of weeks ago. It’s been a few years since the last time I watched it, but I still clearly remembered the plot. What struck me this time was how well the movie has kept; for a movie with such a major plot twist, it is remarkable how great [...]
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, A Praise Chorus, Art, Awe, Bliss, Goosebumps!, Love, Movies, Music, Pimping, Pleasant surprises, Recommendations, Revelations, Review, Whoa | 5 Comments

When I first read this, I imagined for a moment that 1204 and 1453 had been nothing but bad dreams. Reality dawing on me felt like a fist in my guts

By terje | Published: November 21, 2008
“Constantinople was an impregnable city …” — Robert B. Kebric, Roman People (4th edition), epilogue.
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, Greek stuff, Grief, Hallucinations, Hist2125, History, Hope, Language, Literature, Love, Medieval stuff, Misery, Nostalgia, Oh noes!, Pain, Quote of the day, Regret, Roman stuff, Wistfulness | 3 Comments

WALL-E

By terje | Published: September 20, 2008
As I went to see WALL-E (from now on Wall-E, as Nature abhors a shout, even though it’s supposed to be an acronym) last a couple of days ago, I was feeling highly ambiguous and thus also a bit scared. You see, my hopes for this movie were nothing short of astronomic, as just about [...]
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, A Praise Chorus, Ambiguity, Art, Awe, Bliss, Glee, Goosebumps!, Great Expectations, Hodge-podge rambling, Hope, Impressions, Love, Movies, My microcosmos, Optimism, Pimping, Pleasant surprises, Potential, Rant, Recommendations, Relief, Review, Speculations, Wistfulness, Yay! | 11 Comments

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

By terje | Published: July 19, 2008
1926. 273 pages. Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks. Foreword by Neil Gaiman. Where the rivers Dapple and Dawl converge is situated the small country port of Lud-in-the-Mist, capital of the free state of Dorimare. From here, the burghers send their trading ships out into the world, bringing back wealth to the upper strata of Dorimarite society. But Lud and Dorimare has [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, British humour, Collections, Death, Gaiman, Impressions, Language, Literature, Review, Speculative fiction | 4 Comments

A Plague! A Plague on Our Houses!

By terje | Published: May 24, 2008
In my Last.fm shoutbox, I was recently asked by one of my readers to post more frequently in my blog, and seeing as your whim is my law, I bring you this: an essay of sorts about the last topic you’d expected me to write about! One of the things you might not know [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Boredom, Conflicting emotions, Disappointment, Discomfort, Dumb luck, Evilness, Failed attempts at subtility, Family, Football, Forums, Glee, Gloating, Goosebumps!, Great Expectations, Grief, Hallucinations, Help!, History, Hope, Impressions, Language, Laziness, Links, Lists, Lotta, Media, Megalomania, Misery, Music, My microcosmos, Norse stuff, Norway, Nostalgia, Oh noes!, Opinions, Optimism, Pain, Panic, Paranoia, Pessimism, Pettiness, Pleasant surprises, Politics, Potential, Pride, Procrastination, Roman stuff, Scepticism, Speculations, TMI, Television stuff, This Blog, Various, Videos, Weird stuff, Whoa, Why do I think anyone cares?, Wistfulness, Words, Yay!, lol, meh. | 11 Comments

The definition of preaching to the choir

By terje | Published: May 7, 2008
You need to have flashplayer enabled to view this YouTube video Seriously, I don’t know why these people bother. I mean, I agree with much of what the guy said, but jeez, does he honestly believe he is going to win many religious people over by antagonising them? Is this rational behaviour? And what’s up with the islamophobia of these prominent atheists? (On a concluding note, I’d like [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Disappointment, Discomfort, Impressions, Language, Misery, My microcosmos, Pain, Rant, Regret, Religiousity, Scepticism, Videos, meh. | Leave a comment

Atheists <3 Averröes (or ibn Rushd, if you prefer)

By terje | Published: March 28, 2008
“In the Christian intellectual environment of the thirteenth century, apparent conflicts between argumentation in natural philosophy and argumentation in matter sof theological doctrine became exceptionally acute. The newly introduced writings of from the ancients — Greek philosophy and science, accompanied by Arabic and Hebrew commentary — rigorously set forth propositions alien to fundamental dicta of [...]
Also posted in A Praise Chorus, Awe, Failed attempts at subtility, Glee, Gloating, Goosebumps!, History, New Heroes, Quote of the day, Religiousity, Revelations, Yay!, lol | Leave a comment

This does not bode well…

By terje | Published: December 24, 2007
I was in Molde yesterday, to have dinner with a buddy of mine from high school, and somehow at least two thirds of the four hours we spent together were spent talking about World of Warcraft, which said buddy, like so many others, had been pretty much addicted by the last couple of years. Personally, [...]
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