Author Archives: laurn larson

Hamlet Plays Conan

4 September 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Prince Amleth, ‘The Northman’, losing his royal inheritance with the murder of his father the king, vows vengeance against his uncle, killer of his father, and kidnapper of his mother.

‘The Northman’ is loosely based on the Norse legend of Amleth, son of King Horwendil and his wife Gerutha. Horwendil was murdered by the king’s brother Feng, who then married Gerutha. Amleth feigned madness to retain his head and to plot his vengeance upon his uncle for murdering his father.

Amleth was Shakespeare’s inspiration for Hamlet in his most famous tragedy ‘Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’. Hamlet is the son of the late king of Denmark and the king’s wife Gertrude. He is also the nephew of the present king, Claudius who killed his father and took Hamlet’s mother as his wife. Hamlet is told by his father’s ghost that Claudius murdered him and that he must exact revenge for his death. The play climaxes where Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius all meet a tragic end.

Genre:  Action—Adventure—Fantasy—Historical—Mythological–Tragedy

Directed by: Robert Eggers

Screenplay by: Sjon, Robert Eggers

Music by:  Robin Carolan, Sebastian Gainsborough

Cast: Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy

Film Locations:  Ireland and Iceland

Els: 7.5/10

IMDb:  7.0/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  90

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  64

Metacritic Metascore: 82

Metacritic User Score:  7.2/10

Theaters: 22 April 2022

Runtime: 136 minutes

Budget:  $70-90 million

Worldwide Box Office:  $69.6 million

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Viking.Style. Shakespear’s Tragedies, 1980. Graphic: Movie Poster, Focus Features.

J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

3 September 2024 By in Red Wine Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles, Central Coast, California.

79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Petite Sirah, 4% Petite Verdot, 3% Merlot, and 2% Malbec

Purchase Price: $17.99

James Suckling 91, Tasting Panel 91, ElsBob 90.

ABV 14%

Deep ruby trending purple in color, blackberries oak and vanilla aromas, full-bodied, dry, full tannins. An excellent wine to serve with beef cuts or just sipping it to unwind at the end of the workday.

A fine California wine under $20. A 90-point wine generally sells at a mean (average) price of $40.

9 Lives

2 September 2024 By in Music Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Koe Wetzel, a modern country outlaw not exactly in the mold of Waylon but possibly closer to the man he is named after, David Allen Coe, released his 6th studio album, ‘9 Lives’ in July of this year.  It’s an energetic, genre bending, fun album that refuses to follow any forged paths from his last effort: ‘Hell Paso’.

Discussing his new album with Apple Music he wants his listeners to critique the 13th tracks in their entirety. Hearing what he is as a musician and an artist, stating, ‘So, if they come away from listening to the entire record…be like, OK now we get it a little bit more. Maybe he is a decent artist, a decent musician.’

Decent artist, decent musician and yes, an outlaw. Affirmation (attempting confirmation?) from the chorus of the 13 track on ‘9 Lives’:

The last outlaw alive
The last of my kind
The last one who survived
I can’t believe I’m the last outlaw alive

Source: Apple Music. Graphic: Album cover copyright Columbia Music.

The Hand of God

1 September 2024 By in Art, Books Nonfiction Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Guillaume de Laubier and Jacques Bosser in their book ‘Sacred Spaces: The Awe-Inspiring Architecture of Churches and Cathedrals’ capture the artistic wonderment and engineering marvels that sprang from the last two millennia of Christian faith. From St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and back to Barcelona’s Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, the authors showcase the magnificent architectural monuments to Christ that are unsurpassed in our contemporary world of concrete and steel. The beauty presented in these ‘Sacred Spaces’ were constructed with flesh and blood but only God could have provided the inspiration and the will to create them.

The photo is the baldachin, or canopy, which hangs in the Barcelona Sagrada Familia. It represents the Holy Spirit covering the cross of Christ and hangs below the representation of the Father (not shown), which taken together represent the Holy Trinity of Christian faith.

Source: Sacred Spaces: The Awe-Inspiring Architecture of Churches and Cathedrals by Jacques Bosser and Guillaume de Laubier, 2018. Graphic: The Baldachin: Representation of the Holy Spirit at the Sagrada Familia by Blog Sagrada Familia, 2018.

Journalism — Juan Thompson 2016

31 August 2024 By in Journalism Tags: , , Leave a comment

Juan Thompson, working for ‘The Intercept’, was another all-too-common serial fabricator passing himself off as a reporter.  He made up quotes of people he did not speak to or people who likely did not even exist. Thompson went to great lengths to hide his mendacity, such as creating email accounts to help prove the existence of his non-existent sources.

Betsy Reed, his editor at ‘The Intercept’, fired him in February 2016 after ‘a pattern of deception’ became all too apparent to ignore.

In March 2017 Thompson was arrested by the FBI for making bomb threats to Jewish community centers in the U.S. and cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend. In December 2017 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release.

Source: Disgraced Former Journalist…, ABC News, 2017.  Graphic: Juan Thompson, Warren County Sheriff’s Department via AP Photo.

WIMPs

30 August 2024 By in Science Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles or WIMPs are hypothetical dark matter particles that supposedly make up 26-27% of the universe. They are only detectable through their gravitational effects.

In a recent ScienceNews article LUX-ZEPLIN researchers monitoring 10 metric tons of liquid xenon almost a mile below the surface in Lead, South Dakota have reduced the cross-sectional area that WIMPs can interact with normal matter by about 80%.

This reduced area of interaction implies that the particles are even weaker than previously thought. This would make them even harder to detect.  

Triva time: A cube that could hold 10 metric tons of xenon would need to be about 1.5 meters on a side.

Source: The Possibilities for Dark Matter…by Emily Conover, 2024, Science News. Graphic: WIMPs by University of California Berkley, 2013.

Zip It — Zip it Good

29 August 2024 By in History Tags: , , Leave a comment

Today in 1893 Whitcomb Judson received approval for two patents on his ‘clasp-locker’ invention. An improved version was renamed the ‘zipper’ by B.F. Goodrich in 1923.

Zippers primary use early on was to close boots and tobacco pouches. A few years later they began to show up on jackets and by the late 1930s they replaced buttons on men’s pants.

Graphic: By Dominique Toussaint, 2006, Wikimedia Commons.

Mucho Mas Red Blend

27 August 2024 By in Red Wine Tags: , , Leave a comment

Tempranillo, Grenache, Syrah/Shiraz from Spain.

Purchase Price: $14.99

Vivino 92, ElsBob 84

ABV 13.5 %

Cherry red in color, dark fruit aromas, medium body, and with rather difficult tannins. Serve with very spicy food.

The wine is a blend of different grape varieties possible from different regions and maybe different years. Vinification is only for a week or so then put into oak barrels for 3-4 months. After this very short malolactic fermentation the wine is blended and bottled. A wine before its time.

A good table wine but overpriced for the quality. You probably shouldn’t purchase this wine unless you can find it for under $8.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

26 August 2024 By in Music Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Isbell in a 2020 interview said great songwriting required the ability to build a song that goes beyond personal experience into the realm of emotional storytelling. Storytelling about a perception of the world rather than one’s role or experiences in it.

His 2023 album release of ‘Weathervane’ delves predominately into the personal with a nod towards the worldly distractions, more Springsteen than Dylan but it is all a master class in songwriting. Great songwriting is the man not the subject.

Isbell provides 13 tracks of mostly Americana and roots ballads, providing his enchanted interpretations of love, longing, and regret.

The album won the 66th Annual Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.

Source: Apple Music. AllMusic. Graphic: Weathervane album cover, copyright Southeastern Records. The album cover has only two directions S and E.

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

25 August 2024 By in Art, Mythology, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The 40’ tall statue, considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was constructed by the Greek sculptor Phidias around 435 BC during the Golden Age of Athens and the time of Pericles.

The statue was composed of what the ancients called ‘chryselephantine’ or ivory, depicting flesh, and gold, which defined Zeus’ robes and ornaments. The ornaments included his scepter in his left hand and in his right hand he held a statue of Nike, Greek goddess of victory (Bulfinch reverses the hand order in his book on Greek mythology). He is seated on a throne of cedar encrusted with gold and precious stones.

Detailed descriptions of the statue come from the Greek geographer Pausanias and from numerous Greek and Roman coins and engraved gems.

The statue was housed in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia near the western coast of the Peloponnese peninsula and hasn’t been seen since the 5th or 6th century AD. It is believed to have been destroyed by an earthquake and or fire at Temple of Zeus or it was transported to Constantinople and destroyed by a fire there in 474 AD.

Source: Bulfinch’s Mythology edited by Richard Martin, 1991. Statue of Zeus by Britannica, 2024. Graphic: Olympian Zeus Statue as drawn by de Quincy, 1815, Public Domain.