Sep 12 2014

The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glenn Cook

“The Chronicles of the Black Company ” is a dark epic fantasy by Glenn Cook. It depicts the travels of the Black Company a band of ruthless mercenaries as they switch from side to side. It is told in the voice of the Company’s surgeon and chronicler who’s fantasies about the ruling lady take him and the company on a wild ride.

While initially disappointing that the character development did not include any back stories, it became clear that this was intentional to force you to see these mercenaries as who they are and who they become.

What was most enjoyable was it showcased fantasy from the perspective of the soldier on the ground. As with most epic fantasies the perspective is from the ruling class, however the Chronicles showcase the grunt point of view which is a refreshing change.

“The Chronicles of The Black Company” is a recommend read if you want to get your gritty fantasy fix while waiting for the next installment of “A Song of Fire and Ice”

One side note is this series has a companion series called the “Books of the South” while a good read it lost some of rawness of the original.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/12/the-chronicles-of-the-black-company-by-glenn-cook/

Sep 12 2014

Face in the Crowd

Just over a year ago now, I made my first trip to the United States of America. As I was heading to the East Coast, I had the ‘joy’ of an eight hour layover at LAX. As I wandered around the airport, looking at the shops, grabbing some food I noticed there was a lot of people of colour moving around me, doing the same ‘wasting time at an airport’ type of things. There seemed to be a higher ratio of black faces than I had expected. I assumed they were African American, but at the same time it’s a busy international airport so there could have been a vast diversity in country of origin. I momentarily wondered where everyone was heading, and then focused back on not getting lost. A few days later, I came to realise that the ratio wasn’t skewered by it being an international airport. American society was far more ethnically diverse than I had pictured.

Before this trip my understanding of American society had mostly come from media portrayals. News reports, television programmes, and the occasional movie was my main access to what the country looked like, the cultures, the cities, the structures. As someone who works and studies in areas of social justice and constructions of knowledge, I have always made an effort to consider the ways we represent people and ideas. How media (re)produces constructions of ethnicity, gender, sexuality etc. Do we only ever see black men portrayed as angry, violent criminals? Is the homosexual man only ever seen as effeminate and promiscuous? And while I work, both professional and personally to challenge the dominant constructions and open up a greater range of possibilities, this trip to America made me realise a big part of the picture I had no previous awareness of.

There have been shows I’ve watched and loved that have had no black characters. Some shows may include a character of colour but then the ratio of often very high. Criminal Minds for example has one African American character and six European American characters. I had heard of the term ‘token black’ before, but always thought of it more in terms of identity construction, rather than a simply numbers game. And often this one character of colour is supposed to stand in for all non-Caucasian people. The one African-American actor is there to show diversity, as if his face will be a representation, a connection for everyone else, for the African-American women, for the Asian men and women, for the Hispanic women and men, those from South Asia, from Western Asia, for those Indigenous to the land. How can you complain you aren’t represented, see we have one face that is of colour.

Hiring actors that bring a diversity of ethnicities to the programme is good. Writing characters that explore those ethnicities would be even better.   But on an even simpler level, require the extras, the people you hire to fill the background, to have that range. I have watched a show set in DC, a city with a diverse population, and yet never once saw anything but a Caucasian face, not one of the actors, nor one person in the background was anything but Western European looking.

As a foreigner coming for a holiday, the lack of diverse representation was interesting and noteworthy. It stayed with me for months. But I can only imagine what it must be like to never see a reflection of yourself in shows set in your city, in your country. I imagine spending my free time watching television and never seeing a female face. How limiting that would feel, how separate I would feel from the world’s portrayed in my entertainment, in my media. If the only time I saw a female face was when there was a report of some violent crime, what would I see as my future.

There is an insidious nature to this. The lack of representation becomes common, expected. Damn media, and shrugged off. But eventually common comes to mean normal and true. The lack of representation becomes an accurate portrayal. I recently watched a couple of seasons of Arrow. In the first season roughly half the characters were of colour. These were regular characters, either in main roles or recurring supportive ones. And much to my chagrin, my first reaction was to be surprised they used so many non-Europeans. In the year that I had left America and once again only been immersed in television programmes, I had forgotten that there is a higher ratio of ethnic diversity that portrayed. I had returned to believing one or two people that didn’t look like me was the norm. And I do wonder why in season two, that diversity in Arrow was cut back. Is it blatant racism that restricts the diversity, or a pervasive insidious version that unless challenged is constantly creating a world where all but a few look Caucasian.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/12/face-in-the-crowd/

Sep 11 2014

Rome and Italy by Livy

Mostly this is a record of Rome’s interminable wars with the Samnites. War is hardly a trivial event, but Rome fought so many wars during this period that reading about one battle after another becomes wearying. The most interesting and unusual thing that happened during this period was that a Vestal Virgin violated her vow of chastity and was buried alive as a punishment. Other than that and a few plagues, this was mostly an endless catalogue of battles and was rather boring.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/11/rome-and-italy-by-livy/

Sep 11 2014

White Paper Review – Pew Research Center: Younger Americans and Public Libraries

The Pew Research Center has released an interesting white paper named Younger Americans and Public Libraries: How those under 30 engage with libraries and think about libraries’ role in their lives and communities, concerning Millennials and their reading habits. Contrary to what some might expect, the results are not all doom and gloom.

The researchers ended up dividing Millennials into three distinct age groups:

There are actually three different “generations” of younger Americans with distinct book reading habits, library usage patterns, and attitudes about libraries. One “generation” is comprised of high schoolers (ages 16-17); another is college-aged (18-24), though many do not attend college; and a third generation is 25-29.

I won’t fully quote all of the interesting tidbits that the researchers came across, but I will put a few of the finding headings here to pique your interest.

  • Millennials’ lives are full of technology, but they are more likely than their elders to say that important information is not available on the internet.


  • Millennials are quite similar to their elders when it comes to the amount of book reading they do, but young adults are more likely to have read a book in the past 12 months.


  • As a group, Millennials are as likely as older adults to have used a library in the past 12 months, and more likely to have used a library website.

    • It’s not a long read, and if you enjoy books and think reading is important, then it’s something you’ll want to take the time to check out. No pun intended.

    Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/11/white-paper-review-pew-research-center-younger-americans-and-public-libraries/

    Sep 02 2014

    The Spanish Civil War by Stanley Payne

    All civil wars and revolutions are confused in their narrative accounts, but the Spanish Civil War is even more confusing than the French Revolution. Who, exactly, was rebelling against whom? The Leftists were supposedly the “revolutionaries,” but they actually supported the Republic. Franco’s Nationalists were the “counterrevolutionaries,” but they were dedicated to overthrowing the Republic. Throw in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and George Orwell, and you have quite a cauldron of conflicting parties. This books was heavy on facts and details but failed to give a coherent narrative rendering of this chaotic event. The significance of the war is still debated: was it the opening salvo of World War II? Was it the beginning of the Cold War? Was it the merely the culmination of the long festering tension between the forces of progress and reaction in Western Europe? And how does the war’s legacy play out in Spanish society today? This book is an introduction only.

    Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/02/the-spanish-civil-war-by-stanley-payne/

    Aug 19 2014

    The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather

    This is a highly revisionist book that challenges the accepted conclusions, chiefly those of Gibbon, on why the Roman Empire fell. It was not, the author argues, the result of unchecked barbarian invasions, or the assimilation of disloyal barbarians within the Empire, or over-taxation, or Christian unworldliness, or political corruption, or moral decadence. The author asserts that in the end Rome’s imperial aggression led to over-extension and therefore, with poetic justice, led to its own downfall. Yet he demonstrates convincingly that even in the late fourth century the Empire was still a formidable world power that no barbarian tribe could hope to challenge, and there was no shortage of outstanding military leaders such as Constantine, Julian, Stilicho, and Aetius to defend the Empire against the encroachments of barbarians. Every generation of historians makes these kind of revisionist arguments, but this book is provocative and provides a fresh look at old data.

    Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/08/19/the-fall-of-the-roman-empire-by-peter-heather/

    Aug 09 2014

    Stop Saying Vagina

    A while ago now, I jokingly (sort of) declared a desire to create “Say Vagina Day”. It was a reaction to an apparent reluctance and distaste for speaking the word. New Zealand society mildly imploded in on itself when the word ‘vagina’ was spoken on a television commercial. Grown women appeared to be more comfortable using terms that made them sound like a pre-schooler than to use the actual biological term. So I started a minor campaign to get everyone I know to say vagina at least once a week. Now months later, I am hoping we’ll stop saying vagina.

    The female genitals are amazing, diverse and complex. The vagina is one part of this system. But when we speak of them, the vagina is all we know, all we acknowledge. There is a reasonable awareness of the clitoris, at least amongst my friends, how widespread I am not sure. But concepts such a labia, pubic mons and the vulva often gets a look of confusion. We don’t have a strong understanding of the female sexual body, even on a basic anatomy level. And if women, who possess the bodies are disconnected from it, I can only imagine it is far more distant for males.

    So now, when we talk about female genitalia, female sexual and reproductive organs, more often than not we simply say ‘vagina’. I agree it is better than not having anything to say, or (in my opinion) the worst option of using cutesy childish terms like ‘vajayjay’. But the fact that it ‘could be worse’ isn’t enough to stop pushing for better.

    A  recent article on The Telegraph website about an arts student that created knickers that depicted a women’s internal reproductive organs got me thinking. Just looking at the picture (see below) I had a mixed reaction of how great it was to have such a direct depiction, and at the same time worried that it linked female sexuality to her reproductive ability.

    vagina pants

    But it was reading the article further that caused this rant. These pants, in this article and elsewhere were quickly labelled the ‘vagina pants’. Why with all the diversity and potential information did it all get narrowed down to the vagina?

    For me this speaks clearly of the construction of the female body, and female sexuality in its relation to the male. When we talk and teach about sexuality, we so often create it in terms of heterosexuality and reproduction. The vagina is often described as the tube the penis enters, or the channel the baby is born through. Vagina is able to be spoken about because it is constructed as a device for male enjoyment and fulfillment, sexual or reproduction. The current common construction is the vagina exists for the benefit of men.

    Female sexuality, the female sexual body has variety and complexity. We still struggle to talk about it within the reference to male sexuality. There is an underlying need to validate our body in relationship to the man’s approval and use. The vagina becomes a male instrument, rather than a female one. Female sexuality on its own is still disapproved and negated. An example is depictions of female only, or female focused sexual pleasure get a higher age restriction in movies than a males. The biological and anatomical changes that accompany female sexual arousal are not discussed. The message becomes males get erections, get a physical response to pleasure, females spread their legs.

    We need to be more aware of the female sexual body. We need to have an understanding of it in its complexity. We need to be able to think and discuss it in the absence of the male. We need to have words like vulva and labia as commonly accepted as vagina, penis and testicles. We need to stop limiting females sexuality to their vaginas.

    Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/08/09/stop-saying-vagina/

    Jul 19 2014

    Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson

    Fascinating, insightful book. Ferguson argues that not only is Western Civilization the greatest civilization in the history of the world, but that it has no need to apologize for itself, a view that may seem obvious to some but that has come under attack in recent years. He argues that the West developed five “killer apps” that gave it an advantage over other civilizations: competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic. But toward the end he acknowledges that other cultures are beginning to download these apps and apply them successfully, while the West appears to be on a trajectory of decline. However, he does not believe that the decline and eventual fall of Western Civilization is inevitable, although he does not suggest how the process may be reversed. He seems to have faith in the West’s power of innovation to deal with almost any problem. Excellent book, as a work of historical, political, cultural, and economic analysis.

    Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/07/19/civilization-the-west-and-the-rest-by-niall-ferguson/

    Jul 12 2014

    Politics by Aristotle

    Aristotle’s politics strike me as rather conservative. He believes some democracy is good, but not too much. The lower classes should be kept firmly in their place, and the upper classes should not have their property rights disturbed. He emphatically does not believe that all men are equal. He believes that education should be a public enterprise and not a private one. Like Plato, he has mixed feelings about music and music education; he believes some forms of music are edifying and others are corrupting. Like many intellectuals he admires Sparta’s repressive system of government from the convenient perspective of a distant observer who does not have to live under it. Like all of Aristotle’s works, this book is pretty dull, but it is one of his more readable treatises. Aristotle’s political philosophy is strikingly conventional; sensible, perhaps, but not terribly exciting, much like his ethics.

    Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/07/12/politics-by-aristotle/

    Jun 22 2014

    The Korean War by Max Hastings

    This is the best book on the subject I have read so far. The author is British and therefore has no patriotic ax to grind about either the motives or the performance of the United States in this war. He acknowledges that Syngman Rhee was a brutal and corrupt dictator who committed numberless atrocities against his own people, but he makes a compelling argument that the regime under Kim Il Sung was far worse, and given the status of North Korea today the argument is hard to refute. The Americans were guilty of ignorance and lack of tactical vision, but Hastings affirms that their motives for fighting the war were sound. Here is his concluding statement: “If the Korean War was a frustrating, profoundly unsatisfactory experience, more than thirty-five years later it still seems a struggle that the West was utterly right to fight.”

    Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/06/22/the-korean-war-by-max-hastings/