Recife, Brazil At Night

Quintus Curtius Travel & Exploration , ,

We took a boat ride in Recife last night.  It was really just a short ride from one part of the city to the historic downtown area, which was surprisingly alive, considering that it was Christmas Day.  I sampled a lot of the street food, as is my usual habit.  One interesting thing I noticed was that whenever the boat passed under a bridge, the passengers clapped in unison.  I supposed this was a local custom, perhaps having its origin as a way of warding off bad luck, or giving thanks for continued safety.  No one I spoke to seemed to know the origin of the custom.

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Andrei Martyanov’s “The Real Revolution In Military Affairs” (Review)

Quintus Curtius Current News , , ,

Reading the works of American military pundits and the vast US media commentariat that amplifies their voices often feels like entering an alternate universe.  Weaknesses are touted as “strengths”; self-congratulatory propaganda and delusion are seen as substitutes for hard analysis; belligerent, callous jingoism passes as the norm; and American “exceptionalism” is taken for granted almost as a theological truth.  Clearly a day of reckoning is coming.  It has been coming for some time now.

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Thoughts On Surrealist Painting (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , , , ,

What is surrealist painting?  What are its underlying rationales?  In this podcast, I offer a few thoughts on surrealism in painting, and name a few of my favorite surrealist painters. This is a vast subject, but a lot can be gained by looking at the work of the very best artists:  Giorgio de Chirico, Yves Tanguy, Joan Miro, Max Ernst, and Pablo Picasso.

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On Each Side Swords, And On Each Side Corpses

Quintus Curtius Thought , , ,

The Battle of Zama essentially concluded the Second Punic War, that terrible contest waged by Rome and Carthage for control of the western Mediterranean.  It took place in 202 B.C. near the town of Zama in what is now Tunisia.  The commanding generals were Hannibal on the Carthaginian side, and Publius Cornelius Scipio on the Roman.  The historian Livy (XXX.30) relates a fascinating exchange between these two great commanders that took place on the eve of the battle.

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Thoughts On Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , ,

In this podcast we discuss some aspects of Martin Scorsese’s movie The Irishman. This movie seems to divide people into proponents and detractors. I think it is a great film, and very much worth seeing, as long as we approach it from the right perspective.

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On Obedience And Disobedience

Quintus Curtius History, Thought , , , ,

We spend most of lives in obedience to one form of authority or another.  Rarely, if ever, is it counted as a virtue worthy of discussion by us moderns.  On the contrary:  we are expected to applaud disobedience, disorder, and challenges to authority, as if such disobedience were automatically exempt from scrutiny.

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Some Recommended Movies And Programs (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast ,

In this podcast we discuss some good movies and programs I’ve seen recently. “Dark Waters” (2019) is a legal drama dealing with corporate malfeasance, and “The Confession Killer” (2019) is a gripping documentary about how the Henry Lee Lucas serial killer investigation was handled. In some ways, the message of both of them is the same: justice does not come automatically, but has to be fought for by courageous people.

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Selfish Leaders Are The Ruin Of A Nation

Quintus Curtius Literature, Thought ,

We have previously discussed the Book of Kalila and Dimna in these pages.  Its source material can be traced to the Indian classic The Panchatantra of Vishnu Sarma.  And it is from this book that the following fable originates.

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Enlarged Curiosity: The Observational Powers Of Charles Darwin

Quintus Curtius Travel & Exploration , , ,

A period of travel and overseas residence can transform a man from a plodding conformist to a free-thinking iconoclast.  Travel is the expediter of dreams, the elixir of mental health, and the abolisher of parochial preconceptions.  Nowhere is this truth more clearly demonstrated than in the life and career of scientist Charles Darwin, whose five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle provided him with the raw materials from which he was able to formulate his earth-shaking doctrine of evolution by natural selection.

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Another Michael Porfirio Tweet Reading (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , ,

If you are not laughing, you are not fully enjoying life.  It’s been a while since I’ve done a G Manifesto (Twitter:  @MichaelPorfirio) tweet reading. But popular demand can’t be ignored, so I decided to put another podcast out with some of his most recent tweets.  The laughter is nonstop…listen for yourself.

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