Fantastic picture found via Danish Atheist Society on Facebook

So true. I am on the hunt for a T-Shirt with this on.

"If our lives be short, our shame will be due long"

William Shakespeare sums up human existence in one sentence.

The phalanx

I saw the movie 300 this week. I thought it was pretty terrible, barring a few matrix-esque action scenes which were cool, even if they were redundant, and a major reason for this is the fact that they copped out on showing off the finely-tuned greek war machine, and in particular the phalanx.

The phalanx is probably my favourite battle formation in history. It ideally consists of around 350 men all armed with spears. Long spears. The first row of soldiers hold their spears straight ahead, the row behind them hold their spears tilted slighty in an upwards angle, the next row in a slightly more upwards angle and so forth. The result is a formation that is unapproachable from the front. A huge part of warfare at this point in time was intimidation and trying to make your force look massive. While the spears pointing almost straight up in the phalanx formation may have little use other than serving as backups for inevitable damaged spears, the sight of them is enough bring terror into the heart of any hide-clad barbarian with an axe the size of his own leg.

When in perfectly alligned formation, the phalanx is able to roll over massive numbers of enemy footsoldiers, and provides equally excellent defense against cavalry. If positioned properly, so as to be defended by auxilliary forces to not be flanked, the phalanx was an unstoppable force and a huge part of Alexander the greats success was due to this fantastic battle formation.

It has long been a fantasy of mine to take part in a phalanx. Allthough I probably would not possess the physical strength required to hold the massive spears in a straightforward angle, I would like the opportunity to at least approximate the sensation of marching with Alexander and moving forward in formation. I am pretty anti-military, but yet am fascinated by ancient warfare. The phalanx is one of the early steps away from man-to-man combat, and towards a more cost-effecient way of utilizing the troops of the military. While I do not find this development charming, the phalanx will forever be one of my fantasies and fascinations. I await a Peter Watkins style training video for it, and maybe one day I will have to make it myself.

For some good phalanxes, I recommend you check out Oliver Stone's "Alexander" which is not a fantastic movie, but it does showcase the phalanx nicely. Also, the video game Rome: Total War enables you to command legions of phalanxes in glorious 3D, and watch as they march over enemies. It is a fantastic game, and the experience can be quite overwhelming.

Music to get you through bullshit

As the year end approaches, I have to write stuff for school. Scientifically vaild assignments, which apparently means quoting the right sources in the right way, and explain the quotes. Writing the stuff is easy, but getting the right sources is not. So that's what time is spent on. Think of it what you want.

Be that as it may, when you are faced with great bullshit, you have to have help in order to get through it. I am getting help pretty much 24/7 in these days, and I am getting mainly from Ensiferum and Turisas. Fucking badass.

Turisas - Battle Metal


Ensiferum - White Storm