Tag: Reblogged

TBT^256: The Joy of Spring

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Spring has sprung, and we had a gloriously toasty weekend in South Carolina.  Then temperatures plummeted again, so who knows what’s going on.

Of course, spring is a time of renewal and rebirth.  It’s a fitting season for Easter, which is coming up quite soon.  Dr. Wife has been wearing beautiful floral dresses to church and for the various family get-togethers we’ve been and will be attending, and I’m making the slow transition from long-sleeve button-ups to breathable polos.

The koi are also far more lively now that temperatures are rising.  We’ve had great fun catching glimpses of them, and I think we have at least nine or ten.  I’ve seen a few of the rosy red minnows, too.

Let’s hope the weather stays warm but not humid for awhile longer.  Spring in South Carolina really only lasts for about two weeks in April (even in March we get snatches of winter again) before it gets hot and sticky, and it stays that way until at least November.  I’ll be dreaming of autumn soon enough.

With that, here is 20 March 2025’s “TBT^16: The Joy of Spring“:

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Lazy Sunday CCCLXXXI: Kulturkampf

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The Based Book Sale‘s short stories niche sale is still in full swing!  You can pick up The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot—and a lot of other great books!—for just $0.99.

The sale really got my creative juices flowing about the need to nurture, cultivate, 

Who are some conservative creators you’d recommend, dear readers?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

TBT^2: Support Culture, Not Political Machines

The Portly Politico4 Comments

This week I’ve really been banging the drum (really, really banging it) about folks on the Right supporting their fellow conservatives who create art—books, music, long-form essays, fiction, etc.  We are phenomenally bad about supporting anything that isn’t bog-standard conservative commentary (which is kind of what I used to do here on a more regular basis).

It was serendipitous, then, that when looking back for today’s TBT, I found this piece, which I’d reblogged from a prior piece.  In the original, I argued that donating to the RNC is a waste of money, and that dollars are better allocated to conservative creators.

I stand by that assessment.  Indeed, the intervening years have only deepened that conviction—the conviction for you to send your money to me (and other awesome conservatives), not Mitch McConnell.

With that, here is 27 March 2025’s “TBT: Support Culture, Not Political Machines“:

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Lazy Sunday CCCLXXX: Musical Instruments

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Between the SCISA Music Festival, my little saxophone gig, and playing with my old Yamaha PortaSound PSS-50, it’s been a week for musical instruments of all stripes.  As such, I thought I’d look back at those very same posts:

Now, go out and make some music!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

TBT: Short Sax Starter Pack Recommendation

The Portly Politico5 Comments

Note:  this post contains several Amazon Affiliate links.  I receive a portion of any purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you.

My students and I are back at the SCISA Music Festival this morning, and yours portly has a saxophone gig tonight.  As such, it seemed like a good time to look back at my “Short Sax Starter Pack Recommendation” post from 12 March 2025—one year ago today!

The thrust of last year’s post was that, for under $400, you can purchase a decent—not great, but serviceable—alto saxophone.  Indeed, I’m playing at this very same saxophone tonight:

Here are the updated prices for the items I listed last year; remarkably, the price is lower than a year ago; however, Slade seems to be phasing out the horn, as there is only one sax available at the time of writing:

Grand Total:  $290.67 (down $33.18 from the typical price in 2025) before taxes

With that, here is 12 March 2025’s “Short Sax Starter Pack Recommendation“:

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Lazy Sunday CCCXLXIX: Moving Weekend

The Portly Politico1 Comment

By the time you read this post, dear reader, yours portly should have all of his worldly possessions (and Murphy) relocated to the new house.

I’ve come to realize how much I despise moving.  It’s not that I’m not good at it—as a big dude, manhandling boxes is what I’m designed to do—but it is tedious and exhausting.  It also seems to take forever.

I’ve opined on this many, many times lately, to the point that I’m sure all of you are tired of reading about my quotidian problems.  But I write about what’s going in my life, and right now, moving is the major theme of it all.  Indeed, I’m offering 90% off my Bandcamp music with the promo code that sums up my life right now:  moving.

It’s shocking how much crap I’ve accumulated over the years.  I’m finding clothes I haven’t worn in nearly a decade (which tend to get donated to Goodwill).  For some reason, I’ve saved weird gift bags and empty tins (and not cool, decorative ones).  Having lived in a relatively small house of roughly 1000 square feet, most of this stuff ended up shoved into closets or cabinets, never to be seen again—until I’ve had to sort through them.

It’s a Sisyphean task.  Now that everything is (God Willing) moved, I have to unpack it all.  At least this process can take its time to unfold.

With that, I’m subjecting my readers once again to posts about moving:

  • “Midweek Moving” – This post details how I rented a massive truck to move a tiny recliner from my in-laws’ house.
  • “Moving Pains” (only on SubscribeStar) – My devastating takedown of the moving broker SafeShip Movers (do not use them).
  • “More Moving” – A quick post featuring my car packed to the gills with junk (see below) before the piano mover arrived.

The sad thing is, these are only some of the posts I’ve written about moving.  I think I’ve tortured my readers enough!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

 

TBT^65,536: Nehemiah and National Renewal

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It’s interesting to consider that since I first wrote about Nehemiah in 2019, the concept of an overtly “Christian nationalism” has become more mainstream (or, at least, “mainstream” in the fringe circles of the Internet I inhabit).  What exactly “Christian nationalism” looks like or entails is unclear, but it’s a concept that sounds pretty sensible:  a predominantly Christian people should have a nation governed by broadly Christian principles.

Of course, the thorniness of the concept crops up as one enters the thickets and weeds of the particulars.  But isn’t that the case for any civic arrangement?  “Republicanism” and “democracy” are pretty broad terms that take on various permutations depending on the culture, peoples, and places that adopt them; America’s constitutionally-limited federal republic and Nigeria’s are pretty similar on paper, but vastly different in implementation.  The labels just give us a broad idea of the kind of government and civil society at play, not the detailed particulars.  As such, one could reasonably expect “Christian nationalism” to look quite different in, say, Italy than it would in the United States

Regardless, it certainly seems as though, in most states, tribes, kingdoms, empires, etc., throughout history, religion and government were inextricably intertwined.  If a nation-state is a collection of a particular people within a particular geographic region, it would make sense that their faith would play a major role in their political, cultural, and national decision-making.

It’s an interesting concept to ponder, and brings to mind a religious revival that resulted in a political revival for the ancient Israelites as they rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem under the faithful guidance of Nehemiah, who trust God deeply and fully.

With that, here is 6 March 2025’s “TBT^256: Nehemiah and National Renewal“:

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Memorable Monday Morning Movie Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Dr. Wife and I went to see the smutty literary adaptation of Wuthering Heights (2026) this weekend, not because Dr. Wife is into that kind of thing, but because there’s been so much buzz around the film, she wanted to be part of the cultural moment.  I was going to review that film today, but that’ll have to go on the backburner due to time constraints.

The quick version:  like all modern movies, it’s thirty minutes too long; the script is flabby and ponderous; and the middle act is basically just chick lit p-word smut.  It setup several ideas that never had payoffs.  It did have amazing sets and costumes, and the sense of bleak tragedy from the novel (which, to be clear, I haven’t read) was, according to my wife, there, even if the film took great liberties with the source material.

But I digress.  A piano student of mine brought in a little Mario doll he’s had since he was a baby.  He asked me at the end of his lesson to film a quick movie review of the 2023 hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie; I obliged:

That being the case, I figured I’d reblog this review of the film from 2023.

With that, here 22 May 2023’s “Monday Morning Movie Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)“:

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TBT: Midweek Mongol Madness

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It’s my second consecutive year teaching World History (I taught it last school year for the first time since the 2011-2012 school year—whoa!), and I’m pleased to see that I’m two weeks ahead of schedule compared to where I was last year.  That’s likely due to having a bunch of my lessons done this year, so I’m not trying to pad out lectures with a bunch of riffing.

So it is that, as of the time of writing, I’ve just covered the Mongols in detail (minus a couple of slides before we talk about medieval Japan).

The Mongols are wildly fascinating, in part because they were wild—nomadic horsemen who would drink the blood of their horses when they were low on supplies; wore silk underwear that served as protection against arrows; and would switch horses mid-ride, spending as much as ten days in their saddles.  Under Genghis Khan, they spilled an immense amount of blood, slaughtering an estimated 40,000,000 (that’s forty million) people, equivalent to low-end estimates of those who perished in the Second World War.  Again, these are estimates—numbers from the thirteenth century aren’t necessarily reliable—but that comes to roughly 13% of the global population at the time.  Indeed, while writing these numbers, they seemed fantastically large; I had to go back and consult my World History textbook (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you).

Genghis Khan’s conquests, as well as those of his successors, brought an odd peace, the Pax Mongolica (also an Amazon Affiliate link), to Eurasia for about 100 years.  It was the peace of the graveyard, as so many people were killed in the course of these invasions, there was no one troublesome enough left to cause a ruckus.  It also marked one of the few times in human history that a single political unit (sort of) controlled the great Eurasian steppes, allowing for the (alleged) journeys of Marco Polo and doubtlessly thousands of other unsung but intrepid merchants, missionaries, and explorers.

Naturally, the largest land-based empire ever to exist in the world could not long survive.  The Mongol Empire was probably never anything as such—a single, unified political unit—but more of an amalgamation of tribes, peoples, and regions swearing allegiance to the Great Khan.  After Genghis Khan’s death, the empire was divided into four khanates, with an ostensible Great Kahn ruling over the four, but with the regions going their own ways in practice.

Nevertheless, there is something captivating about the sheer scale of these conquests, and the way a nation of clannish, nomadic horsemen swept across the world, spreading their terrible fury and bloodlust as they went (and, it seems likely, the Black Death that would depopulate 25% of Europe).

Will another horde arise from the Eurasian steppes?  If so, let’s pray they fall far short of ambitious conquests of the Mongols.

With that, here is 5 March 2025’s “Midweek Mongol Madness“:

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Lazy Sunday CCCXLXVII: The Man from Historical Accuracy: Chapters 1-3

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Guest contributor Sudo Nonym has shared his novella The Man from Historical Accuracy with yours portly to publish for readers of this humble blog.  With three chapters published here so far (and more to come), it seemed like a good time to feature them for Lazy Sunday.

If you haven’t read any of the story so far, now’s a great opportunity to catch up!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP