TBT: Napoleonic Christmas

28 December 202314 December 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Somehow, I’d never reblogged this classic TPP post until this summer, when I did a retrospective look back at TPP’s Greatest Hits; “Napoleonic Christmas” came in as “Track III” on that list. This post got picked up by a conservative news aggregator back in 2019, which caused its views to skyrocket.

I have always possessed a certain fascination with France and the French, and Napoleon is easily the most fascinating Frenchman of all. That’s somewhat ironic considering he was a Corsican, from an island that belonged to an Italian city-state until said city-state needed to settle some debts with France and handed over the island in lieu of payment. The Bonaparte family was from a line of minor Italian nobility, and were fiercely in favor of Corsican independence.

Funny how that works: an Italian from a nationalistic Corsican family became the greatest political and military figure in modern French history. We can never know what might become of a life.

As I’ve learned more about Napoleon, I disagree more with Andrew Roberts’s assessment of Napoleon in the linked video. While Napoleon may have been responding to declarations of war by going on the offensive, he also had clear designs to stretch his influence all the way to India. Indeed, he sought to emulate his hero, Alexander the Great. The French also mercilessly plundered the cultural and artistic heritage of Italy in the process.

Regardless, Napoleon is a fascinating and complicated figure, and if he doesn’t earn our admiration, he certainly earned our grudging respect.

With that, here is 23 December 2019’s “Napoleonic Christmas“:

TBT^2: “Silent Night” Turns 200

21 December 202313 December 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Tuesday’s edition of Open Mic Adventures I shared my impromptu rendition of “Silent Night“; as such, I figured I’d throwback to this classic post about the timeless Christmas classic for this installment of TBT.

I’ve always loved the sweet, peaceful simplicity of this carol. It also lends itself to multiple interpretations. My Middle School Music Ensemble students have done it in 4/4 in a punk rock style. One year, my High School Music Ensemble played it as a bluesy, Christmas-Eve-at-a-roadside-honkey-tonk jam in 6/8 (but, as I recall, only in practice—that might have been too bold for the sensibilities of my administration).

But the song is best presented as it was 205 years ago: sung by a small choir on a cold Christmas night.

With that, here is 12 December 2019’s “TBT: ‘Silent Night’ Turns 200“:

TBT^16: O Little Town of Bethlehem and the Pressures of Songwriting

7 December 20232 December 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

My students have their big Christmas concert tomorrow, and while we’re not performing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” on this year’s program, there’s quite a bit of pressure to get everything sounding and looking good! Like most folks, I don’t like stress, but it’s amazing how it forces us to get stuff done—and to make it even better!

The story of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” is relatable to songwriters, but I think speaks to all of us who have had to create or complete something with a ticking clock and high expectations. “It takes pressure to create diamonds,” they say, and the frantic, last-minute composition of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” is a testament to that principle.

With that, here is 15 December 2022’s “TBT^4: O Little Town of Bethlehem and the Pressures of Songwriting“:

TBT^2: Game Review: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

30 November 202326 November 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Thanksgiving Break is long gone and Christmas Break is still a good ways off, so yours portly doesn’t quite have the time to game that I did just recently. I’ve had a blast playing my Nintendo Switch Lite lately, especially diving into F-Zero 99. I’ve been hitting Civilization VI on my PC pretty hard, too, which has fed my highly cyclical video gaming buzz.

So, in the spirit of video game nostalgia, I thought I’d look back to a review of a game that’s not nearly as good as the ones I just mentioned, but which still devoured a ton of my time in late 2021.

With that, here is 10 November 2022’s “TBT: Game Review: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution“:

TBT^65,536: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!

23 November 202312 November 2023 The Portly Politico1 Comment

It’s kind of humorous to consider that the very first “It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle” post from 2017 reflected upon my dangerous fall from a ladder, resulting in a broken wrist, as I am not celebrating Thanksgiving with a broken ankle (so far, the ankle has been going a bit better than the wrist). I’ve been incredibly blessed throughout the entire process, as I’ve noted multiple times across other posts.

I haven’t always been grateful. I’ve been upset with some of the lackluster response to my creative output, and have perhaps been overly vocal about it on this blog. Part of me thinks that after five years of slogging away, I’d have something to show for this blog. If a million words or so isn’t read, do they truly exist?

But I shouldn’t complain too much. I did well in October with Bandcamp Friday, even if it was below my expectations. It was actually my second best day on Bandcamp.

My personal life is in a much better place now than it was a year ago at this time, too. I’ve lost some weight and am dating a very sweet flight attendant, which is kind of the equivalent of the nerdy liar who would claim he was dating a Canadian supermodel (but mine is real, I promise!). We don’t get to see each other as much as either of us would like, but we’re both fairly independent people, so it works out nicely.

Murphy is doing well, too, although she’s been chewing her paws a bit lately. Something to get checked out as soon as we can get to the vet.

All in all, I’m extremely blessed: a good house, a good family, a good dog, a good job—all thanks to a good God.

With that, here’s “TBT^256: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“:

TBT^2: Resist the Black Pill

16 November 202312 November 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

It was another disappointing election day last week, both locally and nationally, with Democrats doing better than anyone would reasonably expect and infanticide enshrined in Ohio’s State constitution.

But we have so much to be thankful for as conservatives. Roe was overturned, after all, and at least we can have these political battles to protect the unborn, instead of their murder being illicitly enshrined in the national Constitution. Trump is outperforming Biden in polls, although that doesn’t mean much at this point, nor does it mean much when election shenanigans are widespread.

Regardless, we must continue to hope and to pray—and to believe. I’m fairly pessimistic about America’s longtime prospects, but it comes from a place of realism, not desperation (as, I’m sad to admit, it at times has). In the meantime, God Has Given me ample opportunities to make a difference among the people in my life. That’s all most of us can reasonably ask.

With that, here is “TBT: Resist the Black Pill“:

TBT^16: Hand it to Handel

9 November 20237 November 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Ah, yes, November. The fun of Halloween is over; the fun of Christmas is just beginning. But there’s more to this humble month than being the turkey sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas.

November is when the air turns crisp and cool (here in South Carolina, anyway), when cozy sweaters and hot cups of coffee become the order of the short days at Portly Manor.

It’s also the time of year when my musical tastes skew more Baroque. After all, some of the best Christmas carols have Baroque or Classical origins, and boast some incredible composing talents behind them.

One of those is Handel, a composer for whom my respect deepened greatly when I taught about his music in my Pre-AP Music Appreciation class many moons ago.

With that, here is “TBT^4: Hand it to Handel“:

TBT^4: Happy Halloween

2 November 202331 October 2023 The Portly Politico1 Comment

Well, I’m letting the Halloween good times roll, even though we’re now two days into November. Last year, I posted “Memorable Monday: Happy Halloween“; Halloween fell on Monday, and I broke the chain of “TBT” posts. I was planning on doing the same this year and doing a rare “Retro Tuesday” post, but I took a nasty spill and missed the window. D’oh!

Well, what else can be said that hasn’t already been written? Halloween is awesome. Maybe creeping it a few days into November is a good way to combat “Christmas Creep.” Indeed, I’m playing a gig tomorrow, and will likely play some Halloween tunes.

With that, here is 28 October 2021’s “TBT^2: Happy Halloween“:

TBT^4: Monsters

26 October 202322 October 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

‘Tis the season for monsters and ghoulies! Having just returned from the South Carolina Bigfoot Festival—and with the annual Spooktacular just two days away!—yours portly is in a monstrous mood. Indeed, I wrote an entire album about them, which is available on streaming platforms for you cheapskates.

What is it that makes monsters so fascinating? In old monster movies, the monster was always the last thing the audience saw, because saving the featured creature for last guaranteed you stay hooked (and because most of those old films had shoestring budgets and bad makeup/costumes/props, so they had one or two good shots with the monster before the whole contraption broke down). Even now, when movies tell us everything that happens—even if we just saw it happen—we still want to see the monster—the more the better.

All I can figure is that we want to see how wild our own imaginations can be—and how well we can scare ourselves with monsters that are both alien and familiar.

With that, here is 27 October 2022’s “TBT^2: Monsters“:

TBT^16: On Ghost Stories

19 October 202315 October 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Yours portly has been in the Halloween spirit big time: scary movies, the SC Bigfoot Festival, releasing two albums of autumnal tunes (here and here). What I haven’t gotten to—yet!—are ghost stories.

I don’t have much additional ghost story commentary this year, but I will say that they tend to work better in books than in films. That’s a bold, unsubstantiated claim, but I find that reading about ghosts is a lot scarier than seeing them on celluloid. Ghosts might be—appropriately—a cold medium creature, best on the page or told about around the campfire. Other monsters are probably hot medium/media critters, best for television or the radio.

Whatever the case, here is “TBT^4: On Ghost Stories“:

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: TBT