A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 11: Perfection

| December 31, 2014

To speak of the Warrior Path is to conjure images of life and death. Of strife and struggle. Of blades and guns and martial skill directed toward a goal of death and destruction. But as the Warrior walks the Path, it will soon become clear that if his reason for being there is to subjugate […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 6: The Woodsman’s Song

| December 26, 2014

2014 is coming to its conclusion in a whirlwind of blood and hate that shows every likelihood of staining much of the world for some time to come. Of course, this doesn’t make 2014 particularly unique because there has never been a time in recorded history during which you couldn’t find, at any given moment, […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 5: Rememberings

| December 25, 2014

For me, being 3 years old, I remember receiving the one thing I truly wanted. And I remember my favorite chocolate cake in the middle of a table covered with a poinsettia tablecloth. And I remember my handsome father finally being home with us. I think of this brown pony Christmas, and it was perfect. […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 4: The Origins of Father Christmas

| December 24, 2014

Since 1739, Rare Exports Inc. of Finland has been delivering impeccable, well mannered, and extremely rare, original Finnish Father Christmases to over 150 countries every Yule season without fail. On this Christmas Eve we offer a rare insight into their methods; heretofore shrouded in secrecy.

A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 2: Escape

| December 22, 2014

Alone on a long Winter’s night, a man’s Dog helps him find the solution. I’m paraphrasing the introductory passage used by its creators to describe this beautiful animated short film, originally produced in 2005 by the Digital Kick and Lehrner Whyte companies as a holiday card for private distribution to their clients, family, and friends. […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 1: All is Not Lost

| December 21, 2014

  Lore holds that the Wendigo is a malevolent forest spirit most active in Winter. While, under the right circumstances, it can be seen in its spirit state, it has no corporeal form. It feeds upon human flesh but is impotent to do so without first inhabiting a human host that provides it with the […]

Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 31: All Hallows Eve

| October 31, 2014

Throughout this series I’ve applied the title of  “dark sentiment” to a variety of emotions, events, human acts, portrayals, and situations. Tonight we’ll talk about the darkest sentiment of all – True Love. True Love is the darkest of sentiments both because it has the power to motivate those blessed enough to be possessed by […]

Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 26: The Baby and the Abyss

| October 26, 2014

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Aphorism 146, Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil) (1886) I’m known to write of darksome things, That spring from man and […]

Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 23: La Petite Mort

| October 23, 2014

Student and disciple of Nature that I am, it hasn’t escaped my notice that the cycle of the seasons – from the long, slow build up of Spring, through the heat of Summer, into the breathless bounty of Autumn, and then on to the flatline of Winter – bears a striking resemblance to sex; or […]

Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 6: The Dark Side of Cuteness

| October 6, 2014

Our SFM Viktor is only a little more than  a month past his first birthday and is already well acquainted with the arts of seduction. At least insofar as it applies to causing everyone in the room to ignore all other children, even their own, as soon as they notice him.  When that starts, the […]