Realistic fantasy warriors in art

Image by auchard via Flickr

I'm a fantasy enthusiast.  But I do have a realistic bent.  Lately, my realism has led me into... well, history.  I'm reading Le Morte D'Arthur, and Xenophon's Anabasis at the same time.  These are actual... well ok, one's mostly fictional, and the other is heavily embellished.  But they are real in terms of representing life as it was 1,000 to 3,000 years ago.  Well, not really real, in terms of representing a partisan aristocratic view involving inherent assumptions of natural inequality... for the most part. 

Image by Passetti via Flickr

Anyway, I read history, and fantasy, and was once involved with Elfwood.  I like the fantasy warrior art, but it is so shallow... and modular in terms of always catching the person at the picture perfect moment... and without food, water, a tent, enough clothing to be warm, armor that can be moved in, and that actually would work at all in battle, etc. 

Image by peterjr1961 via Flickr

People draw armor similar to what one puts on for Halloween.  You imagine up the craziest thing, make it, wear it, then go home.  The real stuff wouldn't even be getting put on except for the real thing, and might take hours to get into and out of. 

Now take a look at this guy's armor below.  Really?  Is it because all the computer generated enemies always strike at his shoulders?  He can't turn his head.  he can't raise his arms at all.  He can't bring his knee to his chest.  He can't fight anyone to the sides or behind him without turning his whole body around.  Even getting his hand to his mouth to eat would be uncomfortable. 

http://wowwhimsy.wordpress.com/category/gear/

And then we get into worse waters. 
But you get this fantasy stuff like this:

Image by Ramona.Forcella via Flickr

This isn't about protection, or combat... it's about lust.

Here's another one.  Really?  It's a combination of wanting to show that she's fierce and ready for battle, and wanting to show as much skin as possible.  It gives new meaning to the term breast plate.  Yep.  There's just one.  And it almost covers one side of her bikini top. 

http://wweapons.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html 

And then at the end of the day we are struck with reality again: real warriors that have long histories of success in their cultures have been carrying about this amount of equipment for 3,000 years, starting with the Greek panoply. 

http://www.captainsjournal.com/2011/03/13/amelioration-of-battle-space-weight-and-women-in-combat/
But seriously, all you artists and writers out there.  If you can include these things, it can make a brief floating whisp of a picture or setting into a fleshed out and memorable experience.  Take Lord of the Rings for example.  You've got Lembas bread, tomatoes, Aragorn hunting some type of animal in the wild, cheese, all kinds of foods and food related scenes that bring realism.  They travelled with Bill the pony, who carried a lot of their equipment until they lost him. 

http://kjswanson.com/blog/2010/01/one-meal-to-feed-them-all-one-meal-to-find-them-one-meal-to-bring-them-all-where-watching-movies-binds-them/

It seems that for Fantasy art, the only equipment that may be used is weapons and armor.  I think every creator of fictional work needs to ask themselves a few basic questions while designing their final product.  What do they eat and drink?  Where/how do they sleep?  What would they learn by using all five senses?  How do they deal with hot/cold or wet/dry environments? 

I wouldn't say a full set of equipment for a multi-day journey is always needed.  If a place is near where there is food/shelter, or if there is a large force with a supply or baggage group, then there would be no need.  Obviously, most fantasy art that includes environment puts people in an unfriendly or uninhabited environment, where a person would have equipment with them. 

Come on friends, let's keep it real!

Related articles

• Drew Shea's answer to Xenophon's anabasis reviews make it read like a boys own romp through Persia and a cracking read. Is it a fair reflection and thus is it a must buy? (minimalj.wordpress.com)
• September 15, 2011 Arthurian Fact of the Day (caridwen.wordpress.com)
• Armor reduces performance - its science (trolldens.blogspot.com)

Rich versus Poor: rise of the robber barons

Image by Tommy Ironic via Flickr

I just finished reading this article http://www.alternet.org/economy/152601/5_facts_you_should_know_about_the_wealthiest_one_percent_of_americans
Very informative.  I think at the end of the day it's similar to what happened 100 plus years ago.  You had guys with mines, or oil wells, or whatnot, and they had the valuable item, so they got to decide who they allowed to work there and how much they got paid.  And it comes down to this: do I pay my lowest paid 10,000 workers $15 an hour, or do I pay them $7 an hour and make an extra $80,000 dollars per hour.  That comes out to 166.4 million dollars per year that the guy can either keep for himself, or pay the working man. 

Image by eamoncurry123 via Flickr

Except now it's not a guy, it's a small group of guys, with a whole ton of shareholders watching their every move, and both the leaders and the shareholders want the money, and either they get it or the working man gets it, and it's the decision of the people with the power and the money.  Except it's not a decision.  They decision has been made.  Over and over again.  All the extra money to those with the power and the money. 

Image via Wikipedia

And the people with the power and the money are saying 'give us the tax breaks, and the power, and the money, and we'll make more power and money, and this will grow the economy, and then we'll all have more power and money.  But somehow only the people with the power and money end up with more power and money. 

And the people with the power and the money say 'of course I help the poor.  I have large houses built, and I consume many goods, and I visit the world all over, and these things provide work for others, so they can get power and money.  But the people that get the power and the money are not the people that build the houses or the cashiers that they pay for their prodigious consumption or those that fly them around in luxury, but those that own the companies, who are themselves other people with the power and the money. 

Image by lipjin via Flickr

And the people with the power and the money say 'I invest my money in new and smart businesses, which grow and provide more work for the working man.  In this way I give back to those less fortunate, and act for the greater good of all.  But the riches earned by these investments return again to the hands of those with the power and the money, and the working man is helped only with one more option of work. 

Image via Wikipedia

And the people with the power and the money say 'I have done well because of my good choices' and ignore that their choices where much less important than their social network and the opportunities that were given them by others.  And they ignore that they did not work harder, or help others more, or do anything of merit to obtain so much more than their fellow man.

Image by epSos.de via Flickr

And the people with the power and the money say 'You give a man a fish, but we should teach the man to fish, and he will never go hungry again,' but they neither give fish or teach to fish.  And they say that competition for resources is a natural state for man, and 'It's not my fault that I am better at it than you are.'

And the people with the power and the money say that giving money and power to the working man is wasteful, as they will squander it on such poor investments as food, clothing and shelter. 

Image by Shreyans Bhansali via Flickr

All of these things are said by the people with the power and the money.  The rest of us are too busy working to say anything.  ;)

Related articles

• Avoiding the Poverty Tax (wisebread.com)
• What Difference Does Heaven Make? (insightscoop.typepad.com)
• Are the Poor to Blame for Being Poor? (aphilosopher.wordpress.com)

What is brain freeze?

First, an analogous... analogy.  There are signs on most bridges warning of ice.  The reason for this is that, while regular roadways are protected from fast changes of temperature because these quick changes don't penetrate the ground very quickly, on a bridge, both the top and the bottom are exposed to the air, so they will be colder and freeze faster than roads insulated by the ground. 

Image from zachronen.co.il

The mouth is similar with regards to "brain freeze."  Obviously, the brain doesn't freeze.  The picture above shows a lot of internal areas of the head and neck.  Between the oral and nasal cavities is the hard palate.  When you're eating cold foods or liquids, the first part of each swallow includes the tongue pushing the bolus (food or liquid that's chewed and ready to swallow) against the hard palate and back towards the back of the throat.  Since the hard palate has cold items against its bottom side, and air passing through the nose on the top, it is not well protected against temperature changes. 

So it gets cold.  And this is what a "brain freeze" really is.  I don't know of any advice to get rid of it.  I close my mouth and keep my tongue against the hard palate, which should provide some insulation and help to normalize its temperature faster. 

To prevent brain freeze I have two suggestions.  1) Don't eat or drink cold things.  and 2) If you do eat cold things, keep them moving around in your mouth until they are warm before swallowing them.