Soviet’s counteroffensives in the Kursk campaign August 1943 — I was asked (on Quora) about how successful the Soviet counteroffensives in the battle of Kursk were, and expanded the answer slightly to the offensives in the rest of the summer and autumn of 1943. …

or, A Tale of Two Anders This little text was inspired by thread on Reddit about defining a minimal operational definition of what a roleplaying game is, which reminded me of a time when roleplaying was definitely performed, but possibly in a way that somewhat defied description and definition. Many…

This is one of the more common questions asked about WWII by laymen. It does seem like a straightforward question. But, to begin with, are we talking about one of the domains of strategy, like military strategy, or in strategic ability in general? Hitler Hitler undoubtedly made some major mistakes in…

Putting the ‘Ho’ in Horror, Unsuccessfully — Note: I couldn’t finish this one. I skipped along from where I stopped to the end to make sure I wasn’t getting the wrong idea, but no. The story is bad, the direction is bad, the acting is bad (some of the actors seem to have no idea how to…

This short text is partially a response to recently befallen YouTube video called “The Fall of Doctor Who”, which details how the latest couple of Doctor Who series apparently is destroying the show through what seems to me to be business as usual. The title, like presumably the video’s title…

Don’t trust your feelings. — In 1977, a low-budget film that was part Flash Gordon, part Jidaigeki¹, part 1970s radical progressive sensibilities (feminism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, etc) was released. It was called Star Wars, later retitled Star Wars: A New Hope. Two more films were added later to create a trilogy, and then a prequel trilogy…

“all the elements will fall into place” (spoiler: they won’t) — Now, the plot of the film includes implied rape, and it isn’t resolved. It is just “cancelled” through fairly unconvincing retroactive consent. The days are grey and cloudy. Several styles mix: early 20th century architecture, late 21st century advanced technology, 1950s-looking streets and (flying) cars. It has a crude, rough…

Yeah, cute. I started this um with the goal of writing essays. I do have a few that I have started or planned, but it doesn’t work like it did once. …

This is mostly a reflection on the elusiveness of the concept of good and evil in “Lord of the Rings”. Is Sauron really evil? Are all orcs evil, and in that case why? Is Tolkien’s world more like an utopia or a dystopia? Tolkien was, in the middle of the…