The thing about a book like War and Peace that first makes an impression on you is its size. Continue reading
Archive for the Real Men Category
Tolstoy Versus Napoleon
Posted in Reading, Real Men with tags Anna Karenina, Battle of Borodino, Brothers Karamazov, colonel kurtz, Napoleon, napoleonic war, Tolstoy, War and Peace on February 24, 2012 by Jarrod Boyle
In My Craft or Sullen Art
Posted in Reading, Real Men with tags Dylan Thomas, In My Craft or Sullen Art on December 29, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
Writing is hard. Fighting is much easier, in a way; if you train hard and win, you progress. With writing, you can work assiduously, but ‘success’ (finding an audience) seems to come down to ‘market forces’, or whatever else governs publication. The simple fact of all this, however, is that it’s whinging. Both are arts; styles of asceticism and require sincere, selfless dedication.
The impulse to quit is grounded in vanity. When I need a righteous kick in the pants, Dylan Thomas is the man I go to see. Continue reading
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The End of Silence
Posted in Music, Real Men with tags Andrew Haskett, Andrew Weiss, Black Flag, Caravaggio, Greg Ginn, Henry Rollins, iTunes, Robert Hughes, Sim Cain, The Rollins Band on September 26, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle“Caravaggio was like a right-angle in the history of art; things were one way before him, and completely different after.”
– Quotation taken from the NGV’s ‘Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and his World’ exhibition of 2004, where it was stencilled on a wall at the conclusion.
Your author paraphrases Robert Hughes from memory. Continue reading
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10,000 Paper Planes
Posted in Real Men with tags 10000 Paper Planes, Ross Coulter, State Library of Victoria on August 8, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
“Ross Coulter is a hero, a rebel and an artist.”
Indeed he is.
http://thethousands.com.au/melbourne/make/paper-planes/
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Hell's Angels
Posted in Reading, Real Men with tags Gonzo, Hell's Angels, Hunter S Thompson, Ken Kesey on June 17, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride…and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well… maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”
No doubt Fear and Loathing is a fabulous read, but I’m disappointed it’s the book Hunter S. Thompson has become best-known for. As a teenager, I bought Hell’s Angels and it has become a stand-out amongst all the books I own. Continue reading
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Real Men #5: The Fukushima 50
Posted in Real Men on March 19, 2011 by Jarrod BoyleA small crew of self-appointed workers have chosen to stay behind at the stricken Fukushima #1 nuclear power-station in Japan. They are attempting to control the fires in reactors 1, 2 and 3, placing themsleves in the path of dire risk in order to try and prevent what some have called an imminent apocalypse.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/heroic-50-sent-in-to-save-millions-20110316-1bxgw.html
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Real Men #4: Mirko ‘Cro-Cop’ Filipovic
Posted in Real Men with tags Cro-Cop, Croatia, K1, Mirko Filipovic, Pride, UFC on February 27, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
“Right leg hospital; left leg cemetery.”
Mirko Filipovic has been a member of the Croatian anti-terrorist police unit, a top-tier K1 heavyweight and then, a successful transitioner into Pride, the toughest of MMA fighting organisations. He was also a member of Croatian parliament from 2003 through to 2007.
What a man.
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Real Men #3: Aron Ralston
Posted in Real Men with tags Aron Ralston on February 12, 2011 by Jarrod BoyleAron Ralston, while hiking, fell down a cravass and found himself trapped with his arm beneath a boulder. After five days, he decided it was better to break the arm and hack it off with a leatherman than starve to death in the wilderness.
God, give me some measure of that kind of strength.
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Real Men #2 (Posthumous): Jordan Rice
Posted in Journalism, Real Men on January 13, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
13 year old Jordan Rice was engulfed and swept away by mounting floodwaters in Toowoomba because he insisted rescuers save his younger brother first.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/how-jordan-died-to-save-his-brother-20110112-19obf.html
“Goodnight, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
Shakespeare,
Hamlet,
Act 5, scene 2.
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Real Men #1: Chuck Liddell
Posted in Real Men with tags Chuck Liddell on November 14, 2010 by Jarrod Boyle“I think the reason people like me is because I’ll fight anybody, anywhere. I don’t talk bad about people who don’t deserve it, and I’m not a guy who’s out there trying to trash talk and make a name for myself. I earned the name that I have – I went out and fought for it.”
Theme Park at its Darkest 