First Blood (Rambo) 1982

A veteránok sokáig egészen különleges megbecsültségű helyet foglaltak (és egy bizonyos mértékig foglalnak el ma is) az amerikai társadalomban. A vietnámi háború veteránjainak azonban jó egy évtizeden át egészen más bánásmód jutott. A vietnámi konfliktus kirobbanását követően elég gyorsan népszerűtlen lett, az amerikai kivonulást a tüntető hippik tömegei ünnepelték, a hazatérő katonák pedig az éveken át tartó média hisztéria által keltett megvetés áldozataivá váltak.

Rengeteg film készült erről a faramuci helyzetről, számosat a kritikusok elismerése övezett (a Született Július 4én két Oscar-t is nyert, pedig szerintem konkrétan nézhetetlen). A Rambo-t az ítészek nem halmozták el babérkoszorúkkal, de megtette helyettük a közönség; hamar kultikus státuszba emelkedett és nem véletlenül kapott három (hamarosan 4) folytatást is. Bár ez utóbbiak minősége megkérdőjelezhető, a First Blood nem csak Stallone felsőtestének és vicsorgásának köszönhette tartós sikerét; jelentős szerepe volt ebben a szimbolikával teletömött forgatókönyvnek.

Steven Pinker: The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (2011)

No one denies the mind-boggling leap in technological progress humankind made since the Industrial Revolution, and very few claim that our material comfort didn't increase tremendously in the same timeframe. Yet the nostalgia for the good old days of simpler times lingers on. At least then, there were no serial killers, child-rapists, genocides, everyday muggings, mass shootings, constant wars and the ever-present nightmare of nuclear Armageddon. People were more caring and had some decency. Or so one might think. In this heavy but enthralling book, Steven Pinkers embarks on a mission to disabuse the readers of such misbeliefs. He shows not only that these intuitions are wrong, but also how wildly wrong they are, and why common wisdom and facts go the exact opposite way.

Steven Pinker: Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (2018)

Humanity spent its first hundred thousand years eking out a bare existence in a hostile and unforgiving environment. Thousands of generations led the same nasty, brutish and short lives. Although inventing agriculture was a major game changer, a farmer from 4000 BC Mesopotamia would still easily recognize his 1500 AD peer as equal in most ways. Then around 300 years ago something happened that opened the lid on human creativity, which unleashed a might-bending wave of progress, unbroken and accelerating ever since. The turning point is known as the Enlightenment.

Critical Role - Campaign II

Around 2015 "actual play experiences" started to be a 'thing' when it came to RPG and streaming with dozens of initiatives across twitch.tv and various podcast platforms to the point where this happened at Gen Con 2018. Critical Role is probably not even the most popular of them, but it definitely stands out on a couple of fronts as evidenced by breaking the film/television record of kickstarter by getting $11M for an animated series of their first campaign. Matt Mercer is a DM who is almost as good as our own sensei used to be on his best days and the players are not too shabby either. The production quality is remarkable and is continuously enhanced through the usage of props, miniatures, elaborate battle scenes, etc.
Critical Role is what you get when a bunch of D&D loving voice actors decide to go public with their role playing habit. A weekly installment of goofy fun, a run that has a fair dose of acting (so watching it is recommended, but the podcast works) emphasizing the drama of a well-timed natural 20.

Barns Courtney: Glitter & Gold (2015)

K. J. Parker - Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

It shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm enamored with K. J. Parker. Not all his work is great, but he has single-handedly established economic fantasy (and yes, I'm going to coin that term). This is an offshoot of the genre, a tall tale of a siege as seen through the eyes of a military engineer trapped in that city and told from his witness perspective (subjective as that may be).

But Orhan, son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus is not trapped by the city, more so by his own morals, his own interpretation of duties, obligations and maybe even loyalty to people of mutual despise. Shrewd as he is, misguided as he may be, against overwhelming odds none of the 15 established ways of defense are going to work and thus he has to come up with a sixteenth. War and Death forges weird alliances and pushes the ties of friendship to their breaking point with the bad luck of having most of the friends on the other side of the impregnable walls.

Sam Harris: End of Faith (2004)

In a time of unprecedented level of peace, prosperity and individual freedom, the majority of humankind in the 21st century nominally reach back for moral foundations to scriptures written thousands of years ago by scribes of desert-dwelling, xenophobic illiterates following a wrathful and jealous god. Since the dawn of civilization, religion served as much as the engine of war and sadism as a tool of personal guidance and consolation, and almost continuously the main obstacle of scientific progress and human flourishing.