Serving Notice

There are two wrong attitudes toward the Middle Ages. The first reflects the notion that it was the "Dark Ages", and everything was just fucking awful. The second reflects the attitude that it was a golden age of faith and chivalry and everything was just ducky.
Both attitudes are a load of happy horseshit, completely contradicted by the evidence. The Middle Ages were a fascinating time of progress for both the arts and sciences, but life was damn hard and there were a lot of problems. In this blog, I tend to concentrate on the good, but don't ever expect me to deny the bad.

That said, please keep in mind that, though I love the best medieval art, I also recognize the fact that a lot of medieval art was bloody garbage. I have no patience with bad art, so don't expect me to go into ecstasy over a piece of crap just because it's 13th century. You're likely to see a bit of later work, inspired by the Middle Ages, but only if I consider it worth looking at. I like my art alive and vibrant, not preserved in amber.

Along the same lines, I plan to post a fair amount of medieval music, but I reserve the right to post anything I damn well please. I love plainchant and sackbuts as much as the next person, but you're also going to be seeing a lot of my favorite music; My Chemical Romance. I consider their music to be, not just good, but great, in the same way I consider Bach and Mozart great. If you don't approve, TOUGH! I have a great deal of respect for those young men and I consider them the most appealing pack of ragamuffins this side of my honorary nephews and I won't tolerate one single word against them. Consider yourself warned. I'm not going to let that crap get started again.

This is my blog and I'll do as I please. If you can't accept that, don't bother whining in the combox. Just click on that little x and piss off.