One problem with blogs is that after a couple of weeks, their content gets buried in the archives, with no easy way for readers to locate and read the good stuff from before they came along. When I started reading blogs, I appreciated the fact that Jim Henley included a “Best of Unqualified Offerings” section on his sidebar, and wondered why everybody didn’t do something like that. Following Jim’s lead, what follows are links to what are hopefully some of the best bits of Polytropos from 2003, grouped loosely by category.
The Lord of the Rings on Film
These items on Peter Jackson’s films were by far the most-read and most-linked Polytropos material from 2003.
- The Two Towers: Extended, Enhanced, Redeemed
- The Return of the King: A Review
- Tolkien’s Take on the Films
- Is Peter Jackson Insane?
Elanoriana
Dedicated baby talk has now been moved to Cerin Amroth, but last year consisted mostly of anticipation, to say nothing of the Big Moment itself.
Liberia
Tracking developments in Liberia is one of my pet projects for the blog; my interest in that country is somewhat personal since I lived there for a couple of years. These entries span debate over intervention to its aftermath to controversy surrounding Charles Taylor’s exile.
- Liberia
- More on Liberian Intervention
- Good Riddance, Mr. Taylor
- Liberia Readings
- Liberia Update
- Getting Away With It
- Boba Fett, Report to Calabar
- Taylor Mini-Update
- Update to the Taylor Mini-Update
- Liberia/Charles Taylor Update
Role-playing Games
Polytropos has never been short of gamer talk—some of the first entries were about Gencon, and it’s never really let up from there.
- Musings on Gamer Culture
- My Beef with D20
- Greg Costikyan Finds the Master
- Greg Costikyan Finds the Master, Part II
The Polytropos Review
Reviews of books, movies, TV shows, computer games, and one concert. I’m especially happy with the Quicksilver stuff.
- Quicksilver: A Review
- Stephenson, Pynchon, and Style
- Endless Nights Rundown
- All the King’s Men
- Tarantino’s At It Again
- An Open Letter to the Wachowski Brothers
- One More 24
- Winging It
- Alias as Superhero Comic
- Medieval Time Vacuum
- Payneful Stories
Miscellany
A few odds and ends.