A Window and a Mirror
There was a time when the world was easier to understand. When the grainy flicker of Soviet cinema could paint the world not as it was, but as it ought to be. And in those darkened halls, amid the scratchy…...
Category History
The Forgotten Legacy of French Archery
There are few things as revealing of a nation’s soul as the way it arms itself, not merely in the sense of conquest and defence, but in the quiet rituals and peculiar allegiances woven into its martial traditions. A nation’s…...
John the blind – The King’s last charge
“The king, his heart resolute, called upon his knights, ‘Where is my son, Charles?’ They replied, ‘Sire, we know not; we believe he fights on.’ Then he declared, ‘Loyal companions, lead me into the fray, that I may strike but…...
Marcin’s Favourite historical Figures Column
Eugen Herrigel. The name doesn’t stride confidently through history’s corridors. It lingers instead in its dimly lit corners, somewhere between the poetry of a fleeting idea and the stern weight of unyielding reality. You won’t find him leading armies or…...
Freedom’s Quiet Flame
The dimly lit, rain-soaked cinemas of 1980s Soviet life provided brief but significant havens. Among the films, Sergei Tarasov's 1985 Чернaя стрела (The Black Arrow) stood out not only as entertainment but also as an event—an artefact of a society struggling with its paradoxes. Under the heavy shadow of a collapsing Soviet ideology, this rendition of Robert Louis Stevenson's story connected as both metaphor and adventure, a revolt against the ordinary disguised as historical epic.
Steel, Shadows, and Scorched Earth
Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince—his name, steeped in ink as dark as a storm-laden sky, calls forth images of a knight both magnificent and terrible, a figure who rode the tangled path between chivalry and carnage. The chronicles recount…...
Through Arrows’ Flight
Longtime readers will undoubtedly have noticed that I’ve always been rather fascinated by the history part of archery. The bow has a way of reaching through the centuries, linking us to people who stood before making their release under skies numerous times changed yet still creating that same smooth arc. However this time, I have chosen to go a little further under the covers of the books, dusting off old tomes and brushing aside forgotten fables, to whisk you away into the first few decades of the 20th century. A story of how archery, an ancient art, found itself in that lovely juxtaposition of sitting with one foot firmly implanted in preserving tradition while the other foot fits oddly into a shoe designed to help you navigate modern chaos.
The Ghosts of Mary Rose
* Rising, Sinking and Resurrection * By Marcin Malek This is a revised and expanded edition of an article of the same title published in the 14th issue of TIFAM, December 2022 Also available as an audio Podcast on YouTube…
The Dance of the Manes
This article under the same title is available as an audio podcast, available at Spotifiy and YouTube:“The Dance of the Manes” at Spotify “The Dance of the Manes” at YouTube By Marcin Malek Welcome everyone to another episode of Winning…...
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