Abby Epplett, Historian

During my trip to Philadelphia, PA, I spent time walking around the historic portion of the city. Because this is one of the most politically significant locations in the modern world, the streets are lined with informational signage, and nearly every building had a plaque. This miniseries of quick history stops will have four parts. The first part covered a bank building, a Quaker meeting house, a fire station dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, a cemetery, and a very old alley. The second part covered a historic house possibly belonging to a Founding Mother, commercial buildings from the Industrial Revolution, and a courtyard showcasing local history. The third part will cover a bicentennial speech from an unlikely speaker, a publishing company, a preservation society, a religious statue, an historic athletic facilities, and a diner.

During my trip to Philadelphia, PA, I spent time walking around the historic portion of the city. Because this is one of the most politically significant locations in the modern world, the streets are lined with informational signage, and nearly every building had a plaque. This miniseries of quick history stops will have four parts. The first part covered a bank building, a Quaker meeting house, a fire station dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, a cemetery, and a very old alley. This second part will cover a historic house possibly belonging to a Founding Mother, commercial buildings from the Industrial Revolution, and a courtyard showcasing local history.

This essay is about flashbacks, one explanation for how humans perceive time and memory. Unlike some of my diatribes, the post is blessedly short for those of you without much spare time. Flashbacks have been used on stage and in film for over a century, but new techniques continue to appear. Medical professionals now use the term “flashback” to describe a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), although not all experts agree if this is a required symptom for diagnosis. As for its connection to The Lord of the Rings , characters use flashbacks when attempting to recall what has happened to them or to people in their communities. Despite the presence of an actual timeline in “Appendix B: The Tale of Years” , the timeline in the dialogue portion is shaky. Characters frequently misremember the past, receive glimpses of the future, and even become confused about the current date in the present. My goal in the animated musical is to preserve these flashbacks while drawing ...

Today, I am taking a break from the Philadelphia adventure (to return next week) and rants about hobbits (to return next Sunday) to try something different. While I have posted several reviews of books and documentaries on my blog, this is the first time I have written a game review. I received Tangram Master as a gift between fifteen and twenty years ago but I had never played through the entire game until recently. Since the set of four high-quality wooden tangrams comes with a well-researched book on the history of the game, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to explore how games can lend insight to history and culture.

When Bilbo left Bag End after his Long-Expected Party, he wore a traveling outfit that he had assembled during his adventure with Thorin and company many years earlier. The base of this outfit was heavily worn hobbit-clothes, which I have designed to look similar to a late 18 th century costume previously described in “Characters: Bilbo & Frodo Baggins” . The outer layer was a cloak and hood, common clothing for dwarf-men who liked to travel. The cloak and hood were “rather too large” for Bilbo, presumably because although he was nearly the same height as dwarves, he had less muscle mass and a narrower build.

During my trip to Philadelphia, PA, I spent time walking around the historic portion of the city. Because this is one of the most politically significant locations in the modern world, the streets are lined with informational signage, and nearly every building had a plaque. This miniseries of quick history stops will have four parts. This first part will cover a bank building, a Quaker meeting house, a fire station dedicated to Benjamin Franklin , a cemetery, and a very old alley.

While musicals are driven by songs with lyrics, as previously described during “The Epigraph” , “The Introduction Song” , and “The Want Song” , instrumentals are equally important for setting the tone during dialogue scenes and moments where characters are silent. Music accompanied film even before the invention of the “talkie”, whether a live organist playing along with the action or a phonograph blasting the tune. In the modern era, film composers are among the best known music writers of their day with the most famous in English-language films including John Williams, Howard Shore, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer. Like many industries, older white men dominate movie music, although recent film adaptations of stage musicals have begun to change this demographic.

During my trip to Philadelphia, PA in late May and early June, I visited the Museum of the American Revolution . This post is the second of two parts about the museum. In my last post, I described the museum’s history, exterior, temporary exhibit, and the tent that started the movement. Today’s post will focus on the permanent exhibit and practical advice for visiting the museum.

During my trip to Philadelphia, PA in late May and early June, I visited the Museum of the American Revolution . Completely unrelated to the American Independence Museum in Exeter, NH that I visited back in 2022 , this organization attempts to provide a comprehensive look at the first successful democratic revolution by incorporating multiple perspectives in thoughtful exhibits housed in a state-of-the-art facility. Do not let the non-profit status fool you; the museum has massive financial backing from an initial capital campaign of almost $175 million, and the budget has been well spent creating the immersive exhibits now expected of modern museums. This post is the first of two parts about the museum, since I spent part of two days there. In this post, I will describe the museum’s history, exterior, temporary exhibit, and the tent that started the movement. The second post will focus on the permanent exhibit and practical advice for visiting the museum.

After the Long-Expected Party — and in the case of the hypothetical animated musical, not long after “The Want Song” — Gandalf joined Bilbo in his house and demanded that his hobbit friend give up the One Ring. Bilbo initially reacted badly, as the ring had gained some control over him, but he eventually left the ring to his ‘nephew’, Frodo, along with most of his worldly possessions. Rings have appeared in fiction throughout world literature, spawning dozens of folkloric motifs and inspiring adaptations of ancient stories for stage and film.