Rise of the Phoenix

Confirmed: Sydney Sweeney knows ball.

🇬🇧 "We need to SAVE the NATION and I think Rupert Lowe is the ONLY vehicle to do that" @WillColeshill interviews more activists on Restore Britain's campaign trail in Makerfield.

Make All of #NorthAmerica Great Again!! 💙💚🤍❤️

Following the enactment of the new 9.9% income tax (“Millionaire Tax”), there has been an increase in home listings in Washington State. Data from the Northwest MLS shows that the number of homes priced at $2 million or more jumped by 65% the day after Democrats passed the bill compared to the same data last year.

One person will always end up with all the money.

Not all ancient statues were about "ideal beauty". The Resting Boxer, created over 2,000 years ago, is one of the most realistic sculptures ever made. With a broken nose, cauliflower ears, scarred face, bruised eyes, and hand-wraps, it doesn't get any more intense than this.... This statue has several names: Boxer at Rest, Seated Boxer, or Defeated Boxer. It was rediscovered on the Quirinal Hill in Rome in the 19th century — hence its other name, the Quirinal Boxer. And it is, even regardless of its striking appearance, remarkable simply by virtue of being a fully intact bronze statue. We tend to think of all ancient sculptures as having been made from marble, but that is only because they have survived in greater quantity than their once equally common bronze equivalents, most of which have long since been melted down to make other statues or, more often, weapons. When was it made? Scholars have dated it to some point between the 4th and 1st centuries BC. This is because the Quirinal Boxer shows all the defining characteristics of Hellenistic Art. This was a style of art which arose during the 4th century BC, especially after Alexander the Great's conquests and the subsequent spread of Greek culture all around the then-known world. Rather than the idealised, more austere statuary of Ancient Athens — which is usually referred to as the Classical Greek or Severe Style — Hellenistic sculptures were far more realistic. Hence we have a boxer with a broken nose, cauliflower ears, scarred face, bruised eyes, and hand-wraps. This is a technical masterpiece of gripping, wholly unidealised, almost brutal realism. The first thing you'll notice is how technically advanced the sculptors of the Quirinal Boxer were. There was no detail they couldn't recreate in bronze with lifelike intensity, even down to the beads of blood on his forehead. These were talented, well-trained, virtuoso artists. Although, typical of ancient statues, his beard and hair are stylised rather than strictly realistic — suggestive, rather than imitative of, a real beard and hair. This was a reasonable trade-off, given the workable limits of bronze. A second implication is that boxing was clearly a popular sport in the ancient world, and one that was evidently taken seriously. The physique of the boxer and the wounds on his body suggest that combat sports were performed to a very high level — how else would such a realistic statue have been made? And, thirdly, it is impossible not to notice the psychological intensity of this statue. See, Hellenistic Art also tended to be more dramatic and emotional. Here, with the boxer's turned head, deeply expressive face, and hunched back, his arms resting wearily on his knees, we have a profoundly insightful and immensely evocative work of art. This isn't idealised beauty at all, nor a distant portrayal of some semi-divine figure. It is the deeply human portrait of a specific person — or, at least, a type of person — bursting with emotion, vitality, and relatable pathos. But what does his expression mean? Who is this boxer? Such questions have never been, and perhaps never will be, answered. Does his knotted brow depict exhaustion after a long, hard fight? Or is it disappointment after defeat? Or even disbelief that he has been beaten? Or he is resting, talking to a friend or even foe, and rousing himself before another fight? Or is it, perhaps, merely the tired expression of a veteran ready to hang up his gloves? Technically supreme, thoroughly realistic, emotionally expressive — the Quirinal Boxer is Hellenistic Art at its greatest.