MechaMorgan Einherjar


Valravn

I’m Morgan. I’m 23, and live in Bath; a city in the south west of England. I’m a Philosophy graduate from the University of Manchester.

I’m a cyclist and a motorbiker, and I guess those are my main hobbies. I ride a Mash fixed, and a Colnago Master Olympic for the road. Whilst I’m not a part of any cycling advocacy groups like Crit Mass, I’m a big cyclist, and ride every day.

I’ve been riding motorbikes since I was a kid, and have ridden, crashed and dismantled pretty much everything I’ve had my hands on. Currently I’m riding a Harley Iron 883 which I’m starting to chop, and a Suzuki for riding in the mud.

Whilst I’m not very good, I really enjoy photography. I shoot on either the Olympus XA series (1/2/3) or the Olympus OM series (1,2n,10,20 + various lenses) for film, or a Nikon d200 (50mm f1.8 / 18-200mm f3.6) or a Panasonic GF1 (20mm f1.8) for digital. Some of  my photography is posted on Tumblr, when I think it’s relevant, and more on my Flickr.

I like music. Everyone likes music. What do I like? “A bit of everything, I guess”. I’ll usually post pictures or videos for bands I’m enjoying at the moment, or you could check out my  Last.fm. At the moment, I’m listening to a lot of LLN black metal and medieval choral music.

I read a great deal, both prose and poetry. Lately I’m reading a lot of non-fiction, mostly philosophy and history. As useless as favouritism is in such a broad genre as literature, a personal favourite novel is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, my favourite poets are Keats and T.S. Eliot.

In terms of my personal philosophy, I am a hard-line empiricist. I’m also a mereological nihilist and a functionalist. I’m an ethical consequentalist, and have written a great deal on the failure of virtue ethics. Politically, I’m far-left to a certain extent, and am economically left-wing. Whilst politics is not my area of expertise, I have a pre-theoretical affinity with Marxism. I’m socially progressive, pro-female body autonomy, pro-equal rights, an agnostic atheist and omnivore.

This isn’t supposed to be an exhaustive list of my hobbies and interests. My ask is enabled, and I’m more than happy to answer any questions, give any advice or recommend whatever I can.

A few notes on the content and nomenclature of this blog.

Content, and attribution:

I am not a particularly creative person. I am impressed with people who are, and the images ect. that I post here are works that I enjoy, engage or identify with. I respect artists, and will always give due credit and attribution where possible. I firmly believe that anything less is shameful. I will always welcome people informing me of a work’s creator, and will always credit when I am given the information. I will also always tell people who has created a work if I know, and the work isn’t credited. 

The way I accredit artists is by setting the click-through link to their site. I might strip accreditation in text form from a picture, but will never strip a correct credit from a click-through.

I do not consider the first person to post something on tumblr worth accreditation. Please, you deserve credit for creating something, not popularising or discovering it.

The tools I use to try and find images are Tineye and Google’s reverse image search (Using Sidetree softwares’ Backtrack browser plug-in) or Curious Kiwi’s reverse Flickr search (via an Alfred custom-search), if I know the image in question is a flickr image (thanks to Flickr Originals, a browser plug-in by Jason Ting). I will always search images before posting them. Any images that I post which I cannot find an artist credit for will always be tagged ‘Unattributed’. 

If I post one of your images and it is unattributed, please get in touch. Furthermore, if I have posted an image and you would like it removed, please ask. It is entirely your prerogative, and I respect it.

On tits:

Mostly, I avoid posting pictures of women. There are two reasons for this.

A) I’m a straight male. There is a large amount of images on the internet, from the mildly provocative to the utterly pornographic. If I started posting pictures of girls I found attractive, this blog would have very little other content. Again, whilst I’m in favour of sexual liberation and people sharing their passions and desires, broadly I find mine a private matter, and have little wish to share them. Obviously, I’m not adverse to answering questions in that area, but I want this blog to be about my other passions, not just girls.

B) Porn and NSFW pictures are a contentious subject. Many would argue that, in the wrong circumstances, these pictures are damaging and objectifying. Obviously, they can be empowering, but this is largely a problem of context of production and enjoyment. I’m sure many a person has leered at the work of Mapplethorpe, just as an art critic might praise the lighting in a porno. I don’t want to get involved in this debate. I’m not well-read enough on the issue to have a well considered opinion, and I would therefore rather just avoid it all together.

On the names:

What is Einherjar?: Einherjar is a phrase form Norse mythology. It can be translated as ‘Lone Warrior’, although it has a broader meaning. The Einherjar, in Norse myth, were warriors who died valiantly in battle, living a noble life. I had an interesting conversation with another Tumblr user about the correct translation of this term, which you can read here, if you’re in to etymology.

What is Mechamorgan?: The name under which I collect my internet activities. The prefix is from old Godzilla movies, broadly meaning ‘something mechanical’. Obviously, Morgan is my name. Mechamorgan doesn’t mean anything, other than that it is me. 

What is Valravn?: The Valravn is a supernatural creature from Danish mythology. It translates as ‘Raven of the Slain’, and whilst there are variations on the myth, it’s usually seen as the soul of a man trapped in a raven, forced to seek redemption. In some cases, that’s only found by eating the heart of a child, but I’m glossing over that.

What is that symbol?: The symbol at the top of my blog is called a Valknut. It was used in Norse burial rites to mark the grave of a great hero or champion, usually an adherent to the cult of Odin.

If you have any other questions, or just want to get in contact, feel free to ask.

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