09/03/2026
He’s an amazing speed shooter and trick shot artist. He’s advising films and getting bigger paychecks than I ever will. But…
There is no research. It’s a Google search of images that align with his branding. They’re from various countries and different centuries entirely, without the context of it being a depiction of war, sport, or Cupid pranking people.
He’s combining techniques from multiple cultures for efficiency (which many of us do) but saying ‘This is exactly how EVERYONE did it!’ This is saying modern MMA was used in 1800s Japan….because jujitsu was refined into judo, which reached Brazil becoming BJJ, which became a MMA staple in the 1990s.
Worst of all, he says the ‘true art’ of combat archery was lost to history and that he somehow found it. Except for a few tragic cases of cultural destruction, nothing was ‘lost.’ Lars didn’t find a Lost Ark of European archery techniques, he’s doing Arabian archery which has been continuously practiced and taught for centuries.
I wish Lars stuck to being an awesome archer. His lore has new archers struggling with techniques they don’t know the true context for, and believing lore that robs cultures of their REAL history.
09/01/2026
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08/27/2026
I swore I’d never make this page about pop culture, memes, or ‘people I don’t know’ who happen to be famous. Mrs. Parton has chosen to ignore that rule, like many others.
There’s something about me that always weighed me down as I traveled the world, climbed the corporate ladder, and explored historical martial arts. I didn’t come from their world. My family worked hard for a living, South enough from Chicago to have an accent. I was raised ‘Al’ or ‘Big Al’ as a joke about my smaller stature. My best Friday nights were spent playing pool at an American Legion while my mom sang karaoke.
And no matter if we were at the Legion or in the car, everyone had to shut up if Dolly came on. She’s one of twelve children just like my mother is. And studying for my Masters in nonprofit management, I wrote term papers about how she was the greatest American philanthropist since Carnegie. As much as I hide my roots to fit into where my life landed, that woman’s journey from dirt-floor poor to directly raising American literacy rates is near Biblical to me.
And every single archery class for the 800+ students I’ve taught…I broke my robotic, professional demeanor to make a Dolly Parton joke as I explained how people with larger chests can adapt their draw. I figured if there was one person who wouldn’t mind making the joke, it was her.
I start a new class next week, and I am genuinely worrying about whether I retire the joke out of mature respect. Or…if she’d tell me to keep telling it, throw some more flair into my look, and give people a happy memory.
