Sunday, December 31, 2017

As I Await The Turn of the Year

2017 was a good year for me. It peaked with the publication of the PulpRev Sampler, wherein my first published work lies, but it's not been all downhill from there. The blog traffic on all of my blogs has increased significantly, and my presence on the socials I used took off in a big way. It's time to make use of this going into 2018.

This coming week I'll launch the first serial fiction story I've written in a few years, posted at my writing blog as well as at PulpRev, and the countdown towards my first novelette begins. Next Sunday I'll post a proposal at the political blog for an actionable plan to cut the balls off the cities and stop their dominance on politics. As for this one, I'm returning to a topic I've ignored for most of this year: firearms. Ruger just released a new pistol-caliber carbine, so I am going to talk about it. Get used to me mixing talk (and pictures, and video) about firearms in addition to everything else.

I've got a big backlog of stuff to read and watch; that gets cut down this coming year, and I'll be writing about that here and at the writing blog as I see fit.

2018 should prove to be a good year for me and mine. The ride never ends.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Time For the East-West Anime Pipeline to Reverse Its Flow

This is Raging Golden Eagle. He talks about a lot of stuff, but one of them is anime, and here he talks about the increase in Western funding of anime production. In the Comments section, I mention that this opens an opportunity for Western content producers to get their work adapted into anime. This deserves elaboration. First, the video.

All of you writers and publishers in the Superversive, Nobilebright, PulpRev (etc.) literary movements who have an eye towards the business end of things should sense the opportunity present here. These anime production companies would love to get their hands on fresh, new material where they don't have to worry about Western leftists pushing piss-poor propaganda on them. However, they need some evidence of an audience awaiting such an adaptation before they will make the effort.

The usual route--novel to comic, comic to series--is how that audience gets found, nurtured, and groomed to the level where an anime adaptation becomes viable. The reason is because, as with Star Wars and Star Trek, a lot of the money comes from merchandise tie-ins; one need only look at how hard Bandai and Sunrise push the model kits to see where the money in the Gundam franchise lies. Likewise, Sailor Moon maintains its intergenerational presence on that merch-focused basis.

We can do that. Hell, some of us already have properties open to that model: the Galaxy's Edge series.

We should also look for, and build up, alternative paths to that destination. This does mean finding comic talent (not taken by the poz) both in the West and in Japan willing and able to do adaptations. (Following the #AltHero project suddenly takes on a whole new relevance. Castalia is ahead of the game.) In time, finding animators willing and able to do animation adaptations will become something worth doing, but for now I think the wise thing to do is seek out friendly comic people on both sides of the Pacific and build our audience ground-up.

This is a sure way to outflank the SJWs in the Western entertainment establishment, as Japan has no love for this death cult, so if we can get our stuff into their hands we can grow our way to seeing our stuff become the next big thing air on Toonami come Saturday night (or on Crunchyroll, etc.). Why not do it? It's not like we don't already write better stories; let's put them into forms and places where we know we can find and grow that audience.

Friday, December 29, 2017

If You Fail to Entertain, Your Fiction is Worthless & Pointless

I'm nailing this down now as mine: The first duty of fiction is to entertain. Nothing else matters if turn off your audience because you bore or insult them.

The SocJus Death Cult will have to confess this themselves sooner than later if it wants to do more than be a virtual suicide bomber of businesses. The cult's masters and predecessors understood this, which is why the conditions for the aforementioned cult could exist at all, but it is clear now that the cult is incompetent at Narrative Warfare in its own right and therefore all it is good for is to attack and destroy assets that could be used by the enemies of its masters.

The SJWs in Disney, Lucasfilm, and Marvel are finding out the hard way that I speak the truth. But, being SJWs, they will follow their predictable pattern: Lie, Double-Down, and Project. This is not an abtract thing; Lucasfilm's incompetence will screw the theme park project and whatever heads have not rolled before that point will be severed and set on pikes once that damage cannot be ignored. Investors for the aforementioned corporations are getting scared about the performance of the company, especially now that the damage can't be ignored without losing face.

All this because they couldn't be bothered to entertain first and foremost. And, as expected, the SJWs can't be bothered to stop lying about any of this.

Burn in your own bonfires of bullshit, Mouse Empire. I'm going to steal your audience from you, and then I will entertain them so well that I become the first Western SF/F author to get featured in a Super Robot Wars game.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Narrative Warfare: SJW Fake Geek Media Excusing Mouse Wars

If it weren't so timely and relevant to other matters of importance , I wouldn't harp on the on-going trainwreck that is The Last Jedi and the SJWs in the media that keep pushing their Narrative Warfare in support of it (and therefore the SJWs, starting with Kathy Kennedy at thetop of Lucasfilm) as a tool to push the poz upon the culture. World Class Bullshitters are on the beat, and here's their video on the Fake Media doing their Fake Geek bullshit.

The core of the matter is this: SJWs Have NO Money. Therefore, catering to them in favor of your real--core--audience is how and why you fail. But the SJWs don't care, because no media business exists to provide a living by satisfying a market demand in SJW eyes. The media exists SOLELY to push the Narrative. If the business crashes and burns, so be it; the SJWs believe (not without reason) that they can always take over another outlet and continue operations there. In the meantime, the SJWs deny their enemies a tool to fight back by destroying each business they take over- and if they take over one that relies on the State instead of the market, so much the better.

Which leads me to the first of my New Year's Resolutions: Blacklist ALL SJWs! Do not hire them. Do not retain them. Do not patronize them. Cut them off, cut them out, and when the time comes cut them down.

Bonus rant by Razorfist. Enjoy.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

You Can't Trust SJWs, So Don't

The man beind the Diversity & Comics YouTube channel had a talk with Mark Waid. They agreed to keep it private, until Mark decided to be a cunt on Twitter using a quote from that conversation. Tit For Tat demands reciprocation, so that happened earlier tonight.

As Captain Cummings said in this video's comments: Mark Waid did this "break the promise" bullshit with me. He then turned a back hand complement being cordial into me being a sperg super fan. He's a snake liar.

SJWs, man. You can't trust them. At all. Purge them from anything and everything or you're going to regret it when they come for you.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Boxing Day Bonus: "The Last Jedi" Falls Off HARD

This year on Boxing Day, the World Class Bullshitters bring you some belated holiday joy. Unless you're Kathleen Kennedy or Bob Iger, in which case you're making phone calls and scrambling to come up with a narrative shift to cover up the fact that The Last Jedi fell off over 70% this past weekend- a catastrophic drop. This is about 11 minutes long, so for you folks who are back at your day jobs it'll be a thing you can squeeze into your coffee break.

Good on the World Class Bullshitters to call out Midnight's Edge and Mundane Matt for cucking like bitches over this film; they have no excuse for giving cover to the Mouse Empire, not after they went after the DCEU and Star Trek: SocJus Edition (and shat all over Inhumans and Agents of SHIELD). That double-talking douchery an't be tolerated.

Also good on the Bullshitters for making plain that the stand-alone Han Solo film is a dumpster fire that can't be redeemed, and is likely to be the first post-Mouse Empire conquest to actually lose the Mouse Empire money. GOOD. In the meantime, if you are so able, come join us in the PulpRev and Superversive communities where we're doing #StarWarsNotStarWars because God knows Disney doesn't give a damn about the Star Wars audience anymore.

Speaking of which, I'll have more to say about mine at the Study later this week.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Cinema Wins Does The Best Christmas Movie Ever: DIE HARD!

It's Christmas Day. Time to watch one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time.

Merry Christmas, folks. May the new year see the repeal of the stupidities (and worse) of, at least 1986 if not 1932, so we too can have our own fun with giggleswitches without being stupidly rich.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Christmas Wishes for 2017

It's Christmas Eve. I'll be enjoying dinner and a gift exchange in a few hours. I'd rather spend today thinking of things more in accord to the spirit of the season, so that's where I'm at; there will be other days soon enough to go on about this, that, and the other thing.

Merry Christmas, folks, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

On the off-chance that you're in the mood for it, my Wish Lists for Steam and Amazon are in the obvious tab above. Since I last updated it, I've gotten Overwatch despite not having a PC that can really run it, so folks do go there, and I'll update the others tomorrow.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

The Cult Never Read Sun Tzu

There is no major corporation in the West capable of producing quality entertainment right now that isn't converged by the SJW Death Cult to some degree, if not outright consumed by the cult and converted zombie-style into its putrescent horde of meme-disease vectors.

In a globally-connected world, competition for entertainment is not only capable by smaller actors domestically but also by large foreign actors. For me, this means that I am increasingly looking East, across the Pacific, to Japan and finding what I seek there.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, the Gundam and Macross franchises, and so very many other offerings are ready and waiting to take my time and money because they respect the audience and give them solid storytelling (most of the time) as well as the other things that Lucasfilm, Disney, Marvel, DC, the BBC, and other Western actors (now in the thrall of the SJWs) actively denigrate and destroy at every turn.

The SJWs hate me. Why should I give them my money or attention, when their competitors are more than happy to welcome me as an honored guest, be respectful of me and my wants, and offer to satisfy them at a reasonable price? Why should I tolerate the presence of SJWs when I can be in the company of people who respect me and welcome my presence? This is not a difficult concept to comprehend.

I conclude two things when SJWs not only object, but come after that they do not control: (1) they love nothing, and (2) find release only in the death of any and all things- like vampires consumed by their hunger past the point of reason. The lies, the double-downs, and the projections are the actions of a predator stalking prey before going in for the kill. This is why they pursue, seeking to spread their poz; they want to corner you, and either consume or convert you as zombies hordes do to hapless prey.

Which makes them predators that cannot be reasoned with, and therefore are a threat that must be destroyed utterly. Recognition of this fact spreads apace, and once it reaches critical mass the reversal upon them will be sweeping and epic. It is now inevitable. Once the perception of there being nowhere to run comes, that one is on Death Ground, the reversal shall hit with the fist of an angry God and that will be the beginning of the end for the cult.

Friday, December 22, 2017

The Mouse Empire Strikes Back

As we head into the Christmas weekend, it's time to check with the World Class Bullshitters crew to see what they've got to say on the performance of the Mouse Wars abomination in theaters (among other things). They don't disappoint; the first hour or so is all about that.

Remember the Electronic Arts fiasco over Battlefront II? Remember how I said that if The Last Jedi failed to meet expectations that EA would be made the scapegoat to explain it away? Well, EA executives should be shitting their pants right about now. The Mouse Emperor is not happy, and Darth Kennedy will be told by Darth Iger to handle things. You know what that means.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

SJWs Ruin Everything BY DESIGN!

Injection of political agendas into entertainment is unconscionable, and not to be tolerated. The medium affected is irrelevant.

And yes, when you get the attention of a writer for a media outlet that otherwise completely ignores tabletop gaming, and the writer also doesn't otherwise give a damn about tabletop gaming, you done fucked up.

And that means that you're going to attract the attention of people who are experts at making mockery into an art form

Why did the non-gaming media pick this up? Because the hobbyists spoke out early and often about the matter.

And that's the game that actually makes Wizards of the Coast the real money. They own Dungeons & Dragons also, and the ENTIRE tabletop RPG cateogy has been converged by SJWs for over 15 years now- and the poz has been there even longer. You better believe the same SJW bullshit is ramptant there, and far more obvious in the also-ran competitors-cum-colleagues such as Paizo Publishing (Pathfinder, Starfinder), which is easy to do when all of the people that matter can fit into my living room.

(Yes, this means that Fantasy Flight Games is also pozzed and converged. Stop giving them money.)

And, with WOTC being a SJW corporation, SJWs Always Double Down.

For D&D, there are plenty of alternatives- such as the clones of pre-WOTC D&D out there freely available by people who don't hate you. For Magic fans, you're in a bind, especially if you don't want to give money to people who hate you. At this point, you may as well go digital because there's sweet fuck-all for a non-pozzed physical alternative. (Try the Elder scrolls or Gwent games; Hearthstone isn't the only game in town.)

And no, this is not accidental. This is not an emergent phenomenon. This is by design, as the SJWs defending the defiling of Star Wars reveal with every hitpiece. SJW and Fake Geek Scott Kurtz lays it out here, and the Supreme Dark Lord spells it out that the SJWs are really just plain evil because of this fact.

And to that, I have just three words: Aku Soku Zan

Social Justice is a Death Cult. Destroy it or be destroyed by it.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Spreading Christmas Cheer By Sharing Anime Love

Christmas comes this weekend, so I think it's time for a little positivity. Below I've got some playlists to show maybe you haven't seen in years, or missed the first time around.

That's right, the series as it was in Japan- with all the Flanderizing removed.

Get on to that Double Zeta playlist first, because the Zeta playlist that used to beon on the channel is gone. Meanwhile, the Iron-Blooded Oprhans playlists, SEED, 00, and Unicorn are still there- for now. IBO and Unicorn are worth it.

And then there's this to look forward to next year. If you haven't watched or read the contributing sources, then fix that before you get this. (Looking forward to the JAM Project hot track that will be the game's theme song.)

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

It's Time To Make Our Own Mythology (Great) Again

Remember when I said this last April:

I hope that Rian didn't go that way, and that the tease we get is just that- and instead we're getting a Save Old Man From Despair arc for Rey and Luke (with she doing for him what he did for Anakin). (The rest of the arc being the restoration of the Jedi from its ethical corruption as a tool of the Senate to being a pure expression of fulfilling a mission to the Galaxy to fulfill the Will of the Force- i.e. Qui-Gon Was Right; Season Six of The Clone Wars lays that out plainly.)

Nothing will get me committed to making a fork faster than proof positive that this form of pozzing is now policy- and yes, even something so beloved as that can be forked, successfully, and made to surpass it far sooner than you'd think.

That happened. Commitment made.

Monday, December 18, 2017

Twitter Thinks Itself a Bird of Prey

As of this post, the #TwitterPurge has not nailed me- yet. Not that it's escaped my notice, as I expect this to go in waves and I am nowhere near the top of any target list. Not even a handful of steps down from the top. If I get nailed, it will be directly due to some Verified Vapid whining to Daddy Jack about me specifically due to hurt fee-fees, same as it is for most who get the banhammer.

Yes, I have backups elsewhere. I post daily to Gab and Minds in addiction to Twatter and Faceborg, usually links back to here, and I'm on Google Plus purely because of Google's ownership of Blogger. I'll amend the About tab above to provide links to the socials presently.

While I won't be abandoning Twitter, otherwise I'm not far off from Razorfist's sentiment on the matter, which I'm putting below.

And remember that Twitter only endures because Silicon Valley dumps capital into it as if it were a coal-burning steam engine on a train in motion. The instant that stops, it's only a matter of months--maybe weeks--before it's forced to shut down entirely. That's right, Twitter is a money pit. If it weren't for its position as a social media giant, it would've closed years ago like so many also-rans have.

It's hardly harmless, but it will also not have the desired result.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Sargon Does "This Week in Stupid" Live

Sargon of Akkad hit a milestone this past week. He's been doing "This Week in Stupid" for quite some time, and this series is the cornerstone of his YouTube presence. It's understandable that the audience for these videos would be a large one, but large enough to merit a live show in a lecture hall? Well, that's something else for an independent operator as he is. Whatever else you may think of him, Sargon doing this live is a big deal. Well done, Sargon. Congratulations on your accomplishment. May you review the stupidity of the world for years to come.

After a weekend of disappointment, I figured a bit of levity and appreciation would be in order, so here you go.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Geek Gab Talks Mouse Wars (& More)

While I wait on the Midnight's Edge roundtable podcast to happen and get uploaded, it's time to check in on the Geek Gab guys and see what they had to see about Mouse Wars' latest assault on decency, good taste, and proper storytelling. While not the only thing talked about today, it was the dominant presence, and you should expect what went down by now.

I will go in depth about the decisions behind this galactic-scale fraud of a film tomorrow at Empire Must Fall. For now, I say only this: this is not accidental, because nothing about movie-making is accidental; if it's in frame and on film then they want you to see it and that is deliberation made plain and simple.

And given the multiple levels of sign-off that have to happen in big-budget films, if you get pure shit like this Mouse Wars film, then you know that the head office approves of all that you see and hear. They can also predict likely reactions, which is why the SJWs in the media are out in force shilling and shaming to shore up the damaged goods they willfully put on the shelf.

And deliberation is a tell that something done wrong is not mere incompetence, but actually malevolence.

Fuck this. Go watch some good stuff instead. Japan still has corporations that understand the need to tell a good story if they want the merchandise to sell- and no, Mouse Wars merch does not.

Now that's a Space Opera with an Empire I can believe in.

Friday, December 15, 2017

"The Last Jedi" is a Dumpster Fire- Don't See It!

As of this post, the only people loving this film are shills, fools, and folks under contract with Disney or Lucasfilm. The rest of the world sees this film for the steaming pile of shit that it is. They don't know how bad it really is, something I'll go on at length about this Sunday at Empire, but for now I'll start with the World Class Bullshitters and their dunking on this film. Get your popcorn and make yourself comfortable, because this ifs going to be a hell of a ride.

This movie is a goddamn dumpster fire. It's such a failure of fundamental elements of storytelling that anyone who has any acumen at storytelling cannot unsee how badly this film's narrative is put together. This film violates every single piece of storytelling craft that there is, and as such it cannot help but to fail at its purported purpose.

Knowing how this business works, it will open big. If it is not #1 in the US by the time the weekend box office take gets totaled and tallied, that will be the first tell that this film is a failure. (More likely is that its domestic run will fail to hit the box office revenue targets set for it by Lucasfilm and Disney, which will have to be made up with foreign box office receipts or high-level executives will not get their year-end bonus- and that's something that makes heads roll in that world.

Once was a fuckup. Twice was incompetence. Thrice? Willful stupidity at best, and I don't think it's the best scenario.

Fuck Mouse Wars. Fuck it, sideways, with a shovel covered in shit and burrs right up its ass. Don't see this film. Don't see any other Mouse Wars films. Don't buy ANY Mouse Wars merchandise. Don't buy Mouse Wars games--tabletop or otherwise--and don't buy any tie-in media. Walk Away!

It is now obvious that Star Wars must be forked away from this pozzed piece of shit. This is not just sanctioned fan fiction; it's "My Immortal" levels of crap. We have the tools now to do it all ourselves, and then to distribute it far and wide, so why not do it? Hell, we can even pay bills doing this, and we can do it legally- just look at the incredible success of the Galaxy's Edge series of novels. More of that, and stuff like it, from others also, will come soon enough.

And as I allude to above, I sense something worse than simple incompetence at work. Watch for Empire on Sunday.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

The Mouse Empire Expands

The Midnight's Edge crew had another podcast for the After Dark show late last night. Here is that podcast for your convenience.

The big deal here is the segment regarding the sale of 21st Century Fox to Disney. Barring Federal intervention, this move will only reinforce the Mouse Empire. As the Supreme Dark Lord notes, Disney is a SJW corporation and Fox was already amenable if not converged itself so the Narrative will be mandated in all of its subsidiaries- and that likely will come forth first in the form of personnel changes meant to remove obstacles and install cultists. Expect the cultural hijacking now obvious with Star Wars to become apparent in Fox titles going forward.

I know the crew will go into the Fox-Disney deal more in-depth this weekend, but for now let me say this: this is a level of corporate power over popular culture that other culture industry powers wish that they had. One corporation now owns outright, or has a controlling interest over, several world-dominant properties- properties that have shaped human (not just Western, or American) culture in the last 50+ years. Properties that--as the aforementioned Star Wars example shows--will be subordinated to the needs of the SJW Death Cult and its masters.

Disney has too much power. No, neither Congress nor the courts will do a damned thing; they're the cucks who obediently change copyright law whenever Steamboat Willie is about to fall into the Public Domain, and then affirm it in court decisions. The God-Emperor has more pressing matters to address. That means it's on us, and we have ONE recourse: to walk away.

Fortunately, we don't need Disney to sell us our own mythology back to us. We made our own before, and we can do it again now- and we should have been doing so all along. Specialization is for insects, and the atomization we experience is in large part due to over-emphasis on specialization such that we don't participate in creating our own culture anymore. Now that the means to fix this are at-hand, this trend is (slowly) reverting to the historical norm, but not without resistance both within and without.

If you let someone else tell you your story, they will tell it to their benefit- not yours. That's what's happening here. They want you to ignore the forsaken child that makes Omelas possible. Walk away.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Midnight's Edge Groks the Malaise: Mythology

The crew got together and put down another episode of the After Dark podcast for Midnight's Edge on the 11th, talking about all of the news out of Hollywood.

There is one matter of note in this podcast that comes up when they discuss the upcoming Spider-Man animated film, and that's how the superhero movie market is saturated. It turns out that the conceptual space for superhero movies is smaller than that for comics, such that attempts to make both in-franchise and out-of-franchise films for a character (as this aforementioned animated film does) are doomed to fail. (Hint: Peter Parker IS Spider-Man, and Marvel's finding out the hard way that they can't undo that fact.)

Saturation for intellectual property is perception-based more than anything else. Again pointing to the comics industry in the US, the fact is that both Marvel and DC--for decades--have tried to work around the saturation problem by ignoring it. Multiple books about the same damned character(s) or group(s) can and does lead to brand confusion, and therefore IP confusion, that becomes a barrier to entry for new readers (and customers) that cuts off growth over time.

And, in a repeat of history, it seems that film and TV executives are trying to do the same thing and expect different results- and have been for a little while now. (It's not for nothing that the Kids TV show versions are significantly different from both comics and the adult TV/Film offerings, to date, and only succeeded partially in avoiding the problem.)

Allow me to put my Religious Studies hat on.

Fundamentally, the problem is incompetence. The incompetence stems from failure to comprehend what they are working with. The IP holders think they need to tell stories in order to get the audience to buy the merchandise that is the real money-maker. They're not correct because they fail to comprehend that "telling stories" isn't the whole job; a few get that this is mythology, but even that is not sufficient comprehension as shown in their actions, because they don't get what mythology is either.

Mythology is the narrative that a nation tells itself to itself about itself and the world it dwells within. It is the heart of religion, and therefore inherently religious, because religion cannot fulfill its lawful function within a nation without it.

And religion, therefore, has at its heart the duty of performance because of the need for narrative. I'm not talking about everyday living, ethical codes, etc.; I'm talking about ritual. Mythology has power because it serves a real human need; it allows individuals to re-experience the formative experiences of generations past, in a controlled form, and thereby re-create the circumstances that put forth the revelations of past generations and bring them back to life--to immediacy in individual perspectives--so celebrants may be transformed by those revelatory experiences in turn (and, therefore, arrive at the same conclusions).

Everything about secular entertainment and related areas that relies on Narrative stems from religion and its Sacred Drama ritual function. And I do mean everything: theater, poetry, music, prose, public speaking, journalism, advertising, marketing, public relations, film, television, etc. are all derivative from (and can trace its power and roots from) Sacred Drama.

If you do not understand performance as ritual, then you do not understand mythology and narrative, and any attempt to succeed in such thing as commercial endeavors is going to fail- it's just a matter of how and why.

And if you do understand this, then you can tell the difference between incompetence and malevolence. The latter is Narrative Warfare. The former is what Midnight's Edge often complains about. (And I expect I will have plenty to say about the warfare this weekend.)

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

New Super Robot Wars Game Coming Next Year

I loved the hell out of Super Robot Wars V, so when this came to my attention my hype gland went into overdrive.

This should be a fantastic game. If the same care to narrative synthesis I saw with V is here, then I expect one hell of a wargame experience. Just tell me that JAM Project is doing the theme song again, and I am all ready to hunt this down and do the dance required to get the special stuff that I know will be present as bonus material.

Yeah, this is me being all hyped about a game that's months away and will likely have some Engrish issues when released, but I don't care. Yeah, this series is a square grid wargame with a narrative attached. I don't care. Yeah the animations get repetitive over time; so is the case for the Shining Force games of yesteryear and I loved those. I know I'm not the only one who'll be watching out for this one next Spring.

And as for you writer folks, pay attention: this series makes its money on mashups of all sorts and at multiple levels. You want to figure out how to execute such things? Read up on this at the TV Tropes entry on the series; they're masters, and thus worthy of learning from.

Monday, December 11, 2017

World Class Bullshitters: Spoilers for "The Last Jedi"

I have no problem with spoilers. Indeed, I prefer them; they let me know in advance if anything I'm interested in is actually worth spending my time and money. I have avoided a lot of utterly shit stuff over the years, andt looks like this will also be one I won't care to try seeing. The World Class Bullshitters are here to save your wallet, your sanity, and your good taste.

In short, not only is it a rehash of The Empire Strikes Back, it (like its predecessor) is an inferior copy. We've seen the shilling to push this before, and--however I may like Daisy Ridley as an individual--I can now mark these bullshit shill reports as a tell of how crap the movie is. The Mouse did what Lucas could not. Mary Suewalker is the real Dark Lord here.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

My Life as a Gamer: Raiding is Bowling Night for Gamers

I took my main character in World of Warcraft on a pick-up group's raid, lead by a Twitch streamer that I am a moderator for, of the new (and final for Legion) raid: Antorus, The Burning Throne. We ran it on Normal Difficulty, and about three hours later we cleared it. We didn't run into raid-wiping issues until the final two bosses, but nonetheless we got it done and cleared the raid. (Heroic wasn't so good; got the first boss down, gave up after a few wipes on the Hounds due to fatigue.)

I expect that I'll clear Antorus on Heroic well before its sell-by date of relevance hits, and enjoy the Heroic (Mythic too, but I don't raid Mythic) reward of a purple bird mount that flies. (Remember the special moose mount from Hellfire Citadel? Same idea.) In the meanwhile, a few more clears of Normal should get my main geared enough to make Heroic my difficulty of choice to do thereafter.

The reason? Instead of beating my head against a wall three nights a week, I do it with a bunch of goofs on a Friday night while yakking it up all beer-and-pretzels style instead of Serious Business. If you're not Method, or one of the handful of other raid teams that eat their dust, going all Serious Business isn't worthwhile. One night, clearing it, is fine. This is a game played for fun, just like neighborhood bowling leagues are, and not Professional Bowling's MMORPG counterpart.

If want a second job, I'll go get one; so long as I read the Dungeon Guide, follow the raid leader, and use the proper consumables I should be able to clear Normal weekly this fast and eventually do the same for Heroic. (Mythic is Serious Business, so let them poopsock it.) In short, if you want Serious Business then cut me a fucking check for $50K+benefits a year and don't bitch at me for taking two weeks off a year.

That's the difference between bitchwork and challenge. I'm plenty capable of handling the raid, subject to technical limits, but I despise the bitchwork that is still too-often considered (falsely) necessary. I don't need to spend endless hours reading or viewing boss guides when all I need to know is what I hit, what to avoid, and otherwise listen for the Raid Leader or Main Assist to call out what I need to do. The rest is all in having my consumables on hand, my macros on my bars, and my gear properly gemmed and enchanted.

Raiding is bowling. Not Serious Business. If you can't do this while having a cold one with the boys and eating some nachos, you're doing it wrong.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Spreading the Disease: It's Okay in California

California is not a place to live anymore. Shit like this is why. The state government is deliberately making the state a more dangerous place to live; there is no way they don't know that these measures will increase public mortality and decrease public health and safety. Remember the August Ames case the other day? That was in California, where this is going on. Still think she had no valid reason to refuse? If so, you're are pants-on-head fucking retarded and deserve to be ripped apart by zombies. The Federal Government needs to step in and put down this insanity, on the grounds of National Security. I'll let Mister Metokur take it from here.

Time to put down this degeneracy, hard, and add the whiners into the pot. There is no reason to resist any push to identify those engaging in such deliberate undermining of public health and safety, remove them by force, and quarantine them until they either die of their plague or are found guilty of sedition (because that's what this is: the deliberate undermining of National Security) and then summarily executed.

Friday, December 8, 2017

We Don't Need No Stinking Statues: Fuck The Game Awards

The Game Awards were last night. If you missed them, and you want to waste over three hours of your life, I got you fam, but let's talk about how much of a shitshow dumpster fire they really were. This wasn't an award show. It was a shillfest that handed out trinkets here and there to avoid unwanted attention. While the awards were not a SJW shitfest, they were still laughable and now I hand this over to Razorfist and his rant against the Dorito Pope's personal insult to gaming.

End the Dorito Pope and this farce of an awards show. A game still unfinished was up for Game of the Year (Player Unknown's Battlegrounds), and Fake Games (walking simulators) actually got considered. That's not a legitimate award show; that's a big ad fest fraudulently calling itself an award show. Fortunately, for now, sufficient need to disguise this fact remains that actual games more-or-less won the awards offered and Fake Games got the cold shoulder.

But, nonetheless, this truth remains: Gaming Needs No Awards. Just as narrative is completely unnecessary, so is handing out plaques and statutes. The real awards are in sales figures and features stolen for future projects; the failures litter the landscape, having been undone by being full of suck, blow, and fail. Victory is the only award that matters, and its token of achievement actually has real power: continued growth and dominance.

Burn it all to ash, and start by lighting the Dorito Pope ablaze. The sooner this cancer gets burned out, the better gaming will be.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Narrative Warfare: The Death-By-Bullycide of August Ames

August Ames was a porn star. She killed herself a few days ago. In his irreverent manner, Mister Metokur covers the matter.

The matter is simple to comprehend. Ames refused to work with an actor who also worked in homosexual porn scenes. The actor did not live up to the medical scrutiny that she--and men who work strictly heterosexual--are required to endure, pass, and maintain. The gay male end of the business plays by laxer rules, with known and predictable consequences in terms of disease- risks Ames did not wish to take, and rightly so.

For this stance, which she took public, she received an endless barrage of abuse until it drove her to suicide. This abuse came from virtue-signalling Progressives, firming adhering to the SJW Swarm Attack playbook until they got what they wanted. While they then went to cover their asses, they also maintained their Narrative Warfare positions justifying their gaslighting and mental abuse that resulted in their targets literal demise- an act that often had a hint of ghoulish glee to it.

I care not your opinion on pornography because that is not the issue. The issue is that someone got driven to suicide because she stood up against unsafe working conditions, conditions that posed a clear and present danger to her life, and because she asserted her right to control over such conditions those who claim to be her peers, allies, and advocates turned traitor on her and virtually stabbed her to death. Julius Caesar would pity such a woman, and he suffered such a literal backstabbing that it's still remembered to this day.

Those people who drove her to madness and death committed murder as surely as if they re-enacted Caesar's assassination. Every last one of them should be arrested, held for trial, extradited if necessary to a location guaranteed to provide a fair trial (because California is clearly not competent to do so) and made to account for their actions in a Federal court of law. Let them see the inside of something truly unpleasant--a Federal penitentiary, and not Club Fed--and rue the day that they decided to mind-rape a woman to death because of wrong-think.

The Mouse Star Aims at the Fox Sector (& Last Jedi Talk)

I had my Pearl Harbor Day moment for the year back in August, when my Great Uncle Kenneth Holm returned from that place to be interred at Ft. Snelling National Cemetary, where his older brother--my maternal grandfather--as well as my father are also interred. You can find those posts here and here. I have no desire to repeat myself, so I shan't.

Instead, I'll bring to your attention the latest Midnight's Edge podcast, where the crew discusses Fox wanting to sell out to the Mouse and join the Disney Empire. There's also a new World Class Bullshitters episode. Both are embedded below; I will talk about them at some length this weekend.

I do wonder one thing: Do the men who fought in that war think that today's world is the one they fought for, no matter the side, and if not then when (and how) did it all go wrong?

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Razorfist Does Film Noir: Double Indemnity

Razorfist begins a new video essay series with his video on Double Indemnity, the Film Noir classic that broke the genre open and paved the way for so many others to imitate. Go on, watch it, preferably with the blinds drawn- but open.

I continue to be impressed at how well Razorfist does these videos. I'm not alone in finding an urge to locate a copy of the film to watch after this video, and I look forward to the rest of his Film Noir videos in the future. Looking back at his Action Cinema series will reveal how well he's developed as a presenter over the recent years, both in his acumen and in his production capacity. He's come a long way, and now I would rather watch him than any professional pablum out of E! or A&E or any other of the decaying cable networks.

Good God, this is good enough to merit--straight, no chaser--nomination for far more than a Dragon next year. Professional TV and film awards that have an amateur category should throw him a nod; it's that good. Rock on, Razorfist. You've truly come into your own, and I am glad to be along for the ride.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

You Want To Catch This Live! Metro City Boys #60: Navel Duty

The Metro City Boys are ending their 2017 with a real hot episode. The Lord High Admiral of the Aggressive Navel Squadron, Mark Kern himself, will be the guest this coming Sunday on the podcast. You do NOT want to miss this one, so set yourself a reminder and make time for prime goof.

You know we're going to see some talk about "World of Warcraft: Classic" now that Blizzard confirmed that it will become a thing this past BlizzCon about a month ago. Kern championed this, so hearing his take on the matter is a big reason to tune in. The other will be hearing where he's at on his own current projects such as EM-8ER

So since I've been asked to throw some questions in, here's what I'd like to see addressed:

  • Regarding what Blizzard now calls "WOW Classic": To what extent, despite recent publish acknowledgement, can Blizzard deliver a Classic server option that actually is the original game as it was before The Burning Crusade? What technical challenges do they face? What business challenges do they face?
  • Is it truly desirable to have a purest recreation of the Vanilla experience, flaws and all, instead of making a Classic game whose mechanics are familiar but actually allows for things that were not viable then to be so (e.g. Paladins that are not siloed into healing at 60)?
  • What is the size of the potential audience for Classic, and how much deviation from the game as it will be tolerated without turning off a critical mass of that audience?

I'm sure you have questions of your own. Show up, get in chat, and be ready to fire them off. This Sunday will be awesome.

Monday, December 4, 2017

Narrative Warfare: Fake Media on Parade

I am not surprised. Fake Media promoting Fake Journalism by Fake Journalists writing Fake Articles about Fake Games by Fake Gamers and boosted by other Fake Geeks.

It's fraud on top of fraud on top of fraud with a side of fraud. Just add fake outrage to complete the shit sandwich.

And this is hardly the worst of it. The Game Awards are another cavalcade of cunty crap. Fake Awards by Fake Gamers (who push Fake Games whenever they can) presented by Fake Geeks to push Fake Media who promote Fake Narratives for Fake Reasons. Nothing real there but the fraud itself.

And that's just the most obvious examples. Then we get assertions that buying hardware is a micro-transaction, which is pants-on-head retarded and demonstrates that these Fake Geek Media sorts truly are incompetent and ignorant- willfully so. Running them out is the most merciful thing that can happen now; making examples of them is now in order, because lesser corrective means are not working, so start digging (if you aren't already; /pol/ and /v/, I hope you're on this already) and when you find their skeletons let them out good and loud. It's Chicago Rules now, so let them feel it.

And yes, by their admitted use of Information Warfare to gaslight their way to victory, they started it. Finish it, permanently.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

My Life in Fandom: Spreading The Love on Anisong Adaptors

For folks who are into the fan music scene, the names I'm about to drop are old news. For the rest of us, this is something of interest- if not new entirely.

I like finding well-done English adaptations of Japanese music original made for film, television, or videogames. (i.e. "anison" or "anisong") One guy I found and immediately too a liking to is Johnathan Young, who does covers of Disney tunes as well as as anisong adaptations. This is one of the two songs I use to introduce Young to others:

Comparing Young's cover to JAM Project's original reveals just how well his adaptation of "The Hero" is, and that's seen again when you compare his cover of Attack On Titan's first opening theme--"Guren no Yumiya"--to his adaptation and cover of it. Young is the real deal, and that's why I don't mind him shilling his Patreon account at t the end of every video of his.

But what about the ladies? You can't love the hell out of Yoko Kanno and her collaborators without wanting to find some women who can do what Young can do, even if you do learn Japanaese so you can comprehend the original versions. There may be others out there who measure up, but so far only AmaLee has come to my attention. You can see it here, with her cover of "Cruel Angel's Thesis":

I wish I saw more stuff like this on the Anglophonic singing competitions because it's worked in Peru and Thailand, but I think that some of that is due to legal constraints and the rest is due to the producers being more concerned with commercialization than the legal concerns. (Which may explain the lack of rock covers also, compared to--say--Germany or Russia.)

I want to find more of these people; some of them already show up in the sidebars of Young and AmaLee's videos at YouTube, but discoverability is still shit, and that means that Word of Mouth is still paramount. You know what to do folks: name names and drop links in the comments. Let's spread the love.

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Marvel & DC: Learn From Them How to (Not) Run Brand-Based IP Businesses

Earlier this week I posted the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War. Naturally, the channels about the business that I follow would also talk about it in their podcasts and you folks ought to hear it for yourselves. (Note for the World Class Bullshitters podcast: you can bail after they stop talking about Marvel and DC.)

I hope that you pay attention to their talk about the business considerations driving these film franchises. It's clear that the folks at DC are incompetent twats while the folks at Marvel are (for now) not dumber than a box of rocks. (However, the poz seems to be seeping in there, as the follow-ups to the Infinity War arc have the signs of SJW bullshit being all over it and--however faithful to the source material it is--Black Panther cannot shake the constant and significant derision of being "WE WUZ KANGZ: DA MOVIE!" (Fair or not, that's how it's getting seen out there.)

Following on from a previous Midnight's Edge video on why non-Marvel cinematic universes routinely fail, we see another piece of the puzzle become brick-to-the-face obvious: producer-centric editorial control, returning the Old Hollywood practice of studio moguls being the shot-callers to a new context with a new justification for doing so. We see this sort of thing being behind how Lucasfilm runs their film franchise also, as Kathleen Kennedy is not afraid to remind directors that they are hired guns doing Work For Hire and not true partners working as collaborators.

In short, directors and writers are hired to produce a branded product possessing their signature style within editorial limits. Lucasfilm wants a Star Wars-branded product version of (director)'s style, in the genre said director is famous for and reliably delivers to market. The same applies to Marvel, and when directors realize what their limits are within such considerations they actually don't seem to mind too much; the same applies to writers, most of whom know that the realities of the business drive things like changing a character from the source material depiction to something more market-friendly (e.g. Doctor Strange and The Ancient One), so they keep calm and carry on.

The folks who are failing are those that cannot admit that this is the case and adjust their personal and corporate operations to adapt to reality. DC can't do this, and neither can Warner Brothers more generally, which is why Marvel (and Disney) are eating their lunch. Learning how to operate a fictional setting as a brand-based business is turning into a vital skill to have for IP-based businesses such as comics, but this does scale down to the realm of SF/F publishing- but for the authors, not the publishers, so it does matter for folks who manage to find an audience with their fictional works (e.g. Larry Correia an Monster Hunter International) to pay attention to these matters going forward.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Deathwish: The Sign That Things Are NOT Okay

Remember when Razorfist did a big old series review of the classic Deathwish series of films? I do. If you haven't, see below as to why they (and the videos he did on them) are so good.

The original film came at a time when the social fabric of the United States frayed dangerously thin, so it is no surprise to me that someone decided to take a shot at a remake when those same conditions returned. The remake stars Bruce Willis in the role that Charles Bronson did so well, and it's clear that some elements got changed to account for this go-around of civil decay (and I'm sensing the usual anti-gun bullshit) but that's beside the point.

In light of yesterday's decision acquitting the self-confessed killer of Katie Steinle in San Francisco, the remake comes into a social environment where identity politics have already perverted justice into tribal displays of power, which only makes things worse.

If the God-Emperor doesn't get the lawlessness under control soon, actual vigilantism is inevitable because there will be no other choice. That's the one thing the films make clear, especially the original: Kersey does what he does because he sees no other choice, it takes its toll, and he doesn't get away unscathed. Expect those same points in the remake, hopefully with little or no added SJW bullshit.

And you will tell by the reaction when the hype campaign hits as to where the mood leads (and how likely the film will meet its expectations). Fortunately, the last time around things turned away from total disaster before it couldn't be averted at all; now is more dangerous, primarily due to the greater speed by which things develop and change. The fact that this movie is coming again is a tell that things are NOT okay, and the wise should heed this as a warning accordingly.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Narrative Warfare: Why Gaming Isn't (and Trumps) Narrative

Gaming is not about narrative.

This is something a lot of incompetents in gaming fail to comprehend, especially Fake Journalists working for Fake Media. They fail to comprehend this because they don't know where gaming comes from.

There is no need for narrative in gaming; all you need, at most, is context for taking action. The tropes of narrative do not apply, never applied, and never will apply. Their presence inevitably means that someone thinks that telling a story must occur; it doesn't, and excising a narrative from a game will not destroy the game- it always improves it.

A game is about a player, put in a situation, provided with limited resources, and given an objective. How he goes about that is his problem, which is the tell: gaming, ultimately, is about problem-solving. The differences arise from changes in situations, resources, and objectives. Tactical vs. Strategic, vs. Environment instead of vs. Player (older than you think), abstract vs. concrete, etc. are all expressions of how these variations manifest in the games we create and play- regardless of the medium.

This is also how and why optimization occurs; at some point, the whole of the game becomes a solved problem, at which point the lawful purpose (training) is achieved because you now have an objective rubric to use when assessing a trainee's progress in mastering the lessons offered by the game.

Just as with sport, games are peacetime entertainment meant to take the energies and impulses useful for war and channel them into something that maintains the acumen while preventing undesired destruction of that friendly environment. (Something that politics fails to achieve, being war by another name far more often than not.) Narrative has no place in this purpose.

That this insistence to the contrary persists shows a perversion of gaming to corrupt--even nefarious--ends, often by parties for whom gaming itself is a sore spot due to repeated failure. The insertion of narrative in commercial gaming in particular is suspect because of what is done in the name of narrative, leading to concepts such as "Gamification" that corrupt the gaming technology for purposes of social engineering in the service of supporting a political narrative: training populations, Skinner-style, to conform to an ideology.

And yes, that is what Gamification always leads to: indoctrination by hostile cults into self-destructive behaviors for the benefit of said cults and their backers. (You can tell by the projection evident by the attacks made on gaming; what they accuse gaming of is what they desire to use it for.)

And as we see, once those pushing for the inclusion of narrative begin doing so, they use narrative to justify their push and make more gains- until their warfare is defeated by superior acumen. Once you get gamers mad, they will find out how to beat you- and then do it, handedly, because narrative only works if you listen. Games work even if your deaf, dumb, and blind. Games are Reals Over Feels, and Narrative is the opposite (however true it is), and Reality Trumps Fantasy every single time.

And the end of this insistence--something even retarded children learn not to do--on including an alien element where it does not belong is coming, once those losers who go with it to cover for their failures finally get run out or run over and are gone for good.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

It's Here! The First Infinity War Trailer

The beginning of the end for the MCU has arrived.

And I fully expect every actor who looks too old for the dance to have their character very permanently killed off. This two-parter, like its comicbook predecessor, is going to be an apocalyptic bloodbath.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Narrative Warfare: A Media Rant

The media is about narrative.

This is fine when you're talking about entertainment, because the point of fiction is to entertain the audience. They want a story, so you tell them a story, and if you know what you're doing you deliver the story that the audience wants as the audience wants that story told. (Note: I exclude gaming here, for reasons I will explain--again--later this week.)

This is fraud when you're talking about non-fiction. The purpose of non-fiction is to inform the audience. They want facts that they can rely upon as verified to be true. They want those facts as they relate to a specific topic, be it as everyday as the quality of a new tabletop or videogame, or as important as the policy implications of a Federal regulation proposal. This is not the time to tell a story, in whole or in part; dealing in narrative is not only unethical, unprofessional, and immoral, it crosses over into Theft By Deception (i.e. fraud) because you actively and willfully choose to advance your agenda at the expense of the public good.

The problem, however, is not that the problem is pervasive. The problem is that it is institutional, and has been since some psychopath first appreciated the power of mythology to control what people believe, and therefore what people can and will act upon.

The purpose of religion, and thus mythology, is so a nation can explain itself to itself across generations and thus maintain not only a distinct identity (and its perspective) but also be able to usefully function in the world by providing a framework for action both great and small. A true religion squares with reality while simplfying it for the majority while allowing--even guiding--growth towards a maturity of culture that permits full engagement with that complexity, much as a good father simplfies for his children until they are ready to handle the fullness of life's complexity.

The perversion of religion comes when the narratives necessarily formed as part of that simplification get converged for the benefit of the psychopath and his allies at the expense of the people as a whole, turning the institution of religion away from its lawful role as a tool to serve and benefit a nation and towards the perpetuation of the perverts' power over them. Since then, we've had an ongoing issue with psychopaths and their successors corrupting religion to use as a fulcrum of leverage to gain and keep power over others, and reformers seeking to cleanse religion of that filth.

Then came mass media, and now those same sorts see a new--secular--avenue to the same ends as religion. Control over information is control over thought, so it is no surprise that as mass media matured technologically and as a business they sought to pervert it also for their ends. Starting with the first World War, the modern Public Relations field emerged as the fulfillment of that promise and the Narrative Warfare we deal with daily began in earnest.

But, as I said above, the media is about narrative. That's ALL of it. The reality shows push narratives; they aren't real, they aren't sincere, and the competitions are routinely fixed. The sports shows and leagues push narratives, and I'm unsure if the seasons are fixed or not. Yes, ALL such sports. Yes, even in your country. The news isn't news; under the law, it's entertainment, and as such has no obligation to do anything but avoid defamation (in practice, against those able to bring suit successfully)- it need not inform at all. We don't just have Fake News. We have Fake Media.

Fake in that it does not perform its lawful purpose, but rather is converged to serve the ends of the psychopaths and followers thereof instead. As with any such situation, the media institutions now serve themselves first and only- the people be damned. As far as they are concerned, the people are only good for fodder anyways, so treating them as cattle is only befitting. Herd them and use them until it's time to cull them.

And, as lurid as conspiracy is, this is not conspiracy. This is Groupthink.

You have a class that thinks and believes alike. It's a cult in all but name, and cults--defacto and dejure--are nothing more than religions writ small. Religions--true and false alike--run off mythologies that make the world simple enough for the adherents to function within it to useful ends. The media is in the hands of a cult, a massive cult, that hates its audience and seeks their annihilation.

Well, at least it is so in the West. The East? I cannot say, but I doubt that they're any better overall.

Fortunately, for now, we are in a position where burning the media to ashes and dust only to replace them with new alternatives that actually fulfill the necessary functions is viable and already happening. It is my hope that remembering how this went wrong before will prevent it from happening again. Kill the cultists before they seize control and you never need worry about your media (or your religion) losing its way.

Monday, November 27, 2017

The Mouse Star Looms Over Planet EA

Yesterday, I said that if The Last Jedi opens below expectations then EA should expect to be used by Disney as the scapegoat. Today, the World Class Bullshitters have this to add to the wider Star Wars discussion. EA execs on suicide watch.

Yes, the Mouse expected the sequel to do better than the first film in their trilogy. They ignored the declining regard for the first tilm over the nearly two years since The Force Awakens. Right now, those executives at EA are as Krennic in Rogue One just before the Death Star vaped him and the archival facility he stood atop of off the face of the planet.

(Anyone whining about spoilers gets spammed.)

Or better, Bob Iger sending over his right-hand man to deliver the bad news to EA's brass in person.

This is what happens when you fuck with the Mouse. You get made into examples for others. By this time next year, expect the relationship between Disney, Lucasfilm, and EA to be significantly--if not radically--different. The Mob is kinder to fuckups.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

EA's Lootbox Fiasco Will Reach Far Beyond Itself

The lootbox issue with Electronic Arts will have consequences that go far beyond that company. Not only will all videogames be affected, all gaming will be affected. The various governments across the world looting to place regulations or bans on lootboxes by proclaiming them to be a form of slot-machine gambling (which they are), directly affects other genres of game whose business model rests on this concept.

The Collectable Card Game (e.g. Magic: The Gathering) genre is going to get nailed, maybe even destroyed, by these pending government decrees. A booster pack of random cards is the basis for the entire business model, and power is directly tied to card rarity, making the game Pay To Win as well as slot-based gambling; some games ameliorate this by a secondary mechanism that allows players to recycle duplicates into desired cards but that's usually confined to virtual CCGs (e.g. Hearthstone). Tabletop CCGs will get destroyed, and a few see the writing on the wall; they're shifting to a different model that removes the gambling.

Not that I lament the loss of lootboxes and everything like them. They're a goddamn cancer and I will be glad to see them gone.

The game industry, across all media, will have to retreat and retrench once the bans go through and the uniformed men with guns standby for order to shoot the shit out of non-compliant parties. Since most people don't want to die by being ripped apart via rifle fire, especially craven greedy cowards like EA's executives, we can confidently expect a global shift in business practice back to (for videogames) more like the PS2 era (and for tabletop, before CCGs), and we can expect it because that will be easier than wasting time and resources fighting it in court or lobbying against it in legislatures.

Especially as word spreads of how Disney called up EA and read them the Riot Act over this matter. The Mouse will take EA's heads if The Last Jedi opens below expectations, using them as the scapegoat without mercy or hesitation. No matter what, EA's going to hit a regime change presently; it's not down to a matter of scope and scale. The fallout from this fiasco will, overall, be a positive change as all the Pay To Win fake games get neutered or destroyed regardless of genre and the fake gamers who play the toll to fast-track to Real Ultimate POWAH! go with them. That's good for everyone but the fakers, and they can go fuck themselves with rusted shovels covered in shit and burrs.

The reactions as this rolls out will be telling. Take note of those crying for the loss of ways to avoid Gittin' Gud as the sole path to victory, as well as those who cannot release a solid, complete game at launch to save their worthless lives. Note them, and shun them like they're leper zombies with alien embryos in their chests waiting to burst forth. This is good news to we who hate bitchwork in gaming, as lootboxes were just the latest iteration of it; kill it--all of it- with nuclear fire.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Game Design: Bitchwork Isn't Gameplay

This episode of All-Craft, a World of Warcraft podcast, talks about Project 60 and Classic servers. The reason I'm putting it here is to talk about game design using a well-known game as an easy example, so don't panic if you're not into MMOs or WOW in particular.

The take-away points is that the MMORPG medium works best when it incentivizes the formation and participation in a community, but the medium over the decades had issues figuring out what that is. Each MMO, and each iteration of each MMO, changes where that point is and often with undesired effects that impact gameplay.

The challenge now is that the MMORPG player base is not high school and college students. They are adults with responsibilities that demand a lot of their time. The result is that things that are tedious, but not challenging, became business liabilities and the only sane solution is to identify and exterminate bitchwork in MMOs.

The bitchwork has to go, and the gameplay challenges have to be entirely based on player skill- the mastery of one's character and the ability to execute solutions properly. This means removing things like buff spells and items as relevant things required to be part of community-driven group content. (Seriously; it's not in tabletop.)

If MMOs were truly faithful adaptations of proper tabletop play, I wouldn't complain about the logistics of consumables. They're not, so it's not an interesting element of gameplay; MMOs are Tactical, not Strategic, so anything logistical isn't fun at that level- it's tedious bitchwork that only ads a barrier to entry that has no right to be there. The gameplay is in solving the tactical puzzle of the encounter, not in managing the strategic puzzle of defeating the opposition forces at that strategic location in order to advance the campaign towards its successful conclusion.

You can see similar bitchwork bothers in other game forms. Look, it's this simple: take a critical eye to your gameplay paradigm, put a cleaver in your hand, and hack off everything that distracts from it. No one likes bitchwork, no one appreciates bitchwork, and no one values bitchwork. Cut that cancer from your games early, and stay vigilant that it doesn't come back.

Friday, November 24, 2017

We Are Not the Mall to the World

Fuck this shillfest non-holiday for a game of soldiers.

I despise the commercialization of holidays. A time meant for family and community increasingly atomizes both by yoking commerce to things where commerce does not apply. The utterly appalling behavior of people clamoring into retail stores to rush for cheap goods never fails to disappoint me, and that's why I often ensure that I go nowhere and do nothing on this day of the year. I've seen this degenerate behavior go on long enough that I now see why people clamor for government regulation of the event; this is madness, and it will only get worse until it is made to stop.

The United States is not the world's shopping mall. Few understand this, especially many "Americans". We are a nation unto ourselves, with a separate and distinct culture, and failure to honor it is part of the present problem. If it will not be honored by voluntary assent, then it shall be by force of arms via the State. Again, few understand this. Pick your own damn cotton.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

There's Love Songs, and There's Nuns Singing Love Songs.

It's Thanksgiving Day in the United States today. As I write this post, dinner's making its way from preparation to table, and I shall be thankful for a well-cooked meal at home with family. There's plenty to be thankful fore this year, much of it stemming from the shockwave caused by the Ascension of the God-Emperor last year, but not all of it. One such thing? I am thankful for Italian nuns singing Alicia Keys better than Alicia does.

I neither know nor care how well that woman did on Italy's version of The Voice after this performance. She won a prize far greater than the show could possibly award her just by making that blind audition happen. That's a thing I'm thankful for, and I hope she goes on to make joyful noises in service to God and the Church for decades after this.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

STEM or GTFO: Academia is a Cult Outside the STEM Fields

What you're about to see below is Sargon of Akkad covering the insanity in Canada's universities, as addressed by Jordan Peterson and then relating the implementation of this cultist mental abuse of students who dare dissent against Zir Leaders' Satanic Writ.

As every account of academic cultism reveals, this comes out of the Humanities fields. Specifically, the various (X) Studies fields, from which this ideological disease spreads like a cancer. That what we're witnessing here is nothing more than the Cultural Revolution Redux--Struggle Sessions and all--shows the Marxist roots of the SJW Cult ideology and therefore its mentality. As an honest historian, I cannot go along with the incessant revisionism (often without the slightest attempt to present independently-verifiable evidence) that this cult--and it is a cult--demands on pain of death.

These wanna-be Necromongers, these soy-saturarated secular Jihadis, have so damaged American, Canadian, and British universities (etc.; see South Africa for a painful example) that outside of the hardest of STEM fields they are no longer fit for purpose and should be destroyed. Yes, including the medical and law schools. (Especially the law schools.) Burn them to ash, then salt the ruins. It's that far gone.

(We can, and will, replace them with alternatives that actually fulfill their lawful purpose; Mentor-Student networks predate universities, and are the bedrock of that system, so guess where we start rebuilding. Apprenticeships once included law and medicine; these too need to be revived, and inevitably will as the converged institutions reveal their incompetence in their graduates.)

Therefore, do not send your children to university unless they must to attain a STEM degree, and furthermore you must maintain your vigilance over them during their time on campus lest the cult try to zombify your precious ones into being drones for their Satanic cause. Until the universities are purged, it's "STEM or GTFO"- and I say this as a Humanities academic who quit that life because it got so bad.

Each and every one of these SJW academics lie, cheat, and defraud for the explicit purpose of advancing their political cult. (See the gaslighting going on in the video.) That is fraud by definition. Committing fraud for the purpose of advancing a political agenda that directly undermines the State or the Nation it serves is sedition. Citizens--bound by a legal obligation of loyalty--who commit sedition are guilty of treason. Treason cannot be tolerated. The State is within its rights to suppress the SJW Cult, and if the State refuses to do so then the Nation is within its rights to do it itself. As non-cultists seize power the State shall do so with increasing degrees of effectiveness. The helicopters are coming for them; the rides are now inevitable.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Justice League: Scratch Redbox- Watch Something Else!

With the bad news about Justice League coming out over the weekend (taking in only $94M when it needed twice that to have a shot at breaking even, and needing to hit $1B domestic to be profitable), you know it's going to mean bad reactions from all of the trustworthy folks. Midnight's Edge had their say the other day. Today it's time for the World Class Bullshitters.

In short, their take is that this clusterfuck production resulted in a flawed film- but one where, like the Star Wars Prequels, you can see the good movie buried beneath the crap. This is a spoiler-filled review of the film, with plenty of ranty bits that give Daddy Warpig a run for his money. If you want to know why and how this film fell into the ditch and never got out, here you go.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Narrative Warfare: Media Literacy, Historical Revisionism, & How To Spot It

History Channel US had a program called "MysteryQuest", a spinoff of "MonsterQuest", which went into popular mysteries and the most popular theories about them. One of them was about Adolf Hitler, and the idea that he did not die in the bunker in 1945. This is the episode that covered said topic, and revealed a big find that hasn't been spread in the popular media in the US until the series that this episode inspired aired: Hunting Hitler.

The thing about film and television in particular is that it is a medium where someone other than you determines every element of what you see and hear. The good practice in documentary filmmaking (which this series, and the Hitler spinoff, claim to be) is exactly the opposite of proper academic work: the conclusion is determined first, and then the narrative framed to support the conclusion. Why? Because film and television, as with comics and novels, are media of narrative--storytelling--and not media of academic inquiry.

In itself, this is dangerous, but you have to work around it. The way this happens in an ethical production is that you don't put a narrative together until you have all of the information regarding your question of inquiry. Then your production, as you would with a proper academic paper, presents your findings- including your sources, properly cited and documented; the film narratives the story of the process, not the story of the subject of inquiry, which is what a proper ethical documentary does.

Mass-media works like this always get me looking at them with my arms crossed. Even if I find the claims credible, I want to look at their sources for myself, because I don't like getting fooled more than anyone else. This is why media literacy matters. You need it to tell when you're getting taken for a ruse cruise, same as why you learn how to deal with slick-talking hucksters in person.

I've had my issues with History's many documentary programs, treating some (e.g. Ancient Aliens) more like soft SF than non-fiction, but the big issue I have is the danger of historical revisionism being passed off this way when it's not true. Certainty of the past is a necessary element of a healthy culture; it's the foundation upon which the present rests and the future is built. I'm not one to want it uprooted lightly, but there are times when it must be done, and that's when new information comes to light that takes a myth and turn it into a lie.

The end of Adolph Hitler's life is one such myth-defining narrative, and it would be a major upheaval to find and verify information that he did not die in 1945 in the bunker in Berlin. (For you younger folks, it's as if you discover that Osama bin Laden didn't die when or where he's said to've died because that event is a myth-defining event for a generation. That's a world-upending revelation, especially if it turns out that the entire thing was a deliberate fraud.) Change the myth, change the culture, and from that you then change the the politics because what drives the politics is no longer the same. Revisionism is a big deal.

So, when you watch shows like these, you need to think that you're being told a story- not presented with facts. Unless and until you can read or handle those sources yourself, you must maintain a certain degree of doubt. This includes other media appearances; this is from an Infowars broadcast last month, which is meant to promote Season 3 of Hunting Hitler.

The revisionism isn't just about Hitler's death. It's also revising the narrative explaining the shift from World War 2 to the Cold War, and other myth-narratives explaining things to the culture and the nation. Learning how to read this stuff is vital to keeping control over yourself and your life these days. Few understand this. Narrative Warfare is real!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Metro City Boys: The Best Videogame Podcast You're Not Catching

The Metro City Boys had another great show this week. Talking about the new Final Fantasy XV expansion, EA getting yelled at by Disney over the microtransactions in DICE's Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars games you wish we had (a Clone Wars musou game, for example), and Digital Animal Companions. Come get your goof, gang! (And if you like what you hear, subscribe and follow their Twitch channel.) Sundays, roughly 6:30 pm Central Time. Be there and get your goof on.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Justice League: Wait For Redbox

A handful of people who's opinions I trust on films have seen Justice League and now offer their takes on it. Geek Gab was the most recent, done two hours or so ago by the time I make this post.

Then comes the Midnight's Edge crew, with their review and a follow-up on why cinematic universes by people other than Marvel usually fail. (Hint: They do it wrong, all wrong.)

I am paying attention. This is far more than most in film, television, comics, or novels are bothering to do as they routinely fail to get the points put forth in the second Midnight's Edge video. The fact that Hollywood shot-callers routinely get this wrong shows how incompetent they are, which makes more and more sense as more and more scandals regarding their predation upon the vulnerable (and the corrupt culture of degeneracy they foster) becomes too obvious to ignore. (If this is why you're in the business, then you don't care about making good product; you just want to keep the gravy train running, so you might as well be a SJW since you're that bad.)

Friday, November 17, 2017

Get Your Gundam Here! (And Real Talk on Piracy)

It's been a less than happy week in the United States (and several other places), so here's some free & legal Gundam playlists from the GundamInfo channel at YouTube.

I'd like to offer some Macross playlists, but the folks running the Macross franchise haven't been talking to the Gundam people so they don't know how brilliant having an official channel is at cutting out piracy while simultaneously pushing both the hard media as well as the related merchandise. (Or Harmony Gold keeps fucking them in the ass, but that's nothing that couldn't get solved if they were so inclined.)

The only problem is the folks running the channel and its associated site only offer playlists for a time. The Zeta Gundam list is gone, which is a shame as once an official convenience is removed a unofficial one will arise to satisfy that demand. As the Gundam franchise is an international juggernaut, that will happen sooner than later- YouTube anti-piracy measures be damned.

Licensing and paywalls won't work either. No sooner does a Netflix series go live than I can find it on Putlocker or Solarmovie in its entirety with nothing lost. That rather undercuts the appeal of such businesses, and furthermore (for commercial TV series) there are no ads wasting my time; not only is nothing lost, value gets added by the pirates in terms of convenience.

This is where I'm going with the "throw in the towel" approach; you can't beat them and still make a profit purely by showing off the goods. You got to approach your streaming/VOD business as you would running a movie theater: you make your profits on the addons (in this case, the merchandise) and your show becomes a vehicle for the merch. You think this is alien or unworkable? See that Gundam franchise? All about pushing the merch! They do that and still provide high-quality escapist entertainment to an audience that, while its core remains in Japan, is still a global one and they are not slowing down.

Artificial scarcity in online audio and video does not work!. Scarcity in anything purely digital doesn't work; it may take a while, but all that shit gets cracked sooner or later so it's worthless to bother trying. Add your value where scarcity actually means something- Meatspace. That means merchandise, live events, and other things that take advantage of limited space, resources, etc. but tie into the show or film. (Yes, I just found a justification for the convention circuit.)

As for you one-eyed shitlords, keep seeding the torrents. You're forcing Big Media to adapt to you, so keep at it as we all benefit from compelling them to be easier to use and more convenient than what you lot offer.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

The Time of the Great Forking Has Come

It's becoming increasingly clear that anyone wanting a popular culture that isn't filled with suck and sewage will have to Fork and Replace the SJW-converged institutions, and then seal the doors so those same disease vectors can't poz the replacements. There is not a damn thing to save in mainstream film, television, comics, or novels. The AAA studios are increasingly pushing gambling as a revenue generator at the expense of gameplay, designer reputation, brand strength, even studio existence itself- time to Fork & Replace that also.

All of this is necessary and proper, but it still runs into the great cockblock: financing. Beyond making alternatives to Patreon and other crowdfunding platforms, we have the issue of the banking system itself. SJWs are there in the banks, the credit card companies, and the government agencies meant to regulate them; they can, and have, violated their fundamental mission by blocking a disfavored outlet or individual access to credit or currency. I need not tell you what sort of threat that power presents, which is why I've called for #AltBanking for a while now.

For the Great Forking to succeed, all aspects of commerce must be forked and replaced. The banks are the last of these converged institutions to fork, and making that happen requires more than a bunch of tech-savvy dissidents forming a start-up. The ISPs need to be forked. The payment processors need to be forked. The global central banking system needs to be destroyed in nuclear fire, then replaced with real money in hard coin (for physical commerce) and crypto-currencies no government controls (for virtual commerce).

Otherwise, all of the forks are vulnerable to getting nuked by SJWs in banking by shutting off access to the stuff that makes all of this possible, and if you think that won't start escalating in frequency and severity you don't know SJWs or their masters. Nail this, however, and all they have left is to just kill you and take your stuff- something they will have to do themselves, as more and more would-be pawns dip out as they see what's (not) in it for them. Fork & Replace ALL THE THINGS! Civilization requires it.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Electronic Arts Turned a Star Wars Wargame Into a Slot Machine

I could make a shitshow joke here, but Electronic Arts going to Reddit to do Ask Me Anything about Star Wars Battlefront II is sufficient to itself. Here's a summary of the dumpster fire:

Let me do a second-level summary:

  • The devs didn't address shit.
  • The game is set up as a virtual slot machine, using Skinner box techniques, deliberately.
  • Frequency of lootbox acquisition and use determines player performance, not skill. This is Pay To Win.
  • Showing players what opponents have deliberately incentivizes lootbox purchases, contrasting with the deliberately tedious grind that is the default state of play. Gear alone matters, and getting that rubbed in your face incentivizes purchases.
  • Forced artificial limits on acquisition compels players to stretch out their play sessions, making it impossible to just play to unlock everything in a healthy and responsible manner, further incentivizing lootbox acquisition.
  • Lootbox contents are random, further compelling purchases by making a lot of drops utter garbage.

That is gambling. Various gaming commissions are starting to notice this, and they are not happy. When the gambling businesses see someone muscle in on their turf, they get mean and fast. First they'll come hat-in-hand to demand their cut, and EA will be stupid so they will refuse. Then come attack lawyers, outraged media people, and their pet politicians making problems for them in the press, the courts, and in legislatures. This shitshow is just starting to jump off.

If it's not put down soon, then first Lucasfilm and then Disney proper will be forced to deal with EA. The Mouse doesn't like it when someone tarnishes the brand like that, so if it gets that far then more than a few heads will roll. The folks making the fallguys take the blame will be lucky if they only get fired and shoved out of the business for a few years. Big Entertainment is big business, and big business does not like fuckups making messes of easy things- and yes, turning Battlefront into a franchise like Call of Duty is simple from their perspective- and they are right to think so.

Call in the cleaners. This mess is already too big and bad to be left to amateurs.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Journalism: You Need Not Be an Expert, But Familiarity IS Required

Remember when journalists bothered to have passing familiarity with their subject matter? Pepperidge Farms remembers. So does the crew at World Class Bullshitters, who came upon this dumpster fire of an article that wouldn't get a passing grade in a high school writing class.

This is, as one should expect from a mainstream culture rag, a shillfest written by someone who has no concept of what writing is- nevermind journalism or ethics, writing. Nevermind familiarity with the material you're writing about. How about familiarity with basic writing skills, since you're trying to pay bills by doing that? If you can't manage that, then you should not be let near any professional writing environment, because you are incompetent and cannot do what is required of you.

Burn it all to ash. There's no saving this shitshow that is "journalism". Just burn it all to ash and be done with it.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Real Talk on the Official Classic World of Warcraft Servers

Over a week ago, Blizzard announced that they are doing official Vanilla servers for World of Warcraft.

I'm saying this here, in this post, and that's all I'm going to say on the blog about it until there's solid information about how the developers--who are a wholly separate team from the Live servers--are going to approach the topic. That said, I already forsee commercial realities intruding on the purity spiral dreams of the Vanilla private server users itching to come out of the shadows.

  • You're going to get full Battlenet integration. There is no way all those new features announced at BlizzCon won't be in Classic.
  • They are foolish to not use the new characters models, new character animations, and as many new zone layouts as they can. Some they can't for obvious reasons (this is all pre-Cataclysm), but if they can use the Live version then they will.
  • They won't make you pay a separate subscription fee. They want it to be used, so it will--at most--be a separate client. The worst to expect is that, like the Starcraft remaster, it's a one-and-done addon to your account. Why? To justify the investment.
  • The mechanics will be a bug-fixed form of Patch 1.12.1. The aesthetics will be as close to Live as they can get. So, in effect, Vanilla Remastered is what to expect.
  • It will never be as popular as Live, but it will justify its existence and be the safety value for Live when Live has a content drought; this is, in effect, the biggest retention mechanic for subscriptions that the company has yet to attempt. Classic will go up and down in participation inversely to Live servers having relevant content to do. So long as overall sub rates are acceptable, this is fine.
  • If this succeeds, expect a follow-on for The Burning Crusade. Classic should go live in 2019, when Battle For Azeroth hits its first big lull, and if it succeeds then the TBC follow-up will be two years later.
  • Expect a lot of the bitchwork of the Classic era to get nerfed or gutted. People want the challenge, not the tedious bullshit.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

There's "Git Gud" and There's "Learn To Walk".

The common man will not do bitchwork if he does not have to. Not at work, and certainly not for fun. The common response is to make them do it.

This is the difference between Git Gud and Bitchwork: Git Gud directly addresses the challenge put before the man in pursuit of some objective. Bitchwork is tedious bullshit that's ancillary at best to that activity. Practicing your rotation on a target dummy is Git Gud, because it directly addresses the pursuit of better gear from tougher bosses. Knowing the lore? Bitchwork.

The problem is that, for a lot of players, they regard knowing how to play their character, how to run the dungeon, etc. as bitchwork and thus cause preventable problems for other players. Why? Because playing the game doesn't force them to acquire and master that knowledge to get what they want (the loot, and with it the power) from the game. I am not alone in my frustration. Mike, the man behind Preach Gaming, has gone on about this before:

Sure, he's talking within the context of World of Warcraft, but I see the same thing happening with other games every day. People who can't bothered to put in the time to learn what the mechanics are, how they work, and therefore how to exploit that knowledge to improve gameplay are legion and they are the lameass legion that makes multi-player gaming into the shitshow it so often becomes online. (Note: World of Warcraft removed the Proving Grounds requirement in Legion, which is why the dungeon queues are so full of suck and fail.)

What these people don't appreciate is that their ignorance, willful more often than not, adversely affects other players. Skilled players, often also possessing the maturity that comes with mastery, know something that isn't said often enough in gaming: Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

This is hardly limited to my MMORPG of choice. I see this routinely exhibited when I watch single-player games on Twitch; the masters (Hello, Oliver!) Git Gud by learning the knowledge required to maximize performance, making each playthrough smoother and thus allowing ever-improving results to come forth. The suck players expect to blaze through it blindly, brute-forcing things as hard and fast as they can, and get mad when it (like real life) doesn't work that way. Call them on it, and they get indignant. This is just as it is in real life; if you try to run before you can walk, you're just going to fall on your face and make things worse.

Not that there ain't a lot of bitchwork, but a lot of people don't have the competency to know what is bitchwork and what isn't; it's Dunning-Kruger in action, and once you see it you won't ever unsee it in any context. Learn To Walk. Then you can Git Gud.