Friday, May 31, 2019

My Life As A Writer: I'm A Real Author Now

I'm a real author now. I wrote, revised, and published a book. It's up for sale at Amazon. Today that's all you need to become a real author. You don't need a contract with a publisher. You don't need to appear in retail bookstores right away. You don't need some talking head at National Public Radio or C-SPAN to interview you, nevermind talk shows. You just need to do the work, get some competent help--thanks, Brian--and set up at Amazon.

You can do this too.

It took me longer than I thought, but part of that was me being hospitalized. I am confident that I can get a second book out by Christmas at the latest, and as I get more successful I can offload more of the work that goes into the business of writing off on to better-able others I can hire to do that for me. That's going to be a while yet; for now, this is a one-man-band operation and I need to pace myself accordingly.

Now click on the image and buy yourself a copy of my debut novel. You won't fail to be entertained in the ways that Mouse Wars refused to do anymore.

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Sabaton: Smarter Than The Average Band

It's Thursday, so that means a new Sabaton History video.

I continue to be impressed with Sabaton, and today it's not just what story they put to music and how they approached it, but the display of good sense to partner with others doing something similar in another field. In short, what they did recently by partnering with World of Warships to promote "Bismark" is not the first time around; they did it previously with World of Tanks and with the game sharing the name of this song. Historically aware and business savvy? That's a display of good sense I don't see in music business acts much. (Iron Maiden tracking piracy to find where to play live is another, and Razorfist can tell you how smart Michael Jackson was.)

And yes, that savvy includes doing these videos, but that should be obvious. I put all of their albums on my Wish List at Amazon due to these videos, and I even added some movies to my Watch List because of Sabaton fans using them in their fan music videos; more reading on the stories they sing about will follow, starting with Osprey books and going deeper from there.

Star Knight has its own historical roots, on multiple levels, and I will continue to use real history as the basis for my fantasic space adventures. Two of my backers have already figured out whom I refer to with my mastermind villain, and that's not the only historical reference I use. Reavers of the Void, the first book, goes live tomorrow but you can still pre-order now. Just click on the image below.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

World Class Bullshitters: Kathleen Kennedy on Star Wars - "We're Not Marvel"

The World Class Bullshitters come back with Part 2 of their breakdown regarding Mouse Wars and why they suck harder than a black hole.

Part of the impetus for me writing the Star Knight Saga is my dissatisfaction with Mouse Wars pushing me to write my own, much as Nick Cole & Jason Anspach did in creating Galaxy's Edge, but putting the emphasis on the Jedi Knights over the Stormtroopers. I'm learning as much what not to do by watching Mouse Wars' failures as I am my own, and part of that includes whom not to work with when Star Knight gets big enough to require someone besides me handling affairs.

Don't give money to people who hate you. That includes hiring them and making them partners. When I move on that comic adaptation, that film/TV adaptation, you can bet that I'll turn down incompetents and hucksters like Kennedy and her crew, and I'll never sell it; I'd rather set up a legal guardian whose sole purpose is to preserve it as I did it such that even the Tolkien Estate goes "Dude, lighten up."

Fortunately, I actually care about entertaining my audience, and come Friday you'll be able to see for yourself how well I did with my first book: Reavers of the Void.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Writing "Reavers": The Soundtrack

Reavers of the Void releases on the Kindle Store this Friday. A lot went into making this happen, but this post focuses on the music.

Yes, music. You don't write a series featuring a heroine named after the living goddess of music--well, her alter-ego--and not have a de facto soundtrack playing.

Not all of it is anison, but--go figure--a lot of it is and a lot of that is now-classic themes and songs. I played specific tracks when writing specific parts so I had that emotion foremost in mind and therefore could focus on putting that feeling into the words that best conveyed the effect.

In addition, you can include "Libera Me From Hell" from Gurren Lagann, "Fly, Dunbine!" from Aura Battler Dunbine, and "Gong" by JAM Project for Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. Finally, this release is me raising my flag, so that means including one more track- this one by Man With a Mission (for Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans).

Monday, May 27, 2019

Narrative Warfare: EU Elections Leading To Info Dystopia

The Supreme Dark Lord talks about the European Parliamentary Elections, and then comments on Unauthorized.

He's not kidding about the Eurocuck Elite willfully ignoring the clear desire by nationalists to implement nationalist policy and burn the European Union to the ground. The response from these elites is not going to be to bend the knee and do what the people want. It's going to be a technocratic crackdown, blaming the Internet yet again for "radicalizing the population". Guess where they're going to go for a working model?

Yep, you guessed it: China.

China Uncensored is not entirely serious, but this video ain't wrong. The Chinese government succeeded in establishing information controls that work very well in controlling the population, and we already know that Western (in theory) companies are going East to learn how the Mandarins did it so they can do it themselves. We've already seen some of this put into practice, targeting dissidents on the Right and boosting Establishment power over the narrative while cutting out dissident power to operate.

What makes this work is the substitution of disapproved functionality with approved copycats under State control. This is behind Chinese counterparts to Google, et. al, and being pushed aggressively. It's classic Carrot & Stick methodology; they're making it convenient to the point of softly mandating the use of approved alternatives while doing all they can to punish use of disapproved ones. We're seeing this coming about now in the West, but via private actors; just ask, discretely, how hiring managers find having the right kind of social media presence is to getting and keeping employment and you'll see for yourself- especially with the domination of HR departments by SJWs.

Keep an eye on these things, folks. Your children and grandchildren are going inherit this world; don't let your enemies build their future.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

My Life As A Writer: "Reavers" Available For Preorder

The first book in the Star Knight Saga goes live on Friday, but you can pre-order the Kindle version now at the link below; it's embedded in the cover image.

If you're a backer, and you haven't finished reading your copy yet, please do so this week. I would like for as many of you to post reviews when the book goes live as you can. If you're waiting for paperback, you'll be waiting for a while yet but when you do you'll be able to get the Kindle version for a dollar. The formal release announcement will be at the Study on Friday, so head over there on that day for all the fireworks.

The hype train is leaving the station, gang. All aboard for Galactic Christendom!

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Narrative Warfare: "Borderless", a Documentary

You know you're hitting the mark when the targets freak out and move to silence and deplatform you immediately upon release. Such is the case with Lauren Southern and her new documentary, Borderless, which shows what the reality for the world's largest migration invasions in recorded history is and how this scam works. Her initial YouTube upload got nuked using fraudulent means, but not before others mirrored it on other channels (including one of Southern's own) as well as backup sites like Bitchute. That alone tells you all you need to know about what take this film has on the question, and how it's reach is so feared that it's being shut down now.

Boost the signal, folks. The Right doesn't help their own in the media, and the cucks in the Establishment aren't going to start now; we've got to do it ourselves, so you all know what to do. Download, mirror, archive, burn copies to disc- spread the word. Spreading our own narratives is fundamental to Narrative Warfare, and this film is very much a salvo in such affairs.

Friday, May 24, 2019

My Life As A Gamer: WOW Classic Has A Big Audience

The beta for World of Warcraft: Classic has proven that there is sufficient demand for official retro-servers to merit launching them. Right now, this Beta is not only dominating WOW livestreaming on Twitch and YouTube, but dominating traffic on those sites in general. At one point, 100 thousand people watched Asmongold fully clear one of the early dungeons: The Deadmines.

This has the hacks in Fake News mad. One of their tenants is The Cult of the New, as commonly expressed in Current Year form, so looking back at all is disdained and saying that older is not busted is tantamount to treason and heresy to the Death Cult that is SocJus. They saw the reaction and out came the spin. "It's hype." "It won't be like this on launch." and so on.

They don't get why Blizzard acquiesced to the demand for Classic, despite the answer literally being in their faces: to improve subscription numbers. The business plan is to use Classic as a retention mechanism for WOW subscribers, as you are required to have an active subscription to access Classic; you can play either version of the game so long as you subscribe at all. That, from a business perspective, is a good decision since development costs for Classic are so low compared to the live game.

The parallel to the continued demand for pre-Wizards of the Coast editions of Dungeons & Dragons cannot be overlooked. We're seeing the biggest expression of the Old School Renaissance in MMORPGs since Runescapeand Everquestdid it and likewise succeeded beyond expectations.

Below is the video capturing the moment when Asmongold and four others took on Herod in the Scarlet Monestary's Armory wing. Clutch plays like this don't happen anymore.

And now the beta activated the first Battleground: Warsong Gultch. The first recorded match is on YouTube now; Asmongold gets salty, so keep the kids away.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Narrative Warfare: Razorfist Talks Media Terrorism

The Excellence of Elocution comes again with another quick video.

He got it loud and clear, and now so do you: this is nothing less than bloodless (so far) terrorism, and it should be regarded--and handled--accordingly. It won't remain bloodless for much longer; don't expect these hysterical wankers to wait for after 2020 to "fix" their problem with the God-Emperor. You can count on the screeching to get even worse once we get into his second term and the winning really ramps up and the perpwalks become a daily occurrence. This Narrative Warfare must stop if the United States is to survive.

And yes, we're also seeing the angling of Donald Jr. to become Donald II with his threatening of a mayoral run in NYC, a run he too will win if he can prevent the machine from fucking him in the ass due to his own popular support. I would keep an eye on Eric Trump to follow suit; I've always figured that the Trumps wouldn't have gone into politics at all if they weren't willing to commit to a multi-generational effort to unfuck the United States. Why? Because that's what it's going to take. That means maintaining the continuity of power year-on-year for as long as it takes, and like it or not familial dynasties are best at doing so.

We can only hope this results in God-Emperor Barron Trump when that boy becomes eligible to run, because by then we'll need him.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Brussels Thinks Babel Was a Fluke

I see that the Supreme Dark Lord saw that the European Union took off the mask. Quoting the damned:

The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) told CNN that proposals by European populist-patriots to reform the EU and devolve power from Brussels back to the nation-state would mean that the bloc “will die inside.”

“The world is developing into one not of nation states, but of empires. China is an empire. India is an empire. The US is an empire. We need to create a European Union that is capable of defending our interests,” Mr Verhofstadt stated during the interview, speaking to the leftist American news network in what was described as his “spacious” Brussels office.

Mr Verhofstadt, who is also the European Parliament’s Brexit Coordinator, is an avid supporter of greater federalisation of the European Union.

During a Euronews Raw Politics panel last week, the former prime minister of Belgium compared a proposed United States of Europe to the United States of America, saying: “The United States of Europe is a way to organise a common action on the European level by recognising, by guaranteeing the autonomy of the member states.”

Other Eurocrats have also voiced support for a United States of Europe, including former president of the European Parliament and German socialist politician Martin Schulz who called for its formation by 2025.

Where have we heard this sort of thing before? Oh, yeah.

I'm surprised that none of these Imperials have done the whole "stage an attack on myself" gambit to push this yet, but if so the moment passed. Nationalism in Europe is rising, and with it resistance to all of the signs--yes, including immigration--of such a blatant attempt as a new Tower of Babel. The SDL quoted St. Augustine of Hippo on the matter, who said:

"Let them ask, then, whether it is quite fitting for good men to rejoice in extended empire. For the iniquity of those with whom just wars are carried on favors the growth of a kingdom, which would certainly have been small if the peace and justice of neighbors had not by any wrong provoked the carrying on of war against them; and human affairs being thus more happy, all kingdoms would have been small, rejoicing in neighborly concord; and thus there would have been very many kingdoms of nations in the world, as there are very many houses of citizens in a city.

Therefore, to carry on war and extend a kingdom over wholly subdued nations seems to bad men to be felicity, to good men necessity. But because it would be worse that the injurious should rule over those who are more righteous, therefore even that is not unsuitably called felicity. But beyond doubt it is greater felicity to have a good neighbor at peace, than to conquer a bad one by making war. Your wishes are bad, when you desire that one whom you hate or fear should be in such a condition that you can conquer him."

- St. Augustine of Hippo

"Everyone else has an empire! We should too!"

Motherfuckers are lying grifters, at best. They know, without a doubt, what the consequences of Empire are; they're foolish enough to think that they won't be one of those sacrificed to pay the price in blood, bone, and fire to establish, sustain, and develop that cancer that is Empire. They're not even going for the Roman model, but the Persian instead, despite the known weakness of the Persian model vs. the Roman.

They think that they won't fail, despite everything turning against them, because their fallback plan is to let the aliens and foreigners imported into Europe do the wetwork while they wait it out behind thick walls and armed guards. Then once the fighting stops they emerge, exterminate remainders, and rule over the world they'll recreate in their image. Their counterparts in North America have the same plan. They all fail to comprehend that Mankind cannot be yoked to a single worldly authority because there is already a superior authority occupying that spot: God.

This is why that plan will fail. No amount of censorship, deplatforming, or gaslighting can stop the failure from happening now. The avalanche has begun; it's too late for the pebbles to vote.

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Narrative Warfare: Defamation Leads To Destruction

I'm looking through my feed on YouTube, and this comes up.

At 4:10 or so Yellow Flash talks about how the #KickVic crowd goes after Nike Rekieta, doing the same blame-and-defame attacks they do against Vic Mignogna in the hope that some amenable authority will silence and deplatform Nick. This is not unreasonable given the state of Minnesota's government and media culture, which are SJW-aligned to a significant degree. Nonetheless this is not a smart thing to do; the Texas litigation by Vic against the SJWs attacking him, while civil, is a big deal because it's part of the first serious and effective counter-attack against them.

But it gets better. Nick's in Minnesota. Defamation is a criminal offense in Minnesota. That means the police slap your ass in handcuffs, toss you into the county jail, and you face non-trivial prison time, fines, or both if convicted- and man, do these #KickVic people make it easy for the State to establish that defamation occurred. All Nick has to do is file charges and, maybe, testify on the stand; the State of Minnesota will handle the actual legal work. Even if the State loses, the process itself is sufficiently punishing to be dissuasive. Hell, maybe he doesn't have to do the filing; maybe someone else could file the charges if the defamation gets stupidly aggressive, resulting in sudden visits by the police. How embarrassing.

Go ahead, morons, keep talking shit about Nick to third parties. Don't be surprised if you end up taking a perpwalk, especially if the Attorney General decides this is a good time to make some examples for reasons of his own.

Monday, May 20, 2019

The Supreme Dark Lord Talks Game of Thrones

The Supreme Dark Lord talks about storytelling, Game of Thrones, how typical Hollywood writing ruined what was left of the series.

For the record, Vox Day is not a fan of Martin or Martin's work; his own Selenoth series is his "blackjack and hookers" response to what he saw as inadequate writing. This livestream is a critique of the writing in the series now concluded, and contains his perspective that shows why Vox Day approaches the subject as he does. To no one's surprise, he sees the deficiencies of both Martin and the showrunners as being the basis for the narrative weaknesses of the series, with the latter being worse than the former.

I'm looking forward to seeing the man adapt his Selenoth series into film and television. If he gets his shot, it'll hit like Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings, despite the certain hostile reception it will receive from all the usual suspects.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Razorfist Presents: Film Noirchives: BLADE RUNNER

The Eloquence of Elocution has topped himself again. This hour-plus long review of Blade Runner is professional-quality criticism and deserves to be recognized as such. See for yourself.

I've seen History Channel productions that aren't as good as this video. You could screen this at a film festival and it wouldn't be out of place in the slightest. That's how good this is, and I am astonished that Razor and his man Terran Gel don't have wider recognition yet. It's a long ways from his early days doing '80s action movie reviews, as his own archives show, and you can easily see how he's become this professional-level presenter with professional-level presentation quality by reviewing his video archives. He's one of the last Hugo Award nominees who actually merited that nomination, and it shows here. Lesser talents get franchise TV shows while he's doing this for free as a hobby.

Throw the man a dollar. He's worth it. His livestreams are no less entertaining, so catch them when you can, especially his BattleTech/Mechwarrior streams.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

The King's Crown Fits Badly

Well, this is disturbing.

This Tweet came out after Tommy Robinson got milkshakes thrown or dumped on him by wankers opposing him twice, so far. Sargon of Akkad is also in the running and has had stuff thrown at him. Milkshakes and fish aren't that dangerous, but it's the next step--bricks and stones--that we're thinking about here with this official account tacitly lending support to do violence with products they sell.

If this isn't retracted swiftly, then add the King to the list of businesses that hate you and don't merit your money. Get Woke, Go Broke.

Friday, May 17, 2019

My Life As A Gamer: Big Thanks To Mark Kern

(Note: I've been in hospital or rehab since mid-January. I'm going home today, so this post is one I wrote ahead of time because I'm going to be busy.)

Today's post is dedicated to the man who went to bat for the Classic WOW community, former Vanilla WOW dev Mark Kern, and his videos addressing both Classic and his own project Em8ER.

I am grateful to Mark for going to bat and personally talking for now-former CEO Mike Morihime about Classic and arguing in support of Blizzard doing it officially. The response to the Beta so far has been fantastic, and I expect it will only grow as later waves of invites go out and more people access the Classic Beta servers to see for themselves; the BlizzCon demo last Fall was a lot of fun for a lot of people, so I think it'll be just as fun now.

For you tabletop types, think of this as being like the Old School Renaissance. The original version of WOW had a quality to it that got lost with subsequent expansions, with many--including myself--pointing to the latter half of Wrath of the Lich King as being when the rot really set in and becoming obvious with Cataclysm. We just aren't waiting 20-30 years to course-correct thing time. The opportunity to revisit the past, and take roads heretofore not taken, is too good to pass up.

As for Em8ER, I really hope that Mark nails it with this Mech v. Kaiju game of his. I've been watching its development for a while, and I'm looking forward to seeing it reach the masses. Thanks for everything, Mark, and good luck.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

My Life As A Gamer: The Classic Beta Has Arrived

The beta test phase for World of Warcraft: Classic (a.k.a. "Revenge of the Private Servers") began yesterday. The first wave of invites went to influencers, with a focus on well-known and well-connected live-streamers at Twitch and YouTube. More will be invited as the beta test progresses; I've opted in and I do hope to get selected to play the beta, as this is the version of the game I remember most fondly.

I know the experience won't be the same. It can't be the same. 15 years passed since this version launched, and everything's changed since then. Furthermore, all of the old data has been brought out from the archives and returned to live use at places like WOWHead, so there's no mystery anymore either. (Not all bad; it also means you can just tab out to look up where to go and what to do.) There's also technical differences, as the Classic team build the Classic version as a variation of the Live game and not rebuilt from the old code entirely.

I'm okay with this. I understand how and why these differences exist, and they aren't going to detract from my enjoyment of the game. When my chance to play comes, I'm going to take the opportunity to do things I didn't do the first time around, and I'm going to avoid making the mistakes I did the first time around, yet I will not deviate from what did work for me: taking my time.

This original version of the game was not one where the only game, the real game, was entirely at the cap and leveling was just a chore you did to pay your dues. There is no good reason to race to Level 60, no matter what the streamers would have you believe; you will neglect other aspects of the game, such as developing your Professions, that you'll benefit from as you go and will open doors to you once you arrive. Had I known that back then, I would've focused on something entirely different from trying to break into the raid scene or being the top PVP player. I will this time around; I want to be a top crafter.

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

My Life As A Gamer: Thrall Returns To WOW. Again. No, Seriously.

Battle For Azeroth, like Warlords of Draenor, is not a well-liked expansion. A lot of the goodwill generated by Legion got pissed away, and the development team had to notice sooner or later. Rather than address the narrative and technical flaws in the game, they're doing something cheap and cynical to generate hype. That thing is the return of the former Warchief of the Horde (and the only good one), Thrall.

It's cheap and cynical because this was the same damned plot used in Mists of Pandaria, back in 2012, with the entire "Fuck Garrosh" rebellion narrative that would play directly into the Iron Horde non-threat of Warlords. Yes, right down to reaching out to Thrall--who already retired and abdicated--to get his help in that entire rebellion thread last time. Now we're doing it again, beat for beat. Fuck this for a game of soldiers.

This is not going to end well. We're already seeing Yet Another Fucking Old God, but at least that was promised when BFA was announced, and we all know this flare-up of the Faction War will end with neither side broken and destroyed. Your choices as a player don't really matter, even if the game flat-out lies to you and says that it does, because your choices have no impact; you're no more in control of the experience than you are when you ride a roller-coaster, which is why WOW is a themepark and not a true RPG.

At this point, I'm certain that the balls shown at the pre-patch, with Sylvanas burning Teldrassil to ash and Anduin successfully attacking Undercity and forcing Sylvanas to deny it via massive Plague dispersal were a ruse-cruise and we'll somehow end up status quo ante, or close to it, when this half-baked expansion finally expires. If I had the power, I'd commit to the long-running fanon argument that WOW and Starcraft share a universe and start building on that idea instead.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

My Life As A Gamer: WOW Classic Release Announced

In case you missed it:

WOWhead has more information as there are some significant difference between how it was and how Classic will go, mostly of a technical nature due to technology changes between 2004 and now, but if you weren't there then you might want to read up on what you're getting into.

Get ready for How Things Used To Be, folks, including everybody and their uncle rolling a Forsaken Rogue.

Hint: Don't roll on a PVP server, or get flagged for PVP otherwise, if you don't want to get ganked leveling your Dwarf Priestess or Human Paladin so you can actually raid- and yes, once more if you want to raid you're rolling Alliance by default. Enjoy Lagforge.

Yes, I was there. I can tell you at length how mistakes I made kept me out of the endgame aside from running Alterac Valley until my eyes bled and occasionally getting a guest spot as an off-tank healer in Molten Core or AQ 20. 15 years later and I'm willing to do it again, and this time it's going to be entirely different. For starters, I'm rolling a gear-independent class to use as a farmer before rolling a character wanted in raids, and second I will not commit to a raiding schedule; priorities are different now. Second, the Vanilla private servers have long ago broken from the meta of Vanilla WOW and delved very deep into the mechanics of the game; the result is that they found ways to make some specs that went disused at the time into viable options, such as Feral Druid.

But for my part, I'm not in it to go back into Molten Core. I'm in it for Alterac Valley as it used to be, as it should have always been, and--someday--may be again.

The new Warfront feature should be ideal for making AV back into what it was, but that would require the devs to integrate Battleground instances into the Warfront feature and I don't think they're at that point yet. Until then, this is as good as it gets to getting the part of WOW I came to love most back.

Monday, May 13, 2019

From Rehab: Going Home Soon

I go home this week.

I'm sending home stuff I am not using and will not need this week. It's not much, since I don't have much here, but every bag I can send home now is one less trip to make on Friday. I'm glad to be heading home. I've done all that I can here, and gone as far as I can, so it's time to move on and go home. My recovery isn't complete yet, but I'm a good ways down that road. Now it's time to focus on finer skills and practical elements, with the goal of me being able to walk unassisted for long distances and long times.

It's a cliched choice, but an apt one for my mood today, and better served here than with that atrocious game. Enjoy.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

They Think You're PayPigs

The contempt that media companies have for their customers isn't confined to the usual suspects. See below.

As these videos reveal, videogame and anime companies are no less prone to holding the very people who allow them to live in contempt than Lucasfilm or CBS. They do treat the customers as paypigs, and too often that perception is validated by the customers complaining while handing over their money to them anyway. You give money to people who hate you. You do this because you put too much attachment to something worldly in lieu of something far more important. The abuse will continue until you unfuck yourself and put back that which ought to be central to your life, and that doesn't mean fandom or gaming.

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Lawfare Works: Now The Cons Are Getting Involved

This came over my Twitter feed today.

This is an outgrowth of the #KickVic affair, and I'm not surprised to see Beard's firm get yet more business from others affected by the same SJWs that went after Vic Mignogna. Part of the tort claims involve the SJWs massing as a brigade and using intimidation tactics as if they were the Mafia to extort compliance with their wishes regarding Vic, with the main targets being the fan conventions where these actors make a good amount of their income. It should not surprise anyone that sooner or later a convention will decide to resort to lawfare to make this bullshit stop.

That Umbrella Guy ran a livestream on the matter earlier today. Below is a summary from that stream. I expect Nick Rekieta to comment on the development when he next runs his livestream, as he's got a direct conduit to Ty Beard as well as Anime Matsuri, and we're going to want to know what's going on. Nonetheless, I find this encouraging, especially after The Quartering wins his suit against SJW Matt Loter. The Lawfare dams breaks before us, folks; MAKE THE RUBBLE BOUNCE!

Friday, May 10, 2019

Lawfare Works: The SJWs Take An L

The first of the lawsuits against SJWs was The Quartering vs. Matt Loter, the latter being the SJW that jumped Quartering outside Gen Con last year. Quartering sued, and now the suit is settled in his favor.

The real win here is the apology Loter made, specifically that Quartering is not a Nazi. You may not notice, but that had to hurt something fierce; recanting on a Rhetorical justification for action that is nigh-universal among that set is tantamount to confessing heresy, and will have predictable results. We already have someone getting banned from RPG Net for the reporting of this case's conclusion.

This is a loss for the SJWs. They know it. Even if Gen Con doesn't lift the bans on both parties, this is still a big win for us and a big loss for them. Enjoy a victory lap, and respect Quartering's refusal to comment further as it's likely a condition of the settlement, for now we have bigger fish to fry. The case with Frog God Games, the case of Vic Mignogna, and others are still in the works. Until the SJWs change the laws to fix things in their favor, lawfare works so use it while you've got it.

Thursday, May 9, 2019

My Life As A Writer: Building A Concept Art Library

I decided that I should build a print library with concept art of mecha and starships for the purpose of making Star Knight as good as I can while I go about it. I expect that anime tie-ins will dominate this library, but there's plenty of Western art to be had these days with powered armor, starships, giant robots, etc. due to a generation or two growing up with mecha anime and Space Opera being a persistent presence in both the East and the West.

I'm compiling a list of titles that will become a Wish List at Amazon. The Robotech Art books, both those put out by Harmony Gold and those by Udon, are on the list; not that hard to find, not that out of line, and acknowledges sources to certain degrees. The Palladium RPG books also are included due to extensive use of those concept assets, and the same goes for the BattleTech line. (That I can also run and play games with them is a good bonus.) I can easily find some Macross imports, but they're not cheap and I don't read Japanese so the utility is lacking.

What I want from you folks are recommendations to add to the list. Post your suggestions in the Comments below.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

There Is A John Wick Videogame Coming

I did not know there was a John Wick game in development. That changed.

The choices made in developing this game are interesting. The first is obvious: cell-shading. This presentation choice is as deliberate as the use of light, shadow, and color is in the films and likely meant to mimic the overall effect of subtlety signalling the unreality of the narrative. The choice of using the concierge from New York's branch of the Continental as our voice-over is another; this is another subtle signal as to the nature of the game. It's doesn't seem to be tied directly into the films' events, but rather show off what John ordinarily does when operating.

And making this a game where you program John's routine before the fact, then executing it to see if you read the situation correctly, is brilliant. The VO talks about how being a master in combat forces you to think ahead; we know this today as the OODA Loop. Using the mechanic of a player programming a routine to simulate this is inspired. No, this is not the first game to do this, but Wick being tied to this game will expand awareness of those others to a significant degree.

I hope this game is as good as the teaser implies. We need more fun games of all sorts.

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Razorfist Covers Kotaku Crashing

Razorfist rants about Kotaku. Get your popcorn.

The utter collapse of Kotaku, again, has put a big ol' smile on my face. Like Ivan's here.

But this? This is some S-tier Schadenfreude. This here is confirmation that "Get Woke, Go Broke" is exactly how Social Justice ruins enterprises. Seeing the writing on the wall, artist Kukuruyo made this new version of his classic cartoon made in celebration of Gawker's demise.

Burn, SJWs, Burn.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Never Conflate Results With Planning

The man at Scholagladiatoria put out a good video about results vs. strategy today.

What he's talking about is valid for any conflict scenario, be it in combat or gaming or writing a story. Plans are the decisions made using the available intelligence. They cannot, and therefore do not, have perfect information to work with. That means that there is always room for doubt as to the plan's effectiveness, and that's before the factor of execution.

The results of the plan are independent of the quality of the plan. Those executing it may screw it up, in whole or in part. Unforeseen events may force alterations to the plan, both for and against you. The information used to generate the plan may be wrong, innocently or not, so the plan's premises are false. All this can more can, and will, make plans that seem to guarantee success fail; it can also make piss-poor plans produce positive results. That's what the man's getting at here.

Keep this in mind when you see someone attempt to form and execute a plan. Most of us are not this man, but we can all agree with his catchphrase.

And whatever you do, never be this man. He died for his stupidity. Valhalla is not open to you, Staaden, for you are a Gamma faggot.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

My Life As A Marksman: Henry Finally Adds Loading Gates

The NRA Show ended a week ago, but that's not stopping me from pointing out stuff debuted there that I'm keen on acquiring. This review by The Firearms Blog is a typical reaction to Henry Repeating Arms' introduction of a side-loading version of their lever-action rifle, a long-requested version due to competitors--such as Marlin Firearms--having side-loaders as standard for generations.

Henry's rifles aren't cheap; all-American labor and raw materials in all-American facilities done to high quality means you're paying a premium price. For this rifle model, you're paying about as much as you would for a pre-built gaming PC that's good enough for most recent releases (i.e. around $1000 US), but you're also getting heirloom quality in return. Take care of it, and it will take care of your great-grandchildren.

I'll wait for the All-Weather finish versions before I buy one, but when they come out I'll get one in .30-30 Winchester and in .357 Magnum- the latter to pair with a revolver chambered likewise. In the meantime, Henry's Classic Lever Action .22 Rifle is what I aim to get from them, and pair that with a Ruger Wrangler.

Saturday, May 4, 2019

BlizzCon Is Kill: The Spyware Required For This Year's Con

The Quartering reports on the smartphone application that is now required to attend BlizzCon this year. It's a shitshow, obviously.

I heard about this while watching Asmongold's livestream today, where he played the video and commented on it as he did so. The TL/DR is this: that app scrapes ALL your data and hands it over to Google, Facebook, and several other major data clients. You have to install it and let it have full access to your phone/tablet in order to access the convention that you already bought tickets to attend.

Nope.

There is nothing BlizzCon offers that can't be done better and cheaper, something Blizzard already knows; as I type this, the Mythic Dungeon International is still going on, streamed live on Twitch, with viewers equal to the live events at BlizzCon. Hearthstone, Overwatch, Starcraft II, etc. are all better off watched from home live on the Internet than attending in-person. They know this.

Furthermore, most of those attending don't care that much about the con itself; most who go are there for what goes on outside the convention, such as the parties and meetups, and as such there's considerably more people in Anaheim than are ticket-holders in the event space. This? This is unacceptable. Cancel your plans, folks. BlizzCon is Kill.

Friday, May 3, 2019

My Life In Fandom: The Day The Culture Died

Peter Mayhew has died. The Wookie roars no more.

I saw him at CONvergence some years ago, when he was a Guest of Honor, before the convention got eaten by SJWs. As with another Original Trilogy cast member--the man behind Admiral Ozzel, Michael Sheard--he was a beloved guest and both the convention and the membership ensured that he had a good time. In person he was classy, witty, and goofy in that uniquely English manner that is so endearing. What you see in extra features on Star Wars home video isn't an act; he really was like that in person, out from under any Lucasfilm oversight.

Seeing him was a wonderful experience, and I know he'll be missed. Rest in peace, Peter.

The man's death is a marker that a generational turnover is now in effect, and it is in doubt that his biggest achievement will last long after he's done thanks to Disney. As more of the older generation die off or retire into obscurity, their presence fades and with it the memories pass out of life and becomes fossilized into what is archived. Those who come after the fact may never know what they're missing if they never see or hear what came before, and that assumes those descendant generations are not lied to about these past peoples and events.

It's been said that 1997 was the Year Culture Died. That's also the year the Special Editions of the Original Trilogy were released into theaters, unofficially canonizing them as the narrative of record, and the countdown to the Prequels began. In a sense, this was not so much death as a mortal wound, where the injured would persist for a time--growing weaker along the way--before finally expiring. We hit that point, but some folks need markers to acknowledge it and Mayhew dying did it for me.

There is nothing left to save. There is only a remnant to preserve until it can be used as a cornerstone to build something new to succeed what had died.

Some of us are doing that. I've repeatedly pointed to Nick Cole & Jason Anspach's Galaxy's Edge series as a place for those wanting to satisfy that itch that Disney now denies to Star Wars fans. They are not alone; there are others out there doing some form of #StarWarsNotStarWars (and feel free to promote yourselves in the Comments below). I have more to say about my own effort at the Study.

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Narrative Warfare: "Debanking" Is Happening

I called this months ago.

In the wake of Facebook's banning of Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Louis Farrakan, and the building of alternatives such as Gab, Unauthorized, I have to remind all of them--all of you--that this is what's going to happen if you're at all successful. Nevermind payment processors; you're going to have to figure out how to be banned from banking entirely, especially if the smarter ones do the next step and ban "terror-connected" alternatives (i.e. Russian or Chinese banks).

The Supreme Dark Lord jokes about how he couldn't get banned from Facebook for love or money, but that betrays the point: the SJWs want control. Compulsory use of things they control means that alternatives are destroyed and shut out, and then they have the threat of banning dissidents as a means of keeping people in line. It's the 19th century Company Town--scrip, stores, housing, etc.--all over again.

And if you think this can't happen, you aren't paying attention. It can, and unless we're vigilant it will. Good luck making your own banks, folks.

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

From Rehab: The Residency's Conclusion Comes

I've gone to my orthopedics doctor today to send in my prosthetic and get it finalized. That, folks, is the start of the countdown to my discharge from rehabilitation and my return home. I'm out of here on the 17th and I expect to be back in my own bed by that night. I've put in a goodly amount of work to get to this point, and I still have some issues accepting the praise I receive from my therapists and doctors as to the speed of recovery.

I spend a week without my prosthetic, get it back a week from today, and my last week here will focus on ensuring that the fit is good and my condition is where we want it to be. During this time I will get something done that I've had to put on the backburner; residencies of this sort do not foster good writing environments, not when someone knocks on the door every 15 minutes or I'm out doing therapy. It's an environment more akin to caring for small children, where you often have to stop what you're doing because Bobby somehow did something that requires your attention immediately; if you need quiet and focus, don't try to do it when in rehab.

Rehabilitation and therapy will move hereafter to an outpatient basis. I may have to spend the rest of my days with a cane and a wheelchair, but I am going to look damn good doing it.