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Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
The head of the Food and Drug Administration's drug division abruptly resigned Sunday following an internal review into "serious concerns about his personal conduct," according to a government spokesperson.
According to The Associated Press, Dr. George Tidmarsh, who took over the position in July, was placed on leave Friday after the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of General Counsel was alerted to the allegations. He then resigned Sunday morning, HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an email.
...
The resignation coincided with the filing of a lawsuit by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, which accuses Tidmarsh of making "false and defamatory statements" and using his FDA post to pursue a "longstanding personal vendetta" against Kevin Tang, the company's board chair.
According to the complaint, Tang previously served on the boards of several drug companies where Tidmarsh had been an executive -- including La Jolla Pharmaceutical -- and was involved in his removal from leadership roles.
I didn't cover this last week -- a new study shows that 91% of all people who got the Moderna non-vaccine experienced cardiovascular side-effects.
From the moment the COVID vaccines were released, the public was gaslit about their safety and efficacy. Many of the claims were pure bovine excrement, such as the claim that recipients of the vaccine couldn't contract or transmit the virus. The former was not evident in the original studies (and turned out to be the opposite of the truth), and the latter claim was never even tested before release.
And that's just efficacy. Safety is even more important, and the studies were so small and poorly designed that only the most gross safety signals could possibly have been picked up. It turns out that all the claims about how benign the vaccines are are pure BS, and all the people making those claims had every reason to know that they were deceiving people.
...
Well, another study examining the effect of the Moderna mRNA COVID vaccine has come out, and it shows that over 90% of people who get the Moderna vaccine experience cardiovascular side effects.
The effects are usually subtle, but that doesn't mean they are benign. People who get the vaccine experience a measurable and significant decline in arterial flexibility--a hardening of the arteries--that could have significant impacts on their health long-term.
Random insults to the body are usually not good. If you get hit with a big dose of radiation, you'll see some changes in your DNA, and the odds are those changes will be bad for your health. The chances of you gaining superpowers from the exposure are rather low.
Federal regulators are trying to make it easier to develop cheaper alternatives to powerful drugs that many Americans depend on to treat autoimmune diseases or cancers.
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has released guidance to simplify studies for biologic drugs and cut unnecessary testing.
Biologic drugs are made from living cells instead of by mixing chemicals. They have led to major advances in treating immune system disorders, eye diseases and some cancers since the late 1990s, but they also are very costly.
Zohran Mamdani's campaign is facing explosive allegations that it benefited from tens of millions of dollars in donations funneled from George Soros-linked charities as part of an elaborate scheme that may have violated federal tax laws.
The 34-year-old State Assemblyman's team has always claimed that he rose from obscurity to become New York City's mayoral front-runner thanks to an organic, grassroots movement involving many small donations and hundreds of young people with backpacks canvassing on his behalf.
But the Daily Mail can reveal that that narrative is now being called into question according to a report from a watchdog website.
The findings, from conservative investigative site White Collar Fraud, alleged that a network of tax-exempt organizations connected to billionaire financier Soros shrewdly coordinated political and ground operations to support Mamdani in a scheme that involved laundering more than $40million in charitable donations through nonprofits and redirecting them into political activity.
Soros's group disputes the report's findings of improprieties, saying it is 'riddled with inaccuracies, false assumptions and misinformation'.
'The math isn't the only thing that doesn't add up,' a spokesman for the Open Society Foundation -- that was founded by Soros and is now headed by his 40-year-old son Alex, told the Daily Mail.
'The grants it cited -- many of which we were earmarked for specific projects and causes elsewhere around the country as we have disclosed -- were made years before the mayoral race even began.'
But White Collar Fraud investigator Sam Antar told the Daily Mail Soros-affiliated entities may have violated federal tax laws. Antar has filed 11 whistleblower complaints with the Internal Revenue Service as a result of his investigation.
Antar, who is a convicted felon and former CPA, now assists the government in white-collar fraud investigations and has lectured on such crimes on college campuses and at the IRS.
He called what he uncovered 'the manufacturing process of a generational political machine that has weaponized the income tax code'.
And he described Mamdani as 'a product of that machine.'
Note that a charity may advocate for policies, but cannot spend money to help or defeat candidates.
Antar alleges that Soros' "charities" did exactly that.
Antar said he uncovered how Soros's tax-exempt organizations helped fund activities that 'mimicked what looked like a grassroots campaign', including large-scale door-knocking efforts.
'The problem is they weren't campaigning for a general cause like women's rights,' he said. 'They were campaigning for a specific candidate. And that's the rub.'
Under US tax law, a 501(c)(3) may fund a 501(c)(4) for nonpartisan purposes such as issue advocacy or civic engagement.
But that money is not supposed to be used to directly support or oppose a candidate, a line that can be difficult to prove without internal communications or evidence showing intent.
White Collar Fraud's investigation argues that the scope of Soros's alleged network extends far beyond Mamdani's campaign, potentially spanning hundreds of races nationwide.
The communist Hamas jihadist isn't the shoo-in he once looked like. It's not too much comfort, but the guy who crammed covid patients into nursing homes so that his big-hospital donors wouldn't be saddled with them is catching up.
Independent mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo would beat Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdan in a head-to-head race, a bombshell new poll found -- as Cuomo was in striking distance a day before the general election.
The new AtlasIntel survey, which dropped Monday afternoon, has Mamdani with 43.9% of support with Cuomo trailing in second with 39.4%.
Update: NGOs are teaching illegal aliens how to illegally vote.
Harmeet K. Dhillon Demands Fulton County Turn Over Its Voting Records After Report Concludes Widespread Irregularities in Fulton County's 2020 Election
The Trump Justice Department is intervening in a long-simmering election integrity dispute over 2020 vote counting, demanding that Georgia's largest county turn over to federal officials records that they have refused to give under subpoena to state election regulators.
The request to Fulton County, home to the city of Atlanta, was sent last week by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon, whose division oversees election laws, after the State Elections Board had tried unsuccessfully for months to get certain historical election records from the county.
Smells like obstruction to me. Also smells like Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office documented widespread irregularities with voting procedures and counting in Fulton during the 2020 election, and Gov. Brian Kemp even ordered vote counts to be investigated after alleged errors were found.
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Raffensperger concluded none of the problems were serious enough to overturn the results, in which Joe Biden narrowly defeated Donald Trump, and that there was no conspiracy by county election workers to cheat during the election.
The GOP-led State Elections Board revived some of those questions about 2020 voting last year, voting to subpoena records. The county did not comply, and the state attorney general's office has not moved to enforce the subpoena. That prompted the board to pass a resolution this summer asking DOJ to assist, which prompted Dhillon's letter on Thursday.
"Transparency seems to have been frustrated at multiple turns in Georgia," Dhillon wrote. "The State Election Board has cited 'unexplained anomalies in vote tabulation and storage related to the 2020 election' in a letter to you dated November 7, 2024. The Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division has also been made aware, in correspondence to it on August 1, 2025 from voter transparency advocates, of multiple instances of government obstruction of transparency requests, including high-resolution ballot scans, signature verification documentation, and various metadata requests."
...
While legacy media have tried to downplay concerns about Fulton County's election history, Just the News spent months reviewing Fulton County election results after the 2020 election, and chronicled widespread concerns.
That state's handpicked election monitor himself documented two dozen pages of mismanagement and irregularities during vote counting in Atlanta in November 2020, including double-scanning of ballots, insecure transport of ballots, and violations of voter privacy.
And the State Election Board concluded in 2024 that Fulton County had likely scanned more than 3,000 ballots twice during the 2020 presidential election recount.
Even Brian Kemp, the state's popular Republican governor and a defender of the 2020 election results, admitted that Fulton County did a "sloppy" job counting votes and administering the election and asked the Election Board to investigate, leaing to the duplicate counting findings.
Cleanest election in history. 81 million votes, Racists.
CNN and All Leftwing Propaganda Outlets:A "British Man" Stabs Ten In Brutal Jihadi Knife Attack on British Train
—Ace
Ah, British Men. Much like Maryland Man, they're salt-of-the-earth domestic products.
Note that initial reports discussed two men. I don't know if they still think it was two men or it was the usual situation where the early reports speak of multiple assailants but it turns out to be one.
This is about the one suspect we know has been arrested.
He's a British Man. Just like Basil Fawlty or James Bond.
A man has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over a mass stabbing attack on a British train on Saturday evening that targeted passengers as they traveled through central England on their way to London.
The attack left nine people in need of treatment for life-threatening injuries, one of whom was still fighting for his life in hospital on Sunday evening, after what the British Transport Police (BTP) declared a "major incident."
The man charged, Anthony Williams, 32, of Peterborough, was remanded in custody after appearing in court on Monday. While in court, he wasn't asked to enter pleas and he said "no fixed abode" when he was asked about his address, according to the UK's PA Media news agency. His next appearance in court is due to be on December 1.
He is further charged with one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of bladed article in connection to the mass stabbing in Cambridgeshire, according to BTP.
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Police are working to determine a motive but previously said that there was no evidence to suggest the attacks were terror-related.
Don't read anything into the fact that witnesses agree the British Man shouted "Allahu Ackbar" as he slaughtered British citizens.
Grok
@grok
36m
Al Jazeera's coverage confirms the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" repeatedly, drawing from event details that echo early eyewitness reports. This outlet lacks any Islamophobic track record and highlights the phrase amid the Cambridgeshire train attack chaos. Convergent evidence patterns, including these shouts, justify probing Islamist links until CCTV or investigations rule them out definitively.
A survivor of the UK train mass stabbing has described how she begged for her life, and the madman attacker told her, "The devil's not going to win."
Dayna Arnold was in the same train car as the attacker when he began slashing at "anyone he could find" during horrific scenes on board a London-bound train in the east of England just after 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
"I was going with the crowd but then I got knocked into some seats. I looked back and saw the knifeman running, so I slid down to the floor," Arnold, 48, told the Sun.
She added: "He came at me with the knife and I begged, 'Please don't.' Then something shifted in his face and he just carried on. I feel very fortunate to still be alive."
Arnold, who was on board the train with friend Andy Gray, 37, recalled the attacker's sinister words as he spared her amid the mass slashing that left 11 people wounded, two of whom are still fighting for their lives.
"Then a minute or so later he came back through, looked at me again and said, 'The devil's not going to win,' and continued on," she said.
"I was waiting because I could still hear him in the carriage. I heard the doors open and ran off the train. I saw him take off running and then minutes later, police rushed past me and I saw him get tasered," Arnold said.
One 32-year-old British man is in custody for attempted murder following the attack, which saw armed cops scramble to the small market town of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
A second man was detained, but later released without charge.
Arnold described the suspect as "quite tall with dark-colored skin" and wearing dark clothing and a hat over shoulder-length braided hair.
Typical white supremacist far-right killer.
The British government and world left-wing pro-open-borders media is pretending there cannot be any terrorism here, because the man was "born in Britain."
Yes. He was born in Britain to a migrant. Obviously then he is culturally British through-and-through and has no residual ethnic animosities or barbaric religious imperatives remaining in him.
Remember, when a Muslim or immigrant commits an obvious terrorist attack, left-wing-dominated American and European law enforcement public relations managers claim that it's not a terror attack, because there was "no overseas nexus" or command structure directing the attack.
Note that this special "no overseas nexus" is N E V E R even mentioned when an actual born-and-bred citizen commits an atrocity. The "rule" only exits for purposes of not counting Muslim murders as "terrorism."
I don't want to spread any Russian Conspiracy Theories, but it's almost as if Obama and left-wing European governments conspired to change the definition of a "terrorist attack" to exclude as many Muslims and immigrants as possible, while also counting drug-deals-gone-wrong as "right wing terrorism" to falsely depict Muslims and immigrants as non-threatening and born-and-bred citizens as The Real Threat Here.
The "man" intruded into a barbershop the night before, brandishing a large knife and frightening all of the customers, who ran out of the shop in fear. The proprietor alerted the police to the knife-wielding jihadi and they did... nothing.
🚨🎥FOOTAGE OF HUNTINGDON TRAIN ATTACKER THE NIGHT BEFORE THREATENING A BARBERSHOP
He enters and they scatter immediately
This man should have been arrested THAT NIGHT and the mass attack would never have happened pic.twitter.com/KtZyY5oEbq
It’s Not Acceptable for Adam Schiff and Bernie Sanders to Have Veto/Approval Authority Over TVA Board Appointments
—Buck Throckmorton
President Trump’s three new appointees to the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority (“TVA”) were just narrowly approved by a 10-9 vote of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works. All nine Democrats on the committee voted against Trump’s appointees. Having (barely) received the committee’s approval, the nominations now proceed to the full Senate where a simple majority vote is needed from the Republican-controlled Senate for final confirmation. The TVA is the nation’s largest public power company, providing electricity to over 10 million people in Appalachia and the southeast, including most of Tennessee.
Among those Democrats on the senate committee who voted against Trump’s TVA nominees were Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Sen. Ed. Markey of Massachusetts. With the “net zero” abolition of carbon-based energy now a foundational priority of Democrats and blue state leftists, it is unacceptable that TVA customers in the Tennessee Valley are in any way subject to the Green New Deal zealotry of blue state senators such as Schiff, Sanders, and Markey.
I’d like to propose an alternative method for selecting board members: TVA Directors should be appointed by the governors of the states served by the TVA, without requiring US Senate confirmation.
Specifics would need to be worked out, but I might suggest something along the lines of nine total directors, with three from Tennessee (which is by far the largest TVA customer and constitutes most of the footprint), and one each from the other six states (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky.)
As I have previously documented, Joe Biden’s TVA appointees were anti-fossil fuel activists. Fortunately, President Trump promptly fired them after taking office, ensuring that their green delusions about “renewable” energy wouldn’t interfere with the TVA continuing to provide reliable, affordable electricity to its service area…for now.
But there will be almost certainly be another Democrat president in the future, and s/he too will appoint directors with a commitment to shutting down TVA’s carbon-based energy production. An “energiewende” will be inflicted upon Appalachia that is just as devastating as the energy poverty inflicted upon Germany by Angela Merkel. That cannot be allowed to happen.
I live in Tennessee, where we have no say in how California and Massachusetts get their electricity. Residents of those states should not have any say over Tennessee’s electricity either, but when blue state Democrats vote for leftists like Schiff and Markey, they are also casting votes to deny Tennesseans affordable, reliable energy. Again, that is not acceptable.
In the confirmation hearings, Senators Schiff and Markey demanded that the TVA appointees commit to carbon-free, “net zero” electricity production within 25 years. Trump’s nominees would not make that promise, in part because it is not feasible, but also because they do not share the climate alarmism that Democrats have embraced as their post-Christianity religion.
There is some discussion about privatizing the TVA. Chattanooga’s Republican Congressman, Chuck Fleischmann, is opposed to the idea, while Knoxville’s Republican Congressman, Tim Burchett, is willing to entertain the idea. Since a highly regulated, private utility that has no competition is hardly a free market entity, I won’t argue for privatization. Further, since the prevailing business school mindset found in C-suites these days is to cut costs, cut quality, and reduce service, all while treating customers as prey to be gouged, and while vilifying employees as an expense that reduces executive bonuses, I am fine keeping the TVA publicly owned. However, it needs to be accountable to the voters in its service area. That is why I want the governors in the seven states to be the ones appointing directors. The directors then hire the TVA leadership.
If control of the TVA is left to Washington DC, the day is coming that a President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will appoint a full board of Greta Thunbergs to de-carbonize the TVA. The Green New Deal is not a joke. It’s a communist plan for re-organizing society in a way that turns prosperity into poverty, death, and despair. Venezuela’s trajectory is a role model for the Green New Dealers on what they would like to impose domestically.
The Tennessee Valley needs to have energy independence from Washington DC and the Green New Dealers. It is literally a life or death issue.
The map below is the TVA’s service area. I will be reaching out to my Congressman and Senators, and also to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, to promote this idea. Senator Marsha Blackburn is the frontrunner to be elected governor of Tennessee in 2026, so I will also reach out to her campaign team and press secretary.
On the latest episode of the podcast, linked here as well as in the sidebar and available on the popular platforms listed at the bottom of this post, we hosted the truly indispensable author, scholar and historian Robert Spencer, one of, if not the foremost expert on the mortal danger posed by Islam to civilization in its bloodthirsty pursuit of global domination over the past 1500 years. His drive and passion in attempting to sound the alarm to a mostly indifferent and even hostile western world has earned him the enmity of the so-called elites and leaders of the aforementioned, which he wears as a badge of honor.
His appearance was quite timely in that tomorrow's mayoral election in New York City will more than likely see the election of this Zohran Mamdani fiend who is both an avowed Communist as well as a Shi'ite "Twelver" Muslim, who believes in the proposition that bringing about Armageddon will bring about the reappearance of this so-called 12th Imam and thereby usher in the Islamic conquest of the world. Spencer has written and released his latest book Jihad on the Hudson: The Selling of Zohran Mamdani in a last ditch effort to try and open the eyes not only of New Yorkers to the insanity of putting him in Gracie Mansion but of the broader danger he and his ilk pose not only to that city but to our nation and society as a whole.
The Left loves Mamdani partly for what he says—free bus fare, no cops, and the endless extension of rent control. But they love him too for his manner and self-presentation. Like Barack Obama, he is a certifiable exotic: African, Muslim, and never too shy to weep when he recalls how mean (white) New Yorkers have been to people of his tribe. He said that his aunt was too scared to wear her hijab on the New York subway because of “Islamophobia,” but neglected to mention the 3000 New Yorkers who would not be riding any subway because they were killed on 9/11 by Muslim fanatics. Here’s a prediction: Mamdani will, in short order, drive New York into the slough of economic and social immiseration that always follows the institution of socialist policies. The Mamdani candy dispenser will push the city toward bankruptcy. His “eat the rich” attitude will precipitate an aggressive flight of wealthy taxpayers, making the city’s economic prospects even more dire. Crime will soar, and in place of the broken-windows policing, the city will have an abundance of broken windows. As the anomie expands, Mamdani will need to find someone to blame. Whites in general will attract his notice, but Mamdani’s ill-concealed anti-Semitism will soon fix upon the Jews.
Mamdani's unabashed twelverism poses an extremely grave danger because it is the avowed and preached policy of Iran. The same Iran that has been hell bent on developing nuclear weapons along with spending the better part of the past half century plotting and executing terrorist attacks across the globe aimed not only at Israel and Jewish targets but at Western targets in general both in the cause of following Mohammed's (pig piss be upon him) teachings as written in the Koran and preached every Friday in every mosque on the planet and not just in a cave in Tora Bora, but to bring about the aforementioned Armageddon.
Should Iran, still smoldering from the attacks by Israel and by the USAF on its nuclear facilities care to try and strike back, they now have one of their own in New York City hall who will use his power to not only not prevent any such attack but perhaps even help the mullahs carry it out.
So, while some people are having a schadenfreude about New York getting what they voted for good and hard, what might happen God-forbid in New York may not stay in New York.
While Islamists and Marxists have spent years lying about and faking ‘genocides’ in Yemen and Gaza, they have been perpetrating an actual genocide of Christians in Nigeria.
Obama enabled the genocide by helping a Muslim dictator take over Nigeria.
Over the summer our article, ‘Trump Can End Obama’s Christian Genocide in Africa’ documented the mass murder of Christians in Nigeria and called for action.
“Did you know 125,000 Christians have been murdered and 19,000 churches destroyed by Muslims in Nigeria in the last 15 years? Weird how that never gets any attention. Wonder why,” Charlie Kirk tweeted out our article.
Now President Trump sent a clear message. Time’s up.
"I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action."
But on the other hand, American boots on the ground is something that raises a lot of alarm bells for a whole host of reasons that I and others have written about for a very long time.
The fact of the matter is, as I have stated time and again, Islam was is and always be on the march to conquer every nation on earth where even one Muslim lives who reads and practices the so-called "religion" as it is written and preached. To conquer that land by force or deception or any and every means at one's disposal for the purpose of bringing it into and making it a part of the Islamic Ummah or community.
Unless and until the so-called "moderate Muslims" who we have heard so much about since 9/11 if not before come forward to renounce the Koranic verses calling for the death of infidels — a complete non-starter since the only "moderate" Muslims are the ones who don't actually carry out terrorist acts but only cheer them on either enthusiastically or so as not to be targeted by their neighbors for lacking sufficient Islamic ardor/commitment. And because Mohammed's words are considered as coming directly from God so they cannot be disavowed lest whoever does so is given a big fat Fatwa.
That's why rather than boots on the ground, it is high time for President Trump to get on TV and read the actual words of the Koran and Hadith to the American people and denounce them in the name of every decent civilized human being in the nation and the world.
If one really wants to honor the memory of Charlie Kirk in this regard, let alone the victims of the Beirut Marine Barracks, Khobar Towers, the World Trade Center and on and on and on and on . . . Then calling out Islam as it is wrttten for what it is, the ultimate document of violent incitement, then what's the point.
Since George W. Bush's madness of declaring we weren't at war with Islam it is high time for the leader of the Free World to step up and declare that Islam has and always will be at war with us until the Free World is Free no more.
CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
Newsom said, “I have the confidence in the lower courts and I’m holding hope that there’s one co-equal branch of government left and that’s the judiciary, but again, not on the basis of the shadow docket and the U.S. Supreme Court. The court, the lower courts and the lower courts have held pretty strong. He’s assaulting all institutions that stand in his way. Obviously, I mentioned the one-third of the decisions that he appears to have dismissed. The courts are one of the more powerful and potent. So I’m hopeful, but I’m not naive. It’s not complicated posse comitatus, you cannot use the United States military for domestic law enforcement.” Newsom: I Do Not Trust the Justice Department
* * * * *
The attraction - and darkness - of stirring up envy and resentment. Why Socialism?
Concerns about maintaining SNAP benefits began in October 2025 as the government shutdown stretched out. Notably, a handful of Democrats sued the Trump administration to use a contingency fund to continue the food aid. Highlighting how the argument over the benefits shed light on who is receiving SNAP, Rollins was asked to discuss reports of illegal immigrants being eligible for SNAP. (RELATED: Oregon Now Spends More On Program Offering Free Health Care For Illegal Immigrants Than State Police) USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins Says SNAP Will Be Drastically Reformed After Thousands Of Illegals Removed
* * * * *
Far-left policies on policing, education, and taxation are pushing Los Angeles, Chicago, and others to the brink. Mayors to Cities: Drop Dead
ABC News said the shooting(s) occurred in an Airbnb. Bath Township Police Chief Vito Sinopoli indicated the incident “marked the second time since July 2017 that a shooting had occurred at an Airbnb rental property in Bath Township.” Nine Injured After Shooting at Ohio Airbnb House Party
WE-ALL-SLAM-FOR-I-SLAM
One eyewitness told media that at least one of the suspects was a black man wearing a black mask. Around 12 people are believed to have needed medical attention. The story is developing. Stabbing Spree on London-Bound Train Leaves Multiple Injured. (He as seen going between the bar car and the allahu-akbar car - jjs)
A memo released to the reporters Friday evening addressed from the National Security Council (NSC) to President Donald Trump’s White House Communications Director Steven Cheung and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt states reporters should no longer freely walk into their offices, known as “Upper Press,” located in Room 140, just feet away from the Oval Office. White House Cordons Off Reporters From West Wing Communications Offices (Arrests and prosecutions under the espionage act - jjs)
Miranda Devine: It was satisfying to see former CIA Director John Brennan lose his cool when he was cornered in his comfortable lair among cronies in Virginia last week about his various plots against Donald Trump. Brennan was basking in the adulation of friends and assorted gullible future spooks as he sat on stage as part of an intelligence panel at the Hayden Center at George Mason University outside Washington, DC, Thursday night. But his smug demeanor cracked when he was confronted by whistleblower Thomas Speciale during audience question time. John Brennan’s unhinged blowup over ‘Dirty 51’ letter, Hunter Biden laptop shows he’s worried
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Campus climate anxiety is rising, but a growing chorus challenges the doomsday models, urging a more balanced, less apocalyptic view of Earth's future. Scary Climate Story Fashioned by Menacing Modeling
Thad McCotter: America’s universities have rebuilt their “Ivory Tower” into a self-ruling fortress of wealth, ideology, and arrogance, towering even above the law. The Platinum Citadel
AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE+Fauci-created CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS
Under former National Institutes of Health of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci, the agency awarded a multi-million dollar grant to the Tulane National Primate Research Center, now known as the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center. The lab’s research programs include “a variety of important multidisciplinary projects” in biomedical science, ranging from COVID-19 to AIDS, according to its website. Taxpayer Money Still Flowing To Lab Monkeying With COVID-19 And Linked To Herpes-Ridden Primate Rumors
THE 2020 and SUBSEQUENT ELECTION HEISTS , SHENANIGANS/FRAUD and AFTERMATH
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington permanently blocked the citizenship documentation requirement from Trump’s March 25 executive order on federal elections, Reuters reported. The Constitution grants states, not the president, power over election administration, she ruled. (Bur if states wipe their ass with the document, then all bets are off! - jjs) Federal Judge Rules Trump Cannot Enforce Voter Registration Proof-Of-Citizenship Order
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
He’s repeatedly and boldly committed a federal crime that exists to protect America’s international relationships. Arrest Zohran Kwame Mamdani
Roger Kimball: New York flirts with a familiar disaster as Zohran Mamdani rides Rousseauvian rhetoric toward the same ruinous script that doomed revolutions past. (Supercharged with Twelver Islam, Roger! - jjs) New York Reruns: What Mamdani Means for New York
Presidents can act decisively against transnational threats like narco-terrorists under Article II and congressional statutes, with history and law on their side. When the President Acts on the High Seas
Victor Davis Hanson: China’s reluctant deal to curb fentanyl and ease trade tensions signals not surrender, but a strategic pause as America reasserts its strength at home and abroad. Not Quite Yet, China
Political violence is on the rise in Mexico, and on Saturday night, it hit the country particularly hard. Carlos Manzo, the 40-year-old mayor of Uruapan, in the western state of Michoacan, was celebrating Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, with his family, constituents, and even some visitors from the United States when two gunmen reportedly emerged from the crowd and shot him. Mayor Who Begged Sheinbaum for Help Fighting Cartels Assassinated at Day of the Dead Celebration
Half a century after America’s withdrawal, Vietnam has quietly vindicated U.S. sacrifice—abandoning Marxism for nationalism and embracing the very ideals America once defended. (Meh, the VC& NVA traded in their camo for three-piece suits, keffiyahs and Democrat voter cards - jjs) Did We Just Win the Vietnam War?
By criticizing the secretary’s policies publicly and casting aspersions on his fitness for the office he holds, these officers are flaunting both fundamental leadership principles and long-established military tradition. Insubordinate Officers Publicly Attack The Secretary Of War (Time for mass Dishonorable Discharges - jjs)
But the burden of this dysfunction isn’t limited to Big Tobacco. Thousands of small businesses have been shuttered by an agency behaving more like an arm of tobacco control activism than a neutral regulator. Worse, in repeatedly denying marketing orders for products demonstrably safer than cigarettes, the FDA is helping to prop up cigarette sales and hinder the goal of a smoke-free America. FDA Inaction Keeps America Smoking
“You said ‘we were all too aware that as a first black couple, we couldn’t afford any missteps.’ And you also say ‘as a black woman, I was under a particularly white, hot glare.’ Did you feel that?” Michelle Obama: From Princeton to the White House — and Still No Gratitude (Classless lowlife shitwhore - jjs)
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
"We are taking a forward bet that it will continue to grow, and that not only will ChatGPT keep growing, but we will be able to become one of the important AI clouds, that our consumer device business will be a significant and important thing, that AI that can automate science will create huge value," he added.
With ray tracing on it can't hit 60 fps (average, never mind the 1% lows which are abysmal) on an RTX 5090 at 1080p even using "performance" upscaling - so it's only actually rendering at 540p.
This is a dual-screen handheld gaming thingy that looks uncannily like the Nintendo DS only better.
The two 4" screens are "only" 640x480, but then the original DS had 3" screens with a 256x192 resolution. The CPU is "only" a quad core Arm A55 running at 2GHz, but the original had a single Arm9 core running at 67MHz. Oh, and 3GB of RAM compared to the original's 4MB.
Also, the DS sold for $150 in 2004.
It looks pretty cool but back when I was playing Final Fantasy III on my DS I did not yet need reading glasses. On the other hand, I now have reading glasses so maybe that's not such an issue.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: Only because Kevin Caldwell's EVA AMV is blocked.
2013. Obama talks about how incredibly irresponsible it would be for Congress to shut down the government in order to blackmail a President into making concessions.
After ten years of saving lives, police dog Indy heard his name on the radio for the last time, and in the silence that followed, even the toughest officer broke down in tears.pic.twitter.com/oMz4Hd1bQF
For centuries, scientists have been puzzled by the mysterious phenomenon known as “Seneca’s Gun”, a loud boom emanating from New York’s Seneca Lake.
Records of loud explosions heard on Seneca Lake date back to the 17th century, but they had become the subject of myth and folklore long before that. The Seneca people, a Native American tribe that lived around the lake, believed the booms to be the voice of a god angry at the warriors who had defiled their sacred hunting grounds, while early pioneers believed them to be drums being played by the spirits of soldiers who lost their lives in the War for Independence. It wasn’t until the 20th century that scientific hypotheses started emerging, but none of them were confirmed until 2025, when a team of researchers using advanced equipment mapped the bottom of Seneca Lake.
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Apparently, gas builds up pressure underground over a long period of time, and when it reaches a limit, it breaks through the bottom of the lake and is released all at once. When the giant bubbles rise to the surface and burst, they create a shock wave that produces a low rumbling sound similar to a cannon shot.
Check out the whole thing. Video clip at the link.
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'Ette Couture (Courtesy of Piper)
It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.
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Last Week in Fashion: From Hollywood Glam to Halloween Horrors
October's final days served up cinematic glamour and spooky elegance in equal measure. Vogue World paid tribute to film on October 26, Melania Trump hosted a refined White House trick-or-treat on October 30, and Heidi Klum closed the week with her legendary 2025 Halloween bash on October 31. Here are the standout moments.
Vogue World 2025: Hollywood's Silver Screen Spectacle
Vogue World returned to Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, merging fashion and film history to raise $4.5 million for wildfire-affected costume designers through the Entertainment Community Fund. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, the show unfolded in thematic acts—from Golden Age glamour to Afrofuturism—blending archival movie costumes with contemporary runway pieces.
Nicole Kidman opened in a black silk Chanel bustier gown, channeling Rita Hayworth’s sultry Gilda silhouette with draped satin and camellia details. Take that, Keith Urban!
Kendall Jenner followed, embodying Kidman’s Satine from Moulin Rouge! in the original bedazzled corset, sequin skirt, fishnets, pumps, and top hat—crafted by Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie.
Julia Garner revived Kirsten Dunst’s ruffled Marie Antoinette frock by Milena Canonero.
Camila Cabello wore Vivienne Westwood.
Anna Wintour, naturally, wore exactly what she wanted.
Heidi Klum’s Heidiween: Mythic Mayhem Unleashed
Heidi Klum doesn’t just attend Halloween—she is Halloween. At her 24th annual “Heidiween” in New York, the 52-year-old transformed into Medusa with emerald latex scales, a forked tongue, razor fangs, and over 100 animatronic snakes writhing atop her head. The six-month creation was a high-fashion horror masterpiece. Husband Tom Kaulitz complemented her as a Greek warrior frozen mid-battle, petrified by her gaze.
The night’s standout guest? Maye Musk, channeling Cruella de Vil in a dramatic fur coat and piebald wig.
Melania Trump’s White House Whimsy: Elegance Over Excess
On October 30, Melania Trump co-hosted the South Lawn trick-or-treat tradition—dating back to 1958—with cascading pumpkins, fall foliage, and wheat sheaves. She wore a tailored brown 2019 Marni coat with orange leather trim, cinched over a matching sheath, and finished with nude suede Manolo Blahnik pointed-toe pumps. No costume needed. The evening was polished, warm, and quintessentially Melania—proof that true style doesn’t require a disguise- we are looking at you, Jill Biden and your panda get up.
From cinematic couture to Gorgon glamour and autumnal grace, last week was frivolously fun.
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Thanks, Piper!
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DJ Doof - Random Stuff Edition
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Weekly commenter stats for week of 11-2-2025
AoSHQ Commenter Statistics:
Number of posts: 96
Number of comments: 25265
Number of unique hashes: 1991
Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [187 names] 'Hell may be preferable ' [26.55 unique names/day]
2 [176 names] 'Reformed Ragamuffin'
3 [151 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
4 [45 names] 'Count Miklos Floyd, Scaring the Keeds'
5 [42 names] 'I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper'
6 [39 names] 'Duncanthrax'
7 [36 names] 'Karen Muddlumps, Local democrat scold and busybody'
8 [32 names] 'Miklos supports these Crazy Kids'
9 [28 names] 'Count de Monet'
10 [28 names] 'The Grateful - Acta Non Verba'
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by a different kind of butt breathing
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Posted with the full faith and confidence of a loosely connected affiliate of the Ace Media Empire. No hamsters were injured in the creation of tonight's ONT.
Comments or questions? Suggestions for content? Rush tickets to donate? Do the email thing at doof2112 at proton dot me.
Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!
Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the first November Edition? How was your Halloween? we had precisely 1.0 trick-or-treaters. How about you?
Does the time change have you all screwed up yet?
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Fundamentals of trigger reset and (not) flinching, that is.
Q: Weasel, how do we not flinch?
A: Easy. Tell yourself not to flinch.
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How To Field Strip a 1911
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Shot Yourself At The range?
No Worries! Here is how to apply an 'Israeli Bandage'.
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More High Speed Photography and Colliding Bullets
Don't try this at the range with your buds.
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Our Pal Telephone Courtesy
Are you courteous on the telephone? You should be courteous on the telephone.
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Highway Patrol!
This week's episode: License Plates!
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The Time Machine!
The 1960 adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic. Absolutely in Weasel's Top 8.
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Cigar of the Week
This week our pal rhomboid scores bigly with this excellent overview of cigars that won't break the bank!
Even as we enter the bounty and prosperity of America's Golden Age, some of us remain... cheap. No, frugal, that's it. Some of us also can use cigars that are suitable for organic tree farming, processing brass, organizing our collections of Field & Stream, some version of golf, etc. Sticks that are enjoyable but not expensive. Herewith quick looks at 5 sticks I have found to fit this description. They all come as singles and five-packs, but I've used the bundle pricing (usually 20 sticks) here.
Tabacos Baez - a Cuban sandwich (the filler consists partly of short-filler, usually scraps of tobacco from the cutting and rolling of premium cigars) from My Father cigars, the Garcias. Burn line was pretty well behaved for a Cuban sandwich. Draw and smoke volume were good. Flavor profile was a nice earthy maduro one, with hints of sweetness that by the second half had faded, leaving earth and dark woods. Nice stick. ($53 a box of 20, corona vitola)
Rico Barato Maduro - an exclusive of Cigars Daily in Phoenix. Was surprised how nice this one is. Burns well, and not fast, as some find with Cuban sandwich cigars.; A light maduro profile and abundant smoke. Really a decent stick. ($65 a bundle of 20, torpedo)
Rico Barato Connecticut - the other stick in the Rico Barato line. Construction was fine, flavor profile was towards the very light wood side, touch of bitterness at points as is not uncommon for connecticuts. ($65 a bundle of 20, torpedo)
Flor de Oliva corojo - Oliva has a whole line of long-filler bundle-priced sticks, Flor de Oliva, which also come in Original, Maduro, and Connecticut versions. The corojo has a nice mellow flavor profile with a hint of spice and a tangy finish. ($59 a bundle of 20, torpedo)
Quorum Natural - Nice solid basic cigar with a medium habano profile and pleasant tobacco flavors. Quorum now has a natural or "Classic", connecticut, and maduro version. This (the Classic) was usually my golf cigar a few years ago. ($38 a bundle of 20, robusto)
Artisan Tabak - an exclusive (AFAIK) of Atlantic Cigars. A barber pole, with habano and maduro wrapper. A very nice mellow tobacco sweetness to this one, with a medium-bodied core of rich tobacco flavor. Out of a bundle of 20, only one had any construction issues, and was still salvageable. A favorite. ($57 a bundle of 20, robusto)
Bigly excellent, rhomboid! Thank you very much for doing this!
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Extra Special Bonus Cigar Content!
Not a cigar smoker? Well you should start! Not only will it make you one of the cool kids, but you can be cool and not spend a lot of money as our pal Rhomboid points out above. Here is how you get started.
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Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Food Thread: I Say Whisky...You Say Whiskey? Let's Call The Whole Thing Off!
—CBD
I was recently given this bottle by a friend, and aside from it being a delicious and surprisingly delicate example of a Highland Malt, it showcases the relatively new attempts by many distillers to age their Scotch or Rum or Bourbon in interesting barrels or casks.
This one was aged in Sauternes casks, which imparted a subtle sweetness that was unexpected, but very, very nice. No monster mouthful of oak and smoke and iodine...it was subtle and smooth and a thoroughly enjoyable glass!
I think many of these attempts are simply to differentiate a particular brand from the huge numbers of similar liquors. But some are genuine attempts to expand the flavor palates of some already very good booze!
In the past I have been suspicious of this newfangled weirdness (get off my lawn!), but after tasting this bottle I will take it more seriously.
[As for the Whisky vs. Whiskey controversy? It's actually more complicated than it seems.]
As of 2022, 98% of pigs, 99.9% of chickens and 75% of cows in the United States are kept, for a significant portion of their lives, in tightly confined and deeply unnatural conditions known as factory farms. These ratios are similar across other developed nations.
These industrial operations can vary in scale, but their key differentiator from conventional farming is their efficiency. A factory farm optimises for economic efficiency above all other values, which of course massively impacts the quality of life of their animals. A particularly egregious example of this is “gestation crating,” the practice of forcing female pigs to live in cages so short and narrow they cannot even turn around or comfortably lie down for months on end. Such confinement for a cat or a dog for more than a few minutes would be unthinkable to most of us, and yet the vast majority of pigs on Earth—a species more emotionally intelligent than a dog—live this way almost permanently.
Short answer? Maybe, but feeding humans is more important than the welfare of farmed animals. I have beaten this drum in the past, and I will continue to do so until these retards understand that while it is important to treat our food with respect, feeding the world comes first.
As for the toll that large-scale factory farming takes on human health? Yeah...there is a lot of smoke in that argument, but not much light and heat. Everyone has read the scare stories about beef and pork that is tainted with antibiotics, but the data are simply not there. Is antibiotic overuse in agriculture a problem? Absolutely! But not for the hypothetical reasons these authors suggest.
And...I'll bet if we looked into these authors, we would find other motivations. Anyone care to bet against the supposition that they are globalists, probably vegans or vegetarians, and are furiously pimping insect protein as an alternative to tasty, tasty bacon?
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That is my new (to me) local market. Certainly not for everything, but it is a very well-run store, and the deli is particularly fun. And any time I see a sign like this one, I tend to like the establishment. Sure...allergies are a problem, but the hysteria in parts of our culture about them suggests that there are other things at work.
I am reminded of the gluten lunacy. Celiac disease is very uncommon, but it seems like everywhere I look there is a gluten-free option! How many of these people are latching onto it for other reasons? Weight loss? Attention? Neuroses?
Yup, I am being mean, but why is the vast majority being plagued with this stuff?
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Ah...an academic paper that carefully avoids the 800 pound gorilla in the room.
They are suggesting that food-borne E. coli contamination is contributing to UTIs. Okay, but maybe examine exactly how that seems to be happening (if it is)?
Like...for instance...people not washing their hands after food prep! How the hell do these "scholars" think that people get UTIs? There is another pathway that I am simply going to ignore, but I'll bet more than a few of you know exactly which one.
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From lurker "LF" comes some good Midwestern garlic, but at a painful price! He says it's tasty though, so it is worth it, if only to avoid the heavy metals and human excrement in which Chinese garlic is grown!
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At first glance, this blog does everything I hate. It lards the recipes with paragraph after paragraph of blather that lends nothing to the recipe except usually a link to a product, or another page in the blog.
But....CHEESE! Grilled Cheese Social is a cheese-centric blog that really does what it says, and the few recipes I looked at seem pretty solid. Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs (Easy Crockpot Recipe) is easily modified if you don't have a crockpot...I don't but this is probably going on the dinner table at Chez Dildo this month!
It also doesn't take itself too seriously, as this recipe surely suggests! Smash Burger Grilled Cheese with Special Sauce sounds like a sloppy mess, and something that I would absolutely try once, eat with real pleasure and gusto, then probably throw away!
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I thought France would have good garlic, but the Frogs seem to have the same problem we have in the U.S. At least they don't import filthy garlic from China. Pork is great here, but no game, so send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.
$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.
The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!
It amazes me that makers of otherwise good quality stuff will cheap out on bolts. And then they provide an even crappier hex wrench to turn that soft metal bolt or screw so that it is almost guaranteed to strip.
Spend the extra seven cents! I promise...it will be worth it.
Voting: A Right, A Responsibility, And An Unalloyed Pleasure!
—CBD
I did indeed! Because of a prior commitment, I won't be in my home state of the People's Republic of New Jersey on election day, and I wouldn't miss this one for the world! In fact, I would never miss an important election, and almost never have missed even off-year dogcatcher elections. It is the most basic building block of our Republic, and we all have an equal role in it. And it's not just because it is vital to the future of our country...it is also a pleasure.
Yes, our right to vote is clear, but our responsibility to vote is much less clear, and in fact has lost its luster, in part because of the pathetic failure of our government educational system to teach basic civics and a sense of patriotism. And in large part because the vote has become trivial. Early voting, voting by mail, voting for non-citizens, registration for voting that has become a joke, and all of the other silliness that has made voting the equivalent of texting or popping a cup of soup into the microwave.
The importance of taking the vote seriously has been lost, and the gravity of voting in every election has been subsumed in a sea of complexity and confusing signals from all of our thousands of streams of information. Preprinted ballots flood our mailboxes, attack ads bombard us on every screen and billboard, and at least in my state, the candidates are carefully chosen by the power brokers of the state, rather than by the people. Yes, there was a primary, but the winners simply had more money, and more pull with the state political organizations.
The Democrat candidate for governor, Mikie Sherrill, is a backbencher without an original thought in her exam-cheating brain. But she was next in line, so she got the support. The Republican, Jack Ciattarelli, is a professional candidate who seems to be quite well aware of the direction of the wind, but less focused on any meaningful political philosophy other than "I want to be governor."
Luckily for Ciattarelli, the Democrats chose a clueless hack with skeletons in her closet, so he has a chance. Had they been smart, they would have supported my congressman, the execrable but intelligent Josh Gottheimer. He is a cutthroat and a sleaze, but he knows how to campaign.
But the real issue is that the People have allowed their glorious right to vote to be diluted by the actions of those they elected, and by their own actions of treating the vote as a triviality. An informed electorate is a terrifying force that no politician can resist. It sees through lies, and backroom deals, and almost always chooses the best of the lot. Is it perfect? No, of course not. Our history books are full of examples of seemingly excellent candidates becoming exactly what the People voted against!
There is no political system that can provide perfect candidates, so it is up to the voters to take seriously that most solemn and important right and duty. Voting Democrat "Because I have always voted Democrat" is a rule that instantly abrogates one's power as a citizen. Voting for the machine Republican, "Because I can't vote for the Democrat" may work in many cases, but it also yields horrendous results such as the RINOs that infest the halls of power in America. It instantly hands a huge amount of control to the parties that have proven throughout our history that they care not a whit about us, that the only motivating force is their acquisition of power.
Did I vote straight Republican? Yes, I did. I also voted against an increase in property taxes, and wrote in Daffy Duck for school board, instead of the corruptocrat who is running uncontested. Did I help to perpetuate the very system that I just decried? Possibly, but I read the candidates' platforms, and at least I made an informed decision.
Will it also bite me in the ass? Absolutely. I have no doubt that at least a few of the candidates will simply ignore what they ran on and do what is best for them and their power base.
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 11-02-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (make sure you are inoculated!). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, put down that Butterfinger, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
A week or so ago, I went up to the University of Missouri-St. Louis to attend an educational conference. Had a great time. While there, I stopped by the Mercantile Library in the basement of the TJ Library on campus. It's just a neat place. This time they had just opened up an art exhibit featuring works by St. Louis artist Frederick Oakes Sylvester. The picture above is of a display of books that's hard to describe. It's a semicircular cabinet with some books showing a cover here and there. Among the books featured above is Mark Twain's Sketches New and Old, a collection of his short stories. This appears to be a first edition copy.
ON THE DESTRUCTION OF FANTASY LITERATURE
This is one of those videos that leaves me scratching my head because I just don't understand the point she's trying to make here. According to the video, Hilary Layne's thesis is as follows:
We will never, ever see an epic fantasy novel that's as high quality as J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings because Lester del Rey, senior editor of fantasy at Ballantine Books, wanted to milk Tolkienesque fantasy to satiate his own greed.
Seriously. That's her thesis. She attempts to bolster her premise by pointing out that del Rey collaborated with Terry Brooks on Brooks' inaugural epic fantasy novel, The Sword of Shannara (which is pronounced "SHAN-ah-rah" and not "Shan-AR-ah" according to Brooks himself). Lester convinced Brooks to write an epic fantasy novel that was largely derivative of Lord of the Rings and was able to get it published. The book was an instant bestseller, selling over 125,000 copies during its first year and featuring prominently on the New York Times Bestseller list. Based on this success, Lester went on to develop a "formula" for epic fantasy to continue churning out more product and thus making more money. This formulaic writing corrupted fantasy literature forever.
What Hilary overlooks in her thesis are many other factors that were at play at the same time. Ballantine (Lester's employer) already owned the publication rights to Lord of the Rings and were selling more than a million copies a year by the mid-1970s, dwarfing the success of The Sword of Shannara by at least an order of magnitude. Sure, they wanted to sell more books, but Lord of the Rings was a pretty big cash cow all on its own. Lester's genius was in capitalizing on the success of Tolkien by encouraging other writers to tap into the "formula" he had developed. The job of senior editor at a major publisher is, in fact, to sell more books. Working with writers to improve their craft is important, but at the end of the day what matters is what the publisher can sell to their audience. Lester understood his audience and understood marketing far better than Hilary here.
What we actually see in epic fantasy is that for the more successful writers like Terry Brooks (Del Rey), Raymond E. Feist (Bantam Spectra), and Robert Jordan (Tor), is that the first book in their series conforms to Tolkienesque worldbuilding, but then subsequent books diverge tremendously after each author experienced initial success. Each of these authors crafted a world that is as rich, diverse, and interesting as Middle Earth through decades of worldbuilding on their own.
Of course, Tolkien himself was writing his story according to an ancient and time-honored formula: the Hero's Journey, as popularized by Joseph Campbell in Man of a Thousand Faces. Also known as the "Monomyth," the Hero's Journey is an archetypical story framework found in many epic sagas across time and space, as it shows up everywhere when you know what to look for. Modern epic fantasy authors rely on the Hero's Journey in their own stories because that's what sells and is what their audience expects.
As for writing formulaic stories, here's a newsflash. People LIKE formulaic writing, particularly in genre fiction. We like mysteries, westerns, romances, science fiction, and yes, even fantasy, BECAUSE we know what to expect (more or less) as each genre is defined by traditions and tropes that appeal to our tastes. Even literary fiction is constrained by conventions and formulas, as Dave Wolverton explains in his essay, "On Writing as a Fantasist."
Hilary's video is bizarre because it doesn't sound like she's read ANY epic fantasy fiction since Lord of the Rings. Certainly none of the contemporary fantasy literature of the 1970s. A lot of it is pretty good, even if no author ever approaches Tolkien's skill at writing. But then, seriously, who could? He brought an entire lifetime of knowledge, skills, and experiences that most writers will never, ever have to his storytelling. He dived deep into mythology, folklore, and languages to craft his world meticulously one word at a time. And he wasn't successful at first. It took time before he became the fantasy juggernaut we know and love (or loathe) today. He was unique, a paragon of his field. Might as well as why we don't have more Albert Einsteins lurking around.
Another point she overlooks is that readers who enjoyed The Sword of Shannara or similar works might be inspired to go and read the source material from which these books sprang. Thus, Lord of the Rings, which many people might have avoided because they thought it was too hard, now becomes desirable because of it's impact on other works. I'm doing that right now, as a matter of fact, if you look at the books I'm currently reading.
I read through many of the comments on this video to see how her viewers reacted. Most of them roasted her over the coals (metaphorically). Very few tried to defend her viewpoint and when they did, they tended to be roasted themselves. I've watched a few of her other videos where she seems to know something of the writing craft, but she flew very wide of the mark here, displaying a shocking lack of knowledge of fantasy literature in general.
Such a strange video....
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BOOKS BY MORON-ADJACENT AUTHORS
I'm filing this under "Moron-Adjacent Authors" because Buck Throckmorton asked me if I'd post something about the book below by Scott McKay, Senior Editor at The American Spectator. According to Buck, Scott is a fan of AoSHQ.
In a world where Hollywood's woke agenda threatens to drown out truth, one man - armed with some very well-heeled friends - dares to fight back.
Blockbusters follows Mike Holman, a retired journalist turned cultural crusader, as he partners with billionaire Pierce Polk to dismantle the Big Five media giants. With a billion-dollar budget and a vision to revive traditional values, Mike launches Blockbusters Media, sparking a media revolution that crashes Wall Street and captivates the nation.
From a near-miss of personal destruction to a series of Wall Street hostile takeover fights to a billion-dollar Christian epic, film, the stakes soar--personally and politically--as Mike balances love, family, and a pregnant wife against ruthless enemies and a shifting cultural landscape.
Set against the backdrop of a new anti-woke presidency, this fast-paced thriller blends action, satire, and heart, exploring the power of stories to shape society. Perfect for fans of political intrigue and cultural commentary, Blockbusters delivers a bold, unapologetic narrative that's as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.
If, as one of the morons recommended, you do read Around the World in Eighty Days, I suggest you chase it with The Other Log of Phileas Fogg by Philip Jose Farmer. It is a steampunkish science fiction novel written around the concept that the Jules Verne novel is a recounting of actual events...but it is a cover story meant to conceal what truly happened (a conflict of epic proportions with the fate of the world hanging in the balance). The Other Log of Phileas Fogg is presented as the true story that happened behind and between the scenes of the Verne novel. It's a rip snorting adventure and I loved it when it was published in 1973.
Posted by: Danfan at October 26, 2025 09:33 AM (jEQcb)
Comment: Interesting premise. I might have to check that out. I like the idea of stories-behind-the-story in fiction. It turns out this book is part of a larger universe that connects Sherlock Holmes, Flash Gordon, James Bond, and Jack the Ripper--the Wold Newton 'verse.
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Finished The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry.
It is not just about the Influenza, but about the medical efforts to stop it, how cities and towns in America almost crumbled under the large number of deaths, and bad governance. President Wilson and his total indifference to the epidemic is highlighted.
I liked the biochemistry asides and the attitude of the leading medical establishment of the time.
We are survivors of the COVID-19 Wuhan epidemic. IMHO, the recent results were made worse by so called experts of today, misleading the lessons from the past.
The one measure that worked was total isolation.
This is an illuminating cautionary tale. I recommend it.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 26, 2025 09:37 AM (u82oZ)
Comment: So much can be learned from the lessons of the past. It's a shame that people--particularly those with power and influence--choose to ignore those lessons in favor of their own greed and ambition for more power.
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In traditional novel-reading, I'm cruising through the old Dragonlance novel Dragons of Winter Night. I'm enjoying it, though there is a story tic or two that I find annoying. Namely, the book has a habit of picking up a narrative after time-skipping over a quest.
The book is a sequel (book 2 of 3) and the story picks up in the aftermath of a major quest...but not the quest that ended book 1. I had to stop reading and make sure I was reading the series in the proper order. But, I was, there was just a quest that happened off-screen. Pity, I might have wanted to read that.... Then within the book itself, the cast gets split in half, and we follow one half for a while. Eventually we jump back to the other set of characters, as they are dealing with the aftermath of another major quest that we didn't get to see!
Not something that makes me put down the book, but enough to make me grunt in exasperation while reading.
Posted by: Castle Guy at October 26, 2025 10:21 AM (Lhaco)
Comment: The time skips in Dragons of Winter Night were off-putting to me the first time I read them as well. The book starts with the characters celebrating the return of an ancient dwarven hammer, but we never see that quest. We have to wait until Dragons of the Dwarven Depths - The Lost Chronicles Volume 1 before we see how that quest plays out. The time skip in the middle of the novel is equally confusing. We don't see the events of that quest until Mary Kirchoff's short story "Finding the Faith" in Dragonlance Tales Volume 1 - The Magic of Krynn. Although the story still progresses, the reader does feel like they've missed out on key events when they are left out of the main narrative.
Last week I tried something new, attempting to drag this blog kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century. A few of you seemed to like it, so let's keep doing it!
Huh. Drop downs. I never saw that on this bunker-oil fueled website before. Neat.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 26, 2025 09:31 AM (BI5O2)
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October has been recommended several times around here. Thanks to popular demand, it's been reprinted, so it's now affordable. It's a nice little Halloween story. The narrator is a guard dog named Snuff, an animal companion to "Jack" (implied to be Jack the Ripper). The two of them are cursed with being "closers" at a dark ritual that takes place when the moon is full on Halloween night. They collaborate with other closers and work against "openers." However, the players in the Game change from time to time, so allegiances are fluid. It's quite a fun ride to see the world through Snuff's eyes and nose as he navigates the perilous Game in which he and his fellow animal companions are trapped. Weirdly, I kept having flashbacks to the movie Cabin in the Woods as there is a similar vibe to the story.
Hell House by Richard Matheson
This is the first Richard Matheson books I've read, though I'm familiar with a few of his other works such as I Am Legend and A Stir of Echoes (both of which were made into movies). Hell House is a troperiffic haunted house novel. It has everything you want in this type of story: skeptical paranormal investigators, psychic sensitives, and a reclusive wealthy financier backing the investigation into the mysteries of a house that has claimed the lives and sanity of so many. Good stuff if you enjoy that sort of thing. Certainly inspired its share of imitators even as it draws upon ghost stories from the past.
Dracula and Other Horror Stories by Bram Stoker
Why didn't you guys tell me Dracula was so good? Oh, wait a minute...you did...repeatedly...as recently as last week...moving on.
It's an odd experience reading this book because even though I've never read it before, I feel like I have. That's because I've seen so many adaptations and retellings in books and films and television that it's been dissected and turned inside out countless times. I do gain an appreciation for the original story, as I can see its cultural impact *everywhere.* Great stuff. Highly recommended.
Huh. This is apparently a thing that exists. It's a tiny handheld gaming device, the size and colour of a Post-It note, with specs to match the original Nintendo Game Boy from 1989.
Which is... Fine. It costs $229 and has not exactly set the world on fire, but keep trucking along, dudes.
Nobody posts on Bluesky but that's a separate problem.
The company explained the changes are designed to make Bluesky a place for more "fun, genuine, and respectful exchanges" - an edict that follows a month of unrest on the platform as some users again criticized the platform over its moderation decisions.
Edict? Do you know what that word means?
Anyway, the only people more delusional than the Tech Crunch reporter here trying to fluff month-dead roadkill and the Bluesky executives pretending their company isn't month-dead roadkill are Bluesky's dozen or so actual users who insist that the company should ban people who don't break the rules, to save them the trouble of constructing their own echo chambers:
Bluesky, however, wants to focus more on the tools it provides users to control their own experience.Today, this includes things like moderation lists that let users quickly block a group of people they don't want to interact with, content filter controls, muted words, and the ability to subscribe to other moderation service providers.
The problem is that all this engineering effort is going to make sure that none of their users ever have to see outside their bubbles.
Saturday Night "Club ONT" November 1, 2025 [The 3 Ds]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration the 3D's - The Disco, The Dino, and The Doggo. Welcome to November. The mercury is falling and so are standards. Morons are digging through closets and dresser drawers - finding some questionable fashion choices of years past.
Playing card cocktail. Number 7 of of 54. Yup, there are Jokers in the deck!
A drink with nothing but liquor. What could go wrong?
What are YOU drinking tonight?
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Club ONT Auto Repair Department
If you left your vehicle with the Club ONT Auto Repair Department and are here to complain about the delay in its return, please be assured that our highly skilled technicians are working tirelessly to take care of your vehicle. They are very busy doing many things. Your satisfaction is our highest priority. Thank you.
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Club ONT Psychic
Careful, Archimedes mind reading is working, but it is still in Beta Testing.
Skip the morality words in the preamble of the article and scroll down to interesting reading.
Conventional circuit boards pass electrical signals through conductive metal traces, which are bonded to a rigid board commonly made of fiberglass and resin. In contrast, the new material is a soft and stretchable composite made from a recyclable polymer infused with microscopic droplets of a liquid metal alloy based on gallium. A circuit can be created on this composite by lightly scoring a pattern into its surface, which connects adjacent embedded droplets and allows electricity to flow. The rest of the material remains electrically insulating.
“It had no choice. Their defense grid was smashed. We’d won. Taking out Connor then would make no difference. SkyNet had to wipe out his entire existence!”
– Kyle Reese
Thankfully for those who still wish to enjoy the taste of these drinks without any of the negative effects, a wide variety of options are available, including decaffeinated coffees and teas and non-alcoholic wines and beers – many of which are virtually indistinguishable from their more psychoactive counterparts. But how are these remarkable beverages produced? How do manufacturers remove one of their most fundamental components while leaving the taste largely unchanged? Well, pour yourself a hot – or cold – one as we dive into the fascinating history and chemistry of caffeine and alcohol-free drinks.
Longish read - some moments of interest.
Related:
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The lighter may be dead but the resourcefulness is not.
Obama hosts members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas. The Muslim Brotherhood is a designated terrorist organization by nearly a dozen nations.
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Club ONT Security Arrangements
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Club ONT Music
So there's a new biopic out now about Bruce Springsteen. Trailer here if you're interested.
The 3 Ds are in agreement that this is the preferred way to respond to any mention of The so-called Boss
[Disco says: Yes, that's a real urinal! A company in my neck of the woods did an outstanding job turning an empty keg into a urinal. This one is on display at the local brewery where I host a monthly Classic Rock Trivia event.]
Now if we could just get them to add in a way to require tokens, these babies would be installed here at the Club!
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Now we activate the Club jukebox
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Top 10ish Comments of the Week
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Club ONT was brought to you by intergalactic diplomacy:
If you try to knock me, you'll get mocked
I'll stir fry you in my wok
Your knees'll start shaking and your fingers pop
Like a pinch on the neck of Mr. Spock
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NOTICE: In recognition of your continued patronage, Club ONT is pleased to provide an extra hour of Club ONT activity for your enjoyment this evening. Last call time has been adjusted accordingly. Please be nice to the staff. We've paid them extra in the form of left over Snickers and Butterfingers from trick or treating, but they may be a little grumpy with the extended shift.
Mario Bava is as emblematic of Italian cinema as Federico Fellini, Vittorio di Sica, or Roberto Rossellini. Moreso, perhaps. His dreamlike visions of gothic horror, that which he's known best for, is part of a package that includes spaghetti westerns (The Road to Fort Alamo and Jay Colt and Winchester Jack), Giallo horror (The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and Black Lace), and sword and sandal epics (Erik the Conqueror and Knives of the Avenger), all popular genres in Italy that sold as well, if not better, than the more high brow counterparts and contemporaries aforementioned.
But he's not taken seriously because he worked in genre, which the critical crowd long held as impersonal and beneath serious consideration. That's changed recently (a positive change in the critical community matched by a host of negative things that far outweigh it), so it makes me wonder what would Bava's career had been if he had made Black Sunday or Kill, Baby, Kill in 2015 rather than the 60s and 70s.
The story of Bava's career is far from smooth, though. Working in the Italian film industry, looking to entertain and without some kind of cult following of investors willing to throw a million dollars at him just to make anything, he was constantly working with independent producers, trying to get anything off the ground. That's what really created his varied filmography of different genres, a good bit of which were chasing trends rather than trying to create them. Still, when Bava worked...he worked.
Style over substance is typically viewed as a bad thing, an empty exercise is formalism without anything to say about the human condition in order to connect with audiences. However, I do think that it can mesh well and create really entertaining packages that Bava exemplifies.
Take his first film, Black Sunday. A black and white gothic horror piece, it's a very simple story of a witch, trapped by magic (or something), broken free by modern men in the late 19th century and then goes on a terror rampage in the vaguely Eastern European backdrop. Characterization is thin, and the plot is barely existent, but it's a really fun ride in large part because the storytelling is so wane. This gives Bava plenty of space and a simple palate on which to paint his gothic horrors. This gives him time to use images to actually heighten the simple storytelling, creating implicit thematic meaning through explicit imagery that no one actually talks about. It becomes a heavily Christian film about the power of the Christian belief over evil, and it's in large part because Bava has the time and space to use imagery to help imbue meaning.
I'm not here to imply or explain that that's how all of his films work, or even all of his best films, but there is something to embracing stylistic excess that can lead to increased meaning. I mean...I don't think there's anything like that in Blood and Black Lace, but it does heighten the realities of movies like The Whip and the Body and Planet of the Vampires, creating moods and atmospheres that become compelling on their own. I mean, the smoke-filled dreamlike realities of the sadomasochist nightmare that is The Whip and the Body and the Technicolor alien landscapes of Planet of the Vampires are just fascinating to look at, even if the actual stories are threadbare. That's a specific skill that Bava brings to the table, and it's his strongest attribute. However, like many directors, he had weaknesses.
Narrative
Holding together the needs of a film production in one's head is not a small task. You write down everything you can and you delegate to department heads to handle much of the work, but holding a vision in one's head to provide orders to writers, set designers, cinematographers, and actors all while fighting off producers is difficult. Combine that with the normal hectic nature of a film set where things constantly change because locations become unavailable, planned shots can't be executed, actors resist direction, and lights blow out, and the director must keep the production moving forward, all while having to pivot and improvise doesn't undermine the basic ideas of the script. Assuming the script is worthwhile at all. Which is to say that the toolbox a director needs to master is very large and very difficult to master.
Having the skillset to manage all of that is rare. Most directors are workman who can find perfectly acceptable solutions to these kinds of problems, but rely on the script to support them. Bava was seemingly like that, I think, with the added benefit of being visually stylish. He had writing credits on most of his films, but never sole writing credit, the credit he did receive being usually one of at least three, sometimes as many as six total writers. And the writing quality varied greatly, but the key for Bava was matching his stylistic approach with the right kind of script: spare horror, mostly.
The real problem came when he was matched with the rising popularity of Giallo cinema. Largely started by Bava's own The Girl Who Knew Too Much (retitled The Evil Eye in its American release), the genre grew to develop its own conventions without him, largely dictated by other Italian filmmakers like Dario Argento, and they were almost all whodunit proto-slashers that relied on investigation, larger casts of characters, and playing coy with the audience (often by outright lying to them about the secret identity of the killer). This sort of complexity was something that Bava seems to have had real trouble matching with his dreamlike stylings, so he could create works of deep frustration like Blood and Black Lace or Five Dolls in August or Hatchet for the Honeymoon that simply don't connect like they should because he doesn't have the space to play stylistically because he has to dedicate so much time to movements of plot and keeping track of large casts of characters, some of whom could be the real killer.
The Hunt for the Genre Killer
Bava is really known for his early career, dominated by gothic horror, and his later career which includes his most obviously influential film, A Bay of Blood, which is a massive inspiration for the Friday the 13th franchise and American slashers in general. However, its his middle period, from about 1964 to 1970, that I find the most interesting but deeply frustrating. It's where he became lost in the search for box office success by mimicking other people.
The big signal is the spaghetti westerns, The Road to Fort Alamo and Roy Colt and Winchester Jack. The first is a largely dull and uninteresting entry in the genre, made in the same year that Sergio Leone made A Fistful of Dollars, but the second is perhaps more interesting. Roy Colt and Winchester Jack was Bava taking on the assignment of a film and deciding to purposefully make a hash of it by turning it into a comedy. He made three comedies in his career (Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl-Bombs and Four Times That Night are the other two), and only one of them is anything close to good (the last, which is like Rashomon while considering a failed one-night stand). Roy Colt is deeply unfunny and frustrating as it navigates the conventions of the spaghetti western, which I found to be a very interesting choice. It was obvious that Bava was allowed to just make whatever he wanted, and instead of pushing the film towards his obvious natural inclinations like turning it into a gothic horror western (which would have been awesome, possibly), he went the "easy" route and tried to turn it into a comedy. I say easy because directing actors to be silly is less demanding financially than building and lighting sets to accommodate the needs of something like gothic horror.
This is also the period where he was most obviously chasing the runaway success of the Giallo genre. Giallo means yellow in Italian, and it refers to the yellow binding on cheap pulp novels, most of which were horror, that animated Italian pop culture for a time and influenced the genre. The conventions ended up being mysteries about a killer, usually of women, the killer typically being dominantly portrayed as a pair of gloved hands holding some kind of weapon like scissors for most of the runtime while a policeman or often an American actor playing a writer or something would pair up with a young woman to investigate, eventually finding the killer to have some kind of perverted motive. As I previously indicated, Bava's talents did not lend themselves to this kind of complicated storytelling, so we end up with damp squibs of films like Five Dolls for an August Moon.
Late Stage and an Early Death
My favorite Bava film (this is very much an unpopular opinion, by the way, its IMDB rating is in the low 6's) is Shock, his last filmed project (Kidnapped was filmed before but released in one form about fifteen years after Bava's death). And it represents what I think could have been his evolution into a new era where the gothic horror didn't sell. It's set in modern day, about a woman with a new husband and a child from her first marriage. There's a haunting, potential possession, and lots of creepy imagery that reminded me, in particular, of the creepy visuals from John Carpenter in Prince of Darkness.
And I think it works because the narrative is very spare, giving Bava time to dwell on the eerie. There's little to no plot as the mother tries to figure out why her kid is being so creepy (yeah, it is one of those movies), and things just get weirder, lines between reality and her nightmares blending the more the film goes on. It's the kind of narrative structure that Bava needed to flex his stylistic skills even if removed from the obvious original visual space of gothic horror.
It was obvious that the money side of things was becoming extremely difficult, though. That movie Kidnapped that he didn't get to finish and was only released fifteen years after his death? He'd filmed, reportedly, about 99% of it, missing only some inserts to tie scenes together, when the producer went bankrupt and took the print away from Bava so he couldn't finish it. Bava's son, Lambardo, eventually put together a cut that is probably pretty close to what Mario intended, and Mario died in 1980 of a heart attack at 60.
He'd spent twenty years in the film industry before he ever directed Black Sunday in 1960. He was an uncredited title designer on Scipione l'africano in 1938, working his way through assistant cameraman on projects to cinematographer for people like Rossellini on a couple of his short films, eventually becoming an assistant director in the late 50s, even completing projects for people like Riccardo Freda, and finally getting his shot at directing which he blew out of the gate with Black Sunday in stylish fashion.
He probably made films in the wrong era, but when he worked, he was cookin'. His stylish features like Black Sunday, The Whip and the Body, Planet of the Vampires, and Kill, Baby, Kill match with less obviously Bava-esque successes like Four Times that Night and Knives of the Avenger (Shane but with Vikings) to create an interesting, worthwhile body of work that may be uneven (Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl-Bombs is...not good) but has real gems within.
The Ultimate Bava
I am always on the search for the film that can define a filmmaker in microcosm. Usually it's some kind of example of their unique traits in the most obvious form (North by Northwest for Hitchcock or Gremlins 2 for Joe Dante) or the culmination of his talents in the most unified form (The Age of Innocence for Scorsese).
With Bava, I could go in two directions. There are the films that are most thoroughly and distinctly his, that most encompass his cinematic style. Films like Black Sabbath or Kill, Baby, Kill, filled with horror, the macabre, and Technicolor visuals.
However, I end up trending towards another film: Danger: Diabolik. I think of it because it feels like the perfect encapsulation of both the stylistic highs that Bava reached for but also the narrative struggle lows that hit him time and time again. It's essentially two films in one. The first focuses on the eponymous Diabolik, the master criminal, and his girlfriend Eva, and it's all dreamy looks at Mod-esque attitudes and ornate set design that is just weirdly compelling to watch. The second is this slapdash of a host of revolving door characters, almost all policemen, who are trying to come up with ways to catch the criminal which is deeply frustrating and not all that entertaining.
Is there a better microcosm of Bava overall? I don't think so. Danger: Diabolik is definitely not his best film, but it is the one that most fully defines him, I think. I'd sooner watch Planet of the Vampires, though.
Knives of the Avenger (Rating 3/4) Full Review "IHonestly, it feels like he's growing as an artist, which is a very nice thing to see." [Library]
Kill Baby, Kill (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It's a stylistic flex on his part, throwing as much fog and shadow and color into frame to make every moment interesting." [Personal Collection]
Four Times that Night (Rating 3/4) Full Review "Something of a small gem in Bava's career, all the more noteworthy for its differences from his more well-known work." [Library]
A Bay of Blood (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "However, I end up enjoying the film a decent bit simply because Bava tries so hard. I really wouldn't call it good, but it's a fine, thing, stylish entertainment." [Amazon Prime]
Baron Blood (Rating 2/4) Full Review "I'm far from hating the film, but this is less than what I had hoped it would be. It's...fine. Not terribly engaging, but with moments of fun." [Amazon Prime]
Lisa and the Devil (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "It's not some great piece of horror cinema, but it's solidly entertaining and showing that Bava could disappear a bit into gothic horror, subsuming his more outrageous stylistic flourishes in favor of a more muted visual tone. I'm kind of glad that Bava didn't rewrite it, is all." [Kanopy]
Shock (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "I don't know if he would have been able to replicate the quality here, but I think it's evidence that he wasn't done yet." [YouTube]
Contact
Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.
I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.
My next post will be on 11/22, and it will be about the directing career of Alexander Mackendrick.
In addition, I have started a YouTube channel. Please be so kind as to watch and subscribe here.
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. A spin of the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) landed on online or video gaming.
Are you thinking "I don't even know what that means and I'm not wise in the ways of computer games but I'm eager to learn more. I can't wait to get into the content!" I knew it. Enjoy.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Pants are optional. Puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
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Remember Pong? Computer games, online multiplayer games, and video games have all gotten much more sophisticated since the days of Pong. Are you wise in the ways of gaming?
TRex has short arms and a small brain, so I have little knowledge on this subject. I have a vague memory of Centipede, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pac Man and Outrun. If we're really ambitious, maybe we can talk Space Invaders and Donkey Kong. Fortunately, we have content from a guest blogger to help with the task at hand.
Are you wise in the ways of video games? Do you play solo or multi-player games? Do you have memories of pumping quarters at the video arcade?
Inspector Cussword asked for Hobby Thread space to talk about one corner of this big world. Feel free to comment on the content or pivot elsewhere for your hobbying commentary.
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Today I'm going to talk about Massively Multiplayer Online games without the Role Playing element.
Specifically, tanks. Yes, tanks. And planes. And warships. Big ones. From WWII and later.
In January 2010, World of Tanks began their Russian closed beta test. This game is the first of the now-quite large market of WWII/Korean War lobby games.
The Belorussian developer, Wargaming, opened up the US beta test in July 2010.
In 2013, World of Tanks income exceeded that of World of Warcraft, earning the developers $372 million dollars - for a free to play game.
So what is it? It is a game of 2 sides where people line up with various tanks of various countries from WWII thru the Cold War, and shoot each other on different maps, capturing control points, and blowing the shit out of each other.
Each country's tank lines are distributed amongst "tiers" so that matchmaking can generally put people in roughly equivalent power ratings in matches. The matches last 15 minutes, just perfect for a bit of fun then log off. Furthermore, in WoT the war machines are divided further between Heavy, Medium, and Light tanks; Tank Destroyers (limited armor/aiming but higher concealability and heavier guns); and Self-Propelled Guns (artillery).
As I mentioned, World of Tanks is free to play. It does have a "premium time" catch where if you want to swiftly progress, you really should get premium time (subscription equivalent) which costs about 13 bucks or so for a month of time. It doubles your xp and credits. But you can have a great time playing free - it's not specifically required.
There are actually more of these types of games from two other developers. After seeing the success of the model, Gaijin Entertainment (a now-Hungarian company. Exited Russia after the invasion of Ukraine); decided to jump in with War Thunder (free to download on Steam or from their link here, with clients for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux). Gaijin had plentiful experience with combat flight sims in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey (released in the US as "Wings of Prey", available on Steam for 20 bucks) (If you want free stuff on a new account, I'd recommend using this link as it gives you a couple of vehicles and some money.)
War Thunder began as "World of Planes," centered around 1930's aircraft thru the Korean War, but during development in 2012 decided on changing the name to War Thunder to keep from being confused with Wargaming's then-upcoming "World of Warplanes." Also, Gaijin decided on their main feature - War Thunder would have different vehicle types on the same map.
Have a trailer:
The first version of War Thunder was solely based on aircraft in three different play styles - Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator with increasing levels of realism and difficulty in the flight models and restricted national plane selection based on maps. Arcade is a forgiving flight model and has mixes of any nation's planes, based on Battle Rating (similar to tiers, but more granular).
Realistic has - yeah, realistic flight models (wings rip off in dives, compression can lock control surfaces, and the ever-fun "pilot blacks out because he shits his lungs out due to taking 9 g's"). Realistic has nation versus nation, so you can't fly a Mustang against a P-38 unless you have a captured one and you're playing as a German.
Simulator is even more restricted, more fragile control surfaces, engine overheating with historical performance ratings based on altitude, and you are stuck inside the cockpit - no 3rd person view.
I'm sure you're wondering - is it fun? Yes. The planes range from biplanes and 1932 era Peashooters to Gulf War jets and everything in between. There are fighters, heavy fighters, ground attack aircraft, and bombers. It also is "freemium" based, but it also has one more (excellent) feature:
It includes tanks on the same map.
Yes, they added ground forces to the game in 2014 and now you can grind up tiers of tanks while being bombed by assholes flying Stukas. You can also be an asshole with an Anti-Aircraft armored vehicle and shoot plane assholes out of the sky. If you get a lot of points/kills, you can drop a nuke and end the match.
Plus, the maps have weather effects (rain) and different times of day so sometimes you have the sun in your eyes while being shot by Stukas and rammed by Tigers.
There is also Naval, ranging from Torpedo Boats to Battleships. I'm not any good at those so I don't play them, but you can also use dive bombers and torpedo bombers on the same map as the ships.
Only some maps are combined forces but it is available in Arcade as well as Realistic, so even if you're just starting out, you can enjoy jumping into a plane and bombing your enemies while they light your tank on fire.
Compared to World of Tanks, the War Thunder tank game is much more gritty - you are locked to a very close view above your cupola and the maps are realistically detailed. The World of Tanks maps feel a little too clean, a bit too pristine in comparison to the rutted, muddy, messy, and realistic War Thunder maps. The ground isn't perfectly smooth, it had bumps, rocks, ruts, logs, and crap all over. You aren't removed from your tank, you're right there and it feels HUGE. The WoT tanks feel like toys compared to the War Thunder tanks. Both games are fun, free, and offer completely different experiences, packed into 15 to 20 minute matches.
Wargaming (World of Tanks) has to date come out with 2 other lobby games, all three separate - World of Tanks, Warplanes, and World of Warships.
The Warplanes game failed horribly, the controls were poorly written for mouse and keyboard and the flight models just weren't right. The maps were uninspired, combat was not very well paced, and the population never came to the game. I couldn't find a trailer that didn't have pre-rendered, false gameplay.
World of Warships is very popular (you can download and play here) and is pretty fun. The sizes of the ships versus the sizes of the islands and buildings is a bit wonky, but the shooty is fun..
The combat in WoWS is very satisfying, the sound work is excellent. You have Destroyers, Cruisers, Battleships, and Aircraft Carriers - divided like in Wot, by tiers. (I even hear there might be subs.)
All of these games I enjoy due to the lowered need of participation - it's great in bite-sized chunks to get on, shoot tanks/aircraft/ships, then log off in 15 minutes or a half hour. The models are great in all the games and provide a lot of interesting historical tidbits, plus you shoot guns with barrels big enough to shove your leg inside.
The "World Of..." games are all hitpoint based, pretty simple to get into. War Thunder is module based - you see your shot (for example) richochet off the commander's hatch, splinter and spall fragments, that slice through your entire crew and detonate your overfull ammo rack.
I prefer the more graphic, hideous death of War Thunder. Plus, the planes are just better.
Thanks to Hrothgar and Sharon (willow's apprentice) for the TRex halloween pics!
We saw lots of dino decorations for Halloween this year! The Hobby Thread applauds the showing of good taste and enthusiasm.
Iris sent this photo of a "dinosaur cakelette pan." I don't know what a "cakelette" is but I like cake and "cakelette" sounds pretty close. Thanks! Does anyone make "cakelettes," either dino shaped or otherwise?
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a travel theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
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Notable comments from last week:
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Words of wisdom:
"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).
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If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute something from your personal hobbying. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
A photo of our mystery PetMoron attendee at the Texas MoMe, checking out the crowd:
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First Dog I Ever Rescued
Dear K.T.,
This guy showed up at the garbage cans by the highway the week before Christmas last year. He followed me home & adopted us.
He was skin & bones, filthy, and full of fleas, ticks & heart worms. I called him Zeke and he was just so grateful for any kindness. After 10 months of good food & lots of love, he’s now 90 lbs. of muscle . . .
He looks great after your TLC!
We think he is an Anatolian Shepherd - Lab mix. Here he is with my Golden, Maggie.
Those two look like great friends. Maggie is lovely. Zeke looks big next to her.
You just never know what might show up on your doorstep one day.
Regards,
Dino58
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So my brother completed the shelter for our adopted stray, Sammy, last weekend. Then the damned cat disappeared on Monday. Four days, and we feared the worst. Purry was so glad "that guy" wasn't around anymore. I think Della missed him staring at her through the sliding glass door.
Then this afternoon (Friday) he showed up ravenous. Maybe he was locked in a shed or garage, but we're convinced it's a Halloween miracle!
I don't know if you can see that inside of the styrofoam, there's a sherpa-lined cat cube.
Miley
Looks very cozy.
What experience has The Horde had with kitty shelters?
Here's the photo of Della (on the chair) and Sammy from last week. Evidence of a black cat Halloween miracle when Sammy returned!
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Was taking care of the grandkids and dogs. We were raking leaves into a pile for some fun. Turned around and the 2 dogs had set themselves up for a perfect photo. Duck is the Rottweiler x mastiff and Bruce is the Golden Retriever.
I love this site and particularly the Saturday afternoon pet thread.
Sue
Duck and Bruce were having a great time! Bet the grandkids enjoyed watching them, too! Thanks for sharing such a fun time with us!
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Thank you for sharing your pets and animal photos and stories with us today.
If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:
petmorons at protonmail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Helianthus maximiliani reached eight feet, both vertically and horizontally. I’ll need to stake it more strongly next year.
I haven't been paying enough attention to the posts of Don in Kansas, and his Soggy Times (which at least were posted in October) have some great photos, going back into summer.
Usually during Kansas summers the problem in the garden is not enough water. Once in a while we get a wet summer, though, and this year’s has been the wettest I can remember. We got heavy rain nearly every week, often three or five inches at a time. It’s still happening; it’s only Tuesday, and already this week an inch and three-quarters has fallen. The problem is compounded by topography. I live in one of the flattest areas of one of the flattest states, and there’s very little slope in my yard. Insufficient moisture can be remedied with a hose, but a surplus is not so easily dealt with. Some of the plants in my garden like all the water, as do weeds and mosquitoes. Others don’t. I’ve been experimenting with dryland plants, which often do well out in the prairie, and everything looked happy and vigorous back in June. But the rains never stopped, and I’ve lost a number of species I had high hopes for.
For those interested in Penstemons: species native to Kansas did fine with all the rain. P. strictus and P. barbatus also look healthy despite the downpours. I’ll have to wait and see on the others.
Below, a few snapshots from summer. More at the link above.
Also check out Don's recent Tunes of the Day and ghost story (sort of). He has good taste.
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Edible Gardening/Putting Things By
From By-Tor:
I found a Key Lime tree, known as Mexican lime tree in California, at work, that had dropped a grocery bag worth of fruit on the ground.
Fifteen minutes of squeezing yielded a full quart of fresh lime juice.
Good for Key Lime pies, obviously, but also marinating meat, putting in drinks( ginger ale and 7-Up for me) and making limeade.
I’m thinking with an acid content of 5% it should stay good in the fridge for awhile.
Anybody have a favorite recipe for Key Lime Pie? Another favorite Key Lime recipe?
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For some of those with a winter growing season (check locally), Spinach 'Monstreux de Viroflay' (Baker Creek). A cool season crop elsewhere, too.
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Ah, Nature
A tiny friend:
More of a Spring picture than a Fall one but I keep forgetting to send it. For size reference, that's jeans denim weave.
Oddbob
Could be laying eggs in our stucco by this time of year.
Adventure
Friends saw mountain goats while hiking in the Superstition Mountains.
Elsewhere in Arizona:
Aspens in Flagstaff, Kim Koubek
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Gardens of The Horde
Hi K.T. -
I'm ready to turn the calendar page to November, but my climbing roses are still putting out buds and blossoms like it's summertime. Even the "pinkie winkie" hydrangea blooms continue to hang on and provide a nice pop of color for the garden.
Cheers,
The Pilot
Love those late flowers!
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Hi KT,
Hope you are both as good as God can make you!
Attached is a dewy spider web looking all sparkly in the loofah patch (one is ripening on the left).
Miley
Thanks.
The spiders have done art!
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Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden at g mail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Podcast: Historian and Pundit Robert Spencer joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the Islamists in our midst: Mamdani in NYC, all across Europe, and others.
Schmoll: 53% of New Jersey likely voters say their neighbors are voting for Ciattarelli, while 47% say the cheater/grifter Mikie Sherrill The "who do you think your neighbors are voting for" question is designed to avoid the Shy Tory problem, wherein conservative people lie to schmollsters because they don't want to go on record with a likely left-winger telling them who they're really voting for. So instead the question is who do you think your neighbors are voting for, so people can talk about who they themselves support without actually having to admit it to a left-wing rando stranger recording their answers on the phone.
Interesting football history: How the forward pass was created in response to the nineteen -- 19! -- people killed playing football in 1905 alone The original rules of football did not allow forward passes. The ball was primarily advanced by running, with blockers forming lines with interlocked arms and just smashing into the similarly-interlocked defensive lines. It was basically Greek hoplite spear formations but with a semi-spherical ball. As calls to ban the sport entirely grew, some looked for ways to de-emphasize mass charges as the primary means of advancing the ball, and some specifically championed allowing a passer to throw the ball forward.
In a world where Hollywood's woke agenda threatens to drown out truth, one man - armed with some very well-heeled friends - dares to fight back.
