Search Results for: Supporting Friends Friday

Supporting Friends Friday: The Halloween Poetry of Jeremy Miles

The Portly Politico16 Comments

I kicked off Supporting Friends Friday announcing the publication of my friend Jeremy Miles‘s third book of poetry, Hindsight: Poetry in 2020 (it’s available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle editions).  The publication of a buddy’s book seemed like the perfect time to celebrate and support my friends’ various achievements.

That was in June.  Now, just three months later, Jeremy has cranked out another collection, one about which I am very excited:  Haunted Verses Haunting: A Halloween Collection (available in paperback and Kindle editions for $15 and $2.99, respectively).

The poems in this volume appear in Jeremy’s first three releases (get them here, here, and here), so they’ve seen publication before, but if you love Halloween—and I definitely do—this collection puts all of his spookiest poems together in one place.  If you love Halloween and you’re a cheapskate, you can save some cash and pick up the present volume (though I highly recommend you purchase his entire oeuvre, as I have done—at least in paperback).

Jeremy definitely loves Halloween, too, and often says he wishes every day were Halloween.  That might rob the holiday of some of its magic, but I appreciate the sentiment:  Halloween these days seems to get short shrift during the holiday season, with the commercialized version of Christmas stretching its imperialistic tentacles deep into October—and even September!  But that’s all to say that a guy who loves Halloween that much is going to release some of the spookiest, most spine-tingling poetry you’ll ever read.

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Supporting Friends Friday: Nebraska Energy Observer

The Portly Politico16 Comments

Well, it was inevitable—after dedicating an extremely popular edition of Supporting Friends Friday to the irreplaceable Audre Myers, I had to dedicate one to the man and the website that gave her an outlet:  Neo and Nebraska Energy Observer.

I’m not sure how I discovered Nebraska Energy Observer, but I suspect it involved Neo leaving a comment on one of my posts a couple of years ago.  I’m generally suspicious of unknown commenters, as the Internet is full of trolls interested in harassing right-wing bloggers, but I quickly figured out that Neo was one of the good guys.

My initial perception was that Neo was obsessed with English history, and I figured his blog was largely dedicated to the “special relationship” between the United States and our erstwhile mother country.  That relationship is, indeed, an important focus of Nebraska Energy Observer (though you’d never guess it from the title), but the blog covers a wide range of topics (including, of course, reflections on the life of an electrical lineman in Nebraska).

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Supporting Friends Friday: Audre Myers

The Portly Politico40 Comments

I’ve been on a roll featuring blogger buddies on Supporting Friends Friday as of late, notably with my feature of photog last week.  If photog is my avuncular ally in the world of under-the-radar right-wing blogging, then today’s featured friend, Audre Myers of Nebraska Energy Observer, is probably the doting aunt who “likes” every post and almost always leaves some kind of feedback and encouragement on the blog.

She’s also brought new readers to my blog, such as 39 Pontiac Dreamer, whose comments this past week have really enlivened the blog (and inspired Wednesday’s post).  I’ve also noticed that since bringing 39PD to the blog’s comment sections, my page views have skyrocketed, thanks to the raucous back-and-forth between Audre, 39PD, Neo, and myself (feel free to join in, dear readers, and enjoy the fun!).

Audre’s encouragement and recommendations have shaped my own blog profoundly.  Many of the film reviews on the site over the past two months have been from Shudder, and Audre is to thank—she and a colleague both recommended the service heartily, and it’s become pretty much the only streaming content I consume besides YouTube videos.  Indeed, my review of The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot (2018) is a direct consequence of Audre mentioning the film!

More importantly, Audre is a skilled writer and thinker in her own right, though, not just a cheerleader and booster of my rambling scribblings.  She brings a warm, almost motherly perspective to the issues of the day, without descending into hyper-feminized sentimentality (something I am probably more likely to do than her, truth be told).  She employs literary and filmic allusions to highlight her points, making them easier to understand, without falling into the trap of the Harry Potter kids who use the popular book series as their entire frame of reference for understanding the world.

In short, Audre’s writing is fun, entertaining, and lively, while still retaining a sense of seriousness about the issues facing the world today.

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Supporting Friends Friday: photog

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After honoring Mogadishu Matt last Friday, I figured I should pay tribute to my staunchest blogging ally, the venerable photog, proprietor of Orion’s Cold Fire.

I discovered photog after he ran ads on The Drudge Report, back before Matt Drudge sold out to the Bidenistas (photog is now a WhatFinger News man).  I’m still blown away that he had the cash on hand to buy ads on Drudge, which I think he told me was the result of having money to burn on his hobby.  Hey, more power to you, photog.

photog gets his lower-cased, e. e. cummings-esque nom de plume from his love of photography.  If you’re a shutterbug, he writes a number of technical articles about various pieces of high-end camera equipment that he tests out.  If you’re like me and just want to see the pretty pictures, he has plenty of those, too.

In addition to photography, photog writes some hilarious and detailed reviews of everything from episodes of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek to classic movies, as well as science-fiction novels and country music.  He’s even written a review of a cheesy sci-fi flick for this blog.  My attempt at offering a little bit of something for every interest is inspired, in part, by his generalist approach to blogging.

But where photog really shines is his political commentary (I will hasten to add that his photography really is great; I hope he publishes a book of his nature photography soon).  He writes broadly on everything from the importance of family to Deep State perfidy to what conservatives should do in a world that wants us destroyed.  I often find myself agreeing with his conclusions.

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Supporting Friends Friday: Mogadishu Matt

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As I’ve noted before, one of the joys of blogging is discovering and interacting with other bloggers.  Regular readers know that I maintain a strong alliance with photog over at Orion’s Cold Fire, as we tend to take the same approach on the pressing issues of our times.  His analysis is thoughtful but accessible, and his whimsical photography and pithy quotations make for a delightful experience.

This week I’d like to spotlight another blogger buddy, Mogadishu Matt at Free Matt Podcast.  When I first started reading Double M’s blog, I thought it was dedicated to getting some guy named “Matt” out of prison (“Free Matt!“).  Now I think it’s just because he’s a Matt livin’ free.

Matt calls himself the “#1 Somalian libertarian voice,” which I suppose is a distinction.  He’s likely the only Somalian libertarian, though he’s a bit hirsute and pale to be from that trouble nation.  Regardless, his posts are often in a libertarian vein, and he frequently reblogs essays from the Mises Institute.

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Supporting Friends Friday: The Music of John Pickett

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The local music scene in the Pee Region of South Carolina is surprisingly robust, with some truly stellar musicians.  The creative heart of this scene rests in several open mic nights at local coffee shops.  Currently, the two big open mics to have resumed are at The Purple Fish Coffee Company in Darlington, South Carolina, and at Crema Coffee Bar in Hartsville, South Carolina.  The Fish hosts its open mic on Friday evenings, and Crema hosts its on Tuesday nights.

The other major open mic—probably the most enduring of the current Big Three—was at Lula’s Coffee Company in Florence, South Carolina.  Lula’s, however, has not resumed its legendary Thursday night open mic night—an open mic so artistically fervent, it inspired an entire book of poetry—much to the chagrin and bafflement of its most devoted performers, yours portly included.

But before there were any of these establishments, there was Bean Groovy, a now-defunct coffee shop that used to occupy a magical little bit of strip mall in Florence.  I know the former owner of Bean Groovy—himself a studio engineer in the distant past—and despite some attempts to reopen the establishment at other locations, it’s never made a return.

Nevertheless, Bean Groovy was where I got my start in local music in the Pee Dee, way back in the hazy, halcyon days of circa 2012-2013.  It, along with The Midnight Rooster in Hartsville (still in business, but it’s shifted from being a quirky coffee house into a frou-frou upscale dining establishment) were my old stomping grounds as I broke my way into the region’s open mic scene.

It was at Bean Groovy sometime in probably 2012 or 2013 that I met one of my best friends, John Pickett.  John is an excellent guitarist and singer, and he possesses one of the best ears for music I’ve ever encountered.

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Supporting Friends Friday: The Bull Terrier Rescue Mission

The Portly Politico9 Comments

The big news this week was that I would be fostering a dog.  Well, I picked up sweet Murphy—an eight-year-old female bull terrier—yesterday at the Sam’s Club in Goldsboro, North Carolina.  As I write this post, Murphy is sleeping soundly in her crate, and seems to have made herself very much at home already.

It is thanks to the efforts of The Bull Terrier Rescue Mission, Inc., that Murphy is alive and well (I hope!—we go to the veterinarian this morning) today.  My post from Wednesday details how I stumbled upon the organization, so I won’t rehash that here; that said, I am thrilled that I discovered them, and would like to encourage readers to check out the organization (and to consider making a donation to them).

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Supporting Friends Friday: Review of Rachel Fulton Brown and Dragon Common Room’s Centrism Games

The Portly Politico2 Comments

After sitting with the copy on my nightstand since the book’s debut, I finally sat down and read Rachel Fulton Brown and Dragon Common Room‘s Centrism Games: A Modern Dunciad.  Having read it, my only regret is that I did not do so sooner.

A bit of background is in order:  Dr. Rachel Fulton Brown is a medievalist at the University of Chicago, and is known in our circles as a traditional Christian professor fighting against social justice indoctrination and infiltration of the humanities.

One wouldn’t think the more esoteric realm of medieval history would be a major battleground for the ultra-woke, but it makes sense:  the modern West is profoundly a product of the Middle Ages.  With that in mind, it becomes clear why the progressive revisionists wish to dominate the field:  in rewriting medieval history to fit their woke narrative, it makes the rest of their revisionist project—of casting all white, male, Christian endeavors as inherently wicked—that much easier.

Milo Yiannopoulos’s short book Medieval Rages: Why The Battle for Medieval Studies Matters to America, details that struggle in more detail.  I highly recommend picking it up, as it highlights the length to which the wokesters have gone to silence Dr. Brown.  Correspondingly, it demonstrates Dr. Brown’s incredible courage and fortitude—as well as her cleverly elfish responses to her critics.

Dr. Brown founded a Telegram chatroom, Dragon Common Room, to be a “a place for training in the arts of virtue and poetry. And mischief making for God. We fight the demons with laughter and wit.”  I participate infrequently in chat, but it has become one of my favorites on the platform.  In addition to fighting “demons with laughter and wit,” Dr. Brown and her merry band of righteous mischief-makers wrote, workshopped, edited, and compiled Centrism Games, releasing it as a handsome little volume consisting of seven poems of thirty stanzas each.

The seven poems constitute a mock-epic narrative, modeled after Alexander Pope’s satirical epic The Dunciad.  Whereas Pope’s Dunciad mocked the goddess “Dulness” and her agents, Centrism Games lampoons the goddess Fama—Fame—and her o’er eager knights

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Supporting Friends Friday: The Cinematic Compositions of Mason Sandifer

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The first two editions of Supporting Friends Friday (highlighting the poetry of Jeremy Miles and the music of Frederick Ingram) have been well-received, particularly by the friends being supported, and it gives me a great deal of joy to showcase their works, albeit from the humble platform of this blog (read by dozens a day!).  As I have written many, many, many times over the last year, making a living through creative work, like writing books and playing music, is difficult, especially in The Age of The Virus.  Building up a community of artists who celebrate one another’s works is an important part of the indie music and publishing business.

It’s also just fun, much like the music of Robert Mason Sandifer, the young composer I’m highlighting today.  Mason, as I call him, is a private student of mine, so this post is perhaps a tad self-serving, but even if he weren’t my student, I would adore his music.

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