Tag: analysis

Cryptid Epistemology

The Portly Politico9 Comments

Ever since The Age of The Virus and the 2020 usurpation, there has been an increased focus in academia on supposed “mis- and disinformation.”  Anytime a small guild of academics champions a cause that runs cover for government and corporate propaganda, we should all activate our skeptical antennae, regardless of our political leanings; there is a good chance someone is lying to us.

The mis/disinformation racket is a lucrative one.  The federal government is shelling out big money to experts in this field to speak at conferences.  Without violating anyone’s privacy, I have direct knowledge of some of the amounts involved for academics giving presentations on the topic.  If I could pull in a cool six grand (and change) for talking about how everyone who disagrees with my positions is suffering from an advanced case of disinformation, I might do it, too.

William Briggs at his Substack Science is Not the Answer hosts a very good guest post by Jaap Hanekamp entitled “The Misinformation Dis(mis)course Revisited: The Losing Battle of The Academic Expertocracy“; it offers a very good treatment of the danger of this mis/disinformation regime.  In essence, it is simply a form of censorship.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Revisiting Donnie Darko (2001)

The Portly Politico17 Comments

Back on 29 January 2024 I wrote my trenchant, insightful, inventive, nuanced, analytical, and brilliant review of the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko.  My basic argument at the time was that the film was a muddled, confusing mess, full of histrionic characters being romanticized for doing stupid, destructive things.  I also made the more difficult-to-prove claim that Donnie Darko contributed to our society’s current glamorization of mental illness, and (less difficult to prove) shaped the lives of countless, uninteresting goth chicks.

My take on the film generated what every blogger wants:  outrage.  This time, the outrage came from Ponty, a faithful reader and excellent contributor to this blog.  Ponty argued that I had completely missed the point of the film (to be fair, that was true—I didn’t see what the point was at all!), and that Donnie Darko is, in many ways, a tribute to the classic John Hughes films of the 1980s, albeit in more gothic dressing.  His excellent review also digs into a bit more of the title character’s motivations, making it clear that Donnie isn’t just going on a destructive bender for the fun of it, or even because he has schizophrenia, but because he is growing as a character.

At the time, I was not convinced.  I figured that Ponty was still seeing the film through the rose-tinted glasses of his youth (although that’s not fair to Ponty, who is an exquisite and clear-eyed reviewer), and that even if these points were true, the film portrayed them too obtusely.  Regardless, readers had two perspectives on the film and could make up their own minds—or, even better, go watch the thing.

I didn’t think about the flick again until last week, when watching The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder.  Season 6, Episode 6 featured Donnie Darko, as well as guest Bob Berney, an indie film executive who was involved with the production and distribution of Donnie Darko.  At first, I moaned audibly, because I was going to have to sit through this film again (my personal rule is that, if Joe Bob Briggs shows a movie, even if I’ve already seen it, and especially if I disliked it, I have to watch it again, with his commentary segments).  As I watched and absorbed Joe Bob’s discussion of the film, however, I came to a new appreciation of it.

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Ponty Praises: The Fly (1986)

The Portly Politico26 Comments

Truly the 1980s were a golden age in many ways—a great economy, a confident Western civilization, and tons of great movies.  Even remakes from the era felt like totally fresh intellectual properties, with screenwriters taking advantage of improved technology to breathe new narrative life into older stories.  But it was also the peak of practical effects, as CGI had not quite reached the point of plausibility (and digital effects from the late 1980s now look quaint and dated).

I would argue, too, that the 1980s represented a golden age for body horror.  Who can forget the grotesque transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London (1981), or the stomach-churning effects in The Thing (1982)?

So it was with 1986’s The Fly, a film that combined the narrative abilities and amazing musical scores so endemic to the 1980s with the most horrifying body horror the decade could muster.  The combination of these elements—combined with great performances from the cast—put The Fly into the national consciousness, all while scaring the living taters out of us.

With that, here is Ponty’s buzzing review of The Fly (1986):

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Deathdream (1974)

The Portly Politico7 Comments

A common thread among horror aficionados is seeing some horror flick at an age that is far too young.  Maybe it was a whole movie, or maybe just snippets and scenes, but the movie terrifies and fascinates, leaving in indelible imprint on the impressionable young mind.

Often, we don’t even know the name of the film that affected us so.  If we’re lucky, we might stumble upon it years later, and go back to that time when we experienced horror for the first (or one of the first) time(s).

There were several such moments for yours portly.  Growing up with a Stephen King- and Halloween-loving mom, two that immediately come to mind are the It (1990) miniseries and the Salem’s Lot (1979) miniseries.  That little boy vampire scratching at the window still frightens me.

Another possible film is Deathdream (1974).  I’m not 100% sure if Deathdream is the movie I saw as a kid, but I remember seeing a flick as a kid that featured a deceased son who came back from the dead and was utterly soulless.  I think the film I saw was made a bit later, but Deathdream sucked me in because it seemed so familiar.  The soulless Andy—who is killed in the Vietnam War—is truly haunting.

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Myersvision: Joe Rogan Meets Bigfoot

The Portly Politico9 Comments

The title of today’s piece is misleading—we call it “clickbait” in the blogging biz.  Joe Rogan doesn’t actually meet Bigfoot, which would surely be the media event of the century, but he does listen to an alleged recording of our big, hairy friend.

Audio is pretty easy to manipulate, and with the rise of AI-generated sounds, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to discern actual recordings of anyone—much less Bigfoot—from AI ones.  The difference here is that the audio Rogan listens to was recorded in the early 1970s, and is—as far as we know—undoctored.

Our senior correspondent and resident cryptid expert Audre Myers offers up several videos of alleged Bigfoot recordings, one of which is at an Interstate rest stop.  I’m willing to believe that any thing is possible at an Interstate rest stop at 10:48 PM, and not just calling Seabass for a good time.

With that, here’s Audre with some intriguing possible recordings of Bigfoot:

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TBT^4: Reclaim the Rainbow

The Portly Politico7 Comments

Perhaps it is my own ignorance of worldly affairs, but it feels like the gay stuff has been toned down dramatically this June.  After many years of insufferable degeneracy masquerading as “tolerance,” the “pride” people went too far, and people who didn’t want their kids stuffing dollar bills into gay men’s leather thongs or getting secret gender reassignment surgery through their local elementary school’s guidance office rose up and fought back—by withholding their spending.

Conservative efforts at boycotts have always been iffy, but now they actually seem to be working.  Target saw a substantial reduction in its business after displaying kid’s clothing that came equipped with wiener-tucking compartments for all those “trans” kids out there.  Budweiser—the most American beer, perhaps the most American product, period, after maybe the Ford F-150 and Levi’s—lost so much market share that Modelo—a Mexican beer company!—dethroned it as the king of beers.  In this case, I don’t think you can chalk that up to mass Mexican immigration.

Of course, I could be wrong.  In spite of these clear messages that most Americans don’t want to be forced to “celebrate” a tiny minority’s sexual peccadilloes, I suspect that we’re going to keep having public homosexual erotica thrust into our faces (perhaps quite literally) whether we like it or not.

All the more reason, then, to reclaim the rainbow.  What was once a symbol of God’s Promise to Moses—and, thereby, humanity at large—has been co-opted to represent the government’s promise to emasculate and depopulate all of us.

With that, here is 22 June 2023’s “TBT^2: Reclaim the Rainbow“:

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

The Portly Politico13 Comments

Nine years ago, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) hit cinemas with an explosive impact worthy of the big screen.  It is perhaps the best film of the last decade.  I remember seeing it at least twice in theaters, and being totally enthralled both times.  My niece, who is now nine, was still in my sister-in-law’s belly at this point; Barack Obama was still president; and the idea that the world would shut down due to a bad case of the flu seemed outrageous.  It was a different world.

Indeed, I remember my younger brother scolding me for seeing MM:FR with a colleague instead of him and his wife (and, I suppose, my natal niece by extension).  I think I saw it with them for my second viewing, but I cannot remember at the moment.  Regardless, that was probably the last time that the three of us could have gone to the movies together—truly the end of an era.

And MM:FR was the perfect film to end that era.  Indeed, it was something a vestige of the dying days of practical effects and crazy stunts.  Fury Road did use some CGI and digital effects, but it was largely shot practically, which is insane when one considers the dangerous stunts.  It must have been grueling to film.

What captivated me so much about Fury Road was the world in which this extended car chase occurred.  Miller dribbled in just enough information to give a sense for how this wasteland worked, but left a great deal unexplained.  That fueled hours of speculation about the locations and people in this world.  How did Immortan Joe come to power?  What happened to the Green Place?  What is going on with Max’s mental state?

After nearly a decade, Miller released Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), which serves as a prequel to Fury Road.  The film did not answer every question, but it does a great deal to flesh out the world of Mad Max, while still allowing it to maintain some of its mystique and mystery.  It’s also an excellent film.

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Ponty Praises: Disco Elysium

The Portly Politico25 Comments

Disco Elysium is quite possibly the best video game I have ever played.  It is certainly the most unique.  I knew it was something special after only an hour of playing it, and while I have not started a new game since finishing it—“beating” is probably not the right word for Disco Elysium—it is a game that could reveal fresh layers through dozens, perhaps hundreds, of playthroughs, even if it only consists of one “main quest,” as it were.

I’ve never played a game that more accurately reflects the way my own mind is structured, and the way that I think about and dwell upon certain inane details.  I don’t have a “Thought Cabinet,” per se, but the notion of fixating upon and ruminating about an idea to the point that it worms its way into your psyche feels true to my experience.  As dear old Ponty will point out, the game has a way of seeping into your mind and, therefore, your life outside of the game.

I don’t want to give too much away, as Ponty delivers a brilliant and detailed review, so I’ll turn the controller over to him.

With that, here is Ponty’s review of Disco Elysium:

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Myersvision: The Last of Us (TV Series)

The Portly Politico8 Comments

Dear old Audre Myers e-mailed Ponty and me a couple of Sundays ago recommending the HBO Max series The Last of Us, based (albeit, I suspect, somewhat loosely) on the video game of the same name.  I’ve never played either of the two TLoU games, but I am quite familiar with the controversy surrounding the sequel, which went fully woke.  It is a classic scenario:  a hugely successful cultural phenomenon gets hijacked—willingly or otherwise—by the Cultural Marxists and becomes a pitiful version of its former self.  The Cult Marxists hope to trade on the popularity of the intellectual property or franchise by shoehorning their bizarre beliefs into it, thereby reaching a massive audience before everyone sours on it.

It’s a fundamentally vampiric, parasitic relationship:  the healthy host rapidly loses whatever cultural cache it enjoyed, becoming an insufferable, withered husk of its former self.

I was not surprised in the slightest that Ponty reacted so negatively to Audre’s request that one of us review the show.  As an avid gamer who (it seems) enjoyed The Last of Us video game and despised its woke sequel, I knew the suggestion would touch a nerve.  Poor Audre had no idea; I hope Ponty wasn’t too hard on her!

So, I proposed that Audre write a review.  I’ll check out the show when I’m able, but she is the queen of television reviews around here.

With that, here is Audre Myers’s review of the television series The Last of Us:

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