Ponty Reviews: Stray (2022)

10 January 20247 January 2024 The Portly Politico3 Comments

2024 is in full swing, and Ponty is already pitching in with his hot takes on video games.

His latest review covers the 2022 video game Stray, in which players take control of a feline protagonist in a post-apocalyptic world.

I remember when Stray hit a couple years ago. The premise seemed intriguing, and gameplay footage and screenshots looked gorgeous. The Blade Runner aesthetic and MS-DOS-faced robots added another level of charm.

Cats and the Internet go hand in paw, and pretty soon even the most casual of gamers—but the most ardent of cat lovers—were playing the game. I even recall rumors that the game would be up for Game of the Year, though that didn’t happen for reasons Ponty eludes to in his review.

It’s also a favorite among couples, as most women even loosely associated or familiar with gaming love cats, some to the point of building their personalities around it. Naturally, these cat moms flocked to the game.

I have not played the game, unfortunately, but I’d like to try it. I do have to wonder, though—why didn’t somebody think of this concept sooner? Given the gaming world’s love of cats, it seems like a slam dunk. In the case of Stray, it really was!

With that, here’s Ponty’s review of Stray:

Lazy Sunday CXXXIV: Best Ponty Posts of 2023

7 January 202431 December 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

After posting my best posts of 2023 last week, it occurred to me that my loyal guest contributors deserved some love. Ergo, I decided to put together a “Best Guest Posts of 2023” post.

As I began going through the top three most-viewed guest contributions, however, I realized they all belonged to Ponty/Always a Kid for Today, one of the greatest and most stalwart champions of this humble blog. As such, I’m dedicating this edition of Lazy Sunday to his three best posts of 2023.

Some disclaimers: “best” is purely quantitative, based on view count. Of course, Ponty’s work is always qualitatively excellent, too. Also, the posts had to be published in 2023. The numbers are based on when I checked them, which was 31 December 2023 (the perfect time to review the last year’s numbers!).

So, without further ado, here are Ponty’s three best posts of 2023:

“Ponty’s Pen: Stranger Things Series Review” (133 views) – Ponty nailed it early in 2023, with this 17 February 2023 review of the first four seasons of the cultural phenomenon Stranger Things.
“Guest Post: The Year Before the Year After Next Year” (98 views) – An excellent post about the bizarre fixation of British elites with The Age of The Virus, and how people still walk around muzzled out of media- and government-induced fear of what was, essentially, a bad case of the flu.
“Monday Morning Movie Review: Ponty’s Top Ten Best Films: #1: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)” (82 views) – When Ponty and I were swapping our best films, his list was way better—and more thoughtful—than my own. This review of The Shawshank Redemption (1994) did quite well—and deserves even better! Ponty has a gift for reviewing flicks.

Happy Sunday—and Happy New Year!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

The Ponty Christmas Special

5 January 202422 December 2023 The Portly Politico5 Comments

Yes, yes—we’re already into 2024, and at this point, Christmas 2023 is a distant, fuzzy memory. But as I’ve pointed out in other posts this holiday season, Christmastime traditionally runs through Epiphany, on 6 January. So, why not keep the Christmas spirit alive just a bit longer—eh?

In reading Ponty’s Christmas missive, you’ll get a sense for how much he loves the intimate coziness and spirit of Christmas. Even more, it’s hard to miss how much he loves the intimate coziness and spirit of Tina, his beloved girlfriend/common-law wife/soulmate. Whatever they are, they are meant for each other, just like the characters in the Hallmark movies Ponty endures each December. Nothing says, “I love you” like letting your significant other own a hotel on Boardwalk in Monopoly.

I share something of Ponty’s resigned pessimism for the future. Like Ponty, though, it does not stem from a place of hopelessness, but rather inspires me to dedicate myself more to the people in my life. There’s precious little I can do about national politics (or a bunch of stoner judges in Colorado), but I can do a great deal to help those around me—even if that means losing a few games of Monopoly.

With that, here is Ponty sharing about his and Tina’s wonderful Christmas and New Year’s plans:

Guest Post: DEI Hard

6 December 20232 December 2023 The Portly Politico3 Comments

Good old Ponty has graced us with some Christmas cheer this year with an uproarious and penchant sendup of one of my favorite Christmas movies—and, yes, it is a Christmas movie.

I can’t reveal much more in this intro, so I’ll hand it over to Ponty, who reviews a film that would make Kathleen Kennedy week in the knees:

Myersvision: Open Your Eyes

25 October 202316 October 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Senior correspondent and cryptid expert Audre Myers sends me a lot of Bigfoot footage, almost all of which I can find some hole to poke my skeptic’s waggling finger through with good-natured vigor. I suspect that as eagle-eyed as she is, Audre sees with the eyes of a true believer, and sometimes sees what she wants to see. Thus it is for all of us, for different things.

But this time, I think she might be onto something. I think she vastly underestimates how good (and cheap) practical effects work is these days, and how a truly committed hoaxster could put together a pretty convincing Bigfoot outfit if he wanted to do so.

But, again, something about this video really is compelling. Naturally, it has all the shortcomings of the typical Bigfoot footage—blurry, for example—but it makes sense in this context.

I’ll let you decide for yourself. With that, here’s Audre, encouraging you to “Open Your Eyes”:

Myersvision: Audre’s Exorcism

18 October 202312 October 2023 The Portly Politico7 Comments

Last Thursday Audre Myers e-mailed me a comment for my post “TBT^4: Things That Go Bump in the Night” (she’s having some issues logging into WordPress to comment—d’oh!). I asked if I could post it on the blog as its own post, and she agreed.

The title I’ve given her comment-post is a bit of artistic license; I’m sure Audre would not call it an “exorcism,” but she definitely cast something out in the Name of Jesus Christ.

It’s become a trope in horror films, especially of the demonic possession variety, that messing around with fortune telling, Ouija boards, etc., opens one up to demonic influence. I suspect that our habitual sins open us up far more frequently, but I also strongly believe we shouldn’t mess around with the occult, even in a supposedly playful manner. I know Ouija boards are mass-produced by Milton Bradley, which somehow takes away some of the demonic mysticism of them; still, I imagine Satan loves the Industrial Revolution and mass production.

We have victory in Jesus. Praise the Lord!

With there, here is Audre’s fascinating tale of victory in Christ:

Myersvision: The Great British Baking Show

4 October 202328 September 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

We all have our comfort foods. Mine are probably mashed potatoes and my Mom’s meatloaf, or perhaps her barbecue chicken. She also makes an incredible chicken casserole. Pretty much anything she cooks or bakes is comfort food, I suppose.

But what happens when comfort foods collide with comfort television? That’s the case with Audre Myers‘s review of a beloved Netflix series.

I won’t spoil the scones any further. Here’s Audre on The Great British Baking Show:

Myersvision: How Big is Big?

20 September 202320 September 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Earlier this week our senior cryptid correspondent Audre Myers sent me an intriguing video that seems to depict a Bigfoot sauntering along the side of a Canadian lake near Toronto. If anyone’s going to be hanging out in Canada, it’s Bigfoot!

Audre makes an interesting point: could every sighting of the hairy lug really be a guy in a gorilla costume? That does stretch credulity—except that it’s entirely possible, albeit a tad implausible, that everyone filming is in cahoots with a fellow hoaxer. The Spiritualist Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries produced more charlatans than ghosts.

Regardless, we simply can’t know. As with everything with Bigfoot, we’re always talking in possibilities, probabilities, likelihoods, etc. This footage is intriguing, but it’s so easy to doctor video footage, how can we be sure? Until we have a Bigfoot in captivity or dead on a lab table, we really can’t.

With that, here is Audre with a little note on perspective:

Myersvision – Why?

14 September 202321 August 2023 The Portly Politico1 Comment

One might wonder at times why the Bigfoot people are so gung-ho about what they do. Some of them, I am certain, are charlatans and hucksters, and are putting on a show for clicks and remunerative possibilities.

But there are others who sincerely believe, and respect this legendary creature. Our senior Bigfoot correspondent Audre Myers is one such soul.

In this short-but-impactful post, Audre details why it is that some folks dedicate their lives, their talents, and their energies to Bigfoot, a creature that is not us, but that seems so similar to us in so many ways:

Myersvision: Alexander Scourby

13 September 202314 August 2023 The Portly Politico3 Comments

Growing up, I remember pastors championing the King James Version of the Bible as the only reliable translation. It is, indeed, exceptional—and, even for a hyperintelligent Übermensch like yours portly, exceptionally difficult to read. I now primarily use the New King James Version, which retains the KJV’s accuracy, while updating the syntax and language for modern readers.

That said, the NKJV still loses some of the poetry of the KJV. Christianity is a reading religion, but it’s also a spoken one, and like all poetry, the Bible is meant to be read aloud. Not many of us do it well. When it’s done right, however, it pierces our souls.

Audre Myers graciously wrote this beautiful piece about the recorded King James Version, available on YouTube. Actor Alexander Scourby reads the entire Bible, and from the videos I’ve listened to so far, it’s gorgeous.

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

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