Tag: guest post

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:

Read More »

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:

Read More »

Myersvision: Bigfoot Buffet

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Our senior correspondent and resident cryptozoologist Audre Myers is back with a veritable buffet of Bigfoot footage—some plausible, most of it garbage, much like eating at a Golden Corral.  There are some surprisingly toothsome morsels surrounded by a great deal of flabby, fattening fluff.

Audre shares a video here with thirteen different alleged Bigfoot sightings.  She breaks each one down with her distinct brand of cryptozoological analysis.

With that, here’s Audre’s Bigfoot Buffet:

Read More »

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:

Read More »

Monday Morning Movie Review: Ponty Praises Donnie Darko (2001)

The Portly Politico3 Comments

After much cajoling, dear old Ponty has delivered his magnum opus—the long-anticipated review of 2001’s moody, depression-inducing Donnie Darko.

I’ve gotsta hand it to old Pontifex Maximus:  he sure knows how to write a review.  Even yours portly—who, as readers know well, is never wrong in his reasoned, intelligent assessments—is regarding his position after reading Ponty’s review.  I may even give DD a second (or is it third or fourth, at this point?) chance.

I won’t spoil anything, but Ponty explains filters out the mud and the grey and brings some light to this otherwise dismal film.

With that, here is Ponty’s review of 2001’s Donnie Darko:

Read More »

Myersvision: The Face of Bigfoot?

The Portly Politico1 Comment

Audre’s convalescence has coincided with a revival in her bigfoot scribblings, and I couldn’t be happier.  I’m chiefly pleased because Audre is doing better, but I’m also thrilled she’s sending along Bigfoot content (“Footent?”) again.

This week’s submission involves a very lifelike—but, I would argue, clearly manipulated—image that purports to be a close-up photo of the big lug.  The picture looks very much like a person—indeed, I have worked with and seen people who look like the creature in the photo (no offense intended).

Audre has more to say on the matter, and dips into the often discouraging world of online Bigfoot investigating.

With that, here is Audre on the face of Bigfoot:

Read More »

Ponty Pontificates: BBC Hails Swift as the Second Coming

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Taylor Swift is, for the current moment, the biggest pop cultural phenomenon of the decade.  Her Eras tour has grossed billions, with tickets selling out almost immediately.  Indeed, the tour has a lottery-based system that grants the opportunity to purchase tickets—which still sell out instantly.  She’s singlehandedly gotten women interested in professional football, not because they care about the games, but because Taylor Swift is dating a player, Travis Kelce.

Swift is the embodiment of what every basic white girl wants to be:  famous, admired, talented, wealthy, attractive.  Her fans (Swifties) grew up with her, and now have the earning power to spend those aforementioned billions on concert tickets, tour merch, t-shirts, friendship bracelets, and everything else that goes with a major tour.

To say that Swift has a rabidly loyal fanbase is an understatement.  Girls get vicious when it comes to talk of Taylor Swift.  Believe me, I know—I teach teenage girls everyday, and the ones that love Swift love her.  Mention Swift’s string of failed relationships (and the songs that come from them), and they’ll leap to her defense.  Suggest she’s dating Kelce for the exposure, and they’ll claim (not incorrectly) that she gave the exposure to him.  Believe me, they get very defensive of “Taylor” (to be clear, I don’t go around challenging teenage girls about their interest in pop music, but I hear their conversations with other students all the time).

I have a begrudging respect for Swift’s songwriting prowess—she wrote one song in 5/4 time, which is impressive for pop music—but otherwise I suspect her power over her fans is terrifying.  It is an immense source of power.  Women are herd-like and aggressively social in their behavior, and are far more likely to follow a directive from Taylor Swift (or Oprah, or Beyoncé), than to think critically about what their queen/goddess/self-insert wish fulfilment diva thinks.

I’ve even conceived of a short story concept in which a Taylor Swift-style pop star suddenly encourages her fans to become traditional wives—and that is what breaks the starlet’s spell over her fans, who no longer worship someone who encourages sacrifice and giving up an empty, solipsistic existence.

The concern—as Ponty touches on here—is that Swift, a vocal Democrat, will start plumping for The Usurper Biden (or whoever the candidate will be).  Then, her legions of unthinking fans will vote for the party of excess, debauchery, and death.

It is perhaps a tad unfavorable to Swift’s fans to imagine them as occult worshippers of a tall, skinny babe with a microphone, but the slavish devotion with which they dedicate themselves to their icon is startling.  Of course, we’re just living with the consequences of the Nineteenth Amendment.

I’ll let Ponty take it from here.  Here is his discussion of the BBC’s obsession with Taylor Swift:

Read More »

Myersvision: Bigfoot Attack

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Our dear Audre Myers is back after a medical hiatus.  I won’t go into details—that’s for Audre to do, if she decides to do so—but she’s endured some harrowing experiences with those parts of the medical system that operate outside of the good hospitals and doctors.  It’s a shame that there are so many incompetent fools given charge over our elderly.  There’s a special place in Hell for them.

Regardless, she made it out alive, as did the young man in this video.  The title of this post is my own sensationalist invention—gotta get those clicks!—but I’m sure it felt like an attack to the man recording it.

I’m always skeptical of Bigfoot talk.  As I’ve written many times before, I want Bigfoot to be real, but the alleged “evidence” is frequently suspect, and I think there’s a high degree of seeing what we want to see in Bigfoot footage.  It doesn’t help that the “field” of cryptozoology is full of charlatans and conmen.

I trust and respect Audre, however.  She’s not trying to con anyone.  That said, her language in this post suggests the strong desire for Bigfoot to be real.  I don’t doubt that we can “know [things] in a special kind of way,” as Audre writes, but that doesn’t necessarily hold up to scientific scrutiny.

For what it’s worth, I think the footage is intriguing.  I also think it’s a bear.

Watch for yourself and let me know what you think.

With that, here’s Audre:

Read More »

Lazy Sunday CXXXV: Best Myersvision Posts of 2023

The Portly Politico2 Comments

After giving Ponty some love last week, I decided to do one more edition of Lazy Sunday highlighting the best-performing guest posts of 2023.  This time around, it is our dear Audre Myers, author of the Myersvision series of posts, enjoying the limelight.

Again, the usual notes:  these are not necessarily the best posts qualitatively—although they are quite excellent, as is all of Audre’s writing—but merely the Myersvision posts with the highest views.  Note that all of Audre’s writing deserves more clicks and views, so get to it!

  • “Myersvision: Hoarders” (55 views) – Audre’s review of the A&E series Hoarders, which is such a sad but fascinating show.
  • “Myersvision: ‘Ode to the PB&J’” (51 views) – Ponty somehow does not like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so I asked Audre to set our boy straight with this bit of whimsical doggerel.
  • “Myersvision: Theme Music” (35 views) – When she’s not waxing lyrical about sandwiches, Audre praises the great television theme music of our age.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Ponty Reviews: Stray (2022)

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:

Read More »