Author: VD

Meme Magic Strikes Twice

Meme Review tonight on UATV. You know the drill. MemeWars in the subject. One meme per customer; if you send more, they’re all disqualified. Provide a name for the file too, please. I don’t need six “image01.jpg” files. And don’t send a Trump Cat meme unless it’s an unusually good one, given that is obviously the meme du jour. Neil Gaiman memes are legit, but find one that, unlike this one, isn’t from r/neilgaimanmemes.

You want to talk about meme magic. This one is already legendary in that regard.

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CS Lewis was Right

Actually, Clive Staples Lewis was right about many things. But he was especially right about the quality of his friend JRR Tolkien’s work:

‘When I reviewed the first volume of this work, I hardly dared to hope it would have the success which I was sure it deserved. Happily I am proved wrong. There is, however, one piece of false criticism which had better be answered: the complaint that the characters are all either black or white. Since the climax of Volume I was mainly concerned with the struggle between good and evil in the mind of Boromir, it is not easy to see how anyone could have said this. I will hazard a guess. “How shall a man judge what to do in such times?” asks someone in Volume II. “As he has ever judged,” comes the reply. “Good and ill have not changed…nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men.” (II, 40-41).

This is the basis of the whole Tolkinian world. I think some readers, seeing (and disliking) this rigid demarcation of black and white, imagine they have seen a rigid demarcation between black and white people. Looking at the squares, they assume (in defiance of the facts) that all the pieces must be making bishops’ moves which confine them to one colour. But even such readers will hardly brazen it out through the last two volumes. Motives, even on the right side, are mixed.

Those who are now traitors usually began with comparatively innocent intentions. Heroic Rohan and imperial Gondor are partly diseased. Even the wretched Smeagol, till quite late in the story, has good impulses; and by a tragic paradox, what finally pushes him over the brink is an unpremeditated speech by the most selfless character of all.

It’s interesting that whereas most people laud Tolkien’s worldbuilding – and rightly so – Lewis recognizes the significance and depth of his friend’s characters. Aragorn and Treebeard and Samwise Gamgee have lasted decades, whereas Harry Potter and Hermione are already being forgotten, because they were magnificently conceived and written.

As for Jon Snow and Tyrion and Arya, they have already been forgotten. About all anyone can remember about Jon Snow is that he knew nothing.

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3 Strikes, He’s Out

In the aftermath of multiple accusations of sexual assault directed at showrunner Neil Gaiman, the Amazon show Good Omens has been effectively cancelled as its Season 3 was “paused”:

Production has been paused on the third and final season of fantasy drama Good Omens, the Neil Gaiman drama for Amazon that’s shooting in Scotland.

Deadline is hearing there are discussions about possible production changes. A spokesperson would not comment.

News about the future of Good Omen comes less than a week after Disney put a planned feature adaptation of Gaiman’s 2008 YA title The Graveyard Book on pause amid a series of sexual assault allegations against the award-winning author.

While the mainstream media’s wall of silence about the accusations is still mostly holding firm – none of the major newspapers that have regularly published puff pieces on Gaiman for years have published an investigative article – the third cancellation in series of a Gaiman-related show isn’t something that can be reasonably ignored.

And yes, in this context, “paused” likely means “cancelled”.

Didn’t want to comment on this before the official drop, but I heard this yesterday from various pals who worked on the previous series. From what those crew are saying, it’s less “paused” and more “cancelled”.

Impressive, very nice. Now do Sandman.

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Not the Worst Idea

Australia contemplates a ban on social media for children under the age of 16:

Australia will ban children from using social media with a minimum age limit as high as 16, the prime minister said Tuesday, vowing to get kids off their devices and ‘onto the footy fields’.

Federal legislation to keep children off social media will be introduced this year, Anthony Albanese said, describing the impact of the sites on young people as a ‘scourge’.

The minimum age for children to log into sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok has not been decided but is expected to be between 14 and 16 years, Albanese said.

The prime minister said his own preference would be a block on users aged below 16.

Social media can literally be as dangerous as driving for children, as they are far too immature to be dealing with some of the personal issues and challenges that social media can create for them. Also, it will be considerably harder for child predators to groom and lure children away from their homes if they have no electronic access to them.

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RIP James Earl Jones

The man truly was a legend. In addition to all of his acting accomplishments, he was a lieutenant in the US Army. 93 is a very respectable run, and it’s not as if they’ll be needing him for Star Wars anymore. To cap it all off, that appearance on The Big Bang Theory was an incredibly funny take on celebrity and fandom. Even if you don’t like the show, you really have to see that episode.

Right across the border from my favorite city on Earth…

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The End of Schengen

Germany has finally bowed to the inevitable and will be bringing the era of free movement across Europe to an end:

Germany will bring in controls on all its land borders to deal with the ‘continuing burden’ of migration and ‘Islamist terrorism’, the country’s interior minister has told the EU.

Nancy Faeser of the struggling Social Democrat party (SPD) has finally accepted that Germany has no choice but to enforce proper border controls if it has any hope of coping with the staggering amount of unauthorised entries.

According to German newspaper Bild, the new rules will see ‘harsh rejections of migrants at the borders’.

Faeser has reportedly already informed the EU Commission of the decision, which is fuelled by deep-rooted panic over Germany’s current migrant situation and internal security threats.

I lived in Europe pre-Schengen, and I won’t lie, it was really nice to be able to blitz right through the borders that used to take up to 45 minutes to get through. But what was convenient for day-trippers and tourists has been an absolute nightmare due to the criminals and migrants who were also provided with easy and invisible movement throughout the European Union states and the non-EU Schengen signees.

This has been coming for two or three years now; we’ve seen some of the big border infrastructure being built at the borders of France and Spain, even though it isn’t being used yet. The police mostly use the toll booths as an ersatz border, but that only works for the highways.

Brexit marked the beginning of the end for the EU, but the effective demise of Schengen marks another important step.

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Called on the Carpet

HYPERGAMOUSE is back on Arktoons… and it looks as if Dag might be in a bit of trouble at the office with the Big Cheese. Whatever shall he do?

MIDNIGHT’S WAR: NIGHT STREETS is going strong as well, as the Bloodhound of Caedis Nex makes his first appearance in the comic. But more importantly, it’s time for those who are planning to support either the HYPERGAMOUSE Vol. 1 book or the SIGMA GAME book to make themselves known. We’re trying out yet another new platform; this one promises to be much better about permitting us to know exactly what items go to which backer.

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China Rejects Clown World

And all of its globalist pomps:

According to the US Department of State, the PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs has notified the American government that since August 28, civil affairs departments across China will no longer carry out foreign adoption work. Could you confirm the stop? And if so, could you elaborate on it?

Mao Ning: The Chinese government has adjusted its cross-border adoption policy. Henceafter, apart from the adoption of a child or stepchild from one’s collateral relatives by blood of the same generation and up to the third degree of kinship by foreigners coming to China, China will not send children abroad for adoption. This is also in line with the spirit of relevant international covenants. We express our appreciation to those foreign governments and families, who wish to adopt Chinese children, for their good intention and the love and kindness they have shown.

This is a strong statement of Chinese nationalism. It’s a rejection of the concept that an individual’s “nation” is whatever a piece of paper says it is and that one’s identity is chiefly determined by geography rather than blood. This is an important step in combatting the concept of economy uber alles, the globalist philosophy which regards human beings as nothing more than interchangeable cogs in the global finance machine.

I doubt it’s an accident that the rise of Russia coincides with the Russian ban on US adoptions in 2012.

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Israel Invades the West Bank

Apparently the Gazacaust wasn’t enough, so the IDF has entered the West Bank in force now.

Having failed to eradicate Hamas in Gaza, Israel on August 28 began a war on the West Bank, dubbed ‘Operation Summer Camps’.

This Israeli assault on West Bank areas is the largest since 2002, with thousands of Israeli soldiers, supported by helicopters and drones, invading northern West Bank cities, particularly targeting the refugee camps of Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarem.

I don’t know how much longer the US media is going to be able to pretend this isn’t a long-planned ethnic cleansing. I suppose the Israeli government figures they’ve gotten as much as they can out of the “helpless victims” routine and so it’s time to switch to mask off mode.

But this primarily strikes me as an escalation meant to encourage Iranian action before the Palestinians can further attrit the IDF and its US supplier.

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