Author: VD

Amazon Doubles Down

It appears that Amazon Studios has decided that the fundamental problem underlying the comprehensive failure of Dem Rangz o’ Powah was an insufficiency of strong woman power storytelling.

The Lord Of The Rings fans got a glimpse of what to expect with the upcoming second season of the prequel series The Rings Of Power on Wednesday. Amazon Studios announced that the next season will feature a striking all-female directing team, according to Deadline. Among the women helming the season will be Charlotte Brändström, who previously directed two episodes of the fantasy show’s debut season.

Hamri, who hails from Morocco, got her start directing music videos for Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child and Prince, among others, before directing the Sanaa Lathan film Something New in 2006. She later directed The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2 and Just Wright, but she has mostly worked in television in recent years, including producing and directing for another Amazon fantasy series, The Wheel Of Time.

Hooper has worked in British television for decades, though she recently scored high-profile directing gigs on episodes of The Sandman and The Witcher.

After all, who better to visually interpret the vision of a white male Oxford don than a bunch of women who have failed, failed, and failed again? You just know the great debate in the writer’s room is if it’s enough to hint that Galadrial just might be attracted to another woman or if they should throw caution to the winds, shave her head, and have her form a lifelong romantic attachment to a female orc.

I expect that the great majority of Tolkien fans who successfully ignored the first season will ignore the second one even harder.

DISCUSS ON SG

Why Russia Will Defeat Clown World

Much can be usefully learned from this excerpt from a book published in 1989 concerning a brief conversation that took place forty years prior between a German Army officer and a Soviet political officer.

Much to my surprise, the NKVD officer expressed a wish to speak to me alone in the presence of the interpreter.

“Polkovnik,” he said, “a question: how many convinced Communists do you think there are in this and the other German POW camps?” Was it a catch question? It was hard to answer, and it also seemed to me dangerous to give my own views. So I said, “About ten percent, I should think.”

“Oh, no; at most six to seven percent,” he replied. “And Polkovnik, how many do you think there are in East Germany?”

“Since you have been in East Germany now for nearly five years, it might be some eight to ten percent.”

“At most three to four percent. And what about West Germany?” Surprised by his figures, I suggested, “Less, about two to three percent.” To which he gave an even more astonishing reply, “Nil. You see, we are realists in Moscow. And because we are, we see no chance of being able to convince the German people of communism.” His conclusion, “Neither the Italian nor the French Communists can be numbered among us. They are first and foremost Italians and Frenchmen. Britain is on the other side of the Channel, the Americans are far away. But we do have to reckon with you.”

And then his words held doubt and fear again, “One day you will want to have an army again, with which you will invade us again. There lies our whole interest in keeping Germany ‘neutral.“ With a neutral Germany danger for us is banished. We can convince Europe of our desire, but also of our intention, never again to allow a war on our territory. That’s how things look, Polkovnik.”

This was one of the most interesting and instructive conversations I had as a prisoner of war. The view was in keeping with that of ordinary soldiers, Russian convicts, and civilians, who had already said to me previously, “Although it will be hard for us, we shall one day forget what has happened. But you will go back to your country. Then you will build up a new army and march into Russia, destroy our villages and kill or carry off our people.” How can this fear ever be removed from the people or from the “realists” in Moscow? All the noisy reactions to the rebuilding of the Bundeswehr, the federal army, and to the alliance with the American superpower are to be seen against this background.

PANZER COMMANDER by Col Hans von Luck

The Russians trusted, briefly, in the promises made to them in the early days of the post-Soviet era. After seeing their economy raped and their boundaries methodically encroached upon by the very Satanic clowns who previously ruled over them, they will never again give the benefit of any doubt to Clown World’s servants in Germany, the UK, or the USA.

And they have very good reason to place absolutely no trust in them.

British general admits UK deployed troops to Ukraine

British Royal Marines conducted high-risk operations in Ukraine in April, Lieutenant General Robert Magowan has admitted, according to a report in The Times on Tuesday. Russia has consistently warned that NATO troops have been active in the conflict, but these statements have been dismissed by Western analysts and media.

DISCUSS ON SG

Subversion and Perversion

The Cambridge Dictionary revises the definitions of “man” and “woman”:

In yet another example of the insanity of modern progressive activism, the Cambridge Dictionary has redefined “man” and “woman.” Under previous definitions, which were reflective of reality, it said that “woman” meant an “adult female human being.” Now, woman is any adult who “lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.” It made the same anti-biology change for “man,” saying it’s “an adult who lives and identifies as a male though they may have had a different sex at birth.”

We’ve had several people ask Castalia Library to reproduce an old dictionary ever since we first launched it, but it was never something I’d seriously considered. Now, however, the need for one is becoming clear. The problem is that it would take a prohibitively long time to do a proper layout from scratch, so the only viable option would be doing a high-resolution scanned reproduction of a pre-1927 dictionary.

If a traditional dictionary is of any interest to you, let me know in the comments, and recommend the public domain dictionary of your choice. I’m not saying that we intend to do one, I’m merely observing that there is a growing need for one given the intentional subversion and perversion of the English language.

On the topic of Castalia Library, a few notes regarding shipping and availability.

  • The Library editions of A THRONE OF BONES Vols. 1 and 2 are on schedule to begin shipping on Friday.
  • The Libraria editions of A THRONE OF BONES Vols. 1 and 2 are delayed. There was a quality issue with the gold foil provided by the supplier and we approved the bindery’s recommendation to delay the stamping until the foil is replaced.
  • The Leather editions of the Junior Classics are scheduled to begin shipping between Christmas and New Years.
  • The cover designs for all four INCERTO editions by Nassim Nicholas Taleb have been completed, and all four books can now be ordered. The customary discount codes apply to all four books for active subscribers. The Library editions are dark brown Italian cowhide, the Libraria editions are black Italian goatskin. Please note that THE BLACK SWAN and FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS are not, and will not be, part of the subscription.
The INCERTO collection in leather

DISCUSS ON SG

Tuesday Arktoons

MIDNIGHT’S WAR Episode 59: Dead Flesh and Demons

STONETOSS Episode 147: Body Mods

BOB Episode 94: Crushing It

DEUS VULT Episode 17: Valley of Death

SPACEKRAKEN Episode 45: Disenfranchised

CHUCK DIXON PRESENTS: WAR Episode 76: Marine Raid on Munda 3

EVIL MONKEY MEMES Episode 68: Perchance To Dream

BEN GARRISON Episode 83: Bear Market

VEGGIE FABLES Episode 168: Stagecraft Dabblers

JOSEY’S AWAKENING Episode 11: Terrible Dreams

CHUCK DIXON’S AVALON Episode 85: Powerful Friends

MIDNIGHT’S WAR

MIDNIGHT’S WAR UPDATE

Days Left: 11

% of Goal: 187.7 percent

% of Stretch Goal: 93.8 percent

Backers: 324

DISCUSS ON SG

They Call Him “Teacher”

Dr. Peterson is having his “they like me, they really like me” moment.

You know, when people meet me on the street, they’ll say things. I met a couple of Orthodox Jews in New York and they said to me, on the street, that they called me Rabbi, which was – emotional, teary-eyed pause – It’s a hell of a thing!

Let’s hope he makes the most of it before he is inevitably hurled from the high horse.

DISCUSS ON SG

Joel Osteen Preaches Satanic Magick

And not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is eminently clear on the basis of John McArthur’s very public rebuke of the man.

A few weeks ago there was an event here at Dodger Stadium with Joel Osteen. 35 000 people at Dodger Stadium, something like that. He is now the largest “church” – i’m using the word loosely – in America, down in Houston. You need to understand that he is a pagan religionist, in every sense he’s a quasi-pantheist. Jesus is a footnote that satisfies his critics and deceives his followers.

The idea of his whole thing is that men have the power in themselves to change their lives. In his definitive book, Your Best Life Now, he says – and that ought to be a dead giveaway since the only way this could be your best life is if you’re going to Hell – he says that anyone can create by faith
and words the dreams he desires. Health, wealth, happiness, success, the list is always the same…

He says God has already done everything He’s going to do, the ball is in your court. You have to take that part of God which exists in you and create your own reality. Now what is the source of this, where
does this come from? Answer: Satan. This is satanic, this is satanic, this is not just off-center, this is satanic.

I have never, ever, seen anything good or positive come out of the so-called Prosperity Gospel. And those who are familiar with the teachings of Aleister Crowley, or even the bafflegarble of Jordan Peterson, will immediately recognize what Joel Osteen is preaching, which is the alteration of objective reality by the application of one’s subjective will.

That is the wicked inverse of the Christian’s prayer, “Thy will be done.”

The Bible repeatedly warns of false prophets. It should not surprise anyone that it is the falsest of the false prophets who are showered in fame and what passes for worldly success.

DISCUSS ON SG

The Failure of Binary

It’s becoming increasingly obvious to everyone that neither capitalism and Economic Man nor communism and Socialist Man are ideologies capable of sustaining societies that are both functional and civilized. And the godless “Third Way” has already proven to be a comprehensive historical failure.

It’s time to return to Christendom.

DISCUSS ON SG

Midnight’s War Update 6

Days Left: 12

% of Goal: 179.5 percent

% of Stretch Goal: 89.7 percent

Backers: 308

Dante enlists esoteric assistance

Things have slowed down considerably, but the first stretch goal is still in sight for the MIDNIGHT’S WAR campaign. Allow me to provide taste of what that goal will be if hit, which is a short novel in the mode of Razorfist’s two Night Vale novels and Chuck Dixon’s two public domain Conan novels, called OUT OF THE SHADOWS.

Please also note that the MIDNIGHT’S WAR Issues 1-6 omnibus (hardcover) reward has added Canada as a destination, as requested, presumably by Canadians.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

Chapter One: The Dance of the Unicorn

Elliott Grahame surveyed the spreadsheet with great satisfaction. The top line was increasing, the bottom line was more than healthy despite the recent operational expenditures, and the twelve-month trend was precisely in line with the shape of a ramp that the investment bankers were expecting. He didn’t turn around at the sound of his clear glass door being opened behind him, but pointed at the screen instead.
“And that, my friend, is what a billion-dollar company looks like!”
“You think we’re ready to push the IPO?”
“We’ve got to strike while the iron is hot!” He turned around and grinned at his CFO and executive vice-president, Immanual Boschwitz. “You know as well as I do that the stars aren’t going to align forever, Immy.”

Continue reading “Midnight’s War Update 6”