Never Forget IX - Cyber 9 Edition!

One's dedication to an ideal can be measured by the amount of flair one is prepared to engage. How much flair do you wear?

You can tell they love America by the masks. And guns.

No one ever thinks they are evil, right? It's always the Other guy.

Thrall to a system

This is a terrible joke, and I apologize.

Have you heard about this? Read about this? Wolf Blitzer (what a name!) played Celebrity Jeopardy a few years back and was terrible. He doesn't know anything, apparently. But then, you don't need to know anything to host a long running news program on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Imagine a world where the most avowed Christians are also the most hateful people possible. What if - just asking questions here - what if Satan had actually taken over Christianity, and all Christians are really working on behalf of The Dark Lord?

Ironic!

Prosperity Gospel!

Technological Terror

Don't forget! Disney bought Star Wars, and thus there is soon to be a new movie. And why not? Star Wars is still hugely popular, and any new film guaranteed to print money. But will it be good?

Being a nerd from the Internet, I don't think it will be. That it can be. Because the first 6 movies are really the story of a Sith Lord named Sidious, or you might know him as The Emperor. While the Skywalker family is the focus of the movies, it is the man also known as Palpatine that is the driving force behind all the movies, and everything happens because of him. Like Sauron, who is "The Lord of The Rings", all action in the story of Star Wars is in response to something Palpatine does, or has caused to happen. But now, technically, he's dead, and the new movie cannot (or should not!) feature him.

And thus, the odds of VII being a good Star Wars movie is small, since the main agent of the movies is gone. Bring back Luke, and Leia, and Han, and it doesn't really matter. There's no villain Disney can come up with better than Darth Sidious.

One of the best villains in fiction. Why? Lots of reasons, but not least of which he does many of his evil deeds posing as a respectable Senator,

 and then later Supreme Chancellor.

He's only mentioned in A New Hope. He appears as a hologram, once, in The Empire Strikes Back. He's a key piece of the conclusion in Return of the Jedi. He's the star of the Prequels. Let's take a moment to appreciate this aspect of the Prequels, even if you don't like them overall. Good villains are a treasure of mythology.

Remember! Vader - the Chosen One - is only a lackey to Darth Sidious. So, three cheers for the true Dark Lord of The Sith! Let us lament his fictional passing.

Black n' White

A madness has infected America - Wingnuttery. It's a contagion at this point, replicating via right wing radio and tv. This contagion is spreading globally to the detriment of the entirety of humanity. But! This small percentage of infected Americans - usually around 27% full infection, 15-17% partially infected - is growing increasingly marginalized, least of all by the radicalization of the rest of the population. One cannot simply sit back and let evil take over unchallenged. Rohan? Will you stand?

The Wingnuts today are still seeking payback for the impeachment of Nixon - Clinton went down because of this - and view him as a victim of the LIBERAL AGENDA rather than any malevolent being on his own. Also too, given his policies during his Administrations, they'd burn him - but cognitive dissonance is never a problem for the Wingnuts.

Never fear! A Savior came and rescued America from the grip of the LIBERALS:

St. Ronnie Raygun, Bringer of the Madness. At this point, you've got to view Reagan in one of two ways (with some nuance, of course, but not worth discussing with the Wingtards, since nuance is a concept lost upon them): 1. The greatest President evah!, or 2. A dottering fool used to usher in an age of American fascism.

Did you pick #1? You probably HATE this guy then, amirite?

FDR. The DEVIL hisself. I mean, he gave America generations of wealth and comfort for the aged and ill, and oh yeah, won WW2. LIBERAL SCUM!

Not a 'shop, by the way - how awesome is that? Also too, everyone back then was pretty damn ugly  - evolution in action?

Ardaphile

The best map of Arda - Earth - I've ever seen. It's lovely. I've long loved maps of all kinds, fascinated by the perspective - so high up. Of course, as with all things, some are more beautiful than others.

Can you find Gondolin? Morgoth couldn't for the longest time, but then, he's got plenty of it. All it takes is a mistake, a small slip, and evil comes marching in.

Find out more by reading the fantasy bible, The Silmarillion.

Punk'd by Annatar

It seems like it is always the villain who drives most stories forward - the villain is the main agent of action, and everyone else is responding to him. Heck, "The Lord of the Rings" is Sauron.

But who, in real life, actually faces villains? Not many, I reckon. Me? I've got too many....


For the true Tolkien geeks out there, please peruse this wonderful blog to get the real story of the wonderful Annatar. Awesome, awesome site, though the author needs to pick it up with some new entires!

My Own Private Gondolin

Much like Turgon dreaming of Ulmo, I have a vision of a fortress in the forested woods, far from man and his many fancies, on the South side of a mountain, shielded to the West and to the South by other mountains, off the grid yet fully powered by new technologies (wind, solar, geothermal), waiting for That Day, the day Melkor the Morgoth's metaphorical hordes are unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

But I suspected it! And in my woodsy redoubt I will gather strength in preparation for this day, waiting for the fires to simmer before coming down the mountain, bearing HOPE....


Yeah. Gotta stop reading Tolkien.

Also, due to lack of funds, my future Gondolin will look nothing like the building in this picture (The Keck Observatory in Hawai'i). But boy wouldn't it be sweet?!