Month: October 2017

The New Academy Awards – The Harvies

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In that old Edgar Allen Poe story, the sailor describes how his boat is trapped by the whirlpool and progressively accelerates as it’s drawn deeper and deeper into the maw of the maelstrom.  That’s kind of how it feels every day that I see what new atrocity has splatted onto the front page.  Weinstein, Damon, Crowe, Affleck, Clooney, Meryl Streep, Mark Halperin, Roy Price, James Toback, Corey Feldman’s claims and now Kevin Spacey.  The beat keeps accelerating and the depravity keeps amping higher.  Now Rosie O’Donnell is saying “everyone always knew.”  And they kept quiet?  All those progressive saints let young women and younger boys enter the lion’s den without saying a word or warning them?  At this rate it’ll be a full-on Fellini movie with the master of ceremonies played by Jeffrey Epstein.  As glad as I am that the boil is being lanced it’s a dizzying display of putridity that seems to be oozing out of Hollywood from every direction.  The only question seems to be does it end or just go on forever until there isn’t a single big name shot caller or movie star not implicated in either the depravity or the cover-ups?  So, when does the media call out all these phonies and hypocrites on their sanctimony?  All the women’s marches and preening at the Oscars about their superior morality?  And for pity’s sake when do they get Whoopi Goldberg and Meryl Streep and the rest of the phonies to apologize for their defense of Roman Polansky?  Or are “geniuses” given a Hollywood get out of jail free card for rape of children?

At the rate it’s going I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the older, less powerful producers start getting named.  And then who knows?  Maybe people might even start to believe Mia Farrow’s daughter and get Woody Allen kicked out of Hollywood.  That would be something.

Of course, it’s hard to say if Hollywood will actually follow through on some of these banishments.  I read that Netflix is cancelling season six of House of Cards.  But I think that means they will continue with the 2018 season.  Think of that.  An accused pedophile is starring in one of the highest rated television dramas.  So, will public outrage shut down that set or will money triumph?  I guess stay tuned.

And the other thing to remember is that this problem is so wide-spread and so endemic that there are probably actors and directors that you like, that you think are good people who will be implicated.  It’s bound to dishearten any cinemaphile.

Well anyway, the show will continue and seems still to be building up a full head of steam.  And it’s having a very interesting effect.  The Clooney/Damon feature Suburbicon opened up to laughably bad box office numbers.  Now granted, Clooney’s directorial (and acting) efforts have been putrid so it could just be audiences trying not to waste money on painfully unentertaining fare.  But it could also be people punishing the perps and the enablers.  Hollywood just finished a dismal summer and even the super hero and other tentpole blockbusters were duds.  Maybe Hollywood is starting to get their comeuppances.  The right has stopped going to most of their movies.  Perhaps Gen Z doesn’t like their stuff either.  If that’s the case, this sex scandal may be the straw that actually does break the camel’s back.  And really, it couldn’t happen to a nicer camel.

But as a fun experiment it would be interesting to see if the dissident right can figure out a way to rub Hollywood’s nose in this at Oscar time.  Maybe some large display opposite the theater calling out all the phonies and reminding them that they are a cesspool.  Maybe a mock awards ceremony called the Harvies.  Awards could be given for hypocrisy, greatest number of victims and even some kind of lifetime achievement award for getting away with actual rape for the longest period of time.  It could be called the Roman.

Breitbart’s Tinseltown Travelogue

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, Breitbart put together a three-part article that combined an historical narrative on Hollywood’s communist roots along with a first-person story of left-wing bias against anyone who is to the right of Karl Marx.  Reading it I learned something that I hadn’t known.  The Hollywood Blacklist was actually a reaction to the Leftist Hollywood Graylist that had existed since the beginning of Hollywood and which controlled the ideology of movies by only permitting communist approved scripts from communist script writers.  I had always known that the golden age movies were mostly the product of leftist and even communist writers and directors but I never realized that the control of the union that controlled the screen writers was a man who eventually became the president of the American Communist Party.  Basically, the blacklisting was the result of the US government doing something about the Soviet Union controlling the largest propaganda machine in the world, Hollywood.

And more than sixty years later the Soviet Union no longer exists but Hollywood is even deeper under the control of people who believe in an ideology that combines the worst tenets of communism with an anti-western, anti-family anti-normal cult that threatens the very existence of this country.  And they expect us to pay them for their poison.

So, what do I think of all this Hollywood uproar?  All these actresses coming out of the woodwork and complaining about Weinstein, Damon, Crowe, Affleck et alia?

Not my problem.  I wouldn’t let a woman I cared about within a mile of those creeps.  We were told by Meryl Streep that Harvey Weinstein is a “god.”  Of course, Baal was a “god” so maybe we didn’t get enough details.  Harvey himself told us Hollywood had the best moral compass because it had compassion.  Well I guess if you’re a four-hundred-pound satyr it probably makes sense to hope that those you attack have a whole boatload of compassion but maybe he’s right.  After all they haven’t changed their minds about Roman Polansky and you’ve got to admit it takes a lot of compassion to overlook what he did to that 14 year-old-girl.  Funny thing about that.  Wonder if Meryl is rethinking her position on that one?

Recently the news is full of the disastrous ratings and ticket sales for TV and movie properties.  Now why would that be?  Well, in my estimation, white men have abandoned Hollywood and broadcast TV.  And why have they done this?  Because Hollywood has very clearly assigned white men (and especially normal white men) as the oppressor of everyone else.  In their movies we are the enemy.  At best we’re insensitive rubes who don’t respect the legitimate hatred of all these oppressed groups toward us.  And at worst we’re cartoon villains twirling our moustaches as we tie the transgendered woman to the railroad track.

Then if you’re a normal white man what has Hollywood got that you want to pay for?  Well, pretty much nothing.  Even the action movies that used to lure us into theaters have been poisoned with venom against us and filled up with 95-pound girl-power heroines karate chopping their way through stadiums full of full sized men.  Even the super hero and sci-fi summer blockbusters have become sermons against the dangers of being white men.  They’ve kinda taken the fun out of it.  Yep.

So, is it any wonder that demand is starting to tank?  The article is written in the end as a cautionary tale meant to wake up the Hollywood establishment to their danger of running out of audience.

Yeah, well, no.  Please don’t wake up.  Run the damn thing into the ground and hurry up about it.  Pump out another five hundred George Clooney/Matt Damon movies like Suburbicon.  Please, by all means.  Plough through every last cent of your capital on those kinds of projects.  With any luck, you’ll be completely out of business by 2020.  I guess that means the 3% of Hollywood types who are actually conservative will be out of work too.  People I really like too.

Well, that’s too bad because it needs to go out of business.  Because it’s a terrible place and it produces too much evil to make up for the little bit of good it does produce.  Shut it down and sell it off for scrap to the Chinese.

Then maybe we can start from scratch and creative people will make movies that people want to see.  Movies about people like us.  People they can root for and care about.  And movies that don’t tell them that they are bad people and that they should be replaced and that they should just disappear.

So that’s what it is.  We want them to disappear, not us.  Doesn’t seem too much to ask for.

Hat Tip to Vox Day –  Build Your Own Platforms

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Vox Day has a very good post that links to a very, very interesting series of articles on Breitbart

Vox is, as most of you probably know, an incredibly polarizing figure on the cultural front.  His public face is intentionally as antagonistic and “triggering” to the lefties as it can be.  He has staked out a position that thrives on conflict with the left.  And he is pointing the direction for a Reconquista of the cultural institutions.  To that end he has begun some commercial ventures that take advantage of the space that the left has produced by restricting what kind of books, video games and comic books are “allowable.”  His Castalia House publications produces mainstream fiction and some non-fiction that could never be published in the current left-wing publishing establishment.  In the last week or so, he has begun a kickstarter campaign to fund comic books that feature some very well-known comic book authors and artists who have been gray-listed by Marvel and DC for not being sufficiently trans-friendly or for actually having fun in their comics.  I read that he has already topped $200,000 in funding so I can only imagine that a beginning is being made toward a commercial product.  Excellent.  Even though I’m not much of a comic book guy, I could see buying a graphic novel or two if the product was interesting enough.  Kudos to Vox for making it happen.  If you are a comicophile (made up word!) then keep an eye out for his Alt★Hero comics.  But even if comic books don’t happen to be your thing, you can only admire someone who is doing something to reverse the scourge of leftist encroachment into all aspects of life.

Bravo Vox.  Bravo Breitbart.

A Question for Photographers Among OCF Readers – What Software Can Replace Adobe Lightroom?

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I have been using Lightroom for my raw photo cataloguing and adjustment for a number of years.  The good people at Adobe in their infinite wisdom have decided that Lightroom needs to be a cloud based, subscription only software product.  Very good then.  I am not a cloud based kinda guy.  So, I’m looking for an alternative.  An initial search has identified the following products:

  • Alien Skin Exposure X2
  • Phase One’s Capture One Pro
  • Corel AfterShot Pro 3

I’m currently leaning toward Phase One’s Capture One Pro but would very much like to get some feedback from people who have experience with these products (especially as they compare to Lightroom).  So, here’s your chance to speak your mind.  I’m all ears.  You can leave your thoughts in the comments here or in the forum (I’m setting up a topic here, so if you want to attach photos to explain something there’ll be more room).

SonyAlphaRumors (Almost) Got it Right

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So, even though it wasn’t the A7 III or the A7S III it was an A7 series camera that came out yesterday.  And even though I really don’t need 42 megapixels for my file size I must say I am sorely tempted to buy this sucker.  It’s coming out at the end of November so I’ll pay attention to the reviews (and maybe rent it first to make sure I’m a good fit for it).  Basically, they’ve taken the A7R II and added a lot of the good stuff from the A9 to it.  It doesn’t have the enormous AF coverage that the A9 has but the AF capability is said to be close to the A9 performance.  It’s got a 10 fps mechanical shutter, dual card slots, enhanced high ISO capability, enhanced auto-focus modes, larger buffer, improved video options, a joystick, touchscreen AF placement and a lot of other fantabulous stuff.  It sounds pretty compelling.  Well, I was hoping for the 24 megapixel sensor of the A9 in a slightly less capable package for a lot smaller price tag but this A7R III checks every other box.  Could this be photog’s next camera?  I wouldn’t bet against it.  Stay tuned friends.  I’ll share my thoughts as the reviews come in but it sounds really interesting.

Hat Tip to The Z Man, ‘The Death of Hollywood’

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The Z Man has a very good post up about Hollywood (but mostly TV).

http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=11881

He discusses the waning audience for broadcast tv and questions the reason for this.  He discusses a couple of theories.  I’ll leave you to read it yourself but I’ll state that I think he’s right that the anti-traditionalist agenda has finally combined with the cord cutting phenomenon to kill broadcast tv.  Halleluiah!  What took them so long?

One line that caught my attention was a question.  What was the last show that captured the imagination of the country so that everybody would be talking about it the next day.  His answer, Seinfeld.  That show has been off the air for almost twenty years.  I think that says it all.  Now, maybe it was 9-11 that killed off the fun or maybe the Democrats trying to poison the Bush presidency.  Either way we stopped being one people about twenty years ago.  The death of television is just a symptom of the great divorce.

Trump vs White House Apprentice – Part 2

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Scene 1: White House, West Wing, Monday 8 a.m.

President Trump (PT) – Schmoopy, I need your advice.

Melania Trump (MT) – Of course Schmoopy.  I am always here to advise and consent.

PT – I think that’s the Senate.

MT – Well, with all the Weinstein stuff happening I think you should make sure you have consent.

PT – Point taken.  I’m trying to decide between different events for my White House Apprentice contest.

MT – That sounds easy.  You already did the Apprentice many times.

PT – Yes, but this is for the Presidency.  It’s a much bigger deal and I have to make sure I eliminate the nuts.  We don’t want a maniac in charge of the nuclear football.

MT – This is the truth.  I remember you got yelled at by the Secret Service guy when you left this football on the golf course that time.  He seemed very upset.  I think he cried a little.

PT – Probably just sweat.  He was sweating pretty bad that day running around the golf course looking for it.  He had to pull his gun on that landscaper who was trying to open it with his Leatherman tool.  Ahh, good times.

MT – Well, Schmoopy, why don’t you try getting the information from their wives.  Wives always know if their husbands are crazy.

PT – Is that true?

MT – (rolling her eyes, derisively) Oh, believe me it’s true.

PT – But how can we get them to tell the truth about that?

MT – You should be asking who could stop them from telling the truth.  Have you ever known a woman to keep a secret about her husband on TV?

PT – I think you’ve got something there.  There used to be a show on TV in the Seventies called the Newlywed Game.  The broads on that thing were always spilling the beans on their husbands.

MT – Maybe you could use that Schmoopy.

PT – Schmoopy, you’re a genius.

MT – Remember that when I hit fifty.

PT – You’re not already?

MT – You will pay for that.

 

Scene 2: White House Broadcast Studio, The set of the Newlywed Game has been recreated right down to the cheesy theme music and Don Pardo announcer voice.

Announcer Don Pardo (ADP) – Welcome to the Newlywed Game and here’s the host of the Newlywed Game, Donalllld Trump!

PT – Thank you Don.  And who are our contestants?

ADP – All the way from Janesville Wisconsin, here’s Paul and Janna Ryan.  He loves supply side economics and sticking it to the Deplorables.  She loves raising her kids and making a loving home for them.

PT – Welcome Janna and whatsisname too.  And who else is here with us Don?

ADP – Hailing from the Sunshine State of Florida are JEB! and Columba Bush.  He likes backpacking and backpedaling on conservative positions and she loves spending time with her kids and grandkids.

PT – Welcome Columba and JEB!, I’m glad to see the Bozo makeup rash has stopped oozing, mostly.  And Don who are our last couple?

ADP – Hailing from the “Natural State, these Arkansas natives, are staunch conservative republicans.  Please welcome Phil and Mallory Clanton.  He likes fighting to restore old-fashioned gender roles and respect for women in America and she is just an old-fashioned cookie baking grannie with no stuck up about her and great respect for the alt-right.

PT – Oh for pity’s sake.  Isn’t there anything short of garlic and a wooden stake that can stop you two?

Mallory Clanton (MC) – Ahh’m nat tahred ate tall.  We is just pour country folks is awwwl.  We’s is hair tuh halp ‘Muhrca be’s great agin.

PT – Security, drag these two out and don’t be too gentle with her but watch out, I think she’s got a shiv.

Phil Clanton (PC) – Hey, any chance I can pick up a few odds and ends I left in the Lincoln bedroom?  I can get them myself if you loan me a claw hammer for the floorboards.  They’re kinda personal if you know what I’m saying.

PT – Security, definitely rough him up a bunch.  Then pull up the floor in the Lincoln bedroom and fumigate.

ADP – Well that’s all the time we have.  But we do have lovely consolation prizes for everyone (except the Clantons).  Each couple will receive a home version of the Newlywed Game and a quart of good scotch to remember how you almost got to be President of the United States.  Good night everybody.

Trump vs The White House Apprentice – Part 1

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Scene 1: White House West Wing; Monday 8 a. m.

President Trump (PT) – Mike, Mike!!  Where the hell are you Mike?

Vice President Pence (VPP) – Right here as always Mr. President.

PT – Oh, good.  Look Mike, I know you’re the VP and all that but it occurs to me that I really need to require extreme vetting on anyone who wants to be President after I’m through with the job.  And that’s either tomorrow if they tick me off and I quit or thirty years from now if I decide to hold onto the gig.

VPP – Ahhh, that not exactly true Mr. President.  You are term limited to eight years by the Constitution.

PT – Well unless I get that changed.

VPP – That’s not possible for you, only a future President could benefit from such a change.

PT – You see, and it’s just this kind of attitude that shows I’ll need to vet you extremely to make sure you’ve got the right attitude to be President.  I mean suppose you got in and then we found out you were low energy like the Bushes.  That would truly suck and so I can’t let that happen.

VPP – Yes sir.

PT – But don’t worry Mike.  You’ll be allowed to skip the early rounds and start in the semi-finals.  I’m thinking of getting some guys in at the beginning that will fill out the blooper reel.  I figure Jeb, Kasich and that crazy dame whatsername, Purina.

VPP – I think you’re talking about Carly Fiorina.  Purina is a dog food.

PT – Well yeah but you see the link.

VPP – Ahh.

PT – Exactly.

VPP – Well, Mr. President, it sounds like you’ll be very busy with preparations.  If I can be of any assistance just let me know.

PT – Sure, yes me to death.  I’m not fooled but I’ll let you go.  I do have a lot to get done.

Scene 2 Oval Office:  President trump on the phone with Jeb Bush.

PT – So let me get this straight.  You’re willing to compete but you want a guarantee that I won’t say that you’re low energy?

Jeb Bush (JB) – That’s right.  I demand to be treated with the respect I’ve earned as the Governor of Florida and the brother and son of United States Presidents.

PT – Well, I think the answer to that is dependent on your definition of respect.  The first event in the competition is hosting Barron’s birthday party.  I was thinking of a traditional Bozo the Clown costume but I’m not opposed to a Crusty the Clown costume either.  Of course, the Crusty costume is cheaper to rent.  Your choice.

JB – Why that’s outrageous.

PT – I know.  Bozo has been out of the public spotlight for decades and still they demand a 15% premium at the checkout register.  Outrageous.

JB – You must be out of your mind if you think I’ll stoop to such juvenile behavior.  No self-respecting public official would allow himself to be held up to such ridicule just for the sake of your endorsement.

PT – Kasich went with the Clown from It.

JB – I’ll go with the Bozo.  But I’ll bring my own shoes.  Fungus you know.

PT – That’s the spirit.  Now make sure you’re six hours early for the party.  That make-up is tricky.

JB – Thank you Mr. President.  I’ll be there seven hours early.

PT – (hanging up the phone) I wonder if I should have mentioned the seltzer and whip cream pies?  Ahhh, he’ll figure it out.  Gee, I wonder if I can get the monkey that flings his poo.  Kids love that stuff.  Well, I do anyway.  Boy, Jeb is gonna be the whole blooper reel at this rate.

How Do You Clone Donald Trump?

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Back in the Paleolithic era, say 1988, when George H.W. Bush was the heir apparent to Ronald Reagan, much was made of how during his apprenticeship under the Gipper that Bush had shed all of his Rockefeller Republican leanings.  He famously decried Michael Dukakis’s membership in the ACLU and his links with the Liberal Boutique Ideologies of Cambridge.  And of course, there was his full-throated exhortation to read his lips, “NO NEW TAXES!!!”  Well, we know how that turned out.  George’s New World Order, tax increases and NAFTA initiatives gave rise to Ross Perot which in turn gave rise to Bill Clinton.  And we know how well that worked out for us.

Fast forward, let’s say to 2024.  We are entering the victory lap of the God-Emperor’s reign here on earth.  All’s right with the world.  The new republicans have a supermajority in the Senate and House, Unemployment stands at negative 1%.  Transgenderism has been proven to be a curable mental condition, women are leaving the work force in droves to return to the home to raise kids and regain their sanity.  The Clintons and the Obamas have all been assigned multi-decade jail sentences that none are predicted to outlive.  It’s the best of all possible worlds.

But now the successor to the God-Emperor must be selected.  And while everyone agrees that Mike Pence is a heck of a nice guy, everybody remembers how he backed down when George Stephanopoulos questioned him about the Defense of Faith act he signed into law in Indiana.  Is this the Bush scenario being replayed?  Are we about to see another Bill Clinton moment?

Now, this may be a slight exaggeration.  Mike Pence is not a Bush.  He is an actual conservative.  But also, he’s no Trump.  So, a better formulation of this question is how do you end up with another Trump?  Having a combative, unabashed alpha male at the head of the right wing has been a genuine pleasure.  Starting from a position of strength has proven to be an unalloyed advantage.  Not having to cede territory to our opponents in the Democrat party or the Media every time they throw up a smoke screen about race or gender has meant that we can actually gain ground on many different initiatives.  All in all, it’s just unacceptable to imagine us going back to a dweeby loser for Commander in Chief.  We want General George Patton in charge not Pee Wee Herman.

And then it hit me.  Let Trump choose his successor.  Now sure, he picked Mike Pence for running mate but he was choosing from the small subset of republican political figures.  And selection time was short.  Neither of these factors is currently important.  So, he can cast a wider net this time.  And he has time.  At least a few years.  So, what I thought up was a reboot of the Apprentice.  Let Donald Trump use his own intuition and methods to sort through all the candidates in America to find another him.  And since he’s done it before for something lesser he can apply this experience to doing a better job for the more important version.  And he should have it televised.  And the home audience should get to give feedback.  But only registered Republicans who donate money to the party.  The ratings would be through the roof.  And Mike Pence should definitely be in the running.  I mean, he’s not such a bad guy and maybe he actually has learned more than a Bush.

Ward Cleaver and the Dark Enlightenment

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I recently was on a website that contained a list of websites that it called “The Highly Excessive Guide to the Dissident Right.”  The dissident right is another of the names for those on the right who are in some way disillusioned with the GOP establishment (GOPE).  Well, the list is excessive in the sense that it is extremely long and contains a dizzying list of political descriptors. There are Reactionaries, Neoreactionaries, Black Traditionalists, Christian Neoreactionaries, Alt Right, Conservatives, Monarchists, Conservative Evolutionary Psychology, an Arch Druid, Catholic Reactionaries, Human Bio Diversity, Reactionary Conservatives, Classic Reactionaries, Libertarians, Dark Enlightenment Types, Anarcho-Capitalists, Comedy Rednecks, Radical Centrists, Gay Masculine Reactionaries, Jewish Reactionaries, Feminine Reactionaries, Anti-Feminist Females and probably another thirty combinations of these types.

Looking at this list it is pretty plain that unanimity is not a possibility for the dissident right.  So, what provides a point of agreement for most of these groups?

They are attempting to stop the progressive project from eliminating the American Republic as it used to be defined.  Each of these groups probably has a different slant on what things need to be preserved and which should change.  For instance, the Black Traditionalists and the Human Bio Diversity groups probably have some points of agreement and other things that might set them at each other’s throats.  The Gay Masculine Reactionaries and the Catholic Reactionaries would definitely have some doctrinal points of disagreement.  And the Dark Enlightenment Types and the Radical Centrists might not even speak the same language.

I guess it means that the best approach to take is the enemy of my enemy is my ally.  If a voting block emerges that can consistently beat the left then it’ll be time to work out the rules of engagement between the erstwhile allies.  And there is probably room for this sort of horse trading.  Especially since a lot of the differences are theoretical.  I assume if you are an Arch Druid or a Monarchist you have many short-term goals in common with others on the right that can be cooperated on well before you lobby for an American Stonehenge or the re-establishment of the House of Stuart.

This particular site I was visiting had some very long documents describing the tenets of the Dark Enlightenment political philosophy.  I haven’t finished it yet but it seems to start from the viewpoint that the democratic state is antithetical to individual freedom.  And they believe that the Left and the Right are two sides of the same coin that upholds the illusion that people are in charge of the government instead of the inverse.  It’s kind of grim reading but some of it is quite compelling.

Anyway, all this theoretical and fairly depressing prognostication about America’s future is still just that, predictions.  I think that if some of the obvious excesses of the left (affirmative action, reverse discrimination, anti-male policies, anti-normal policies, globalism, excessive immigration, junk environmental science like global warming, attacks on freedom of speech and gun rights and in general, anti-traditionalist and anti-family bias) are eliminated it will go a long way to restoring the environment where America will prosper and its people will be happy.

So, I still hold out hope that the America that our parents believed in is recoverable.  Maybe not complete with Ward, June, Wally and the Beave watching the Mickey Mouse Club but possibly with Ward avoiding mandatory gender re-assignment surgery.