Category: OCF

Start the Revolution Without Me

photog Current Events, OCF ,

Basically, the Democrats have decided to deconstruct the United States of America.  So, they’ve imported forty million new people from the third world, declared the existing citizens as devils and proceeded to tear down any cultural or societal rules that formerly allowed us to recognize each other and get along.

Okay, the young people are now utterly lost and the old people are completely alienated; MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  How all this works out or doesn’t work out is the soap opera that we listen to on the “news” every day.  Trump, Biden, Musk, Newsom, DeSantis, Abbott, Schumer and the rest of the cast.  We’re supposed to be invested in all this and cheer and boo as if it were a movie.  Well, I guess it is.  But let’s be honest, our part in this melodrama is to put our money on Red or Black.  We’re supposed to cheer our side and watch the spectacle.

But doing that every day is kinda boring.  And that’s been my occupation (or hobby) since 2016.  Well, I think even in this election year and with all the hoopla that they’ll be rolling out, it’s going to be a part time exercise.  As I said the other day, I think there are way more interesting things to write about than Trump/Biden.  Part of the problem is that my own learning curve has finally flattened out.  I seem to have taken all the red pills that there are to take.  I get it.  I see the real world in all its horror.  And I’d say that almost all my readers are at about the same place too.  So, they don’t need the spiel anymore.

So, what I figure is, I’ll check the news.  If there’s something noteworthy, I’ll write about it.  If there’s not, I’ll do something else.  Maybe I’ll review something fun or worthwhile.  Maybe I’ll put up some of my fiction writing as I’ve been doing with the “Sniper” book.  In fact, I have to put aside more time for the fiction writing.  It’s going to take a lot more discipline than I currently muster to get this darn book done in a reasonable amount of time.  But that’s what I’m gonna do.

Rereading the story has been a little bit of a revelation.  I myself, actually wouldn’t mind reading a story like this.  That gives me even more encouragement to get the thing finished off and edited and make the rounds.  I’m gonna try it on Baen because they publish the kind of authors I like; people like Larry Correia.

Probably none of the lefty publishers would touch a book like this.  They wouldn’t like the politics of my protagonist.  They would feel like their friends resemble my villains.  So eventually I might just have to self-publish it on Amazon which is a difficult situation.  They have about a billion books so getting noticed is a do-or-die kinda thing.  But I might as well get along with the whole thing.

So, I read the news today.  Well, same old, same old.  Trump, Biden. Nope.

16MAR2024 – And Now for a Message from Our Sponsor

photog Book Reviews, Current Events, Literature, Movie Reviews, Music Reviews, OCF, Reviews, TV Reviews , , ,

Saturday dawns sunny and brisk.  Very refreshing.  So much so that I resent sitting here to write.  But yesterday was a clamorous and dreary day of work.  So as Bob Cratchit observed, “I am behind my time.”  So here I am and I will take the time to provide cogent analysis on whatever it is that demands comment.  But “demands” is a stretch here.  I refuse to write further on Trump’s many legal battles.  When and if they reach a critical juncture, meaning, when they actually drag him off to the gulag, then I shall say my piece.

As for the latest political polls; yes, yes, we all know Trump’s winning.  Even a Democrat shill like Nate Silver is openly admitting that Biden is losing significant minority voters along with other important components of the Democrat coalition like the young and women.  But that’s all been said.  Sure, I’ll mention it in passing if it seems especially pointed.  But we are months and months away from even the conventions and by then, Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny may be the Democrat candidate.  So, no, let’s put that aside for now.

I’ve already spoken about cannibal migrants this week.  Check.

Camera Girl has complained about the ruinous price of food including the corned beef for her birthday celebration this weekend.  Check.

Russians killing Ukrainians and Ukrainians killing Russians.  Check.  Check.

So, what, what, what?

Well, truth be told, I don’t feel like talking about any of that crap right now.  It’s been said and we can take a break from saying the same things again.

If you notice I’ve been putting up some stuff from movies and books.  I find this stuff makes me feel better.  And I’m looking for more of it.  This kind of stuff makes the day better and reinforces the things I think are good and healthy to think about.  And I openly encourage anyone who has anything that they want to share with the rest of the readers to link it and I’ll put it up.  Even Weird Al Yankovic (within reason of course).

Inevitably because I’m old and because a lot of what’s new stinks, the things I’ll point to will be old.  And the amount of high definition will be limited.  I hope my younger readers will forgive this.  But honestly watching some black and white footage won’t hurt any of them too badly.

I was thinking the other day that Shakespear died more than four hundred years ago and yet his English is still ninety percent understandable by even average readers.  Newness isn’t really a very good selection criterion for entertainment or really much of anything outside of technology.  Humans are still humans.  What needs to be done is to attempt to reintroduce the younger audience with their cultural heritage.  Whether it’s Shakespeare or the Marx Brothers, the human condition is pretty constant.  Iron Man and Odysseus are similar characters with similar problems.  Thor is just Achilles with CGI added in.

So, I apologize in advance if I stop banging away quite as often on how the end of Western Civilization is approaching and instead put-up examples of why we should care if Western Civilization is saved.  I’ll try to strike the right balance of outrage and fond remembrance so that your experience here is stimulating.

On with the show.

Angry Old Joe and Better Things

photog Current Events, My Fiction, OCF, photog's Corner , ,

I scanned through about five minutes of Joe Biden’s “old man shouting at the camera” routine.  Well, he didn’t fall down or begin speaking literal gibberish.  But I found it intolerable after just a few minutes.  I guess it could be summed up as Ukraine, abortion and January 6th.”  Okay, let’s see how that works out for him.  Maybe everyone will forget that their jobs are being given to illegal aliens that are also assaulting and murdering their wives and daughters.  And maybe they’ll forget that everything is now twice as expensive as it was during Trump’s term in office.  So maybe the Dems will be able to win the November election by fraud.  I guess we’ll see.  But it’s time to look around and spend our time thinking about and doing things that we consider important.

And that goes for me too.  Serializing my incomplete novel has been an interesting experience for me.  It has taken me a lot of time to get about half way through writing it and you kind of forget how you thought up various scenes and bits of dialogue.  So, seeing the beginning again is an odd case of seeing it with new eyes.  I guess I’ve been pleasantly surprised with what I’ve reread.  It seems to hold up pretty well.  Of course, you always find small mistakes and even inconsistencies that have to be tweaked.  But all in all, it isn’t half bad.  And that is immensely gratifying for me and gives me the encouragement I need to start banging away at the second half of the story.  And this rereading has also given me some new insights into some additions that I need to make to fill in some holes that I now find in the story.  It really was necessary to get about this far in the story before I could have enough perspective about the tempo and the balance of the various story lines.

Of course, the hardest part for an author is to find a publisher and/or a market for his literary offspring.  After listening to a podcast about how incredibly difficult it is to get self-published science fiction novels “recognized” on the Kindle site I think I’ll try to see if I can interest any of the traditional publishing companies in my deathless prose.  After all, who could fail to recognize the brilliant writing, the deep psychological truth in the characters’ underpinnings and the timeless quality of the epic struggle between the King of the Mole Men and the faceless, soulless minions of unspeakable evil?  Wait a minute.  Is mole-men two words or a hyphenate?

Well, regardless.  Thanks to all that have plowed through the chapters and please feel free to send along criticism and thoughts on how you think the story should proceed.  I’ve only put up on the site about two thirds of what I’ve already written so there’s still a bit to go but I’m sure many people can guess some of how this story proceeds.  There is an inexorable logic to how a clandestine war is prosecuted and where the dramatic tension needs to exist.  Suffice it to say that things need to start going wrong for our heroes pretty soon.  But I’m sure everything will be resolved by the final chapter.

Or maybe not everything.  There’s always got to be a sequel you know.

 

“Oh if I were the King of the Mole Men, Not queen, not duke, not prince.

My regal robes of the Mole Men, would be satin, not cotton, not chintz.”

Now Gutfeld is Stealing My Best Gags

photog Current Events, Life in Dunwich, OCF, photog's Corner, Reviews, TV Reviews , ,

Here’s a Claudine Gay / Urkel gag from Gutfeld’s show last night

 

And here is my post from Dec. 21st 2023.  Below is the photo from the post.

Claudine Gay Accused of Stealing Steve Urkel’s Look

Coincidence?  I don’t think so!  Damn you Gutfeld!  The Urkel meme is one of my best.

Ah, fate is cruel.  Well, at least he steals from the best.

 

 

Update:

I’ve called Gutfeld out.  I’ve demanded on-air attribution.

https://x.com/orionscoldfire/status/1760764495721271703?s=20

Zen and the Art of Snow Removal

photog Current Events, Life in Dunwich, My Fiction, OCF, photog's Corner , ,

In New England choosing a snow removal method is kind of like choosing a religion.  There’s the mainstream snowblower sect.  Then there are those plow guys both the ones that mount it to their family truck and the ones who buy those ATV looking vehicles that zip around after major snowstorms cleaning off people’s driveways.  They’re probably pagans or something.  Then there are the hardliners who own a tractor to which they can attach plows, blowers, even trailers in which the snow can be collected.  These guys are ready for the apocalypse.  And finally, there are the fundamentalists; the shovel guys.  To them moving the snow is the punishment we all deserve.

A week ago, I was walking in the haunted forests and swamps of Dunwich and observing the first little buds and leaves opening up on all the thorn bushes, briars and poison ivy vines.  But now there’s eight inches of snow out there again!

And so, I spent Tuesday and today on snow removal.  I skipped Wednesday because, dammit I’m an American.  My weapons were the snowblower, the snow shovel and the ice scraping shovel (technically it’s a roofing shovel used to scrape the shingles off a roof, but it’s really good for smashing and scraping ice off a driveway).  And I got all of the top driveway done and the lower driveway so-so.

And that’s just in time for tonight’s predicted one to four inches of new snow.  Now what kind of prediction is 1-4 inches?  When the maximum is 400% of the minimum it shouldn’t be called a prediction.  Clueless guess is probably closer to the truth.  But the last five hours of snow removal has brought me back to the zen-like state that eventually sets in near the end of a New England winter.  And this is even true during extremely mild winters as we’ve had the last three or four years.  Because an inch of ice can cause more grief and work than two feet of dry snow.  In the zen state you abandon the idea of gritting your teeth and pushing through until spring.  It’s too long.  There are still seven weeks until snow is unlikely.  So, you must embrace the crappy weather and become one with it.

And so there I was, lavishing loving attention on asphalt that needed the snow coaxed off of it with a light, almost delicate touch to the shovel at just the perfect angle to get it to peel off the pavement.  I experienced ineffable contentment as I worked down the driveway six inches at a time.  I had become a snow clearing zombie.  And I loved Big Brother.

As you can tell I’m suffering from the last stages of cabin fever and I’m contemplating warning Camera Girl to abandon the Compound until spring when hopefully I’ll regain my sanity.  She knows my weaknesses and it’s just too reminiscent of Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Jack Torrance in the movie version of “The Shining.”  If I do go berserk, I won’t use the weapons that Jack Torrance took up (a fire axe in the movie and a roque mallet in the book).  I will instead embrace my most formidable weapon, bad puns.  The poor woman.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the posting of my novel fragment.  It’s cathartic to put it out in the real world and get feedback.  I’ve been trying to figure out a strategy to get it in the public eye.  I’m thinking about putting it on a crowd-funding site to see how much visibility that would give it.  If anyone knows which sites are best for our side of the political spectrum, please chime in.

Recharging the Batteries

photog Current Events, OCF, Photo Study, Photography , , ,

I’m gonna talk about fun stuff today.  I need a break from Biden and his mush-brain.

I was watching a YouTube video by one of the guys who provides me with pep talks on photography and he said when you’re feeling uninspired the best thing to do is grab your camera and look for inspiration.  Well, Camera Girl has been haranguing me for the last couple of days about the return of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard to the swamp.  Now this is an annual event.  The same pair of mallards (I think) return every late winter to the local water and graze on the slime and ooze and raise up a passel of youngins.  Some of my favorite shots of the mallards involve heavy snowfall.

At the same time, they are very annoying because they tend to retreat from me and my camera whenever I try to capture them.  But this year the battle is stacked more in my favor.  I’ve got the Sony 200-600 lens and with its extra reach I can still get reasonably close up shots from what the mallards feel is a safe distance.

So, I went out this morning with my A7IV, the long lens and my monopod and picked my way between thorn bushes and mud holes until I was at a respectable one hundred feet from the ducks and banged out maybe a hundred exposures.  I used single shot autofocus and a comfortable ISO 1000 to get the short exposure time I needed with the long lens.

The ducks are kind of funny in that the male and female look totally different from each other.

And they have slightly different behaviors also.  The male is more confident while the female seems more cautious.  His head seems to be mostly underwater while hers is above.

He ranges around more while she is mostly still.  And interestingly, I’ve adopted the idea that they work for me and require my approval in order to feel legitimate.  Well today they got the official thumbs up from the king.  I provided them with the royal nod and now they can get on with perpetuating their species without fear of their charter being pulled.  I told them that I am following their careers with great interest and expect to review their progress sometime in the early spring when the latest cohort is swimming and quacking around the puddle.  After all Dunwich must be populated or duckulated or whatever duck increase is called.

I was looking for inspiration today and sure enough, it was fun.  And that got me motivated to download all the files on my camera and at least look at the mallard shots I just took.  And that is the evolution of a good day.  A little research, a little field work and a little work in the office and I have a few nice shots of the neighbors and a nice little illustrated post for the site.

All right.  Now I can stand to hear about what mush-brain has done today.  Hopefully something harmless like taking credit for the invention of shoelaces or something.

Happy New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2024!

photog Current Events, Life in Dunwich, OCF, photog's Corner

I begin this New Year’s Eve post with a public service message.

Ryan Seacrest will be hosting the 52nd (wow) annual installment of ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest’ on your local ABC affiliate.  The idea of such luminaries as LL COOL J & Cardi B joining the lineup of performers including Rita Ora, Megan Thee Stallion, Jelly Roll, Sabrina Carpenter, Tyla, Multihyphenate Sebastian Maniscalco, Aqua, Doechii, Ellie Goulding, Green Day, Janelle Monáe, Loud Luxury x Two Friends with Bebe Rexha, Ludacris, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Paul Russell, Reneé Rapp with Coco Jones, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Post Malone, who has sold over 80 million records and earned numerous awards, including 10 Billboard Music Awards, and will perform “Chemical” and finally K-Pop group NewJeans performing “Super Shy” and “ETA” all appearing on one five hour show literally takes my breath away.  But I’ve steeled myself to miss this epochal event.  I notice that Mariah Carey isn’t on the schedule.  A few years back she had a situation where her costume exploded off of her while she was being hoisted onto the roof of some building in Times Square to sing “All I Want for Christmas is You.”  They mercifully cut away in time but apparently, she never recovered.  I had also hoped that they could have released Madonna from her crypt for one last mummified rendition of “Like a Virgin” but I guess they couldn’t find enough formaldehyde to pull it off.  I also don’t see Lionel Ritchie’s name on the list which leads me to believe either he has passed away or the last of his fans has.  Ah, the changing of the guard.

I’ve decided to step in and recommend that all my readers deny themselves this pleasure.  Combining Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Ludacris all in one sitting might be just too much musical talent for anyone to endure.  It would be like Mozart and Bach joining Taylor Swift on stage at the Bellagio in Vegas.  Just too much magnificence.

I don’t do New Year’s Eve parties.  And it’s probably the result of several factors.  First off, I don’t drink.  Secondly, I find loud bars or other party venues difficult to hear over.  And this despite relatively good hearing.  So, the typical large New Year’s Eve gathering doesn’t have much to offer for me.  And as far as family gatherings, it’s really not a great night to be driving home from a late party.  Usually around here, the weather is awful for driving and there are more drunks on the road that night than any other.  When the kids were still young, we’d do some kind of midnight celebration with noise makers and calling up relatives to wish them a happy New Year and then we’d have some food.  Root beer floats were the favorite of my kids.

But New Year’s Eve is a great time of the year for course correction.  Taking stock and making changes.  I was talking to Camera Girl about this and she said, “I like to call it a time for reflection.”  I then mocked her ruthlessly, “What a fabulously original way of stating it.  Do you mind if I quote you?”  She was unconcerned.  Her poise while mouthing platitudes is remarkable.

Next year will be a busy time for me.  There will be a large increase in my commitments to several annoying tasks.  March, April, October and November will be extremely unpleasant.  And I have to figure out whether I should alter my format for the website.  There will be a number of interesting stories to follow this year but as far as the daily posts a lot of what can be said, has been said and in excruciating detail.  Maybe I’ll decide to limit my output to discussion of breaking events.  This would allow me to move forward with my fiction writing which I’m embarrassed to say ground to a halt in the second half of 2023.

I think what that means for me is that I will need to create that most hated and least successful of all documents, the “life schedule.”  As an engineer I was often responsible for making and updating and reporting on a project schedule.  Usually it was done on Microsoft Project, a powerful but highly annoying program.  Of course, I have no plan to plot my life on MS Project.  Camera Girl would not stand for it.  Me trying to regiment her free-wheeling method of running her house would madden her and probably lead to my demise by any one of several domestic weapons.  Although death by deli meats is my best guess.

So, I hope to spend the next few days attempting to take stock of how I spend my time and, in some sense, “mending my ways.”  And I don’t think of this as a negative.  The environment around us is constantly shifting and for this we need to adjust.  Once a year is hardly too often for this very important activity.  Probably seasonally is the correct frequency.  Spring cleaning and fall stowing away is pretty common but I’m much too lazy for that much organization.  So New Year’s resolutions it is.

But for those so inclined have a Happy New Year’s Eve with champagne and dancing till morning.

Christmas Day 2023 – Quotation

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King James Version

Luke:  Chapter 2

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

20And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

So Many Cookies

photog Current Events, Life in Dunwich, OCF, photog's Corner , , ,
Christmas Cooking, Sony A7 III, Sony 90mm f\2.8 macro lens

Camera Girl is like a food terrorist. She festoons treats around her kitchen like so many high-caloric land mines. And there I am blasted to bits over and over by all of these irresistible gastronomic pyrotechnics. I know how awful will be the penalties I’ll suffer when the holidays are over and how many hours of exercise will be needed to work off the hundreds of thousands of calories of delicious, delectable evil that she has surrounded me with. But eat I must. Over the course of almost five decades, she knows which foods I cannot resist. The cookies; grandma (or white), chocolate chip, oatmeal and the chocolate dipped coconut macaroons. The pies; apple, coconut custard, pumpkin, cherry and more. And that’s not even counting the ice creams and cheese cakes. And all of this will be after the sheer tonnage of lasagna, meatballs, sausage and filet mignon. Oh, the pain, the pain.
I rate my chance of surviving this onslaught as minimal. I reckon that if the EMTs arrive while I’m still breathing, they will advise her that as a purely practical triage decision they should leave me and move on to the next 911 call. At most they may spend a few moments berating me for allowing myself to come to this pathetic end.
But in all honesty, I acknowledge, that all things considered, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Gathering around the holiday tables groaning under the weight of Camera Girl’s bounteous feast is the highlight of every year. Enjoying delicious foods with family and spending time with the people closest to me in the whole world is well worth any bout of indigestion that might occur. Each of the rituals and ceremonies is a touchstone to the past. These same words and actions bring me back to the time when I was a child and eating these same foods and gathering together with family was the highlight of our holidays.
And to ensure that this tradition will continue, Camera Girl has her daughters and now her granddaughter over each year to knead the dough and shape the cookies that they bake for Christmas. And my son and sons-in-law and grandsons share in the expectation that these cookies will be there in the years to come. And I hope they do. Family traditions and gatherings may be the most important social functions in our human existence. They don’t fall under any government program and they aren’t mediated by any of the organs of modern life. TikTok and Meta don’t decide what’s the correct way to break bread with family and I doubt that the Kardashians or Taylor Swift even know what a grandma cookie tastes like, never mind know how to bake one.
So, whatever your traditions and whoever you gather with for Christmas, enjoy the time off away from the soul-deadening dictates of our woke institutions and brain-dead social media influencers. Use the time wisely to spend time with the people who actually mean something to you and enjoy that time together.
God bless us all, everyone.

A Christmas Wish 2023

photog Current Events, OCF
Christmas Cooking, Sony A7 III, Sony 90mm f\2.8 macro lens

Christmas Eve is again arrived.  And even the busiest among us will, hopefully, put aside the day-to-day struggle and embrace the traditions of the past with friends and family.  Of course, those with young children are in the thick of it and have the primary responsibility to transmit all the customs and follow all the protocols for the children.

But even oldsters like myself are free to join in and contribute to the atmosphere of traditional cheer.  In fact, as a bridge to the long-ago times when a richer meaning was attached to the holiday, we ancients can perform a special function.  We can give a perspective into Christmas that provides a more satisfying rational than just an excuse for Amazon to sell toys and demented pop singers to screech and gyrate to “All I Want for Christmas is You.”  You can explain that even non-Christians recognize the beauty of the Christmas story and empathize with the holiday’s mandate for all people to share in a truce from preying on each other and try to feel a kindred spirit with all mankind.

And for Christians it is a celebration of the coming of a new covenant that calls on all men to treat each other as brothers and recognize the divinity of the human soul and the necessity of treating each other with the requisite dignity.

And just as importantly we can have a great time and make memories that will last a lifetime.  I always eat myself into a stupor on Christmas Eve and Day.  Camera Girl is a wonderfully good cook who always overdoes holiday meals, especially desserts.  And I’m often in danger of eating myself into an early grave.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how I eventually go.  But as they say, “What a way to go!”

We’ll be out at a family feast on Christmas Eve and at home with about the same crowd on Christmas Day.  This year will be much like the recent past but as always there will be new happy and sad tidings to talk about and we’ll welcome new acquaintances and remember sadly those who are gone.  And we’ll tell all the same stories but including to some who have never heard them before.  And we’ll talk about the New Year and everyone’s hopes and plans.

And after everyone has gone home, we’ll finally stagger into bed at some late hour and groan from all the food eaten (at least I will).  But the magic will still have performed the miracle.  I will feel at peace with the universe for at least the week between Christmas and New Year.  After that, the horrors of our fallen world will have a whole year to wear away at my faith in humanity and my stomach lining.  But it’s enough to have this holiday and to share it with the people I love and try to regain my equilibrium and pack on a few pounds that I can use as an excuse to keep up with an exercise regimen.

I hope whatever rituals you follow are joyful and satisfying and provide the mental and spiritual renewal necessary to make it through another year.  And as Dickens wrote, “God bless us all, everyone.”  Even you Democrat weirdos.