Author: David V Stewart

When the Wind is in the West

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There is always a feeling I get during the season changes: the transition from hot to cool, from cool to cold and back again. That’s how the seasons are here in central California – the weather is the same for eight weeks, then transitions for about one or two weeks to a new season. This year the heat has been slow in coming, and I’m not complaining. The feeling is something akin to nostalgia, but different – more like a memory of things that never were. My imagination always goes wild. Dreams get more intense. The sun shows at different…

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The Left Can’t Meme

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It’s an old meme at this point that the left can’t meme. I had a great discussion last week with Brian Niemeier about his book, Don’t Give Money to People Who Hate You, and in it the subject of memeology of the left came up: I mentioned a former friend that had an image of her turned into a meme, so she started trying to make her own memes of herself as some sort of gatcha. The results were as you would expect – a wall of text trying to explain something crowding out (and thus reducing the impact of)…

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Peeing in Car Trunks

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You ever have to pee so bad you just open up a car trunk and let loose? How about pissing in a trashcan? Relieving yourself in the sink? Ever let the stream beam onto a lit barbeque? Ever wizzed into a bin of children’s toys? How about the middle of the floor during gym class? I have. At least, I have in my dreams. Yes, it’s time to talk about the oddest of dreams – THE PEE DREAM. Yes, The Pee Dream. You have to pee, very badly. You look around, only to find no toilet or any indication of…

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The Logic (and Strategy) of the Witch Test

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If you don’t know about Brian Niemeier’s “Witch Test,” here’s a succinct rundown of it: The response to this is to say: Proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, and God has raised Him from the dead! The resulting discussion can go a number of different ways. It’s called the “Witch Test” because a witch will be unable to proclaim the divinity of Christ. This isn’t to say it always identifies real honest-to-goodness witches, but it is useful. Recently I’ve had some people push back on the use of this, attempting to say it is some sort of logical fallacy. It…

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The Greatness of the Hobbit

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I’m not talking about the movie, which was so far from the greatness of the book it deserves its own dissertation, I’m talking by the original work by JRR Tolkien, originally published way back in 1937. This book was a landmark for fantasy in a whole host of ways, and many of those ways are not at all obvious to those of us who have inherited the literary landscape of Tolkien. None of those new and original things would have mattered, however, if it hadn’t been a great yarn. Let’s talk about a few big ideas: The main characters are…

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On Reviews and the Indie Movement – An Optimate Memo

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I haven’t done much in the way of book reviews, either here or on my YouTube channel, but I’m reconsidering how I approach this. First, take a look at this blog post by Alexandru Constantin, regarding where he has settled on book reviews: There are few things I want to cover here related to all this, before I get to prescriptions: Tradpub may be a facade, but it is one that normal folks think is real – and perception matters What is the point of a book review? Is there any point to negativity? The “political right” doesn’t think strategically…

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The (Game) Song Remains the Same

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A good thread to kick things off: Games are first, and foremost about their gameplay, NOT their story. Story in games can be great. You can tell stories in unique and interesting ways that other mediums just can’t do. However, gameplay is a prerequisite for a gaming experience to be… well, game. I never finished The Last of Us because its gameplay was, quite frankly, too boring. It also looked boring. The story started off with a good hook in the form of tragedy, but then became a slog. There was very little game at the macro level, and none…

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A Culture In Need of ENJOYABLE Books

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Talking with some other #pulprev friends today, one of the best points brought up about stories in video games is that players often focus on the story because they don’t read. I’ve made this point numerous times regarding video games and stories within them – if your goal is to tell a tight story, a game is not a very good medium. Gameplay is the art that is unique to games; this doesn’t mean you SHOULDN’T tell a story with a game, it just means that if your primary goal is a traditional, highly constructed story, you are better off…

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Don’t give money to people who hate you

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Brian Niemeier’s new book is out now, and it’s a number one best seller: Let’s address one 100 IQ level comeback I see frequently when talking about shutting your wallet to the mega-corporations who not only don’t give a shit about the franchises that you grew up with, but actively hate you and your culture and want it (and you) dead: bUt yOu Use AMaZon/yOuTUbE/fAcEbOok/PAtreON First, this isn’t an argument against the basic thesis at all, but an attempt to make an argument for behavioral consistency (otherwise known as the hypocrisy fallacy or “tu Quoque” – you can’t say something…

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It Doesn’t Affect Me

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Except through the people I know who are affected. I’m talking about Corona-chan and all the mess that has gone along with it – wearing masks, social distancing, quarantine, etc. I realized talking with my wife tonight that she, along with most “normal” people, have strong emotions regularly as a result of this pandemic – anxiety, dread, general worry, even anger. I have none of those feelings whatsoever. I’m not worried. I’m not panicked. I feel absolutely know anxiety about getting the virus, nor what would happen to me if I did get the virus. Part of this is that…

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