June 20, 2024
This Time Fer Sure!
Tonight, join us at 10:00pm EST/02:00am UTC as we join several other cool streamers in what promises to be an action packed Zomboid stream as we.... RETURN TO KINGSMOUTH....we were not able to clear or loot this location last week as we encountered one of the most challenging scenarios the group has ever encountered in the zombpocalypse. This place is absolutely PACKED with the living dead and we're going back tonight so grab a drink and a snack sit down, point, laugh, and get ready for mayhem, because this promises to be a lot of fun....or very tragic....or both.
https://www.twitch.tv/brickmuppet
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
06:10 PM
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June 19, 2024
Frieren : Beyond Journey's End
Anime, especially Fantasy Anime, has seemingly devolved into a morass of formulaic, trope-ridden cliche' buffets, and isekai stories that are little more than horny-N.E.E.T. affirmation fantasies. Frieren is one of those shows that really brings this unpleasant fact home as it demonstrates quite convincingly that the vast majority of shows are utter garbage...by comparison.
This show is thoughtful, exceedingly human, and quite genre-savvy, touching on concepts often talked about in the fantasy genre but seldom explored.
Frieren is an elven mage, over 1,000 years old, who joined a party of misfit adventurers on their way to travel to the dark lands and defeat the demon lord....basically the plot of every fantasy anime ever....except that this story begins as they are being welcomed home from their journey and honored for their success in ridding the world of the threat. As the night wears on a meteor shower that only happens about every 50 years occurs and the Emperor of the land they saved takes it as a sign, proclaiming the beginning of a new golden age. Frieren is unimpressed with the view, noting that she knows of a far more spectacular place to view the heavenly spectacle, one that is only a weeks travel away. Himmel, the leader of the victorious party of heroes notes that the meteor shower is a one night affair. Frieren, confused, explains that she was offering to take them all to the far better location when the meteor shower arrives again in 50 years, and seems perplexed at her companions reaction.
50 years later, Frieren the Elf keeps her promise, setting in motion a journey of understanding and discovery both for her, her companions and others whose lives she touches over the next few years...
This is a wonderful series that explores the meaning of heroism, virtue as well as both the pain and importance of loss. Elves great lifespans give them a vastly different outlook from the other races, and Frieren's is more different than most as she seems to actually be slightly autistic. She is definitely suffering from PTSD. She has to overcome, or at least account for her neurodivergence, inner demons, and her completely different perspective as she pulls together and mentors a new band of adventurers on a journey of discovery, whimsy, as well as peril, for while the lord of darkness may be gone, the world is not without danger.
This story is brilliantly paced and has some of the best character development and exposition I've seen in years. It brings laughter, heartbreak, and thrills in equal measure and is one of the most satisfying shows I've seen hands down. In any other show this elf girl would be a Mary Sue as the sheer depth and breadth of the experience mean that she is amazingly OP. Yet Frieren also has much to overcome and the story is as much about those who she mentors and those who mentored her. (This has a surprisingly ensemble cast). There was one point in the show that I dropped it for a bit. In this case it APPEARED that it had gone full Shonen and devolved into a tournament arc. In fact it kind of does. But it does so very well, in a way that both provides exposition and subverts expectations...but not in a Ryan Johnson way, in a very good way.
This show is excellent, my only complaint is that it ended. The ending is quite open ended and given the existence of vast story material in the manga as well as it's excellent ratings in Japan I'm huffing the hopium that this will not be the end of this wonderful show.
In the meantime, I would strongly advise anyone who has not seen it to do so. It was fantastic.
5 bricks out of 5.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
08:27 AM
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Truly Ominous Portents
Two You-Tubers have a rational, well reasoned, and polite discussion of current gender issues.
This is surely a sign of the end times.
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07:14 AM
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June 14, 2024
It's Movie Night!
Tonight at 7:30pm EST / 11:30pn UTC we'll be doing a collaboration with Hyasynth Live as we show the 1919 film The Lost Battalion. This silent classic covers the true story of the "Lost Batallion" of World War One and thE amazing tale of their survival and victory. As well as the story of the carrier pigeon credited with the unit's salvation. The film stars actual survivors of the battle playing themselves and is a very unique cinematic achievement.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
06:07 PM
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June 07, 2024
We're Back!
Well. We're out of the hospital and streaming again! Last night's Zomboid stream was....scuff....So join us at 7:30pm EST/ 11:30 UTC as we do a test stream to ensure that everything is working now. We will also resume playing Genshin and do some dailys and search for the plot. Come by for the scuff, stay for the cringe at https://kick.com/brickmuppet and https://www.twitch.tv/brickmuppet
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
06:15 PM
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June 03, 2024
Knee-Deep in the Rubicon
Well, this is one of those posts that I've tried to type several times but it just gets me depressed and afraid.
I've noted before my misgivings about Trump. However, if one wants to beat him, one needs to make the case, to the American people.
Given Trumps manifest flaws, that ought not to be hard.
Simply ask"Are you better off now than you were....."
Oh.
I guess it IS hard. Golly!
Well, one still needs to make the case.
That's not what the Democrats are doing.
They are trying to take out the front-runner in the current election by lawfare in the manner of a Banana Republic.
This is particularly galling as, despite the chants of "Lock her UP!" Hillary was shown considerable magnanimity, despite claiming for 4 years that her election was stolen by Russia and in spite of the fact that the charges against her credible, easy to understand, already proven, and were quite clearly done with malice aforethought.
Trumps charges on the other hand seem to be pretty much Bullshit.
Yet he is going to be sentenced Next Month, quite possibly to prison. greatly handicapping his ability to run for office. I noted this in my Myriad Misgivings About Trump post noted above, but I had assumed that they'd find something legitimate, not have a Judge instruct a jury that they need not agree on a crime, and scream at a witness who brought exculpatory evidence.
The full horror of this verdict and the bizarre, Frankinsinian nature of the case is pointed out eloquently in this post by a PHD in Statistical Genetics who is not a Trump fan but is horrified by the potential death of the Republic.
"Such drama!"
"Death of the republic" sounds absurd to people who have lived in the firstiest of first world countries all their lives, and never seen what happens when a nation's politics becomes a blood sport. Surly it would have seemed absurd to the citizens of Rome, who had been franchised members of a republic in its 482nd year that the splashes in a small estuary on the west coat if Italy could bring that Institution to an end.
Caesars crossing of the Rubicon came about in part because politics in Rome had devolved into lawfare. Caesar (and Sulla before him) were caught in legal traps by their political opponents that had the potential to invoke financial ruin or death. Both men decided to take control rather than turn themselves in. These two fiascoes destroyed the institutions that held the Republic together. It could only be run by force after that.
What we have seen with Trump in New York has the potential to become precedent and that precedent plays out every day in many of the less fortunate countries around the world, where the loss of power is likely to come with legal troubles, imprisonment and/or death. Such an arrangement is not conducive to anything other than dystopia.
So:
What do we do?
I have no idea.
I have a degree in history. Countries that go down this path go to dark places. Those that have done so and been consequential enough to have major international rivals tend to exist only in history books.
There's more on the specifics of the situation as it stands now from a former Hillary voter who has been both Red and Black Pilled. He doesn't offer any solutions other than "Give money to Trump and pray" But, it's a very good overview from someone far to the left of me politically.
Newt Gingrich...(who is not looking well) has some thoughts. Some thoughts are funny, some are terrifying, but he does give a good presentation on what needs to be done, (less on HOW to do it)
We are on the brink of something REALLY bad.
We've been so comfortable for so long that most cannot conceive of it.
We don't HAVE TO tread down that path.
But we have to know we're on the path; that we might leave it before we no longer can.
UPDATE: More thoughts on the larger matter from one of the most impressive women of our age. This piece dovetails more closely with this recent post, but says everything that post did, better.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
09:30 PM
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Status
Sorry, still under the weather.
more...
Banality is below the fold.
Here is an example of....uh....WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING!?
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
06:05 AM
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June 01, 2024
Ow
Thursday night I was feeling pretty crappy. I'd had dental work done and had been up 27 hrs. However, as the night wore on I developed a high fever and began to feel even worse. I am , at the moment, deathly ill. I was in the hospital Friday morning. It turns out that that the antibiotics they injected me with for a week did not QUITE get at the problem, and when I finished the oral antibiotics this week the infection came right back. I'm on VERY strong antibiotics now that make me sick and give me headaches and nausea. I don't think I'll be streaming any time soon.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
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