Brian Niemeier's Blog: Kairos - by Brian Niemeier, page 22

Years Ago and in Another Country

A common saying has it that the past is another country. It’s taken as a figure of speech, but pay a visit to almost any mid-American shopping mall these days, and the prevailing vibe resembles an archaeological site. What was the hub of American commerce in the previous era is now where commercial operations wait to die. The mall might be suffering a slow death, but it outlasted video gaming as…

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Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

From time to time, I open the curtain and give this blog’s readers a sample of my premium material. Today’s review originally appeared as a Patreon and SubscribeStar exclusive. If you like it, please consider subscribing. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a unique and entrancing exploration of the horror genre. While it’s been compared to the deconstructionist horror-comedy series…

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The Idea of a Mall

Yesterday a fascinating intergenerational conversation took place on X. And it put me in mind of a subject we haven’t touched on in a while: The cultural impact of the mall – how it rose to dominance, and how it faded. While loving the idea of a mall is a Gen X tendency and Gen Y affliction similar to nostalgia for Blockbuster, it’s a widespread phenomenon that merits scrutiny.

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Neopatronage: Seek and You Will Find

Innovation often emerges from the collision of new ideas with established systems, leading to a disruptive reordering of the status quo. That popularly called “creative disruption,” facilitated by platforms like Amazon, drove the rise of indie publishing. By democratizing access to the world’s top book market, Amazon enabled indie authors to bypass the traditional gatekeepers of oldpub…

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Walsh Tries to Jump the GamerGate Parade

The Grift Right’s paymasters must be desperate to distract normies from some brewing enormity. Because they’ve got their controlled opposition mouthpieces out in force stirring up controversy. First it was Hollywood creature Ben Shapiro arguing for people to work till they drop dead. Now his Gen Y crony Matt Walsh is trying to jump the GamerGate parade. Related: Parade Jumping To catch…

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Little Ben’s Ponzi Scheme

Daily Wire face man Ben Shapiro sparked controversy on Tuesday when he advocated raising the US retirement age and called retirement itself “a stupid idea,” barring some kind of health issue. Here is the video wherein Shapiro made his pitch for working until death: When challenged on his castigation of retirement as “stupid,” Shapiro doubled down. He went on to call Social Security…

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Pay a Living Wage: Challenge Impossible!

A reader writes: Related: Mammon Mob Comes for Retirees From the Church’s own social teaching: Related: Debt Zombies A few important notes here: The encyclicals cited here are exercises of the Papal Magisterium which, while not infallible definitions, nonetheless propose to settle moral disputes, and so bind all Catholics to give religious assent. Nowhere does it say that every job…

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Irish Anti-Family Referendum Defeated

A referendum that would have replaced the Irish constitution’s recognition of the family’s basis in marriage with accretions involving other “durable relationships” suffered overwhelming defeat on Saturday. The ballot count shows that the anti-family referendum was rejected by 67.7 percent of Irish voters. Related: Infanticide Cancelled, Demons Mad Eamon Ryan, leader of Ireland’s Green…

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Fist of the North Star (1986)

Let me take you back to a time before rent-seeking cargo cultists prowled the animation industry shaking down studios. When anime was drawn on cells with rich, hand-mixed paint. Before the dead-eyed, pastel times; before Ground Zero. In those bad old analog days, if you wanted to watch anime, you had to order VHS tapes from the Right Stuf catalog or buy nth generation copies from shady dealers…

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Beloved Cartoonist Akira Toriyama Dead at 68

Akira Toriyama, the legendary creator of global phenomenon Dragon Ball, has passed away at age 68. Toriyama’s art also defined Japanese role-playing game classics such as Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger. Related: Victory Defeated JRPGs Related: Berserk: A Masterpiece Unfinished Many was the afternoon when I’d get home from a long day at college, trudge into the living room…

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