John C.A. Manley's Blog, page 11

"One of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world"

D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world."

Can you guess which novel he was referring to?

A Tale of Two Cities?

The Count of Monte Cristo?

Moby-Dick?

War of the Worlds?

Find out in my brand new post (along with the strange and wonderful way the author went about writing it) by clicking here:

https://blazingpinecone.com/blog/most-strange/

This shows how dangerously deranged society has become...

Friday's opening ceremonies for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris featured drag queens and demonic-looking figures performing a perverted parody of the Last Supper with a grotesquely fat woman (or a man pretending to be a woman) in place of Jesus Christ.

NFL star kicker Harrison Butker called it "crazy."

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone described it as a "new low for our human community.”

But I think Donald Trump Jr. was the closest by damning it as "seemingly Satanic."

Whether or not you believe in the divinity (or even historicity) of Jesus, DaVinci's Last Supper is both a work of art and a symbol of so many of the values that make life worth living: brotherly love, forgiveness and a transcendental (not transgender) purpose to our existence.

You can see this woke mockery and read more rebuttals at: https://assets.lifesitenews.com/news/god-is-not-mocked-blasphemous-depiction-of-last-supper-at-olympic-ceremony-sparks-outrage

The fact this was the opener to the world's biggest sporting event shows how dangerously deranged society has become.

Proof women are smarter than men

In Thursday's post, I quoted Stefan Molyneux's novel, The Present, in which a character says, "The State is a giant machine that transfers wealth from men to women."

In response, blazing subscriber (and patron) Dr. Gary Magder (from Ontario) emailed to say:

"You like to live on the edge, eh John? LOL! This is as brilliant a notion as it is a brave revelation."

Surprisingly, only one (male!) reader unsubscribed. My female subscribers were relatively unoffended. For example, Jeanette Thiessen (from British Columbia) wrote to say:

"I've always said that women are smarter than men - they just are smart enough to pretend that the men are in control, but secretly, they have all the power."

And Gwyneth Cann (from Quebec) replied:

"Great! And with pertinent points that very few people recognize. I have often been grateful that I was born a woman as I have always seen the sweat, labour and often thankless toil that men perform to support women."

Yes, Stefan Molyneux's novel offers some "pertinent points" that are probably even more captivating than its post-apocalyptic survival story. You can preview The Present (in ebook and audiobook format) at: https://freedomain.com/freedomain_books/the-present/

"Even when it is entirely discredited, it just won't go away"

I'm currently re-reading (for the second time) the latest edition of Dan Kennedy's NO B.S. Guide to Succeeding in Business by Breaking all the Rules in which he compares the lies and myths about entrepreneurial success to the corona deception:

"It turns out that it's hard to kill B.S. that serves B.S. promoters' agendas. That gets embedded in popular culture in academia, and in business. Even when it is entirely discredited, it just won't go away. Kind of like the wearing of cloth masks to protect us from each other and the China Virus, more a version of putting a garden gnome in your yard for good luck than medical science. But even after being thoroughly discredited and virtually all of its 'public health expert' promoters fessing up to its meaninglessness, you still saw quite a few people masked up in public."

Just like mainstream medicine is designed to keep people sick (and profitable for Big Pharma), mainstream marketing is designed to keep businesses poor (while making money for Big Media). If you're an entrepreneur (or want to be one) I highly recommend you check out Dan Kennedy's NO B.S. Marketing Letter at: https://blazingpinecone.com/dan-kennedy

Do we live in a predatory political matriarchy?

Stefan Molynuex's The Present makes the challenging proposition that we do not live in an oppressive capitalistic patriarchy but a "predatory political matriarchy." The novel centres around Rachel, a self-absorbed young woman, living with her self-absorbed boyfriend, while making little money in her "liberating" career as a woke journalist.

Her views of "inequality" are challenged when she meets Oliver, the leader of a men's rights group, who argues:

“Everyone talks about the ‘wage gap’ – no one ever talks about the ‘tax gap’! Men pay far more in taxes than women do, and women take far more government benefits than men do. The State is a giant machine that transfers wealth from men to women. Are we ever thanked for that? No, because we are in a master-slave relationship with women. All this talk about ‘the patriarchy’ is just a cover for what’s really going on – what is statistically verifiable. We live in a predatory political matriarchy. And all this – I can see – comes as a complete shock to you! And you would totally pass a lie detector test if you were asked to condemn the ‘patriarchy.’ Essential information has been consistently withheld from you, and false narratives have been implanted.”

I recently read The Present to my son. It blends challenging philosophical ideas with a harrowing story of economic collapse. You can find out more or download a copy from Stefan Molynuex's website at: https://freedomain.com/freedomain_books/the-present/

Is AI the end of the human era?

In James Barrat's doomsday book, Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era, he aptly describes the main theme and plot behind my forthcoming novel, All the Humans are Sleeping:

“A powerful AI system tasked with ensuring your safety might imprison you at home. If you asked for happiness, it might hook you up to a life support and ceaselessly stimulate your brain's pleasure centers. If you don't provide the AI with a very big library of preferred behaviors or an ironclad means for it to deduce what behavior you prefer, you'll be stuck with whatever it comes up with. And since it's a highly complex system, you may never understand it well enough to make sure you've got it right.”

Is AI the "end of the human era"? That's the question All of the Humans are Sleeping (to be followed by the sequel, All the Humans are Dying and All the Humans are Waking) tries to answer. The novel's on track for its September 11th release date. Until then, you might want to check out James Barrat's non-fiction book, Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era at: https://blazingpinecone.com/shop/our-final-invention

AI is starting to unnerve me with its level of comprehension

I accidentally copied and pasted yesterday's Blazing Pine Cone post into ChatGPT. In less than a second, the bot had read all 354 words and responded with:

"This piece of writing is an amusing, satirical narrative where the author, John C.A. Manley, humorously imagines being recruited by the Secret Service to protect the earlobes of the renowned Canadian Baroque pianist Angela Hewitt during a concert. He playfully interprets the ticket seat assignment 'SS66 and SS67' as a sign of his Secret Service role, despite its real-life absurdity.... The tone is light-hearted and playful, using humor and exaggeration to create an engaging and entertaining story."

What shocked me the most was that ChatGPT was able to comprehend that it was "an amusing, satirical narrative" rather than a true story (something not all my human readers can do).

Well, I'm glad AI enjoyed my hyperbolic tale. If you missed it you can read (and share) it here: https://blazingpinecone.com/news/2024/07/22/

How I was recruited by the Secret Service to protect the earlobes of Canada's preeminent Baroque pianist

Yesterday, I was recruited to join the Secret Service to protect the earlobes of Canada's preeminent Baroque pianist, Angela Hewitt. Months ago, when I first heard my favourite Bach performer was coming to town, I purchased tickets for my son and myself. Printing out the tickets on Sunday, I saw that we were assigned seats SS66 and SS67.

SS? Obviously, they were letting us know that we would be operating as impromptu Secret Service agents. Yes, I know, my son Jonah is completely blind — but he'd probably still do better than what went down in Butler last week.

So I showed up at the concert with a white shirt, maroon tie and a .22 gauge rifle. Our side seats offered a perfect sniper position to cover the balcony at the rear of the church — the most likely spot for a lone gunman (or gunwoman or gun-non-binary-person).

However, when I showed up at the door with the rifle, the attendants said I couldn't take it inside. I immediately understood. They wanted me to work undercover and that I would have to rely on my concealed carry.

Fortunately, no one tried to shoot Ms. Hewitt. Even if they did, she was so absorbed in her intense two-hour (with no sheet music) recital of Beethoven, Bach, Scarlatti and Brahms that I doubt she'd have missed a note if a bullet pierced her head, no less her earlobe.

Watching her perform was like watching someone possessed by music. That's how I aspire to write novels — possessed by the muse.

Here's a photo of Jonah (that white cane is loaded) guarding the piano during the intermission (possessed by the giggles):

Goofing off on the job. Such low standards these days. No wonder Trump got shot. Jonah, you're fired!

Fortunately, Ms. Hewitt needed no protection. Any gunman would have been so mesmerized by her performance, that they'd have called off the assassination upon hearing her opening performance of Bach's Partita No. 6 in E minor. See what I mean by checking out her music at: AngelaHewitt.com.

"Doctors are fast replacing the clergy"

On Tuesday, I quoted Dr. Naomi Wolf's words about how people have deified the medical establishment. Such Big Pharma worship was addressed by the fictional character Father Shostakovich in Much Ado About Corona. Here are a few fun examples:

“'Vaccinations have become the new baptism,' continued Father, unperturbed. 'And pills have replaced the Eucharist. Since the lockdown, we stopped bringing Communion to the elderly in nursing homes, yet they still get their medication each day, don’t they?'

"Now old Bill Cooper, in his grey suit, blue latex gloves and red bow tie, shot out of his pew. 'If you weren’t a priest,' he exclaimed, “I’d have some fine words for you.'

"Father grinned widely over his long beard. 'You need not worry, I’m quickly becoming obsolete. Doctors are fast replacing the clergy.'”

If you haven't read Much Ado About Corona you can start immediately with a free preview here: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe

Fear tells us what we have to do

In yesterday's post, I shared how (having thought I was done) my editor pointed out that my forthcoming novel, All the Humans are Sleeping, was missing a key scene. Without it, the story didn't make sense (which, considering today's upside-down world, might have been a selling point).

Oddly enough, I found I was resistant to writing the scene — namely because I was afraid I couldn't make it interesting enough. Instead, I was tempted to simply add a sentence that summed it up — a cowardly and lazy cop-out.

But then I remembered this quote from Steve Pressfield's The War of Art:

"Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do."

So I picked up a pen and brainstormed a few ideas. Killed most of them. Showed the surviving two to my editor. We both agreed on one. And then I wrote it out. And re-wrote it. And re-wrote it. And hammered away at that new chapter until I couldn't imagine the story being published without it.

If you've ever been guilty of cutting corners on creative projects, then I highly recommend you head over here and buy yourself a copy of The War of Art: https://blazingpinecone.com/shop/the-war-of-art/