"I actually graded the upper third or so of the poems—anything I felt was basically competent. If you did not get a grade, I was not sure what you were trying to do and could not evaluate your work as a poem."
The real question is, what was Lomez trying to do with this competition if the actual dissident art is derided as wignat nursery rhyme, which evidently started to fatigue your sorry little stirrups? He markets the competition with the viking motif, militaristic imagery, warning of a fake and gay culture, as well as stench of death all around us. So what is chosen for first place? Why a poem about old age! Forget about the long house, let's find a hospice. The $2000 first prize goes to a 12 line poem (when the guidelines gave us a 10 page limit). It also uses the locution "I've forgot" - bad grammar for poetic reasons of course.
But wait, it gets better. Not only is it devoid of any propaganda, dissent or motivational energy, it's quite literally gibberish someone pulled out their arse, as Mr Yarvin admits: "It’s important to note that this poem, so far as I can tell, means nothing at all. It has no actual logical content." In other words, it won because it's the same nebulous crap that Mr Yarvin is adept at. Rather than him saying "Almost all poems suck. Rhyme makes it much easier to suck" why doesn't Yarvin just admit that it's a skill he doesn't possess, and that the dyslexic "prosody" he is capable of is just lazy bluff work like other post-modern art. You'd never say Frost's and Kipling's rhyming poetry sucked, but of course they were from a different time. It's almost as if the culture has...... degenerated...... wait a second..........
Congrats to 3rd place winner Noble Red, the only worthy finalist in my opinion. Kind of hard to be very dissenting and write anything dangerous in such a short amount of space, let alone do it in an artistic form. But he came close to something the competition implicitly and explicitly called for.
Nothing about the winners' work is pushing any envelopes, just more edgy anon posturing like most of what the dissident right restricts itself to and capitulates to when an actual chance comes along. This book deal evidently is too precious to risk anything of substance. Just astonished the amount of bootlicking that went on during this contest. Ten and a half weeks to arrive at these shoddy and blasé winner picks, while punters heaped high praise on the effort of judges to just read shit... now that is a level of sycophantry to which I am glad I did Not Submit.
Dear OP, it is rather annoying, disheartening, unsettling, upsetting, discouraging, demoralizing, distressing, perturbing, and altogether unbecoming of you to disable comments for such long time periods. I understand that you may want to give people some time to cool off, but couple of days would be enough for that purpose.
Curtis, the comments are still disabled on your newest piece(guess the quality control works since I certainly haven't been commenting much recently lol), so I'll just say it here. I think it's one of the best you've ever written and exactly what certain people have been begging you for for quite a while. Your tactical-level shit is great, way less pie-in-the-sky and much more likely to be implemented in some form by your um... less irrelevant fans.
Always great stuff when you're on Malice. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Just wanted to say that I just watched your appearance on Alex Jones, which I also thoroughly enjoyed, Jones' obsessive attempts to constantly steer the conversation toward pedophilia notwithstanding.
Why are the comments turned off on "The parent coup"? It's private. Shouldn't it be the place to discuss the post?
Anyway, I was going to object to your plan because, in my city, the independent schools also teach the same garbage as the public schools, the chief difference being precisely their ability to admit, reject, or expel any student. BUT, then I realized that there is no problem - our private AND public schools represent the culture of the parents in our city perfectly, so there wouldn't need to be a coup here. Clearly, I'm the problem; or, rather, the problem is that I live here instead of someplace where I'd fit in with the local culture better.
That's quite something for *you* to say that Malice is not for everyone. Maybe it's some kind of an awkward joke that doesn't translate well over text. I think Malice used to avoid inviting you on his podcast because he was afraid you'd be too controversial for his other future guests. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that your appearance on Tucker's show may have changed that perception.
Anyway, it was a nice rant. I always enjoy your takes on the foreign service/State Department. I haven't heard anyone else look at the situation from that exact angle. As a half-Russian and a half-Ukrainian, I do see it as a civil war, as well. There are probably 12 other people in the world who do, though. I tried explaining it to my husband, and he didn't quite see it (he was born in the USA). I don't usually listen to Russian sources because I've mostly put the "old country" behind me as soon as I moved here 20+ years ago, but I recently heard Ekaterina Shulman speak, and she made an interesting comparison with the Crimean War of 1853. Perhaps that will be useful to you somehow.
With time, your assessment of a multi-polar world forming is proving right - what do you think about the recent hysteria around Russia backing the ruble with gold?
Finally, a very tangentially related question that I really resubscribed to ask: do you think it would make sense for the next regime's leader, whoever that might be, to do exactly what Putin did with Yeltsin? Meaning, to do the opposite of Trump's calls to "lock-her-up" that scared the current regime into fighting as if for their actual lives. Meaning, to explicitly promise to all the people who might fight the next regime that they would NOT be prosecuted and that, instead of everything being declassified, everything would be burned and forgotten, like in your Julius Caesar chest-of-letters story? If yes, could such a promise be made in public? With the scale of our oligarchy, I think it would have to be.
"I actually graded the upper third or so of the poems—anything I felt was basically competent. If you did not get a grade, I was not sure what you were trying to do and could not evaluate your work as a poem."
The real question is, what was Lomez trying to do with this competition if the actual dissident art is derided as wignat nursery rhyme, which evidently started to fatigue your sorry little stirrups? He markets the competition with the viking motif, militaristic imagery, warning of a fake and gay culture, as well as stench of death all around us. So what is chosen for first place? Why a poem about old age! Forget about the long house, let's find a hospice. The $2000 first prize goes to a 12 line poem (when the guidelines gave us a 10 page limit). It also uses the locution "I've forgot" - bad grammar for poetic reasons of course.
But wait, it gets better. Not only is it devoid of any propaganda, dissent or motivational energy, it's quite literally gibberish someone pulled out their arse, as Mr Yarvin admits: "It’s important to note that this poem, so far as I can tell, means nothing at all. It has no actual logical content." In other words, it won because it's the same nebulous crap that Mr Yarvin is adept at. Rather than him saying "Almost all poems suck. Rhyme makes it much easier to suck" why doesn't Yarvin just admit that it's a skill he doesn't possess, and that the dyslexic "prosody" he is capable of is just lazy bluff work like other post-modern art. You'd never say Frost's and Kipling's rhyming poetry sucked, but of course they were from a different time. It's almost as if the culture has...... degenerated...... wait a second..........
Congrats to 3rd place winner Noble Red, the only worthy finalist in my opinion. Kind of hard to be very dissenting and write anything dangerous in such a short amount of space, let alone do it in an artistic form. But he came close to something the competition implicitly and explicitly called for.
Nothing about the winners' work is pushing any envelopes, just more edgy anon posturing like most of what the dissident right restricts itself to and capitulates to when an actual chance comes along. This book deal evidently is too precious to risk anything of substance. Just astonished the amount of bootlicking that went on during this contest. Ten and a half weeks to arrive at these shoddy and blasé winner picks, while punters heaped high praise on the effort of judges to just read shit... now that is a level of sycophantry to which I am glad I did Not Submit.
I am sorry I read your comment.
Truth hurts, doesn't it?
Why don't you have a profile?
Stay tuned, toots
Why don't you have a profile?
Your favorite poem was the most stereotypical and least good
The people demand more details of the questionable things to do in Austin, my lord!
Also Malice really should've come back on camera with a coffee and sandwich in hand, hahah... Did you even notice him missing?
Dear OP, it is rather annoying, disheartening, unsettling, upsetting, discouraging, demoralizing, distressing, perturbing, and altogether unbecoming of you to disable comments for such long time periods. I understand that you may want to give people some time to cool off, but couple of days would be enough for that purpose.
Curtis, the comments are still disabled on your newest piece(guess the quality control works since I certainly haven't been commenting much recently lol), so I'll just say it here. I think it's one of the best you've ever written and exactly what certain people have been begging you for for quite a while. Your tactical-level shit is great, way less pie-in-the-sky and much more likely to be implemented in some form by your um... less irrelevant fans.
Always great stuff when you're on Malice. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Just wanted to say that I just watched your appearance on Alex Jones, which I also thoroughly enjoyed, Jones' obsessive attempts to constantly steer the conversation toward pedophilia notwithstanding.
Did you and Malice visit the elves?
I ordered from a
Pizza hut. Or was it
Panagopolous? – no that,
That isn’t right.
They changed their
name
to Panago.
Silence, on the phone.
The cheese on top
or under toppings,
Pizza dough.
If you write down your thoughts
And it’s not a text
Or behind your law firm’s VPN
It is basically a poem, no?
There are some great and interesting poems in this contest. Thanks for giving them a platform.
I would have entered had I known about the contest earlier. A friend just happened to mention Gray Mirror recently.
Thanks.
With that said, better late then never. Here is a poetic offering:
https://www.thechainedmuse.com/post/fresh-picked-roses
Doesn't look like Malice much appreciated your comments about Ukraine. Hope you guys are still friends.
Why are the comments turned off on "The parent coup"? It's private. Shouldn't it be the place to discuss the post?
Anyway, I was going to object to your plan because, in my city, the independent schools also teach the same garbage as the public schools, the chief difference being precisely their ability to admit, reject, or expel any student. BUT, then I realized that there is no problem - our private AND public schools represent the culture of the parents in our city perfectly, so there wouldn't need to be a coup here. Clearly, I'm the problem; or, rather, the problem is that I live here instead of someplace where I'd fit in with the local culture better.
Anyway, carry on...
I've resubscribed to comment...
That's quite something for *you* to say that Malice is not for everyone. Maybe it's some kind of an awkward joke that doesn't translate well over text. I think Malice used to avoid inviting you on his podcast because he was afraid you'd be too controversial for his other future guests. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that your appearance on Tucker's show may have changed that perception.
Anyway, it was a nice rant. I always enjoy your takes on the foreign service/State Department. I haven't heard anyone else look at the situation from that exact angle. As a half-Russian and a half-Ukrainian, I do see it as a civil war, as well. There are probably 12 other people in the world who do, though. I tried explaining it to my husband, and he didn't quite see it (he was born in the USA). I don't usually listen to Russian sources because I've mostly put the "old country" behind me as soon as I moved here 20+ years ago, but I recently heard Ekaterina Shulman speak, and she made an interesting comparison with the Crimean War of 1853. Perhaps that will be useful to you somehow.
With time, your assessment of a multi-polar world forming is proving right - what do you think about the recent hysteria around Russia backing the ruble with gold?
Finally, a very tangentially related question that I really resubscribed to ask: do you think it would make sense for the next regime's leader, whoever that might be, to do exactly what Putin did with Yeltsin? Meaning, to do the opposite of Trump's calls to "lock-her-up" that scared the current regime into fighting as if for their actual lives. Meaning, to explicitly promise to all the people who might fight the next regime that they would NOT be prosecuted and that, instead of everything being declassified, everything would be burned and forgotten, like in your Julius Caesar chest-of-letters story? If yes, could such a promise be made in public? With the scale of our oligarchy, I think it would have to be.
Oh, but the problem with promising immunity publicly is that it's a wild idea that the general public would not understand.