A Better "Stranger" Thing

While Stranger Things has accumulated accolades, and I sortof enjoyed it, it was mostly because it didn't completely suck or immerse itself in liberal preachiness.

So if you want something even Stranger, and laugh-out-loud funny, maybe check out this freewheeling story of an inter-dimensional insurance agent, by Larry Correia. As the article at Superversive points out:

Chapter 2: “The Mediation”

The mediator is Chuck Norris. The awesome is hilarious, as is Baldwin’s impersonation of Norris. Just bask in the awesome.

Chapter 3: “Hell Comes to Nebraska”

This might be the best bit of the book. Not only because it blows up an SF convention, but because it stars Larry Correia and Wendell the Manatee as CFO of CorreiaTech, creator of the Combat Wombat. There are also legions of Hell invading Nebraska.

Then there’s the Balrog…

Yes.

This is Larry Correia of the blog fisks, of "What About the Moon Ferrets." Adam Baldwin is President (in our first dimension we visit), Lee Ermey is SecDef (ditto), call centers from hell, and liberal tropes - and a few geek ones - are not only roasted but nuked to the tune of millions of Bear Grylls* of damage.

Go and listen to the adventures of Tom Stranger, of Stranger and Stranger, as he endeavors to provide constantly excellent customer service.

* The amount of lethality required to kill one Bear Grylls. A metric that is amazingly consistent throughout the multiverse.

Fisking the Wanna-be Petty Tyrants and Gatekeepers

Larry Correia, the mountain that walks, the International Lord of Hate of the Evil Legion of Evil, and Sad Puppy One, takes a break from vacation to respond to someone being stupid on the internet. And since it is the Huffington Post, it is very, very stupid indeed. An excerpt (but please, read the whole thing. The only people who write as prolifically are Johns, Wright and Ringo):

Writing is hard work, but the act of writing can also be thrilling, enriching your life beyond reason when you know you’re finally nailing a certain feeling with the perfect verb.

The verb I would pick for Laurie’s essay is Bloviate
[bloh-vee-eyt]

verb (used without object), bloviated, bloviating.

1.to speak pompously.

It might take a long time to find that perfect verb.

Naw, it was pretty obvious right out the gate.

But that’s how art works. Writing is an art deserving our esteem.

Holy shit, GET OVER YOURSELF.

Best of all, was a reader comment I saw posted by Sky Henstrom over at Google+:

I know people like that. Needless to say they aren't the cats I want to hang out with.

Seriously. What is it, about once a year huffo shits one of these out, articles extolling the status quo and the gatekeepers? Its like Roman Empire Newsletter, circa 450 AD, headline: We're Still Great! Still Running Shit, ignore those Barbarians, please!

I absolutely love that mental image.

Blast From the Past

One of the reasons I will effectively drop anything and everything to read a book by Larry Correia, aka the "International Lord of Hate", is that he not only is nearly as prolific as John Ringo, but is, if possible, even funnier when he goes off on a rant. Given the high bar needed to exceed the utterly inspired Ravencon AAR, that is saying something.

So, in part due to slow blogging activity over at Monster Hunter Nation, an old facebook discussion was brought to the fore by one of his intrepid minions to explain the background of the expression "justify the moon ferrets".

It starts:

Brad, I apologize in advance that I’m about to use bad words on your page, but I simply don’t have the time, nor the patience to deal with this fucking troglodyte imbecile in an amicable fashion.

Instead I’m going to mock him, berate him, insult him and his fundamental philosophy, maybe call him some more names, rejoice in my giant majority, maybe add a few more insults, then go to bed, in my giant house in the mountains with my hot athletic wife. I won’t bother to wait for Forest’s response, because it will consist of some poorly thought out sound bytes regurgitated from Mother Jones and a series of links, and I’d rather suck start a 12 gauge than listen to one more fucking doofus tonight.

And after discussing (at a first grade level given he's an accountant) the "why" of the mythical gender pay gap, he really gets rolling:

You are basically a Speak and Spell, and instead of when pulling the string you get “THE COW GOES MOO” you get “LINK TO HUFFPO” or “WHY WON’T YOU ANSWER MY QUESTION”. Only the Speak and Spell has a use. Children need to learn which animal says moo versus which one barks. You on the other hand, are completely fucking useless, and when it comes to entertainment, my money is on Fisher Price.

There are far, far too many good lines to quote. Don't read it while drinking, or unless you want worried onlookers concerned that you lost your sanity.