Weekend Lounge ~ Animated Past

Welcome back! I hope the new year is working out well for you!

For 2025's first proper post, lets take a look at the above video. It shows a bit of the evolution and changes of the animation industry in both the US and Japanese animation industries. Why certain things happened and why others did not. It's more of a general summary and history, so you won't get specific details on certain things, but the general gist of why things happened the way they did. Worth the watch just for the comparison.

That said, the main thrust of it can be gathered pretty clearly. Japan thought of animation as a medium to explore with stories and new techniques while the US never really considered animation as anything but kid stuff. This didn't change as the years went on. Even the "adult" animation we talk about these days was simply "adult" because it was subversive and winking at you that it was doing what it was because it was playing in a "kid" medium. As a consequence, exceptions aside, it never really grew up. It neve really wanted to.

I'll go a bit further than the video and name at least one of the culprits. If you've read here for a while than you probably know who I'm going to blame.

The US industry was also run by secular prudes like Peggy Charren since near the beginning, and this is an unavoidable subject. People that fought for complete censorship (No shooting villains, showing blood or death) for children while simultaneously fighting for complete freedom for adults to watch everything short of (and it would eventually include) pornography after a certain timeslot for adults. Where such people got the idea that poison stopped negatively affected you just because you turned a certain age is a mystery, but also completely nonsensical for moral crusaders to believe in. This is what happens when your morality is empty on the base of it. This helped contribute to the oddly stunted maturity of the industry that never really, and still hasn't, ever tried to grow up. This is what has led it into the wall it crashed into some time ago.

Of course, Japan has its own issues with over-corporatization and an increasingly rigid reliance on tired formulas, but it doesn't change that their base is still a lot stronger under them. They can still make things like Pluto or Frieren. This side of the pond can't make anything but "Billion dollar corpo/ nostalgia franchise slathered in late 20th century grey morality" which runs out of steam incredibly fast every time. The only new thing it has is cramming ever-changing modern sexual morality into whatever they do to make it more predictable. It cannot compete with the East, and we all know it. It can't even compete with its own past, at this juncture.

The most exciting US animation is entirely underground at this point and done by people who are passionate about the medium in a way the mainstream simply isn't (some examples here), despite how the individual workers might feel. The US isn't hopeless or finished in regards to the medium, but they are behind, and thankfully the newer generation, the one least enthralled with nostalgic throwbacks to dead days and constant subversion, are looking ahead. They are the ones who will steer the ship in the right direction.

Despite what the tone of this post might indicate, I am vey optimistic for the future of the medium, but I do think all the more interesting projects at this point (particularly in regards to the US) are coming from the younger generation in the indie sphere. Such seems to be the case for a lot of things these days, but it's particularly true here.

What we need going forward is our entertainment industries run by people who not only want to push things to the next level, but also hold no bitterness towards the past; people who think art has a meaning or purpose being consuming or giving the finger to someone they are bitter towards. Create something new, something fresh, and want to show it to both the young and old. Art can bring us together, it does not always have to divide or tear down.

Until we figure that out, I'm afraid a lot of industries are just going to remain stuck. So here's hoping 2025 is the year we make strides to turn that around.

Thanks for joining me in this fresh new year! It's going to be a good one.

Don't forget to pick up (and review!) some issues of Cirsova! Few better ways to spend the doldrums of January!

Thanks for 2024!

One last go for 2024! It's been a strange year for me so I'd like to go over some of it. Enjoy the wild video above and then stay for the rest of the post.

I should also say that the next episode of the Letters from the Wasteland podcast is up on the Patreon. The topic is AI and it's both an hour long and the first of a two-parter, so be sure to check that one out. It went on a bit longer than I was expecting it to. The second part will be out next week.

Also, in case you missed the recent update, I'm in the next issue of Cirsova out next month. We're starting 2025 off with a bang!

All that aside, the last year has been a bit wild for me. I had a very unexpected upheaval in my personal life the exact moment I put up the Patreon and yet at the same time still tried to simultaneously keep this place updated (keeping Cannon Cruisers, Wasteland & Sky, AND the Substack all updated was a bit of a time sink) along with making sure I was writing wasn't the easiest. You know what they say, everything always seems to hit at once.

Though, despite all of that, I did manage to put out my two books for the year. The first was Star Wanderers (please leave a review on amazon if you have not) and the second was Phantom Mission on the Patreon, on top of the short stories in Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Three, Cirsova #20, and Silence & Starsong #4. Despite the increase in distractions, my output remained more or less the same. I've also got stories coming for 2025, as well as others in the can for 2026(!). Yes, I plan on doing this for the long haul.

My plan going forward for 2025 is going to be a bit different, though not that crazy or out there. I'm planning to take the early months of the year, which are typically dead activity-wise anyway, to focus purely on writing and editing. For my two books in 2025 I'm planning to finish off Phantom War on the Patreon with Book 2 and 3, and finally release Book 1 wide on places like Amazon after getting to the edits I've still got to attend to. Like I said, there's a backlog of stuff I have to get through and some things I still have to figure out. Perhaps a Kickstarter for Phantom Mission to get a nice illustrated cover? We will see. That is still a bit of a ways out as of this writing.

On the other side of the spectrum, I have a few short stories already submitted and waiting to release, and others on the side waiting for submissions to open (including some by request, so it's really a waiting game for a lot of this). Writing-wise, I have a few short stories I absolutely must get done ASAP to complete a few projects and then start planning on the next ones. The first quarter of the year is going to be a heavy focus on all of those above all else, then hopefully business as usual once spring rolls around and my schedule can return to normal. Or I suppose as normal as a writer's schedule can get, anyway.

In other words, there is a lot on the way, and a lot I've got to get through sooner than later. That's a warning that blog posting will still be a bit slower for awhile, in order for me to catch up with myself, but it'll still exist. I enjoy the weekend lounge posts, and I hope to continue those. Longer posts will still go up on the Patreon first before coming out here at least a month later. Keeping all of this in balance is going to be a bit of a challenge, but that's part of the fun.

Otherwise, the plan is business as usual. 2025 will feature me still chugging along, God Willing, and putting out some projects I've been very excited for. There's a few things I'm very eager to get done and show you. It's going to be a fun time.

That's all for this year. 2024 has been a weird one, and I am a bit sad to see it go, oddly enough, but there's good times ahead. I'm excited to see what's coming down the pike.

Also, before I forget, thank you very much for 10 years of Wasteland & Sky! Yes, it's been over a decade since I started this journey. I never expected my original stomping grounds would last so long, even with alternative sites like the Substack around now.

I appreciate anyone who has taken time out of their day to stop by, even if you haven't been around long. It's been a long ride this past decade, and I hope to continue on for at least another ten years more. I've got plenty of things to do, and I hope you'll join me as I get through it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, everyone!

Have a great holiday. You deserve it.

For more of my writings, you can support me on the Patreon! There's a lot on the way!

Early 2025 Surprise!

Coming out next month!

Just got word of this, so wanted to put it out before the year wraps up! This is the cover reveal for the first issue of Cirsova for 2025. Notice a familiar name on there? That is because my story, "Void Railway", is in the issue. 

For those curious, it is a Galactic Enforcer story that is a bit different from the previous ones you might have read. For one, though he is in it, Ronan Renfield is not the main character. Instead we follow a gruffer more violent Enforcer named Brandon Stone as an escort mission goes awry. Just what is waiting out there in the gap between the stars?

I had a lot of fun writing this story, and Alex from Cirsova himself told me it was his favorite of the ones I've written for him, so please be sure to check it out when the Spring issue releases in January. Throw in the other great authors above and you've got a lot of bang for your buck. As always, you can never go wrong with an issue of Cirsova.

Once the preorder link goes live I will be sure to post it on Wasteland & Sky as always. I've got plenty of other things ahead for 2025, but this was one last surprise needed to be shown. Just look at that cool cover by Wistmoor Studio! It's fantastic stuff.

Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon with one last update for the year!

Until then, be sure to check out the last Cirsova issue of 2024! It's a banger!

Weekend Lounge ~ Cruising at the End of the Century

Welcome to the weekend! It's the last go around for 2024!

For the last Weekend Lounge post of the year I wanted to introduce you to the Cannon Cruisers YouTube channel. This one isn't actually run by me, but my co-host, and, as a result has a more modern look than the rest of our channels. It's not up to date, but the channel will be slowly updated as we have the time.

It's another alternative to check out the Cannon Cruisers, if that's the kind of thing you're interested in. We talk old b-movies, discover old classics (and not-so classics), and have a lot of fun along the way. We've been doing it for over half a decade at this point, surprising both of us. What started as a lark turned into a long term side project for both of us. I don't think we'll be stopping anytime soon. There's plenty to go over.

We've covered over 300 movies since we started, by the way. You can peruse what we covered on our Letterboxd page here.

Uploads on the YouTube channel are not our first priority right now, so if you want to keep up I highly recommend going straight to the blog itself. It was the first place we set up camp and I make sure to update it every week or when there's a new episode up.

As always, check out the Cannon Cruisers if you like or are interested in old movies and want some fun.

Completely unrelated to that, I was recently fooling around with AI music again, and concocted the following EP. It is related to a writing project I've been slowly trying to puzzle out of my end of the year brain.

The idea was to create an EP that matched the weird dour tone at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s before 9/11 or even Columbine really changed the mood permanently. I specifically chose third wave ska to do this with because of how much the genre changed over the decade and I wanted to see if I could push it in a different direction than it went in reaction to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the resulting Clear Channel monopoly which more or less banned it and other genres of the time from the radio. So it's an oddly reflective piece on endings since there was a lot of that as we were leaving the 1900s behind at the time.

In other words, I wanted to grab a mood that existed with a sound that didn't. Where could it have gone if things went differently? Who knows. I tried to puzzle it out here. It was an interesting little project to try out because I could almost imagine it existing, even though it didn't. and in retrospect it's kind of eerie, which I suppose was the point.

Here is the album cover:

The EP is here!

The album starts with the skate-punk inspired sound the decade started with before changing over the course of the album to being more in line with the more confident style it had by the end of the 90s when it broke into the mainstream. Where could it have gone after this, we'll never know. It was cast out of the club and most of the bands either abandoned the style or deliberately went insular, crashing the genre in the '00s.

This is a bit of a what-if, I guess.

As for how it relates into my writing, well, you probably won't see that for awhile, but a lot of it is based on a story cycle I've had in my head for awhile and have been trying to write down for about as long. So if you see lyrical motifs or lines show up in stories later on, you'll know where they first showed up. It's been strange cobbling this together. I've never quite done anything like this before, so it's been strange figuring it out.

But, really, just have fun with it. Enjoy the music, download it, remix it, or ignore it. Love it, hate it, or be indifferent. Whatever you want. It's a bit of an experiment to help me with inspiration for something else, so it's all meant in good fun. Don't take it too seriously!

Enjoy the Northbound Lights, a band that might or might not have existed from an era long gone that increasingly few remember. There's always something we can learn from those forgotten days. In this case, I don't know. I just felt like doing something strange and off the wall. You can find the End of the Century EP for free here. It might be a bit different than you're expecting, especially if you only know the genre from its oft-mocked tropes.

And that's all for this week!

Enjoy the last week of the year and I will see you soon enough!

Remember, you can find the free EP here!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Not much to say today thanks to the holiday, just a small post to keep things rolling. I hope you're having a good one.

Only two things to share today. The first is the above video on weird Christmas stories, and the second is today's Cannon Cruisers episode, also on a Christmas movie. I'm sure there's much more out there, but this is all I wanted to share directly with you.

The film we covered is 1971's The Christmas Martian, a fairly unknown family film from Canada, that did, however, have much more influence on what came later than you probably know. Highly recommend listening to this one if you enjoy Christmas and/or family movies. It's quite a unique project work looking into.

Anyway, that's all for today. Have a good week and a good rest and I'll see you this weekend. 2024 is almost done, but we've still got plenty to do.

Merry Christmas! Have a blessed day.

The most recent Cirsova issue is out! Check it out if you like weird and wild adventures of the unknown!

Weekend Lounge ~ Strange World

Welcome to the weekend!

This time we're going to take a look back at someone who was an infamous internet figure years ago before his unfortunate early death. Because this is the Advent season, just before Christmas proper, I tend to like to remind myself as to why I'm doing the sort of thing I am by looking at examples of those who have done just that despite the disadvantages we sometimes stumble through. I this case however, the handicap was much more intense.

Terry A. Davis was an eccentric programmer who created the operating system known as TempleOS. He started his life as a hardcore materialist, like a lot of people who grew up in the mid-20th century, before he began to see the world as a much different place. A genius programmer who only got better with time, he tried to contact the government for work and something happened as a result that has never been fully clarified, which ended up changing the course of his life. He didn't become a Steve Jobs, Wozniak, or Gates, instead becoming someone much different. Considering how those figures eccentric Silicon Valley type ended up, maybe there was something to what Terry went through and would later discuss.

At the same time as this was happening, Terry's mental health and well being was declining in that it became difficult for him to express himself properly and even communicate with those around him. No one really knows where this came from, because it seemed to happen out of the blue. This newly atomized existence for Terry allowed him to become a sort of figure for both simultaneous ridicule and admiration as he tried to hold it together despite all the factors working against him to live as the person he needed to be. This was who he was until the day he died in an unfortunate train accident many years later.

Terry's legacy, TempleOS, can be found here!

This isn't a happy story in the modern sense, but there is something inspiring in this tale that is hard to pin down if you are a materialist. There was a clarity through the obfuscation, and a meaning in the seeming meaninglessness to what defined him. It can't really be described without seeing what he was like for yourself. There was no one like Terry A. Davis, for good and bad, but he is still very much missed to this day, which is a good indicator of how much he actually was liked by those who followed him, in the end.

If I'm burying the lede here, it is because I don't want to warp the reason I'm talking about him in the first place. Yes, Terry could be very funny, both intentionally and unintentionally. Problems or not, he was just a very animated guy, and he said a lot of offensive things while trying to express his thoughts despite working against his own disabilities. But none of that really matters when you look back on a lot of what he was actually speaking about underneath the funny words and over the top expressions the internet lives for and enshrines as memes for future generations. Much of what Terry figured out ended up coming true and it's amazing that he did so despite the problems he suffered with throughout his life.

Few people actually disliked Terry A. Davis, even less have as time has passed and since his unfortunate accidental death at a much too young age. Despite the problems he fought against that piled against him as he aged, and despite the memes that followed in his wake, there is something about Terry A. Davis that sticks with those of us who have been around since the early internet as something as both a warning and a Cassandra to things that would happen and are now occurring in the modern age. Terry was right, God truly does speak to us all the time. We just have to listen.

Check out the video above if you want a good summary on who this figure is and why he endures to this day, and how he figured out the glowies long before anyone else ever did despite the disadvantages he had in life. All he had was his trust in Jesus Christ and the skills he was blessed with, and that is all he leaned on as he navigated a world he knew he didn't belong in.

If you want more information about Terry A. Davis, there's plenty out there, including an X account that posts images and blog entries from TempleOS that you can find here. Terry is an interesting figure and one that still manages to inspire to this day for a very good reason.

That's all for this weekend and I will see you again soon!

Remember, always run the glowies down with your car. It's the only way to be sure.

My story "Fade Away to Anywhere," a tale of missing time, the apocalypse, and mysterious enforcers breaking through space itself, can be found in the most recent issue of Silence & Starsong!

Automatic

"And things are automatic when you see them everyday,

Is it the same routine, or just some fucked up dreams,

That keep you walking, mindless all the way."

*Note: Today's post was originally posted on the Patreon! Join to get early posts on top of podcast episodes and new book serializations!*

Have you ever stopped to wonder why things get made at all? At some point it feels as if we forgot the reason for many things, and why the people who came before us made them, and now we're stuck doing it because We're Supposed To, only faster, dumber, and in more pointless ways. As if we're just filling space because that's all we can do.

That's kind of a depressing thought, but it's one I keep mulling on, especially when I hear complaints of soullessness in the art and entertainment world from people who excuse exactly that every other day and have done so for decades. Every problem we work through today isn't the fault of those who came before or those who created these systems. It comes from those of us who have forgotten the Why in everything we do.

And we don't want to admit this dead end we're reaching was totally avoidable the entire time. Changing course just meant abandoning every poor decision made for decades, and admitting we were wrong. Good luck with that. This is all our own fault.

So you've probably heard the news by now. The AI apocalypse is here and we're all going to die. Art is over now that anyone can type in a few prompts in a generator and get what they need to be satiated. The sanctity of art and creation is finished because machines can do it all for nothing. It's time to hang it up and go home.

This is the current atmosphere of the world of art and entertainment now, buoyed by people who kicked up no fuss the entire time they made their way to this end state they supposedly hate so much while supporting every decision that led to this moment. Now because it might infect some billionaires in a city that hates art and meaning on principle, it's suddenly a real problem. We need to make things illegal! We need to fine and harass people into complying with our betters! We need to combat automation and soullessness in art!

But none of this is happening, and it's never happened. There is no putting the genie back in the bottle when you don't even know how long ago it was let out.

We let it happen

I watched the Telecommunications Act of 1996 happen which allowed Clear Channel to own radio. No one said or did anything as popular music was destroyed by this idiocy, just as they said nothing when auto-tune allowed corporations to bypass talent to put their own replaceable automatons on the charts instead. This was not a change that improved art.

I watched HD rob us of hundreds of talented game developers and studios because now they needed to sell millions just to break even. Nobody complained because they got their shiny graphics, even if the games became shallower and more automated. This was not a change that improved art.

I watched CG take over movies, leading to a uniform bland fake-computer image slathered over every film. Countless talented stuntmen and practical effects creators were thrown aside for sterile computer images. This happened at the same time sound mixing and acting all sunk into the grey goo of conformity. This was not a change that improved art.

I watched animation move to computers because it was "easier" and decades later no one can make a movie that looks as good as Akira or Secret of NIMH and we're supposed to ignore that truth because they can sometimes look like HD PS2 cutscenes instead. As long as we get our 9 millionth take off of Shrek with the same character designs, choppy animation, and low effort subversive snark "humor" somehow that's good enough to spout the empty catchphrase "Animation is cinema" when it has never been less cinema in its entire existence. This was not a change that improved art.

So my question is as follows: if you didn't care years ago when all of these mediums were being beaten down and flattened into conformity for corporations' ease of use, leading to what was already a factory belt-line production of effective automation . . . why do you care now?

This was always going to end here. We kept telling them it was okay, what right do we have to tell them to stop now? Why didn't we say anything earlier?

It's because we never cared about the art itself: we cared about consuming it quicker. All we wanted was more. More of what, exactly, didn't matter.

Computers have already been misused for decades to make art production easier (for the people in charge to manage) instead of smoother. They were originally sold as being able to assist artists in making what they were already making, just with less obnoxious distractions which would allow them to take less time and carry less of a load. And, as well all, know, this is not what happened at all. Was it supposed to destroy practical effects, passion, creativity, 2D art, entire genres, and make everything into one giant homogenized mud-genre meant for mass consumption by a people who otherwise no longer have anything in common with each other except what they consume?

Is this really it?

If that is the case, then why is this worth fighting for? Who cares about art made deliberately to remove the humanity from it, to fulfill a concocted outdated formula that hasn't been relevant since the twin towers falling was still fresh news? Why are we even consuming these things to begin with? To what end? What exactly is a computer going to take away at this point that we haven't already let them take away from us?

There already isn't anything left. We gave it away ages ago for automation, long before computers were even a factor. We did this because we wanted it this way.

What "art" is being defended by taking a stand against AI? I hate to break it to you but the large corpos and Hollywood are already using it. They were the first to use it and they're going to keep using it. You can get mad at an author for using an AI-generated logo for his first novel but that's not going to stop Tor Books from using AI-generated floating spaceships on their boring modern covers. But the latter, as they have been for the last quarter century, will continue being excused while those just trying to get by will be scrutinized.

It happens all the time.

This isn't AI, but what would change in this situation if it was?

And, again, I hate to repeat this, but the reason this stuff is accepted is because we've accepted every change they made solely because we just want to be left alone to consume product. We've slowly lost our standards as to to what the purpose of art even is, as long as its repeating shopworn catchphrases and Current Year phrasing we can consume it proudly, call others names if they aren't consuming it, then move on to the next corpo product we are designated to worship. That's all it is now. There is no depth or ambition in any of it.

In this climate, what does automation even imply? Automation from what? Outdated genres, tired ideas, and safe content from corporate approved creatives who will lecture you if you don't support the machine? I hate to break it to you, but they're already on auto-pilot to begin with. They already have nothing to say. A machine prompt that they then tweak without saying it out loud won't make any appreciable difference in what they do.

It's because they have nothing to say in the first place.

This is what is so frustrating about the current AI hullabaloo. It is getting mad at students not hiring professional voice actors for free college projects that aren't monetized in the first place. It is screaming at shitposters making memes instead of badly editing existing art for free. It is grinding your teeth as Normie Joe puts in a couple of prompts to slap together a joke song to send to his friends. This is the sort of thing that attracts the most ire: not a megacorp creating entire opening sequences with it to cheap out on paying their already existing employees. The only explanation as to why this exists is because we no longer even know what we're doing with art anymore.

None of the above earlier examples take anything away from "real" art. In fact, it frees up artists from wasting their time and ability from doing the bare minimum (artists not having to live off porn commissions is a good thing) and are instead allowed to focus on improving their craft and finding something to say that isn't just repeating the talking points from their favorite streamer or news source. In contrast, a corporation generating an entire opening sequence to get the product out the door faster shows they don't even have a reason for said opening existing in the first place. AI or not, there was never any attempt at art here in the first place.

Instead of raging at normal people using tools to make throwaway pieces of content for fun, perhaps standing up to corporations who not only have the means to do better, but refuse to, is a better use of our time? After all, they are the ones who lowered standards in the first place, and even found ways to turn consumers against patrons with their own brand of insipid insults like "toxic fanbase", "x-ist, y-cel fans", and whatever else low IQ kindergarten name-calling they can use to explain why not consuming corporate slop is evil.

It's been over eight years since Patton Oswalt insulted James Rolfe for not being interested in a terrible looking movie that flopped because it was terrible, and nothing has still changed on this front. No one could even explain why the movie should exist to begin with without checking of a list of tropes they wanted to subvert. It's nonsense.

To be extremely blunt, the reason the proliferation of AI is an overall good thing is because it no longer allows mediocrity to be held up as genius when anyone can just automate their own mediocrity instead. Artists have to be held to a higher standard, and some people do not like that. Artists who adapt, who use these tools right, and who focus instead on rising above what a machine can do, have absolutely nothing to worry about. Why would they: a machine cannot copy originality and high quality. That goes against the purpose of something being automated in the first place.

We both deserve and need this to happen, because, at this juncture, it's the only way to finally snap us out of those dull haze we've been stuck in for far too long. We need to finally start looking up again. There is more to life than this.

I know you've probably heard all this before, I'm not saying anything all that new new, but I think it needs to be kept in perspective as to why the old industries are currently dying and why newer ones are springing up in their places. It isn't due to AI--it is due to what allowed AI to spring to life in the first place. Focus on the real reason this is happening, not the end result. To do otherwise would be missing the forest for the trees.

AI is not going away. You don't have to like it, but you're going to have to accept it. We're also going to have to handle it better than this:





Anyone who can be replaced by AI, should be. It's really that simple.

The whole purpose of art is to bare your soul and stretch yourself to connect to others in a way that only you as an individual can. If a machine can replicate that then it can't be all that special to begin with.

But it can't, and we need to recognize that. What it can replace are clichés, tropes, genre checkboxes, and generic thought, all of which every industry is currently clogged with. If it finally blocks the drain and floods all this nonsense out, then that can only lead to good things. In the end, we will be forced to finally move on.

This is the end result of wanting to make everything automatic. It was never going to end any other way.

I don't want this piece to come off as mocking or insulting, but as more of a chance to stand reevaluate where we're heading and, for the first time in my existence on this planet, to try and stop letting things decay--to finally move forward in the correct direction. That is part of the reason I'm doing all of this, after all. I want to contribute to a better world, not a dying one. I've already watched the decay of all the above industries happening in real-time over the decades, and I will no longer be a part of that.

Thankfully, I'm not going to have to be.

The solution is to finally put things in their place and to strive for more than mediocrity--to stop accepting decay as normal and The Way Things Are. No, it's not normal, and it's not the way things have to be. It's only normal if you let it be, and we don't have to do that anymore. With the creation of some many independent and small creator-owned spaces now, you have an endless sea of options before you. Why would you ever want to stay on a sinking ship?

At the end of the day, there is no AI apocalypse and nothing is getting worse that hasn't already been allowed to get worse for decades. No, instead this is a wake up call and a signal for us to finally take a new path forward.

What we need instead is hope for the future, and I think we have more reason to feel confident for a new path now more than ever before.

The only thing that's dying is the old ways, and in this case it's more than earned. We've got much better things to look forward to, and it's about time.

Sign up to the Patreon to get posts like this one early, serials, and even podcast episodes! All this for a few bones a month!

Weekend Lounge ~ Times Change

Welcome to the weekend! We're a mere ten days away from Christmas!

As we get ready to head towards the halfway point of the '20s, and as the internet begins closing in and breaking down, now is probably the time to take a good look at just how wild it was back then. Remind yourself on just how different it was. What better way to do that than with this look back at the figure who probably best represents the way it was in the old days, the ever-controversial, and very Gen Y, Mister Metokur AKA The Internet Aristocrat AKA . . . a lot of names!

This might be harder for younger folks to understand in an age where the internet is overrun by insane schoolmarms with loopy rules and puritans for the lame status quo of Current Year, but as infamous as the man called Jim might be for those who know him, he was actually a pretty common personality for those who grew up Gen Y and spent their late teens and early adulthood engaged in the early days of mass internet adoption. That was back when the internet was still a wild frontier yet to be conquered by the most boring people imaginable.

How was it different? In many ways.

Basically, everyone knew the internet was not real. It still isn't real, but we used to know that more deeply. You went on to blow off steam, find some cool corner of the internet that showed you things you didn't know, hang out with other like minded fellows, then you disconnected. It wasn't your life, it was more like a hobby to engage in when going out or calling friends just wasn't feasible. This was in fact how it was throughout the '00s. Gen Y, still under the yolk of the soon too be fractured Geek Culture, got together and shared their favorite products and events, and even messed with each other like guys used to do once upon a time. Things are different now, though, unfortunately, not in a better way.

What you should see in the above video of Mister Metokur's rise and . . . well, not fall--he's still around and still popular in certain circles, is someone who sees the digital world for what it is. It's a playground with endless possibilities where you can find anything. You might not disagree with how he spends his time on it, but it's clear that his approach was one we once understood long ago before we started following Influencers with Platforms, thought leaders on social media, and nauseating artificiality like that. Back before buzzword culture, we were just having fun.

And now the internet is on the way out. It probably won't even have proper recordings of how things really were before it went off the rails, so be sure to remember for yourself. It's only through building on what worked that we can build something better. And we're going to be building a lot in the years to come. We're going to have to.

Also, if you can, please send prayers his way. Jim has a sickness that has sidelined him heavily over the past few years, putting him on his deathbed more than a few times, though it's miraculously dulled none of his humor. That is a trait we would do well to imitate. Gen Y might be having a rough go at it, but I believe we are just now hitting our prime years on this Earth. Pray that we might all not only make it, but thrive and show the world just what we are capable of.

There is no limit to what we can do, a lesson that early internet should have taught us before we fell in line with those wanting to destroy it for clout and a couple of bucks. Let's finally go anywhere and do what we need to do. We've still got a decade to salvage.

That's all this week, and I'll see you next time!

My story, Mirage Carousal, is in the Fall issue of Cirsova! Bullets, hidden casinos, motorcycles, mist-covered towns, and monsters! Check it out today!