Former grunt. GWOT vet. Postwar cynic. Nerd. Sometimes I write things.
North Carolina, USA
- Tweets 21,164
- Following 744
- Followers 5,078
- Likes 97,650
Pinned Tweet
It’s here.
I’m… feeling things.
This is the first piece of nonfiction I wrote about the Iraq War. Neal @PilumPress believed in it, and gave it a home.
It’s real now.
Despite my best efforts to hide from it, bury it, and avoid it… I am now a war writer.
12
19
141
6,383
The President elect of the United States of America even joking about the annexation of Canada is an assault on our sovereignty.
Fuck everyone in the US who jokes or laughs at this. This isn't fucking funny.
As a Canadian, I am not fucking laughing. Fuck you.
The President elect of the United States of America even joking about the annexation of Canada is an assault on our sovereignty.
Fuck everyone in the US who jokes or laughs at this. This isn't fucking funny.
As a Canadian, I am not fucking laughing.
Fuck you.
5,865
1,702
43,890
2,530,738
90% of the problems surrounding modern entertainment are summed up in this all-time banger tweet.
151
3,527
39,787
1,159,188
Counterpoint: the notion of “Jedi robes” was always stupid.
Obi-Wan’s robes in the original film were just supposed to be desert clothes. Everyone on Tatooine wore them.
Space knights would wear something more akin to armor.
496
1,160
28,534
2,120,276
Sure is a mystery.
this man on the subway was repeatedly harassing a woman, being disgusting, invading her space, etc
tell me fucking why me and the other women around tried to intervene and tell him off but all the young, fit guys around just stood silent and looked at the ground
73
1,086
18,228
730,521
I entirely forgot about the stupid “Vampires can’t stand right angles” explanation for the cross in NetflixVania.
Because in a world with vampires, demons, and sorcerers, the one thing that can’t possibly be real is God…
341
1,020
16,959
697,573
The Iliad tells men their brothers are worth fighting for.
The Odyssey tells men there is something worth returning home to when the war is over.
Homer endures because these two powerful truths are beyond subversion.
Odysseus rejected Calypso because he loved his wife.
That’s it.
I understand there’s all sorts of literary analysis and stuff like this, but in the end…. Odysseus just loves his wife.
She becomes the central axis on which everything turned.
I am sad so many can’t see how thrilling that fact is, and can’t just accept it on its face.
52
1,316
14,675
458,319
My hot take is that the film would have been vastly improved by cutting out Will Turner entirely.
Norrington—an honorable man in love with Elizabeth—must make a devil’s bargain to save her: by stealing his own ship, and forming an alliance with Jack Sparrow.
1/
114
357
8,706
1,608,749
At least when the Germans did it, there was a formalized duel and swords involved.
The scar was proof you stood firm and didn’t flinch.
These guys are going under anesthesia, so they don’t feel the doctor making their little tough guy boo-boo.
73
387
7,953
349,683
Dracula, being repulsed by the right angles of the door frame he’s trying to enter.
Imagine being so Reddit-brained that you need a God-free explanation for why vampires are repulsed by crosses because religion is for stupid people and God has no place in your realistic vampire story, and the idea you come up with is that vampires just can't handle 90° angles.
24
322
4,724
61,352
Fight Club is a story about a man searching for masculinity, brotherhood, and meaning, in a world that tells men don't need or deserve any of those things.
None of those themes are going to map onto an all-female cast.
216
285
4,250
343,217
At last, the German artillery fell silent. Here and there, among the piles of flesh and the orphaned limbs, the Lt. saw faces.
He tried desperately not to remember their names. Not yet. That would come later, when he wrote their mothers.
“So…” he whispered. “THAT happened.”
53
172
3,843
114,339
This week on THE GOOD FED:
Fed Chief: “This was sloppy, Agent Murphy. I told you to be discreet.”
Murphy: “But... you said do a false flag.”
Chief: “Your white supremacist is an Indian guy, Murphy.”
Murphy: “But... I... planted the... false flag. I PLANTED! THE FALSE! FLAG!”
BREAKING: Apparently a Nazi flag has been pulled from the cab of a U Haul truck that rammed the security barrier at Lafayette Square near White House
14
411
3,301
99,596
X-Men is a shitty metaphor for racism, etc.
It’s perfectly reasonable to fear, avoid, and distrust a person who might liquify you with eye blasts if his special glasses happen to fall off.
What X-Men comic book take has you like this?
I'll go first: X-Men hasn't been good this century. Grant Morrison's run ruined the xment.
201
247
3,189
696,829
So, unrelated but not:
Watching MERLIN. There’s an episode where Arthur cleanses himself, dresses in robes, and enters the chapel alone.
A bystander asks what he’s doing.
Merlin answers “Thinking.”
“And sitting on his knees is going to help?”
Merlin then elaborates that Arthur must “decide” on the object of his quest, and must “think on his knees” until he transcends his body, and the quest reveals itself to him.
The writers tied themselves in absolute knots to avoid saying the word “prayer,” or mentioning God.
For a show nominally based on Arthurian myth, the pathological aversion to anything that hints at Christianity is glaring.
I entirely forgot about the stupid “Vampires can’t stand right angles” explanation for the cross in NetflixVania.
Because in a world with vampires, demons, and sorcerers, the one thing that can’t possibly be real is God…
51
205
3,090
74,364
You’d have Norrington gradually soften his stance, as he begins to see the Pirates as human beings. A part of Will’s arc that carried little dramatic weight, but would be meaningful if transposed onto a stoic British officer.
2/
1
10
2,161
69,774
The role Norrington plays in the film—long arm of the law dogging Will & Jack on their quest—could be taken by Norrington’s second in command.
Make him an ambitious schemer, eager for promotion, willing to see his own commander swing from the gallows if it helps his career.
4/
10
18
2,093
68,370
The Merlin and NetflixVania posts have got me thinking about this observation again.
We now have a crop of professional TV writers who can’t imagine characters that believe in a god (any god), even if such a belief is internally consistent with the story.
Instead, belief gets swapped out with Reddit-tier atheism, and causes a thematic break between the characters and their world.
It’s jarring, and it reduces the characters to shallow mouthpieces.
The "fish don't notice the water they're swimming in" argument for artists, until very recently, was that the water here involved foundational concepts particular to Christianity, which combined the worth of the individual soul with things like honor, duty, and sacrifice.
For a while, artists who believed in different mores were still "breathing" this environment, and it leaked into their work. These days, that water is basically gone. We're in an interesting period where it's easier to see who believes what, and what they think can be dispensed with.
Given that, it's maybe less surprising that so many people are subjecting artists to purity tests.
27
196
2,020
51,115
Jack would be inspired to do the right thing by Norrington’s sense of honor & duty. He’d see the value in serving something other than himself.
Again, it’s already part of his arc, but would be more meaningful if he learned it from an enemy, rather than an old friend’s son.
3/
2
12
1,890
70,516
When we think of the greatest movies, they aren’t about women going to college and having careers. No, they’re about three desperadoes on the hunt for buried Confederate gold. This is what our hearts yearn for.
When we think of the greatest movies, they aren’t about women going to college and having careers. No, they’re about a woman and man falling in love with each other (Pride and Prejudice, Sound of Music…) and marrying then maybe even having babies. This is what our hearts yearn for, not for careers. God put this yearning in our hearts, because He created us for this.
74
205
1,792
129,320
NetflixVania is also stupidly inconsistent with it.
Holy water works, and they even use an undead bishop to bless the river around the Castle to turn it into a death trap for rival vampires.
What’s the secular explanation on that one, I wonder?
24
40
1,860
36,529
Like most men in my family, dad was Navy. He was a tin-can sailor, a machinist’s mate on a destroyer.
He didn’t see any direct action, according to his DD-214, so he didn’t have any war stories.
But he did have an “almost war” story. One he had every right to be proud of.
1/
RIP, Dad.
You didn’t have to be so tough, especially at the end.
But I’m glad you always were. Especially at the beginning.
62
120
1,629
314,910
I’m torn, bros. Absolutely torn.
Who should I listen to? One of the greatest scholars, authors, and lay theologians of the 20th Century?
Or some random internet girl?
Comic books, cartoons, anime and “graphic novels” are for children. Would rather a guy who watches porn than reads that crap, at least he’s a red blooded male, not an infant.
52
191
1,460
51,051
It's not about "feeling" justified. It's about the fact that killing is sometimes necessary for the greater good, and much of mainstream entertainment ties itself into knots to avoid contending with that idea.
Example: The Joker used to be a goofy, clown-themed bank robber. It made sense for Batman to just beat him up and put him in jail.
But the Joker has been written as a psychopathic mass murderer for decades now. Every time Batman puts him in Arkham, he escapes and kills more people.
Under that paradigm, the only moral choice is to kill the Joker, to preserve the lives of all the innocents he will undoubtedly kill next time.
But DC isn't about to kill off a cash cow like Joker, so the writers are forced to justify keeping him around with Batman's "no killing" rule.
I’m genuinely asking this question but like why do people on this website justify fictional characters killing people
Like am I alone in thinking that heroes don’t get to decided who lives and dies no matter how justified they feel?
97
110
1,373
44,406
WRITERS: This is gallows humor. The men in a dire situation make light of it. It’s also a statement of defiant resolve. They are NOT giving up. These (real) quotes are timeless.
There’s a difference between this, and a jarring tonal shift to make an ironic, wall-breaking quip.
“Retreat? Hell we just got here.”
“They're on our right, they're on our left, they're in front of us, they're behind us they can't get away from us this time”
“They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor bastards.”
All real, all said in similar situations.
21
81
1,353
71,364
One of the Western genre’s most well-worn tropes is “aging hero puts on his guns for one last fight.”
Somehow, Hollywood managed to explore this idea hundreds of times without making it a struggle session about how stupid the audience was for looking up to straight white men.
Lucasfilm might just be the only major Hollywood studio right now consistently telling stories of what it's like to grow old, confronting our beloved heroes' failure to live up to their former ideals.
In an industry obsessed with youth, we really shouldn't take this for granted.
35
165
1,130
47,693
Sarah Connor is compelling because she’s more than just “strong woman who kicks ass.”
She’s a mother driven to become a warrior out of necessity, because she must protect her son at all costs.
She’d rather be watching her son play at the park, but she’s forced to fight robots.
despite the massive ideologically driven push to make movies with strong female protagonists in the last decade, none of them even come close to Sarah Connor in the original Terminator films more than 30 years ago
26
121
1,143
35,158
“They’re monks. Of course they’re wearing robes, dummy.”
Okay, but like… they’re the EXACT same robes & desert garb as everyone on Tatooine.
So either the Jedi just randomly decided to dress like backwater desert dwellers, or it’s nonsensical, lazy art design.
Counterpoint: the notion of “Jedi robes” was always stupid.
Obi-Wan’s robes in the original film were just supposed to be desert clothes. Everyone on Tatooine wore them.
Space knights would wear something more akin to armor.
66
38
1,054
151,599
Worth noting: every one of my visible scars has a dumb story attached to it: pry bar slipped while trying to loosen something, walked into the edge of a metal shelf, etc.
If anyone asks about them, I will freely volunteer what a clumsy idiot I am.
17
5
1,062
20,449
Save the effort. I wish I did.
King hits the reader with one of the great opening lines, a hook promising conflict, reckoning, and a classic Western-style showdown.
It’s a promise DARK TOWER utterly fails to keep.
7 books. 22 years.
And no final confrontation or showdown...
183
68
1,111
45,540
Talking to another Fallujah vet last night, one of our old Platoon Corpsmen. We discussed the number of us who never fully “came home.”
High number of brothers fell into criminality, drugs, or alcoholism after we got out. A couple joined gangs.
1/
24
105
984
175,892
Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS isn’t a satire. Nor is it fascist.
Critics who say otherwise didn’t understand it, or didn’t read it.
So many replies show that people didn’t understand the movie and book are a satire about facism, militarism and propaganda and that no one is really good.
62
108
977
44,172
Some ideas are too powerful to be subverted.
A heroic man acting heroically against bad guys will be perceived as a hero. It doesn’t matter how much finger-wagging the creator does after the fact.
If everyone gets the wrong idea from your story, maybe you wrote it wrong.
No one ever stops to consider this possibility.
30
122
946
42,482
I grew up not far from Salem, MA. My 8th grade history teacher drilled the actual numbers into us.
19 hanged.
1 pressed to death (Giles Corey).
5 died in prison.
Total deaths: 25.
Total burned: 0.
Everybody writing #UrbanFantasy, everybody writing TV and movies, memorize this:
NO WITCHES WERE BURNED IN AMERICA
Not in Salem, not anywhere else. Never happened.
Some were killed in other ways, and it was a tragedy. None were burned.
Stop saying they were.
47
85
959
19,116
I’m not going to accept moralizing from Jane Fonda.
Jane Fonda: "Woke just means you give a damn about other people." #SAGAwards
23
72
940
13,231
The logical conclusion of this Reddit-tier nonsense, but the writers were cowards:
piped.video/E4xaUIg4w44
4
26
870
37,802
Used bookstore find to end them all, bros:
The complete Willie & Joe WWII years, slipcased edition.
Got it for $30.
81
61
786
22,218
Currently (80% reporting), the split is 52% no, 47% yes.
In other words, around half of those who voted think babies should be left to die.
This shouldn’t even be a question, let alone a close one.
This is evil. And we are an evil society for even considering such barbarism.
26
115
760
There’s an idea among the current gen of Hollywood writers that sincerity and courtly speech are “corny.”
The response is to make everyone talk like edgy teenagers hanging out behind the mall.
2
24
779
18,000
“H… Humans are the real villains of Starship Troopers. They’re expansionist.”
“The universe will let us know—later—whether or not Man has any right to expand through it. In the meantime, the M.I. will be there, on the bounce and swinging, on the side of our own race.”
13
80
730
22,226
Nobody is telling boys that. They’re deciding it for themselves, because the stories do not interest them.
The solution is not to shame them for their lack of interest.
It’s to give them stories they find compelling.
Exactly.
Who is telling boys that these books aren't "for" them? What's keeping boys from engaging with great stories just because the protagonist is female? Can you imagine only reading books that exclude half the population? No wonder they don't read.
34
43
737
18,148
My primitive monkey-brain is conflicted on Iran:
1. I’m burnt on Forever Wars. I don’t trust this admin—or any admin—not to let “support” snowball into another endless conflict. I want us out of it.
2. I remember Iran’s role in the EFP threat circa 07-08. Payback’s a bitch.
50
62
725
58,930
If they did a modern reboot of Last Starfighter, we’d get 10 streaming episodes, with 8 of them set in the trailer park. Centauri wouldn’t show up until episode 9, and the season would end just as Alex sees the Gunstar for the first time.
7
17
677
39,135
The main reason we’re seeing a strong interest in Homer among the young, perpetually online Right is he presents a form of honor & vitality that’s missing from modern life.
The institutional push for “Feminist Homer” translations & retellings in recent years is no coincidence.
5
17
657
22,936
It wouldn’t change the basic story beats at all. It would just give them more dramatic weight.
What do I care if a blacksmith’s apprentice needs to learn to accept pirates? It’s not a meaningful part of his life.
A rising member of the Admiralty, otoh…
4
1
610
32,509
Psst. Hey you.
Everything you thought was cool when you were a kid is actually cool.
Battle mechs. The Apocalypse. Land battleships.
All of it.
14
88
617
11,911
The Gadsden Flag was a symbol of defiance against the Crown during the Revolution, a statement that the king would not trample on his subjects’ rights.
“Lol, we’re the tyrants, sweetie” sure is funny optics, especially coming from the guys screaming “Hitler” at the opposition.
15
105
602
16,852
I remember when they opened combat arms to women. I got flak for saying it was a bad idea.
The standard counterargument was “if they can meet the same standards, what’s the problem?”
We’re about to see if anyone was actually sincere when they said that.
42
32
603
27,481
90% of the reading crisis for teen boys is subject matter.
Give them stories they want, and they will read.
Scold them for wanting the “wrong stories,” and they won’t.
Simple as.
Like I said the other day, Nephew was reading Halo books some years back. He couldn’t get enough of the game, so he read the books to get more of the story.
Sister wanted suggestions for what he should be reading “instead.”
I said “more Halo books.”
35
63
597
12,605
The reactions to this vid are enlightening re: the military/civilian divide.
This is a routine house search, by a squad of guys who (likely) get IED’d every day along this route. Not unlikely these guys have lost friends.
This is not abuse.
It’s professionalism and restraint.
A reminder of how American soldiers terrorized Iraqi citizens in Iraq.
My blood boils every time I see this!
51
32
580
23,750
Dad got a libo pass in Jamaica once. Left the ship in pristine whites.
He came back at sunrise the next day, still drunk, in his underwear, and carrying a set of bongo drums. He did not know where his uniform, wallet, and ID card were. He also did not remember where he got the bongo drums.
The Cheif restricted him to ship for the rest of port call.
16
24
589
18,412
I want to expand on this a second.
The Refusal of the Call has become such an entrenched storytelling trope that people (Hollywood writers) CANNOT imagine a hero taking action without first going through some personal wishy-wash about their feelings.
1/
I agree.
It’s an important beat in YA-type stories, where the protagonist is an untested kid. It represents the fear of leaving behind the safety & innocence of childhood.
Cramming it into a story about an avenging Puritan swordsman makes no sense.
19
93
495
111,440
You were always one of my heroes, Dad.
Not many men would’ve had the guts to stand on the edge, and take whatever comes.
You did.
And you taught me by example.
13/
15
13
497
7,482
Some years back, my sister called me for book suggestions. One of my nephews was devouring Halo novels, but he wasn’t interested in reading anything “serious.”
I recommended more Halo novels.
I can’t hold my tongue about this any longer. This idea that boys should read what they’re told to read instead of what they’d want to read is toxic and should go away.
Some time earlier, I saw a mutual of mine arguing with someone about boys and reading — namely, why fewer and fewer boys are reading. My mutual quite reasonably said that it’s because the fiction books put out by major publishers are mostly written by and edited by women. The other person answered with the idea that boys should read the books being offered from the major publishers because then they’ll learn “empathy.”
That, right there, is a toxic attitude to have.
Whenever the subject of boys and reading comes up, the discussion is always about what boys *should* read, never about what they’d *want* to read. The very idea of giving boys what they want is seen as a kind of social backwardness, an embrace of a toxic mindset. Boys’ tastes are inherently problematic and should be shunned, goes the thinking.
It never occurs to any of these people to cater to boys’ fantasies instead of disdaining them.
If you’re in a position to change this (most indie authors are not), forget ‘should.’ If you’re worried that boys aren’t reading enough, try pushing something they’d actually want to read. Not what you feel is good for them, but what they’d *want* to read.
26
21
513
34,292
Guy who sat out the GWOT wonders why GWOT vets aren’t getting hyped for GWOT II: Electric Boogaloo.
10
11
503
6,392
Dude is on month 8 of his deployment. He’s out of dip and Rip-It, suffering withdrawals.
He decides to throw a frag out of the turret and claim it’s an IED strike, just so he’ll finally rate a CAR.
The frag opens a secret tunnel, revealing a sprawling WMD facility.
The badass Tier-1 Operator Delta SEAL Recon guy killing shit in movies trope is overplayed
Give me some random 0311 Lance Corporal who gets into a situation and just somehow shitbags his way through the plot
19
37
505
28,686
The only way this will be even remotely worthwhile is if it’s a faithful adaptation of the book.
I am not holding my breath.
76
13
473
12,159
This is related to an old tradition: landless young men “go wolfing.”
They formed freelance warbands, living in the forest. They’d make an agreement with a lord to raid his enemies, in exchange for hunting rights, and a promise of nonaggression against the lords’s subjects.
12
43
440
29,258
Worth noting that one of the things Penny is on trial for is whether or not he was “reckless” in his use of a choke hold. One taught to every BJJ student on their first day.
If any of the guys the OP mentions has taken so much as a trial class, they’d be under the same scrutiny.
3
12
425
20,316
RIP, Dad.
You didn’t have to be so tough, especially at the end.
But I’m glad you always were. Especially at the beginning.
46
7
434
303,970
One thing I love about BLACK COMPANY is the pacing. Cook wastes no time. More events happen in the first chapter than some fantasy authors cram into half a novel.
The entire first trilogy clocks in around 700 pages, roughly 100 pages less than the average WHEEL OF TIME book.
72
28
433
24,351
It was a Bronze Age war fought with rifles, NOD’s, tanks and artillery support.
It was fought almost entirely on foot, and over territory that has known war since before the time of Moses.
5/
1
8
381
9,905
But he was always proud of the fact he did his duty.
“I stood up when they called my number. I didn’t run or back down. They can never take that away from me.”
Even if it wasn’t meant to be a lesson, it’s one of the most important ones he ever taught me.
12/
3
12
379
8,295
GALAXY QUEST is the best parody of Star Trek, while simultaneously being one of the best “straight” Trek movies.
Likewise MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO and the mecha genre.
What are some other stories like this, where the parody is as much loving homage as it is a piss-take?
52
24
371
19,908
I dreamed I was recalled to active service. My old platoon was assigned to the USS Constitution, where we were trained on her canon.
Then the ship was flown to a strange place, where we saw action against a fleet of otherworldly Black Ships.
What does this mean?
96
36
390
30,013
I’ll give you two:
1. The Refusal of the Call.
Some heroes face danger without hesitation. They don’t need convincing, coaxing, or an internal dialogue about it.
2. The Tragic Origin Story.
A hero can believe in things like Justice without suffering a personal trauma first.
22
39
357
56,396
It was an experience that put us in touch with something primal, something that connected us with our Biblical and Ancient ancestors on a deep, powerful level.
But it was also temporary.
A lot of Fallujah vets have been chasing that feeling ever since.
6/
4
5
349
10,198
Watched SOLDIER again for the first time in years.
What struck me is how visually stylish it is. The colors, the lighting, the shot composition, the aesthetic…
It feels more like a live-action comic book than 99% of the big-budget capeshit movies do.
31
28
379
9,492
Dad never minced words about how lucky he was that day.
He believed, to his dying day, that he stood on the very edge of WWIII.
The only thing that stopped it was that the Russian captain decided to back down, because a crew of hardassed tin-can sailors wouldn’t.
10/
2
9
335
8,170
Andy Tate here turned 18 in 2004. Plenty of war going on at that time. And plenty of 18yo kids fighting it.
Wonder why he didn’t enlist?
76
20
331
12,270
General question for my fellow SF nerds.
In the Space Opera genre, what work(s) do you regard as foundational or essential?
If you wanted to point a new reader at the genre, what book would you hand him to say “THIS. This is what the genre is all about?”
138
31
340
24,708
