September 19, 2017

But you've been using violence against women (and children and men) to entertain people for half a century.


Maybe this is a takes-one-to-know-one situation, but I can barely think of a person who is more implicated in the popularization of the use of images of violence for the casual amusement of the American people.

And if you want to talk about men making entertainment out of terrible things done to  women, look at Stephen King's new book (co-written with his son), "Sleeping Beauties," reviewed here (in The Washington Post):
“Sleeping Beauties” takes place in the little Appalachian town of Dooling, W.Va., which for no apparent reason becomes ground zero of a worldwide gyno-epidemic, known as the Aurora Flu: The moment any woman falls asleep, she’s immediately covered in a sticky white cocoon, like a full-body cotton-candy wrap. What’s worse, terrified family members who break open these cocoons find that their mothers, sisters and daughters have transformed into bloodthirsty killers. “It’s, like, the ultimate P-M-S,” one yahoo says....
But I'm sure King would argue that he's not sexist. He's showing you bad guys who are sexist.
What’s... surprising is the novel’s grim gender politics. The Kings tell us that “hard right conservatives on talk radio were proclaiming the Aurora virus as proof that God was angry with feminism.” 
The right wing, over there, they are bad, like bad old President Trump, laughing about the golf ball.
We’re made to understand that that’s ridiculous, but the story doesn’t do much to supply an alternative interpretation. Despite having a female police chief, Dooling is a town under a dome, a place with little sense that we live in an era of rapidly changing attitudes about sexuality and gender roles. The novel’s theme feels just as essentialist as the spooky virus that always gets its gal. And the Lord-of-the-Flies battle that consumes the final half of the story reinscribes every worn-out trope about peaceful, constructive women and violent, destructive men.
I think that means King wants to be considered pro-woman. Fine. I assume he means well. But President Trump also claims to be pro-woman. He just also enjoys some laughing at a woman knocked down by a golf ball, and King enjoys 700 pages of women knocked out of consciousness and bound up by a sticky white substance. How could only one of these things be indicative of a severely fucked-up mind?

Hey, the WaPo reviewer, Ron Charles, made a pretty funny video about struggling to stay awake to read the 700 page tome:

148 comments:

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Did you see some of the responses? Like the end of his movie "IT" a pack of young boys rape a young girl.
Keepin' it classy, Hillarywood asshat.

Bay Area Guy said...

Oh my god, a golfball joke as a GIF, the horror, the horror......

It could be worthy of a Stephen King novel. Or maybe a short story. Or maybe a pamphlet.

Grown up snowflakes are pretty pathetic.

M Jordan said...

King is every liberal. They're all the same person: tribal, thuggish, self-regarding but not self-aware, name-callers, haters who call others haters ... really, what's the difference between astephen King and Ben Rhodes or Joy Behar or any of them? Nothing.

J. Farmer said...

Never been a huge fan of Stephen King's horror novels, though I have enjoyed film versions of Stand By Me, Misery, and The Shawshank Redemption. That said, King's half-memoir/half-writing-how-to On Writing is fantastic.

mccullough said...

King is a nitwit

M Jordan said...

"That said, King's half-memoir/half-writing-how-to On Writing is fantastic."

True dat.

mccullough said...

Americans love slapstick.

madAsHell said...

If the GIF roles were reversed, we would never hear from Mr. King.

Sprezzatura said...

"but I can barely think of a person who is more implicated in the popularization of the use of images of violence for the casual amusement of the American people."

"barely" = quite a bit of wiggle room. Needed wiggle room.

Especially since we're so enamored w/ watching actual violence (e.g. sports, though admittedly, not usually golf).

Althouse is funny.

Matt Sablan said...

King wouldn't even have been mentioned if screen writers hadn't edited his book to a standard horror movie.

Matt Sablan said...

What did King say regarding all the violent imagery regarding Palin?

Sprezzatura said...

"What did King say regarding all the violent imagery regarding Palin?"

I think that he was against her putting up images of folks represented by targeting bullseyes.

Or maybe I've got that wrong.

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2011/01/09/palin-aides-inane-bullseye-map-defense

Tommy Duncan said...

Blogger M Jordan said...

King is every liberal.


The humor impaired will always be among us.

Unknown said...

Trump's greatest talent is his ability to turn his detractors into parodies.

Darrell said...

Stephen King was a sick little shit who probably tortured little animals and had an unhealthy fascination with clowns. Nearing the end of his life, not much has changed, except the substance abuse problems.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Trump's greatest talent is his ability to turn his detractors into parodies."

His ability to goad the Left into transparent foolishness is remarkable. Not that it's a particularly difficult thing to do. But the battered wives of the GOPe have always been curiously reluctant to take it on.

FullMoon said...

Golf ball? Yesterday saw baseball, football and tennis ball gifs. Trump throwing baseball was kind of impressive.

FullMoon said...

Tough to decide which is worse, golf ball gif, or Melania's five inch heels.

tim in vermont said...

I hate to speak ill of a fellow Red Sox fan, but didn't he write about a gang bang with a minor girl?

I think what they really hate is the effectiveness of Trump's humor. And until Hillary swears off politics, she is fair game.

rhhardin said...

I don't want to get all literary on King, but the golf ball is a Trump remark.

World's shortest allegory.

tim in vermont said...

Hillary explained to us how tweets are equivalent to electric shock torture, so I guess it all makes sense.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I'm pretty sure King would be the first to admit that he has a severely fucked-up mind.

Saint Croix said...

Trump causes stress for liberals because he's president, and the government should be better than us.

So this idea that "Trump is just as bad as we are" doesn't really solve the problem.

Liberals need an illusion that the people in charge know best.

Liberals who reject God and put their faith in government are under particular stress.

rhhardin said...

Thurber on the split infinitive

Word has somehow got around that a split infinitive is always wrong. This is of a piece with the sentimental and outworn notion that it is always wrong to strike a lady. Everybody will recall at least one woman of his acquaintance whom, at one time, or another, he has had to punch or slap. I have in mind a charming lady who is overcome by the unaccountable desire, at formal dinners with red and white wines, to climb up on the table and lie down. Her dinner companions used at first to pinch her, under cover of the conversation, but she pinched right back or, what is even less, defensible, tickled. They finally learned that they could make her hold her seat only by fetching her a smart downward blow on the head. She would then sit quietly through the rest of the dinner, smiling dreamily and nodding at people, and looking altogether charming.

A man who does not know his own strength could, of course, all too easily overshoot the mark and, instead of producing the delightful languor to which I have alluded, knock his companion completely under the table, an awkward situation which should be avoided at all costs because it would leave two men seated next to each other.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

DB@H, that was absolutely not a "gang rape." It was all consensual, and Beverly initiated it, indeed had to talk the boys into it. Get over that already.

This, OTOH ... I'm just re-reading The Stand for the umpteenth time (now with new added content, yadda yadda), and I don't honestly see "politics" in any of King's works -- I mean, up until I stopped reading them, which is maybe 25 years ago.

Barry Dauphin said...

Maybe Kind is hoping to get into a twitter war with Trump.

Sprezzatura said...

"Liberals who reject God and put their faith in government are under particular stress."

They better enjoy it while they can, because, as you know, it won't be long (re forever scale timelines) before they'll be experiencing an eternity of unspeakable torture. Until then, the lucky lib devils get the good life, i.e. particular stress.

Grace.

Virgil Hilts said...

I think King is a good writer and I have enjoyed listening to several of his books, but in a number of them he gets really carried away with intestinal body secretions, uncontrolled diarrhea and other bowel-related stuff -- crap that is really unnecessary and adds nothing to the plot or the story -- its just gross and off-putting.

Murph said...

The brief summary of King & Son's new book sounds like a slight twist (only females as victims? how au courant!) on a book titled "The Fireman" by King's other son who writes under the name Joe Hill.

From the amazon page: "...novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman. ...a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames."

Virgil Hilts said...

Here is a nice summary of some of King's sickest sex scenes, including a wet dream where the main character fantasizes assisting a concentration camp commander in a torture-rape of a 16-year-old Jewish girl. http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/top-5-sickest-stephen-king-sex-scenes-nsfw-6371394

Fernandinande said...

Trump thinks hitting a woman with a golf ball and knocking her down is funny.

It was funny, you sexist little prig.

But Trump ended his UN speech referring to some King-like ghosts 'n' superstitions:

"We will fight together, sacrifice together, and stand together for peace, for freedom, for justice, for family, for humanity, and for the almighty God who made us all. Thank you, God bless you, God bless the nations of the world, and God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much."

+

"God bless the nations of the world, and God bless the United States of America."

Does the US get blessed the same amount as the some generic or shitty country, like North Korea, or do we get more blessings cuz we're better?

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
buwaya said...

"Does the US get blessed the same amount as the some generic or shitty country, like North Korea, or do we get more blessings cuz we're better?"

The US gets blessed more because many of its people still care for that.
Other countries may be more blessed in fact (Israel possibly), but you don't hear so much about it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The Hillary trips and falls clip is real, and is DANG funny.
That someone made it funnier with a golf ball - is even funnier if it makes a proggie wet his pants.

Michael K said...

Especially since we're so enamored w/ watching actual violence (e.g. sports

Shiloh never ceases to amuse. Do you also have footies and drink hot chocolate with your parents as you try to convince them Obamacare works ?

I prefer the Trump football video

Don't tell Shiloh as he might be triggered with all that violence,.

tim in vermont said...

I'm just re-reading The Stand for the umpteenth time

Holy crap! I tried to read it once and it was like some kid had to write a 25 page paper with 5 pages worth of ideas. Streeeehtch! Leave something to the imagination Stephen! I can't believe anybody could read it twice!

Sprezzatura said...

Doc Mike,

No sugar beverages. Bad for Ketosis. Otherwise, you nailed it....as you always do.

tim in vermont said...

" It was all consensual, and Beverly initiated it,

Ummm. "Beverly" didn't initiate anything, "Beverly" is a fictional character whose every move came from King's sick mind, a "consensual" gang bang? Maybe for an adult, not for a child. It was a fantasy child rape.

tim in vermont said...

Liberals need an illusion that the people in charge know best.

Especially TTR, he prattles on about it endlessly, that and our resentment at the people who "know best." I figure that government is about muddling through, and if you can do that without getting into any wars, or disrupting the budget, you are a good enough president.

Bay Area Guy said...

The funny thing about the GIF is Hillary tripping, not the golf ball swing.

King must have been traumatized by Moe, Larry & Curley -- all that violence.

King is a humorless clown.

Matt Sablan said...

Even if Bev initiated it, I don't think any of those kids can give consent. Not only that, but her idea of "love" is so radically screwed up by her father/stepfather (King contradicts himself on this through the book at a few places) that kid Bev doesn't really know what she's doing.

Not only that, I don't think Bev gave consent any more than any of the kids did when some magical force gave them a shove to do magic. Stan with his bird book, Eddie telling his mother off and turning the inhaler into battery acid, Richie during the Ritual, so-on, so-forth. Every time one of the characters gets a magical assist, we're told about how out of body they are, and how different they act (look at King's description of Bev getting a magical assist with the screenshot, so transfixed by the magical thing helping her out she doesn't realize she's burst out of her shirt.)

Matt Sablan said...

Slingshot, not screenshot.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

"... but I can barely think of a person who is more implicated in the popularization of the use of images of violence for the casual amusement of the American people."

Dating yourself or just not much of a movie fan?

(1) Quentin Tarantino
(2) David Lynch
(3) Suzanne Collins
(4) Anne Rice
(5) George R. R. Martin
(6) J.K. Rowling
(7) Martin Scorsese
(8) Robert Rodriguez
(9) Joel and Ethan Coen
(10) Stephenie Meyer
(11) Stanley Kubrick
(12) Stan Lee
(13) Thomas Harris
(14) Paul Verhoeven
(15) Wes Craven
(16) Clint Eastwood
(17) Oliver Stone
(18) Peter Jackson
(19) George Lucas
(20) Roman Polanski
(21) David Cronenberg
(22) Sylvester Stallone
(23) Margaret Atwood
(24) Steig Larsson
(25) E. L. James

Matt Sablan said...

Honestly, narratively, I don't see what the "let's all bang Bev" adds that the blood oath they do about 15-20 pages later doesn't.

Matt Sablan said...

In fact, the sex scene is weird narratively. Part of their power, according to the adult timeline, is that they're still, in some ways, children. It lures them back thinking that they're too adult to harm it, and they have to overcome their adult-ness to regress to fight It effectively. Ritchie gets his glasses back, Eddie breaks his arm again, etc.

So... the sex scene is weird because it is the magical power that has been guiding them screwing them over by telling them to give up a part of their kid-ness. And yes, a magical other is guiding them here, because it tells them that doing this will help Eddie get his magical navigation powers back (a power King's fond of, by the way, as it also shows up in Dreamcatcher.)

The blood oath works so much better narratively.

Big Mike said...

@tim, one has to actually work for the federal government as a contractor to appreciate how utterly incompetent the average government employee really is. The SSA is one of the few exceptions.

J. Farmer said...

Does the US get blessed the same amount as the some generic or shitty country, like North Korea, or do we get more blessings cuz we're better?

Neither. There are probably no such things as blessings.

Fernandinande said...

buwaya said...
Other countries may be more blessed in fact (Israel possibly), but you don't hear so much about it.


According to Andrew Napolitano, god is blessing Mexico and Puerto Rico the most.

tim in vermont said...

here are probably no such things as blessings.

Why take chances?

n.n said...

Liberals who reject God and put their faith in government are under particular stress.

Put their faith in mortal gods to provided and redeem. This is the major and irreconcilable division between the left and right, and why the latter are so wary of left-wing systems including Marxism and derivatives (e.g. communism, socialism, fascism) that form monopolies on principle.

It's a generational, progressive divergence.

J. Farmer said...

@tim in vermont:

Why take chances?

Not sure how you "take chances" with blessings.

tim in vermont said...

I guess if she can call me deplorable, I can deplorably laugh at an imaginary golf ball and her real fall in which she wasn't hurt. I have her permishun! I cain't hep it!

That's not even my favorite Hillary fall. Imagine were she a Republican, those falls would be on TV every night, they would be mocked on SNL, etc, etc, etc... But my favorite fall was when she fell and a piece of metal, a bolt? fell out of her dress. Probably a. brace to keep her head from bobbing.

tim in vermont said...

Not sure how you "take chances" with blessings.

Well you said that they "probably" weren't real. So on the off chance that they are real, why not ask for one? It doesn't cost anything. Cover your bases...

You are way too literal, BTW.

southcentralpa said...

The really odd thing about Stephen King is he sounds so completely different than he looks. Some would say that means he could've had a successful career in radio had the whole writing thing not worked out.
[When there's a 'comment deleted by author' where your comment used to be, does that mean I hit a wrong button somewhere along the line, or that it got zapped by the Professor?]

tim in vermont said...

I didn't even notice the "against women" part of the attack. Yes, female politicians and black politicians are weak little flowers that must be protected from every errant gust of wind.

I. wonder how Khaddafy felt when he had that machine gun shoved up his ass as he was killed on Hillary's say so? "We came! We saw! He died! (Chortle chortle)" - HRC

tim in vermont said...

Watch this and tell me you wouldn't hit her with an imaginary golf ball.

Sprezzatura said...

"does that mean I hit a wrong button somewhere along the line, or that it got zapped by the Professor?"

Don't forget the gardener. He can zap too.

Anonymous said...

Reinforcing, once again, that Liberals have zero self-awareness.

tim in vermont said...

This kind of outrage plays only to the true believers, and even they only really believe in the cause of hating Trump, I can't believe they really feel outrage over anything other than making one more joke about the most horrible event in their lives, the loss of an election.

Kevin said...

Oh, it's not funny because she's a woman.

It's not Trump who's the sexist here.

gspencer said...

Arguing the hypocrisy game with lefties is a fool's errand.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Of all people, King is probably the most in need of the ultimate Virtue signal. He is likely an anti Semite , which served the same crutch for mental illness in 1940 as being anti Trumphite does today.

Jim S. said...

King's novel Rage, written as Richard Bachman, was about a school shooting, with a very positive treatment of the shooter (the whole class ends up siding with him). After several real life school shooters were found with that book on their persons or in their lockers, he asked them to remove it from circulation.

His novella "The Library Policeman" includes a detailed account of a child being raped.

It is about a creature that hunts, maims, and kills little children because their terror is so pure.

"Suffer the Little Children" is a short story about a teacher taking her students out of class and into a small room down the hall where she murders them one-by-one.

"Survivor Type" is a short story about a surgeon stranded on a deserted island who has to amputate parts of his own body and eat them in order to survive.

Nothing against him, but I just don't think he's in a position to criticize someone else as having a f***ed up mind. It's like a porn star condemning adultery.

Henry said...

Kings' best defense is to say "I have a seriously fucked up mind."

It's a good poet's defense.

tim in vermont said...

It's like a porn star condemning adultery.

More like a porn star condemning a stolen kiss.

Mary Beth said...

Matthew Sablan said...

What did King say regarding all the violent imagery regarding Palin?

9/19/17, 5:44 PM


This is all I could find in a quick search for something King said about Palin. It doesn't answer your question, but his characterization of her as being like his psycho politician makes me think he thought the violent imagery of her was all good and just.

"Around my house we kinda laugh when Sarah Palin comes on TV, and we say, "That's Greg Stillson as a woman."

southcentralpa said...

Third Grade Peanut Butter -- Thanks, wasn't sure if they were referring to the comment or blog author ...

J. Farmer said...

tim in vermont:

Well you said that they "probably" weren't real.

I usually frame it that way; I first wrote, "Blessings aren't real," but people tend to want to immediately start playing semantics if you phrase things that way.

So on the off chance that they are real, why not ask for one? It doesn't cost anything.

I do not interpret "blessings" as something you asked for but rather as something bestowed upon you. Asking to me implies a wish or a prayer.

You are way too literal, BTW.

Not nearly as much as you may think.

YoungHegelian said...

Works of fiction can only be 700 pages long if they're written in Russian.

Okay, maybe German (I'm lookin' straight at you, Robert Musil!).

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Neither. There are probably no such things as blessings."

I was going to note the oddity of that statement as well (it's still full of semantic squish). While I completely disagree with Ferdinande's say-it-now-and-say-it-loud atheism, you have to hand it to the guy. He won't be making any jive excuses before his Creator. Sorry, I know this isn't a theological debate thread.

Paul said...

S. King is just looking for a way to get his name in the news. For such as him bad news is better than no news.

Bob Boyd said...

"Myself, I think it indicates a severely fucked-up mind."

I think this is Stephen King's idea of a joke. He's trolling.

Ray - SoCal said...

King is just virtue signaling to show his right think.

Another example of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Jim S.,

Don't remind me about "Survivor Type." The guy is stranded with two assets: His surgical kit, and a whopping supply of heroin. He's fine until he chases a seagull, trips, and breaks an ankle, and the foot turns gangrenous. After that, he just keeps cutting more and bigger chunks of himself off. So eventually he has no legs and even no earlobes. The last graf has him (very high indeed on heroin) starting in on an arm. I can't forget the last line: "lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers."

That's not even remotely the worst of his short stories, btw. I've read two collections of them, long ago, and wish I hadn't.

themightypuck said...

The reason the gif is funny is because everyone has already seen Trump hitting the ball and Hillary stumbling getting on the plane. The genius was tying the two together. If Hillary had actually been hit by a golf ball it wouldn't be funny.

William said...

Trump is President, and King sells huge piles of books. Win win for everybody. Only a country that would make a writer like King a best selling author would elect a man like Trump as President. Who's the parasite in this symbiotic relationship? Trump used to host Celebrity Apprentice.

Sprezzatura said...

""Myself, I think it indicates a severely fucked-up mind."

I think this is Stephen King's idea of a joke. He's trolling."

Brilliant. I love it.

Let's take it the next step: Not only is King doing a DJT-onian persuasion thing-y (i.e. being a non-fact based asshole is great, again), but let's really follow this line and further suggest that King is doing an imitation-is-the-highest-form-of-flattery thing-y such that he's intending to honor DJT.


Cool!

That's some top-notch, winner contrarianism right there.

Laslo Spatula said...

"... bound up by a sticky white substance..."

The women of the Town are overcome by Bukkake.

Just spell it out, King.

I am Laslo.

rcocean said...

"I think this is Stephen King's idea of a joke. He's trolling."

Uh, no. Stephen king is a stone-cold fucked up Limousine Liberal. Like most millionaire novelists, show biz people, "artists", and writers he's 100% in favor of the Left-wing agenda/party line, except for the bit about "income equality".

Sprezzatura said...

sincerely


Ha

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

tim in vermont,

The Stand is good, as King books go. Yes, it's hysterically bloated, especially in the "new" edition (itself not all that new), but still, not bad. It's got a plot, which is more than you can say if It.

Again, you can't characterize that scene in It as "gang rape," because Bev clearly initiates it and indeed insists on all the boys coming to her in turn. So what if they're all eleven? So is she. There is no violence there at all.

A little OT, but how come the lesbian seduction scene of an underage girl in Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" gets a pass, but Milo Yiannopoulos' suggestion that underage gay boys might need/want older partners doesn't? It's not even an uncommon sentiment in the gay male community, but Milo is the only person I've ever heard called on it. The only complaint I've seen recently about "The Vagina Monologues" is that it unfairly excludes women without vaginas, i.e., men.

Laslo Spatula said...

Stephen King's "The Sticky"...

George felt his blood run cold, like a thousand cold needles raked lightly down his back, His beautiful wife Barbara was motionless on their bed. Motionless, and covered by hundreds of gallons of a sticky white substance. A sticky white substance that reminded him of...

No. You're torturing yourself, George. It isn't want you think it is. It can't be. IT CAN'T BE.

But what if it was? What if the sticky white substance that smothered his wife was... semen?

Stop it, George. There is no way that sticky white substance is semen. Sure, it certainly smells like semen, but it would take a thousand men to produce the amount that glazed his wife like a cinnamon roll...

A thousand men -- or, perhaps, one Monster. A Monster of horrendous appetites and an unending supply of jism...

I am Laslo.

YoungHegelian said...

produce the amount that glazed his wife like a cinnamon roll.

And to think that the cinnamon rolls were the only kind of pastry that was even edible at the local Paneras, & now that's just been forever ruined for me.

Thanks a bunch, Mr. Spatula!

Thuglawlibrarian said...

Oh, that's rich coming from Stephen King.

Static Ping said...

I read The Stand a long time ago. I remember liking it a great deal. It worked very well for summer reading material during work breaks.

But, yeah, when you get worked up over slapstick GIFs, I recommend you seek professional help with all due haste.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW, even though some (many?, all?) here may not be able to believe it (and the following implication re yourselves): reading is for nerds.

S King = reader = nerd = not me = not DJT.

Mic drop.

Just sayin'

Mr. Majestyk said...

The reason the golf ball "hitting" Hillary and making her fall is funny is because it's preposterous.

eddie willers said...

A thousand men -- or, perhaps, one Monster.

Peter North?

buwaya said...

King is light fiction PB&J. And not very interesting or funny.
Beach reading at best (not my style), or if you are on a business trip and are trapped in a hotel over the weekend someplace where there is nothing but a bestseller rack to browse - granted that has been made a nightmare of the past by modern tech.

I have suffered; I was once reduced to a Sidney Sheldon novel...in Modesto I think.

Yancey Ward said...

It is utterly amazing to me to watch good liberals make complete fools of themselves. It is almost like there is some secret contest to see who can top who in the field of self-parody.

Yancey Ward said...

I was wondering if Laslo would make that connection, and he did- brilliantly!

Sprezzatura said...

"King is light fiction PB&J. And not very interesting or funny.............."

Okay Buw:

Your POV just bumped you up ten million points, re my estimation. Of course, from your POV, that may be a bad thing. [Ha: funny POV^2 thing-y there.]

I stopped reading King's certifiable (IMHO) shit-writing a hell of a long time ago. In fact, I've spent plenty of time biting my tongue while some of my (so-called) peers (i.e. young people (i.e. relatively young folk relative to you geezers in these threads [no offence intended])) jabber about his writing. [FTR re his writing, I grew out of it shortly after the grade that my handle here suggests.]



Anywho, at least my terrible use of punctuation, spelling, grammar and writing ability proves that I don't read = not a nerd = I (and DJT) win.

Ha!

Sprezzatura said...

This blog is awesome.



Carry on.

Sprezzatura said...

OTOH, re the awesomeness rating of this blog, it's a shame that my POV^2 instead of POVx2 error would never draw attention here.

Sometimes I forget that guppies don't go after Yo Zuri (no matter how slow ya go).



Sprezzatura said...

OTOOH, that is what makes it funny. IMHO.

Sprezzatura said...

I.e., from my HPOV

Ja Ja Ja! [as the rapist and killers say.]

Curious George said...

"tim in vermont said...
I guess if she can call me deplorable, I can deplorably laugh at an imaginary golf ball and her real fall in which she wasn't hurt. I have her permishun! I cain't hep it!

That's not even my favorite Hillary fall. Imagine were she a Republican, those falls would be on TV every night, they would be mocked on SNL, etc, etc, etc... But my favorite fall was when she fell and a piece of metal, a bolt? fell out of her dress. Probably a. brace to keep her head from bobbing."

Dress? No.

Curious George said...

" themightypuck said...
The reason the gif is funny is because everyone has already seen Trump hitting the ball and Hillary stumbling getting on the plane. The genius was tying the two together. If Hillary had actually been hit by a golf ball it wouldn't be funny."

Yes it would.

tim maguire said...

When Hollywood rallied around Roman Polanski and released a public letter supporting him, they made the mistake of alphabetizing the names so Woody Allen came first.

This is kind of like that.

rhhardin said...

The San Juan radar gives an excellent animated picture of Maria coming ashore. The trouble with NEXRAD radar is that you never get the second half when the thing blows over.

Maria! Say it loud and there's music playing, Say it soft and it's almost like praying. Maria, I'll never stop saying Maria! The most beautiful sound I ever heard.

wendybar said...

Steven King got brain damage from getting hit by that car...He is a mental case.

tim in vermont said...

stopped reading King's certifiable (IMHO) shit-writing a hell of a long time ago. In fact, I've spent plenty of time biting my tongue while some of my (so-called) peers (i.e. young people (i.e. relatively young folk relative to you geezers in these threads [no offence intended])) jabber about his writing. [FTR re his writing, I grew out of it shortly after the grade that my handle here suggests.]

That just goes to show you even a blind squirrel finds the occasional nut.

Rusty said...

Somebody makes a video of a cartoon golf ball hitting the presumptive empress of America in the back as she tripped getting into an airplane and I'm supposed to be offended but the cartoon severed head of the president is hilarious?

Rusty said...

Sterphen King has been a pompous dick for decades now. He went down hill after ,"The Stand" and even "The Dark Tower" series got tedious. It should have been a shorter book.

rehajm said...

Stephen King sits in prime foul ball territory at Red Sox games with his face in a book. He's a GIF just waiting to happen.

Tank said...

Trump is the most FUN president ever.

The country is still doomed, but at least we're having fun.

How much fun would President Vagina have been?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If corruption, money-grubbing, consolidating power for generations, shutting down dissenting voices, tearing down the First Amendment, and media-D whoring is fun - then Hillary is fun.

Brookzene said...

"But you've been using violence against women (and children and men) to entertain people for half a century."


Right. There's no distinction. There's no context.

tim in vermont said...

Right. There's no distinction. There's no context

You explain to me why it is so bad? Remember in context that if it were left to the media, the only way we would ever have seen that video of Hillary falling is if she were a Republican, and then we would have. seen it thousands of times. Re-enacted by SNL, late night shows, at the Oscars, etc. The context is that Trump has no media to carry his water, so he has to carry it himself.

I am sure that is a situation with which you are quite comfortable, unilateral disarmament on the media front, but we aren't.

tim in vermont said...

I guess the "context" is Trump has a penis, albeit with all that tiny fingers implies, which, you know, proves he shouldn't be POTUS right there! And Hillary has a vagina!!!

One of the roles of politicians at the presidential level is to be relentlessly ridiculed. If they have some disability, in this case a vagina, that makes them unable to be ridiculed, they are not qualified to be POTUS.

This is allegory, as rh suggested, but it is an allegory for the election, not a quip, and it just brings back the fury and the cognitive dissonance (How could we be so wrong?) one more time. That is the source of outrage, not a cartoon golf ball.

tim in vermont said...

"Violence against women" is nothing more than a pretext for their deeper outrage at losing, and nobody is buying it.

Heywood Rice said...

"But you've been using violence against women (and children and men) to entertain people for half a century.

Oh yeah, and what do you "use"? God forbid anyone question it or they are "politically correct" totalitarians.

tim in vermont said...

Maybe Trump should stop rubbing it in. But Hillary should go away. She is still formidable, given the power of that couple in the Democrat Party and given their army of toadies in the press and their reservoir of operatives they have on ice at the Clinton Foundation, using tens of millions of Russian money, BTW. She is the one who is continuing this campaign. She should shut up and go away. Then nobody would care, but no, she is out in the press criticizing Trump at least every couple of days.


GO AWAY HILLARY! The country does not want you!!! You can't win!!! Retire already!! Take your book as a first draft and re-write it, maybe with a mirror right across from your desk! But at a minimum with your webcam on and a little box with your own face in the corner. Take four or five years to write it! Take up skeet shooting! Put little Trump faces on the clay pigeons, get the anger out! You are stuck in Kübler-Ross denial and anger, though your little flirtation with overturning the election does suggest that perhaps you have moved on to bargaining. Get on with it! Depression is the hard part, deal with it, your country needs you to go away!

tim in vermont said...

So antiphone, you have a brain, do you really think that this kerfuffle about a cartoon golf ball is about violence against women? You are not actually upset because it encapsulates the election in a GIF? Trump's long-shot, her stumble?

Heywood Rice said...

So antiphone, you have a brain, do you really think that this kerfuffle about a cartoon golf ball is about violence against women?

Nice try, but that's not what my comment was about. The script flips both ways.

Laslo Spatula said...

King is facing his mortality.

He wants to be remembered, and remembered for more than crowd-pleasing pot-boiler horror books.

So political and sociological themes are woven into his later works to make them more 'significant' and thus worthy of the critics' praise. His latest work is Woke, people.

Stephen King's Life Matters.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

If only King was Gay he could get the love that Clive Barker is given.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

King is the Oscar Mayer of Lunchmeat Fiction.

I am Laslo.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Maybe King holds up Hillary as someone special, above all other women.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

King is the Hostess Ding Dong of desserts.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Bill Clinton rape = cool.
Stephen King's child rape book fantasy = cool.

Silly golf ball gif with actual footage of Hillary tripping like a drunken unstable fuckup = crimes against all wiminz, die Trump die!

Heywood Rice said...

It's all artisanal bologna at this point.

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laslo Spatula said...

Stephen King's "Fore"...

Lucinda never saw where the golf ball came from. She never saw its graceful arc through the air, over the trees by the gas station. No, she only felt the bone-crushing impact, a grisly impact that changed her life, forever...

No! You're still as smart as you ever were, Lucinda! Maybe a bit slower, and unable to move your right arm, but you are still you!

After the accident her life became a shambles. Her shakiness led to the death of three pets at the Veterinary Hospital...

I am SO sorry, Bandit! I'm sorry, Spido and Belle! I could not control the scalpel, and now you are in Doggie Heaven, and it is my fault...

No one was able to determine where the golf ball had come from. Oh yes, there were rumors -- dark rumors of a monster that stalked the driving range at night, a monster carrying a glowing red nine-iron. But those were just rumors, silly rumors...

WERE those rumors so silly? Stop thinking about it, Lucinda! Four women had been hit by golf balls in the last month. Four women! Lucinda told herself it was just coincidence, but that did not keep the cold fright from chilling her to the bone. Sure, THREE women hit by golf balls might be coincidence, but FOUR? No, there had to be something darker at work...

I am Laslo.

tim in vermont said...

"Nice try, but that's not what my comment was about"

Yes, I tried to trick you into explaining your ideas.

0_0 said...

When a best-selling author begins publishing books "by X and son/ collaborator", it is time to stop reading that author, because they sell their name but have almost nothing to do with the book.
Bleh.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I see nobody bothered to address Third Peanut's stupid link to a "news" story written the day after the Tucson massacre in which an ignorant asshat named Schlesinger admits he doesn't know what the difference is between a bulls-eye and a register mark. That's right. Our own mister peanut purporting to add to this conversation just dragged an article by a know-nothing from January 2011 into the present conversation without realizing how dumb the take is.

I wonder what PB would think of Target Corp's trademark!

This blog is awesome! Carry on!

Todd said...

Fernandinande said...

Does the US get blessed the same amount as the some generic or shitty country, like North Korea, or do we get more blessings cuz we're better?

9/19/17, 6:34 PM


Both. You would ask someone or something to be blessed by God either because it is already good or because you wish it to be made better (by the blessing of God).

Bob Boyd said...

A blessing is like a wet dream. It can be fucked up by a guy like Kim.

John Nowak said...

It does have the element of the bizarre. I'm not a fan, I don't think King's work is beyond the pale for horror fiction, but you'd think he'd have some sort of safety catch in his brain telling him that maybe he's not the best advocate for propriety.

LordSomber said...

"Complete the sequence, Mr. President…"

Bruce Hayden said...

"Americans love slapstick"

Or at least the part of America that loves Trump. It helps knowing that her falling down there was indicia of not being healthy enough for the rigors of the Presidency. And, maybe Trump was pushing her too hard at that point, with 3-4 campaign appearances a day in multiple states, while she could barely eak out that in a week. But, then, did we want another President who spent their term in office having maybe one event a day, so as not to get too tired, but this time drunk much of the time? Or someone who sleeps 4-5 hours a night, and works hard for a good 8-10 hours a day?

I am reminded of the Dayquill commercials, where the moms and dads daydream about taking days off when they get the flu, or are under the weather. Instead, they (are supposed to) do Dayquill. Much of this country can't afford for women to take days and weeks off, just because they are the weaker sex. And, esp if they want to be President. We now know what she would do with that 3 am call (from how she handled Benghazi, etc). She would likely be in a drunken stupor, then lie about it later. Whining about Trump being a bully just shows that she is unfit for the office (and the country dodged a bullet in electing Trump). King whining anout the Gif just reinforces that he is a whiney liberal, virtue signaling, instead of using logical thought.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Big Stephen King fan here, while mindful of his many flaws. The thing is, and Ann posted about this a year or two ago, that Stephen King has been had by the woke brigades. He opened his piehole to make some honest, harmless remark about some difference between, I believe it was, men and women, and the left ate his face.

So since then, to get back on the reservation, he's been marching left double time. His politics have always been leftish (pines for Gary Hart!) but he's at least had the self-awareness to know that others feel differently. From The Stand:

“Now Lord,” she said, standing over the towsack in her dusty yellow ... Broody hens and New York Democrats, my Lord, my Lord.

This being the world's oldest woman, a little old black lady in Nebraska who has been touched by God. Other such remarks are made by/about people in Maine, e.g. the counterman in DT 5 or 6 who literally puts his thumb on the scale while selling lunch meat to a summer visitor he finds obnoxious.

As for anti-Semitism, tradguy, you'd have to substantiate that for me, to avoid slander. Incidents or passages reflecting this may be made for the sake of art, but they do not give me, who would be sensitive, the impression that these are his feelings, rather they represent the states of the characters in question. He is, I believe, a lapsed Catholic, and probably addresses most of his angst that way.

Thorley Winston said...

I like Stephen King’s fiction (and I’ve heard good things about his advice to aspiring writers) but I’m not interested in his political views. Not because his are different from mine, I just don’t think he has ever said anything substantive on the matter and I lose respect for people who make their living with words when I hear and read them say foolish, nonsensical things.

MacMacConnell said...

I thought the golf ball GIF was Hillyrious, I giggle every time I think about it. Fuck Stephen King, fuck Hillary.

Pianoman said...

King has never been the same since his accident.

He seems to be fascinated with "end of the world" stories lately (Cell, Great Dome, and now this). I used to be a huge fan, but not any more. I will always wonder what would have happened with Dark Tower had he not been hit by that van.

Mr. Mercedes was *OK* though. Pretty good first effort for a detective novel.

MacMacConnell said...

Ditto on Mr. Mercedes and great casting.

MacMacConnell said...

Pianoman
Sorry, I meant the TV series. I've never read a King novel or seen his movies. Tried to watch "Christine", got bored. I just never buy in to the premise of horror novels.

MacMacConnell said...

Left Bank of the Charles said...
"... but I can barely think of a person who is more implicated in the popularization of the use of images of violence for the casual amusement of the American people."

"Dating yourself or just not much of a movie fan?"

Yes, not only that some played Nazis and Confederates!

Roy Lofquist said...

If "King is the Oscar Mayer of Lunchmeat Fiction" then Dean Koontz is the Maxim's of Paris.

Todd said...

I very much enjoyed much of King's early work as well as his Bachman stuff. I think the last thing if his that I enjoyed reading was "From a Buick 8". I have a number of his books since then "on the shelf" for when I can get to them.

His politics (as well as the politics of just about everyone in the "entertainment" industry (to include sports)) can be kept under wraps, thank you very much. I just don't care and all it can do is reduce my fondness for you when you open your piehole.

Pianoman said...

@Mac: Haven't seen the TV series yet, but I definitely want to. You'd enjoy the book; it's not a 1000 page screed, so it won't consume your life for weeks on end.

@Todd: 100% agree. I thought Buick 8 was awesome.

(Spoiler Alert)

As for the Bachman books: I found them very interesting because of their similar theme -- Man Against The State, or the Individual Vs. The Oppressive Group:

* Rage - Charlie vs. the Police
* Long Walk - Ray vs. the Major
* Roadwork - Dawes vs. the Highway Planners
* Running Man - Richards vs. the TV Producers/Killian

In each book, the individual strikes out at the larger oppressive government-powered group, and loses their life as a result of their actions.

You don't really see this theme pop up in King's books, but it's in the first four Bachman books. (Not so much in Thinner or Desperation.)

Snark said...

I think the golf ball thing reflects general American tastes in comedy. The videos that typically win America's Funniest Home Videos are almost always slapstick, somebody-gets-a-little-hurt kind of stuff, for example. So it doesn't prove that the president has a "sick mind", but the fact that the president does indeed have a sick, sociopathic, narcissism-riddled mind, on other ample evidence, should colour the way that people view the fact that he elected to share it.

walter said...

Mac McConnell said...I just never buy in to the premise of horror novels.
--
What if King expounds on Bad Lieutenant's suggested "The Left ate my face!"?

Pianoman said...

By the way -- King should just shut up and write. Same as with the Hollywood folks -- just shut up and act. Or sing.

Nobody cares about your opinions. We care about your art.

Thank you.

Bad Lieutenant said...

SK face-eating topic May have been as related here:

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/on-stephen-king-abuse-survivors-and-why-apologies-matter-shesaid/

After reading this shit, had I apologized, I'd have withdrawn it.

Jim at said...

"I think that he was against her putting up images of folks represented by targeting bullseyes."

Good thing that never happened then, isn't it liar?

They were targets. On a fucking map.