General J.C. Christian reads metafilter. Also, SCDB. July 23, 2006 1:07 PM   Subscribe

General J.C. Christian reads MeFi. Who knew?
posted by Zonker to MetaFilter-Related at 1:07 PM (107 comments total)

I didn't, at any rate. Hi, General!
posted by Zonker at 1:08 PM on July 23, 2006


what does SDB's comment have to do with some blog? Care to connect the dots for everyone?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:09 PM on July 23, 2006


SDB's comment is quoted and linked by that blog, which is one of the more notable ones around (in some circles, at least). Nothing earthshaking, but it seemed pretty cool to me.
posted by Zonker at 1:15 PM on July 23, 2006


That is absolutely incredible.
posted by brain_drain at 1:19 PM on July 23, 2006


"Yeah, I think I'll trust Den Beste over Juan Cole."

Oh, snap.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:25 PM on July 23, 2006


I found it difficult to believe that somebody with Steven's oft-brandished erudition and eclectic breadth of knowledge could actually have believed France night "nuke" the U.S over Iraq, so I went into the matter.

The "General" linked to the wrong blog post on the "Captain's" blog. (Apparently the "Captain" is Den Beste? I'm not much of a blog reader, so this is all too inside-baseball for me.)

The correct post is this one. That blog post was also linked to from several other blogs (some of them "MSM") when it initially appeared. Note that links from certain sites to that post are automatically redirected here by the denbeste.nu site, with the message "(Readers of the site you came from are not welcome here.)".
posted by orthogonality at 1:35 PM on July 23, 2006


Blogger reads other blog. News at 11.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:44 PM on July 23, 2006


the General is always awesome

*salutes*
posted by matteo at 1:51 PM on July 23, 2006


Is SDB a big deal in Right Blogistan? Or more specifically, was the USS Clueless? Because I read a lot of political blogs on boths sides (more than I should, admittedly) but never heard of SDB before mefi. And until relatively recently thought he was an apolitical anime fiend.
posted by bardic at 1:53 PM on July 23, 2006


I knew. The CIA knew. Matt knew (from the server logs). But the cabal... the cabal was not informed.
posted by Eideteker at 2:01 PM on July 23, 2006


P.S. - How do we know he is an actual general? Do you believe everything you read on the Internet?

Signed lovingly,
The Cabal

... or was it?
And if so, which cabal?

Yours truly,
The Cadre
posted by Eideteker at 2:07 PM on July 23, 2006


I'm not at all sure what's going on here.

Because I really want this to be more than petty blogmanship.

Zonker, care the elaborate on the, I dunno, fucking point of this post?
posted by Cyrano at 2:10 PM on July 23, 2006


Are we going to the mall yet, or what?

Pissed with waiting,
The Clique
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:24 PM on July 23, 2006


"blogsmanship" sounds better.

Fuck.
posted by Cyrano at 2:33 PM on July 23, 2006


Zonker is Gen JHC Christian.
posted by mischief at 2:37 PM on July 23, 2006


So some blogger I never heard of reads mefi? We've obviously hit the big time.
posted by reklaw at 2:45 PM on July 23, 2006


I know a no-legged dog who isn't as lame as this.




His name is Speedy.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 3:01 PM on July 23, 2006


I stopped missing Trackbacks when I realized I never read them.
posted by Space Coyote at 3:06 PM on July 23, 2006


Came across this yesterday. Quite fitting given this post:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/07/were_watching_you.html

Also, we know what you are saying about us (really, we do).

If you write anything about Newsnight, or about me, on a blog, I'll probably find it via Technorati. So for example, I know that there's a whole debate going on about Ming Campbell's performance on Newsnight - the question being asked is whether Ming is the Lib Dems' Iain Duncan Smith... see here or here.

The thing I find strange about all this is that often people who write blogs, or contribute to them, somehow think that they are involved in a private forum.

I recently came across a comment claiming Jeremy disliked recording his weekly podcast. I posted a response and the blogger seemed appalled - "the BBC's watching us - spooky" was his reply. But if you write something about us on the internet surely I have every right to read it and respond - that's not spooky.

I had to confront this the other day. We often have students with us on work experience. Twice in the last 6 months I've come across blogs in which people trailing the programme have written things about the team. When I approached one of these people, her reponse was that the blog was supposed to be just for her and her friends!

It wasn't the confidentiality issue that bugged me, but that anyone would think that we as programme makers don't have as much right as everyone else to read what you're all writing, especially if you are writing about us. So, what do you think? Stick it on your blog and I'll respond.

posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 3:32 PM on July 23, 2006


Who?
posted by Jimbob at 3:41 PM on July 23, 2006


Hmm this guy is kinda amusing. I withdraw my opposition.
posted by Jimbob at 3:43 PM on July 23, 2006


Is SDB a big deal in Right Blogistan? Or more specifically, was the USS Clueless?

I'd say it was. The site was always pretty high on Technorati-type lists and the Blogopshere Ecosystem. Even though I'm a 'lefty', I was a regular reader of USS Clueless until sometime between 9/11 and the runup to the invasion of Iraq, when he along with most of Right Blogistan went batshit crazy insane with hate and/or fear and started spouting that silly 'islamofascism' and 'dhimmitude' nonsense, along with spreading eliminationist rhetoric against 'traitorous libruls' (Michael Moore as America's Muqtada al-Sadr, really?), along with (of course) following the dictates of the Leader Decider in mindless lockstep... right off the cliff and into the terrible mess we have today both domestically and internationally.

SDB is a smart guy with interesting and thoughtful takes on things, as can often be seen on Metafilter. Unfortunately (IMO) on some more politicized topics, what he says is just plain wrong or are knee-jerk reactions (like his comment belittling Professor Cole that the General linked to).
posted by SenshiNeko at 4:22 PM on July 23, 2006



posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:24 PM on July 23, 2006 [1 favorite]


Guys like al-Sadr will be running Iraq soon in the best case scenario. Funny.
posted by bardic at 4:32 PM on July 23, 2006


SCDB was a big right-wing blogger for a while, but now he seems to have only a anime blog for some reason. I don't know why.
posted by delmoi at 4:47 PM on July 23, 2006


I read Metafilter too. But then again, you already knew that.
posted by blue_beetle at 4:50 PM on July 23, 2006


so... much... navel.. gazing
posted by keswick at 5:08 PM on July 23, 2006


bardic: yes. As noted, he seems to have thunk better of it.

On another note, der General cites the Angry Arab, whom I just learned i have non-intarweb social connections to, which kind of interests me!
posted by mwhybark at 5:39 PM on July 23, 2006


also, SDB, i did not see that post until I reviewed the whole thread. Laughter ensued.
posted by mwhybark at 5:42 PM on July 23, 2006


OK, I'm a little drunk (but it's Metafilter on a Sunday night [In America. Yeah, yeah... Whatever. Get over it, you Time-Zone Nazis. CDT! CDT!!!] so I assume everyone else is, too.

But even stone-cold sober (assuming you could get a time machine and warp me back to 1998 or so...) I'd still be laughing at Alvy Ampersand telling the oldest joke in the fucking free world.
posted by Cyrano at 5:49 PM on July 23, 2006


Hmmm. If I start a blog and link to MetaFilter with some snarky commentary, people will pay attention to me? Iiiiiiiinteresting.
posted by Gator at 6:02 PM on July 23, 2006


Steven C. Den Beste not a reliable source.

cus anime is teh s cuk.
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:13 PM on July 23, 2006


I think this is great and all of you cynics should get bent. This proves, and conclusively I might add, that hyperlinking actually works as advertised. THE INTERNET WORKS!
posted by OmieWise at 6:13 PM on July 23, 2006



posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:23 PM on July 23, 2006


Those are so fake.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 6:53 PM on July 23, 2006



posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 7:34 PM on July 23, 2006


I'm deeply concerned about the French.

I have to admit, that's really the funniest thing I've read in a long, long time. Oh man. I just forwarded that post to everybody.

In 50 years, you know, people are going to look back on this and say that the 00's were actually more crazy than the 80's. And they're gonna be right.
posted by nixerman at 7:42 PM on July 23, 2006


I'm sure the 10s will be more crazy than the 00s.

That BBC blog post was great, by the way. Even in this totally pointless meta thread, there is some good.
posted by blacklite at 7:48 PM on July 23, 2006


Uhh, so along with being a right-wing windbag, you also love terrible fanservicing cat-eared over-boobed harem anime? Great.
posted by blasdelf at 8:59 PM on July 23, 2006



I also like joshikousei.

So since I'm obviously a silly person, whose opinion is worth nothing, why are so many people around here on a hair trigger looking for opportunities to kick me while I'm down?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:12 PM on July 23, 2006


Because they don't like you.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 9:32 PM on July 23, 2006



posted by pyramid termite at 9:40 PM on July 23, 2006


It takes a lot of courage to be a white Christian in the United States these days. I, for one, salute the General.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:41 PM on July 23, 2006



posted by pyramid termite at 9:43 PM on July 23, 2006


Steven C. Den Beste writes "So since I'm obviously a silly person, whose opinion is worth nothing, why are so many people around here on a hair trigger looking for opportunities to kick me while I'm down?"

Yeah, I don't share Den Beste's views, but this is becoming unseemly. That said, it might have been avoided if you hadn't called written "Juan Cole is not a reliable source", or if after doing so, you'd enumerated any good evidence of that rather than departing the thread. That sort of drive-by is bond to annoy people. And the big-boobed cat-head (they're supposed to be cats?) schoolgirls are creepy.

But the pile-on, and kicking him when he's down, is just ugly. Den Beste's facts may be wrong, but we don't have to respond by being uncivil.
posted by orthogonality at 9:47 PM on July 23, 2006


SCDB, it was too difficult to kick you while you were UP. You seemed to tower over us - kinda like the girl in your last picture. All we could do was look up your very short skirt, and, frankly, it wasn't pretty.

Personally, I'm glad you're back among the Meta, even with that superfluous middle initial. You are most obviously a silly person, but your opinion IS worth something. If given the choice between you and some of MeFi's famous "Right Wing Wackos", I choose YOU, Pikachu.

Just be a little more careful, now that you know that the Snarkmaster General of the Left Blogosphere is following what we're doing here - I think we ALL need to be a little more careful.
posted by wendell at 10:00 PM on July 23, 2006


George Bush doesn't care about non sequiturs.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:47 PM on July 23, 2006


SCDB no baka.
posted by fleacircus at 12:39 AM on July 24, 2006


You could have chosen ahou, bonkura, donkan, kuzu, noutenki or orokamono, but you had to go with "baka"? Not a very impressive performance, I must say. (Shades of "Cyrano de Bergerac"!)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:45 AM on July 24, 2006


Can somebody explain the point of this fuckin' post to me? Who the hell is "General J.C. Christian", why is he a big deal in "some circles", and why do we care that he reads Metafilter?

I'm not drunk enough for this shit. Yet.
posted by Justinian at 2:20 AM on July 24, 2006


WEBLOGS, Justinian. WEBLOGS.
posted by Jimbob at 2:52 AM on July 24, 2006


Okay, now I'm drunk enough. TEQUILA.
posted by Justinian at 3:44 AM on July 24, 2006


fleacircus : "SCDB no baka."

Steven C. Den Beste : "You could have chosen ahou, bonkura, donkan, kuzu, noutenki or orokamono, but you had to go with 'baka'?"

I just figured fleacircus liked you. You know, like when a guy goes and gets himself killed to save his girl, and the girl stands above the grave, and says "Takeshi no baka!"
posted by Bugbread at 4:47 AM on July 24, 2006



posted by loquacious at 5:07 AM on July 24, 2006


So the story here is that an obscure blog linked to MeFi to take an unfunny swipe at one of our less popular users? And that gets posted to MeTa because...?
posted by LarryC at 5:36 AM on July 24, 2006


That's incredible, loquacious, I'm humping a robot RIGHT NOW.
posted by Justinian at 5:38 AM on July 24, 2006


I figured out Den Beste years ago.
posted by salmacis at 6:14 AM on July 24, 2006



posted by pyramid termite at 7:38 AM on July 24, 2006


Steven C. Den Beste: Don't worry, even though your opinion is worth nothing, you're in very good company here.
posted by absalom at 7:43 AM on July 24, 2006


SDB is pretty good when he's not talking about politics. Just like Lileks.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 7:52 AM on July 24, 2006


You could have chosen ahou, bonkura, donkan, kuzu, noutenki or orokamono, but you had to go with "baka"? Not a very impressive performance, I must say. (Shades of "Cyrano de Bergerac"!)

What can I say, UY is my favorite. And fit my intentions which were vaguely friendly. Which bugbread noticed but maybe he was being sarcastic, in which case I will purify him in the fires of my eternal hatred.

-- HellKitty9
posted by fleacircus at 8:58 AM on July 24, 2006


What's a Lilek? Sounds like something from Dr. Who.
posted by Eideteker at 9:28 AM on July 24, 2006


What's a Lilek?

A female Dalek, I think.


posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:54 AM on July 24, 2006


You silly. Everyone knows Lileks is a character from that old newspaper comic, Gasoline Alley.
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:19 AM on July 24, 2006


Not only is he a polarized wingbag, he gives Slayers two and a half stars and thinks Lina would lose against some silly witch.

I will say this: Europeans are unsurpassed at rationalizing that their failures are successes and that their faults are virtues.
That's why I really do think that if Sawanaguchi Sae were fully trained, she'd be a much more powerful sorceress than Lina Inverse.

posted by prostyle at 10:27 AM on July 24, 2006


This thread is worth it just for all the harumphing about how "obscure" the Jesus' General blog is.
posted by soyjoy at 10:57 AM on July 24, 2006



posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 11:10 AM on July 24, 2006


Attack of the killer B-dogs! Yikes!
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:41 AM on July 24, 2006



posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:51 AM on July 24, 2006


Lay off guys. I was into anime when I was 16 too.
posted by bardic at 11:56 AM on July 24, 2006


It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:59 AM on July 24, 2006


It's never too late to have a happy childhood invest the time to screencap your favorite moments of character and plot development in an attempt to express your relative emotions on a messageboard. Or archive cat-eared-flat-shaded-boobies. Take your pick.

posted by prostyle at 12:13 PM on July 24, 2006


But when I was into this stuff it was all dystopian nightmare like Akira and Fist of the North Star. Now it's creepy.

WHAT
THE
FUCK
JAPAN?
posted by bardic at 12:25 PM on July 24, 2006


In all seriousness though, anime is for children and it's really depressing when adults are into it.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:31 PM on July 24, 2006 [1 favorite]


Except, or course, the anime that's for adults. Remember, cartoons are inherently childish...
posted by hototogisu at 12:57 PM on July 24, 2006



posted by bob sarabia at 1:18 PM on July 24, 2006


is this /b?
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 1:39 PM on July 24, 2006


now take this latest picture. How on earth is that childish?
posted by hototogisu at 1:46 PM on July 24, 2006


This thread is going in an ... interesting direction.
posted by Stauf at 2:37 PM on July 24, 2006


Jesus. Jesus Christ. Are those animated ones actual anime??!!??
posted by orthogonality at 2:51 PM on July 24, 2006


Yeah, but they're only typical of certain genres. Anime is extremely varied, and despite the sophisticated sniff of Optimus Chyme above, it is by no means the case that all of it is intended for kids.

There's a large segment which amounts to animated porn, but that's not what I'm talking about. There are a lot of stories which are definitely told about and for adults. I'm thinking in particular of Banner of the Stars (an outstanding science fiction series which puts Galactica, Star Wars, and Star Trek utterly to shame) and Haibane Renmei, which fits into no genre I can think of.

Banner of the Stars is certainly not for kids, simply because it's far too violent and terrifying. The last three episodes of it show the most intense and terrifying naval battle I've ever seen in any entertainment medium of any kind.

Haibane Renmei couldn't be more different. There's no violence, no sex, but it too is not for kids because it tells a story about subjects kids aren't really old enough to understand. (I can't really be more specific without giving things away.) If you want to see some non-spoiler screen grabs from Haibane Renmei, here they are. (They're all from the first half of the first episode.)

This is a description of some of the scenario based on plot exposition from the first two episodes. It's a bit of a spoiler.

I really pity people like Optimus Chyme, because they don't know what they're missing. Sturgeon's Law applies to anime just as it does to everything else, but among the 10% non-crap there's some damned good stuff.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:56 PM on July 24, 2006


Did 4chan invade MetaTalk?
posted by ryoshu at 4:21 PM on July 24, 2006


I have no idea why I'm getting into this, but what I would say is that anime and manga are no more and no less childish than American comics and animation.

I'll leave it to the reader to determine how childish that makes both of them, but seeing partisans of either form going on about how much more mature and sophisticated their chosen cartoons are than those made on the other side of the ocean is always amusing, in an annoying sort of way.

(No, I'm not aiming that at anyone here, unless Optimus Chyme is one of those people who pontificates at length about the epic depth and emotional power of certain X-Men story arcs, which I'm pretty sure he isn't. It's more just general venting brought about by having seen so much of it.)
posted by a louis wain cat at 4:49 PM on July 24, 2006


I really pity people like Optimus Chyme, because they don't know what they're missing.

I don't. Fuck 'em.
posted by eyeballkid at 5:33 PM on July 24, 2006


I have a question. Why do anime characters always look like Precious Moments dolls?
posted by LarryC at 5:50 PM on July 24, 2006


For those who think anime is made for children, or have never experienced anime they consider to be truely 'art', now would be the time to purchase Serial Experiments Lain, and be amazed, enlightened and confused (in roughly that order). Then, post an AskMe about what the fuck its all about, as I sure as hell would like to know.
posted by MetaMonkey at 5:51 PM on July 24, 2006


honestly, guys! anime isn't just for greasy, overweight 30-year-old pedos still living in their mother's basement! it's also for greasy, skinny 30-year-old cube-dwelling pedos!
posted by keswick at 5:56 PM on July 24, 2006


Ok, Steven, I know I shouldn't ask, but what's the deal with the day-care-age kids attacking and pummeling the mature woman's breasts, breasts so enlarged and doughy that the kids' hands disappear in the breast-flesh? What serious plot-point is being driven by that?

Or the kittens attacking a screaming short-skirted girl's panty-area and apparently licking it? Or the teenage girls with giant breasts and cat ears, wearing corsets and zombiefied expression?
posted by orthogonality at 6:05 PM on July 24, 2006


anime isn't just for greasy, overweight 30-year-old pedos still living in their mother's basement! it's also for greasy, skinny 30-year-old cube-dwelling pedos!

Let's see if we can twist that a bit:

[being an active member of an online community] isn't just for greasy, overweight 30-year-old [losers] still living in their mother's basement! it's also for greasy, skinny 30-year-old cube-dwelling [well, losers...]

Because, you know, that's what a lot of people would think about us.

They'd be wrong in a vast majority of the cases. But so are you and Optimus Chyme. I'm not saying your opinions are wrong. If you don't like something, well, then you don't like it. Fine. But there's no reason to mix condescension and ignorance with some Kool-Aid and expect anyone else to drink it. You're being dicks and you know it.

Stop that.
posted by Cyrano at 6:30 PM on July 24, 2006


I don't recognize the scene or the characters (and I didn't post that first animated GIF), but my guess is that it's from "Onegai Twins", which is part of the Sturgeon's 90% that's crap. I also don't recognize the second animated GIF file.

The pictures I posted were respectively from "Bottle Fairy", "Stratos 4 OVA", "UFO Princess Valkyrie", "Colorful", and "Martian Successor Nadesico".

UFO Princess Valkyrie is a silly series. Those catgirl maids are human girls who were converted to catgirls by a hightech gun wielded by a character named Sanada, who is the chief maid of the royal family of the planet Valhalla, who is devoted servant of Valkyrie, the UFO Princess from the title, who was fleeing from an arranged marriage on her home planet and crashed on the Earth, nearly killing the series protagonist, a guy named Kazuto. In order to prevent him from dying, she gave him half her soul, which caused her to change to about 7 years old physically and mentally. It is a very silly series, and in fact not at all good. I haven't written my review of it yet, but I intend to pan it.

About the only good thing about the series is the fan service, mostly offered by the catgirl maids and by various princesses from Valhalla (there are 8 all told). It is a very silly series. (But I want that gun!)

Did I mention Sturgeon's Law?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:31 PM on July 24, 2006


orthogonality wrote "I know I shouldn't ask"
posted by orthogonality at 6:35 PM on July 24, 2006


They laughed at Picasso-chan.
posted by bardic at 6:36 PM on July 24, 2006


MetaMonkey: Here's what I think Lain is about. (LOTS of spoilers)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:36 PM on July 24, 2006


Orthogonality, I didn't even mention the other princess who also gets turned into a little girl, or the miko who's in love with Kazuto and has magical powers, or the space pirates...

And just to show that success and quality don't correlate, it turns out there were three sequel series. Ye Gods.

Have we utterly derailed this thread yet?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 7:10 PM on July 24, 2006


Steven C. Den Beste: Not until live-action Urotsukidoji has been discussed.
posted by ryoshu at 7:23 PM on July 24, 2006


Bleh.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 7:25 PM on July 24, 2006


One time, my friend and I watched this anime he got from his dad where a guy raped a fairie with a penis mushroom. The title was the name of some submissive female character in the story, like 'blue' or 'dog' or something. His dad is kinda sick.
posted by bob sarabia at 8:12 PM on July 24, 2006


I don't like the style of Japanese animation in general. Or what I have seen of it.

I have caught a few movies on cable over the years like Akira (or something like that?) and I hated them all. But I haven't seen anything that seemed to make any sense either. Everything I have seen has been about 1/2 as sensible as Leonard Part 6.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 8:22 PM on July 24, 2006


And anime fans... and I don't mean just anyone that likes it, but the hardcore obsessed types... creepy as hell. Way weirder than furries.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 8:24 PM on July 24, 2006


Whoa dude, weird, ya. Weirder than furries? I don't think so. Unless you're talking about the guys that like that stuff with girls being disemboweled and raped by tentacles with horns and penis nipples and shit.
posted by bob sarabia at 8:34 PM on July 24, 2006


The gulf between anime and manga is enormous. I used to think anime was childish. Then I got into anime, and no longer found it childish. Then I moved to Japan, and saw more, and realized: I was right the first time. It's like Sturgeon's Law gone mad. 99.9999% of it is crap.

Manga, though, fits Sturgeon's Law a bit better: about 90% is crap. But considering the collossal amounts produced, that means there's quite a bit of good stuff.
posted by Bugbread at 8:49 PM on July 24, 2006


I have a question. Why do anime characters always look like Precious Moments dolls?

Er... Why do the Percious Moments dolls look like the aliens in my nightmares?
posted by Stauf at 9:10 PM on July 24, 2006


Precious... damnit
posted by Stauf at 9:10 PM on July 24, 2006


Just remember: there were no color gunsite films used during WWII. There's a nice test of Den Beste's credibility.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:36 AM on July 25, 2006


Looks like we are moving past the gif phase of this thread, and getting to the part where we unearth ancient grudges. Pay atention, new members, this is where the bodies are buried.
posted by LarryC at 7:25 AM on July 25, 2006





posted by absalom at 11:23 PM on July 25, 2006


« Older is this site installing malware   |   youlikeme seems to be a spammer Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments