I could never unsub from ol' Dave, hell I'll put a clause in my will, making my subscription irrevocable. I had to put up with no hot water for 3 days, my hotel room is $39 a night . You could get a 5 star over here really cheap, of course you would have to be willing to be surrounded by Mongols.
Funny enough, at one hotel I tried this month, the water stopped being hot above the 4th floor! I had that happen to me once in D.C., circa 1993. Summer. And the manager told me, "you have a choice - lower floors, hot water but mosquitos. Higher floors, no mosquitos, but no hot water."
There's no way Mongolia is worse than D.C. in the summer.
It's plenty nice temperature wise, pretty cool mornings and maybe 80 for highs. This past Tuesday afternoon there was a real deluge, small hail, lightning and all. I said, WTF am in Texas still?
WHY SHOULD I SUB WHEN I HAVE BEEN ASKING U TO MAKE VIDEOS ON RUMBLE OR YOUR SECOND UTUBE CHANNEL!! I DEMAND my free content!!! Lmao: joking Davey! I’m gonna bug u into making more vids!! Ur voice; ur humor its THE BEST! I’m NOT joking… However_I will settle for your fine musings on Substack! YES; Idol worship is an issue! My mom believes and pushes EVERYTHING FOX and Trump says!! I’m rightwing; but not looking for perfection from a highly flawed but very whitty POTUS! #makevidsdavePLEASE! :)
Thank you, friend! Two things have to happen before I can make new videos (which I really want to do):
1) Be in a place with thick walls, so I can rant without anyone complaining to the front desk (this current place seems like a great match; I can't hear jack from my neighbors).
2) I gotta retrieve my good camera from storage (it's too expensive to keep in my duffel, where it might get banged around).
Thank you Dave for your quick reply. That means a lot. I know; I’m just teasing you a little bit **just friendly pushing you to make vids- because they’re very enjoyable and hysterical… but I know you have to get yourself situated. I know moving is not only stressful but it’s chaotic I’ve done it. I haven’t. I’ve never owned a home like you.( I’m a renter) but It’s all the same. It’s just a matter of degree how much chaos… But you’ll pull through unscathed. I’m sure of it!!
True, but you're on the hook for EVERY expense. I'm finding it wonderful to not be on the hook for anything, from food to wine to toilet paper, sheets, towels, bottled water, or repairs.
This old socialist era building called the Kharaa Hotel and Restaurant has about 2 foot thick concrete exterior walls, the interior walls are thick as hell solid concrete too. With newer windows the place would be a vault, it's pretty quiet as it is considering the outside sound level. New carpets would be nice, you can't have everything on the cheap. BTW, since your cabin in the woods debacle, it would probably be best if you didn't go too far afield, like me and Khaan are fixin' to !!!
Never tempted to unsub, just sayin'. "The Right" reminds me of the Groucho Marx line about not caring to join any club that would have him. I would be so over that if so many self-proclaimed "people of the left" were not certifiably insane. I welcome a shift of the Overton Window to the right as much as anyone but I will believe what I see. Musk denigrated the Big Beautiful Bill but I had high hopes that suppressors and short-barreled rifles would be removed from the National Firearms Act registration but knew it only took one RINO to kill the bill. Now it looks as if some staff person has killed the HPA and the SHORT act. At my age this sort of thing doesn't hurt me like when I was younger and more wanted to be loved but DAYUM if cynicism is not self encouraging. Stay well, Dave. Not many people that I care to read these days.
I hope you're wrong, but I was skeptical from the beginning. That one RINO needed to kill this bill may have been part of the plan all along. Common strategy. Overpromise, get shot down, come back with a bill with no "red meat" in it and expect the voters to be grateful for the crumbs left on the table.
Your point about the inability to accept errors, or forgive errors, either within one's own "tribe" or the "enemy" is truly one of the fundamental problems of discourse today. You nailed that, Dave. And that's what infuriated me so much about that dummy actress (was it Debra Messing?) who suddenly heard about you 25 years too late and then went on a campaign to get your book taken off Amazon. If she had an ounce of integrity, honesty and humility -- too much to ask, I suppose -- she would have recognized that someone like you is the best ally an actual well-meaning Jewish group can have in the fight against anti-semitism and Holocaust denial. You're the best example of someone learning from their youthful indiscretions, having integrity and then actually *debunking* Holocaust denialism/revisionism where it's at its most egregious and, yes, dangerous. It still pisses me off just thinking about that whole episode. It was Messing, wasn't it? Some C-list TV actress anyway, whoever she was. Fuck her.
I assumed the reason Taki wasn't more hands-on with Takimag was due to his being a bit of a Luddite when it came to tech. He's always prided himself for not owning a smartphone and reading real books over e-books, etc. But he can't be so tech averse as to let the children ruin the farm. Can he? Can he? Bueller? Bueller?
Since inaction can be considered an action in and of itself, Taki has ruined a good thing by leaving it in the wrong hands. His pilots have crashed his ship against the rocks. If anything, Takimag needed a distinctly male editorship to keep its character and remain edgy. It's become a plastic butterknife, a runcible spoon of a site. There's no more Cole, no more Goad, no more Derb. Sad days indeed.
By his own admission, Taki has turned a great fortune inherited from his father into a smaller fortune. It seems with Mandolyna the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, even if the politics are different. Generational wealth is often squandered, and Takimag's decline is a sign of that. I've seen this before. I knew a lot of rich kids growing up. And the funny thing about old money, even if lesser in fortune, is that it doesn't like the new money. The guy who inherited untold millions from his father's rug cleaning business resents the Israeli porn mogul next door who made untold billions producing rug munching flicks in Van Nuys. I always thought it was funny to read Taki's pieces where he complains about the new, crude, "ghastly" wealth of Russian oligarchs and Silicon Valley moguls. But there's no envy like the envy of a rich man pining for the fortune of a richer man.
Thanks! I recall these parties that my stepsister, who attended one of the most exclusive private schools in the city (think the Bret Easton Ellis salon of characters), would throw with regularity. At the time we were both in high school, she at an elite private school, me at Pali High. Every party would devolve into a vicious bragging session over who had the richest parents. I had no dog in this fight as my dad was married to her mother, my stepmother, and the household was well off. But my stepsister would brag about her father (whom I've only met three times), at the time a billionaire who lived off Park Ave in Manhattan. These kids bragged about how much money was coming to them, how many horses they had, who owned a Ferrari or soon would, who had a chauffeur and a Bentley. I just played Tom Wolfe, a fly on the wall, sitting in the corner and scribbling it all down on my mental notepad. The best thing is to have enough to get by, and if one has more than enough, that's good too. Because I've been with and without money, and a full piggy bank is always better.
"Hero worship" was foisted on me by my lefty friends. Admitting that I thought Donald Trump was a better choice than Hilary Clinton 9 years ago has apparently branded me the defacto red-hatted MAGA apologist in my social circle for life.
Just as annoying are the True Believers that shoot me "Trump is speaking at 8:00!!!!!" texts and pepper my social media with "Trump Just DEMOLISHED _________" links.
It's tiresome. But you know how that goes. I tell my nieces and nephews to choose your hobbies/avocations wisely and/or be low-key about them, because if you're a known stamp collector at age 11, you're probably gonna get stamp albums and other stamp-related bullshit for the next 25 birthdays and Christmases. Or until your elders die off.
Dave, speaking of getting pegged (no pun intended) for a youthful interest, I can’t help but think of a certain brilliant author who’s been pelted with dry cow chips from 1992 for more than 30 years.
A man after my own heart, I would have messed with the fragile pacemaker of some old landlord exactly like you did if they had unsubbed from me, if I was in a mood that day. I wish you had it on a camera. I am cracking up! Congrats on the new digs! I'm excited to see what you're up to. And yeah, nothing wrong with admitting you screw things up when it happens. I have no choice but to do things outside of my control, but I am definitely a better person for it. I do stupid or even petty stuff occasionally. I just try not to make a habit out of it & yeah I can be an asshole but not all the time. I really hope you start making videos again.
Me too! Once I find some stability - and that's what I love about the place I'm currently in - I can do videos again. The past 28 days have been chaos and instability. I'm enjoying the respite!
You will not believe this. You will NOT fucking believe this, but just today I wrote the Z-Man story, with NO idea that he died. I just thought it would be a good tale to tell in my next Substack, which I was planning to post on Monday.
Just...fucking...today I wrote it.
And now the prick is dead.
Well FUCK ME (as life so often does). Will my piece (which is, of course, negative) be seen as pissing on a corpse?
Oh but Steve Bannon says "there are no coincidences."
Well, I will likely post it earlier now. I was going to wait until Monday to give me time to proofread, but the Good Lord was like, "do it now."
I hate to say this, but Peter claiming "We didn’t even know that his real name was John Christopher Zander" is false. He's lying. I informed him of Z Man's real name in an email of October 15, 2020, because Z-Fraud was using a fake name to get paid by VDare. I'll include a screenshot of that email. Peter shouldn't lie like that. Especially as his veracity is at the center of the NYC case against him.
He was an master bloviator. A expert at unprepared blather. A virtuoso of representing uninformed opinions as facts. I did enjoy his “xeril science”. Honestly, a certain segment of the right has such a low bar to be considered profound. They are like the virgin nerd who falls in love with the first girl who didn’t laugh at him.
Think I mentioned that crazy story about Vancouver renaming a street into an injun word spelled in their unintelligible alphabet. You will be shocked to learn that the second order consequences are already underway:
I don’t understand the move backwards to languages no one uses. This Irish hip hop group, the one getting famous for opposing Israel or whatever, apart from their stage names they go by un-anglicized Irish names.
I was educated by nuns who made us learn the Hail Mary in Irish (which we called Gaelic back then but I guess that’s offensive or wrong now). Even I can’t make heads or tails of it.
So this band is getting an alarming amount of publicity but their names are reported as like Cobhghimn O Daegrihmnoall or something similarly unpronounceable. Not even the Irish diaspora gives a fuck; no one except the most unrealistic wankery Irish people ever are going to learn to speak that useless fucking language.
All that this rejection of English as a global language does is ghettoize people.
No one outside of a junior high enrichment class is going to learn a Native American language. Or Irish. Or Welsh. Global languages: English, Spanish, French etc - fine. That’s worth spending time on.This shit? No.
It’s a move backwards in everything not just language. One day after all traces of anglo/western history have been erased and the remaining population has long since lost the ability and knowledge to maintain what once was they will find hints of the past and wonder who it was who could have created such wonders. Like the early Brits marveling at the remnants of what Rome created on their dingy island once did.
It’s just bizarre because these people are being talked out of being able to communicate with more people and to sell more of their stuff.
I don’t understand why anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together would be up for that.
It’s fine to have this cultural enrichment stuff but pretending it’s a useful real world thing is silly.
I don’t think western culture is fully going away. Even in your example, the church kept a lot of Roman Empire stuff going. But it is shocking that people hate success and being good at things as a culture. The lying is bizarre too
A lot of people my age, their parents left the UK to find opportunity in the US, Canada, or Australia. The UK is now rebranding itself as a nation of immigrants that has always been one.
It’s not true; that starts after WWII when they need colonial people to help rebuild after losing a bunch of soldiers and war brides to the US & Canada. Like they’ve been emigrating en masse for 400 years TF are they talking about?
The lies are what gets me; it’s obvious lying. Being wrong honestly is one thing but lying to the world about your history & culture & what kind of education matters never ends well.
A big problem with politics is that the “base” ties its positions to its self-worth, making it impossible to concede even slightly without losing face.
As for the leftist, in true Marxist fashion, understanding is inconsequential to them; the only point is to remake the world in their image — an image shaped by the guilt-ridden conviction that the existing order is, by definition, oppressive and evil.
The “Woke-Right” fancies itself the righteous victim: robbed of its birthright by Jews and minorities, betrayed by democracy, and ready to revive the worst collectivist impulses — from Marx to Mussolini — to ‘save the nation.’
Note: This “Woke-Right” is not to be confused with paleoconservatives or the Old Right, with which I tend to identify.
Very clever trick you played on that unsubscriber and his faulty gate. I love doing shit like that as well.
It was great as a kid to do prank calls back in the day, and practical jokes.
My favorite these days is to fuck with scammers and give them made up social security numbers, like I'm some clueless old fucker who believes their bullshit. When they figure it out, they call me back and I scream and yell at them, then hang up and block them. Pricks!
Unlike Downtown, Century City has a beautiful skyline. I always assumed the collective subconscious impetus for the creation of Century City was all the transplanted New Yorkers in Beverly Hills wishing to have their own Lower Manhattan nearby.
Indeed. It's Manhattan, but exclusive in terms of, no public transport nearby, and those skyscrapers are connected via walkways that are multi-stories up as opposed to sidewalk access. And the whole thing is private property, so the bums can't sleep there.
My mom has a friend who lives there and absolutely loves it. The valets regularly drive residents to their cars in the underground parking lot in these golf carts when it's not close enough to the elevator, everything is tidy and well maintained. You simply can't believe you are in Los Angeles when you are there, because you ain't. You're in Century City. A slice of paradise. It ain't cheap, but worth every penny. BTW, if you want a good look at early Century City watch the 1978 cult horror film Blue Sunshine. Significant scenes were filmed at CC. You can see the old classy streetlamps. I don't think they have them anymore.
You kiddin'? I love Blue Sunshine. Along with the "origins" Planet of the Apes film (50% shot at Century City), there's also 1979's Racquet, starring Bert Convy as a "sexy" "tennis" "pro." The film opens on an aerial shot of Century City. There's also a great YouTube video - can't find it now - of a DeLorean being exhibited at Century City circa...what? 1981? And this black guy bangs his head on the wing doors and he's like "MAAAAAAAN!" And it happens in front of the India Imports store that used to fascinate me as a kid.
Another 70s horror flick I love is the quirky, disjointed, atmospheric Messiah of Evil from 1973. One thing I love about it is that much of it is filmed on the west side, from Point Dume in Malibu (the town in the movie is called Point Dune) to downtown Culver City and even a Ralph's in Burbank. I like films set in the year I was born, like this and the more recent PT Anderson flick Licorice Pizza, which is even set in the town I was born, Encino. Although I grew up on the west side, I still have a soft spot for the Valley where I spent my first two years and where my grandparents and other family members lived since the early 70s. Back to Messiah of Evil. They don't make movies like this anymore, not even bad ones. It was directed by a husband-and-wife team who worked with George Lucas, one of whom went on to direct the risible Howard the Duck. The film begins with future director Walter Hill running away from vampire zombies, only to be attacked by one. It also has a very creepy black albino. How many horror films have creepy black albinos? You can watch it for free on YouTube.
I used to talk about Messiah of Evil on my old (now banned) YouTube channel. I even mentioned it in a Takimag column a few years ago. VERY under-appreciated film; one of my favorites. If only for the supermarket and movie theater scenes alone!
The supermarket scene, the theater scene, the old drunk played by Elisha Cook Jr., the black albino at the gas station who offers the lady a ride and eats a beach rat (you don't want one?), the casting of a very gay actor as a playboy with chicks hanging on him, the avant-garde art in the house with the escalator mural, scenes of old Culver City at night with zombie vampires a'shamblin', that very 70s score. What's not to love? The two reasons I love old flicks like this is not just the story and the film itself but the time capsule aspect. Proof we once had a world saner and more natural than the world we live in now that filmmakers could use as a backdrop for their work. Just something charming about it. While I love the relatively crime free aspect of Culver City, which I live right next to, I still miss the days when its downtown was a bit seedy, and attending a horror movie like The Thing or Friday the 13th part 20 wasn't half as scary as the forty gangbangers in the audience with you. I remember how filthy that multiplex was. They simply didn't clean it up regularly. You had slippery pools of popcorn butter all over. You had to use both hands to grip seats on either side like the handles of a rope bridge when you walked to and from your seat. There was also much more of an industrial base in Culver and in Santa Monica where I spent years three to fourteen. That's gone too. I remember when Westwood was the place to be, going to Ship's for lunch and watching the Iranians protest at the Federal building across Wilshire. In those days Westwood was kind of a smart college town with lots of bookstores. UCLA students today come off rather dumbed down.
Bert Convy is one of those 70s stars it's easy to forget about, through no fault of his own. It's just that there were a lot of other stars out there as well. Bert Reynold's (the other Bert) sort of owned the 70s. Loni Anderson and Sondra Locke are also names that didn't last long beyond disco nor escape the shadows of the famous men from whom they drew energy. I remember a comedy with an all-star cast filmed in Century City, at least for the hotel sequences. The plot revolved around a hotel. One of those films with a seven-minute trailer where they have to read off the cast, "Starring George Segal! Shelley Winters! Pia Zadora! Claudia Cardinale! Sammy Davis Jr! George Peppard! And Topol, the Smoker's Actor!"
After you had a drink or two and while looking over a vast urban landscape such as the view from your hotel, do you ever get a sensation that you are, well, insignificant, and your existence is meaningless? And is that sensation the point where you start writing a book, or the point where you just give up and go to bed?
Now listen here, you stop the free articles or else the subscription gets it. I'm not playing around here!
Jokes aside, enjoy the protest free penthouse, will donate again when funds allow, got six coffees last time you posted. I know that ain't shit but hey, I'm not completely freeloading, work has been brutally slow this year unfortunately. Feel like a cheapskate only giving that much after that massive Taki's Mag article dump you gave us lol.
I always appreciate readership more than anything else. I know that donating actual bucks can be difficult, and that's fine. It's your friendship and engagement that matters. I know that sound sappy, but as Norm Macdonald once said, "if something is true, it is not sentimental."
I'm always happy to donate when I can, normally I don't think twice about it but knowing they didn't pay you for those last articles & you hooking us up with those cut segments.
I never put a name on when I donate & I was planning on donating again when I got my next check but I just got some horrible news in regards to my work. Felt shitty about it & felt the need to say hey I gave something even if it wasn't much to assuage my guilt for not following through.
I had my very own George Costanza tip jar moment lol. Sorry to put you on the spot like that, appreciate the kind words though, always happy to read what your articles.
On a side note, last time my work was this slow it was just before '08 crash, hopefully this isn't yet again an ill omen for the future. Its got me a bit paranoid about what's coming so I'm tightening my belt in anticipation just to be safe. Not that this excuses my gauche comment, mind, just adding context.
Honestly, I mean this - it's the readership that matters. The friendship. The engagement. I haven't lived the "party animal" life for a decade. All that matters to me these days is writing, and having fun, witty, crazy back-and-forths with the readers who've become my friends. That's what keeps me happy! I hope your work situation improves. Just keep reading! Thar's the best thing you can do for me.
That's cool & I get you, you don't have to worry about me not reading your work lol. I literally cannot think of anyone else who comes at things from the angles you do & I'm not saying I'm some brilliant person here but quite a bit of that is what's floating around in my grey matter.
Its like you take the vague impressions I have & flesh them out & put in a way I never could. That's to say nothing of the things I'm just naturally blind to or inclined to be an idiot with. Like Jan 6th, my knee jerk reaction was to think like every other conservative did about ir & that was the extent of my thoughts on it until I read what you said about it.
You don't tell us what we want to hear & challenge us, even if in the end I don't agree with you on something I appreciate the perspective nonetheless.
I value your writing a lot, you basically have a monopoly in a way as far as I can tell. That's why I like to donate, great work such as yours should be rewarded. You're also hilarious too, obviously, not many people can blend humor & analysis like you do.
I used to have a hobby / side hustle that few people did that involved meticulous & painstaking work that I did for spare cash & the market for it changed. Slowly it shifted to people only caring about cheap prices & didn't give a shit about the quality of the work. It really pissed me off because I had to stop doing it because its it needed to be a business for me to at least break even because it was such an investment. Thats part of why I feel an obligation to support your work in any way I can. I view what you do in the same vein so in a way I'm looking out for one of my own if that makes sense.
But, again, I gotcha bro, appreciate you & what you do, as long as you write & I have internet & functional eyeballs I'll be reading there's no doubt about that.
And yeah I'll be fine, I've weathered worse, just had my plans for the future dashed for the moment which is irritating. Ever since covid I feel I'm perpetually getting my progress stopped, first the lockdowns then the combo of trump-biden inflation which really hurt & now whatever this is. Nobody knows why its so slow right now & just seems ominous, everyone I work with is worried. Its wearing on me, trying not to crack like an egg over here lol. It is what is it is.
Sorry for talking your head off by the way, didn't realize how much I wrote lol.
I could never unsub from ol' Dave, hell I'll put a clause in my will, making my subscription irrevocable. I had to put up with no hot water for 3 days, my hotel room is $39 a night . You could get a 5 star over here really cheap, of course you would have to be willing to be surrounded by Mongols.
Funny enough, at one hotel I tried this month, the water stopped being hot above the 4th floor! I had that happen to me once in D.C., circa 1993. Summer. And the manager told me, "you have a choice - lower floors, hot water but mosquitos. Higher floors, no mosquitos, but no hot water."
There's no way Mongolia is worse than D.C. in the summer.
It's plenty nice temperature wise, pretty cool mornings and maybe 80 for highs. This past Tuesday afternoon there was a real deluge, small hail, lightning and all. I said, WTF am in Texas still?
"I could never unsub from ol' Dave, hell I'll put a clause in my will, making my subscription irrevocable."
I took the Kevin Bacon route and put a sticky NO on the Unsub tab.
It's certainly a rare pleasure, to enjoy a period of harmony and peace with you, Dave. Long may you recall this moment when your bile rises again.
Peace, when it comes, is a gift.
I love "the idle pleasures of these days."
WHY SHOULD I SUB WHEN I HAVE BEEN ASKING U TO MAKE VIDEOS ON RUMBLE OR YOUR SECOND UTUBE CHANNEL!! I DEMAND my free content!!! Lmao: joking Davey! I’m gonna bug u into making more vids!! Ur voice; ur humor its THE BEST! I’m NOT joking… However_I will settle for your fine musings on Substack! YES; Idol worship is an issue! My mom believes and pushes EVERYTHING FOX and Trump says!! I’m rightwing; but not looking for perfection from a highly flawed but very whitty POTUS! #makevidsdavePLEASE! :)
Thank you, friend! Two things have to happen before I can make new videos (which I really want to do):
1) Be in a place with thick walls, so I can rant without anyone complaining to the front desk (this current place seems like a great match; I can't hear jack from my neighbors).
2) I gotta retrieve my good camera from storage (it's too expensive to keep in my duffel, where it might get banged around).
That's all it'll take!
I'll try to make it happen.
Thank you Dave for your quick reply. That means a lot. I know; I’m just teasing you a little bit **just friendly pushing you to make vids- because they’re very enjoyable and hysterical… but I know you have to get yourself situated. I know moving is not only stressful but it’s chaotic I’ve done it. I haven’t. I’ve never owned a home like you.( I’m a renter) but It’s all the same. It’s just a matter of degree how much chaos… But you’ll pull through unscathed. I’m sure of it!!
I hate moving so much that I have only moved twice since 1987.
Moving entails so many ripoff expenses it hurts to think about them.
I'm not convinced owning a home is such a great return on investment, but at least no one can kick me out.
True, but you're on the hook for EVERY expense. I'm finding it wonderful to not be on the hook for anything, from food to wine to toilet paper, sheets, towels, bottled water, or repairs.
Hard to argue against that!
Much appreciated, my friend!
2nd YouTube channel????
Yes, please! I can imagine it now:
“Now, from Beverly Hills — overlooking the skyline of Century City — it’s the Old Dave Podcast!”
This old socialist era building called the Kharaa Hotel and Restaurant has about 2 foot thick concrete exterior walls, the interior walls are thick as hell solid concrete too. With newer windows the place would be a vault, it's pretty quiet as it is considering the outside sound level. New carpets would be nice, you can't have everything on the cheap. BTW, since your cabin in the woods debacle, it would probably be best if you didn't go too far afield, like me and Khaan are fixin' to !!!
Never tempted to unsub, just sayin'. "The Right" reminds me of the Groucho Marx line about not caring to join any club that would have him. I would be so over that if so many self-proclaimed "people of the left" were not certifiably insane. I welcome a shift of the Overton Window to the right as much as anyone but I will believe what I see. Musk denigrated the Big Beautiful Bill but I had high hopes that suppressors and short-barreled rifles would be removed from the National Firearms Act registration but knew it only took one RINO to kill the bill. Now it looks as if some staff person has killed the HPA and the SHORT act. At my age this sort of thing doesn't hurt me like when I was younger and more wanted to be loved but DAYUM if cynicism is not self encouraging. Stay well, Dave. Not many people that I care to read these days.
HPA and SHORT were there as a bait, I believe. Trump never intended deregulation of those.
Hope I'm wrong.
I hope you're wrong, but I was skeptical from the beginning. That one RINO needed to kill this bill may have been part of the plan all along. Common strategy. Overpromise, get shot down, come back with a bill with no "red meat" in it and expect the voters to be grateful for the crumbs left on the table.
When you’ve been burned so many times, trust doesn’t come by default — not just because a politician talks a good game.
"DAYUM if cynicism is not self encouraging."
Indeed!
And I greatly appreciate your readership, Kelly. Thank you.
Your point about the inability to accept errors, or forgive errors, either within one's own "tribe" or the "enemy" is truly one of the fundamental problems of discourse today. You nailed that, Dave. And that's what infuriated me so much about that dummy actress (was it Debra Messing?) who suddenly heard about you 25 years too late and then went on a campaign to get your book taken off Amazon. If she had an ounce of integrity, honesty and humility -- too much to ask, I suppose -- she would have recognized that someone like you is the best ally an actual well-meaning Jewish group can have in the fight against anti-semitism and Holocaust denial. You're the best example of someone learning from their youthful indiscretions, having integrity and then actually *debunking* Holocaust denialism/revisionism where it's at its most egregious and, yes, dangerous. It still pisses me off just thinking about that whole episode. It was Messing, wasn't it? Some C-list TV actress anyway, whoever she was. Fuck her.
Thanks, Bill. I really love that comment, and it made my night! Very, very appreciated.
I assumed the reason Taki wasn't more hands-on with Takimag was due to his being a bit of a Luddite when it came to tech. He's always prided himself for not owning a smartphone and reading real books over e-books, etc. But he can't be so tech averse as to let the children ruin the farm. Can he? Can he? Bueller? Bueller?
LOL!!!!!!!
Since inaction can be considered an action in and of itself, Taki has ruined a good thing by leaving it in the wrong hands. His pilots have crashed his ship against the rocks. If anything, Takimag needed a distinctly male editorship to keep its character and remain edgy. It's become a plastic butterknife, a runcible spoon of a site. There's no more Cole, no more Goad, no more Derb. Sad days indeed.
Very, very sad. A legacy ruined.
By his own admission, Taki has turned a great fortune inherited from his father into a smaller fortune. It seems with Mandolyna the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, even if the politics are different. Generational wealth is often squandered, and Takimag's decline is a sign of that. I've seen this before. I knew a lot of rich kids growing up. And the funny thing about old money, even if lesser in fortune, is that it doesn't like the new money. The guy who inherited untold millions from his father's rug cleaning business resents the Israeli porn mogul next door who made untold billions producing rug munching flicks in Van Nuys. I always thought it was funny to read Taki's pieces where he complains about the new, crude, "ghastly" wealth of Russian oligarchs and Silicon Valley moguls. But there's no envy like the envy of a rich man pining for the fortune of a richer man.
Great comment, Biff!
Thanks! I recall these parties that my stepsister, who attended one of the most exclusive private schools in the city (think the Bret Easton Ellis salon of characters), would throw with regularity. At the time we were both in high school, she at an elite private school, me at Pali High. Every party would devolve into a vicious bragging session over who had the richest parents. I had no dog in this fight as my dad was married to her mother, my stepmother, and the household was well off. But my stepsister would brag about her father (whom I've only met three times), at the time a billionaire who lived off Park Ave in Manhattan. These kids bragged about how much money was coming to them, how many horses they had, who owned a Ferrari or soon would, who had a chauffeur and a Bentley. I just played Tom Wolfe, a fly on the wall, sitting in the corner and scribbling it all down on my mental notepad. The best thing is to have enough to get by, and if one has more than enough, that's good too. Because I've been with and without money, and a full piggy bank is always better.
"Hero worship" was foisted on me by my lefty friends. Admitting that I thought Donald Trump was a better choice than Hilary Clinton 9 years ago has apparently branded me the defacto red-hatted MAGA apologist in my social circle for life.
Just as annoying are the True Believers that shoot me "Trump is speaking at 8:00!!!!!" texts and pepper my social media with "Trump Just DEMOLISHED _________" links.
It's tiresome. But you know how that goes. I tell my nieces and nephews to choose your hobbies/avocations wisely and/or be low-key about them, because if you're a known stamp collector at age 11, you're probably gonna get stamp albums and other stamp-related bullshit for the next 25 birthdays and Christmases. Or until your elders die off.
Great comment!
Dave, speaking of getting pegged (no pun intended) for a youthful interest, I can’t help but think of a certain brilliant author who’s been pelted with dry cow chips from 1992 for more than 30 years.
LOL!!!!
A man after my own heart, I would have messed with the fragile pacemaker of some old landlord exactly like you did if they had unsubbed from me, if I was in a mood that day. I wish you had it on a camera. I am cracking up! Congrats on the new digs! I'm excited to see what you're up to. And yeah, nothing wrong with admitting you screw things up when it happens. I have no choice but to do things outside of my control, but I am definitely a better person for it. I do stupid or even petty stuff occasionally. I just try not to make a habit out of it & yeah I can be an asshole but not all the time. I really hope you start making videos again.
Me too! Once I find some stability - and that's what I love about the place I'm currently in - I can do videos again. The past 28 days have been chaos and instability. I'm enjoying the respite!
Dave, perhaps it's time for your Z-Man story!
https://www.peterbrimelow.com/p/in-memoriam-zman
Holy fucking shit.......
You will not believe this. You will NOT fucking believe this, but just today I wrote the Z-Man story, with NO idea that he died. I just thought it would be a good tale to tell in my next Substack, which I was planning to post on Monday.
Just...fucking...today I wrote it.
And now the prick is dead.
Well FUCK ME (as life so often does). Will my piece (which is, of course, negative) be seen as pissing on a corpse?
Oh but Steve Bannon says "there are no coincidences."
Well, I will likely post it earlier now. I was going to wait until Monday to give me time to proofread, but the Good Lord was like, "do it now."
I hate to say this, but Peter claiming "We didn’t even know that his real name was John Christopher Zander" is false. He's lying. I informed him of Z Man's real name in an email of October 15, 2020, because Z-Fraud was using a fake name to get paid by VDare. I'll include a screenshot of that email. Peter shouldn't lie like that. Especially as his veracity is at the center of the NYC case against him.
What a shitshow.
What a fucking shitshow.
> Oh but Steve Bannon says "there are no coincidences."
Man, your Mossad Agent reputation got a real boost this time.
Even I knew his real name. Though I had no idea he was so ugly. Too soon?
LOL!!!!!!!
NEVER too soon!
He was an master bloviator. A expert at unprepared blather. A virtuoso of representing uninformed opinions as facts. I did enjoy his “xeril science”. Honestly, a certain segment of the right has such a low bar to be considered profound. They are like the virgin nerd who falls in love with the first girl who didn’t laugh at him.
Well-said!
"We good, Israel bad. Everyone else is played by the Jews."
Make your essay about that. Mix it up with some Historical events, and it will be considered profound by that segment of the right.
Think I mentioned that crazy story about Vancouver renaming a street into an injun word spelled in their unintelligible alphabet. You will be shocked to learn that the second order consequences are already underway:
https://x.com/JimMcMurtry01/status/1938940077427793982?t=aJwz5XWyECSrZFlqDlT2Cg&s=19
I don’t understand the move backwards to languages no one uses. This Irish hip hop group, the one getting famous for opposing Israel or whatever, apart from their stage names they go by un-anglicized Irish names.
I was educated by nuns who made us learn the Hail Mary in Irish (which we called Gaelic back then but I guess that’s offensive or wrong now). Even I can’t make heads or tails of it.
So this band is getting an alarming amount of publicity but their names are reported as like Cobhghimn O Daegrihmnoall or something similarly unpronounceable. Not even the Irish diaspora gives a fuck; no one except the most unrealistic wankery Irish people ever are going to learn to speak that useless fucking language.
All that this rejection of English as a global language does is ghettoize people.
No one outside of a junior high enrichment class is going to learn a Native American language. Or Irish. Or Welsh. Global languages: English, Spanish, French etc - fine. That’s worth spending time on.This shit? No.
It’s a move backwards in everything not just language. One day after all traces of anglo/western history have been erased and the remaining population has long since lost the ability and knowledge to maintain what once was they will find hints of the past and wonder who it was who could have created such wonders. Like the early Brits marveling at the remnants of what Rome created on their dingy island once did.
It’s just bizarre because these people are being talked out of being able to communicate with more people and to sell more of their stuff.
I don’t understand why anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together would be up for that.
It’s fine to have this cultural enrichment stuff but pretending it’s a useful real world thing is silly.
I don’t think western culture is fully going away. Even in your example, the church kept a lot of Roman Empire stuff going. But it is shocking that people hate success and being good at things as a culture. The lying is bizarre too
A lot of people my age, their parents left the UK to find opportunity in the US, Canada, or Australia. The UK is now rebranding itself as a nation of immigrants that has always been one.
It’s not true; that starts after WWII when they need colonial people to help rebuild after losing a bunch of soldiers and war brides to the US & Canada. Like they’ve been emigrating en masse for 400 years TF are they talking about?
The lies are what gets me; it’s obvious lying. Being wrong honestly is one thing but lying to the world about your history & culture & what kind of education matters never ends well.
Who would have known idiocracy was a documentary
Only flaw was that it was about 480 years off.
The fuck you pronounce that?!
Hi Dave! Another excellent piece!
A big problem with politics is that the “base” ties its positions to its self-worth, making it impossible to concede even slightly without losing face.
As for the leftist, in true Marxist fashion, understanding is inconsequential to them; the only point is to remake the world in their image — an image shaped by the guilt-ridden conviction that the existing order is, by definition, oppressive and evil.
The “Woke-Right” fancies itself the righteous victim: robbed of its birthright by Jews and minorities, betrayed by democracy, and ready to revive the worst collectivist impulses — from Marx to Mussolini — to ‘save the nation.’
Note: This “Woke-Right” is not to be confused with paleoconservatives or the Old Right, with which I tend to identify.
How do I unsubscribe?
Very clever trick you played on that unsubscriber and his faulty gate. I love doing shit like that as well.
It was great as a kid to do prank calls back in the day, and practical jokes.
My favorite these days is to fuck with scammers and give them made up social security numbers, like I'm some clueless old fucker who believes their bullshit. When they figure it out, they call me back and I scream and yell at them, then hang up and block them. Pricks!
Yes! That's hugely fulfilling!
Unlike Downtown, Century City has a beautiful skyline. I always assumed the collective subconscious impetus for the creation of Century City was all the transplanted New Yorkers in Beverly Hills wishing to have their own Lower Manhattan nearby.
Indeed. It's Manhattan, but exclusive in terms of, no public transport nearby, and those skyscrapers are connected via walkways that are multi-stories up as opposed to sidewalk access. And the whole thing is private property, so the bums can't sleep there.
My mom has a friend who lives there and absolutely loves it. The valets regularly drive residents to their cars in the underground parking lot in these golf carts when it's not close enough to the elevator, everything is tidy and well maintained. You simply can't believe you are in Los Angeles when you are there, because you ain't. You're in Century City. A slice of paradise. It ain't cheap, but worth every penny. BTW, if you want a good look at early Century City watch the 1978 cult horror film Blue Sunshine. Significant scenes were filmed at CC. You can see the old classy streetlamps. I don't think they have them anymore.
You kiddin'? I love Blue Sunshine. Along with the "origins" Planet of the Apes film (50% shot at Century City), there's also 1979's Racquet, starring Bert Convy as a "sexy" "tennis" "pro." The film opens on an aerial shot of Century City. There's also a great YouTube video - can't find it now - of a DeLorean being exhibited at Century City circa...what? 1981? And this black guy bangs his head on the wing doors and he's like "MAAAAAAAN!" And it happens in front of the India Imports store that used to fascinate me as a kid.
Another 70s horror flick I love is the quirky, disjointed, atmospheric Messiah of Evil from 1973. One thing I love about it is that much of it is filmed on the west side, from Point Dume in Malibu (the town in the movie is called Point Dune) to downtown Culver City and even a Ralph's in Burbank. I like films set in the year I was born, like this and the more recent PT Anderson flick Licorice Pizza, which is even set in the town I was born, Encino. Although I grew up on the west side, I still have a soft spot for the Valley where I spent my first two years and where my grandparents and other family members lived since the early 70s. Back to Messiah of Evil. They don't make movies like this anymore, not even bad ones. It was directed by a husband-and-wife team who worked with George Lucas, one of whom went on to direct the risible Howard the Duck. The film begins with future director Walter Hill running away from vampire zombies, only to be attacked by one. It also has a very creepy black albino. How many horror films have creepy black albinos? You can watch it for free on YouTube.
I used to talk about Messiah of Evil on my old (now banned) YouTube channel. I even mentioned it in a Takimag column a few years ago. VERY under-appreciated film; one of my favorites. If only for the supermarket and movie theater scenes alone!
The supermarket scene, the theater scene, the old drunk played by Elisha Cook Jr., the black albino at the gas station who offers the lady a ride and eats a beach rat (you don't want one?), the casting of a very gay actor as a playboy with chicks hanging on him, the avant-garde art in the house with the escalator mural, scenes of old Culver City at night with zombie vampires a'shamblin', that very 70s score. What's not to love? The two reasons I love old flicks like this is not just the story and the film itself but the time capsule aspect. Proof we once had a world saner and more natural than the world we live in now that filmmakers could use as a backdrop for their work. Just something charming about it. While I love the relatively crime free aspect of Culver City, which I live right next to, I still miss the days when its downtown was a bit seedy, and attending a horror movie like The Thing or Friday the 13th part 20 wasn't half as scary as the forty gangbangers in the audience with you. I remember how filthy that multiplex was. They simply didn't clean it up regularly. You had slippery pools of popcorn butter all over. You had to use both hands to grip seats on either side like the handles of a rope bridge when you walked to and from your seat. There was also much more of an industrial base in Culver and in Santa Monica where I spent years three to fourteen. That's gone too. I remember when Westwood was the place to be, going to Ship's for lunch and watching the Iranians protest at the Federal building across Wilshire. In those days Westwood was kind of a smart college town with lots of bookstores. UCLA students today come off rather dumbed down.
Bert Convy is one of those 70s stars it's easy to forget about, through no fault of his own. It's just that there were a lot of other stars out there as well. Bert Reynold's (the other Bert) sort of owned the 70s. Loni Anderson and Sondra Locke are also names that didn't last long beyond disco nor escape the shadows of the famous men from whom they drew energy. I remember a comedy with an all-star cast filmed in Century City, at least for the hotel sequences. The plot revolved around a hotel. One of those films with a seven-minute trailer where they have to read off the cast, "Starring George Segal! Shelley Winters! Pia Zadora! Claudia Cardinale! Sammy Davis Jr! George Peppard! And Topol, the Smoker's Actor!"
Bert Convy shoulda got a best supporting actor Oscar nom for Semi-Tough (1977):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x1vBV3SaIE
Great scene!
After you had a drink or two and while looking over a vast urban landscape such as the view from your hotel, do you ever get a sensation that you are, well, insignificant, and your existence is meaningless? And is that sensation the point where you start writing a book, or the point where you just give up and go to bed?
Neither. I get the sensation that the world is beautiful and I am blessed. Honestly, that's it.
That´s only because you probably got all the sex you wanted. Not everybody does, you know.
*grabs subscription & holds a knife up to it*
Now listen here, you stop the free articles or else the subscription gets it. I'm not playing around here!
Jokes aside, enjoy the protest free penthouse, will donate again when funds allow, got six coffees last time you posted. I know that ain't shit but hey, I'm not completely freeloading, work has been brutally slow this year unfortunately. Feel like a cheapskate only giving that much after that massive Taki's Mag article dump you gave us lol.
I always appreciate readership more than anything else. I know that donating actual bucks can be difficult, and that's fine. It's your friendship and engagement that matters. I know that sound sappy, but as Norm Macdonald once said, "if something is true, it is not sentimental."
I'm always happy to donate when I can, normally I don't think twice about it but knowing they didn't pay you for those last articles & you hooking us up with those cut segments.
I never put a name on when I donate & I was planning on donating again when I got my next check but I just got some horrible news in regards to my work. Felt shitty about it & felt the need to say hey I gave something even if it wasn't much to assuage my guilt for not following through.
I had my very own George Costanza tip jar moment lol. Sorry to put you on the spot like that, appreciate the kind words though, always happy to read what your articles.
On a side note, last time my work was this slow it was just before '08 crash, hopefully this isn't yet again an ill omen for the future. Its got me a bit paranoid about what's coming so I'm tightening my belt in anticipation just to be safe. Not that this excuses my gauche comment, mind, just adding context.
Cheers.
Honestly, I mean this - it's the readership that matters. The friendship. The engagement. I haven't lived the "party animal" life for a decade. All that matters to me these days is writing, and having fun, witty, crazy back-and-forths with the readers who've become my friends. That's what keeps me happy! I hope your work situation improves. Just keep reading! Thar's the best thing you can do for me.
That's cool & I get you, you don't have to worry about me not reading your work lol. I literally cannot think of anyone else who comes at things from the angles you do & I'm not saying I'm some brilliant person here but quite a bit of that is what's floating around in my grey matter.
Its like you take the vague impressions I have & flesh them out & put in a way I never could. That's to say nothing of the things I'm just naturally blind to or inclined to be an idiot with. Like Jan 6th, my knee jerk reaction was to think like every other conservative did about ir & that was the extent of my thoughts on it until I read what you said about it.
You don't tell us what we want to hear & challenge us, even if in the end I don't agree with you on something I appreciate the perspective nonetheless.
I value your writing a lot, you basically have a monopoly in a way as far as I can tell. That's why I like to donate, great work such as yours should be rewarded. You're also hilarious too, obviously, not many people can blend humor & analysis like you do.
I used to have a hobby / side hustle that few people did that involved meticulous & painstaking work that I did for spare cash & the market for it changed. Slowly it shifted to people only caring about cheap prices & didn't give a shit about the quality of the work. It really pissed me off because I had to stop doing it because its it needed to be a business for me to at least break even because it was such an investment. Thats part of why I feel an obligation to support your work in any way I can. I view what you do in the same vein so in a way I'm looking out for one of my own if that makes sense.
But, again, I gotcha bro, appreciate you & what you do, as long as you write & I have internet & functional eyeballs I'll be reading there's no doubt about that.
And yeah I'll be fine, I've weathered worse, just had my plans for the future dashed for the moment which is irritating. Ever since covid I feel I'm perpetually getting my progress stopped, first the lockdowns then the combo of trump-biden inflation which really hurt & now whatever this is. Nobody knows why its so slow right now & just seems ominous, everyone I work with is worried. Its wearing on me, trying not to crack like an egg over here lol. It is what is it is.
Sorry for talking your head off by the way, didn't realize how much I wrote lol.