I guess if you took the Moondeer Lite concept and inverted the primary then what I've been writing would amount to Director's Cuts.

Now I'm picturing the art I would use for a sub-blog with versions of the essays that've had their volumes turned back down to 7, aimed at the folks for whom I'm more than a bit much, that I'd call Moondeer Lite.

Totally squares.

Today's metaphor → research → rabbit hole basement

The tone I hope to disappear once I've gotten through the history lesson. Here's what, as of 3:05p on Saturday, I've deemed exceptable as a transition between the western dragon from the medieval manuscript and the Chinese dragons I've yet to re-introduce…

This little f$&ker is the kind of dragon that most of you were probably picturing upon first taking it upon yourself to read this … this what? … whatever the f$&k it is you want to call this thing you're reading now … like right now … like your eyes line up with this blinkity f$&king cursor now … like *slap* *brief pause* *blinky eyed head shake* … what say we head east and have a look at what the rest of you were picturing.

Here's an example of my useless brand of humour. I'd probably write an essay where words would materialize with a 50/50 shot of appearing in their bastardised form (the honor of determining which is which I leave to you) but who the f$&k would pick up on that?

The bit about the Greek dragons that I've been stuck on since I decided to drop them in front of those Egyptian dragons I posted (history lesson transitions are some bullshit)…

I originally began the globetrot in Ancient Egypt; however, taking what I've just relayed into consideration, I think Ancient Greece may be the better destination. The reasons are threefold:
⑴ Those for whom the previous passage applies likely received a western education that included at least a little taste of Greek mythology; and, the backbone of Greek mythology is a dragon bone.
⒝ The etymological origin of dragon is the f$&king Greek word drakōn (pronounced δράκων).
(𒄩𒂔𒌈) Some Greek dragons had wings, like the burdened beasts Helios had hauling his chariot about the sky ; but, the majority of these little f$&kers look more like snakes.

Looking like a snake would be totally on-brand for a beastie known to the world as the Lernaean Hydra (which is English for Λερναῖα Ὕδρα) since the word ὕδρα (pronounced hydra) means "water snake" in Greek.

Hera raised this particular hydra for the sole purpose of killing one mighty annoying demigod by the name of Heracles (pronounced Ἡρακλῆς). Buddy's birth-name was actually Alcaeus. Hera sent two serpents to end the boy in his crib. They failed. He'd hoped changing his name to glory of Hera would get her off his ass. It wouldn't. Hesiod's Theogony tells us that the Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, two badass MFers, living in the lake of Lerna in the Argolid.

With multiple heads (one of which was immortal … all of which would grow back), poisonous breath, and blood so corrosive it could kill with a whiff, the Hydra was f$&kin' fierce. King Eurystheus gave Heracles the task of slaying this sucker as his second labor (during his post-murdered-my-wife-and-children atonement tour). They battle. Heracles wins. Yada yada yada let's move on I'm bored.

The _kētŏs_or κῆτος (latinized as cetus) I have to show you appears to exhibit a few more physical similarities we might expect from a western dragon (I mean … compared to a snake).

The depicted mosaic was discovered in the floor of an ancient Kaulonian residence now referred to as the House of the Dragon. His attack position pose would suggest that this little fella served as the last line of defense against malevolent forces for the adjacent banquet's airy ambience. The Museo archeologico dell'Antica Kaulon, the mosaic's current home, describes the discovery as, "a polychrome mosaic depicting a sea dragon and … framed by a pattern formed by sea waves."

Let's review. The Lernaean Hydra looked like Hera tied herself a handful of water snakes in an overhand knot like they were auditioning to play opposite of that little, problematically portrayed Japanese Beetle in an episode of The Blue Racer. The Cetus, by comparison, looks all kinds of dragonish. The museum calls him a sea dragon and his place of birth the House of the Dragon. What about a creature whose name f$&king ends with Dragon?

Meet the Colchian Dragon (Δρακων Κολχικος), guardian of the Golden Fleece until Jason and his merry band of Argonauts came calling.

So … yeah … he looks like a f$&king snake. Like I said, if it's a giant serpent, you can probably get away with calling it a dragon. They are all dragons. Just go with it.

Bee tee dubs @Crunchyroll, even dubs need subtitles for when you can't figure out WTF someone is saying (or how the f$&k you'd spell what you registered hearing should it happen to be a reference you totally didn't f$&kin' get and feel like tracking down).

When you're waiting to feel like doing shit again.

I'll read yours, @BarackObama, if you'll read mine (seeing as you seem to be saying now what I've been saying for at least the last two years): https://moondeer.blog/2021/09/07/on-the-american.html

Feels like I'm getting bogged down in what amounts to the boring shit in a book that got quarantined in a side box or italicized beneath a figure.

Not sure how much longer I can stomach watching these pundits on television without them having received what I spent all that time desperately throwing their way.

cc @TiffanyDCross

In case you've been wondering why I keep speaking of transients, I give you the growth chart since ceasing Twitter promotions (turns out I'm kinda fine with this trend given the poll results I recently posted):

Click through challenge for the folks reading this on the MB timeline aside from @pratik and @JohnPhilpin.

Here's the essay I asked about: On the American Upside Down

You can't help but comment when read.

3 readers for every 5 non-readers I'll totally take.

Seen by at most 753 people, out of what at the time was 8K, with 8 f$&king answers?

FFS, what's the point of this platform aside from tribal meme distribution?

Forgot all about Danzig

Just finished a poem for berating y'all. Imma Procreate that sh$t and see how y'all take it.

Perhaps I ought polish each patch of posted prose perennially perchance to properly prepare perfectly patinated pearls for posthumous publish upon my passing.

Watching these book writing f$&kers on #MorningJoe Trumpofantical, not understanding the root of what has happened to their party. FFS.

If you were to read this, you'd not understand it; for what it would say lay beyond your comprehension.

Prove me wrong.

On the American Upside Down

While the beltway press, the pundits, the influencers, the organizers, and the cogs that compose the political machinery at large desperately cling to those norms and precedents with which order has …

3:24 PM • Sep 28, 2021reading time 8 minutes

I could compose an alternative bubble 2 oriented essay for demonstrating inter-bubble message cancelation. Alas, I fear that within a dual reality society, one cannot put forth the proposition of eating children as the solution for a potato famine w/o being taken at face value.

For a blink I thought about collecting all essay-related engagements (positive and negative), as the shape of the thing may be interesting, but I realized no one would read it.































If you laughed ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶

If you hearted ┌П┐(ಠ_ಠ)

Bee tee dubs, the posts of rough prose are of the for-those-playing-along-at-home art snap variety—for the curious or puzzle solving individual to guess at where I may be going (the only distinctive trait being that some of y'all are actually interested in the art).

Restructuring the dragon lineup (probably gonna need to toss in some code to prettify the list at the bottom and I definitely need to expand my lightbox plugin to allow for figure caption injection on solo slide links). How it starts as of my leaving to workout:

On Dragon Weaving

Honesty, I haven't a clue why, in February of last year, I found myself pondering the web of dragon mythology that so ensnares the imagination of man. Of how the machinations of my mind materialized the path it would then travel, I've an even clumsier grasp. I believe there is something significant to be found within the folds of fumbled expression held by the essay I had composed. Now, a year later (finding myself in possession of more diversely and formidably equipped faculties), I shall recompose its art and prose, hoping to attain a composition that more capably communicates that which I have to say. It shall be begin with a declaration.

I find them fascinating, the common threads with which disconnected hubs of humanity weave their native narratives. The similitude with which humanity engineers itself by independent means astounds. It warrants remark, in this digitally polarized age of humanity where tribal gutturals dissemble themselves as discourse, the resemblance that runs through the clutch of reflections caught by the collective looking glass.

Such abstraction, dear reader, may satisfy my selfish need to soliloquize; however, it achieves very little in the way of conceptual connection. We need something concrete, an example exhibiting qualities consistent with the previous prose. What though? Which player shall I pluck from the troupe?

Of course it's f$&kin' dragons. I named this f$&kin' thing On Dragon Weaving, how the f$&k would I ever work this f$&ker into an essay befitting of the name were I not, inevitably, about to begin talking about dragons? I mean … I name dropped the little f$&kers in what I believe we've settled upon calling this essay's preamble. Let's hop f$&kin' to it, shall we?

Sooo, I painted us a subset of dragons arbitrarily selected from the set of humanity's mythoi, two of which you've already seen. Since you're reading this in English (one would assume since I'm writing it in f$&king English), there is a strong chance that global westernization has narrowed the scope of what you think of as being a dragon. The Game-of-Thronesian depiction at the very top likely screams dragon while the fella that follows, the recreation of Bertuch's illustration from the succinctly named Bilderbuch für Kinder: enthaltend eine angenehme Sammlung von Tieren, Pflanzen, Blumen, Früchten, Mineralien, Trachten, induced an assessment of some form or fashion as to whether he fits the bill. I have no interest in browbeatingly badgering you about what makes a f$&king dragon. I simply thought I ought point this out and inform you how this essay shall define one. It basically boils down to this: if it's a giant serpent, you can probably get away with calling it a dragon.

Originally, the globetrotting began in Ancient Egypt. Taking what I've just relayed into consideration, however, I think Ancient Greece may be the better port of origin. The reasons are threefold:
⑴ Those for whom the previous passage applies likely received a western education that included at least a little taste of Greek mythology. The backbone of Greek mythology is, in fact, a dragon bone.
⒝ The etymological origin of dragon is the f$&king Greek word drakōn (pronounced δράκων).
(𒄩𒂔𒌈) While some of the dragons, like those that drew the chariot of the sun god Helios, happened to have wings … most of the little f$&kers look more like snakes.