CW Upgrades ‘Scrabble’ And ‘Trivial Pursuit’ From Board Games To Game Shows
Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit have been mainstays of American living rooms for decades. Now they're on television.Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit have been mainstays of American living rooms for decades. Now they're on television.Blaze News original: Game industry veteran canceled for pro-life views helping Christian developer launch biblical blockbuster
Game developer Bible X, an Oslo-based game studio founded in 2020 as part of BCC media, is developing a semi-open world video game set in ancient Israel that is sure to generate major waves in an industry valued at over $240 billion.
While Gate Zero has multiple distinguishing features, what primarily sets it apart from other titles in the historical adventure genre is that it centers on the most important story worth telling: that of a certain Nazarene whose life, death, and resurrection forever changed the fate of mankind and serve as a reference point by which all nations still mark the years of lesser events.
'I truly believe this game can and likely will be one of the biggest things for spreading the gospel — maybe not just only this game, but the start of what this game is doing — since the printing press.'
Gate Zero is hardly the first faith-based game. However, its developers are set on making it the first proper Christian blockbuster — accomplishing for the medium what "The Chosen" and "The Passion of the Christ" managed for TV and film, respectively.
Blaze News discussed the project with Bible X's head of studio and game designer Arve Solli last year and previewed a compelling prototype of the game, which was then touted as an opportunity to "travel back in time to explore ancient Israel, interact with Gospel stories, and examine the deeper meaning of Jesus' words."
In the months since, Bible X has made several bold moves to maximize quality and impact, including the onboarding of John Gibson, an industry veteran who stepped down as CEO of Tripwire Interactive after radicals targeted him for ruin and exile in 2021 over his support for the unborn.
Solli and Gibson spoke to Blaze News this week about mainstreaming the Bible in the video game industry, the current state of the game, Bible X's fundraising efforts stateside, and remaining obstacles.
From exile to Bible X
Bible X announced in January that Gibson had joined the team as executive game consultant.
Gibson indicated that while the opportunity was providential, his path to accept it was anything but smooth or direct.
"It was kind of funny. Every time I opened social media, I was seeing ads for the game Gate Zero. It was like God was tapping me on the shoulder saying, 'You should check this out.' And I kept ignoring it and ignoring it," said Gibson.
Finally, he relented and messaged the company, noting, "I'm John Gibson. I've been developing games for a while. If any of my experience is valuable, I'd be happy to contribute."
Gibson boasts decades of experience, having worn many hats while leading Tripwire, a Georgia-based video game company he co-founded in 2005, which has sold tens of millions of games. He brought multiple well-received titles to market, including Maneater, Chivalry 2, and Rising Storm, as well as the Red Orchestra and Killing Floor franchises.
Gibson recalled that "Arve responded and said, 'I hope you don't mind me saying this: we've been praying for someone like you to come along.'"
Tragedy and misfortune had evidently primed Gibson to lean into the moment.
"I took a break from games for a while," he told Blaze News. "Just to be candid, it was a very difficult thing that I went through. … One of the things I haven't said on Tucker Carlson or some of those interviews, I don't believe, is that almost five family members — right after that whole crisis happened — including my mother at 66 years old, and my little sister at 44, just back to back to back every couple of weeks, somebody died, and it was traumatic."
Blaze News previously reported that after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block Texas’ pro-life heartbeat law, Gibson tweeted, "Proud of #USSupremeCourt affirming the Texas law banning abortion for babies with a heartbeat. As an entertainer I don't get political often. Yet with so many vocal peers on the other side of this issue, I felt it was important to go on the record as a pro-life game developer."
Gibson told Blaze News that he had seen many of his peers in the industry condemning the law but no one daring to laud it.
"I wasn't trying to go on a big crusade," said Gibson. "But apparently I properly combined uranium to create a nuclear explosion on Twitter."
Not only was he viciously attacked online, but at least one company that conducted business with Tripwire — Shipwright — announced it was canceling all existing contracts with his company.
Various other outfits piled on, making sure to let everyone else know they disagreed with the gaming veteran's opinion and that they supported abortion.
In a statement indicating that Gibson had stepped down as CEO just over two days later, the company he co-founded even apologized on his behalf.
When asked whether he felt a little bit like Job — whether this bout of misfortune was a test of his faith — Gibson told Blaze News, "It was a crisis for me because I’m a fighter and a person of action. And when this all went down, and I get a lot of pushback from other conservatives and believers on this, but my initial reaction was to fight."
Gibson indicated that after his unceremonious exit from Tripwire, he hired one of President Donald Trump's former attorneys, intending to go on the legal warpath.
"I'm like, 'Let’s go. You want to fight? You're going to have one,'" said Gibson. "And I had absolutely no peace at all. I felt in those first few days that God was telling me to take the path of peace. I could fight and I could probably win, but the end result would be better if I just followed what He wanted to do."
Gibson indicated that it was a "battle every single day." Then came the decision to sell Tripwire to Saber Interactive.
"This was 20 years of blood, sweat, and tears," said Gibson, noting that to first get the company going, he borrowed against everything he owned, missed time with his family, and sank months of 100-hour work weeks.
After some soul-searching and counsel from a mentor, Gibson signed the contract, parting ways with his company.
Months later, he heeded the apparent tap of the divine on his shoulder, got in touch with Solli, and met the team in Norway. Shortly thereafter, he joined Bible X on a project he now figures could very well be "one of the biggest things for spreading the gospel" — something Solli noted is critical at a time of dismal Bible illiteracy.
Pulling out all the stops
Solli previously told Blaze News, "We want to create something great because we believe it's the greatest message ever told," adding that "the Christian message deserves to have the same amount of effort, if not more" than other works of entertainment.
This was a factor not only in seeking greater investment but also in adding Gibson to a team that includes individuals who previously worked at Rockstar Games on the Grand Theft Auto franchise and on Red Dead Redemption 2, as well as on the Thief and Assassin's Creed series.
"That's been the goal all the time: to bring on the best people with the best experience and the burning heart for this type of project," said Solli.
Blaze News previously asked Dr. Kevin Schut, a professor of media and communication at Trinity Western University and the author of "Of Games & God: A Christian Exploration of Video Games," about Christian video games and their apparent inability to break into the mainstream.
While the industry's aggressive and transgressive culture has long been a factor, Schut noted that "few developers of explicitly Christian games have either the experience or resources to make really high-quality games."
Bible X appears to be breaking the pattern.
Solli noted that Gibson has brought 20-plus years of experience as a founder CEO, game developer, designer, and programmer, as well as his industry network.
"As a startup and as an indie developer — there's a lot of small challenges every day," said Solli. "The more we can shorten the decision time and shorten the time it takes to go from the wrong direction in the right direction, the more effective[ly] we can spend all the money we're using to create this game."
Gibson indicated that there were two preconditions for his involvement in the project.
First, he had to know that the team he would be working with had "the skills and the desire to make an undeniably great game, because not everybody has the skills and not everybody has the drive to do something that successful."
Second, he said Bible X would have to double its budget on Gate Zero to maximize quality and ensure that the game was a knockout.
Bible X had already satisfied the first condition and agreed to satisfy the second. However, the increased budget meant finding new ways to raise funds.
Previously, Bible X successfully crowdfunded several hundred thousand dollars in campaigns for the game on Indiegogo and Kickstarter.
"Since we talked last time, we have started an organization in the U.S. called NextGen Bible Media. The goal there is to first and foremost fund-raise for [Gate Zero], but later on, possibly for other games," Solli told Blaze News.
Bible X appears to be crafting a game that satisfies the expectations of conventional gamers while also delivering biblical content they will never have seen before.
NextGen Bible Media is a nonprofit registered through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services set up to help fund the Gate Zero project in BCC Media. According to the NextGen Bible Media page, which has an option for tax-deductible donations, the project is already 49% funded.
"This is marking great progress, but we need additional support to reach the full target and bring this vision to life," said Solli.
Gibson noted that he is among the donors.
"I am a significant backer of Gate Zero. I'm putting my money where my mouth is," said Gibson. "I'm not just asking people to donate. I'm saying, 'Come alongside me and also donate because — and Arve talks about this a lot — Bible literacy is going down."
According to the American Bible Society's State of the Bible 2024 report, the percentage of American adult Bible users (defined as those who interact with scripture at least three or four times a year outside church or faith services) bounced around 50% for several years but then plunged to 40% in 2022. That downward trend has continued, falling to 39% last year and 38% this year.
Of Millennials, 12% are scripture-engaged, whereas 65% are Bible disengaged. While slightly less Bible-disengaged than the older cohort (61%), Gen Z adults are the least scripture engaged at 11%.
"We have an entire generation that's not engaging with the Bible," said Gibson, noting that such a game would constitute a massive evangelizing opportunity.
"I truly believe this game can and likely will be one of the biggest things for spreading the gospel — maybe not just only this game, but the start of what this game is doing — since the printing press," continued the gaming veteran. "This is how the next generation interfaces with media. Video games are bigger than all of professional sports combined. Video games make more revenue than all of movies and television. So it’s a shame that no one has gotten there yet, but it's time."
When asked whether Bible X has partnered with religious organizations and churches stateside, Solli said, "We haven’t done that yet, but it's definitely an opportunity."
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, previously told Blaze News that "any medium that offers an accurate account of the biblical story and encourages young people to grow in the Christian faith should be welcomed by Christians. With proper parental guidance, it can serve as a platform for more serious study. Gate Zero promises to do just that."
Although Donohue admitted to a limited exposure to Gate Zero, he indicated that it "would be an important cultural marker" should it break into the mainstream. "Young people, especially boys, are being inundated with morally debased videos, so wholesome alternatives are badly needed."
"Some parents may carp that this is not a blue-chip medium, but if a video game presents a realistic opportunity to evangelize the young, its unconventional approach should not be a factor," added Donohue.
The game — and how it has evolved
The version of the game previewed by Blaze News late last year kicks off in a cyberpunk dystopia in the year 2072. Current trends were clearly left unchecked because the soulless society of the 2070s appears to be bereft of Christianity.
Max, the playable teen protagonist, uses his time machine, Gate Zero, to travel back to the first century as part of a resistance group, keen on challenging a corrupted version of history. There, Max explores ancient Israel and follows Christ's ministry in ancient Judea and Galilee.
The sci-fi framing not only coheres the game but permits Bible X to avoid dragging two millennia of social and political baggage into the game.
"The intent behind the time machine is to bring the player back to Year Zero, back to Jesus, and to talk to the Author, basically," said Solli. "The game takes players back to the source, back to Jesus, because we believe that connecting with Jesus is what people really need today. This journey allows players to explore their own questions and find help for their current challenges."
"We tried to weave together the story of our player character with the stories from Jesus," Solli previously told Blaze News. "They have certain meeting points where they connect, and then you can explore."
The player is free to explore an intricately detailed world that clerics, archeologists, historians, and other scholars have worked with the Bible X team to ensure is both historically and biblically accurate.
Gate Zero is not, however, a mere virtual museum. The player has agency, is met with both purpose and danger, and is rewarded for curiosity.
'We just have to do our job and be humble every day. Be humble and work hard. That's our secret ingredient.'
Since Blaze News last spoke to him in November, Solli indicated that he and his team at Bible X have been working on the core of the game and strengthening the game loop to ensure that "it's an undeniably great experience."
When pressed on specifics, Solli noted they have been working on action, stealth, and traversal mechanics, as well as on conducting further research to incorporate additional stories into the game.
Gibson said early iterations may have come across as high-quality walking simulators, but the game has radically evolved.
"We want the action parts of the game to be amazing, making it on par or better than other games in these genres," said Gibson, citing Assassin's Creed and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as two examples. "We want the action parts to be on par with that, so that when players play it, they might come into the game going, 'I don't care about the stories, but I hear the game plays really good.'"
"One of the big improvements from what people have seen in the Kickstarter demo is the abilities that Max has to traverse the world," said Gibson. "He's climbing, jumping, and balancing on beams and has some really cool special abilities that we're not quite ready to reveal yet."
Bible X appears to be crafting a game that satisfies the expectations of conventional gamers while also delivering biblical content they will never have seen before — certainly not in a game.
Solli indicated that the primary market the company aims to target is the U.S. and English-speaking countries. However, owing to the committed and ever-growing community, he suspects that the game will be localized and translated into roughly 12 languages on day one.
As for immediate next steps, Solli said, "We just have to do our job and be humble every day. Be humble and work hard. That's our secret ingredient."
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Wednesday Western: The top Western social media accounts
Social media has played an interesting role in the revival of Western cinema. I’ve compiled a list of social media accounts dedicated to Westerns.
This article doesn’t include blogs, podcasts, websites, or magazines. I’m currently working on an article for each, so definitely let me know any of these that I need to know about in the comments section, or send me an email.
The following list is by no means comprehensive. And at first glance, it may seem like a random assortment. The accounts vary in audience size, output, and content organization. They employ different media and delivery methods. Some are public; some require you to answer a questionnaire. Each of them is unique.
What unites them is a frontier spirit, a liveliness.
Official John Wayne - Instagram
It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of The Duke.
The official John Wayne Instagram page is probably my favorite Western social media account. The X account is also solid. But the Instagram account is far better.
It delivers the perfect number and flow of posts. And the descriptions, titles, and photos are all flawlessly assembled. I’d be shocked if it weren’t run by social media or marketing/PR professionals.
This is the proper handling of the John Wayne legacy. The people in charge of maintaining it make sure that the Duke’s legacy is truly an experience. All of it is interconnected through John Wayne Enterprises: the John Wayne Museum, the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, the John Wayne Grit Series, among others.
You can buy John Wayne cookbooks and a collection of cocktail recipes, coffee, ornamental cups and top-class clothing — all of which will appear in this series in exciting ways.
All of these converge at the Instagram account.
It’s comforting to see a passionate group of people devoted to the upkeep of the Duke’s invaluable legacy.
If all that weren’t good enough, they just launched a collaboration with Broken Bow Country, a friend of the Wednesday Western series, as captured in this profile.
In fact, during our interview, we connected on the Duke and our admiration for the official John Wayne account.
Scrolling through this account, it feels like you’re reading a biography of the Duke, told in vignettes and accompanied by pictures, music, and video.
Some of the posts are simply gorgeous. They provide a holistic view of the Duke, a man unlike any other. They offer great commentary on various Wayne films and media appearances. They help you understand who John Wayne was behind the legend, as in this post about his prolific love of chess.
Other times, it’s playful, as with the incredibly creative inclusion of holidays, like this recent celebration of National Sunglasses Day.
The posts hit every emotion as we navigate John Wayne’s love life and comforts and disappointments and truest victories.
And America, you become closer to this great country. Just check out this 4th of July post. And, man, how about this one? Who else deserves to be the biggest movie star of all time?
Just Westerns - YouTube
Just Westerns is an entrepreneurial feat animated by one man’s love for Westerns. He has mastered the possibilities that YouTube offers.
And that narrator’s voice: That’s Marc Reynard, the Englishman in charge of Just Westerns, the unofficial home of Westerns on YouTube.
This dude is undoubtedly one of us.
He examines the genre from creative and at times surprising angles, like this video about the fate of “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly 2.” You read that right: There was supposed to be a sequel.
His videos are smooth, well produced, well crafted, well written, sharp, fun, lovely, informative.
He also does something that I wish we had more of: He hypes upcoming and anticipated Westerns and compiles year-end lists and legitimizes the artistic merit of video games: “20 Best Western Video Games.” He also covers Wednesday Western favorite "Old Henry" (2021)
We need more of all of this. Best of all, you can feel his passion.
My only complaint is that the channel has only 30 videos. I went through them all at a steady clip.
But even this turns out to be further proof that you’re getting content that is authentically wholesome. Marc addresses it in his YouTube bio: “Please bear with me, I am a solo creator without the resources or manpower that larger channels typically have, so I am unfortunately unable to upload as regularly as I like, especially as I am committed to prioritizing quality over quantity.”
Take your time, brother. Personally, I think it's worth the wait.
r/Westerns - Reddit
Reddit can be a nasty place, especially if your politics are anything to the right of Bernie Sanders. And you can’t avoid the ideological slapfests, either. Leftist goons stir it up in every subreddit, constantly, and they’re almost always combative, even in the subreddits devoted to woodwork or kittens.
The Westerns subreddit is a clear exception. It’s a community. It feels like the town square of a dust-ridden Western town.
Check out this thread about “For a Few Dollars More.”
The mixed-media format of Reddit allows for a variety of sources: pictures, movies, trailers, interviews, text-only, even gifs. It might be the most versatile resource on this list.
It’s a great place for recommendations and commentary. Unlike much of the rest of Reddit, which is disproportionately loaded with young white liberal men, there’s an even spread of people of all ages.
These Redditors routinely swap personal stories about the various movies and actors. Some of their stories are poignant and evocative.
Back to the Old Western - Facebook
Facebook is a great place for Western fans. Instagram is too image-centered to accommodate text, and it doesn’t support links. Meanwhile, the microblogging experience of X is limited in its scope and impatient in its daunting pace — the temperament and vibe of Westerns don’t do well in such a frantic environment.
Facebook circumnavigates all of this, finally able to beat all the much lighter apps. For once, it finds an advantage to its cluttered user interface.
This bulk allows users to upload and share every type of content. No limitations. It’s the only platform capable of this, besides Reddit, but I’m not about to equate the megalith Facebook with the niche subreddit.
Besides, Facebook outperforms Reddit anyway. Its Pages function allows for an immersive blogging experience, run by moderators and admins who are passionate about their content and free to run their operation without much interference, right down to the parameters of the group’s privacy.
Back to the Old Western is the perfect example of these principles. It is active, with a constant flow of posts, often aggregated from fan pages — the Duke and Sam Elliot, mostly.
The comments sections are fairly quiet, but most of the time people add substance or passion to the movie or actor being celebrated.
Chatter isn’t as important as it is on Reddit. The admins really know their stuff, offering a healthy range of mainstream Westerns, cult classics, and oddities, like this post celebrating Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale for their roles in “The Legend of Frenchie King” (1971), a wild little movie that will get its Wednesday Western spotlight in due time.
A Word on Westerns - YouTube
BLAZING SADDLES! The fart scene changed my life, says Burton Gilliam A WORD ON WESTERNSwww.youtube.com
I made a point to place Just Westerns higher up than A Word on Westerns, because Just Westerns is the passion project of an ordinary guy who loves Westerns, while A Word on Westerns is a proper television series. An exceedingly good one, with just as much passion and gusto.
It’s a fantastic channel. A Word on Westerns is sort of like a Western-only version of TMC, which is a thrilling reality. That’s the dream.
The channel features entire movies, each with a brief but thorough introduction by Rob Word, a double feature as part of the segment Word’s Wayback.
These are mostly 1930s and 1940s Westerns.
YouTube is an oddity on this list, because so many of the major Western channels exclusively post full movies. What a joy it is to find a rare Western on YouTube. But these channels lack the commentary and artistry that characterize the two YouTube channels I’ve included on this list.
A Word on Westerns blends the rustic ease of the Old West with the hypersonic immediacy of our infinite now. You can also access lectures, speeches, and clever projects like this "Gunsmoke" mash-up.
Smartest of all, it makes good use of the Shorts function on YouTube, will brief clips about various topics, from Robert Mitchum to stories of mutilation.
Western Podcast - X
The Western Podcast X page is small but mighty, with some impressive followers and praise from True West magazine.
Have you seen #HorizonAmericanSaga yet? If so, share your thoughts with us! We'll record a full podcast episode about the film in two weeks when Andrew is back from his vacation in Europe. In the meantime, here's Matt's highly positive take on Kevin Costner's latest Western epic. https://t.co/baVzZE4vPK
— @WesternPodcast (@WesternPodcast) June 28, 2024
It’s an offshoot of the marvelous podcast hosted by our friend Western apostle Andrew Patrick Nelson and the excellent Matthew Chernov, a screenwriter and a journalist with bylines in Variety, Entertainment Weekly, IMBd.com. Yahoo News, and about a hundred other outlets. His insight thrives with the joy of curiosity.
Andrew's Instagram account will keep you up to date with his media appearances and projects, with the occasional infusion of Hair Metal.
These boys are the real deal. Andrew just began his new job as chief curator of Western Spirit, Scottsdale's Museum of the West. Before that, he taught film history. As a professor at the University of Utah, Andrew guided his students through the badlands full of robbers and coyotes, only to unmask the villains hiding behind all their props and plywood scenery.
Why Millennials & Zoomers Should Watch Westerns | Andrew Patrick Nelson | Alignwww.youtube.com
Both of them are impressively smart with a tenderness for beauty, but not at the cost of a good story or a complicated hero.
They take their time with content, even tweets, but this adds to the reverence of their decision-making process. If you haven't taken the dive into their work already, do it.They have a gift for revealing the beautiful, intricate paradoxes of Western movies. They speak with screenwriters, historians, authors, journalists, musicians, directors, costume designers, and more.
They tell stories. They examine personal reactions to various films. They navigate themes of universality and timelessness within the motion of transcendence, while also exposing the flimsiness of any given cultural era.
Is Stagecoach the best movie ever made? Interview with Andrew Patrick Nelsonwww.youtube.com
They have a gift for discerning the role of Western movies in relation to our unexplained world, differentiating these fictions from their context and influence. But also, more impressively, they succeed in witnessing the presence of our entire universe in one tiny section of cinema history.
Both of them have helped yours truly at many points along our journey so far. They have guided me through the desert more than once.
Kevin Costner and Modern West - X
Kevin Costner & MW (@modernwest) on X
Kevin Costner is this era’s Clint Eastwood. He fights to keep the Western in public view, devoting himself to projects animated by passion, even if his wallet takes a hit. The victory is worth the risk.
He has ushered in a new era for the genre. His success with "Yellowstone" and its Western universe of shows has accelerated the Western’s resurgence. But it’s more than that. We're also witnessing a flourishing of the Western as an ethos, a style, a mode of thought, an approach to life.
So did you realize that Kevin Costner has a country band? Founded in 2007, Kevin Costner and Modern West deliver rowdy songs written for the culturally forgotten people of America. The band's history is tinged with tragedy.
The Kevin Costner and Modern West account is technically the band’s, but it posts tons of Costner content, all hand-picked and polished by a team of social media professionals.
Best Cowboy Movies Forever - Facebook
There are several variations on the “Western” + “Forever” title, but I’m going with Best Cowboy Movies Forever. I enjoy the way the account profiles various actors, like this post about Lee Van Cleef.
It also includes Westerns from every different era. This is important. It’s good to hop around in this way. I’m partial to the 1939-1960 era of the genre, so I can plant myself in that time exclusively if I’m not careful.
The page rarely ventures into the current scene. But this isn’t a problem. It’s important to offer due reverence to the originators.
Old West - Actors, Films, and Legends - Facebook
Old West zooms in so that we get a portrait view of an incredible variety of Western actors, films, and legends, like this post devoted to Myron Halle or this homage to Elsa Martinelli. I value any source that prioritizes the lesser-known figures in the genre. Because, as we all know, the Western genre is overflowing with stories, entire generations of actors, producers, directors, screenwriters — you name it — whose fascinating tales deserve to be recounted.
As much as I love the giants of the genre, I derive incredible joy from learning about these forgotten figures.
Passion for Western Movies - Instagram
Passion for western movies (@western_movies) • Instagram photos and videosView this profile on Instagram
Passion for Western Movies makes great use of Instagram’s Reels format.
The account does a lot of this kind of multi-movie post, offering a list of movies connected by timeframe or theme.
Passion for Western Movies lives up to its name, able to glide around the history of the Western genre, seemingly without partiality. It also features lesser-known movies, like this post about "The Hunting Party," which features Gene Hackman.
Broken Bow Country - Instagram
I’m a bit biased on this one, because I think Colton is an absolute legend, but Broken Bow Country is perfect for this list.
The Western experience you get is fairly rough around the edges, in a distinctly modern way. But modernity never wins against Broken Bow Country.
It’s unique for many reasons but primarily because, in addition to its Western ethos, it is a clothing retailer and printmaker. No other creator on our list offers this level of art and style.
Then you’ve got the lore, the storytelling that comes with his posts, the war hymns of country-Western rebels and the toll their rebellion often took on their lives.
The past month has been wild for Colton. Early in July, he landed a collaboration with John Wayne Enterprises. The T-shirts are fantastic. In fact, I’m wearing one of them in the cover photo for Wednesday Western.
Then, a gunman on a sloped roof tried to murder former President Donald Trump, who was days away from officially accepting his party’s nomination.
In the panicky hours that followed, many people succumbed to their emotions, others to their resolve. I won’t pretend to have remained cool.
But Colton did. Following the Trump assassination attempt, he designed a T-shirt honoring one of the most American moments in human history, as Trump rose with his fist in the air. And he donated all of the money to a charity for Corey Comperatore, the man who died shielding his family from one of the gunman’s bullets.
This was a controversial move. He even faced the nasty comments about how the shooter shouldn’t have missed or that the deaths of the victims were “completely deserved.”
He lost a few thousand followers, but he describes it as “inconsequential when you think about the people that it's helping to support.”
In a press release, he said, “This has nothing to do with politics, I was incredibly moved by what happened and I wanted to use my platform to do something that extended beyond the controversy and the arguing.”
Lancer TV Blog - Facebook
Last and certainly not least, Lancer TV Blog on Facebook. It is run by a friend of mine, an avid supporter of Wednesday Western.
Unlike every other entry included on this list, Lancer TV Blog focuses entirely on one show, a show that hardly anyone knows. This reversal in focus is good for a movie lover’s mental sharpness.
I’m working on a deep dive into "Lancer," so I won’t say too much.
Beyond the merits of the show and its cast, "Lancer" is an underdog story still in the middle stages, badgered by uncertainty. Because the show hasn’t had a reboot, despite success throughout its two (long) seasons on CBS. So it’s not an issue of merit; the show deserves a second wind. It would very likely expand its audience.
But none of that matters for the art trapped in the murk of a waiting area, a zone of uncertainty. And the gifted athlete eventually starts to wobble. Filmstock degrades. All technology collapses. Call it the inevitable disintegration of a lively body, in this case a body of art.
Even the most perfect masterpieces eventually crumble. But what if that happens to be your masterpiece? What if it’s your tiny heaven, all tangled up in red tape? Life has enough of this disintegration as it is. Our entertainment needs to be clean, enjoyable, and easily accessible. Or so claims the majority.
Well, thank God for the passionate workers of cultural excavation. They dig and fight. They protect, sustain, and preserve. Without them, life would be less beautiful. Without them, our society would be weaker and tamer and less able to see a way out.
"Lancer" episodes run an hour. This extended run time fundamentally changes the character and depth of a TV show. It’s amazing what an episode can accomplish in one hour that it simply can’t in 30 minutes.
What you’ll find, as you scroll through the posts on the Lancer Facebook page, is purity. This fandom rewards people with a tiny kingdom, a crafted world they can always turn to. That experience should rile up every single person.
There’s a fidelity to their affection that is heartwarming. The Lancer TV Blog connects you to this incredibly pure relation. It’s just there, like sand across the winds of time.
'Call of Duty' Pride bundle lets players simulate murder using trans flag-adorned guns and bullets
There have been multiple mass shootings executed, attempted, or at the very least planned by transvestites and LGBT radicals in recent years.
In April, police arrested a trans-identifying high school student in Maryland who was allegedly plotting to shoot up classrooms full of elementary school children. In February, a gender-bending anti-Semite from El Salvador opened fire in Joel Osteen's Houston-based Lakewood Church. In January, a Nazi-supporting transvestite in Oregon was arrested after threatening to "go out in a blaze of glory." The same month, a trans-identifying teen stalked the halls of a school in Iowa, murdering a sixth-grader and wounding five others. Last year, a female transvestite murdered three children and three adults at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. There was also the 2019 STEM School Highlands Ranch mass shooting in Colorado and the November 2022 massacre at a LGBT club in Colorado Springs.
Trans-identifying suspects' share of mass public shootings nationwide over the 2018-2023 period is reportedly well over seven times their share of the population.
Despite the apparent instability of this cohort, particularly when cross-sex hormones are factored in, a major video game developer has decided to pair LGBT propaganda with its popular first-person shooter — a move some critics figure serves to glorify violence in the activists' colors.
Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty franchise is from far innocuous, having long courted controversy.
For instance, one mission in the Infinity Ward-developed 2009 title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, generated outrage with its "No Russian" mission, which had players fill the shoes of an undercover agent drawn into a false flag attack at a fictional Moscow-based airport. Instead of mowing down the usual waves of armed enemies, players were instead tasked with becoming terrorists and massacring multitudes of unarmed civilians.
Activision Blizzard drew the ire of former CIA asset and Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in 2012 for supposedly hurting his reputation in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
The woke company's controversies are not limited to gamifying terrorism and providing Latin dictators with a second act.
In recent years, the DEI-captive company — which allegedly has diversity officers ensuring conformity and compliance for each video game — has worked to make sure its murder simulations are in alignment with the LGBT agenda.
Twitch streamer Nick Kolcheff's suggestion last year that LGBT activists should "leave little children alone" prompted the company to remove his in-game character avatar, which had gone on sale the previous month in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and in Warzone.
Whereas last year, the company was breaking links to dissenting voices, this year the company rolled out LGBT propaganda in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and in Warzone.
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In its Modern Warfare 3 season four announcement, Activision Blizzard alerted gamers to "seven free Pride weapon camos."
'We're proud to celebrate Pride Month by offering seven different Weapon camo variants.'
"Call of Duty is for everyone, and we're proud to celebrate Pride Month by offering seven different Weapon camo variants, each representing the colors of the different LGBTQ+ flags," said the company.
One gamer noted that some bullets in the game have been digitally painted in the colors of the transvestite flag.
Bounding into Comics reported that the franchise has rolled out similar bundles before, having introduced LGBT-themed calling cards in 2022. However, this is apparently the first time that the company has applied Pride graphics directly to bullets.
In addition to weapon camouflages and activist bullets, the free bundle includes Pride flag weapon stickers and weapon key chains.
Former Blizzard Entertainment team lead and Red 5 Studios cofounder Mark Kern tweeted, "Um....did you think this one through? @Activision @CallofDuty We just started PRIDE and we already have the worst virtue signal of the year. If the news media actually covered what was happening with mass shootings, they would know. But they either don't know, or don't care."
That Park Place noted that some critics have dubbed the Pride package the "Audrey Hale Operator update," in reference to the murderous transvestite who shot up the Covenant Christian School in Nashville.
The activist publication PinkNews suggested, "As is somewhat expected sadly, the reaction to the update has been mixed as the Call of Duty community is not renowned for its LGBTQ+ support or allyship."
While critics have suggested the Pride package is in bad taste, Forbes suggested it amounted to a "nice gesture to the LGBTQ Call of Duty community."
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