Uh oh, J. Stapley stepped in it (hurry, go to FMH and write a guest post about it!). Not only does he attempt to dictate BCC policy and get slapped for it, he tromps on the DAMU and gets chastised for it! Imagine that, the offensive are easily offended (the best defense is to be easily offended, right?). Oh, poor J. Worst of all, nobody came in and praised him with choruses of "Thank you, Oh, thank you for this" as he so often regales others with. The ingrates!

Tip for all budding narcissists: Step on a bear trap instead, as it may generate some sympathy for you. But, do take off your penny loafers first, as you wouldn't want them to get scuffed up.

Last week's top narcissist was Guy Murray. Who? You know, that guy who in concert with M0's Geoff B keeps the Bloggernacle abreast of every move Mitt Romney makes. Oh, yeah, that guy. Well, like any good aspiring narcissist, Guy is quick on his feet at directing traffic to his blog to increase his hit count. Being a quick study from the contention, and massive numbers of comments, on recent Bush-hating rabid rants at BCC by RH and HP, Guy follows suit and jumps into the fray to score the highest number of comments ever on a blog post. Natch, he follows it up with another one to keep the momentum rolling, but interest peters out quickly when readers realize they are being played.

And, lest his mentors think he has gone all left-wing and thereby endanger his much-aspired-too guest bloggering, he returns to the source of his inspiration to castigate them sharply for their obvious excesses. Good on you Guy for helping to reign in Ronan's "light speeches", "excess of laughter" and "superfluity of naughtiness", providing ample backlinks to your own blog.


Note to all aspiring narcissist bloggers: Follow Guy's example assiduously and you too will enjoying higher hit counts, riding boldly and bravely on the coat tails of others down well-worn paths to glory.

Scabbers Wormtail lashed out at his master today in an effort to ingratiate himself with those whom he has previously disenfranchised through self-promoting treachery. When asked for a comment regarding the apparent insult, Lord Voldemort stated in a matter-or-fact manner, "Let the permabores be warned, his devotion is nothing more than cowardice. He would not be at T&S if he had anywhere else to go."

Covertly obtained correspondence between Scabbers and the permabores, obtained at great personal risk and sparing no expense to obtain, is as follows:

"Adam, Adam, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea ... he has weapons you can't imagine ... I was scared, Adam, I was never brave like you and Matt and Russell. I never meant it to happen ... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me ... He -- he was taking over everywhere! Wh -- what was there to be gained by refusing him? You don't understand! He would have killed me, Adam!"

One of the less polite female permabores, stated of Scabbers,

"Hero-worshiped Oman and Harris. Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him ... Stupid boy ... Foolish boy .. .He was always hopeless at blogging..."

As reported a couple of weeks ago John Dehlin pulled the plug on MoSto because it was eclipsing the rest of his life. Since taking it down, he has been smothererd with the DAMUnacle's love and has realized it needs to be resurrected. Yes, for the paltry sum of only $2000/month it will go back online. And for $4000/month John will grow it into a veritable hub of all things Mormon and Media, casting himself as Jon Stewart, Tim Russert, Charlie Rose and Ken Burns all wrapped up into one charming Mormonism questioning media vanguard. Wow, John, now that is the kind of narcissism I love and respect. But why stop there John? Pull in David Letterman, Jay Leno and then cast your future in parallel to Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and Sir Richard Branson as well. You can be the Head DAMU! Now, all you have to do is convince a group of people who are united by their hatred of all things Mormons, and little else, to unite under your banner and give you money.

UPDATE: John weighs in on the comments to let people know what is going on in his life and with the MoSto blogsite.

Being an unapolagetic narcissist, I am all about self love. But this is just way too much!

This installment of Narcissist of the Week (NotW) comes a bit early, but with a series of performances so stunning there is no possibility it could be outdone. Maybe added to, but never outdone. With a veritable narcissism trifecta, who could possibly hold a candle to this bright and shining spotlight?

First up Julie brilliantly defends her literary approach to the Gospel of Mark by steadfastly and articulately crushing all naysayers beneath her feet. Since she is right, and she knows she is right, why listen to anyone else, let alone respond to their inane and banal questions? I know I wouldn't, because I am right, all the time, no matter what.

Then, Julie slaps down DMI Dave in the comments on an ExpoII thread, and takes it on over to a full-fledged post on T&S to give Dave the drubbing he deserves, and so none of her adoring fans will miss her sublime ingenuity in the comments of a relatively obscure blog. Heck yeah, that is so totally what I would have done. I mean, T&S is there as her personal pedestal, to bask in her glory, so why not use it to flail the enemies of righteousness and correct interpretations? Similar to the her performance in the Leprous Temple thread noted above, she handily makes her point and dispatches all naysayers. Why be gracious, when you are right, and it is all his fault?

Finally, Julie deigns to shows forth her exemplary erudition in New Testament scholarship by endorsing a book that would be acceptable for pedestrain laymen, like the typical unin[it]iated Bloggernacle reader. Ah, what a breath of fresh air! Natch, Julie points out all of the problems with the text, having spotted them all, owing to her obvious expertise in the subject, so as to spare the dullards of the Bloggernacle any confusion or doubt over being misinformed. Grateful we are, Julie! May you always lead us into the paths of defensible non-free-for-all scriptural interpretations! After I get my copy, will you personally sign it with a glowing endorsement (less the bad bits, which I will allow you to personally comment on in the margins)?

All Hail Julie M. Smith, Paragon of Charity, Diplomacy and Brilliant Exegesis!

She will be an example to us all, forever and always.

The Sunstoned Blog declares itself to be

An open forum examining the rich spiritual, intellectual, social and artistic qualities of Mormon history and contemporary life.

That's all fine and good. They explore the far reaches of intellecutalism in the hopes of proving once and for all they are smarter than the average blogger.

Well, Scot Denhalter is going to have to subtract himself from the smart guy list. Either that, or he's going to have to learn how to use the spell-check function of his word processor. Of all the places to make a spelling error, the title line is the most obvious.


So much for intelligence.