Differing Methods: Same Goal

Posted on October 24, 2024 by JC

I have mentioned elsewhere the short memory of the media cycle and even society in general. It is no surprise then that it is also evident in the much less important aspects of our lives such as popular culture. This post will be focused on one such example and one where many people who were once opposed to something, end up tolerating it in a different form. Continue reading →

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The Grandmaster Returns

Posted on October 17, 2024 by JC

Starquest: Space Pirates Of Andromeda by John C. Wright, Tuscany Bay Books, October 8th, 2024

For an author as prolific as John C. Wright, it has seemed like a very quiet few years. The most recent published books I can find from him on Amazon all came out in 2020. His own list of published works bears this out too. I found myself wondering earlier this year whether or not one of the best living Science-Fiction and Fantasy authors had retired, lost his muse or just faded into obscurity. I first had to remind myself that not publishing isn’t the same as not writing and indeed, doesn’t require any publishing at all. I was then reminded of his successful Starquest, Indiegogo campaign from late 2018 with the promise to “Make  Space Opera Great Again”. Connecting these two revealed that Wright had in fact been quietly but busily writing a whole series of novels for the last few years and the first of these was made available just a week ago.  

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Gladiator: Still Entertained

Posted on October 11, 2024 by JC

 

The unnecessary (and likely awful) upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator put me in mind to watch the original film as it had been quite a few years since my last viewing. I remember Gladiator‘s theatrical release quite vividly as I was in High School and it was one of the biggest films over those years that is still thought of highly today. For someone of my age, it was a great few years for films with the new (but disappointing), Star Wars prequel trilogy, the X-Men film adaptations, The Matrix in 1999 and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy beginning in late 2001. Apart from all the gross-out teenage sex comedies, these were the most notable films of the period and Gladiator still holds up very well.

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Gossip is Poison

Posted on September 30, 2024 by JC

This is another post with the obvious as its theme but that which is obvious, often needs to be re-stated again and again. Making a statement about gossip being bad will seldom provoke disagreement from anyone but most people will carry on gossiping as if oblivious to this knowledge. As I believe I’ve mentioned, much popular media is devoted to sharing gossip and this intrusive and often nasty focus on the lives of celebrities is the one area where I am somewhat sympathetic to what those regularly in the public eye have to suffer.

My target here is not about the organised and more profitable gossip that bombards magazines, newspapers, online news, social media and television screens but that which the regular people often engage in to the detriment of all. Something I make no claim to being innocent of engaging in whether actively or passively at times myself. Continue reading →

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In Appreciation of Charles R. Saunders’ Imaro

Posted on September 24, 2024 by JC

I only recently learned of the existence of Imaro by the late Charles R. Saunders through the dissident literary circles in which I often spectate, but seldom participate. I immediately sought out the two books pictured above, which as of writing, are the only two easily available. It brought me joy as I had discovered a genuinely talented pulp author, with a unique take on the genre popularised by authors such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber. This joy was accompanied by a twofold sorrow as the author passed away in May of 2020, largely unremarked and had I only discovered him a few years earlier, I could have not only purchased all his books directly but perhaps even sent him a message of thanks and appreciation. His passing was at least covered by Morgan Holmes on the Castalia House blog (who also corresponded with him), and he was even given a more fitting headstone with the help of a Kickstarter project a few years ago. It is unfortunate that something else he will no doubt share with Robert E. Howard (and indeed many great authors), is having others profit from his creations long after his death.

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Gears 5: An Unadmitted Failure

Posted on September 15, 2024 by JC

It has now been five years since the release of Gears 5 which I reviewed a few months after release here. Although acknowledging that the visual design and gameplay was very good, I was critical of the narrative direction the game took as well the ignorance (deliberate or otherwise), of the game’s writers with regards to the series lore. As the game was released on Xbox Game Pass (which is how I played it), it is hard to work out whether it was a commercial success but I would guess it didn’t make back its budget. The claim it was played by three million people on launch is less impressive when you remember that many of these people could have paid as little as $1 for the introductory subscription price. I know I’ve taken advantage of this a few times and I can’t be the only one. Even those that paid the regular subscription price paid substantially less than what the game cost at retail. Although this cannot be good for retail (or even digital sales), Microsoft seems quite happy to release its major first party releases this way and at least as of writing, still have the money to lose.

What better indicates the failure of the game is the five years that have elapsed since release as well as the June announcement of Gears of War: E-Day.

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Being Cheap can be Expensive

Posted on September 10, 2024 by JC

I can be quite cheap with my spending in regard to certain things. The main example would be with regard to entertainment. If you wait a few years to see a movie, buy a game or read a book, the quality isn’t going to diminish in the same way that mayonnaise will. So I have no problem looking for the best deal I can on entertainment (short of piracy or bootlegs), because I know I will be getting the same thing and for a lot cheaper. The price on release is more a matter of recovering development/production costs and the quickly fading novelty of being new. 

I am quite the opposite when it comes to more important matters. If my car needs new brakes or tyres for example, I am not going to go for the cheap option. Equally so with regards to buying footwear, dental treatment and most types of electrical appliances. The cost of being cheap with many of these products or services can indeed be very expensive. What inspired this post has to do with an important household item that caused a lot more trouble in breaking than it would have if it had been changed when the signs of its failure were evident but less destructive. I warned the relevant authorities of the risk of what would (and subsequently did), happen but my advice was not heeded.

My brief role as a suburban Cassandra is really only relevant to the wider implications of this which I will delve into briefly below. Continue reading →

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Jane Austen and Feminists

Posted on August 31, 2024 by JC

One of the great things about my time in university was that I got to read and study a lot of great works of literature. One of the worst things about my time in university was that this was usually through the grimy, cracked lens of feminism or some other vile form of textual deconstruction. This was by no means always the case but even the best professors I had were careful at least to pay lip-service to these interpretations in their lectures. Thankfully, as memories of my time at university fade, the good I got out of it has retained its clarity. And it has not been hard to maintain this clarity when what you’re reading was clearly written by someone who does not share the worldview or intentions that the professor is trying to draw out of their writing. Whether it be Homer, Shakespeare or in the subject of this post, it is usually obvious what the author’s actual intentions were.  

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From Comedian to Punchline

Posted on August 28, 2024 by JC

The recent poor reviews of Joe Rogan’s Netflix special has me thinking about how quickly comedians can go from being funny to a living joke. Thinking about Rogan specifically, I remember learning of him around the time he famously (or infamously?) jumped on the stage while Carlos Mencia was performing and called him out for stealing jokes from other comedians. I didn’t even remember that he had earlier had a role on News Radio which I occasionally watched in the 1990s — though I didn’t particularly enjoy the show. I have never liked Rogan’s style of comedy but I wouldn’t have gone so far as to say he wasn’t funny.

If you’re familiar with Owen Benjamin, you can hardly be surprised with the public ridicule Rogan is receiving as it has been a long time coming. The success Joe Rogan found in podcasting allowed him to act as something of a gatekeeper to aspiring comedians and Benjamin himself was a victim of this though he appeared on the podcast on more than one occasion and they did have a good relationship. After Benjamin had the temerity to publicly share that he thought it was wrong to dress a little boy as a girl and give him drugs that will prevent him going through puberty, all previously wide-open avenues to his Hollywood success were closed forever. Now plenty of people are saying exactly what he said (I think even including Rogan), but it was still bad when he did it. And he ate a pot brownie and went crazy forever or something like that.

In any case, this is not about Owen Benjamin as his is very much a special (though also righteous), case. Here I want to go over some examples of comedians that Rogan is now looking to follow. That is people who were very successful for how funny they were until they suddenly weren’t. Continue reading →

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The Last Tomb Raider

Posted on August 20, 2024 by JC

After recently replaying Crystal Dynamic’s 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, I became interested in replaying the two original titles they developed after they replaced Core Design. The first game they developed was Tomb Raider: Legend which was developed on a completely new engine with a new story. This was a an enjoyable game at release but hasn’t aged so well. It still has its moments and by most accounts was a big improvement on Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness which is the game that ended Core’s involvement with the series. They followed this up with a remake of the original game on the same engine that connected events of Legend but I did not replay this. The events of both games were used for the story in Tomb Raider: Underworld which was released in 2008.

Although the development duties for the franchise were transferred to Crystal Dynamics, the series creator Toby Gard was still involved for their first three entries. Underworld did not perform poorly financially or critically but it seems it still wasn’t the blockbuster the parent company Eidos Interactive were hoping for. Apart from the spin-0ff  Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, this was the last Tomb Raider game released before the 2013 reboot. So it was also effectively the last game in the series that played similar to the original games and involved the series creator.

I came away from my recent replay of Tomb Raider: Underworld with a much more favourable opinion than I had of the reboot.

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