gaffe (noun)
1. A social or diplomatic blunder
The other day I noticed an article concerning a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly referring to AI (artificial intelligence) as “A-One” for an entire speech presented to the National Tech Summit. This might seem on the face of it to be a minor mistake but I believe this goes beyond a regrettable political “gaffe” as described.
It has been some years since I wrote about Donald Trump or American politics in general. I first started this blog in late 2015 when the events that culminated in the 2016 election of Donald Trump were unfolding. A lot has happened since then and after Trump’s somewhat disappointing first term and the blatant fraud committed during the 2020 election, I had lost interest what had become much more literal political theatre. I still followed more or less what was happening but expected the rug to be pulled again though still confident he would handily win a fair election. Despite all this, he has won and won very convincingly with Arizona and Nevada now turning red and giving him a total of 312 Electoral College votes as well as the popular vote.
Sonic Superstars was one of the games I was interested in last year but decided to give a miss after seeing some of the more critical (read: negative) reviews. It also just released in a year of big releases and even within a few days of the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. As I’ve detailed, there were a lot of great games that monopolised the limited time and money I put aside for gaming last year and so this one was not a priority. Nonetheless, I knew that much like with Sonic Frontiers and earlier with games like Sonic Forces, that I would get to this one eventually. And eventually I did when I found it for less than half the retail price a few weeks ago.
The short of it is that I found most of what the negative reviews had said about it to be spot on and normally this would be the end of the matter. What has prompted this post is that I played the Switch version and I noticed that some of what was written online was inaccurate with regards to the performance of that version of the game. And so unlike with my review of Sonic Frontiers, all the screenshots I have included in this post are captured from my Nintendo Switch. Continue reading
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
