From Thriving to Dying

Posted on June 25, 2025 by JC

In keeping with the tradition of this blog, I am commenting on something quite some time after it was current news. The article that follows was published on the Guardian website on January 11th, almost six months ago. It gives an update on Fr. Peter Kennedy, a heretical Catholic priest and the short-lived cult he formed at St. Mary’s Parish in South Brisbane. His actions were so egregious that Rome was forced to act on it which is an achievement given the abuses tolerated within the church over the last fifty years especially. A linked article headlined ‘Our beloved heretic’: Rebel priest going strong‘ from the same year he was dismissed in 2009 summarises the problem quite openly:

Fr Kennedy initially defied his sacking and continued to conduct weekly masses in which he would contradict core tenets of the faith – he allowed women to preach, blessed gay couples, performed illegitimate baptisms and questioned the divinity of Jesus.

This is not even the full extent of his departures with the faith and morals of the Catholic Church. He is in every sense (and by his own words), an apostate. However this open apostate still believed he should have been able to remain within the Church though rejecting the core tenets. To try to explain how irrational and unreasonable this expectation is to him or his supporters is a waste of time — they think it should be so and so it should be so. 

Happily, the most recent update on the parish some fifteen years later shows that his heretical cult has dwindled to almost nothing and will likely die with him.

The article which I will be drawing from is titled, ‘Ageing in exile: the greatest threat facing Brisbane’s rebel Catholic parish‘ and I will be responding to most of what is written. The article is interesting in that it is very positive but can’t help but reveal what a failure his “parish” has become and how pathetic his remaining adherents look.

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Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope Season Pass Review

Posted on June 15, 2025 by JC

In November 2022 I posted my review of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope the sequel to Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, one of the best early releases on the Nintendo Switch in 2017. In my review I was quite critical and considered a let down compared to the original but still a fun game and one I might one day come back to; when the then unreleased Season Pass content was inevitably discounted. A significant enough discount came in April so I grabbed it.

As it was well over two years since I played through the game, I had forgotten generally how it played and so opted to go back to the main game first to mop-up the extra content and collectables I hadn’t completed. One of the biggest criticisms I had in the review was how easy it was even with all the optional difficulty sliders turned to max. This lack of difficulty meant that any further levelling up or collecting better items would only make the game even easier and so there wasn’t much incentive to do so. Going through the missed content proved this to be the case and only a couple of the special battles against supersized enemies provided any challenge. The extra collectables (and especially the weapon skins), added little and by the time all were collected, there was nothing left to do. There was no multiplayer or co-op modes or anything else to extend it. I will say that re-visiting the game was mostly fun and I certainly wouldn’t have bothered had it not been but the average player would still get the best experience from the main story content. 

Having re-familiarised myself with gameplay and the various worlds, I was ready to jump into the DLC packs which are neatly integrated into the main menu. The three packs are The Tower of Doooom, The Last Spark Hunter and Rayman in the Phantom Show which will be covered in order.

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The King of Kong Review

Posted on June 8, 2025 by JC

 

In April I wrote a post on the outcome of a lawsuit brought by Billy Mitchell against Karl Jobst, a resident of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. In this I gave some background to Billy Mitchell including the 2007 documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters which brought him wider public attention. As stated in the post, he is undoubtedly a pioneer of competitive gaming and was particularly skilled at the arcade classics Donkey Kong and Pac-Man. This captured my interest for a number of reasons, not least because the case took place in the city where I reside and I was familiar with both personalities involved before it began. 

This led me (and I’m sure many), to re-watching the documentary which is the third time I believe I’ve sat down to watch it. This is relatively rare as far as documentaries go as it is not generally a genre that invites repeat viewings. On this re-watching, I found myself focusing more on the methods used to position Billy Mitchell as the antagonist. As mentioned in the previous video, I believe he consciously played up to this to some extent but the film also clearly positions him as such. If like most people, you were watching this as an entertaining window into the little world of competitive arcade gaming than you will more or less forget the details of afterwards, it would be fine but Mitchell being positioned as an antagonist had far reaching effects as the defamation lawsuit against Jobst certainly shows.

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The Chronicles of Riddick Review

Posted on May 31, 2025 by JC

The Chronicles of Riddick was released in 2004 and was a sequel of sorts to the 2000 film Pitch Black. I say “of sorts” because while both shared the same director David Twohy and lead character played by Vin Diesel, the original was a slasher film with a science-fiction premise and the sequel was far more ambitious science-fiction epic. Indeed, a related video game prequel, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and a related animated short released alongside it with Diesel providing his voice and likeness in both. Unfortunately, the film did not see the success that was hoped and didn’t even make back it’s budget when released in theatres; it wasn’t treated much better by critics either.

Though it wasn’t ultimately successful, it wasn’t considered the disaster that films like Waterworld were; which incidentally, Twohy also co-wrote the script for. My general impression is that it was largely ignored and then forgotten except by few enthusiasts. Vin Diesel himself is no doubt among these enthusiasts as he had turned down appearing in sequels to his far more successful The Fast and the Furious and xXx films to work on this. Today his main claim to fame is still the former series and it is easy to forget that he didn’t appear in the immediate sequel and made only a cameo at the end of the third film. It wasn’t really until the fourth and fifth films that the series became a box office juggernaut. The immediate sequel to xXx starred Ice Cube and Diesel didn’t return to that role until 2017; some fifteen years later.

Though not performing well in theatres, the film presumably did well-enough with its home release on the then still popular DVD format to become profitable. It also developed a dedicated enough following that Twohy and Diesel were able to do another film which released in 2013 and was titled simply Riddick. Though continuing immediately after The Chronicles of Riddick, it is more a sequel to Pitch Black. It had a much smaller budget (which it seems to have made back), and the plot is in many ways a re-tread of the original film with grotesque monsters now brought out by rain instead of darkness.

The horror genre has never much appealed to me and it is only the science-fiction setting of films like Alien and Pitch Black that grabbed my attention. While it is understandable that they went for a cheaper and more bankable film, it was the attempt at a science-fiction epic that really appealed to me. There are relatively few science-fiction films and fewer still I would consider very good. Though The Chronicles of Riddick certainly has its issues, I consider it a great film and I hope here to expand on why.

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A Farewell Fisking dedicated to the late Keith Windschuttle

Posted on May 15, 2025 by JC

I just learned today that Keith Windschuttle, the writer, historian and former editor of Australia’s Quadrant Magazine died early in April of this year. That I didn’t learn this until over a month later tells me that I don’t pay much attention to the media and also that the media didn’t pay much attention to his death. Were the latter wrong, I would have certainly learned of it before now if only by word of mouth. It was only when looking up a book I was recommended that I discovered he had died on Quadrant’s website. I have previously mentioned him twice on this blog which really understates how important he was to my intellectual formation during my university years.

When I was studying the obviously distorted and politicised version of what passes for Australian History in university, discovering his and related works was like a cold beer after a hard day’s labour on a hot summer’s day. To say it was refreshing is then something of an understatement. I have come to rethink a lot of my assumptions and beliefs over my adult life but the work he did on Australian history has for the most part, stood up and I still highly recommend it.

His now sadly unfinished Fabrication of Aboriginal History series was the most influential. I expect that the planned but unreleased Volume II was some way along and will be finished by someone else. The reason for them being unfinished seems totally down to other projects taking over including his The White Australia Policy, The Break-Up of Australia and most recently with his The Persecution of George Pell. Of all his works, it is perhaps more than a little ironic that the last should be the first to be vindicated in its very short publication history. The other two works could certainly be re-published within the unfinished series as they are relevant to his overall thesis.

I didn’t agree with everything he wrote (does one ever?) and I would probably take the most issue with The White Australia Policy but as I’ve not read it for twenty years, I will reserve judgement. And I wouldn’t expect Windschuttle would agree with a great deal of what I’ve written on this blog either. What is more important is he was one of very few figures in Australia that actually challenged the entrenched radicals in Australian government and academia. That this has only gotten worse is more down to spineless politicians and an apathetic population than any effort on Windschuttle’s part. 

I could write more but I couldn’t help but notice what appeared second after the link to Wikipedia when searching his name in my search engine which as of writing is also exactly where it is found on Google. I thought it might be more fitting to show the kind of people Windschuttle was dealing with as it really demonstrates how important his work was. Continue reading →

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Put A Chick In It, And Make Her Lame And Gay

Posted on May 5, 2025 by JC

The above video is from a South Park episode called ‘Joining the Panderverse’ from a few years ago. I haven’t watched this episode but the phrase that I’ve used as the title of this post became a meme simply because of how accurate it has been with regards to forced diversity in media over the last decade or more. Apparently it also criticised obsessive fandom but I have expressed similar disgust with fandom previously and this doesn’t take away from the clear mockery of social justice convergence found in the clip above. As hard as it may be for binary thinkers to comprehend, I can simultaneously dislike man-children complaining on YouTube while still substantially agreeing with what they’re complaining about. 

Video games have naturally not been left alone and there is no shortage of examples to choose from. The character Ellie from the vastly overrated Naughty Dog series The Last of Us was made gay in the ‘Left Behind’ DLC released after the original game. The heroine Aloy from Guerrilla Games’ Horizon series was also made gay in story DLC released for the sequel. I do not believe it is a coincidence that both of these are PlayStation Studios franchises and that both of these “revelations” happened in DLC that is generally played by a smaller percentage of people who buy the base game. I also deliberately use “made” because I think these decisions are generally made further along in the creative process than any of these companies will ever admit.

There are three upcoming releases with female protagonists including two more to be published by PlayStation Studios that have female protagonists as well as The Witcher IV which will likely not release until at least 2027. I expect that all three of these female protagonists will either be lesbian or bisexual as in the meme. This post will briefly go over these games and should I be proved wrong on any, I will update the post admitting this.

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Daniel Defoe on Marriage

Posted on April 27, 2025 by JC

Daniel Defoe is best known as the author of Robinson Crusoe which was published in 1719. It is a novel which popularised the castaway narrative and adventure novels set in the Caribbean. It remains influential and celebrated though I expect most people who recognise the title, have not read it. It was only a few years ago that I finally got around to reading it myself.

What is overlooked when Robinson Crusoe is mentioned is the didactic theme of religious conversion which was of more importance to the author than the narrative that inspired so many castaway, survival and adventure stories. Defoe himself was better known in his time as a pamphleteer and essayist and to say that he wrote a lot would be something of an understatement. In looking into his other works I came across an intriguing work published in 1727 called Conjugal Lewdness or, Matrimonial Whoredom which was later retitled A Treatise Concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed. This is unsurprisingly, not one of his better known works or one that would be popular today but the original title alone sparked my curiosity.

Though not readily available in print, the entire work is available on Wikisource which is where I found it. My poor attempt to convert it into an e-book format resulted in only the first half being readable but even incomplete, it was an interesting read. Interesting enough that I have collected together a number of excerpts which I will provide some commentary on below. I have not updated any of the text so there will be some oddities such as murder being spelt, “murther”. This is not intended to be a deep analysis and more to highlight the passages I found notable with some light commentary.

My main interest in the work was the focus on contraception which since the Church of England’s 1930 Lambeth Conference, is widely considered licit in most sects outside the Catholic Church. It is my general impression that any Protestant sect that forbids contraception would be an exception and not the rule. Should this assumption be wrong, I’d be happy to make a correction. It might be normal to most mainline Protestants today but it would have appalled Defoe as much as it would have Martin Luther and John Calvin. I have not read widely on Defoe’s life but he was born into a Presbyterian family and if not remaining in that church, he did remain a Christian for his life. And judging only by this pamphlet, he was a serious believing Christian. Continue reading →

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The Starquest Saga Continues…

Posted on April 15, 2025 by JC

Secret Agents of the Galaxy by John C. Wright, Tuscany Bay Books, March 11th, 2025

In October last year Space Pirates of Andromeda, the first book in John C. Wright’s Starquest series was released. I reviewed this book favourably and I was certainly looking forward to the sequel which arrived last month. I have decided that I will continue to review the series as each book releases and so my review of Secret Agents of the Galaxy follows below. As with the last review, this will generally avoid spoilers and I will leave anything more in-depth until after the series is concluded.

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Hammers and Barrels

Posted on April 7, 2025 by JC

This month has brought us yet another example of the cluelessness those who are terminally online have about the real world. Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst had the hammer thrust down on him in a defamation lawsuit brought by Donkey Kong and Pac-Man champion Billy Mitchell in the Brisbane District Court. The damages awarded are around AU$350,000 and will exceed that when interest (and whatever his own legal expenses were), are added. I know very little about law and will not be offering any analysis from this perspective, but I do have an opinion on the matter in general which will be shared below. 

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Second-Rate Sci-Fi

Posted on March 30, 2025 by JC

In the Black by Patrick S. Tomlinson, Tor Books, October 13th, 2020

I can’t begin this review without at least briefly discussing the author as it was his online antics that led me to seeking out this book in the first place. Patrick S. Tomlinson, though he would vehemently deny it, is what is known online as a “lolcow“. For the unfamiliar, this is any online personality that can be milked endlessly for laughs. Not to say this is an achievement but Tomlinson has to date been lot more successful at this than any of his other endeavours. A YouTube channel called ‘Cryptic Web Chronicles” goes over much of the related online dramas but I caution anyone unfamiliar, that this quite a rabbit hole to travel down. It is a strange and amusing journey but there are also many moments of darkness along the way.

The main reason he has become a lolcow is his refusal to follow one of the most ancient rules of the Internet which is “Don’t feed the trolls”. Rather than block and move on from the various trolls he encounters, he actively responds; mainly through his X account. Before beginning this review I went and captured this example of his repeated responses to various trolls.

One can check his replies on almost any day of the week and find much the same thing filling up his feed. 

The most notable of his many failed endeavours is as a military science-fiction writer which according to his Amazon author page dates back to late 2015. He seems to have been picked up by Tor Books after a few years and the subject of this review is his most recent (and last) published book from late 2020. As I write, it is getting close to five years since this book was released and the cover is still used as the banner on his X account. Given that he published a book every year from 2015 to 2020 and has published nothing since, one can’t help but assume his publisher has dropped him. That or he decided not to finish what he started here and after reading In the Black, I can’t say it would be much of a loss if this is in fact the case.

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