We continue reviewing all the Disney feature-length animations in chronological order. We are now in the years of the Disney Renaissance, when the original skill and genius of the company was revived by the Broadway musical inspiration of Howard Ashman. By this time, he had passed away, and his loss is noticeable.
ALADDIN (1992) is one of Disney’s finest accomplishments, equal to the best animation ever put to film.
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And in another story, Larry Correia dedicated his latest book to George RR Martin with a tongue in cheek quip, and social media headploded on him. He fisks one of the several libels against him here:
https://monsterhunternation.com/2025/01/14/fisking-msns-goofy-take-on-my-book-dedication-to-george-rr-martin/
The words below are his:
I haven’t done a Fisking in a while! But to be fair I haven’t infuriated the internet this much in several months. My crime? I dedicated the sixth and final book (which comes out February) of my epic fantasy series to George RR Martin.
The original article will be in italics and my responses will be in bold.
Fantasy author taunts Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin in his new book
Story by Dan Selcke
• 23h • 3 min read
Yeah, 3 minutes to read, 10 minutes for me to point out all the bullshit in it.
George R.R. Martin is the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, which was adapted for TV as Game of Thrones.
Which made George one of the wealthiest and most famous writers in human history, but we’ll get back to that part.
Only the producers behind Game of Thrones had to finish the story before Martin finished the source material; he released the last book in his series, A Dance With Dragons, way back in 2011. Fans have been waiting for the sixth book, The Winds of Winter, for over a decade at this point.
That’s a nice way of saying that babies who were born when the last book came out are now learning to drive.
It continues in like vein. On a personal note, I was alarmed and disappointed to see repeated by the MSM libels and lies about Sad Puppies long since exploded, nonchalantly recited there. Falsehoods never die.
Please read the whole thing here.
From THE GOLDEN TRANSCENDENCE, vol. III of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, the Golden Oecumene has elevated the immortals of the solar system to untrammeled triumphs of abundance, liberty, and splendor. But hidden by masquerade, a sinister threat arises from the dark star Cygnus X1, man’s sole exosolar colony, the long-lost Silent Oecumene.
Phaethon of Rhadamanth, bedeviled and beguiled by agents of the Lords of the Silent Oecumene, returns from exile to confront them. He must battle them in the core of the Sun, the core of his mind and memory, and at the apex of all abstraction, when the Golden Transcendence gathers all minds in the solar system into one communion, and all truths are laid bare.
The Golden Transcendence Ep. 03: Thought Contamination
This is a revision of a column from 2011, updated to the current decade.
At one time this link from from the ironically named Hookingupsmart.com led to an article entitled “Why Do Feminists Find Abstinence Intolerable.” The original seems to be missing, but here is a quote:
Rachel Kramer Bussel, a sex writer and leader in the sex-positive movement, believes that casual sex is “under attack”:
“There’s a world of difference between being branded a sex object and choosing to be one…I may like to get spanked until I scream, but I still deserve to be treated as an intelligent human being… Feminists are just like any other women, and it’d be a shame for us to hold back in a misguided attempt to live up to the legacies of Susan B. Anthony and Gloria Steinem.”
The article goes on to list other “sex positive” feminist kinks that the postrational postmodern postchristian ladies demand be treated as liberating choices for women: Rape fantasies, BDSM, Swinging, Polyamory, Fisting, Bukkake, Prostitution and all forms of Porn. (It deeply saddens me that the internet has allowed me to know what all these terms mean, who had no such Hollywoodian knowledge in my youth.)
The article is from 2011. In 2025, social media is currently showing boasts by an internet harlot that she has coupled with a record breaking number of men in record time, outperforming even Empress Messalina at her most depraved.
Sex-positivity is newspeak for harlotry. We live in an era when prostitution, adultery, sluttish behavior is lauded, and chastity condemned. Ironically, this is done in the name of freedom.
The modern notion of freedom is an assertion of nothingness. Freedom is the lack of impediment to the willpower.
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From THE GOLDEN TRANSCENDENCE, vol. III of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, the Golden Oecumene has elevated the immortals of the solar system to untrammeled triumphs of abundance, liberty, and splendor. But hidden by masquerade, a sinister threat arises from the dark star Cygnus X1, man’s sole exosolar colony, the long-lost Silent Oecumene.
Phaethon of Rhadamanth, bedeviled and beguiled by agents of the Lords of the Silent Oecumene, returns from exile to confront them. He must battle them in the core of the Sun, the core of his mind and memory, and at the apex of all abstraction, when the Golden Transcendence gathers all minds in the solar system into one communion, and all truths are laid bare.
The Golden Transcendence Ep. 02: The Memory Casket
From THE GOLDEN TRANSCENDENCE, vol. III of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, the Golden Oecumene has elevated the immortals of the solar system to untrammeled triumph of abundance, liberty, and splendor.
But hidden by the protocols of masquerade, a sinister threat arises from the dead star Cygnus X1, site of mankind’s sole extrasolar colony, which, falling silent in aeons past, long thought dead, is called the Silent Oecumene.
Phaethon of Rhadamanth, bedeviled and beguiled by agents of the Lords of the Silent Oecumene, returns from exile to confront them, as the last of the masquerade comes to an end. He must battle them in the core of the Sun, the core of his mind and memory, and at the apex of all abstraction ere the end.
The Golden Transcendence gathers all minds in the solar system, natural and artificial, into one communion, and all truths are laid bare.
The Golden Transcendence Ep. 01: The Ship
We are reviewing all the feature-length Disney animated films in order. We have now reached the pinnacle, the best film of the Disney Renaissance, the best film of Disney’s portfolio, the best animated film of any animator, the best film ever filmed whether live action or animated.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991) was produced by Howard Ashman, and received lauds and awards it would be tedious to recite, but which were well deserved.
Naturally, I can make no pretense of objectivity when reviewing my favorite film: I can only hope to list the virtues that I imagine even those not infatuated by this film in fairness must admit exist.
For I saw this film in the theater when I was a young newlywed, and had no money for tickets, because I myself was a hulky hairy beast who had just been turned into a handsome prince by the first kiss of my beloved beauty, and every element of this film spoke to some part of my life or another. So it would be an understatement to say I recommend it.
We are reviewing the Disney animated features in chronological order.
RESCUERS DOWN UNDER (1990) was released the year after LITTLE MERMAID (1989), but usually is not considered part of the Disney Renaissance: if it is classified as part of the Renaissance films, it has the sad distinction of being the worst box office performer among them.
In theme and style, and poor craftsmanship, RESCUERS DOWN UNDER is more aptly categorized with OLIVER AND COMPANY or THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE, as one of the films of Disney’s lingering the Dry Spell.
From THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, vol. II of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, where men are as gods, living lives of perfect peace and prosperity, Phaethon of Rhadamanthus discovers all memory of his lifework has been hidden from him. For he is the engineer of the sole starship his civilization has ever produced: the mighty, majestic, and immense Phoenix Exultant. She is a ship to conquer the stars.
But such ambition is outlawed in utopia. Phaethon is a pariah, exiled mentally and physically, denuded of possessions, and cast down among outcasts. His life is sought by sinister agents of the Silent Oecumene: an apocalyptic menace none but he dares see. For in a world where mind or memory can be edited at will, what is truth?
The Phoenix Exultant Ep. 39: The Warship Exultant
This is the final episode of Vol II: THE PHOENIX EXULTANT
Next week, we serialize Vol III: THE GOLDEN TRANSCENDENCE.
Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, no witch has power to charm,
So hallow’d and gracious is the time. –Hamlet
In keeping with the tradition here at John C. Wright’s Journal, I reprint, as I do each year, this list the feasts of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and to urge my fellow traditionalists to continue the Christly and Christian work of Keeping the Feast and Partyin’ On! Let us pause for unsolemn reflection on these solemnities.
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15 December AD 2024,
Gaudete Sunday
Dear Godson,
On Gaudete Sunday, we light the rose candle of rejoicing, and give thanks in the midst of our season of penitential waiting. The coming joy of the birth of Our Lord awaits us.
In lesser matters, we can also take joy, in that the Lord made knowledge of Him open not just to the spirit of faith, but also to the eyes of reason. He could have arranges the world otherwise, but, in His mercy, the Lord saw fit to give mortal man just enough power of reason for philosophy to reach the pearly gate of heaven, but not enough to enter the throneroom. Reason can tell us that the Lord is real, and worthy of glory and worship, but more than that, must be revealed by a grace, or remain hidden.
But to know God exists is no more impossible than to know reality is real. Indeed, from the fact that reality it real, that being has being, is one way to know God exists.
The Church teaches, and reason confirms, that the Supreme Being is and must be the ground of being: and this all men know to be God.
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A Georgia court of appeals disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team from prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump in his election interference case on Thursday.
The court did not toss Trump’s indictment entirely, but Willis and the assistant DAs working in her office now have “no authority to proceed.”
“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the filing states. “The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring.”
The court said while it recognizes that “an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”
One hopes this crooked witch will see the inside of a jail, after being disbarred.
From THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, vol. II of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, where men are as gods, living lives of perfect peace and prosperity, Phaethon of Rhadamanthus discovers all memory of his lifework has been hidden from him. For he is the engineer of the sole starship his civilization has ever produced: the mighty, majestic, and immense Phoenix Exultant. She is a ship to conquer the stars.
But such ambition is outlawed in utopia. Phaethon is a pariah, exiled mentally and physically, denuded of possessions, and cast down among outcasts. His life is sought by sinister agents of the Silent Oecumene: an apocalyptic menace none but he dares see. For in a world where mind or memory can be edited at will, what is truth?
The Phoenix Exultant Ep. 38: Godspeed
From the pen of Charles Hackney
https://charleshackney.substack.com/p/review-of-space-pirates-of-andromeda
“Remember the days gone by,” the author asks, “when science fiction was fun?” In this, John C. Wright has succeeded. Space Pirates of Andromeda is a fun tale of big action, and noble heroes fighting against impossible odds. The worldbuilding is most impressive, feeling original and fully realized, but only offering us tantalizing glimpses of what has gone before instead of burdening the reader with tedious exposition. I was left with a desire to find out more about Wright’s Star Quest universe, and to see the mysteries of the characters be slowly revealed.
I highly recommend Space Pirates of Andromeda for all ages. I loved it, and immediately handed it off to my youngest, who is currently deep in the adventures of Athos and Lyra (I had to “steal” the book back to write this review).
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RED ONE (2024) directed by Jake Kasdan, stars Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, is an urban fantasy Christmas action-thriller, fitting neatly into no known genre, which will perhaps be enjoyable to anyone willing to grant the somewhat silly premise, and perhaps not to anyone unwilling.
This film enjoys a remarkably high audience score but a remarkably low score from the establishment film critics. This is usually a sign that the film is normal and enjoyable, not perverse nor woke.
But the film did not seem normal to me, by which I mean, I can think of no other urban fantasy Christmas action-thriller. As such, this film runs the risk of falling between the stools. Action film fans might well pan it for its fantastical elements, whereas fans of Christmas family films might well pan it for its untraditional, even disrespectful, handling of common elements of the Santa Claus fairy tale.
As for Christians, we have long ago ceased to expect any mention of Christ or Christmas in a Christmas movie, aside from Linus quoting scripture in a Charlie Brown telly special from two generations ago.
Regardless, this filmgoer found the film perfectly enjoyable: nor were any elements visible which might provoke the establishment film critics. I cannot explain the high audience score nor the low critic score.
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