Monkeying About

water-colour of Charles Darwin by George Richmond

May 5, 1925: Teacher John Scopes is charged with having taught evolution in a Tennessee school. Originally designed as a means of putting the town of Dayton on the map, the case became a circus when Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan rolled into town as defence and prosecuting counsel.  The whole affair became a hoary old film of which The Varnished Culture has previously spoken. Scopes was convicted and fined $100 (which was overturned on appeal because, unusually, the penalty had to be stipulated by the jury rather than the trial judge). But Dayton did great business that summer….

Continue Reading →

Neil’s Story

May 4, 2017 | Posted by Guest Reviewer | Fiction, LIFE |

Neil’s Story: A Regretful Refugee (ISIS Imprint) (2017) In this haunting, beautifully-written autobiography of one man’s encounter with a strange and hostile culture, the author shows how Australia’s lack of empathy drove him abroad to do good works in the Levant. It’s a unique clash-of-cultures tale, combining the innocence of Australian youth with the intricate and knowing wisdom of an ancient, sacred culture. Neil describes his formative years under the brutal Victorian regime, where he was forced into indentured servitude as an apprentice mechanic. Eventually he escaped this living hell for the promised lands of the Sunni-controlled part of Syria. Prakash was…

Continue Reading →

Contempt on Peptides

May 2, 2017 | Posted by Guest Reviewer | AUSTRALIANIA, LIFE |

10 Ways the Australian Football League conglomerate shows its contempt for grass roots football Despite various subterfuges and secretagogues to hide it, the AFL:- 1.Endlessly tinkers (ludicrously) with rules of the game during the summer, abandons them in the regular season, but maintains their imposition on the so-called lower leagues. 2. Sets its competition, not around fairness, but around TV Scheduling. 3. Swamps us with so much advertising (for fast food, beer and gambling) on such a high rotation, that nausea ensues. 4. Provides nil local coverage. 5. Doesn’t bother to provide local scores. 6. Rapes and pillages young talent whilst imposing trickle-down funding of below-subsistence…

Continue Reading →

Cats and Dogs

April 30, 2017 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | AUSTRALIANIA, LIFE |

Glenelg Tigers vs Central District Bulldogs, April 29, 2017 Well, what a day! Beaten-up by Central District all day (they’ve hated and monstered us ever since 1975), the Tigers looked, to this jaundiced eye, a little soft and incompetent. We had plenty of possession (374 disposals to 286) but frittered it away with sloppy delivery, such that our usual potent attack was left stranded, while the Dogs rebounded with method and precision – they looked cleaner, and tougher. We were a little startled by the presence of ‘foreigners’ in our viewing box – and stunned at the half by a spray from…

Continue Reading →

Where We Are Now

April 24, 2017 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | Australian Politics, LIFE, POLITICS, Ulalume |

Kylemorrison74: "the earth will be a wasteland of lava and charred rock, and covered with vortex' that are an eternity of pain and agony. in a nutshell hell will ascend and there is no safe place to hide except in religion"

The South Australian Circle of Hell, 2017 Our littoral is a burning shore – lit by a million candles. The water burns. The air burns. The wind is uncomfortably warm. The rain is as blood. Drones hover. Wind turbines whine uselessly. Our power-grid hangs on a fraying thread, all insulation melted away. Water bursts through the earth on the hour, coursing water, vermin and ordure into homes and shops. Infrastructure crumbles. Bridges fall. Black dust swirls and eddies about once pristine sands. Our old folks are bound, gagged, doused with turpentine and they scream with pain. We await the wintry day when the crippled and…

Continue Reading →

© Copyright 2014 The Varnished Culture All Rights Reserved. TVC Disclaimer. Site by KWD&D.