The Royal Scam?

These two really got around.

NEWSWEEK confirms Epstein & Maxwell at THE QUEEN’S log cabin.

Photo Shows Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell Visited Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral

The White Queen S1 – My Review

J. Giambrone

Those creepy, bloodthirsty, white people.

This show is available on Amazon, and the second season appears to be up on Youtube. It reminded me of The Tudors, a similarly executed historical drama with copious amounts of copulation and beheading.

The White Queen tells the story of the first Queen Elizabeth, with the twist that she was a bit of a witch. The magic is included as legitimate, and apparently everyone at court believed it to be true.

They also changed loyalties like they changed socks. What stands out most is the utter absurdity of monarchy and feudalism. Every noble with some vague claim to royalty can raise an army of dumb grunts and march on the capital. Even one’s brothers are not above suspicion, and for good reason.

There are no good people in this history. There is, however, the female perspective, and that’s relatively new. Elizabeth is the…

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Europe Stops Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

 

No such pangs of morality or ethics from Sheik Obama.

Europe Stands Up to Saudi Arabia

The Real Saudi Dictator

King Abdullah’s Saudi Arabia: Slavery, Terror & Women as Property

Cult Classic: Caligula (1979)

Not for prudish Americans.  This film is rated X for extreme situations, sexuality and brutality.  I’ve heard that some of the sex is actually real, and controversy has surrounded the film ever since Penthouse agreed to co-produce it.  With a script written by Gore Vidal, this is pure mind blowing depravity from start to finish.  Never again would such a film come together, one that reveals the decadence and the psychosis of a society so clearly, while pulling no punches, alleviating no concerns.

Caligula completely ignores the mores and taboos of its audience.  It exists in another realm, another time and place without regard for the conventions of the multiplex set.  Except for its English language tongue, the milieu is eerily authentic in its sadomasochism, torture, mass insanity and raw exercise of power.

Malcolm McDowell’s finest role in my opinion, and perhaps Peter O’Toole’s as well.  This is top notch over the edge of the precipice stuff, and I really do shiver when thinking of this film.  In an age of banal comic book boy scouts and robot battles written by the mentally retarded, a film like Caligula might as well have been produced on an alien home-world.

The British miniseries I, Claudius tells part of the Caligula story, in a less grotesque fashion, and each telling has its value and place.  But to really tremble in awe of the empire, its power to dehumanize and to disembowel its opponents, Caligula is the cautionary tale for the ages.

The recent post on Phillip Zimbardo’s psychology of evil is relevant here.  For that is where Vidal plumbed the depths.  Beyond character flaws, beyond triteness and childhood pop-psychology, the ultimate power of the Roman Emperor and the society constructed around him, is what warps and degrades everyone involved.  This lust for power and the terror of being on the wrong end of it form the situation that destroys the humanity of all concerned.  It is Millgram’s experiment and Zimbardo’s prison writ large, a mega-experiment that ruled the earth for centuries.  Versions of this absolute tyrant power linger on today, and to lesser degrees in so many other milieus.

I would place Caligula near the top of the list of the most important films of the 20^th century.  It’ll turn your guts inside out, but you won’t forget the experience, not for a long time, if ever.

5/5

Also ranks on the Top Political Movies List.

UTR: Day of the Falcon (2011)

Finally a grown-up movie set in the Arab world.  This Is one of the most memorable and epic films I’ve seen in a while, with an international cast, a wonderful poignant story, real issues and intense action.

Drawing obviously from Lawrence of Arabia, Day of the Falcon works better in my opinion.  For several reasons, not least of which is the idea of a British imperial white man (Lawrence) leading the Arabs, I don’t find that film the immaculate classic that others may.

But Falcon features Antonio Banderas in a harsh role as an emir of an Arabian tribe and pitted against his rival, the Sultan of the neighboring tribe.  In a deal, upon the conclusion of a battle, the Sultan’s two sons are taken as hostages to live with the emir and to insure the peace.  The disputed desert region is to be a no man’s land, owned by no one.  When oil is later discovered in the no man’s land, it sets the stage for different world views, different traditions and different approaches to this newly-discovered resource.  That conflict has been at the center of world politics ever since.

It’s a travesty that a film of this caliber apparently lost money, and was not embraced by audiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgH2wkiaIQ8

Cut the Shit on “Al Qaeda”

President Bush holding hands with Saudi Prince Abdullah

Let’s cut the bullshit concerning the monarchy of Saudi Arabia and its long, longstanding creation and sponsorship of international terrorist organizations including “Al Qaeda” (“the database”).  This week Malaysia is the target of Islamist destabilization, as was recently seen in Libya and Syria:

Malaysia Invaded: Hundreds of Terrorists Land on Beaches, Western Media Mute

Tony Cartaluccci writes:

“A multitude of reports from across the West have identified Saudi Arabia as the lynch pin in Al Qaeda’s global terror campaign, including the US Army West Point Combating Terrorism Center.

Its reports “Al-Qa’ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq” and “Bombers, Bank Accounts and Bleedout: al-Qa’ida’s Road In and Out of Iraq,” identify a vast terrorist network maintained by the Saudis that recruits, arms, and funds terrorists from across the Muslim World, and can funnel a mercenary army into any desired nation. At the time, the desired nation was Iraq. In 2011, it was Libya. Today it is Syria. The same network that US soldiers fought in Iraq is verifiably in use today, in support of US regime-change operations in Syria.

And while it is acknowledged across even the Western mainstream media that Saudi Arabia is a notorious state-sponsor of terrorism, including the terrorists allegedly behind the September 11, 2001 attacks that left 3,000 Americans dead, the US has had a decades-long, deep economic and military relationship with the despotic Arabian autocracy.”

Lest you think this treasonous relationship is the purview of the Bush family alone, we must note Barack Obama’s sucking of the big Saudi cock vis a vis the victims of the September 11th attacks of 2001, in their lawsuit against the despotic terrorist-sponsoring tyranny of Saudi Arabia:

Justice Dept. Backs Saudi Royal Family on 9/11 Lawsuit
NY Times
ERIC LICHTBLAU
May 29, 2009

Personally, that’s enough prima facie evidence of H-I-G-H- T-R-E-A-S-O-N to warrant a complete shutdown of the nation until this matter is sorted out once and for all. But, business as usual rolls on. I have no idea what mush is inside the brains of the military/security complex that swears oaths to defend the US and the Constitution and then does the exact opposite time and time again. Why do people sign their lives away to fight for these monsters?

“Barack Obama to authorise record $60bn Saudi arms sale”

Ask the former head of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Bob Graham of Florida, about the Saudi ties to the 9/11 attacks. Open the file on FBI reports of Saudi “ghost employees” paid by the Saudi aerospace sector prior to the 9/11 attacks, suspected of working for the “Saudi Arabian intelligence service” and winding up beyond the reach of low level FBI investigators after the September 11th attacks.

I mean seriously, cut the shit. We are governed by the most despicable criminals on the face of the planet, and the people believe lies, generalizations, myths about nearly everything.

“The American People don’t read.” –Allen Dulles

 

The Tudors (2007-2010)

The Tudors: The Complete Series

Henry’s a bos-tard!

That’s what I’ve been yelling out intermittently these past few days.

The Tudors has concluded after four years depicting the tyrannical reign of English king Henry VIII.

People remember Henry for his tendency to kill off his wives and take others. But how did it all go down?

Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1977)

Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (German)

DVD: Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) is a conquistador in the 1560s. As a member of Pizarro’s team, he is sent on ahead with a group of soldiers, monks, slaves and two women.

The Indians have told the Spaniards a tall tale about a land of gold called El Dorado. Just follow the river. Have fun.