The Sparks Brothers [2021)

Whole world falling apart.

But falling apart in a certain way.

The Freedom Convoy in Ottawa drawing the ire of little shit Hitler Trudeau.

https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-canadian-mp-accused-of-spreading-disinformation-for-pointing-out-wefs-corrupt-influence-over-trudeaus-govt/

Klaus Schwab: “When I mention our names…like Mrs. Merkel…even Vladimir Putin, and so on: they all have been Young Global Leaders of the Economic Forum…but, um…what we are really proud of, now…is the young generation like Prime Minister Trudeau…um, President of Argentina…and so on…so we penetrate the cabinets…so…yesterday, I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau, and I would know that half of this cabinet, or even more half [sic] of this cabinet are…for our actually Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum.”

David Gergen: “That’s true in Argentina as well.”

Schwab: “It’s true in Argentina, and uh, it’s true in France now, I mean, with the President, uh, with the Young Global Leader, but…what is important for…”

There are two parallel online databases–one shorter, and one longer–maintained by the YGL (Young Global Leaders program) of Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum (WEF) aka Davos. Here is the longer, more inclusive database:

https://www.younggloballeaders.org/community

This is ostensibly a list of “alumni”.

It should be noted that in neither database is listed Justin Trudeau, Angela Merkel, or Vladimir Putin.

Indeed, I can find no record on WEF websites which draw attention to any of the these three leaders having been “trained” by the WEF.

[it should be noted that the Young Global Leaders formerly went by the name Global Leaders for Tomorrow]

Perhaps, in a strictly accurate sense, neither Trudeau, Merkel, nor Putin were in the YGL program.

But this is disingenuous.

It is the same program.

Just simply renamed.

And this is where I need researchers more talented than myself to DIG!

It is ESSENTIAL to delineate the hideous world order under which we now live.

Go back to the year the program started.

In the early-1990s.

Why is it essential?

Because Schwab is bragging (you must read between the lines…listen to his tone of voice) that these leaders are BEHOLDEN to him.

And while we cannot yet put our finger on the very years these three leaders were trained, we can cite with more authority the strange network which Schwab has built up.

Let me introduce you:

It’s time people stopped worshipping Trump.

Face the truth.

The motherfucker has pushed the vaccine in myriad ways the past few months.

So here you go.

Maybe Bartiromo was just gathering intelligence.

For what it’s worth, I like her more than Trump at this point.

Same with Putin.

I like him more than Trump.

I could see Putin (a former Stasi officer) treating a WEF invitation as a chance to gather intelligence.

It should be noted, there are VERY FEW Russians included in the HIGHLY-EXCLUSIVE Young Global Leaders program.

But Canada is of much concern.

If Trudeau was really in the Global Leaders for Tomorrow program and is beholden to Schwab.

Things start adding up.

If you are looking for members of the climate cult, look no further than the YGL.

Comb through all 98 pages (as I did).

You will find some doozies!

The head of New Zealand.

The head of Belgium.

And the Canadians beholden to Schwab just keep on coming!

Don’t buy into the Tulsi crap.

She’s fake as a plastic lei.

Owning politicians.

And fake news.

Wire services.

The “choke points” of the news industry.

I’ve heard that Bono was among the Global Leaders for Tomorrow.

I can’t yet verify that.

But I can verify this.

Heads of state (verified):

New Zealand

Belgium

France

Do you need some vaccines to really start to round out this picture?

Right.

GAVI.

Former (recent) heads of state: Mexico.

How about some really weird, pseudo-philanthropy, social-engineering stuff?

Eyes open!

But the Canadians keep coming hot and heavy.

And fake news can be proffered and gate-kept by means other that simply wire services.

This is information warfare.

Censorship can be achieved in many ways.

How about “deplatforming”?

How is that done?

I first went through the shorter database.

A mere 60 pages or so.

Then found there to be a larger database (the 98-page one).

Who was left out of the shorter one?

This guy.

There are so many it’s hard to remember who is on which list.

I will have to leave some out.

Pick a concentration.

A specialty.

Trace it through the 98 pages.

It’s astounding and heartbreaking that Kissinger protege Klaus Schwab wields this much power.

It appears that the Bilderberg group is no longer the prime focus of the New World Order.

It is, rather, the World Economic Forum.

And George Soros is no longer the living, breathing James Bond villain-to-end-all-villains.

That is, rather, Klaus Schwab.

Schwab puts the words in the mouths of Prince Charles and Pope Bergogio.

6uild6ack6etter.

Gates and Schwab are weaving the same hideous tapestry.

Fauci is a rather mid-level functionary.

At a Vatican event here.

Hand-in-glove with Gates in many other places.

But Klaus Schwab is at the top of the pile.

The pinnacle of the shit heap.

He “penetrates cabinets”.

Former (recent) heads of state:

Mexico

Georgia

I’m leaving out all of the forays the WEF Young Global Leaders make into the private sector.

Neuroscience.

Pharmaceuticals.

Cyber”security”.

Skull and Bones had their election (2004): Bush vs. Kerry.

Win-win.

And now the WEF is starting to pick off U.S. Presidential candidates.

And “penetrating cabinets” (transportation, in this case.

Gabbard.

Buttigieg).

Buy the regulators.

So you won’t be regulated.

I’m not at all telling you about all of the bankers the WEF “owns”.

But here’s another government connection.

The New World Order is not just white men.

Perhaps they are pulling the strings.

But they have puppets of every make and model.

Every color.

Every gender.

Every woke permutation.

Some are tokens.

But many hold key, KEY positions in major economies.

Major regional powers.

When Schwab spoke about essentially controlling half of Canada’s cabinet, he wasn’t kidding.

Supranational banks.

Soros buys prosecutors.

Gets them elected.

“Bail reform”.

Goal: cause chaos/anarchy.

Societal collapse.

The antithesis of law and order.

Absurd policies which increase crime.

So it is biblical that Canada’s truckers should have taken such a stand.

Because no government on earth appears to be owned more by the WEF than Canada’s.

There was a lot of mention of Argentina between Schwab and Gergen (didn’t Gergen attend Bohemian Grove? [Alex Jones once did a great ambush interview with Gergen]).

Remember, Bohemian Grove is where people (like Kissinger) do a “mock” sacrifice of a child (called the “Cremation of Care”) under a giant sculpture of Moloch (in the form of an owl).

This is out in the woods near San Francisco.

Or maybe you need some Jesuits to go with Fauci, Bergoglio, and Francis Collins?

[Bergoglio Argentine Jesuit]

The places with the fastest-disappearing freedoms (Canada, Australia…) seem to be big focuses of the Young Global Leaders program.

To Myanmar’s credit, they appear to have rid their country of the Soros influence.

Need some more vaccines?

Need some critical race theory?

Klaus Schwab controls the Elvis of that racket.

How about the U.S. Congressman most heavily invested in Big Pharma?

Yep, Schwab has him too.

Even Trump hired one of these dumb fucks.

How about some transhumanism?

Keep in mind: I am giving you an overview that is far from exhaustive.

There are more Argentines.

More Brazilians.

Could Chinese communist news be more fake and insidious than it already is?

Yes.

How?

Make the anchors beholden to Klaus Schwab.

The World Economic Forum is a threat to every country on earth.

But Schwab seems to idolize China.

Russia has been smart enough to make Soros persona non grata.

China should do the same with Schwab.

EVERY country should do the same with BOTH of them!

Wikipedia thoroughly compromised.

Now does it make sense why you can’t find any real news or facts on Wikipedia?

Why it is so politicized and liberal-, communist-, GLOBALIST-biased?

But this is recruiting.

EVERY. SINGLE. COUNTRY.

These may not be the Prime Ministers today, but they will be.

Own New Zealand, France, Belgium…own Mexico and Georgia.

These high-profile recruits make scamming the third-world even easier.

The only type of people who could enter this Young Global Leaders program and not come out blackmailed are the Putin and Bartiromo types.

HARD individuals.

And I cannot guarantee that either of them made it out unscathed.

Let’s check in on those current heads of state (which we can confirm were Young Global Leaders):

New Zealand

France

Belgium

Costa Rica

Finland

(and recently

Mexico

Georgia)

Belgium and Finland, eh?

Maybe Schwab just wants to control the countries with the most pale women?

His father was a Nazi collaborator (after all):

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2021/02/investigative-reports/schwab-family-values/

Once you control the Prime Minister and the head of finance, what can’t you do?

How about somebody over where Fauci works?

Make it look like charity.

Make it look like philanthropy.

Tokens.

I am leaving out Google.

And Meta.

And AWS.

But here’s an interesting one.

This is basically a public intelligence-gathering organization masquerading as a leadership academy.

This is a transnational conspiracy operating (mostly) in plain sight.

I am leaving out think tanks.

Brookings.

Because there are so many damned Canadians!

Make it look like a Disney movie of diversity.

Unimpeachable.

Unassailable on the surface.

All answering to Klaus Schwab.

All thankful to have been chosen for this exclusive club.

All owing their current places in business and industry (or government) to his benison.

I’m leaving out princes and princesses (Norway).

I’m leaving out other royals who are also ambassadors (Saudi Arabia).

Being a European, Schwab really wants to collect all the European heads of state.

He wants the complete set.

Not timely enough?

How about some vats???

Everyone must bend to the will of Schwab.

He will kiss China’s ass.

But only insofar as they kiss his.

I owe no allegiance to China.

I don’t even LIKE them.

But I would urge them to BREAK ALL TIES IMMEDIATELY with Klaus Schwab.

Not timely enough?

Need more proof that Schwab is behind the plandemic?

How did he and Bill Gates “flood the zone” with bogus information and fearmongering?

How did they economically shut down the planet (thereby gaining a death-grip on humanity)?

Here’s one vector.

You will eat the bugs…and worship the little Scandinavian midget girl…and you will be happy.

How were all these levers pulled?

I rest my case.

-PD

Jojo Rabbit [2019)

Something is collapsing.

Where did Stephane Bancel go?

BioMérieux.

Moderna.

The Spartacus Letter.

https://www.infowars.com/posts/damn-you-to-hell-you-will-not-destroy-america-read-the-spartacus-covid-letter-thats-gone-viral/

The same people who created the vaccines created the virus.

And Bourla couldn’t get into Israel…because he hadn’t taken his own company’s vaccine.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/pfizer-ceos-israel-visit-cancelled-because-he-is-unvaccinated-report-661100

A tale of two CEOs.

Two of the most evil people to ever live.

They won’t give us Ivermectin.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2FmXOcurWKJBtAMI128acf?si=5XvMCHfVReOdAUYudHeFQg&nd=1

They won’t give us hydroxychloroquine to put with our zinc.

[it must be the same dose of HCQ as used for other ailments…too much HCQ was used in New York State…USE THE SAME DOSAGE AS WITH MALARIA]

So we are prisoners in our own houses.

They want us to go to the hospitals and get pumped full of Remdesivir.

https://dailyexpose.uk/2021/09/02/remdesivir-causes-renal-failure-hospital-protocols-are-killing-people/

No fucking thanks.

I’d rather die at home.

[excursus on Bangladesh: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33278625/ ]

So we are the Jews hiding out.

The whole world.

People like me with asthma and high blood pressure.

And a heart condition.

There were two months in a row this year where I didn’t leave the house.

[and I am approaching another two months where I haven’t left the house]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34513523/

I have asked two doctors (my own physician, and a friend) to prescribe me Ivermectin to be taken prophylactically.

Both refused.

So I am a prisoner in my own home.

With my two elderly parents.

Whom I love with all my heart.

I am not going to go out flippantly and get sick.

And I am not taking these #NeitherSafeNorEffective vaccines.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-covid-deaths-2021-vaccines-b1963790.html

Uttar Pradesh did it right.

https://open.spotify.com/track/7G3u2PJ87Lu91GI5fnEqOe?si=-lA76m7GQPKX60jEJCnRjA&nd=1

Japan did a great job embracing Ivermectin.

So you can tell me India is a backwards country (they are not…many brilliant doctors).

But you cannot tell me Japan is a backwards country.

https://c19ivermectin.com/

Your anti-Ivermectin narrative is falling apart.

But the truckers are the heroes.

Canada is on the brink of revolution.

And America is on the brink of war.

Russia is forcing Biden’s hand.

I believe Putin is trying to force the U.S. military to remove Joe Biden from the Presidency.

It is my belief that Putin is attempting to prove to the U.S. military that Biden is corrupt SPECIFICALLY IN RELATION TO UKRAINE (and he is!):

https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/

If Russia invades Ukraine and Joe Biden chooses to send U.S. troops to die in defense of non-NATO Ukraine, this will be proof #1 for the U.S. military.

If Russia invades Ukraine, Xi Jinping will not be able to pass up the irresistible chance to invade Taiwan.

This will be proof #2 for the U.S. military because Joe Biden is corrupt SPECIFICALLY IN RELATION TO CHINA:

https://nypost.com/2020/10/15/emails-reveal-how-hunter-biden-tried-to-cash-in-big-with-chinese-firm/

If Biden fails to defend Taiwan, this will be the second proof to the U.S. military.

But I must be fair.

Whether it is deception (is Joe Biden even capable of that in his currently deteriorated mental state?) or not, the POTUS said something which was actually sensible the other day.

To paraphrase, “We will not be able to rescue Americans inside Ukraine if Russia invades because if Americans and Russians start shooting at each other, that is very bad.”

This is the first thing Joe Biden has said during his Presidency which is both true and wise.

Is this some kind of ploy to garner votes?

Like the sudden back-off from the COVID restrictions?

But Justin Trudeau is not backing off.

Because he is a fucking retard.

And the Canadian people are showing more SPIRIT and COURAGE and FORTITUDE than any people in the entire world!!!

Previously, the Dutch had been the avant-garde.

And the Australian truckers were the FIRST to REALLY put the screws to their government by shutting down roads.

Also, don’t count out the French.

They did a similar thing near the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel).

But what the Canadians are doing is of a WHOLE OTHER MAGNITUDE ALTOGETHER!

People are wondering why Americans are not doing anything.

Black people are letting their rights be trampled in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities because they think that rocking the boat will prevent those sweet, sweet reparations from coming down the pipe.

UPDATE: all you are getting from the Biden administration and Obama-black Kamala is crack pipes.

These politicians are liars.

They tricked you.

STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS NOW!!!

Where’s BLM???

I love my black brothers and sisters.

I’m not saying you don’t deserve reparations for slavery.

But I am saying this: you ain’t getting shit from the Democrats and the Democratic Party.

AOC is a fucking fake.

Bernie Sanders is a fucking fake.

Barack Obama is a fucking fake.

Joe Biden is WAY MORE RACIST than Donald Trump could ever dream of being.

Speaking of which.

Justin “Blackface” Trudeau has no business calling any of these truckers “racists”.

https://nypost.com/2021/09/20/new-trudeau-blackface-photo-lands-on-eve-of-canada-election/

How many times has Trudeau (likely the illegitimate son of Fidel Castro [is his governing style starting to make sense?]) been photographed in blackface?

https://medium.com/@leibowitt/of-course-fidel-castro-is-justin-trudeaus-dad-nobody-has-debunked-anything-4db6fc8a9042

But I am going to keep giving Trump hell until he calls out the COVID vaccines as the bullshit they are.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3VXsCvRbs1B6BmsVoeAvrQ?si=fbr_E1PFTIi_d304xfSSRw&nd=1

He hasn’t done that.

Instead, his dumb ass has PROMOTED these killer vaccines.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html

https://openvaers.com/covid-data/mortality

https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/02/underreporting-vaccine-adverse-events

So Trump does not get a pass.

Not now.

Not yet.

He did a GREAT job as President.

But he is shirking his duty by extolling these vaccines.

If there are Nuremberg tribunals, Trump will be tried as well.

His actions have been assuring that that will happen.

He had plenty of opportunity to say that he had been tricked about these vaccines.

He STILL could throw the people REALLY responsible for these killer vaccines under the bus.

But he is not doing that.

Why?

This is why I cannot support Trump in 2024.

I will support DeSantis.

I will support Rand Paul (unless he recommended these vaccines to Trump).

I will support Tucker Carlson.

I will support Candace Owens.

I will support Robert Malone.

I will support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

No one else is qualified right now to be President aside from these six.

But why aren’t American truckers doing what Canadian truckers are doing?

Because of January 6.

The FBI and corrupt agenda-setting (fake) news framed Americans.

https://www.revolver.news/2021/02/maga-blood-libel-why-are-they-hiding-the-medical-report/

The FBI provocateured the January 6 event.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/09/accused-oath-keepers-capitol-rioter-worked-for-fbi-lawyer/

https://www.revolver.news/2021/10/meet-ray-epps-the-fed-protected-provocateur-who-appears-to-have-led-the-very-first-1-6-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol/

https://www.revolver.news/2021/12/damning-new-details-massive-web-unindicted-operators-january-6/

FULL-Transcript-of-Whistleblower-Interview

There are some good FBI field offices.

Here’s my favorites (in order from best to not quite as good):

#1 FBI Albany

#2 FBI Buffalo

#3 FBI St. Louis

#4 FBI Cleveland

#5 FBI Cincinnati

#6 FBI Pittsburgh

#7 FBI Omaha

#8 FBI Oklahoma City

#9 FBI Philadelphia

#10 FBI Kansas City

Honorable mention: FBI Little Rock

FBI Minneapolis and FBI Newark are also not bad.

What do you notice here?

Here’s what I notice (and suspect).

The “good agents” are sent to the Midwest.

Chicago?

No.

Notice the pattern.

Philadelphia is a pretty good field office.

But Pittsburgh is much better.

Do you get it?

Send the good agents to the middle of nowhere.

Omaha.

Oklahoma City.

Little Rock.

St. Louis.

Detroit?

No.

Milwaukee?

No.

Send them to small towns.

New York City?

No.

Albany?

Yes.

Boston?

No.

Buffalo?

Yes.

The FBI learned their lesson with Ted Gunderson (who almost became Director).

He was the best agent in the history of the Bureau.

Because he had INTEGRITY.

He was in some smaller places.

New Haven. Memphis. Dallas.

And he almost brought the whole house of cards down on the ruling class which wields power through the blackmail of pedophilia.

Ted rose to be the Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles field office.

Never again would an agent of such integrity rise so high.

Let’s talk about the worst, most corrupt, useless field offices.

Seattle?

Yes.

They solve art crimes.

What a bunch of poseurs.

Same with FBI Portland.

Totally worthless.

FBI Los Angeles is where you send the corrupt agents.

FBI Phoenix are fighting windmills.

And where do you send the MOST-CORRUPT agents?

Well, FBI Washington (D.C.) Field Office, of course.

They see no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.

And the FBI has come after ordinary Americans RUTHLESSLY for the past year.

Think of all the things FBI Baltimore could have been investigating…

Think of all the things FBI Chicago could have been investigating…

Not every field office went along.

Kudos to FBI Denver.

Think of all the things FBI Detroit could have been investigating…

Think of all the things FBI El Paso could have been investigating…

Think of all the things FBI Los Angeles could have been investigating…

Think of all the things FBI Las Vegas could have been investigating…

In addition to FBI Denver, FBI Miami was not having this bullshit.

Kudos to them and to the memory of these two special agents who lost their lives investigating real crimes.

The FBI’s Most Wanted Twitter account was busy posting photos of grandmas in ugly American flag sweaters. These were a priority for the Most Wanted program. Enough to tweet about it. And pin it. Forget drug kingpins. Gotta find those grandmas that wandered through the Capital and took selfies with Capitol Police.

Think of all the things FBI New Haven (truly a shithole town) could have been investigating…

Think of all the things FBI New Orleans could have been investigating…

Even in crime-riddled San Juan, Puerto Rico, the FBI made #Jan6 their top priority. Even up to three months after the event.

FBI San Diego is actually a decent field office. They do investigate real crimes. And yet, under the pitiable leadership of Christopher Wray, the Bureau continued the same kind of lawless law enforcement that typified the James Comey years.

[The FBI at no time ever had a pinned tweet (for three months) in reference to the George Floyd riots. It should be noted that Mark Milley urged Trump to NOT invoke the Insurrection Act in the summer of 2020 because he characterized the riots in Portland, Minneapolis, and other places as just “penny packet protests” and that it wasn’t an insurrection because they only “used spray paint”. Milley told President Trump that the George Floyd rioters were not “burning it down” (it being America), but Trump was right. We sat back and watched America burn. https://nypost.com/2021/09/17/milley-told-trump-the-george-floyd-protests-were-no-big-deal/ ]

Flashback.

Back to summer 2020.

The chilling effect has created an atmosphere where American truckers can be assured that THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT will come after them mercilessly if they dare stand up and exercise their right to symbolic speech in protest of vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, mask mandates, etc.

Canada still thinks their government will do the right thing when the chips are down.

We will see.

I will say this:

either the RCMP and CSIS greatly underestimated the scope and potential for success of the Freedom Convoy,

or those institutions are far less corrupt than the FBI and CIA.

Why do i say that?

Because there have been no major false-flags or provacateuring inflicted upon the Freedom Convoy AS OF YET.

But Canada is at an impasse.

If Trudeau uses Canadian troops against the peacefully-protesting truckers, it may force the Canadian military to remove Trudeau from power.

If that happens, the American military might be doubly (or trebly) convinced that now is the right time for them to remove Joe Biden from the Presidency.

This would be unprecedented in Canadian and American history.

This would be an unprecedented pair of “coups”.

But it would be most similar to removing the Nazis from power in Germany.

All of these leaders (including Trudeau and Biden) should be tried for war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0MzTHxuzAqgGhkcukKDsBf?si=zxW7nf-wSIeOEN5E2oE-2A&nd=1

These are war criminals.

They have been waging war on their own populations.

What good is the Canadian and/or American military if they are not protecting their populations from DOMESTIC ENEMIES?

I cannot speak to the structure in Canada concerning their charter rights, but Joe Biden is unequivocally an enemy of the Constitution of the United States of America.

Joe Biden is allowing the southern border to be invaded (just as Obama before him did).

If there is not a radical change in the balance of power in America (particularly in regards to what role the military plays), there is a very real chance the republic will fall.

Can we wait until the midterms?

Will the elections even be fair?

Has the election apparatus been sufficiently shored up to only allow American CITIZENS to vote ONCE apiece?

Have the vectors of fraud been eliminated?

I am not convinced that they have.

What happened in Virginia with Youngkin and company was hopeful.

But the other question is this:

will Joe Biden and his globalist criminal conspirators even allow the midterms to happen?

Will Bill Gates and company release smallpox in the U.S. (as they have been telegraphing they may)?

November 9, 2021

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bill-gates-smallpox-terror-attack-b1958789.html

November 18, 2021

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/18/philadelphia-lab-smallpox-vials-freezer

Context [from the same people who brought you Event 201]

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/events-archive/2001_dark-winter/

Is DARPA trying to cover their asses?

Or are they really the good guys in this story?

JAG_Docs_pt1_Og_WATERMARK_OVER_Redacted 2

Think about all the people to have died in the shadows of spook world.

The microbiologists.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/scientists-deaths-are-under-the-microscope/article4134797/

John P. Wheeler III.

Delaware, you say?

Hmmm…

Took the Amtrak like Biden???

Hmmm…

Why are WE THE PEOPLE having to do the job we pay our government to do?

Our government is not protecting us.

Our government is not meting out justice.

This is highly-problematic.

All of the attempts to curb COVID have been WORSE than failures.

They have allowed for a change in power in the United States.

Trump would not have lost had it not been for COVID and mail-in ballots.

Which is to say (not even getting our hands on those Maricopa routers), that he indeed WON the election.

But he is not in power.

Unless there is some incredibly weird dual-government situation playing out.

And at any rate, Trump sounds like a fucking retard when he talks about the vaccines.

And he has talked about them a lot.

Plenty!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-i-got-the-pfizer-125703879.html

Casually dropping his booster status right after a crowd had sung the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art”.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trump-played-conspiracy-theory-hits-024518810.html

https://www.axios.com/trump-candace-owens-dying-vaccine-covid-92fd3eb3-f5ec-4167-8649-113903119de1.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-roasts-gutless-desantis-for-keeping-his-booster-status-a-secret

Trump is on THE WRONG SIDE of the most important issue plaguing us right now.

Why?

Are we supposed to be assured that Trump is Sun Tzu’s bastard child?

And Trump is some international chess champion?

And he’s gonna swoop in at the last moment and do the right thing?

He and what army?

Our woke joke army of Mark Milley, Lloyd Austin, Michael Gilday, Bishop Garrison, and Richard Torres-Estrada?

That woke joke military???

Milley is absolutely a traitor to the United States of America.

Calling China behind Trump’s back to tell them that he would give them a “heads up” if Trump was going to attack was the definition of treason and espionage.

https://nypost.com/2021/09/17/milley-claims-china-calls-perfectly-within-the-duties-of-his-role/

Lloyd Austin is absolutely a traitor to the United States of America.

Forcing our troops to take vaccines that are neither safe, nor effective, is criminal.

Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley are, and have been, destroying the readiness and lethality of our soldiers.

Michael Gilday did this by recommending that our troops read America-hating Ibram X. Kendi.

To “enlighten” them about the struggle of black people in America.

Nope.

Sorry.

We don’t need to recommend our soldiers read a book by someone who hates the very idea of America.

Gilday actively destroyed morale.

Whether it is because he is a moron, or a saboteur, I cannot say with certainty.

Bishop Garrison is about as useful as Rosa Brooks.

https://www.revolver.news/2021/05/bishop-garrison-pentagon-hatchet-man/

Neither of them should have ever been let anywhere near the Department of Defense.

As for Richard Torres-Estrada, special operations is one area where “diversity” should not matter one bit.

Give me THE BEST soldiers.

If they are all women, fine.

If they are all men, fine.

If they are all black, fine.

If they are all white, fine.

And those leading them (SOCOM [USSOCOM]) should also be THE BEST administrators and leaders.

There should be no “diversity hires”.

Fuck your feelings.

The world is on edge.

So many dominoes which could trigger lightening-fast cataclysms.

The American judiciary is no longer functioning.

It is time for martial law.

But the American military has been infiltrated at the highest level by communists and traitors.

All of the institutions which “dealt with” the Nazis have been infiltrated by globalists like Klaus Schwab (whose own father was a Nazi collaborator).

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2021/02/investigative-reports/schwab-family-values/

NATO cannot be depended upon or trusted.

The same for the United Nations.

The same for the International Criminal Court.

All institutions of international law in The Hague have been corrupted and coopted.

China does some things well.

But China is very flawed.

China’s treatment of Hong Kong is inhumane.

China should coexist with Taiwan.

Taiwan should not be FORCED to become a part of China.

And then there is the abomination of what China did to Tibet.

And what they are doing to the Uyghurs.

And how they dealt with their Freedom Convoy (Tiananmen Square [8964]).

Anne Frank as a comedy.

Tragicomedy.

A rather mediocre movie.

A clever idea.

But not a very good movie.

The real Nazis are the ones in Ottawa taking pictures of license plates and fanatically passing this info onto the police.

It must suck to have your first movie (Eagle vs Shark) be not only your best movie, but the only perfect film you’ve made.

This is, likewise, no Last Night in Soho.

Not by a long shot.

Jojo Rabbit is a pretty fucking stupid film.

-PD

Beynelmilel [2006)

Wow 🙂

What a beautiful and perfect movie!

The International.

Yes, we are back to Turkey.

But this film is very much about the passions of youthful revolution.

Is Trump a revolutionary?

Of course.

Was George Washington a revolutionary?

Of course.

But the strain of revolutionary verve in this film is that of communism.

I don’t hate communism.

I don’t hate anything.

But I think some things are not so good.

With communism, I mainly criticize it on an economic level.

Have I read Marx?

Not very much.

But I’ve read enough Debord to get the late-60s version of Marxism.

I would argue that Debord, one of my three favorite writers, was at his best when he was NOT talking about Marxism.

When he goes off on Marxist tangents, he loses me.

I find it boring.

And, as I’ve said, I object to it on economic grounds.

I have a college degree in music.

[which will be very important in reviewing this film]

But I have an advanced degree (above and beyond that) in business.

Am I a genius of economics? No.

But I questioned. I was skeptical. I studied Marx.

And I found the capitalist system to be the best system.

It is, by no means, perfect.

And so why, then, do I like Guy Debord?

Perhaps no one in history hated capitalism more than Guy Debord 🙂

I respect Debord because he was a brilliant social critic.

I do not agree with his economic assumptions.

I do not agree with his Marxist assumptions.

But when it comes to a critique of capitalism (which is the underpinning of globalism), no one has found the flaws like Debord.

No one has completely dismantled the matrix in which we live (the “spectacle”) quite like Debord.

And so his book The Society of the Spectacle is essential reading in my opinion.

At least the first few chapters.

As I said, Debord gets a bit bogged down in Marxism and loses his poetic divining power concomitantly.

But let’s discuss this film.

This is, by far, the best Turkish film I’ve ever seen.

Granted, I think this is only the fourth I’ve ever watched 🙂

But this is really a special movie!

Wikipedia says that it is set in a small town near Adana.

For that, I will say hi to the American soldiers at Incirlik Air Base 🙂

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for representing the United States. Thank you for your service. We love you and we pray for your safety and happiness!

It is true.

I love our American troops.

Most of my life I did not appreciate these wonderful people.

I took it for granted…

“Somebody will do that job…”

But in my older age, I respect these soldiers very much.

But let us shift back to this film.

First, let us thank the two directors: Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Muharrem Gülmez.

They have made an almost perfect movie.

Really, this film is so, so good!

But you must be warned, my dear friends: it is simple.

It you are looking for a complex, confusing film, then you will be disappointed.

Such that, you must be like a child–like a youth to appreciate the naïveté of this masterwork.

So I would say this: it’s a bit like a Turkish version of Cinema Paradiso.

Do you see what I am getting at?

It is poetic.

The mise-en-scène is a bit like what we might expect from Claude Monet (were he still alive).

It is loving.

Large swaths of color.

And, perhaps most quintessential, it is unassuming.

Down to earth.

There’s no condescension in this film.

Come as you are.

First movie you’ve ever seen?

No problem 🙂

It is that sort of loving masterpiece!

It is set in Turkey in 1982.

Cassettes 🙂

80s-style clothing. The Turkish version 🙂

A junta is in place. A military government. Martial law.

And one band of musicians gets rooked into being a “marching band” (of sorts).

But these are folk musicians 🙂

They don’t play brass instruments. They don’t play the sousaphone.

So it is a very steep learning curve (which sounds a lot like Charles Ives in its beginning stages) 🙂

But let’s get to the most important point.

“I fell in love with the actress/She was playing a part that I could understand”

[Neil Young]

Yes.

Özgü Namal.

Just two years younger than me.

She is the star of this film.

Amazing facility as an actress.

But really just a glow–a vibrance in her every gesture.

Here is someone who is glad to be alive 🙂

And it made me glad to be alive!!!

But let me tell you the other star: Cezmi Baskın!

This man!

He has no Wikipedia page in English, but he is a wiseman.

A humanist.

A saint of an actor.

A craftsman.

He plays the bandleader.

And his daughter in the film is Özgü Namal.

Umut Kurt does a very good job as the young communist.

And, hence, the title of the film: The International.

“L’Internationale” 🙂

The most famous of communist anthems.

Yes, dear friends, it is that melody written in 1888 by Pierre De Geyter which is the MacGuffin of this film.

The whole plot hinges on it.

Derrida would call it the brisure (if film were a text).

To deconstruct.

The hinge.

I will say this: the struggles in this film are very real to this day for the people of Turkey.

I would say our communist character would probably today be a member of the CHP party in Turkey: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi.

The Republican People’s Party 🙂

Which is funny because in the U.S., the Republicans (whom I support…more or less) are conservative or “right wing”.

So, yes: the CHP is “left wing”.

But as I say, this is a very fine film.

It shows very much the love which a father can have for his daughter.

It shows the sacrifices which parents make for their children.

Parents will even die to save their children.

This is a funny movie, but it has this tone of seriousness as well.

Actually, the whole film is like a brilliant joke 🙂

It starts very serious…

But the it becomes festive and ridiculous!

Most of all, there are so many poetic camera shots of Turkish life.

Little things which we don’t see in America.

So an American can learn some of another culture.

But also, we see that people all around the world have similar worries and dreams as us.

Well, I don’t want to tell you too much.

I will just say that this is well-worth watching.

It is a bit long, but I watched it in two installments.

And the subtitles are good 🙂

Anyway, it is on Netflix streaming in the U.S. currently as Beynelmilel.

I am so glad I found this film 🙂

Güle güle

-PD

2 Comments

Three Amigos [1986)

Here is a troubling masterpiece.

Because as history unfolds, old modes of expression fall out of style.

They become crude.

And yet, this is a funny fucking film.

We encounter almost the same phenomenon with the priceless, all-world The Party of 1968.

If you like Peter Sellers as an Indian (“Do you speak Hindustani?”), then you are racist.

This is what we are told.

So, then, we are not allowed to laugh at Peter Sellers anymore.

However, notice the double-standard at work in the Pink Panther films.

No one ever says, “Clouseau is such a racist depiction of the French!”

It is because “the white man” has had the rug pulled from underneath him.

The French have everything…

The Louvre, great bread, Dijon, Bordeaux…[a nice meal coming together there, that!]

So therefore, the French should be dispossessed of their wealth in all its many manifestations.

That’s globalism.

And, sadly, that’s socialism.

Make everybody the same.

Take by force.

Redistribute.

Doesn’t sound very civilized to me…

Rather, sounds fairly barbarian.

A shortcut on hard work.

But I’m really aiming to get under your thumb (er, skin) as regards “race”.

I put it in skeptical quotations because modern genetics has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the concept of “race” is ridiculous.

As Geoffrey Carr of The Economist puts it, “One group of 55 chimps in West Africa shows more genetic diversity than the whole of humanity.”

I usually don’t trust The Economist farther than I can throw it.

Because there are no bylines.

And it is a clearly globalist rag.

But Mr. Carr has a point.

To put words in his mouth…if there are no races, then there must be no racism.

I’m sure some other word will suffice.

Phenotype.

I’ll get back to you once I wade through Euclid’s Elements.

But I hope my point is clear.

If races don’t exist (a notion the globalists are pushing very hard…for ulterior motives), then racism is an absurd concept.

But still, SOMETHING exists.

Perhaps it’s just a “rose” by another name.

Which brings us to this film.

Three Amigos. It’s racist, right?

I mean, the Mexicans in this film aren’t doctors and lawyers.

They don’t speak flawless English with no hint of accent.

And though they run a small gamut, there are indeed stereotypes at work.

But is it mean-spirited?

I would argue it is not.

Or else, the Pink Panther films should all be banned out of deference to the French.

Which is no less absurd than saying John Landis’ masterpiece under review is “racist”.

But let me bring a different slant (no pun intended) to this dialogue.

In my area, south Texas, a mixing of “races” is apparent.

There are white people. And a few black people. But mostly there are brown people.

And then there are gradations.

So-and-so is darker than what’s-his-name. And so on and so forth.

And we know that this darkness in skin pigmentation (for Mexican-Americans) comes largely from the Native Americans who populated what is today the U.S. and Mexico.

Before the Europeans arrived.

But here’s my personal two bits.

This film, Three Amigos, was cherished by me and all my school chums when we were growing up.

People with last names like Lopez, De Los Santos, etc.

We were all friends.

And though we may have fallen out of touch with one another, we all seemed to find enjoyment in Three Amigos.

Indeed, my Hispanic (Latino) friends apparently found the characterizations of Mexicans the funniest.

And, dare I say it, because (as the adage goes), “It’s–so–true!!!”

Whether any characterization of Mexicans in this film is or isn’t true…that’s immaterial.

For me.

I am not the ultimate judge.

But things have changed.

And it’s not just the Trump effect.

Over the years, people have become more and more “polite”.

That’s a good thing, right?

Well, I’m not so sure…

Because it’s not a genuine politeness.

It’s a politesse which is enforced topdown.

It’s not really a choice.

And, to make dead clear, it is our old nemesis: social engineering.

It is in this sense that social engineering is truly defined.

Any other definition (the activities of a pickpocket, a conman, a hacker) is insufficient and misleading.

Social engineering is, by-and-large, practiced at the highest levels of government, at policy institutions, and in commerce by Ivy League jerks (both male and female) who wish to mold society into a shape pleasing unto them.

And like those pernicious Fabians of old, they have no qualms about smashing the world to bits if such means lead to their desired end.

The Fabians, of course, never rush anything. Unless they panic. At which time they reveal themselves. To be the losers they are.

Yes, I am no fan of the Fabian socialists.

Because their whole programme is predicated on deception and secrecy.

And, as such, it should be thoroughly suspect whenever encountered.

But this is a comedy, right?

Yes! Amen!! Something we can agree on!!!

[perhaps]

This grand apologia is to introduce one of my favorite films.

Three Amigos.

It is not “politically correct”, but then NOTHING was in 1986.

And with “correctness” we have lost our sense of humor.

We are too easily offended.

We need “safe spaces”.

Ok, ok…I promise I’m not about to get all Bill O’Reilly here.

Because I have railed AGAINST Fox News for many years.

And, dare I say it, the real heroes in the USA were those who took CHANCES…BIG FUCKING CHANCES…to preserve liberty.

Trump came to the party late.

And I came to Trump even later.

But the real heroes are people like Alex Jones.

Indeed, there is no one like him.

But with the “Joneses” came others like Steve Pieczenik.

And so the tables have turned against the globalists.

Thank God for BREXIT!

Thank God for Trump!

And may God bless Marine Le Pen!

Because the neoliberal nightmare in which we are now mired (including the neoconservative, never-ending wars) has set the globalist agenda back decades.

The European Union is falling apart.

And rightly so.

Because it was a bad idea in the first place.

France must get rid of the atrocious Loi Gayssot.

And other European countries must follow suit.

We must be allowed to TALK!

The Internet will not allow tyranny.

Every government which seeks to control will find itself obsolete.

And so call it whatever you want.

If you’re “free market”, then the Internet is the genius of capitalism.

If you’re fond of sharing (so am I), then the Internet is the redistributive genius of socialism.

And, finally, we have the monstrosity of China.

Clearly no longer a communist state.

Yet neither a capitalist free market.

The mutant which is China…that juggernaut has been smashing the world in terms of productivity.

But there is a limit.

Now the people want FREEDOM.

[or so we are told]

At any rate, the blowback of globalism will ensure that the Chinese people crave the OPPORTUNITY (at least) to behave like Westerners.

THAT much is human nature.

And so I am not against natural globalization.

In that respect, the Fabians are right.

If “gradualism” is taken to mean “let nature take its course”.

But I am and will forever remain AGAINST synthetic globalism.

Globalization vs. globalism.

Semantic.

Suffice to say, I am very much against FORCED globalization.

And perhaps Erdoğan is a manifestation of reaction.

“Reactionary”, as the socialists always say. The worst insult a leftie can level!

As such, I have nothing against Erdoğan, but he can’t hold on to power IN SPITE OF the people.

Same with Trump.

Trump barely squeaked out a victory.

Because the globalist machine is so strong in America.

But rural pride was stronger.

And the Electoral College defeated Hillary Clinton.

But Trump will have to produce.

He knows this.

The clock is ticking on his four years.

And he has had adversaries on all sides.

So it remains to be seen…whether he will make good on his campaign promises.

I am standing behind him.

I am supporting him.

But I am ready to call “bullshit” when the moment is ripe.

Hopefully that moment will never come.

Hopefully he will be a wonderful President.

Which brings us back to “race”.

The wall.

It’s not meant to be “a symbol”, it’s meant to be a wall.

And we in America have long known that the story of 9/11 is seriously flawed…like Swiss cheese…it is not plausible.

I often shoot my mouth off (my defining characteristic), but I have done my research on 9/11.

It may be the most complex event ever.

But it certainly was not the work of 19 blokes with boxcutters.

And everywhere…we saw the stand-down.

Two parts to Roberta Wohlstetter’s pet theory.

False-flag stand-down.

9/11 was no more Islamic than Mickey Mouse.

And so many signs proved this case.

If it had been an attack actually emanating from outside the United States (as opposed to an inside, CIA job), then our southern border would have been secured toot sweet.

But such was not the case.

And those of us near the southern border had all the information we needed to put the final nail in the coffin.

That 9/11 was a self-inflicted attack.

[with help from Israeli Mossad and others]

It was a team effort of the globalists.

However, to paraphrase Guy Debord, “deceit deceived itself”.

9/11 was the day when the Ivy League lost.

Once and for all.

Never again will Yale be the same.

Never again will Harvard be guiltless (if they ever were [and they weren’t]).

Brave people spoke out.

Webster Tarpley (of Princeton).

Steve Pieczenik (of Cornell and Harvard).

But now our Ivy League President (Penn) has a chance to reverse the sustained-lie–the 8-year-nightmare of Barack Obama’s unreality.

The Democratic Party squandered its chance to see the neocons swing from the gallows.

It would have been the end of the Republican Party.

But the Democrats chose more deception.

You can’t kill a dead man (bin Laden).

The fraudulent War “on” Terror waged on…with many innocent patriots deceived unto death.

And now race…racism…is but one problem plaguing us.

So, my friends, I urge you to see Three Amigos.

Let yourself laugh.

And “think about it” (as Jerry Lee Lewis was wont to say).

But don’t think too hard.

Because hell too is part of the divine comedy.

-PD

3 Comments

The grey suit in NXNW [1959/2017)

Maybe.

After many long years.

I finally got a decent suit.

But the pinnacle is still Cary Grant in North by Northwest.

Perhaps more important than Dorothy’s slippers.

The grey suit.

Gray? Grey.

Because Archibald Leach (Grant’s real name) was from Bristol.

Now.

The debate rages on.

Was it Norton & Sons (Savile Row) or Quintino (Beverly Hills)?

And this is a very important matter.

Basis in fact.

Innocent lives are at stake here.

Vanity Fair (at least they employed Tosches for a time) contends it was a British suit.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/03/behindthescenes200803

But The Independent counters that it was an American (Beverly Hills) tailor.

My first thought is always The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (novel 1955, film 1956).

1959.

Something in the air.

Advertising.

Madison.

Shopping.

5th.

Whatever you do, don’t buy a property at 666 5th Avenue.

Mr. Kushner made that mistake.

Can you change an address?

Can we inch the building over a bit?

666 1/2?

But finally, that eternal quote of Mike Ruppert:

“The CIA is Wall Street. Wall Street is the CIA.”

What could all this mean?

What could ANY of this mean?

It’s well-known.

But the real danger is Finnegans Wake.

Is it unpredictability?

The real danger is changing stripes.

Spots.

Markings.

Camouflage.

A mask.

My daily trousers are sweatpants.

And then we must bring in Erik Satie.

As dangerous (harmless) a man as ever lived.

The “Velvet Gentleman”.

Seven gray velvet suits. All identical. One for each day of the week.

A revolution in simplicity.

But there are many, many hours of piano music to wade through.

Through which.

It’s not just the Gymnopédies.

Or even the Gnossiennes.

SS.

It’s a veritable Voynich manuscript of eccentricity.

Quixotic.

Mercurial.

Bizarre!

But with Magritte we got the grey bowler.

And Max Ernst: “The hat makes the man.”

But did he say it in English?

Not bloody likely!

And so rail-thin Cary Grant, almost certainly homosexual, looks stunning…dapper…a paragon of class in North by Northwest.

And it is a rare time where I (and many other men) say: “Wow…I want that business suit!”

Because I didn’t grow up rich.

And it took me till age 40 to get a passable sack.

Brooks Brothers was expensive.

Still is.

I’m low-rent.

High-brow.

A conundrum.

I don’t want to sell oil.

I’m a city boy.

They won’t take me on the farm.

So what am I?

Do I ride around on a horse?

Do I spit tobacco into a cuspidor?

[not anymore]

We must go away. To come back. And see for the first time.

What was Jia Zhangke talking about?

Or from?

The I Ching?

Or some Zen text?

Advertising.

Memetics.

Messaging.

COMMUNICATIONS

We are drawn to the suit.

The breezy ease with which Cary Grant negotiates New York sidewalk traffic.

Every remark quick.

Never at a loss for words.

And the characters all pay attention.

From Martin Landau to Eva Marie Saint: menswear.

Three buttons.

[a detail I missed…too late]

Buttons on cuffs.

Cufflinks.

Two-piece.

The most remarkable aspect, though, might be the “grey suit with grey tie” effect.

I mean, “what the fuck”?!?

It is slightly “off”.

Not the color-matching.

That’s fine.

But the concept.

Or this hypothetical exchange:

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Gray.”

“Gray?”

“Yeah, I don’t know…I just like gray.”

“What about it do you like?”

“I don’t know…it’s sorta mysterious?”

“Ok…but, I mean, it seems sorta drab, don’t you think?”

“Well, I’m not in the market for a gray bikini…”

Ah!

There’s the gender.

Men.

Do men fancy grey?

Is it one of the colors they’ve been “given”?

And women.

Do they really fancy pink?

I suppose some diabolical seamstress has plotted the complementary colors of all the world’s hetero couples.

Grey and pink.

Pink and green.

Orange and blue.

Red and green.

Purple and yellow.

Ad absurdum.

All I can say is this.

I feel spectacular in my new gray suit.

I’m a little closer to Daniel Craig, though mostly in the Cary Grant body type.

Or, put differently, I’m an extremely-poor-man’s Daniel Craig 🙂

I, too, would look scrawny next to James Bond.

Which segues nicely into the 007 franchise.

Suits…again.

Whether in Jamaica or parts unknown.

The sartorial fastidiousness would play a major role in framing Bond as “not just another guy”.

Taste.

An eye for detail.

Quality.

And personality, though understated.

The grey suit.

It the biggest weapon in my fashion arsenal (as of today).

And thus we turn towards commerce.

Another run, perhaps, of job searching.

Selling myself.

But at a certain point you just gotta say, “Fuck it!”

I’m a cool person.

I ain’t out to hurt nobody.

I read books.

Big fucking books.

About math and shit like that.

I’m a nerd to the nth power.

I know that.

And I’m fine with that.

Because I see the value in that.

So now I may have to bludgeon the HR receptors with a whole new level of qualifications.

Can I do it?

Can I be a lawyer?

Can I be a PhD?

[notably, perhaps, in advertising]

And beyond.

Because life has led me to this impasse.

We worry about bread on the table.

And some milk to stay healthy.

Heat in the winter.

Cooling in the summer.

Most of all…in all this mess of writing…I am thankful.

Thankful for a chance. A chance to do the right things.

And thankful for family. Thankful for time.

Thankful for intuition.

And thankful for failure.

Have your cake. Or eat it.

Thank you, my friends…for your support.

I am happy today. Hard day, as always.

And I pray the good happenings for each of you…in your lives…

-PD

4 Comments

Blondie’s New York [2014)

Man…

So much I could say about this one.

But it’s one of the few times where I can say, “I worked with that person.”

Clem Burke.

Probably wouldn’t piss on me if I was on fire.

Now.

Because I’m a Trump supporter.

But he was the best drummer I was ever in the same room with.

And drumming was the longest “career” I ever had.

I’ve played drums since I was a kid.

All of them.

The set.

“Traps” 🙂

Orchestral snare drum.

Marimba.

The whole 4-mallet thing.

Jazz vibraphone.

But when I worked with Clem, I was a bass player.

That day.

That year.

For awhile.

It was the bass that took me to England.

To Scotland.

And to Spain.

And it was the bass that first took me to Los Angeles.

But this is about Blondie.

The band.

And what a band!

Based on my own experiences just mentioned, I can attest to the extremely high musicianship of Clem Burke.

And watching this relatively-short documentary (an hour) convinces me of just how special each of the band members were/are.

But perhaps my favorite part is seeing Mike Chapman work.

The record producer.

What a talent!

It was my dream to be a record producer.

Didn’t really work out 🙂

Tough business.

Maybe you fuck up.

Or maybe no one helps you.

Or maybe you get one chance. And only one chance.

But that’s ok.

Because life goes on.

Marilyn Monroe aged.

Lou Reed sang about it on the Velvets’ “New Age”.

And Godard wrote about it.

The aging of Marilyn Monroe must have been a traumatic phenomenon for the first generation of movie goers.

The first generation with that color reality.

And with the television buttress.

And Marilyn…

Even Elton John, a homosexual man, was in love with Marilyn…in a sort of way.

“Candle in the Wind”

Which brings us to Debbie Harry.

The former cocktail waitress from Max’s Kansas City.

Chickpeas and lobster.

Park Avenue South.

And brings us to the album Parallel Lines.

This documentary is almost strictly about that album.

About Blondie’s breakthrough into the mainstream.

Yeah, they were punk…

Had the street cred.

But they transcended.

Mostly due to musicianship.

A bit like the Talking Heads.

The other bands were hopelessly arty.

Of this scene.

My favorite, Suicide.

[R.I.P. Alan Vega]

I met Alan once.

Changed my life.

But Suicide never really had a hit.

[Nooo…you don’t say?!?]

Yeah.

The name.

Whoa mama!

But that was punk.

And my whole mission is a bit of a punk mission.

Pauly Deathwish.

Uh huh.

Not a name I came up with.

But given to me.

I remember that day.

And the personages.

But my mission is also a bit like the mission of Greil Marcus.

And Lipstick Traces.

Now I’d just prefer to read Debord.

Or read Len Bracken on the Situationists.

But Greil tries (valiantly!) to pull it all together.

And I’m a bit like that kind of wanker.

Just hoping to SOUND like I know it all.

And someday have Harvard written on my spine.

But we’ve hardly discussed Blondie.

Or this excellent little film.

Which is currently streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

Again Kino Lorber’s marketing team (?) seems to be absent behind this release.

There’s no Wikipedia page.

And the iMDB page lists the title of this made-for-TV-affair as Blondie’s New York and the Making of Parallel Lines.

Ok, so it’s not Citizen Kane.

But it’s well worth watching!

Directed by Alan Ravenscroft.

He does a fine job here.

It really is a magical story.

Punk.

New York City.

CBGB-OMFUG.

The Fugs! 🙂

New York, a magical place.

Hell, even mayor Ed Koch is in this.

And he’s much easier to stomach than Bill Clinton.

I don’t care…liberal, conservative…whatever.

Just don’t be a dick!

And if you’re a dick, have the schtick down!!

Like Trump.

He has the schtick down.

He’s learned to lie.

In his many years.

“The babies, the beautiful babies…the innocent babies”…

There were no babies, my friends.

There was no chemical attack.

That footage was in the can for some time.

But it’s a white lie in the world of geopolitics.

It’s like telling your kids that Santa Claus delivered the presents.

There’s no way to explain, “I’ve gotta bomb Syria to make an impression on China. And the bombing has to happen almost simultaneously with dinner…at Mar-a-Lago.”

And McMaster must be lying too.

That’s ok.

Just don’t make a habit of it.

Because then you’re CIA.

And that’s a dark road.

To get wrapped up in lies.

But the white lies are synthetic terror where nobody dies.

Even the Russian/Syrian body count.

Likely false.

Especially the “four kids” detail.

Pithy.

Icy.

The Democrats are really (I mean it, unfortunately) exceptionally dumb.

They only sense the general outline of the conspiracy.

Russia’s faux indignation.

But they don’t understand that their infantile foreign policy made such machinations necessary.

Blondie 🙂

And Quintilian.

See the documentary.

Forget about North Korea for a moment.

By all means, don’t watch inferior propaganda.

The Propaganda Game?

Great film.

Songs from the North?

Cinematic equivalent of toilet paper.

The Cinémathèque Française knew the value of propaganda films.

Henri Langlois.

Back when they were educating “the five” (Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol, Rivette, and Rohmer).

And Godard understood the importance of “good”, well-crafted, persuasive propaganda.

As Jacques Ellul wrote in 1962, “Ineffective propaganda is no propaganda.”

In other words, it has no business calling itself propaganda.

It’s less-than-worthless.

But kick back with some Machiavelli.

And The Art of the Deal.

And remember the unholy marriage of art and commerce that is and was Blondie.

-PD

3 Comments

Netflix fail [2017)

This is not a film review.

This is many film reviews.

Or rather, this is a review of Netflix, Inc.

Which, at the present time, is wasting your monthly fees (and mine) on subpar programming.

In the action genre:

-Silver Streak (almost good, but ultimately unwatchable)

-Barbarella (total bollocks…just like its watery “activist” star Jane Fonda)

-Good Guys Wear Black (sorry Chuck Norris, but this film sucks)

-Robinson Crusoe On Mars (sadly, no)

-Young Tiger/Rumble in Hong Kong (schlock by any other name…is still schlock)

-Return to the 36th Chamber (the Shaw Brothers are immensely overrated)

-Invincible Shaolin (ditto…crap)

-Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman (epically unwatchable)

Yes, dear friends, I am a tough critic.

But this is to balance out all the things I call “masterpieces”.

When I say it, I mean it.

Continuing…

Children and family genre:

-The Nightingale (almost good…but ultimately unwatchable)

-Looney Tunes: Back in Action (thoroughly bollocks)

-Nancy Drew (a far cry from the Bonita Granville days…and, hence, total crap)

-The Parent Trap (the original…it’s not them, it’s me [in this case]…no verdict)

So generally another genre stuffed with wasted revenue.

Classics:

-The Fly (not a classic…and not good)

-Out 1 (kudos to Netflix for getting some Jacques Rivette…but N.B. to the programmers…Out 1 is NOT AN HOUR-AND-A-HALF LONG…what the fuck version of the film is this?!? The real film is 13-HOURS-LONG! And the shorter version FOUR-HOURS-LONG! Epic fail, Netflix!)

Comedies (hold on to your hats!):

-Good Old Boys (unwatchable South American fare)

-Opening Night (immensely daft mise-en-scène)

-This Isn’t Funny (the title says it all…and it’s filed under comedy…not good)

-News From Planet Mars (bollocks)

-Zoom (bollocks)

-Fan Girl (bollocks)

-The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq (les bollocks)

-Adult Beginners (forgettably-bad)

-Dial a Prayer (nice try, but shite)

-Free the Nipple (I’ve discussed the bollockness of this one elsewhere and I stand by that decision)

-Basic Sanitation, the Movie (less-than-bollocks…rubbish!)

-Len & Company (woeful…horrible)

-A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (quite possibly the worst film ever made)

-Rainbow Time (sad…amateur…not even close to watchable)

-Atomic Falafel (torturously-bad)

-Klappe Cowboy! (hell no)

-Buddies (bizarre…but unwatchable)

-Hirschen (extreme ennui)

-Brahman Naman (pitiful excuse for a motion picture)

-Love Me (maudlin excess to the point of unwatchability)

-Wet Hot American Summer (overrated shite)

-Scrooged (hasn’t aged well)

-The Beaver (can’t age [and decompose] fast enough)

-Say it Isn’t So (it isn’t)

-Tommy Boy (I feel bad insulting this film…but worse watching it)

-Lion Heart (had potential…but it just didn’t cut the Grey Poupon)

-Blind Date (yes…blind me…so I don’t have to watch this piece of shit!)

-St. Vincent (hipster fail)

-Only the Lonely (even John Candy couldn’t save this flick)

-Eisenstein in Guanajuato (almost great…but ultimately not even good)

-Price Check (pretty sure every Parker Posey movie sucks eggs)

Whew…

Can you stand that much negativity???

Well, obviously I’m a tough critic (to reiterate)…but let’s roll on…through the multitudinous ways that Netflix is wasting your hard-earned cash.

Documentaries:

-John & Jane (almost great…ultimately not even good)

-Ukraine is Not a Brothel (pitiful excuse for a film…propaganda should at least be artful)

-Marias: Faith in Womanhood (it’s not you…it’s me…or maybe it’s you…no verdict)

-kink (the decline of the West…artlessly documented)

-The Land of the Enlightened (not good)

See, that wasn’t so bad?

Moving on…

Dramas:

-Wet Bum (had potential…but ultimately daft…soggy…etc.)

-The Wonders (ugh…)

-No Quiero Dormir Sola (como se dice “unwatchable” in Espanol?)

-It Looks Pretty From a Distance (suicidally-boring…at any distance)

-The Nun (even Pauline Etienne can’t save this one…)

-I.D. (pathetic Indian flick…unimaginative…dire)

-Where the Road Runs Out (no way)

-Hector (almost…but ultimately…no thanks)

-Petting Zoo (ashamed to say this one hails from my city [San Antonio])

-Nymph()maniac Volume 1 (Von Trier is a talentless hack)

-Miss Stevens (bad bad bad)

-Before I Disappear (fucking horrible)

-The Girl in the Book (no)

-Lovelace (almost good…good concept…bad film)

-Chaplin (sacrilegiously-bad)

-Stations of the Cross (intense…and boring…bad combination)

-The Other Sister (are there any OTHER other sisters? please???)

-In Your Eyes (ugh…dire viewing)

Ok…so we see a lot of money being thrown at bad films there.

And that is just my opinion, of course.

But as bad as Hulu was (and it was bad), I don’t recall ever not being able to find something to watch on Hulu FOR THIS LONG!

Really, Netflix…time to step up your game!

Independent:

-The Tribe (no)

-Byzantium (even Saoirse Ronan couldn’t save this film)

And now on to my favorite category.

International:

-1001 Grams (yikes…utter shite)

-Belgica (almost…but not…ugh)

-Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (no no no no no)

-Harud (no…for fucksake!)

Ok, so that was quick, right?

That was (let’s count) 73 (!) films which I’ve tried to watch (many in the past week) which have been a total disappointment.

Not one of these did I watch all the way through.

It’s like a French person purchasing a sandwich from an American grocery store.

They take one bite and throw it in the trash.

Come on, Netflix!

Don’t make me cancel your sorry asses!

I don’t even have a category for how bad you’re failing right now as a company.

Fucking pathetic.

-PD

6 Comments

President Trump’s Speech to Congress, February 28 [2017)

Dear friends…

it has been a little while.

And I have been immersed in a strange dual-study regimen focused on the LSAT and the GRE.

For my international readers, the LSAT is the Law School Admission Test and the GRE is the Graduate Record Examination.

The second test would be required should I choose (or be so lucky as) to go on to PhD studies.

Quite frankly, my MBA has not been sufficient to wow the employers out to which I have reached.

And so life presents us with little conundrums.

I have a bachelor’s degree in music theory/composition and a master’s degree in business.

Long ago, my bachelor’s degree wasn’t enough to gain me employment at places like 7-Eleven and Wendy’s. That’s right. Five years of higher education and a diploma above and beyond the high school level was not enough to overcome the nepotistic morass which dominates the distribution of unskilled labor jobs in the U.S.

I’m guessing this situation might (for obvious reasons) be particularly mark-ed in the American Southwest (where I am located).

So I thought a master’s degree in business would really distinguish me.

I worked myself sick.

Almost to death.

Maintained a 4.00 GPA.

Not only have I had zero unsolicited interest in my skills, but I have received nothing save rejections.

Which is to say, I have not even been graced with an interview.

And so it was some days ago (about two weeks) that I decided I should have a contingency plan in place in case such conditions persist.

So perhaps I will find myself in law school in a few years.

Perhaps in a PhD program.

But I have been trying to better myself every day.

My focus, academically, has been on two areas: logic and mathematics.

I have never been very keen on (or good at) math.

And logic is something in which I have had zero formal training.

The logic emphasis is, of course, pursuant to the law school possibility.

The math studies (currently algebra, but geometry and statistics to come) are in support of the PhD path.

In addition, I am happy to report that I am exercising (walking) every day.

And I have also added weight training in the most recent nights.

But today I took a day (and night) off from the rigors of autodidactic asceticism.

Yes, today only involved my ongoing survey of Ezra Pound’s Cantos.

Indeed, I suppose I really don’t know how to relax anymore 🙂

But I was very interested to hear Donald Trump’s “Address to Congress”.

This is, mind you, a once-a-year phenomenon in the U.S.

In his next three years (assuming no untimely cessation of his Presidency), these speeches will each be called (respectively) a “State of the Union” address.

Well, I won’t keep you in too much suspense.

If you have read me at all in the past year, you will know that I have become an ardent Trump supporter.

And I continue to be such.

So it is not without immense bias that I posit his speech tonight to have been rather excellent.

But Mr. Trump’s speech comes at a very important time.

And I have purposely raised my visibility as a Trump supporter because of this crucial time.

To wit, many forces have sought and are seeking to undermine the President (at the very least).

The proliferation of protests would truly be remarkable (if we didn’t know the general source and support network for these faux-demonstrations).

And so I haven’t written about a movie in some days, but there is no better viewing than our current President.

The Left tunes in to vomit, and the Right tunes in to cheer.

I am, and have been for only a short time, on the Right.

Conservative.

I will make no apologies about this.

In this past week I have had multiple people who call themselves my friends attack me as a “bigot” and worse.

That’s fine.

My response is no response.

It is beneath me to respond to such.

I have had people question my artfulness.

I, who gave my blood-sweat-and-tears for 15 years as an artist.

It is beneath me to qualify such attacks on my character with a response.

And finally, I have been the subject of surreptitious attacks which attempt to equate me with “misguided” artists of the past.

If Trump can be “packaged” (in marketing terms) by hacks like Mika Brzezinski as “Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin”, then I suppose the lesser Leftists are taking this cue to equate me with Nietzsche, Wagner, and certain American artists which shall remain nameless.

But again, my response is no response.

And it’s not because I can’t respond.

But I tire of these games…

I can destroy my enemies.

In some cases, quite easily.

In other cases, with immense effort.

But my friends have proven (over years…the ingrates…abandonment) to now be my enemies in deed.

And yet I consider them friends.

And I will consider them friends.

Until such time as this becomes impossible for my physical safety.

But all of this because I support Trump.

Shame on you, friends.

[N.B. I doubt any of them are reading this. These are “real world” friends. And real pains in the ass(es).]

Indeed, I need more than one ass to put up with the crappy “friends” I have.

To a one, they are all liberal…every one of them.

And if they are conservative, they have not come to my aid in any significant way.

Except for one dear pen-pal.

And it was she who delineated the brilliance in Donald Trump’s message to me in the first place.

She knows who she is 🙂

MAGA!

But that one beautiful soul notwithstanding, “the world” has failed me.

And yet, the President of the United States has made me very proud indeed.

Verily, never before have I felt such immense pride in my country.

Pride in the men and women of our armed forces.

Pride in the men and women of law enforcement.

And so I could dissect what Donald Trump said tonight, but it is more important to analyze the gist.

I could fixate on the pathetic Democrats who applauded nothing…in their Kim Jong-Hillary white pantsuits.

Slobs like Al Franken.

His posture has its own closet…

Witches like Nancy Pelosi.

“Should I clap here? Will it look good or bad if I clap? Why does every mirror I look into shatter upon gaze?”

It’s really too easy.

But it does very little good.

Bernie…what could have been.

Except for that whole socialism thing…which is a crock of shit.

And so it didn’t matter that the Democrats were puerile, impotent faux-testers tonight.

Because Donald Trump has guts.

Yeah, his wife is hot as shit!

And so is his daughter.

That’s because they were MODELS.

But, even more so, because they have SCRUPLES.

They are good human beings.

They stand for something.

THAT’S why they’re really attractive.

To me.

But I know when I’ve met my better.

Ted Cruz? Fuck you.

Paul Ryan? I don’t fucking think so.

Mike Pence? Meh.

But Donald Trump? Yeah. Big league!

I may have more formal education than the President of the United States (‘deed I do), but the current POTUS is the real deal.

He knows who is better than him.

Our soldiers.

He knows.

And he says it.

And he never presumes that his job is any harder than those who carry out their orders in godforsaken deserts and jungles.

Yes, Virginia, many of those orders have been COMPLETE BOLLOCKS.

But that’s not their job.

In general.

It’s the job of policymakers to get the policies right.

For a long, long (LONG) time, the policies have sucked.

And so maybe, MAYBE (maybe) we now have a President who is competent.

I know when I’ve met my better.

There are many skills in this world.

And Donald Trump has a priceless skill set.

He’s not a saint.

He’s not a god.

But compared to those who have preceded him over the past few decades in the job of POTUS, he sure seems like one or the other.

So thank you, Mr. Trump!

Your understanding of the USA is really remarkable.

We have been taught to hate our own country for so long.

Enough of that.

Fuck that!

We will love what is good about our past.

And not wallow in our transgressions.

And to the detractors around the globe, you can fuck right the fuck off.

Most of all, to the domestic detractors…especially my “friends”…

Thanks a fucking lot…for proving exactly why Donald Trump is right.

You’re all a bunch of liberal frauds…spewing platitudes while being horrible people.

So the biggest “fuck you” is for these “friends”.

Thanks for nothing, assholes!

-PD

4 Comments

Trump Press Conference, February 16 [2017)

The Trump Presidency officially has a new high-water mark.

And it came today.

The epic excoriation of Western media (and, in particular, the woeful American branch of that diseased tree).

I have largely refrained from treating political events for the past months.

This was for a variety of reasons.

But today’s Trump victory was a feature-length (*) reminder of why we elected this guy.

I didn’t see it live, but I watched the interview in its entirety later in the day.

With the utmost irony, I will be using and referring to the “official transcript” which has just recently been posted by The New York Times.

It’s only befitting that they continue to precipitate their own downfall.

Keep in mind that the NYT is getting their transcript from Federal News Service: a subsidiary of The Economist Group.

As in The Economist.

As in, that spineless, globalist rag which completely forgoes bylines (à la Chatham House rules).

As in, the opposition.

Keeping that in mind, let’s see exactly what the hero of the free world had to say today.

First, President Trump bemoaned the treatment of his cabinet selections.

Indeed, the Democratic Party in the United States has become the embarrassment they wish to project upon Donald Trump.

The Democratic Party has, it seems, absolutely no cogent strategy whatsoever at this point.

And so, indeed, the only real political chaos is within that camp.

To clarify…it’s not just a BAD strategy which the Democrats have adopted in an effort to keep their ragtag band of poseurs on political life-support, but rather A COMPLETE LACK OF STRATEGY which characterizes the sum of their pathetic tactics.

Yes, Mr. Trump: “the people get it”.

Indeed.

We rednecks. We of middle-America.

Many colors and creeds.

Yes, we fucking get it.

You are the man!

As a student of (and holder of an advanced degree in) business, I bloody well understand why the world of commerce is welcoming Trump.

It’s those trite words which are pounded into every MBA’s head.

Value creation.

Or.

Value.

Yeah…

There’s no Bernie-Sanders-ing our way out of the current quagmire.

AND…

Only a leader with tremendous cojones could even have a shot at successfully pulling off the rebuilding of America.

Because we have squandered our position in the world.

At the expense of truth, we have fallen down a muddy chute.

And the free-fall (while not apparent to all) has been going on for some time.

So we are, indeed, putting a great deal of faith in Mr. Trump to right the ship.

Really, we’re like the goddamned Titanic over here.

But business has to work.

There’s no willy-nilly socialism which is going to patch up our death-wound which is bleeding money.

No sir.

There’s no value creation in that.

Try it out.

War-game it.

It doesn’t work.

Which isn’t to say that rapacious monopoly capitalism is the answer.

But we are a capitalist country.

And China’s ascent has not been due to some new interpretation of Marx.

Fuck no!

President Trump:

“I’m making this presentation directly to the American people, with the media present, which is an honor to have you. This morning, because many of our nation’s reporters and folks will not tell you the truth, and will not treat the wonderful people of our country with the respect that they deserve.”

A-fucking-men!

Yes, dear friends…the election of Donald Trump was a referendum AGAINST THE CORPORATE MASS MEDIA.

[first and foremost]

And this same media is still living in denial.

Their allies are reprobates.

And they reach out their desperate tentacles for shadier and shadier sustenance.

And so, though it be hard to fathom, the mass media in the U.S. is actually GETTING WORSE.

That’s because it is dying.

Death throes.

Donald Trump is no idiot.

His assessment of The New York Times as being a terminally-failing (publically-traded) company is business analysis.

And it’s unequivocal.

But you know what?

The media hated Trump all along.

The old media.

And he didn’t, as it turned out, need to curry favor with them after all.

He spoke to the crowd.

He went around.

He outflanked the biggest, most puffed-up hegemony in the world.

So we’re giving Israel a chance.

We’re giving Trump a chance.

I’m not a Republican.

I’m just a schmuck who voted for Trump.

You can make the call as to whether I’m erudite enough to have such a privilege.

But Donald Trump has taught me to have pride in my country.

To have pride in the United States of America.

To be grateful for those who serve in the military.

To be grateful for those who serve as police officers.

That’s the positivity I get from Donald Trump.

It’s probably the Norman Vincent Peale in him.

But I also see a very strong leader.

A person who doesn’t take any shit from anyone.

Had Bernie Sanders such a spine, the protests would have gone for broke at the Democratic National Convention.

But too bad.

Sorry, people.

You had your chance to dethrone your greatest foe.

And she was in your own camp.

You know, I actually feel sorry for the Democratic Party…

No political party should have ever been represented by such a lousy candidate as Hillary Clinton.

But that was the “now-or-never” moment.

It passed.

And we who embraced the market system which rewards hard work…we won.

[and it doesn’t take a genius to understand why]

Complaining after the fact doesn’t cut it.

Get out and vote.

Campaign.

Blood, sweat, and tears.

If you lose, you lose.

But if you half-ass it, probability is not in your favor.

We Trump supporters took immense heat.

Shellacking.

We’re “racist”. “Bigots”.

Blah blah frickety blah.

But it doesn’t matter what you pathetic losers think.

Because, believe it or not, we actually want prosperity for you too.

Because maybe someday you’ll thank us that we still have a country left.

But I’ll just leave you with one zinger which sums up our entire Zeitgeist.

You wanna know Donald Trump’s take on the media…in one pithy jab?

“The press — the public doesn’t believe you people anymore.”

That’s it.

That carried the day.

The anti-Trump media (which is at least 80% of the American airwaves and newsstands) needs to go back to their Sun Tzu, their Machiavelli, their Clausewitz, and their Jomini.

Because they’re losing this fucking war.

The decimation is more laughable than honorable.

Unlock your little brains, liberals.

Come out and play.

And leave the deck-chair-rearranging to Schumers.

“…lightweights…”

🙂

-PD

5 Comments

Comoara [2015)

It’s such a joy to return to Romania.

Not that I’ve ever been there.

Except in films.

But so you understand, no national cinema has moved me quite so much as the Romanian.

[With exception to the French.]

Iran is close.

But oh so far.

Because we don’t see Iranian movies.

Not real ones.

And on Netflix, we don’t see the history of history.

Just a recent interpretation.

And that is so often fool’s gold.

Netflix, like its dire counterpart Hulu, is heavy on Holocaust films.

This would be appropriate.

If the films were any good.

Because the Holocaust is the most important event of the past hundred years.

But the films aren’t any good.

By and large.

However, fear not: this film does not try to take on what cannot be documented.

[see Histoire(s) du cinéma for the only good Holocaust film ever made]

No, we are after buried treasure.

Indeed, this film is listed as The Treasure on Netflix.

And I commend that streaming service for its ostensible dedication to quality foreign films.

[even if the same company has no concept of history]

If you look at the “classics” section of Netflix, you will find a paucity of titles.

This is problematic.

Last I checked Hulu (before I quit it), their “classics” section was just as bad (if not worse).

But Hulu had, for awhile, a distinct competitive advantage over Netflix (while it lasted).

The Criterion Collection.

Sure, it was not the collection in its entirety, but it was a treasure (pardon the extended metaphor) of classic films…many from countries other than the U.S. and U.K..

As I have reported previously, Hulu began to surreptitiously phase out its lost licensing (apparently) of the Criterion catalog.

Once I realized what had really happened, the damage was done.

I was out of there.

Nothing, I imagined, could be worse than the current laughable joint venture (and anemic selection) of Hulu.

And I was right.

Netflix has been a breath of fresh air.

I had previously seen Netflix’ hopper.

Years ago.

It seemed very light on classic films.

And it still is.

But what Netflix lacks in historical perspective, it makes up for (marginally) with its plentiful “international” category.

And thus we come to this fine Romanian film: Comorara.

It may be incredibly naive for me to postulate thusly, but Romanian cinema is the future.

No national cinema rivals the French.

Yes, Germany has had its share of important films (especially in the silent era and soon thereafter).

But the French-language library of films which has been passed down through the “ages” is nonpareil.

Of that tradition, nothing comes even close (for me) to equaling Jean-Luc Godard’s output.

[though he was, and always will be, gloriously Swiss]

Thus, he stands head-and-shoulders above the rest.

But there are others.

Especially those with whom Godard would have been nothing.

Jacques Becker. Robert Bresson! Marcel Carné. Henri-Georges Clouzot. Jean Cocteau. Jean-Pierre Melville. Jean Renoir! Jean Rouch. Jacques Tati.

And then there are those foreigners who worked in French (to varying extents) such as Luis Buñuel and Max Ophüls.

But the French cinema has given us other visionaries contemporaneous to Godard.

Alain Resnais. Eric Rohmer. François Truffaut. These are just a few that come to mind.

And until Netflix (and even the Criterion Collection itself) gets beyond to utter genius of Abbas Kiarostami, we will know little of the Iranian cinema beyond its undisputed master.

[Indeed, Netflix has not even broached the true cinema of Iran by featuring Kiarostami…as far as I know. It is solely the Criterion Collection which is to thank for exposing people to films like Taste of Cherry and Close-Up.]

But I must give Netflix their due.

They have made available the very fine Romanian film under review.

Yet, before we delve into that…I would like to delineate exactly what makes Romania different as far as being “the future” of cinema (in relation to, say, Iran…for instance).

The simple answer is that there are multiple genius (genius!) directors working in Romania.

They may not (certainly not) get the budgets they deserve, but their output is of the highest, most sublime quality.

And, sadly, Abbas Kiarostami is no longer among the living.

But it bears mentioning the auteurs of Romanian “new wave” cinema.

Cristi Puiu. Cătălin Mitulescu. Cristian Mungiu.

And the director of Comoara: Corneliu Porumboiu.

The Treasure must not have been an easy film to make.

Indeed, the very end of the film evinces a directorial sigh of relief (if I am interpreting it correctly).

Let me just say this: nothing much happens in this film.

Indeed, this might be the type of film which illustrates the different way in which film critics view films (as opposed to most moviegoers).

Not to mince words, my guess is that most people (98%?) would find The Treasure boring.

But I loved it!

The defining characteristic of this film is tension.

But it is not the type of tension which strings us along in a film such as Rear Window.

No.

The tension here is far more mundane in comparison.

And yet, there is real inspiration at work in Porumboiu’s mise-en-scène here.

Toma Cuzin is our brooding “star”.

And he is very, very good.

But his “foil” is the Dudley-Moore-lookalike Adrian Purcărescu.

Cuzin is calm. And yet, the dreamer…

One might even think “gullible”.

Purcărescu is frazzled. Cynical. Either a conman of a saint. Hard to tell…

But the fellow who pulls it all together is Corneliu Cozmei.

He’s the man with the metal detectors.

Yes, two…

[this is a treasure hunt, after all!]

Cozmei is caught between the personalities of Cuzin and Purcărescu.

And yet he’s not just an innocent bystander (so to speak).

He may be the independent party in this whole treasure hunt, but he’s smack dab in the middle of a very tense situation.

Bogart fans will not be far off if they faintly recall the Sturm und Drang of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

But most of all…it’s just good to be back in Romania.

To see a half-lit, grey day.

To see the funny looking cars.

To notice all the details of a culture I truly love.

-PD

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