Month: December 2018

The Last Best Hope and the Alternative

photog Current Events, Trump , , ,

I was talking to a friend at work who is right wing guy.  He is definitely more pessimistic than I am at this point.  He was talking about events and how bleak things looked to him.  I tried to cheer him up by reminding him that the press does a cyclic “Mueller is going to jail Trump” thing every month or so and it doesn’t make much sense getting worried about it.  But he was just generally discouraged and stressed that the way things were going there was no way things would get better.  I couldn’t tell him that I believed that we would definitely prevail against the Left because that would be overly optimistic.  But I told him that I wasn’t going to despair even if we don’t beat the Left in the next few years.  What I said was that if all else fails it’s our job to protect our own families from being propagandized and destroyed by the Left.  He agreed but was extremely negative about the future.  I ended by saying that at least we would know soon enough which way things will go because Trump is the strongest card we have to play.  If he fails, we can’t expect a better chance to come along.  With this he agreed.

I got to thinking about this while I was driving home.  It really is true.  President Trump is the last best hope we have of prevailing in the foreseeable future.  If he fails, we’re each on our own.  If we can form some kind of underground it will be a grass roots business with small groups based on friendship and family connections.  Larger than that will leave it open to the type of surveillance that the security apparatus has perfected.  To expand beyond that will take community building that resembles a religious group.  We know that the government has already shown its willingness to harass religious groups in any way it wants.  But that is probably still the best way to grow a grassroots movement.  It provides a way to meet and socialize.  The idea of founding a fraternal organizational that allows people to preserve the traditional beliefs and share in community activities appeals to me strongly.  It could have all kinds of worthwhile and fun activities.  And I just want to state for the record that although I am willing to accept the title of Grand Master, I absolutely refuse to wear a fez.

All kidding aside, it is without a doubt the case that if President Trump is defeated, we must assume that controlling the government won’t be an avenue for preserving traditional life.  I’ll take it to mean that the dissident right is correct in thinking that the United States as we knew it, no longer exists.  That’s a sobering thought.

Okay, enough gloom and doom.  Now let’s accentuate the positive.  Trump is President and didn’t let the maniacs bust through the southern border.  He says he’ll get the army to build the wall if needed.  And he yelled at Nancy Pelosi and Cryin’ Chuck Schumer at the White House this week.  He is still providing quality entertainment while defying our enemies.  And even if Trump is succeeding, it doesn’t mean I can’t declare myself the Grand Poobah anyway.

Trump vs the Kevin Hart Oscar Depart MAGA Restart

photog Current Events, Humor, Trump , , , , ,

Dramatis Personae:  Robert Iger – (RI);  The Ghost of Walt Disney – (GWD);  Steven Spielberg – (SS);  Robert De Niro – (RD);  President Trump – (PT);

Scene 1 – Robert Iger’s Office, Steven Spielberg and Robert DeNiro are sitting facing Iger’s desk.

RI – Look Steve and Bob we’ve got to do something about this Oscar mess.  ABC is hosting the Oscars this year and we’re depending on the ratings to get us through the doldrums between the Superbowl and Spring training.  And considering the money we’re losing on the ESPN fiasco we need this bad.

SS – Robert, why don’t we have Bob over here do the hosting?  Everyone loves him.  He’d be great.

RD – Yeah, Robert, I’ll kill it.  I can start out with a Trump bash and end up with a #MeToo medley of monsters we’ve purged this year.

RI – Are you insane?  We’re trying to expand our base beyond the weirdos and cat ladies.  Can’t you try and be human?

SS – Robert, what’s wrong with playing to our base?

RI – Look, other than Marvel superhero movies and cartoons this studio hasn’t made a dime on any of these other pictures in years.  We’ve got to start bringing in normal people soon or I’m going to sell off the other business to China and just keep Pixar and Marvel.  Now who do we have who can bring in the normies?

SS – How about Tom Hanks?

RD – No good.  Back when he was doing Bosom Buddies, he called his co-star a fruit while the camera was rolling.  That’s hate speech.

RI – Great Caesar’s Ghost!  Doesn’t GLAAD ever take a break?

SS – I’m sorry Robert, Tom was our last straight man that hasn’t been #MeToo’ed.

RI – Alright you two idiots, get out of here.  I’ve got to have some quiet so I can think.

Scene 2 – Robert Iger’s bedroom that same night.  Iger in his bed alone talking to himself.

RI – What can I do?  I’ve tried every actor, singer, politician and intellectual in the country and every one is either compromised or unwilling.  What can I do, what can I do.

Suddenly the ghost of Walt Disney appears over Iger’s bed.

GWD – Iger, you idiot, how did such a loser end up running my company?

RI – Is that really you Walt Disney?

GWD – No I’m Tupac Shakur.  Of course, it’s me, you idiot.  You’ve got a life size picture of me on your office wall.  What’s the matter, are you blind?

RI – I just can’t believe you’re really here.

GWD – Well, it’s not as if I had a choice.  I can’t let a congenital imbecile like you chloroform my company.

RI – But what can I do?  The only man who isn’t afraid of #MeToo is Rosie ODonnell.

GWD – The answer is staring you in the face. (Disney punches Iger between the eyes)  And when you wake up you’ll have the answer.

Scene 3 – Host’s Dais at the Dolby Theater for the Oscars.  President Trump walks to the microphone to the sound of screams and boos.

PT – Good evening weirdos and losers of Hollywood.  I’m here because I’m the only living man in these United States who isn’t afraid of the Outrage Police.  So, I’ve been tasked with announcing the nominees and keeping it under four hours.

Well I can do a lot better than that.  How about four minutes?  All you need to know is that no one who voted for me will see a single one of the pictures you’ve nominated.  And I’ll tell you something else.  If you don’t start making movies like they did in the last century you’ll be lucky if the Oscars make it to the next decade.  My vote is for Deadpool 2.  Oh, and DeNiro, you suck.  Trump out.

Cyrano de Bergerac – An OCF Classic Movie Review

photog Movie Reviews, OCF Classic Movie Reviews, Reviews , ,

With enormous trepidation do I write this review.  In this year 2018, surrounded by the mores and mentality currently on display in the former realm of Christendom, how can you explain, never mind, recommend the story of Cyrano de Bergerac?  To a generation that embraces Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé and the Kardashians how do you justify Cyrano’s chaste love for Roxane.  To a world that needs safe spaces to cower in at the very hint of harsh language how do you explain two men fighting to the death with rapiers over an insult?  It’s ludicrous to even consider.  The very word honor has ceased to have an explicable meaning.

No, there is no way.  This story can only be presented to an older generation.  And even to them, watching it would be a jarring exercise in switching gears from the world of Caitlyn Jenner and Hillary Clinton to the chivalry of seventeenth century France.  So, I cannot expect any sympathy from a modern audience for such a story. Even when this movie was filmed in 1950 the plot was considered much too sentimental.  In fact, the only saving grace it had was the tour de force performance of its star Jose Ferrer.  Even critics who savaged the rest of the production including the rest of the cast, declared Ferrer’s portrayal of Cyrano as a masterpiece and his recital of Rostand’s words inspired.  And so, they were.  Ferrer’s mastery of the material only seems the more convincing compared to the journeyman competence of his fellow cast members.

For those who have read this far but do not know Rostand’s plot, Cyrano is a musketeer in the employ of the King of France in the seventeenth century.  He is also a poet and a deadly skilled swordsman.  He also possesses a very large nose about which he is devilishly sensitive.  One word or even a glance at his nose is enough to trigger a duel from which the offender will exit without his life.  And Cyrano is secretly in love with Roxane his distant cousin and one of the most beautiful women in Paris.  Because of his relationship with Roxane he is compelled by his sense of honor to help her in whatever she asks.  Unfortunately, what she asks him is to help his rival in love to succeed in his courting of Roxane.  When Cyrano meets this rival Christian, he discovers that he is unable to string romantic words together in a way that appeals to Roxane.  So, Cyrano must become Christian’s coach in writing and speaking poems of love.  And finally, when it becomes too difficult, he uses the darkness of night to impersonate Christian under Roxane’s balcony and succeeds in winning her love for Christian with Cyrano’s own passionate declaration of love.

There follow several obstacles, a nobleman as rival to Christian who is also his superior officer in the army and a war with Spain.  Marriage, sorrow, misunderstanding and death stand in the way of true love.  But revelation finally occurs, if too late to allow for happiness.  All of this is brocaded with a script that Ferrer delivers with wit and panache.  For a man of the late nineteenth or early to mid-twentieth century it is a treat and for those afterward a puzzle only.

Recommended only for the true sentimental idealist.