The Founder by Robert Siegler - 8 out of 10 for ethical reasons, otherwise, it would 10 out of 10

 

The Founder by Robert Siegler

8 out of 10 for ethical reasons, otherwise, it would 10 out of 10

 

 

We have here an outré beano, this motion picture is both inspiring, damn good, brilliantly acted (Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, Laura Dern, John Carroll Lynch, Patrick Wilson and the rest of the cast deserve praise) and at the same time, it sings hymns (not really, I am just having fun) to a rather objectionable multinational

 

Let me conclude by saying that I both admire the film and say that the corporation in it does not deserve such a fabulous movie…having said that, let me introduce the spoiler alert and say that you must not read this, it is not a good enough note for you, and that should cover everything, I mean duty done, let us move on

Without you here, bow I can rant and misbehave, moving off topic – there has been one comment recently, complaining to yours truly, and if that was infuriating, given that it was on my YouTube channel, which does not really have an audience, well, for some reason, there has been an explosion, as in there are now over one hundred clicks for one story, and thus it looks like kicking a dead horse, why kick me, when my impact is zero?

 

On the other hand, let us put a gratitude poem in these lines, for the man was there, proof that it is not really talking to oneself, and furthermore, he even watched…to moan about it, right, but still, it is a good start, in about one hundred years, and the cover of The Economist last week says that we will soon live to 120, regularly, never mind that I will be sixty in just a few months, I will be so resplendent that the audience will double

Getting back to The Founder, Michael Keaton portrays Ray Kroc, and that is right, he is The One, notwithstanding his name, which is not McDonald, but he runs into this restaurant, at the start of the narrative, where he is flabbergasted by the, well, everything: he has to wait in a rather long queue, for starters

 

Once arrived at the window, he is asked what he wants, from a rather limited menu – later, the McDonald brothers will explain how they have worked on their operation, coming to the conclusion that if you give to wide a choice, you will end up rising costs, they have looked at other operations, eliminated waitresses, cutlery, dishes, introduced single use paper cups and eliminated the drive-in concept

Quite a few of those aspects have changed with Kroc, and then back, for instance, the creative, innovative Ray Kroc would introduce milk shakes without the milk – to the fury of Dick McDonald aka impressive

Nick Offerman, who always insisted on keeping things unchanged, rejecting all the novelties suggested – but with time, milk shakes have been added ice-cream, again, just like we now have drive-throughs, large menus

 

Ray Kroc is baffled, overwhelmed by the smooth operation, the brothers that own this fantastic restaurant have created a new system, I think it was called Speed or something similar, working relentlessly, with chalk and drawings on the pavement, looking at different configurations, making their team simulate the making of the burgers, French fries and shakes, without those, just to see where there would be bottlenecks

The outsider saw the success and said they need to spread this throughout America – ‘America deserves this, you have to give it to the country’, or something along those lines – but the McDonald brothers have already tried it, and their franchises had not worked, because the franchisees would not respect the rules

 

The quality was not good, kitchens were filthy, they would add to the menu, and the employee that was supposed to verify did not rise to the expectations, only Kroc insists that this would work, pushes for a contract, and he gets it, after which he does have clients, meeting with the same problem, novelties in the menu, dirty kitchens, and worse, even once the operation becomes successful, the money only cover expenses

He tries to get the brothers to change the conditions, but they are inflexible throughout, anticipating, which we can do, for remember, if you are still around, you are without insurance, I warned you about the Acts of God which are to follow, as in only god knows where this frenzy is taking me…they will end up fighting each other in court, because Krock is sick and tired of hearing no, to all his proposals…

 

There is even some sort of line ‘contracts are made to be broken, just like hearts’ only I may have made this up, the first part is there, in the film, logically, because The Founder will break his connection with the brothers, to assume almost full control – he also says to Dick ‘your control over matters is within the restaurant, below the floor, outside the door, you have no say’ with the same caveat, it is to that effect, not an exact rendering

Now for the gruesome part, if this is a captivating story, there is the torture and killing of billions of animals that have been sacrificed for the success of this god damn Founder, and that is something that future generations (if they have a planet that is) will despise, when they look at their ancestors, unless of course there is another outcome

 

They could well move into the Trump, Putin, Lula, Bolsanaro, Xi and other ghouls camp, and then they will see us and the ones preceding as softies, they will take pleasure in cruelty…a better prognosis you will find in the magical Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/homo-deus-brief-history-of-tomorrow-by.html by fabulous Yuval Harari

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html  

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

83 out of 100 for Sex A Bonkers History

81 out of 100 for Mockinjay, 2

88 out of 100 for Ricky Gervais Live Fame

86 out of 100 for Frasier, yx

Hair- The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical by Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Michael Weller, direceted by glorious Milos Forman – another note on this is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/note-on-hair-directed-by-milos-forman.html - 8 out of 10

 

Hair- The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical  by Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Michael Weller, direceted by glorious Milos Forman – another note on this is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/note-on-hair-directed-by-milos-forman.html

8 out of 10

 

To Summerize my take, it is looking at Flower Power Versus Idiot Power, The Days of the Hippies against the Time of the ‚very stable genius’ and his MAGA crowd

 

Milos Forman was one of the greatest film makers the world has ever seen, he blessed audiences with a few masteprieces, one of them is Amadeus http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/amadeus.html such a stupendous biopic that we can forget the (minor) criticism

 

We always have artistic licence, evidently, nobody knows what Mozart talked with his wife, father, or Salieri, then the latter seems to have had no role in the death of the great composer (Amadeus, Salieri was a celebrated in his age, but modest one) but for the tension, the success of the plot, it made sense to have him as the pure villain

Let us have the spoiler alert here, because i see that i am already off from the topic and intend to move even further (for the time being, maybe i will return to...what was it, oh, yes, Hair) and the message might be ‚do not read this’, you are much better off elsewhere, there is so much worthy writing in books, and less on the net

 

What came to mind, after mentioning that Milos Forman enetered the history of cineam with Amadeus, among others, was the fact that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a ‚case study’ in the magnificent Outliers http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/outliers-by-malcolm-gladwell.html by Malcolm Gladwell

The luminary is one of the most influential (maybe at number one, tied with Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize for...Economics) psychologists, and he argues in his book that with ten thousand hours of exercise, practise, over ten years, which translates into at least three hours of intense work every day, you could rise to the top (Insha’Allah, and other factors being met) of your domain.

 

Thus, Malcolm Gladwell looked at Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (The Beatles, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and many others) and saw that if the composer had started at a very tender age, as his father took him on tours, making music, but the compositions from childhood might be the creation of his father (Leopold was the name, or maybe i am making this up) and are anyway not valuable nowadays, excpet for historical reasons

What orchestras around the world are playing is from the time when Mozart was over twenty, so in the scheme proposed by Malcolm Gladwell he was a ‚late bloomer’,  it took him about two decades, not one, to reach that elusive top – incidentally, i have started putting dwon these notes in the hope that with a lot of practice (and look, I am number two in my realm, in terms of sheer volume only) i will become (much) better...

 

Now, let us try for a line or two to get back to Hair, which was not excessively fabulous, but it is a landmark and prompted me to think about how things have changed, from the Age of the Hippy, Flower Power, Make Love Not War and the rest of it, to Woke, Cancel Culture, and why not, the era of Trump and Idiot Power

Alas, i was born into a communist regime (and you get at the end the link and the pompous showing off of my role in the revolution that killed Ceausescu and changed – sort of – that awful sytem with something else...you see, i do not take every chance to veer off, it is very tempting to go on and explain about the fuckers that took power, after the death of the old tyrant, but i restarin myself) thus missing on Flower Power

 

Eventually, i would have my chances, but just like in the joke we had, it was delayed – the summary of the blague is that when the end of theworld will come, first Bezos and repellant Musk will blast off into their space ships, the American and Chinese leaders will talk about leaving the planet and at the same time, eteranl Ceausescu will say ‚do not worry, we are at least one hundred years behind’- perhaps for a bigger bang- i would have the chance to be the lover of (the first) Miss Our Country, if only for about eight months

The time of Hair was one of freedom, liberation, and we could say that this happens with women more now – also with the multitude of genders we apparently, or evidently have in our midst – in thsi sense, the reading of The 2019 Co-Winner of the Booker Prize, Girl, Woman, Other http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/girl-woman-other-by-bernardine-evaristo.html by Bernardine Evaristo can be illuminating

 

The author explains how ‚gender is one of the biggest lies of our civilization’ and then we have two spirits, non gender and the notion that gender is actually fluid, it changes from one minute to the next, which is obviously chalnged, if this is maybe something hard (almost impossible) for retrograde people like yours truly (sixty is the new forty, but still) the violence with which the MAGA mobs attack the idea is proof of their thickness

Humanity has moved, progressed on many fronts, but if we compare the Flower Power with the Trump crowds (more that sevnty million have voted fro him last time, and abhorent as this is, it looks as if the same or more will take him up next year) in my view, the world has decayed in the emantime, if so many fools embarce these ‚values’, and it is not just Trump – cretins are not that rare, it is a ctastrophe when an especially proud pythecanthrop becomes the role model for multitudes- the list of vile creatures is long, Putin, HAMAS, Xi, Lula and Bolsanaro, let us just stop here...

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

86 out of 100 for Frasier, xy

51 out of 100 for Harababura aka The Chaos

85 out of 100 for L'Employee du Mois aka The Employee of The Month

77 out of 100 for Hunger Games Mockinjay, 1

Munich, screenplay by Tony Kushner, Eric Roth and George Jonas, directed by Steven Spielberg, another look at this is here http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-munchen-director-steven.html - 10 out of 10

 

Munich, screenplay by Tony Kushner, Eric Roth and George Jonas, directed by Steven Spielberg, another look at this is here http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-munchen-director-steven.html

10 out of 10

 

 

Since it is more than likely that this note will venture into the breaking news of the day, let me introduce a spoiler alert from the beginning, saying that if you looked for an opinion here, it is this – this film is stupendous, memorable and will give you an idea about what will happen next, only it will be on a much bigger scale, and you have yet more of my take at http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-munchen-director-steven.html and now let me continue

 

I was thinking of Munich as Hamas has attacked Israel yesterday (October 8, 2023) and they are surely fighting right now, Bibi aka Benjamin Netanyahu has said that they are ‘at war’ – we get an idea about Bibi as a young man by reading The Netanyahus http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-netanyahus-account-of-minor-and.html winner of last year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, written by Joshua Cohen

This note moved into another day, so it is frightening to think where the casualty figures are now, last night, the number of dead in Israel has passed seven hundred (these are temporary figures, and they could also fall, Insha’Allah, this is what has happened after our own revolution, there will be boasting at the end of the pages, highlighting my contribution in it, and a link) with about two hundred and fifty bodies recovered from the music festival where the terrorists descended with their machine guns.

 

The connection with Munich is that there will be retaliation, indeed Bibi has promised there will be ‘vengeance like they have never seen before’, after the PLO had attacked the Israeli Olympic compound and killed all the hostages they took, a team was assembled and then they tracked and paid back, which will happen now, albeit the situation is complicated by the about one hundred people that Hamas took

We have had precedents here too, one is told in Seven Days in Entebbe http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/06/7-days-in-entebbe-screenplay-by-gregory.html which depicts the ordeal of passengers of an El Al flight, taken all the way from Europe to Entebbe in Uganda, then ruled by the gruesome Idi Amin…the Israelis sent a team of special forces to save their compatriots and they were successful

 

Bibi’s brother was killed in that operation, where there have been just a couple of casualties, including a woman that stood up, when they were told to sit on the floor, and the incredible results obtained by Israel’s special forces, defense, have been admired and envied, only the situation is much more complicated now

 

The retaliation seen in this fabulous movie – incidentally, a second take on this film is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-munchen-director-steven.html in other words, I have dissected Munich twice and you have the links, let me just dance through the Elysian Fields for this one – Munich, is sure to happen, only the release of the hostages will be almost impossible now, seeing that the Hamas jigodii ( local term which means something so abject you puke) know the story of Entebbe, and worse, they have the innocents that they caught within tunnels, in some impregnable places

What is alas hard to understand, is the failure of the security systems, first of all in telling the authorities that something of this scale is about to happen, then that it was apparently easy for the Hamas monsters to glide, jump through the fences and sail from the sea, however clear part of the explanation is, and it was offered by an expert which said something to the effect of ‘civil society has been in turmoil…

 

Bibi and his extreme right fanatics have tried to muzzle the Supreme Court – granted, it does look excessive, to have some judges say this is not reasonable and should not pass, something like that – to the effect that liberals, people that pay the taxes, make the economy tick, as opposed to the ultra-orthodox, who just rely on support from the state, do not join the army, but want some really dangerous things (which led in part to what we have seen these days) protested and called for reservists to refuse to serve for such a government

Then, when the settlers move into Gaza and other places, to build ever more, well, settlements, the army is going with them for protection, and instead of guarding those borders, they have to do something which is not right, hence, you ha them in other locations, instead of the proper ones, leaving the borders, part of them anyway, exposed to what we have seen…but there is more, and we will get information in the days ahead

 

By no means, this is not to justify the terrorists and blame the victims, that would be crazy and awful, disgusting actually, it is just to try and see a better solution, hopefully, after the revenge is taken, centrists will get to power and find a way to get peace, which will take more years, maybe decades, after all this massacre…let me now say that I am surely biased in favor of Israel, I have worked with clients from there, more than one thousand, and even learned some Hebrew, indeed, the background story is that the enemies of the Jewish state have been asking for its destruction, which is what Hamas wants, so when you face such foes, you need to be inflexible, tough with them, the old cliché of not going with a knife at a gun fight, if they want to throw you into the sea, you could not say oh, let us be gentle and kind, because it then leads to pogroms, and finally, the Jewish nation has had to see millions of their own getting gassed in the Holocaust, in World War II, so they have that memory to cope with, and now another pogrom

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

 

88 out of 100 for The Great, 3 1

83 out of 100 for Winetou aka Der Neue Welt

74 out of 100 for Observe and Report

63 out of 100 for The Gabi Petito Story

Narrow Margin written and directed by Peter Hyams - 9 out of 10

 

Narrow Margin written and directed by Peter Hyams

9 out of 10

 

 

Let us be clear, this is not an outstanding motion picture, however, you have the chance to see the glorious Gene Hackman at work, not at his zenith, that was in The French Connection http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-french-connection-based-on-book-by.html for which he received one of his Oscars

 

The other was, of course, for the iconic Unforgiven http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/07/one-of-realini-top-20-best-movies-ever.html and the two Academy Awards show the versatility of the fabulous performer.

In the former, he is the epitome of the determined, resilient, wonderful man of the law, relentless, courageous in his pursuit of the drug barons – albeit, if we apply the rules of the present, his behaviors would be condemned…

 

In Unforgiven, Gene Hackman has the role of a sheriff, so on the side of the law again, only this time, the personage is so corrupt that audiences cheer when he (spoiler alert) gets the bullet, after torturing and killing Clint Eastwood’s friend, Morgan Freeman, we are talking about their characters, evidently…

For Narrow Margin, Gene Hackman is an assistant chief prosecutor, and almost a role model, showing again bravery, creativity, loyalty, integrity and the list is much longer, where we can throw in some flaws…

 

Anne Archer is Hunnicut, and the film starts with this personage witnessing a murder, ordered by a Mafia (or some other such criminal outfit) boss, after which she goes into hiding, realizing the danger she is in

Nonetheless, Gene Hackman is the assistant chief prosecutor (or some such position) Robert Caulfield – I just realized that this is the name of the hero of Catcher in The Rye http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/franny-and-zooey-by-jd-salinger.html - and the hero is working to get head mobster

 

When the police searched at the scene of the murder, they have found the fingerprints of a person that had not been in the database initially (things were different in 1990, they had no cellular phones, for instance)

The federal files have them though, and they belong to a woman that had taken part in some protests (for a good cause, maybe green) and therefore she had been arrested and they know where she is

 

The head of the office does not think he can authorize the expense involving a helicopter in the middle of the Canadian forests, and hence, he will be suspected as being in cahoots with the villains (but as it is the scheme, we may be wrong on this and some other conclusions, surprises must appear in a thriller)

It is a bit confusing here, for somehow, Robert Caulfield does get a helicopter and lands near the cabin in the woods, along with Sargent portrayed by Emmet Walsh, a fabulous actor, remarkable in some many films, including the overwhelming Blood Simple http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/blood-simple-by-joel-and-ethan-coen.html which launched the career of the Coen Brothers

 

As they try to convince Hunnicut to testify, and she refuses, stating the peril she is in, another chopper is there, and a killer starts shooting off with a machine gun, bullet spraying everything in the chalet

The Sargent is dead, Caulfield takes his would be witness through the window in the back, jumps into a Ford SUV (which is what I have, a Ranger, but mind you, if it is a guzzling monster, then I can prove that I cycle and use the vehicle for only about twenty miles the whole year…for the rest, it is the spouse who takes it, so blame her) and then off to the forest road and into the woods altogether, without getting killed

 

That sounds incredible, but hey, think about a comedy wherein they tell you that this fraud, who is also an absolute idiot, with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and other ailments is not in prison or a lunatic asylum (yes, this is politically incorrect but god damn it, I am infuriated, and then who is still here anyway)

He is…elected president of the free world, seventy million and more vote for him, and not just once, many will embrace him again next year, we just have to hope that the opponent gets more than that…

 

It was just at the news (and this is a daily routine) that the massive crook was giving away details about nuclear submarines to some Australian guy, who in his turn told scores of people…on CNN they had a former secretary of defense and he explained how these subs are pretty damn special in their plans

The enemies can target airplanes and everything else, but the subs are quiet, under the oceans, elusive and stealthy, at least until the Big Traitor gives away the information desperately sleeked by Russia, China, north Korea and others to hoi polloi, and to think that he wants to execute General Milley for…treason

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

89 out of 100 for Frasier, 3.1

86 out of 100 for Living to 100, Secrets of The Blue Zones, 1

73 out of 100 for The Burial

85 out of 100 for Koyaanisqatsi

Manchester by The Sea by Kenneth Lonergan – another perspective on this film is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-manchester-by-sea-writer.html - 10 out of 10

 

Manchester by The Sea by Kenneth Lonergan – another perspective on this film is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-manchester-by-sea-writer.html

10 out of 10

 

 

Manchester by The Sea has been aired recently again, on one of the many film channels that we now have (Alhamdulillah) and if the first time I was not exhilarated, hypnotized in a trance, then the more recent encounter was really enchanting, it could well have to do with the furor surrounding Casey Affleck.

 

In 2017, when Casey Affleck was nominated and then he won the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, there was some backlash because of some things he had done in the past – he had not slapped anyone at a previous Oscars Ceremony, like Will Smith, but still it was bad

Hence, although the movie is excellent, there has been some reserve, due to the fact that, well, if the artist that is supposed to present you with a story for which you have to feel sympathy, if not empathy, then some pity has this background (it looked a major) problem, then there is distance, some rejection

 

In The Unbearable Lightness of Being http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-9-put.html the recently deceased Milan Kundera writes about the difference between pity, which involves an air of superiority, us being above the pitied, and empathy, which happens when we are all at the same level

Lee Chandler aka Casey Affleck is a tragic figure, no doubt about it, and as we gradually (or is it suddenly) find about his drama, we get to see that a troubled actor might know better how to handle such a complicated personage, if he is the main presence, he is also a sort of anti-hero, however much we feel some warmth for him

 

The young man finds that his dead brother has left a testament, which leaves him ‘in charge of’

Patrick, his nephew, and if he refuses to even contemplate that prospect, we also realize that the brother, Joe Chandler, has had an excellent idea, the responsibility, the need to act might save Lee, who is on a destructive path

This builds up in some ways as a sort of very smart detective story, since we do not know what is wrong with this fellow, why would he reject this notion of just guiding Patrick, who has only a couple of years left before being eighteen (if I am not mistaken), through some steps and then find satisfaction in that

I mean alright, young people these days (and for that matter, this is a terrible cliché, since mature folks keep complaining about the same thing) can be more than a handful, we have some in this gated community of ours that make your hair rise, what with fireworks, urinating on the street and so much more, but still, Lee could have at least expressed some doubts, hesitate, think about it, not look so appalled

 

Spoiler alert, as mentioned before, we move with the plot, and then find what was so absurd, impossible in the will, for Lee has been determined to either kill himself (he had tried, in the police station, with a gun stolen from a cop) or without that, to live as if this is the torture, punishment he has to endure

He is a janitor in Boston (again, some details are not clear, gone from my mind, but who is to object, not you I hope) and there is a moment when Patrick is infuriated, when the teenager is told that he has to move to the city, because this is where his legal guardian is, and he has a damn smart reply for his relative

 

‘Why don’t you move here, you are just a janitor, it is not like you could not find places to wash the floors and toilets in Manchester’ this is clearly no quote, but I hope there were words to this effect, even if this is not the problem, Lee does not give a penny for his work, he cares nothing for life now, that is the drama

As it is, with all the catastrophe that we see as the reason for Lee’s attitude, morosity, aloofness, pain, rejection of the will (well, he changes his mind and tries something, not really hard, to begin with) we do have some humor, mixed in all this trauma and PTSD aka Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which is taking the main character down

 

Patrick aka formidable Lucas Hedges is a very intelligent, pleasant, and sociable, well liked young man, who has…two girlfriends, he has sex with them, but it is not that easy to play with studies, two partners, and especially a morose, obtuse relative, who says he does not like one of the girls and is not cooperating, to use a euphemism

However, as the connection between them develops, Lee starts to offer some support, he even accepts (after much pushing, I think I remember) to cover for his nephew, and walks into the house of one of the girls, to spend some time with the mother, who seemed to fancy the lonely man, and invites him for a drink

 

While the two teenagers are preparing to have sex, with the knowledge that the uncle will keep mother busy, so she will not come upstairs every other ten minutes, as she always does when there are only the three of them in the house, Lee is acting as if he is an alien (which come to think of it, he is)

He does not respond in any way, and though it is amusing, for in the end, the mother walks up to the room of the naughty teenagers, saying she could not stand another minute, she is trying to talk to the wall, it is also deeply tragic, for we see this is a broken man, he takes no interest in what is otherwise a very charming woman…

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life. As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality. Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

 

 

http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/10/note-on-you-can-count-on-me-writer.html

88 out of 100 for Frasier, 2.21

86 out of 100 for Trump, Unprecedented, 1

87 out of 100 for Kajillionaire

85 out of 100 for Plan 75

A Man Called Otto by Fredrik Backman – another version would be here http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/06/92-out-of-100-for-man-called-ove.html - 8 out of 10

 

A Man Called Otto by Fredrik Backman – another version would be here http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/06/92-out-of-100-for-man-called-ove.html

8 out of 10

 

 

Our greatest thinker is Andrei Plesu, but writing this I am tempted to say We Need to Talk About Kevin http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/07/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-by-lionel.html or some other such nonsense…by the way, I am supposed to put out red flags, spoiler alerts early in the game, to answer demand

 

As it is, these notes and the videos I put up at https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/ are not really serious, pertinent, relevant, worthwhile material, and hence the ease with which the subject moves from one place to another, when there is no ‘audience’ to speak of, you can enjoy it, right and dance with the film or book

But the other day, I have noticed a ‘comment’ on the blog, which was an epiphany (well, this is exaggerated, but as stated, it is all superfluous here, so you just had another warning, move away from here, it is not really a serious do) in that, well, there is a reader, viewer out there, in the flesh, not just hypothetical

 

Not only that, but he dives into the ‘message’, which is really unexpected (it is also his fault in part, for we know from the classic Blink, the Power of Thinking Without Thinking http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html by Malcolm Gladwell that we take decisions, form opinions in seconds, and therefore, you only need a couple of lines to see where this is (not) going

Trying to mention Otto for a while (we will see it this is just a fluke) the main character of this narrative appears to be somewhat (or completely) bizarre, eccentric, in that he insists on being a pain in the arse, but at the same time he wants to commit suicide, I mean, if you are off from this world, why do you care about fifty cents

 

When we start, we see him taking some rope from a store (let us continue with this stupid joke and place another spoiler, to satisfy our [only] customer) because he wants to hang himself, and only needs some two meters, the equivalent in American units, and then he argues with the employee on two counts

First, he wants to cut the rope himself, since he has a knife with him, and maybe this is a shot at the exaggerations in the system (the infamous court case on the hot coffee at McDonalds has made companies extremely cautious of lawsuits) but it still looks absurd and not all that funny, why would he insist on using a knife?

Then, at the cashier, he makes a fuss about the length, the charge, which Otto finds excessive, and then we have to see – in fact listen  to – dialogue that eventually will envoy an assistant manager, because the ‘big one’ is on lunch break, and why lunch, and it is off to a bad start, because it is not amusing

 

Eugen Ionesco http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/rhinoceros-by-eugen-ionesco.html comes to mind - by the way, it bothers me that I have had this negative comment, however good it is to know that someone watched/read, and now I realize that this is how my mind works (or does not) from one idea, I jump to the another, and another, and then we are off to the Elysian Fields or some other remote place

In Rhinoceros, you have the beasts showing up on the streets, and that at least has the quality of being really outré, impossible, but still, it is a challenge, while here, we have the absurdity of a man who wants to die, but until he does that, he is such a moron, grumpy old fellow that you are tempted to say ‘die already’

 

However, this is Tom Hanks in the American adaptation (which is much less efficient than the original, which has won trophies and laudatory reviews from critics and audiences, to be vicious, I would insert I do not know why) and you do not want to see him expire, and yes, you feel some sympathy

Indeed, the ‘hero aka anti- hero’ is behaving quite atrociously in many situations, because he has had this trauma, he had lost his wife, and with her, any reason to go on, and hence he sees everything in a black color, and if we flip the argument above, he has the sense that he is unpleasant or worse, and ergo, he is trying to say adieu…

 

Part of the humor comes from the fact that he does not succeed, because the things they do these days are not solid, reliable, and then he has these neighbors coming in, that he has to help with the parking of their vehicle, then, when he tries to use theexhaust, he is interrupted (again) and eventually, things change

Victor Frankl http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/mans-search-for-meaning-by-victor-frankl.html has written one of the classics of Psychology, Man’s Search for Meaning, he had been interned in labor camps, although he could get out of the Nazi killing machines, his family could not, and hence, he went into the camp

 

He writes about how essential Meaning is, when men (he was imprisoned with males) lost their Will to live, the meaning, they would very soon die, and that is what happens to Otto, until the new arrivals in the gated community where Otto is in charge push him to see a way out, the eponymous light at the end of the tunnel

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life. As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality. Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

84 out of 100 for America in Colour, 1

75 out of 100 for Razbunarea Haiducilor aka The Revenge of The Outlaws

87 out of 100 for Fair Play

84 out of 100 for Pink Moon

The Revenant- A Screenplay by Mark L. Smith, Alejandro Iñárritu- another note on the same topic is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-revenant-written-and-directed.html - 9 out of 10

 

The Revenant- A Screenplay by Mark L. Smith, Alejandro Iñárritu- another note on the same topic is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-revenant-written-and-directed.html

9 out of 10

 

 

This was known as the ‚Bear Rape Movie’, becasue, well, the bear does fuck Leonardo aka Hugh Glass, and the poor protagonist did not need any further pain or trauma, he will have more than enough

 

We could say that this is a testimony for the importance of Resilience, or Delayed Gratification, which is touched on here

http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-dance-to-music-of-time-by-anthony.html

It is at times hard to belive that this can happen to anyone, but we have to read Adventures in The Screen Trade http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/adventures-in-screen-trade-by-william.html by William Goldman

 

William Goldman has won the Oscar twice for his screenplays for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and All The President’s Men http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/08/all-presidents-men-by-william-goldman.html

In his fundamntal book he tells the story of a castle, where you have a most important person, guarded by many, and yet, a fellow just comes through the fence, walks through corridors and comes face to face with her

 

It has happend in real life to...The Queen, and the scene where she meets this trespasser in her bedroom is presented in the Netflix series The Crown, but there are other unbelivable narratibves that we can tak about

One would be Trump, i mean to me, he is still the epitome of the impossible, some decades ago, you could have told me of a comedy with an anti-hero like that and then one would say ‚come on, give me a break’

 

Now here he is, ahead in the polls of a presdent, Biden, that is old, but then the idiot opponent is just four years ‚younger’, and deranged, and Biden has done wonders for Ukraine, sees the dangers of Climate Change

When you put the two in contrast, there is no question for the sane human being as to who needs to be the next leader of the free world, and yet, republicans have turned their beliefs upside down and prefer the Ultiamte Lunatic

 

Talking of Hugh Glasand Leonardo Di Caprio, I think i have seen that almost all of Hollywood is against The Supreme Fool, with some atrocious exceptions, such as Jon Voigt http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/deliverance-screenplay-by-james-dickey.html and a few other ruffians

A crazy notion comes to mind, putting Hugh Glass in competion with The Donald, if they were to particpate in one of those reality shows, Survivor, or Celebrities in The Wild, who would win, by a long shot?

 

For that matter, set the possible King of the World agsint almost anyone, and you have a crazy dynosaur who should be sent to jail, for all the Capitol Hill madness, rebellion, the stealing of secret documents and all

It is absolutely shameful that civilization, progress, advancemnt of the human race are compromised, anihilated really by the election in what used to be the greatest democacy of a frog, a danger to us all, Satan, if you believe in that

 

Yuval Harari is one of the greatest thinkers of this age, and he has written three marvelous masterpieces, Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus – Brief History of Tomorow and 21 Lessons for The 21st Century

In Sapiens http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/02/sapiens-brief-history-of-humankind-by.html and the other two chefs d’oeuvre, Yuval Harari argues that we have advanced incredibly and we will become Gods

 

Thus Homo Deus is the title for the opus that looks at the future, but how can we be divine, when we choose goats like Lula or Bolsanaro, the new fellow in Argentina, Salvador’s Bukele, Trump, AMLO, the list is long

Coming back for a second to Hugh Glass, here you have a hero who can take it all in and win the fight for survival, with supreme self control and no whinning – The Economist has a Lexington artcile about that

 

Tim Scott is one of the canditaes for the GOP nomination, and his story is not one of pepretual complaint, that is Trump, and if Republicans were for the opposte, now they elect the Symbol of losing – the fool keeps saying ‚he is a victim’, we could say this is about all he has to say, and he only cares about...himslef

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world    – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html 

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life. As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality. Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

87 out of 100 for Jardins D'ici et D'ailleurs, 3

51 out of 100 for Spiderman No Way Home

85 out of 100 for Marlon Wayans - God Loves Me

83 out of 100 for Eddie The Eagle

87 out of 100 for The Founder

53 out of 100 for MEG 2

Can You Ever Forgive Me? A Screenplayby Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty – another note on the same feature is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/02/can-you-ever-forgive-me-by-nicole.html though this time it is- 10 out of 10

 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? A Screenplayby Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty – another note on the same feature is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/02/can-you-ever-forgive-me-by-nicole.html though this time it is-

10 out of 10

 

 

I am not crazy about the films of Melissa McCarthy, but this is one is mind blowing, and it is worth being in a myriad of forgettable comedies, if one leaves behind something like this, deep, amusing and sad...

 

Melissa McCarthy is Lee Israel in this motion picture and she proves she can do wonders, the main character is both iluminating and rather hard to bear, she is a sociopath, living alone with her cat, for as long as that is possible

She loses her means of subsitence, the rent is behind for some months – and there is already a correction for the above, for she had been nice to the mother of the supervizor and thus she can enjoy some leniance

 

She has a multitude of flies, but when she gets the visit of an extreminator, the fellow is crushed by the awful smell and declares he will come back once the place is cleaned, and that will take a comedy of horrors

Under the bed, there are piles of, well, shit, for this lady does not have an ineterst in caring for herself much, it may be tempting to speculatethat abandoned by the world, she feels ready to let her be, in whatever manner that is easiest

 

She has had a relationship with a woman she is lesbian, albeit let us think of the Co-Winner of The Booker Prize for 2019, Girl, Woman, Other http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/girl-woman-other-by-bernardine-evaristo.html

The author, Bernardine Evaristo, explains that genre is a lie of civilization (or something to this effect, or maybe this is just what i think i remeber) and we have Two-Spirit, non genre, and gender fluidity, our sex can change from one minute to the other

 

The connection between Lee Israel and her companion had been severed becasue the latter had wanted Lee to bond with her other freinds, go out, and then as we can see that is next to impossible for the protagonist

Since she also has to care for the cat, who is sick, she has to find a way to make some money, if it were only for herslef, maybe she would not care, judging from that pile of feces and the smell, which witnesses say was atrocious...

 

She happens to find while reading in the library or the archives osme precious note form a celebrity, she steals it, then sells it to the shops that buy and then put on display for collectors memorabilia from the famous and powerful

When Lee sees the finacial success of the sale, which brought some hundreds of dollars, she understands that she can use her skill to continue in this path, by impersonating dead people and offering ‚their’ letters.

 

She will have a passionate monologue at one point, where the emotions, the humor, tragedy of that fate are memorable and it is just one of so many scenes, indeed, another correction, the whole film is fabulous...

She maintains that she is a ‚better celebrity than the celebrity herself’ – i forgot who it was she mentioned in that line, something we could google, but who is to bother, it is not crucial anyhow, and there is humor and pain here

 

One special, magnetic if also tragic personage is Jack Hock (with a big cock he claims) portrayed by the mesmerizing, exrtravangant, exhilarating Richard E Grant, admired in Whithnail & I, one of the best comedies ever...

Actually, Withnail & I http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/withnail-i-written-and-directed-by.html was listed by Time Out as the Number One comedy and i strongly recommend that you see it, what am I saying, you must look for it

 

Jack Hock is a homosexual man with a penchant for philandering, this will get him into trouble, after one brief encounter, he did not have the money to pay and he got beaten, coming to Lee’s flat to get some help

He is aging, shows his receding hair line, does not have a stable income or residence, when asked by Lee about his address, he gives a few locations, evidence that he does not really live anywhere, not in a stable home anyway

 

Seeing as they are both broke, and Jack had had entagemnts with the law, he used to shop lift, had a method whereby the took an empty toothpaste recipeint to the store, took the full one form the box and instered the mepty shell inside, insisting that this is win –win, to which Lee retorts ‚what about the shop owenr’

The connection between the two is not romantic, they both prefer their own sex, but with the inevitable nadir, they still impress the audience as two lonely people, finding some support in each other...

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html  

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life. As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality. Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

91 out of 100 for Certain Women

83 out of 100 for Two and Half Men, XX

A Look at the Iconic The Deer Hunter

88 out of 100 for The Art of Scandinavia, XXX

The Concert aka Concertul by Radu Mihaileanu, nominated for The Golden Globe for Best International Film, winner of Césars and other prestigious awards - 9 out of 10

 

The Concert aka Concertul by Radu Mihaileanu, nominated for The Golden Globe for Best International Film, winner of Césars and other prestigious awards

9 out of 10

 

 

There are a few Romanian film makers that have given audiences impressive works, some of them among The Best 100 Movies Ever Made, such as 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/4-months-3-weeks-and-2-days-aka-4-luni.html by Cristian Mungiu

 

His children have studied (maybe they still do) at the Lycee Francais, just like my beloved daughter, Hannah, and once, at the end of school beano, during the festivities, he was talking with another giant of cinema – Corneliu Porumboiu http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/la-gomera-aka-whistlers-written-and.html another regular at the Cannes Film Festival, with the nominees, not just as a cinephile

I wanted to try and take a picture and also get to…Happiness Activity No 1: Expressing  Gratitude –counting your blessings for what you have either to a close other or privately, maybe in a journal, conveying gratitude to one or more individuals you haven’t properly thanked, but my wife said no, and a bunch of other things

 

The Concert starts with an interesting plot, the premise that some people may just pass as The Bolshoi Orchestra, and not just that, but have The Concert in…Paris, and if this sounds unbelievable, well, let me tell you just one word – Trump, not plastics, the latter line is used in the stupendous, cult movie The Graduate http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-graduate-by-charles-webb-10-out-of.html

Indeed, the book is a Hideous Kinky joy ride itself, what with Mrs. Robinson and her daughter, and at the beginning, the parents of The Graduate throw a party for him, and many other gifts, attentions, for they are the precursors of the infamous ‘helicopter parents’ of these days, and one guest comes to the graduate and says ‘let me tell you just one word…plastics’, I wonder if it was Mr. Robinson, but now plastics is the plague, not the success formula which they had in mind back in the sixties, when the action takes place…

 

In his capital, fundamental Adventures in The Screen Trade http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/adventures-in-screen-trade-by-william.html the regretted William Goldman, winner of two Oscars for his scripts, explains how there are things that are hard to put on the screen – some trespasser enters this castle, which is inexpugnable, with multitudes of servants, guards, and then somehow finds himself in the bedroom of one of the most important sentient beings…Goldman says that the public would stand and walk out of the cinema, if presented with such a story, only this has really happened to…The Queen and it is now included in the series The Crown

 

In The Concert, somehow we have Andrei Filipov ready to pull off an incredible stunt, getting the message meant for the ‘official’ Bolshoi, he may gather his old team and travel to Paris, to claim they are the guests expected to perform, and there are some aces he has, the most important is they used to be The Bolshoi.

The Soviet Union was The ‘Evil Empire ‘as Reagan so well said it (we are talking of the communist days in The Concert) and Russia is not much different – Putin keeps saying he regrets the old regime, he had stated that the collapse of the old USSR was the greatest calamity of the last century, and he starts wars to get that empire back together, using the old bombing strategies and the same tactics and propaganda, the West has attacked us, and we are ‘defending the land, not invading’, just like in that old joke

 

To give you an idea of how things worked back in the ‘red glory times’, which we had in this realm, because the Soviets have not been satisfied with the largest country on earth in the red, they brought that plague in Eastern and Central Europe, there is a joke with Radio Yerevan, for whatever reason, they used the name of that outfit, and there were questions for the station and they would reply with comic enthusiasm

The question regards Mr. Ionescu, Popov, Istvan – you could use this joke in all the countries of the Warsaw Block, and this is what they now do in China, Cuba, all the wretched lands with the commies at the helm, and for that matter, in dictatorships wherever you have The Big Brother exposed in Nineteen Eighty Four http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/nineteen-eighty-four-by-george-orwell.html by George Orwell

 

Is it true that Mr. Ionescu has been given a white Dacia (here we could again put in a different make, Skoda, Lada, Trabant, etc.) and the answer is ‘no, it is not a car (Dacia), it is a bicycle, it was not white, it is black, and it was not given to him, it was taken away…so this is how propaganda and the regime in these places works, they lie to your face, and then they are abusive, they take things and give you…hell

Granted, lying is now so pervasive, that what was once the role model, the absolute dream for the likes of us, living under Ceausescu and others like him, though a touch more humane that the absolute Beelzebub, America has given the world The Galactic Liar and a case of severe Narcissistic Personality Disorder

 

As for The Concert, it is a challenge to overcome bureaucracy in these places, but somehow, also a chance, which is speculated in this scenario, they are so hopeless, that maybe a troupe of inventive, talented artists can really pass for The Bolshoi

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world    – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html  

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life. As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality. Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”