Saw this on NetFlix, gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. Hindi/Bollywood, India under the British Raj and and the British are portrayed much as they like to portray the Nazis, basically the same, and - really, English Colonialism was every bit as savage as French, Belgian, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish Colonialism. So they're not far off.

It's about 10 X better written than any American film, with a lot more depth, nuance and complexities to the plot. That's not to say it has a lot, just more. And it's nice to see cultures represent their own history - as opposed to us doing it. Even if it's clearly a ridiculously over-the-top fiction. The dancing was fun, the jumping with the tigers and torches, brilliant, I mean - Hollywood's problem is that they feed us utter rubbish - Marvel Movies, for example - and they try to keep it a bit "Grounded" by slight attention to the laws of gravity and such, this - they don't fucking care. Turn it up to 11...no, no, 12...fuck it, all the way up to 100!!!! Nobodies supposed to believe it, just be amused. 

Anyways, I've had a few Bollywood movies on my list and now I'm inspired to try and see a few more...

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Category: Film

Now, these are popular feel-good videos on my Facebook feed. I'll describe 2 of them.

#1 - Wherein "good people" are shown releasing a wolf, bobcat, cougar, bear, etc. from a trap that wasn't meant to catch them. And of course we all feel good in the end because the animal runs away free and not dead, maybe with a broken paw and pronounced limp for the rest of their disabled and shortened lives, but - hey - they got to live and it was a good deed, no? Actually, No. The trap was set to capture the animal to generate the feel-good content. This is animal abuse and it's shit.

#2 - Some good person takes in or rescues a malnourished stray, often finding it in ridiculously dire straits - eg: tar-pits, mud-holes, etc. They then nourish it and restore it to great health and post the results online. Some - and I mean only some - are probably true. But unfortunately a good many of these are people taking in a perfectly good dog or cat and abusing it to the point of it being unrecognizable, then reversing the order of events before putting it on Facebook. Anything for the likes and up-votes.

So, I'm on Facebook a little bit and too much and - while some of it is harmless and amusing (the treasure-finding videos), a lot of it is upon light-to-none consideration most disturbing. And I'm questioning my involvement in this Empire of Idiots...

 

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Category: Rants

Apparently a gift from Caligula to Caesonia, his fourth wife. Admire the detail, carved out of sapphire, second only to diamond in hardness.

Link: https://mymodernmet.com/caligula-sapphire-ring-marlborough-gem/

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Category: Treasure

...and this occurred to me, as director of Marketing, that this thrift shop needs a resident artist. Someone that can make use of the tons of garbage we generate every week, to upcycle and sell it in the store. This would be a paid position, maybe $3000 per month, and they'd be allowed to keep a couple of their pieces and the rest would be sold, in the shop. And every month we could rotate in a new one...

No, really, I shouldn't have to tell you this is a great idea. And I've told them, but it went over like a lead balloon, like every one of my other ideas, and damn, they are missing out.

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Category: Blog
  1. Telescope
  2. Good Will Hunting
  3. Jeep 2023
  4. Sketches