The final show of the year is a scramble of topics that turned up in the e-mail either by nature or upon request. There were others that were either not interesting to me, or they were of a more personal nature. I do not want to go down the road of offering advice to people, so I tend to avoid those topics. There is never an upside to giving advice, especially personal advice, so it is best to avoid it.
The one topic I could have gone on longer about is the Covid stuff, which I have not done in a long time. It is a good example of how the media’s real power is the power to ignore a subject or person. They flipped the switch on Covid and slowly people just forgot about the whole thing. The only people who want to talk about it are the people who were right about it or have a complaint about it.
This is especially powerful when the regime makes an error. The vaccine stuff was a terrible blunder, but the media ignore it, so it does not get discussed. Poor Ron DeSantis thought Covid would be a great card to play, but in these debates, he never gets asked about it and he has stopped mentioning it. That means if Trump remains on the ballot for 2024, he will not be asked about his role in the fiasco.
The thing is the media does not do this consciously. They exist in a small, isolated world unaware of the outer world. What is important to them is assumed to be important to everyone and vice versa. Once Covid stopped being a big deal to them, the dogs barked, and the media caravan moved on. We are seeing the same thing with Biden impeachment, which is of no interest to them at the moment.
An amusing example is the Cobra holding a town hall meeting moderated by a carny on CNN the other day. The carny demanded proof that the FBI was involved in January 6, as if this was a crazy suggestion. The carny was unaware of the mountain of stories about the FBI role in the event, because in her world there is only one version of that day, and no one ever thinks to question it.
That is what will make the Ukraine story interesting in 2024. Few in the media are aware of what has really been happening. That means over the next six months they will have to be brought up to speed by the few people who have some clue and will be allowed to talk about reality. It will be like seeing a colony of mole people see the sunshine for the first time. Good times will be had by all.
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This Week’s Show
Contents
- Best Western
- Vivek Ramaswamy
- Why Do You Hate Hitchcock
- Electric Cars
- My DeSantis Problem
- Trump -> Youngkin
- Covid Vaccines
- Greg Johnson On Ukraine
- Nick Fuentes & Richard Spencer
- Christopher Caldwell
Direct Download, The iTunes, Google Play, iHeart Radio, RSS Feed
Full Show On Spreaker
Full Show On Rumble
Full Show On Odysee
While my betters were out and about engaging in healthy and productive activities, I was on my knees cleaning baseboards and listening to what sounds like the final implosion of TRS/NJP.
There’s a lesson or ten here, I’m just not sure what it is at the moment beyond Fool Me Once and In Vino Veritas…
https://odysee.com/@RemRep:7/SvenExposesNJP:7
this really hurts. I’ve been listening to these guys since summer 2015. This song really reminds me of the time I’ve spent listening to these guys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmrkY-EZy74
Off topic: In this video, Jared tries to reason with the chosen. He implores them that their cause should be our cause because most non-whites see them as white. When they remain unpersuaded, and instead try to enact special protections solely for their group, I wonder if he will begin to suspect that hatred of traditional whites, or at least an irreconcilable distrust, is foundational to that group that “looks white to me,” and is unlikely to change. https://www.amren.com/videos/2023/12/its-not-antisemitism-its-white-hating/ Also, the Derb and Fred Reed make an appearance in a Counter Currents discussion, which is something that I never expected… Read more »
It’s so frustrating, he gets so close to figuring it out then retreats back to his fixation on blacks as the entire problem.
These ethnic billionaires vigorously supported all the anti-White crap at universities and are only shitting their pants in rage now that it’s their co-ethnics being made mildly uncomfortable by protests. Jared points this out directly and then makes it out like it was some sort of mistake instead of being driven by the bagels’ unquenchable hatred of Whites.
“In a move that has raised eyebrows and stirred controversy, Fairfax County School Board member (((Karl Frisch))) was recently sworn into his second term on a stack of homosexual-themed books, a deliberate choice that diverges from the traditional practice of taking an oath on a religious text. Among these books, one notably included graphic content featuring children.”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4203933/posts
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Ghey Ped0 F@ce: CHECK
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=karl+frisch+fairfax+county+school+board
===============
(((They))) hate you and want you dead.
Huh, his head is shaped like a butt plug. I guess his choice of literature makes sense.
Bourbon: But but but . . . you will make a difference voting locally! Vote for your schoolboard and city council! (((Frisch))) won with 67% of the votes. And none of those parents who protested in the past will actually pull their children from the government schools and homeschool them.
It’s all theater.
Homeschooling is hard, and besides, what would that do to their little darlings’ chances to get into the right college? So, yeah, a lot of performative posturing was done, ’cause reasons.
You have a chance to dontate to Z’s arch-enemy and ask Taylor-san about this directly at 1500 EST:
https://www.millennialwoes.com/millenniyule?y=2023
Arch-enemy? I get along just fine with Jared Taylor. I even spoke at his event.
Z – I know you lived in Boston for many years. Did you hear about the no whites Christmas party?
I feel if they still had a masshole as mayor, this kind of stuff wouldn’t exist
I did and I strongly support these efforts to bring back segregation.
I’ll second that.
Can we have a vote on it?
Any efforts to bring back segregation. No matter by whom
Better yet, it appears freedom of association is legal in Massachusetts.
I find it impossible to believe that you lived in Baaaaaah-ston Z as you don’t have the “Pahk the cah in Havaaaahd Yahd” Southie accent. 😏
IMO, James Stewart’s best work was in a series of Westerns directed by Anthony Mann in the 1950s.
John Ford directed Liberty Valance.
(((Don Siegel))) directed The Shootist.
Those Anthony Mann Westerns with Jimmy Stewart are very good, especially Winchester 73. Underrated movies.
Ck out Anthony Mann’s Korean War actioner “Men in War” with Robert Ryan & Aldo Ray; fascinating character study of the title subject.
I just glanced at his Wiki, and Anthony Mann’s Early Life is rather horrifying.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Mann#Early_life
Good podcast – enjoyed listening. Regarding “western” movies … favorite character – Everett Hitch in Appaloosa – played by Viggo Mortensen. Of course Clint Eastwood is in a category all by himself … John Wayne became a product of postwar America. Regarding “art” in vehicles (or lack thereof) … the DMC-12 (an unknown name) produced by DeLorean Motor Company Which became somewhat famous in a movie. I recall seeing them running around in the early 80s – in fact, a guy I worked with owned one which I was, unfortunately, never invited to ride in. I owned three pickups over… Read more »
Appaloosa is a hugely underrated modern Western.
Well worth a rental if you’re looking for something to watch during the holiday downtime.
I have a soft spot for the odd tonality of Cable Hogue by Peckinpah. When I finished watching it, I was not sure exactly what I watched, but I know I watched something unique.
One thing that I find odd about the whole DeSantis shoes thing is that the guy played college baseball at Yale. And before you say it, Yale is division I. He was a third baseman and pitcher, too pressure jobs. Basically, he should be the tough guy, not the Jeb Bush of this batch of candidates. He certainly shouldn’t be trying to look taller. It’s a shame. The guy had a lot of potential, but he just couldn’t say to no to neocon money. On the positive side, it’s very clear that a huge chunk of the GOP base is… Read more »
Trump 2024 baby!
Calling him jeb! Is a massive overstatement, he does actually have some balls fighting for conservative causes in Florida.
> The carny was unaware of the mountain of stories about the FBI role in the event From everything that I’ve read over the years, the FBI had plenty of informants and agents in the crowd, but was generally surprised by January 6th. The Feds who actually created the January 6th breach – Epps, Scaffold Commander, the fence removers, the pipe bomber(s), the people who made the secret calls to ensure that there was no National Guard or extra capitol police on duty, the guys arrested on Jan 5th in from of the DoJ with a van full of explosives… Read more »
My second favorite confused-about-January-6th “take” is when Trump supporters complain that his requests for police and troops were denied.
They’d have slaughtered the crowd.
The sublimely idiotic take is that Trump failed to “cross the Rubicon” that day. He wasn’t in command of any faction of the military for a single moment of his presidency.
NG and more cops would have been a show of force that would have stopped the uprising before it began. That would have meant no j6 propaganda campaign . Having the skeleton crew assured the capitol breach would happen. Worked well for them.
Also – I imagine that many or most readers here may know this already, but just to write it out – the reasons why Dem-aligned professional Federal soft coup instigators created Jan 6th: * They pulled out stops and shredded any laws and norms they could to ensure they stopped Trump in the 2020 election. But the mountain of fraud and irregularities that the nation was left with was glaring and actionable. Even some relatively risk-adverse Republicans were talking about refusing to certify, or at least investigating. So, the riot served to try to delegitimize opposition to, or even questioning… Read more »
The Feds also created the pipe bomb hoax at the DNC that night, which was somehow (ahem) “never solved,” despite having the (ahem) “suspect” on video tape.
Considering how they hunted down every Boomer MAGA housewife who took a selfie of herself in the Capitol lobby and swatted her with a tactical team at 5 a.m. …ya gotta figure they weren’t really trying to solve the fake “bomb” thing.
Like the Zman, I have taken to watching old movies that I missed the first time around. I choose from the lists of awards nominees, which could be a mistake. Here are a few I have watched recently. Sorry if any inadvertent spoilers. Children of Men: Very entertaining, very pozzed Tender Mercies: This one was very “real,” felt like real life rather than a movie. Reminded me of Sling Blade in that respect. Kiss of the Spider Woman: Boring. The main character being a homo explains why it was nominated for so many awards (1985). Hollywood’s big pro homo crusade… Read more »
I have to say that I gave up on The Killing Fields not even halfway through even though I was expecting a lot from it too. These are minor spoilers, but what did me in was when the lead character got sent to the labor/re-education camp and I had to sit through all these voice-overs about how much he missed the reporter he worked for and how much he wanted to see him again and how the hope of seeing him again kept him going, etc. Didn’t that guy have a wife and children he should have been more concerned… Read more »
Agreed. The NYT hotshot reporter came across as a complete A-hole.
I should add that he goes on to say re: 60 Minutes as propaganda, that “it uses all the film techniques that were first introduced by Leni Riefenstahl in the 30s for the Nazis.”
I bet your shitlib friends, if you have any, would enjoy hearing that a longtime 60 Minutes producer said that
Shine is tremendous. Maybe not quite as brilliant as Amadeus, but pretty darn close!
I read that both Helfgott’s siblings emphatically dispute the portrayal of their father in the film, as does his first wife. “All outright lies” is one quote.
Too bad, but unsurprising, I suppose. Movies, at least the good ones, are about telling great stories. Truth simply doesn’t enter the picture…so to speak.
Jeff – Ck out Sam Peckinpah’s incomparable “Cross of Iron” with James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, & James Mason.
Finest war film ever made IMHO.
On Amazon Prime.
On the subject of “Rob” DeSantis: https://twitter.com/_johnnymaga/status/1734766974729584759 I really have to wonder if anyone else in U.S. history has completely ruined his political career as quickly as he has. Not that many months ago, I would have said he seemed promising. He was saying the right things and doing some right things, and I would have said he just might turn out to be one of the good guys. But some big donors came around to hand him some cash and he instantly knifed Trump and his supporters in the back. I now wonder whether he has any actual convictions… Read more »
Maybe Scott Walker is the closest analogy
In terms of the speed of his “demise” from viable presidential candidate to basically nothing, there’s no topping Ross Perot
For Gary Hart it happened through scandal, which is probably a separate category
There is only one valid reason for owing a pickup truck, and that is to have something to hang a pair of fake plastic testicles from the trailer hitch.
I’m sold! When I’m in the market for a new vehicle, I’m going to get a pickup truck for that reason alone!
On the other hand, whenever you buy a Prius, they throw in a pink plasic vulva that slips over your rearview mirror…
There’s a hilarious video on YouTube where they added a huge nitrous kit to a Prius. They take it to the track and for about 8 seconds it sounds pretty badass and is making a pretty good run. Then the engine blows. In the post-mortem they show the damage. Apparently one of the rods broke and punched through the block. Best Use of a Prius Ever!
Well, perhaps not the only reason, but undoubtedly the most important one…
Hey! I drive a pickup! And testicles have nuttin’’ to do with it.
They certainly don’t.
I’m halfway there. I’ve got the fake plastic testicles.
on your truck?
fiiiiillllller.
Speaking of EVs, the Biden just crippled the entire government by ordering them to prioritize EV use on all official travel:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/biden-tells-federal-employees-use-evs-and-trains-official-travel
This sort of evidence of the rapidly decaying human capital in the West is why I’m not too worried about the digital panopticon unless the Chicoms take over or the AI singularity births Skynet.
Z-Man, if you liked “High Noon” a great deal, you should check out Peter Hyams’ space western “Outland,” which is basically a sci-fi remake of “High Noon.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outland_(film) The film is set some indeterminate time in the future, when humanity is in the process of colonizing the solar system. “Outland” stars Sean Connery (in one his best roles) as Federal District Marshal William T. O’Niel. O’Niel has been assigned to a one-year tour of duty on Con-Am 27, a mining outpost located on Io, a moon of Jupiter. O’Niel soon discovers that miners are dying for unexplained reasons and the… Read more »
You would be hard pressed to find a bigger EV skeptic than me. Given the fact that we have all these old cities where many people live and apartments, I still hold out on the inevitable quick demise of the internal combustion engine has been greatly exaggerated. The uptake of EVs has been far greater than I thought would happen. Tesla has enough deposits to handle everything they can build for the next 2 years on the pickup truck. I still think there are a lot of bumps in the road ahead and that these so-called ICE car bans on… Read more »
What we are seeing with people purchasing EVs is a perfect example of people forging their own chains to enslave themselves…
One of the goals of the EV push is obviously to reduce the number of cars on the road. Elites hate having to wait in traffic so if they reduce the number of cars on the road by 50% that would be a huge win for them. Still they approach green energy with an insane zealotry and fanaticism like the supporters of John Brown. Obvious failures and nonsense have no impact on them. Wind turbine break down in 20 years or less and get buried when they are decommissioned, they don’t care. They will cover a green field with solar… Read more »
The “elites” (why are they “elite”?) know that there aren’t enough raw materials or electricity generating power for all the plebs to have EVs. It’s just another smelly WEF plan to get everyone stuck in place or using mass transport in their 15 minute hellholes.
I know a lot of very smart people who think climate change is an existential and high priority problem. I think they also think EVs are a solution. I suspect a lot of them think that either: a) Moore’s Law applies to physics b) We’ll spend a lot of money on battery tech and so we’ll solve all the problems because – we spent a lot of money on it. I don’t any of them have the first understanding of the insane number of materials required to build these things out at scale. So far, I’ve been wrong on the… Read more »
Most EV buyers & drivers are affluent “educated” midwits who are scientifically illiterate and borderline innumerate. The same demographic as the people who make “climate change policy” so the massive push and adoption rate is to be expected. The cold hard reality of physics and thermodynamics are immutable laws however and we are starting to bump up against them… hard. Anyone who drives a “Green” car with “Zero emissions” as a virtue signal with no knowledge that they had to strip mine 50,000 tons of earth by diesel fume spewing machines to get the rare earth metals to make their… Read more »
I don’t think any EV owners actually realises that the electricity with which they charge their cars comes from power stations. More EVs means more power stations which means more oil, coal and uranium production. Like all “green” stuff, it’s not actually green at all. It just pushes the problem further away and makes people feel virtuous.
They think it all comes from wind and solar…
“Green” tech can serve two purposes. One, it can create a new sector similar to “defense” that is primarily about handing tax dollars to certain favored companies. Secondly, it serves as a massive “gullibility research program” that can identify and cultivate people to serve as tools for current and future campaigns of elite tyranny and terror against the general population. In the former case, just as it doesn’t really matter if the whizbang weapons actually work in a real war, it doesn’t really matter if the “zero carbon” cars are, in practice, getting the equivalent of 2 mpg once you… Read more »
It’s not terribly different from gun law regulations. I know a fair amount about guns. My “educated” friends that I went to college with will talk about the need for gun control. I’ll push them on specifics. They don’t know the difference between different calibers, or even semi-auto vs full auto (I love when news stories throw in the line “the shooter was using a fully semi-automatic weapon lol). Yet, these people think their opinion is valid, despite their vast ignorance on the topic or existing laws. Pretty much the same as EV and EV production.
They don’t know because they don’t care. Never underestimate the extent to which both guns and oil are symbolic to them of that which they loathe most: Western Man. It’s not about logic, it’s about sentiment.
I hope the reality of electricity prices gets to them before they do too much more damage. Up until recently, EVs have not posed a tax on electricity generation and the grid. To put it in perspective, the US alone burns 350 million plus gallons of gasoline a day. That’s a lot of natural gas and coal. What exactly we are going to do with all the gasonline that must be produced in order to produce diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, bunker fuel etc is also a problem. This will be sold and burned, just not in our cars. Maybe the… Read more »
Not to mention all the parking garages that aren’t designed to handle the weight of EVs
I wouldn’t count on that Brother… I would prepare for what comes next…
My bet is that Toyota solves the Hydrogen problem before the Wokels solve the battery problem.
I think the hydrogen problem is fundamentally unsolvable. Even if they get what they call “red hydrogen” (making hydrogen from nuclear) fully solved, it just doesn’t solve the problem, it only solves the supply problem. You just cannot get the range with hydrogen. It requires extremely high compression and special containers. The hydrogen is so small it can leak out of just about any container. If it leaks into your garage, that could be extremely dangerous. I think the battery problem will be solved before the hydrogen problem could be solved. Both are just physics problems. With gasoline, half the… Read more »
When I say it has no weight, I mean no weight penalty on the car’s range. It has “no weight” in that you aren’t carrying it.
I can’t speak for the truck, but as for the cars, they are definitely not for everyone. And there should not be mandates. You have to be at a certain “station” in life to really benefit from owning a (good) EV. The three most important conditions are: 1. Live in a relatively mild climate. 2. Typical daily commute is under ~200 miles. 3. Have a garage to park in overnight for nightly recharging. If you meet all three of the above conditions then, utility wise, a Tesla is a dream car. #1 gives you the advertised mileage. #2 and #3… Read more »
More succinctly:
From a macroeconomic point of view, EVs are a bust, and ridiculous.
From a microeconomic (personal) point of view, owning a high performance EV: Fuck Yeah!!!!
Tesla acceleration numbers are impressive, no doubt.
That said, I’m skeptical of the powertrain over-engineering required for an operating regime that represents less than 1% of the vehicle’s use time.
The ‘little to no maintenance’ of a Tesla or any other EV is vastly overstated. There are a ton of things to maintain and repair in a Tesla or other EV, not the least of which is the brakes. (Nissan has the brake fluid service interval of 15 to 20k miles, for example). In most cases, the internal engine and transmission parts are good for the life of the car. You do have to do oil/tranny fluid changes, but so long as you do them, they should be good till the car gets junked. It’s all the other stuff. It’s… Read more »
It’s not really the *financial* costs savings of fuel and oil changes. It’s the *psychic* or *mental* costs of having to go out of one’s way to do them in the first place. Not procrastinate. I would always fill up, then wait ’til the car was going on fumes before filling up again because I found even detouring from by trip to get gas quite annoying. “Oh shit, the tank in on empty, I have to fucking stop and get gas.” “Maybe I better change my oil. It’s been 25,000 miles and it’s looking quite black …”
Great podcast as usual. A few minor contributions related to today’s topics. Re Covid and masks. Medical professionals wear masks intermittently and change them habitually. During Covid, sheeple wore the same mask for days on end (if not the same homemade cloth mask for month’s on end). The latter became mutation incubators due to prolonged build-up of sputum, moisture, and elevated temperature from breathing. This resulted in an optimized petrie dish effect attached directly to your main ingestion ports of esophagus and bronchial tubes. IOW, you proactively turned yourself into a lab experiment in which diseases were mutated on your… Read more »
Additionally, the maskatards were inhaling particulate matter from the masks themselves, and depriving themselves of maximal oxygen for prolonged periods. Some still are. I’m not a pulmonologist, but I have to think this can’t be good for a body.
FYI, Z-man, the mRNA shot definitely reduces fertility and also increases the number of spontaneous abortions and still births…This has been known for more than a year, and shows up in the stats of heavily vaxxed countries….
During all of Oregon’s endless (I think 18 months) mask theater I made a point of *never* wearing a proper mask. Instead I went with a bandana loosely tied in the back and totally open at the bottom. Being allowed to go into stores looking like an MS-13 gangster about to rob the place *almost* made up for the hassle and tyranny.
Pozymandias: I initially wore a camouflaged pattern paintball mask (with all the little holes in it). People didn’t know what to think (i.e. didn’t I realize it had holes in it, or did I realize and just not give a f**k). Then I just took to wearing a standard paper one. I’d keep it around my neck until I got to the door. Then I’d pull it up over my mouth (never my nose) and drop it again once past the door. I had one 20-something White guy hassle me at once store, but no one else ever said a… Read more »
There were some people who got entrepreneurial about defeating the masks. There was a company that sold something they brazenly labeled “fake mask” that was pretty much what you describe. The idea was that it “met the requirement” for some sort of face diaper without actually doing anything.
John Wayne was before my time and I never saw any of his movies until recently. He embodied exactly the kind of masculinity that my liberal, west coast educators trained me to reject, starting with Sesame Street and that feminist movie they made us watch every year, “Free to Be You and Me.” In spite of the wooden acting, this scene makes me smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50_JqltsgPM I can see why women would feel angry and threatened at this scene, because it is basically telling every man that “’No’ eventually means ‘yes,’ if you crush their resistance.” However, the complexity of the… Read more »
Speaking of Corvettes, this 1967 C2 LT1 with twin-turbos that can outrun many supercars has to be up there in terms of desirability:
https://youtu.be/_DDswtLUhdM
It is also an excellent example of a father-son project and the art of resto-modding.
67′ – last year before change to new body style – a beautiful automobile. There may be such a thing as Corvette porn.
C3s are nice too. They have those classic 70s lines and are still sexy. The only Vette model that really got it wrong was the C4 from the 80s. Very boring look / lines and absolutely anemic horsepower.
It has a strong heritage overall w/ only a few missteps. Contrast that with the poor Mustang that has been through the ringer many times over the decades. Different target markets of course, but most Corvettes have stood the test of time better.
You obviously know nothing about corvettes. After ‘72, with the 350 horse LT1 and the 425 horse L88 big block, Those sexy, smog pump laden C3’s made 140 hp. Those lowly C4’s by ‘85 were making 245 hp, and with the introduction of the gen 2 LT1 in ‘92 we’re back up to 300 hp and 330 ft lbs of torque. The ‘96 LT4 the last year of the C4 made 330 hp and 345 ft lbs of torque. The ZR1’s from ‘91 to ‘96 with the Lotus built LT5 dual overhead cammer made 375 hp.. The C4 was a… Read more »
My buddy’s big brother, Marv, lent his classic ‘vette to us one time. We spent the day driving up and down in front of the high school, laying rubber in the rain.
Marv also owned an English Ford that did a hundred, a van that we camped in on weekends, and a push-button Chrysler. Oh yeah!
About a half-mile from getting to our neighborhood, the corvette’s clutch finally fried. Fair bit of smoke. We walked the rest of the way but I decided not to accompany him home.
I think the Javelin AMX is one of the best looking muscle cars ever produced in an American car company, certainly the best of the 70s. I also love the big finned cars of the 50s with their huge hood emblems and gaudy chrome pieces and bumpers. Never was really into Corvettes. I test drove one once and it had the heaviest clutch I’ve ever felt in my life. I kept stalling it because the clutch was just so hard to control. This was during many years of daily driving nothing but sticks. I’m sure you would get used to… Read more »
They weren’t very fast compared to what exactly? Obviously you couldn’t handle the “heavy clutch,” I doubt you could handle anything with any real power…
Compared to its competition. Let’s see if you can, in the space of a single test drive adjust perfectly to a clutch 10x harder to push than the clutch you were driving the last 2 years and pulled into the dealership with. Also, it wasn’t new, it was a few years old. The clutch was probably not OEM. I’ve driven plenty of fast cars including 10 second cars. Until recently, the Corvette was never a particularly fast car. There are grocery getters today that can blow the doors off of any stock 50s-80s Corvette. They had other qualities that people… Read more »
Some years and some models were very fast and had great straight line acceleration. Many did not. Record that was made to be a sexy sports car not a street racing car. Corvette was America’s answer to the sports car. Cars like MG, Sunbeam, Triumph etcetera. I’ve owned at least 20 corvettes in my lifetime. Some were better than others speed wise all excellent handling wise. All we’re sexy and chick bait. I’ve also owned about 20 Rolls Royces and I can say the same thing about them. I’m sure the same thing can be said about most cars. I… Read more »
I prefer to not comment too often but my first visit every morning is to the zman.com. I also really like his Sunday comments. The week before last was especially rousing and laced with invective for our enemies. As far as today’s comments, although I have owned pickup trucks, they are a pretty poor choice for most needs. Farmers, ranchers, and deer hunters, sure, but for most other people, they suck. And actually, they are a comical choice for a lot of their owners. Little women and sawed-off boomers are especially comical with their big threatening PUs encapsulating themselves. Some… Read more »
Yeah I actually like John Wayne too. Don’t watch his movies much but he didn’t try to be so clever or complex or nuanced. Sometimes you don’t need to complicate things, just shoot straight
And John Wayne was a much better actor than he gets credit for. This comes through in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “The Searchers,” among other movies.
Really liked him in Rio Bravo and Red River. In general, though, I’m more of a Clint man.
Watched Red River this evening. Great film. Monty Clift was good too.
Most of the people in my neck of the woods driving three-ton diesel Tundras are cardboard cowboys who’d be better off driving a Fit. For people who actually need those monster trucks, ok. But the rest are just taking up space, creating obstacles, and pumping pollution–air and noise–into the environment to compensate for a teenie weenie peenie.
Do they all back into parking spaces and driveways in your area?
Frequently. And sometimes they effectively take up two spaces. When parking is limited and you don’t have time to search all over hill and dale for a spot, it’ll piss you right off.
If a peekup truck is parked diagonally across two spaces, Sancho’s wife works as a haircutter to make the monthly payment.
@ Alzaebo:
And I should have added, “sawed-off Mexicans”. Boy do they love their honking-ass pu trucks.
And how many of them are cardboard cowgirls?
Lots of that where I am – suburban Karens/AWFLs barely in control of gigantic SUVs.
Oh yeah. And they’ll often be sporting some silly sticker like, “You’re behind a girl!” on the bumper. Dam’ twits.
I should have submitted this as a question before the podcast, but I wonder what in the world has happened to Kamela Harris. I half expect to see her picture on a milk carton I believed the plan in 2020 was to have Biden resign after January 20, 2023 so that Kamela could finish Biden’s term and still be eligible for two full terms. I admit that I was wrong, but what happened? Is she simply so bad off the teleprompter that her earlier supporters have abandoned her? Will she be removed from the 2024 Democratic ticket, if she’s so… Read more »
She seems to be getting dumber, which I had to see to believe.
She is only good at one thing, it’s amazing how far that skill has taken her
To be fair, it is an enjoyable skill lol
If you’re on the receiving end, sure.
And her ascent to the heights is even more impressive when you consider that her face is below average. In her prime, her selling points were just that she was not fat and willing to put out.
I would have assumed that Willie Brown could purchase and promote into his cabinet more attractive and less annoying prostitutes than Kamala.
Among politicians, she really stands out for her low intelligence and unusually repulsive personality.
At least she has that delightful little giggle to listen to.
Exhibit A for the crisis of competence induced by diversity promotions, ideological promotions, and one party rule. Not that she’s the only one, just the most visible.
It’s also Exhibit A that competence is not a job requirement for the average US senator, although the party/caucus leaders are probably required to have some basic skills
Again, she’s where she is because she’s not White and because she’s a she. That’s it.
Electric vehicles have the soul of a computer which is no soul. mRNA vaccines are not established technology. I haven’t found any established uses of it in veterinary medicine either but even then, there are many medical differences between humans and other mammals (and between other species). On paper and in some trials it looks good. I was too slow to say to friends to avoid it. I also think your advice to take the vaxx if you felt like it was wrong in hindsight. But hindsight is Monday morning. I didn’t realize it at the time either. It’s not… Read more »
Regarding Ukraine, the ignorance plus wild propaganda on view in the media has been staggering. I have close connections with people from eastern Ukraine, who are Russian-speakers. One of them still living there, in a location occupied by Ukrainian government, is extremely guarded about what she can say for fear of retaliation from authorities or neighbors. Yet she manages to convey some of what is happening, including, of course, the intimidation, which has been widespread. Men in her city, from very young men to slightly elderly, are in hiding or have fled to avoid what I guess should be called… Read more »
The Ukraine War is horrific and criminal. This contends to be one of the blackest marks against the United States, which has many.
1660please?? Cool moniker. I’m envious of some of the cool monikers around here lol. Why is there no “make the 1600s great again” candidate running?? I’m getting for grown op Conservatism with a capital C.
Ha! Thank you, Moran ya Simba. Wasn’t sure if anyone would get it. I’m not a complete monarchist, but I’d happily take Charles II and even his brother over this current bunch in control.
1660please: Charles II was far more complex than he is usually credited with. Although a libertine in his personal habits, despite all his mistresses he never tried to divorce barren Catherine of Braganza and neither encouraged nor tolerated disrespect towards her. He was a very canny political operator dealing with a difficult parliament and a divided populace in many ways. He trod a careful path and ought to be fully credited with restoring stability and the monarchy after civil war and Cromwell. For various reasons I developed an interest in his courtier John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester and his poetry… Read more »
Yes, I agree, 3g4me. I’d rate Charles II as one of the better English kings, without a doubt. He had a dangerous tightrope to walk, and he did it very well overall. He didn’t allow an overreactive purge against the Roundhead types. He steered England through a very dangerous time, within and without. With all the troubles during his reign, there were so many more dangerous, damaging directions England could have gone, and it’s understandable that he was cosy with the French. And he showed good leadership, for example during the terrible London fire. I think it’s a very sad… Read more »
Plus those very cute little dogs.
Tesla has done a great job of supplanting BuyMoreWarranty as the car brand of choice for the biggest assclown’s humanity can produce.
You mean
Break My Wallet?
Or is it
Black Man’s Wheels?
I can never remember!
Around here it’s definately Black Man’s Wheels. It used to be the opposite but now it’s probably a 90% chance that the driver will be black. Same with MBs too.
I’m on my second 3 series 4th generation — E46 in beamerspeak — convertible. They are beautiful, drive really well, but yes the repairs are pricey and the gas mileage sucks.
Break My Window and Bring Money With You.
Musk should be in prison for fraud and be held personally criminally (and financially) liable for every death tied to “full self driving”
A 10 thousand Dollar software update called “Full Self Driving” would lead any reasonable person to believe that “full self driving” (costing 10-15 grand) is capable of operating the vehicle.
It is infuriating that the NHTSA allows this state of affairs to continue.
I feel personally attacked and unsafe.
Absolutely right about part of the Covid vaccine plan being to make it an annual shot like the flu shot. I heard a couple different doctors say that when it was first introduced. Moderna was clearly planning on it and both they and Pfizer look like they are going to struggle long term as a result of banking on this. A surprising number of people are still getting it even though it is an undeniable failure. If you want to make them angry, tell them they are religious zealots.
“Cinematic onanism” is a howler. The mental image of you staking out a fortune teller’s emporium with a notepad in your hand also made me laugh. I’m totally with you about Jimmy Stewart. He’s the Tom Hanks of his day sans the pedophilia (as far as we know), and equally grating and overrated. Excellent podcast, and props for calling out the cowardly Johnny-Come-Latelys like Caldwell and Murray. This scenario plays out so often: unknown yet bright, perceptive people create and envision, and then grifters show up to steal their thunder, often if not usually with great success. Caldwell and Murray… Read more »
Isn’t he based in San Francisco? Have yet to met a single individual from there with a sane take on either.
Just to be clear…
Greg Johnson is a degenerate sodomite.
This must not be forgotten in any discussion of his actions, views, or statements. Homosexuals are inherently untrustworthy and should be viewed with disgust and aversion in all cases. They should be shunned and ridiculed; never give their pronouncements any credence.
“Cinematic onanism”. Isn’t that what did for Peewee Herman?
Could not agree more about Pale Rider and how many good things Eastwood had going on in that film.
I think it is underappreciated because it was released in 1985 and its sombre, earnest tone stood in direct opposition to the zeitgeist and popular culture of the day.
Had it been released in the 90s, it would easily be seen as one of Eastwood’s top 5 films and a worthy companion to Unforgiven.
Critical Drinker has expressed similar sentiments:
https://youtu.be/YRZbfUvXlYc
I always liked the Unforgiven.
We just rewatched that the other night. Superb.
Pale Rider > Unforgiven. Unforgiven was Oscar bait.
It had all the elements: magical black friend, underdeveloped and stereotypical young gun character, and the women (“whores” as they were called) were seen as denied justice even though Little Bill and the saloon owner punished the men who cut up the lady. Did the men deserve death for that? No.
Total Oscar bait. Eastwood’s worst movie by then.
The last 15 minutes of Unforgiven blew me away far more than the predictable Pale Rider shoot out. As soon as William takes a sip of whiskey…
Yeah it’s all in the ending. I think Eastwood does an excellent job of portraying a genuine bad ass type. He looks like sh!t at first, gets beat up by another slightly less tough guy (Hackman) because he’s not yet in that dark side of his character. Once he’s there he is genuine. I’ve met some tough guys who you’d never have guessed. When they get turned on they eat the tough guy acts, who tend to be front loaded about their toughness, for breakfast. Eastwood hit that nail
When I saw Unforgiven I thought it was the final piece of the trilogy. High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider and the Unforgiven. Over the years this has felt more right to me. Eastwood knew it was his last Western and maybe his last film as an actor. It was closing the show on himself as a Western star and as a director. By itself it is not as good as the other films, but when viewed in the context of the prior two films it is a helluva goodbye.
I thought of it as an almost sequel to The Outlaw Josey Wales.
There was a certain injustice to the disfiguring of a woman’s face who makes her living off her looks being punished by awarding a horse to the saloon owner who employed her.
True, but they agreed to be prostitutes in a very rough place. (This is assuming they weren’t trafficked.) The movie treats them like they were working at a kissing booth at a carnival.
Agreed. It’s the only Clint Western I’ll not watch twice. It has all the flaws you note, and on top of that, it’s dull. But the critics love it because it caresses their ideological undercarriage.
Enjoyed the Western realism in Unforgiven. But you’re right, it’s another movie loaded with propagandistic elements.
The film turns on revenging a woman due to mistreatment by the Ebil White Mans — offending the female being the #1 plot device and excuse-for-violence in modern films and television programs. Programs. Programs. Hell-o gynarchy.
Then the righteous black is mistreated by the Ebil White Mans. Then the Good White Mans punishes the Ebil White Mans, who had recently punished the prior Ebil White Mans.
Discerning a vague test pattern here . . . .
It is an excellent review and I agree completely when he said we are never seeing actors like Eastwood again. That was an amazing performance considering he directed himself in that film. Preacher is both terrifying and comforting, which is close to impossible.
Check out Eastwood giving an interview to a local TV station in Great Falls, Montana during the filming of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (another excellent picture):
https://youtu.be/u76fPrkEXNE
Biggest box office star in the world with a larger than life screen presence, yet he fits right in a Montana pool hall and seems almost bashful at points.
I knew a Hollywood lawyer who did legal work for one of Eastwood’s companies. This guy did not care for actors very much, but he actually liked working for Eastwood. He did not waste anyone’s time like everyone else in Hollywood. It’s funny. This guy hated his work, mostly because he had to be around actors. Funny how things go sometimes.
Two great westerns that I cannot recommend highly enough: Once Upon a Time in the West, especially the first 30 minutes which are perfect. And The Proposition, which is set in Australia Outback and was written by Nick Cave.
Greg’s stance on the war in Ukraine is perplexing. You are correct to point out how bad his argument in favor of Ukraine is, and its noticeably sub-par for him. Greg is a sharp guy and, generally, crafts really good arguments, so something is amiss.
Johnson both supported Covidism and the Ukraine war. That’s 0-2. He’s a sharp guy in many respects, but when it comes to something big he’s not to be trusted based on that record. His ethnostate plans, for example, are uber LARPing. Again, he’s an intelligent guy and a very good writer who needs to be taken with a metric ton of salt.
Jack Dodson: Johnson banned me during Covid (in response to a mild comment on someone else’s post that made no mention of Johnson himself). I had just paid for 3 years’ membership. I still get begging emails from him – classless and careless.
The mark of a weak person is never admitting or apologizing when they are wrong…Hope you had a great thanksgiving Sister…
Lineman: We had a quiet holiday, thank you Lineman. Still trying to establish new traditions with the immediate family now in different households and states. Absent constant concerns about my kids and living in a failing GAE, I am quite happy in my marriage and my new rural environment. And the deer love me, sucker that I am for feeding them daily – opened the blinds this morning to 8 of them waiting out front.
Glad to hear that Sister…Don’t get to close to them because you might have to eat them in the not to distant future😉Glad you are doing good and at least your kids have a .more secure place to hole up if.it turns bad before you can convince them to move as well…
I can totally see that, 3g. Dunno, something just strikes me as off with him. It isn’t just a matter of disagreement, either. I will allow it may be misperception on my part, too, and to be fair I also saw Covid wreck the brains of people I formerly trusted. I hope you got a refund.
I got banned for making fun of jim goad for writing a series of articles where he did this “woe is me, I’m not a white nationalist & I’m oppressed by the counter currents commenters” shtick. Somebody didn’t like it when I asked jim where on the doll the commenters touched him, my comment was wiped & my account was banned. I was feeling a bit snippy since they gypped me out of that ‘free’ book for signing up to their subscription before the cutoff date. After a few weeks I asked when they’d be sending the book & they… Read more »
I saw people like him by the ton during Convid: super-intelligent types who fell hook, line and sinker for the lies. There is intelligence of the mind and intelligence of the heart. Intellectuals nearly always lack the latter. Meanwhile, many of the folks the Greg and his caste look down on, like my local mechanic, barber and cleaning lady, all knew it was lies from the get-go.
Nothing separated the sheep from the goats more than Covid. Very few of the sheep have even admitted how wrong they were.
Greg Johnson is that professor you had at university who can give you a perfectly good grounding in the classics, but is a crazy Marxist when it comes to politics. As Z mentions, white nationalism is an oxymoron outside of the North American context, with the Ukraine Conflict being a perfect illustration of that. But if you accept Greg’s argument that only the Ukrainians are “white,” then it is even more tragic that most of those killed and wounded to date have in fact been Ukrainians, including members of the Donbas militias fighting on the Russian side. It brings to… Read more »
Only Ukrainians are white? Ha. I’d like the hear the logic behind that one.
Z summarized Greg’s position quite well. Mark Collett has conceded that a country the size of Russia on the Eurasian landmass will perforce be multi-racial. Their debate on the Ukraine Conflict can be viewed on Odysee.
https://odysee.com/@joeldavis:0/Mark-Collett-vs.-Greg-Johnson—the-Ukraine-debate:1
Wow wow wow.
Holy smokes, Greg Johnson really is ridiculous with his Ukraine position.
Stop it already with the “Judeo-Christian” nonsense.
They crucified the son of God.
Those two words shouldn’t be on the same page.
Judiasm has more in common with Islam. Both hood Christ as a prophet/teacher, after all. Monotheism, Old Testament, etc.
Pre Zionism, Jews and Muslims got along pretty well in the Sand Lands.
Judeo-Islam just doesn’t have the same ring though. Or American firepower backing.
ProZNoV: Most people don’t know enough to see how close they are in practice if not in theory. Very similar dietary laws, very similar rules on women’s dress (one mandates the head veil and the other a wig; one uses a big cloak and the other requires high necks, long sleeves and almost ankle length skirts). Both require female ritual cleansing. Both separate the sexes during worship. Etc., etc.
“Pre Zionism, Jews and Muslims got along pretty well in the Sand Lands.”
This point fails to get sufficient attention. Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, the United States also had excellent relations with the Arab nations. Again, that seldom gets mentioned. It really wasn’t until the ’67 war that the United States fully cozied up to Israel, in no small part due to it flirting with Marxism from the time it was founded until the early stages of the Cold War. Those who warned founding Israel was a mistake, Jews and Gentile alike, were proved right.
Well, to be fair, Jesus was completely Jewish. He wouldn’t have known what on Earth you were talking about if you mentioned the word “christianity” to him. That came later.
Nope. Nah.
They want to replace us, which means they want to be us, remember?
“His golden colored hair and beard gave to his appearance a celestial aspect. He appeared to be about 30 years of age. Never have I seen a sweeter or more serene countenance. What a contrast between Him and His bearers with their black beards and tawny complexions!”
~ Pontius Pilate
Well, at best Jesus was half Jewish through his mother. God the Father is not Jewish.
And while Jesus was raised culturally Jewish under Herod’s kingdom, given that he was from Galilee, “the land of the Gentiles”, there is a strong possibility that he was not ethnically Jewish. And he certainly spoke out against the ridiculousness of the Jewish elite.
Being a solid Gen X kid, I appreciate all the Eastwood Westerns (Josey Wales and TG,Tb,&TU the best of all), but I do have to decry the focus on those Golden Age films for just a little recognition of Westerns from the late 1980s/1990s, which the best of should be in the pantheon.
Three Amigos
Young Guns
Tombstone
Lonesome Dove
Wild Bill
Deadwood (not technically 1990s but close enough)
Black Robe and Last of the Mohicans are Westerns of a kind, so also deserve inclusion.
Silverado was a fun one, though it’s probably been decades since I’d seen it last. Quick and the Dead was better than it should have been too (newer though too).
Silverado may have the greatest cold open of all-time.
True, but I put an arbitrary cutoff of the genre in the mid-80s as separating them for me as a mid-Xer-The Long Riders and Silverado properly belong to a late 1970s style, whereas Young Guns or Tombstone feel very different.
Three Amigos is a comedy farce—not a western in the sense of the American myth. It deserves no inclusion into the “Western” canon, but it is a good movie for laughs.
Heck, add the TV series Justified, which was centered on a character with the mindset of a 19th-century cowboy stranded in the 21st century.
Got woke though and got absurd.
I know but it’s hard to unsee and disregard these manipulations.
Ruins it for me
Mostly because what could be written and done but never is..
Once the empowered Mary Sue shows up to teach the men a lesson about manhood, I’m out. And that’s most of them now.
Also out when I’m ten episodes into a decent series, and suddenly the protagonist starts kissing on some other dood, yeah right homosexuality was just SO common amongst medieval knights etc.
Hard to enter back into the film when suddenly I want to strangle the people responsible.
“Black Robe” is, I think, one of the very best depictions of an historical subject in movies. Ignoramuses hate how it shows what American Indians were really like in the 17th century. And how white colonists were not raving, bloodthirsty maniacs.
Ever since I noticed how TV “westerns” so often had anti-white messages, even from the late 1950’s onwards, I’ve avoided movie westerns later than the era of John Ford. I don’t deny that there are good exceptions, though.
“Last of The Mohicans” was a fantastic movie and yes, it does deserve a place on the list! Clannad – the group that was featured on the soundtrack – made an appearance on their farewell tour in my area this past fall, although because of a scheduling problem, I was unable to see them. Thank you Z for your thoughts on why you enjoy those movies, as those were views that I had not considered before. Both of the Eastwood films you spoke of were classics in their own right. Several films that come to mind for me are; “Excalibur”.… Read more »
Lonesome Dove was great. Robert Duval and Tommy Lee Jones were at the top of their games.
Open Range was great too.
Maxda: I never really watched or enjoyed westerns growing up. But one of my husband’s friends taped and mailed to us Lonesome Dove while we were overseas. With no tv for distraction, we really enjoyed watching those tapes, so I will always have a soft spot for it.
If you haven’t read the novel, you should. It is a true American classic. The sort of novel that would be taught in high school English classes were this country still America.
I’m a stone cold Gen X’er but I never had any desire to watch the contemporaneous Westerns of my youth. I can’t explain why. Once I got into my 20’s, I began to take in the genre, but generally only the older ones. I still haven’t watched more than a couple of the Westerns produced in my lifetime. One title I haven’t seen mentioned yet is 1957’s The Big Country, starring Peck, Heston, Ives, and the gorgeous Jean Simmons. Peck plays the protagonist, an East coast dandy from the future Lagos on the Chesapeake, come west to reunite with his… Read more »
Well, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
I’m taking a victory lap, having predicted that Harvard would not cave to the Jewish money, as its Board unanimously supports its plagiarizing but diverse President..Jewish money just isn’t big enough any more….Chinese money rules…,
Harvard’s endowment generates an easy $3 billion a year (at least) without touching the principle. What do they need anybody’s money for?
Because there’s more than money involved. Harvard’s prestige and influence as the premier producer of the elite in all the institutions of Clown World is at stake, and that is more threatening than donors pulling funds. They can source their spiteful mutants from other places than Harvard, which diminishes Harvard’s power. And power is the real coin of the realm.
I’m impressed with how tight Harvard and Yale, the latter of which is not really a top school for the sciences, run entrance to the top clouds. That latest female SCOTUS justice was the first in like decades that didn’t get her JD from one of H&Y. With at least 20 serious law schools in the country, probably more but at least 20, that’s remarkable and suggests a problem. Trump was the first POTUS since Reagan with no H&Y paper on his wall. Again, something to notice
Trump I believe is a Warton School (U Penn) graduate. That really beats H&Y if you want to step into dad’s construction business. Wife had a chance to go there, but we had no money at the time and just tuition was $25k a year.
Fearless Fly was last seen lighting a menorah, not joss spirit money at the shrine of her ancestors.
A question was asked concerning the VAX and the immunity given to the drug companies at one of the debates by Megyn Kelly. Ramaswamy answered that the drug companies should not have been given immunity and then he gave a long answer about corruption.
The question was entirely cut out by the network and they went to a long commercial break. The segment was recorded by some reporter and I saw it. I can’t remember the source. If I find it I will post it.
So apparently no. That subject will not be allowed even if it hurts Trump.
It’s on several websites, including the Burning Platform, last I saw…
Here it is.
https://straightlinelogic.com/2023/12/11/what-wasnt-shown/
Immunity from suit is much older than Covid fiasco. At least started with Swine flu nonsense in Carter days. Also, it’s not so much that there is no recourse for the public injured, but that the alternative government agency and fund to address injury is a farce.
Reagan was the fool who signed the initial legislation that created legal immunity for vax manufacturers.
If it hadn’t been him, it just would have been one of the others who came after him
Wild Geese: Funny to note how much my opinion of previous presidents has changed since I truly became a dissident and have learned so much from so many here. I used to loathe Nixon and liked Reagan. Now I dislike both but for entirely different reasons than in the past (now know far more about who signed what that affected domestic life rather than focusing on foreign policy).
Yes and technically in the case of the Covid jabs there is a remedy. An act of fraud cannot legally be indemnified. These covid jabs were a fraud from the get go with more coming to light all the time.
Fraud? That’s not true at all. Everyone knows the jabs are safe and effective and provide lasting immunity.
Now go get your booster(s), because the jabs are no longer effective or provide lasting immunity.
a sad aside, a friend’s daughter who struggled to get pregnant and was fully vaxxed and boosted just lost her twin babies at 5 months pregnant, 2 weeks before xmas. All I could say was sorry-it seemed mean to say anything else.
P,
As so often is the case, the Romans had a concise phrase seemingly crafted for the occasion:
Res ipsa loquitur.
Thank you for a great year of content Zman.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. All the best in 2024 as you escape from Lagos to the mountains.
The Wild Bunch is the Best Western, and I will stand on Clint Eastwood’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.
Also, I think it was Teddy Deegan, not Jimmy Keegan (or Jackie Cogan, or Eddie Coyle).
V v good call. It is certainly in my own top 3.
I’d recommend The Professionals as a Western with a similarly cynical spirit.
The title is terrible, though. The Wild Bunch suggests a bunch of wild-and-wooly bozos who get likkerd up at the Long Branch and then go toilet paper the parson’s house. Kind of like the Apple Dumpling Gang or suchlike. The title is entirely incongruous with the grim and bloody nature of the film.
Big Peckinpah fan here. As a classic western, I’d give the nod to Ride the High Country.
But for my money, the best single sequence is in the admittedly uneven Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, the one where Garrett and Sherriff Baker mix it up with some members of the Kid’s old gang:
“Us old boys ought not to be doing this to each other. Ain’t that many of us left.”
If your throat isn’t catching watching Slim Pickens bleed out, I don’t know what to tell you.
Watched Rear Window for the second time in my life. I usually don’t yell at the screen much but this pushed my limits. Everything is implausible especially a world that is heaven for peeping toms. By the way Stewart was 46 in this and I believe Kelley was mid twenties although he looked older. I want the kind of insurance that pays for daily visits to get massages and meals prepped daily while I convalesce. The ending was stupidly wrapped up all nice and tidy with a full confession on the way to the police station. Finally, constantly thwarting a… Read more »
Rear Window just isn’t a very good movie, despite the awards…
It’s a lot better when you view it as a live-action cartoon.
Agree, though always enjoy Thelma Ritter and Burr made a great heavy. BF has selected Grace Kelly as the most beautiful of all the Movie Stars and she was breathtaking in the Edith Head wardrobe. What she was doing stuck on a whiny bore like Stewart is beyond me. Edith said Kelly and Cyd Charisse were the only people she did not have to alter designs for.
When Hitchcock made RW, American audiences were different. Apples and oranges comparing it to today’s standards in film plot. It’s one of those movies I find interesting only when juxtaposed with today’s technology and society—and then only worth seeing “once” more in that light.
I struggled mightily with his resistance to marrying Grace Kelly. It would have been more believable if he suspected she was a lizard person from another galaxy.
I find that I cannot tolerate most movies at all anymore. The main reason is that I see the hidden psychological poison that the movie producers are trying to trick whites into swallowing. But a second reason is that I can’t suspend my disbelief about how romance and male-female power dynamics are portrayed. In so many of these films, the male protagonist has a romance with an attractive woman who wouldn’t even deign to spit on him in real life. Woody Allen is the best example, where, in every movie, he has a hot shiska girlfriend, but that is only… Read more »
A devastating blonde bombshell will spread for a gangrenous toad if he’s wealthy and/or famous enough. That is the male/female dynamic in a nut shell.
I’ve seen a few exceptions to that, but that’s what they are, exceptions
Of course I agree, but if all the guy has is money, then she will probably treat him disrespectfully and even cheat on him eventually. The simplicity of the “rich, famous guy always gets the chicks” explanation was complicated by the divorces of Brad Pitt and Tom Brady. Their two cases signify to me that, once a man is married to a woman that he loves, he is far more committed and vulnerable than the woman, who is always easily dissatisfied and ready to leave. In short, men are far more romantic than is commonly believed and women are far… Read more »
After watching one, maybe two, I can’t remember for sure, I instituted a policy of not watching any more Woody Allen movies, which I have not regretted.
You should make an exception for Love and Death. One of the three funniest films I’ve ever seen. Here’s an amusing scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpQEumX-NGc
What you are describing Line is just an example of the hacks writing screenplays these days in Hollywood. I can’t stand it either, it’s all so boring and unrealistic. TV shows are that way as well. What really gets to me is repeatedly reverting to “deus ex machina” in story lines to get the good guy out of a troubling situation. Audience seems to never grow tired of this ploy, but it is a simplistic today as it was to the ancient Greeks.
I had two beautiful shiksa GFs who had affairs with Woody Allen-Diane Keaton always said she had to fight off lots of girls to get to him.
We’re supposed to get the impression that Stewart has something wrong with him that he’s hiding, so his emerging hobby will look to us like an expression of a sinister secret self. Something in his true nature is bad enough that in order to avoid showing it, he rejects everybody’s dream girl. As he and we get caught up in plot events, that idea is abandoned. We can think that surviving the story has cured whatever’s wrong with him or taught him a liberating lesson, but we’re not supposed to think about it at all, just submit emotionally to the… Read more »
I saw these topics, thought to myseld, “this is gonna be a good one” and laughed!! Can’t wait to listen…. you dislike Hitchcock? Gotta find out why.
You can call the short videos “Statements from the Zoracle”
Great show today.
I heard that John Wayne had a clause in his contract that said he would win every shootout he had, and his character would never “backshoot” a man, despite that being a much more realistic depiction of how business got done back then. I like him in “The Shootist,” where he’s a little wearier, older, more ambivalent. There’s a story about him and Jimmy Stewart (who was half-deaf) doing multiple takes in that office scene. The director finally lost his head and said, “Do it better!” and Wayne turned to him and said, “If you want it better, get yourself… Read more »
Well with that old stuff, ya gotta remember that they were different times. It was a different planet. One of the most fiendish, despicable Hollywood tropes of our day is this idea of the anti-hero. It has literally allowed villains and turdies to be remade as heroes. The jews have been the obvious major beneficiaries, but the blacks and queers and now the trannies have made out like bandits too. It shows up in Hollywood and the box office and then slides into our cultural narratives. Just yesterday our leaders decided there was no difference between anti Zionism or antisemitism.… Read more »
Yeah, but now we have the great film makers Michelle and Barack Obama. How’s that for trying to come up with honest filmmaking?
Now all of the critics are raving about Godzilla Minus 1. Many are saying it is a better movie that Hollywood has made in some time. Not surprised.
John Wayne was honest about Green Berets. The film was controversial *before* release even. Wayne stated that the anti-war rhetoric and demonstrations were one sided. He wanted to show what he felt was the other side. He was the proverbial “hard hat” stepping of the crane to punch out some sign holding “hippies”. The movie was exactly in the mold of the pro war propaganda films of WWII and Korea, and marked an important turning point in American culture. Can you name any such films since about any of our imperial conquests?
Zero Dark Thirty. Added some grrrl power to the equation
I saw The Shootist in the theater when it was released. I saw it by myself and the theater was mostly empty. It was the middle of the day and Westerns, as well as Wayne, we no longer big attractions. I recall enjoying it very much, even though I was not a John Wayne fan. I should watch it again and see if I like it. The film has grown in reputation over the years.
It has Betty Bacall, so it had me from the get go. I would opine it is the best Wayne film out there.
I just can’t believe, in all this discussion about great Westerns, that no one has yet mentioned Blazing Saddles. Come on, man!
Blazing Saddles=>A Jew and a black guy make fun of white people for an hour and a half.
I was only 12 years old when The Shootist came out — I saw it when it was released, too, and also quite enjoyed it. I get the impression that you are a year or two younger than me. Were you just a little tyke at the time?
Yep. Probably about ten
The biggest gaff in Green Berets is the ending scene where Wayne talks to the little Vietnamese boy whose American adopted father fails to return from his last mission.
Boy: What will happen to me now?
Wayne: Well son, that’s what this war is all about.
This scene is filmed in front of a setting sun over the great expanse of ocean next to the Green Beret operations base. However, the ocean along Vietnam is in the East and the sun rises there, *not* sets. It sets over the great expanse of jungle to the West. 😉