Archive for March, 2021

A royal mess

Posted: March 9, 2021 by chrisharper in Uncategorized, Uncomfortable Truths
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By Christopher Harper

I’ve never really understood the American fascination with the British royal family.

For centuries, the monarchy has been a dysfunctional band of malcontents who battled over religion and turf. Henry VIII and George III were bona fide madmen. Princess Margaret and Lady Diana didn’t get along with the other royals. Prince Charles always struck me as a dopey mope.

So why did 17 million Americans watch an interview by Oprah Winfrey with Prince Harry and Princess Megan?

I don’t know. Maybe prurient interest?

A quick survey of my friends on Facebook found no one would admit to watching the two-hour attack on the royal family.

One British friend, a former BBC reporter, disagreed. “It’s quite important, he wrote. “Just think about it. It’s about institutions, race, personal freedoms, mass idiocy, and it’s told through a story of two young people who went against the grain. Yes, they’re rich. But does that make The Grapes of Wrath better or less significant than The Great Gatsby?”

It’s not a bad defense for watching the program. Since there’s little I haven’t watched on Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix during the pandemic, my standards are pretty low, but I still wouldn’t spend two hours on Harry, Meghan, and Oprah.

Then there’s the money. It’s reported that someone—probably Oprah’s production company—paid between $7 million and $9 million for the interview. There was a time that paying for news was an ethical breach. I guess the interview may not be technically news, but still.

It’s unclear who got the money. Everyone swears that Harry and Meghan didn’t get a dime. Since they face being cut off from the royal treasury, particularly after the interview, I find the disclaimer hard to believe.

Since the program aired on CBS, how much did the one-time “Tiffany Network” plop down?

I never thought Oprah was a particularly good interviewer. I worked with the best: Barbara Walters.

It seems that Oprah didn’t press the royal couple on what I would consider the most crucial question: What did they expect to happen after they got married?

In 1936, King Edward VIII took over the reign of England. However, he abdicated his throne to marry the love of his life, Wallis Simpson, an American and two-time divorcee. In an interview many years later with the BBC, Edward provides a path Harry and Meghan should take. See https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2021/03/07/meghan-can-learn-mrs-simpsons-tell-all-tv-interview/

At the end of the interview, the reporter asked the duke if he had any regrets about not having remained king. “No,” he said. “I would have liked to have, but I was going to do it under my conditions. So I do not have any regrets. But I do take a great interest in my country – my country which is Britain – your land and mine. I wish it well.”

Very Quick Thoughts Under the Fedora

Posted: March 9, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Apparently people are trolling the left with terms like. “Superstraight” defined as a hetrosexual person who is attracted to the opposite sex.

During my youth the term for this was “normal”

I think this is a very pythonesque way to fight back against these fool and obviously anyone who object is a racist sexist etc who should be banned from everywhere.

Can anyone tell me who actually decides who gets to be one of our “elites”?

Given the resources available I can’t see why we just can’t come up with our own.

Do actual people who are struggling to get by actually care about fabalously rich former royals who claim to be oppressed and suffering?

I work with a bunch of people working for minimum wage in a country they are not from who don’t speak the language yet I don’t hear them whine they way these folks do, although in fairness given my inability to speak Spanish, Portuguese Creole, Cambodian or several African languages if they were whining I would not likely not know it.

Speaking of these folks with gas going up .75 over the last two months Joe Biden has done more for Russia in his first 60 days then any other US president.

There is a lot of loose talk about civil wars but while a lot of people think it will happen I’m thinking that the well armed people on the right aren’t going to start taking up arms and shooting until

  1. Antifa violence spreads to Red areas (blue cities in Red states don’t count)
  2. they are made uncomfortable

When people are well fed, well entertained and generally not in physical danger they are not likely to be running for the guns, particularly when death is not a regular part of life anymore.

However there is one factor that makes it more likely, the complete unfamiliarity of most of the American people with what an actual war entail but that deserves a much longer post..

And Now a Sports Interlude

Posted: March 8, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

With the Departure of Jackie Bradley Jr the Boston Redsox have now lost all three members of what was once the best outfield in baseball.

It’s fair to say that the best outfielder that the Sox currently have is worse than the worst outfielder they had in 2018 (Andrew Benintendi).

The number of flyouts that will become doubles and the number of extra bases that will be taken against this pitching staff will not be an enjoyable sight to see.

There has been some talk about Shaq’s comments concerning NBA players of today being coddled.

He is of course right but in general the youth of today have not had to face reality in general and have not been said no to about anything so as average students without massive ability aren’t subject to anything resembling discipline I don’t see why he would expect young people in the NBA who by definition have a high level skill set that make them a potential source of revenue for people and are paid highly for it to show any?

This isn’t an NBA problem it’s a societal problem.

Here in New England there is still all kinds of talk concerning who will be the QB for the patriots this year. Will it be Cam Newton? Will Belichick draft a QB, will he sign a free agent, will he do something else etc etc etc.

All of this talk is basically meaningless. As long as Tom Brady is still playing in the NFL he will be the only measuring stick that any Pats QB will be measured against and there is no available QB that can be signed or drafted that will not be found wanting in such a comparison so whoever comes here is going to be here for a paycheck not to take this team to a title. As long as Brady is on the field anywhere being the Patriots Quarterback will be the most thankless job in the NFL.

Personally my thought is that if you don’t have the potential to make this a playoff team I’d just pick up players in the draft to improve other position and perhaps trades for some picks next year presuming there is someone coming up the pike that might be worth looking at.

Am I the only person who thinks it’s both pathetic and creative that the NFL sold the naming rights to their divisions to make up for lost Corona Virus revenue? I mean the Honda West Division? Really?

Frankly the most interesting thing about hockey these days is that it’s been decades since the Montreal Canadians who were once the NY Yankees of the Hockey world has won a Stanley Cup or even been in contention for it.

We’re still nowhere near Red Sox after 1918 futility but the drought has almost reached 30 years. That’s pretty sad.

Finally it appears that with fans shortly to start returning to the various sports venues in the near future the owners have decided to put the breaks on “woke” displays designed to appease the arrogant left.

It’s one thing to do these things when there are no paying fans to offend, it’s quite another to risk fan bases already disgusted with athletes who treat them with contempt.

Review: Season One of Tribes of Europa

Posted: March 7, 2021 by John Ruberry in culture, media
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

By John Ruberry

I guess I’m in an arts and culture mood of late so I’m reviewing my latest Netflix binge-watching adventure, Tribes of Europa, a six-episode series about a dystopian Europe centered on the former Germany in 2074. 

In December of 2029 the world’s power-grid fails–the cause of which is never explained, but it could be because of a cyberwar gone too far, along the lines of the biological warfare that precedes the Charlton Heston classic, The Omega Man.

Europe has devolved well past the European Union or even the nation-states that the borders of which–for the most part–have been resilient since the end of World War II. Microstate tribes have replaced the old order. One of those tribes is the Origines (rhymes with aborigines), a peaceful group of several dozen hunter-gatherers, wearing, presumably, scavenged clothes from before society’s collapse. Their community is destroyed after a B-1 type aircraft, belonging to the technologically advanced Atlantians, crashes near their village.

Three young Origine siblings, Liv (Henriette Confurius), Elja (David Ali Rashed), and Kiano (Emilio Sakraya), along with their father Jakob (Benjamin Sadler), are forced to scatter, the siblings carve three storylines, much like what the children of Ned Stark did in Game of Thrones. Yes, this show is derivative. Much of the mood and tone recalls another German series, the time-travel show Dark. The producers of that series also are behind this one. And there is a bit of the Star Wars franchise in Tribes of Europa. Moses (Oliver Masucci) is a fast-talking salvage merchant who is constantly trying to keep one step ahead of a powerful lender. Who does that remind you of? Moses takes Elja under his wing. Masucci is a gifted actor, he portyayed the brooding Ulrich in Dark, a cruel but ultimately tragic character, as well as Hitler in the comedy Look Who’s Back. 

Moses is only interested, at least initially, in Elja, the youngest of the Origine siblings, because he found an Atlantian cube, which, must like the Ring of Power in the Lord of the Rings, is sought after by other tribes, particularly the Crows. And in the early episodes, like the Ring, we are unsure of exactly what powers the cube possesses. As for the Crows, they are barbarians who party in discos and participate in gladiator duels.

Yes, there is a bit of The Hunger Games in Tribes of Europa.

Liv falls in the the Crimson Army, which is led by General Cameron (James Faulkner). He’s the actor who portayed the stern Randyll Tarly in Game of Thrones. One of the Crimson Army’s goals is to seize the former Berlin, Brahtok, the Crow capital, where Kiano and Jakob are being held.

Cameron dreams of bringing back the old Europe. Liv asks the general, “Do you really think you can pull it off, unite the continent?” Cameron replies, “The European idea will never die.” According to numerous media sources the idea for Tribes of Europa came to show creator Philip Koch after the Brexit vote in 2016.

The German in Tribes of Europa is dubbed for Netflix. But in a key revelation, English is still the lingua franca in post-collapse Europe.

There are just six episodes in the first season and as this one ends with three cliffhangers, I imagine a second season of Tribes of Europa is planned. If there is I’ll tune in.

Netlix rates Tribes of Europa as TV-MA for graphic violence, foul language, nudity, and very uncomfortable sexual situations. 

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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