It’s impressive if nothing else. Ukrainian choppers attacked the region of Bryansk about a week and a half ago… if Ukrainians did it *again,* this would *really* indicate a massive series of failures on the part of the Russian military.
This is a strange movie. It’s strange on purpose, though. It is not a fantasy movie like “Conan the Barbarian,” which it has been compared to; but it has a lot of fantastical elements based on Norse spiritualism. Characters get whacked out on shrooms and have visions; Valkyrie show up to carry people to Valhalla; an invasion of a burial mound involves a fight against a draugr; magical seeresses show up and dispense wisdom; dead folk give advice; magical swords. But the way it’s filmed, it can be argued that none of these magical elements are *real,* but instead are the results of imagination and hallucinations.
What’s not hallucination is the rather visceral violence shown. “The Northman” is a violent flick to be sure; lots and lots of people have horrible things happen to them. And most of the people who get hacked and stabbed aren’t villains or warriors, but just regular schmoes who live in a world red in tooth and claw. And that’s not too unrealistic: up until on the order of a century ago most people on this planet could expect to encounter – and perhaps be done in by – violence. The “hero” of the movie is not a saint; he partakes in raids on settlements meant for nothing more noble that stealing people for slaves… and killing their children. He’s not a “good guy,” merely the protagonist. There’s a lot of “Yikes” here.
That said: the movie is in its way damned awesome. The cinematography, the scenery, the badassery and the WFTery are all entertaining as Hel.
It seems unlikely that it’s going to be a blockbuster; it may well not even be a financial success. It cost around $90 million to make, but it has so far made around $12 million (domestically) on the opening weekend. When I saw it on opening day, there were a grand total of three of us in the theater.
Now, one way to determine the value of something is to see who its enemies are. And lo and behold, “The Northman” has people who are opposed to it, as exemplified by this article:
The problem the author has with the movie is that this movie appeals to “the far right.” That it has Nordic symbols, that the men are masculine, the women feminine, and, perhaps worst of all, a movie set in 9th century Norway, Russia and Iceland features exclusively Scandinavian and Slavic people. Where are the Africans and Indians and Chinese and Mexicans? Not to be seen here… because they didn’t actually exist in 9th century Norway, Russia and Iceland. The author then goes on to say that “The Lord of the Rings” and “Braveheart” are tainted by white supremacy by not having The Narrative-approved stunt casting. The funniest thing of all is that the author despairs that *any* movies might appeal to “the far right,” while apparently either ignoring or perhaps approving of the vast pile of movies and TV shows that are made specifically to appeal to “the far left.” In fact:
By this stage, in fact, film-makers ought to have realised that if the far right doesn’t hate your film, you might be doing something wrong.
A similar hate-piece with a truly entertaining headline:
“Starring Nicole Kidman?” It goes on:
White supremacists have claimed ownership over the new Viking Hollywood blockbuster The Northman, which stars Nicole Kidman and Anya Taylor-Joy.
Ummm… yeah, those two are in it, but neither is the star of the movie. The star of the movie is a *man.* You know… the Northman. This article goes on and on, including tweets from random nobodies, to claim that this movie somehow advocates for Nazism and white supremacy… based on nothing other than the fact it has a bunch of white people in it.
A movie that is historically accurate, or accurate to the lore or authorial intent of the original subject, is “catnip” for the far right. This makes it clear that to appeal to the left, a movie should lie, to twist, to distort, to fill itself with leftist propaganda subtle or gross. Perhaps the author should consider that he’s the baddie.
Go see “The Northman” and simultaneously enjoy a few hours and irritate some leftie-loons.
Yow. Sounds like a zombie apocalypse. I suspect Certain Politicians in the west are nodding appreciatively and taking notes…
What the?? This video taken yesterday in Shanghai, China, by the father of a close friend of mine. She verified its authenticity: People screaming out of their windows after a week of total lockdown, no leaving your apartment for any reason. pic.twitter.com/iHGOO8D8Cz
— Patrick Madrid ✌🏼 (@patrickmadrid) April 9, 2022
Another view. People weeping pic.twitter.com/yCtzB8A3qa
— Matthew Gartrell (@GartrellMatthew) April 9, 2022
And from earlier:
As seen on Weibo: Shanghai residents go to their balconies to sing & protest lack of supplies. A drone appears: “Please comply w covid restrictions. Control your soul’s desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing.” https://t.co/0ZTc8fznaV pic.twitter.com/pAnEGOlBIh
— Alice Su (@aliceysu) April 6, 2022
A San Francisco Walgreens. Due to the theft that the local government has enabled, they lock up almost everything behind glass panels. *Almost* everything. Note that the sunscreen in the lower right is left un-locked. Apparently the thieves don’t go after sunscreen.
Don’t you *dare* draw any sort of message from that. Just don’t do it.
A few days back I posted some videos of a guy restoring some old rusted guns. The restoration of the Luger was particularly impressive. There are a a whole bunch of gun restoration videos that run the gamut of “that’s impressive” to “that’s fraudulent,” where the firearm was pretty clearly “distressed” by the restorer.
And then there’s this one, which starts off pretty well, but then, right as I’m wondering “ok, what process is he going to use to ‘blue’ the metal parts,” it take a “ya gotta be kidding me” choice.
I guess if you just want to make it a display piece… I guess? But even so, doing it *right* seems to me to always be the correct choice.
The “song” below has been used so often in the various “Biblically accurate angels” vids people put out that it is now almost like it’s understood that a visit from an angel would be accompanied by this. I dunno if that’s the case, but it’s durned odd. Appealing in a way, but I’m not really sure that this is what you’d want to hear when suddenly confronted with a glowing interdimensional being of unfathomable power and intent. I don’t think it would enhance your calm.
Example:
Well, not *that* Moscow, it’s at the bottom of the sea. And not quite *that* Moscow, but the city of Tver, a few miles to the north west. It’s *probably* not related to Ukrainian sabotage, but… who knows? It’d be a dandy target and a propaganda coup if this fire was started by some Ukrainian Doolitle raider.
Reportedly this facility develops missiles of kinds used in Ukraine, and space weapons. The claim is that the fire is due to old wiring, and looking at that ancient building, I can believe it. But that’s not a whole lot better of an explanation for losing a “space weapon” laboratory than enemy action, any more than “it just caught fire” was a better, more comforting explanation than “It caught a couple anti-ship missiles.” If their work was related to weapon systems currently being expended, perhaps they had ramped-up work hours and an increased demand on the power and other systems.
Well, here is where we are. While the Florida state senate voted on whether or not to strip Disney of their special tax district status, a number of people in attendance – I *assume* visitors, not actual state senators, but these days who knows – shrieked like maniacs. That as much as anything shows the importance of standing up to these bullying groomers. With luck those who threw this little tantrum were caught on video somewhere clear enough for facial recognition to figure out who they were so that they can be put under psychiatric evaluation, and to keep them away from children. I won’t be at all shocked to find that at least some of them are teachers of small children. And if so, hopefully soon to be *former* teachers of small children.
A security camera caught a string of events. First, a security guard gets out of his vehicle. Another person walks up behind him and shoots the security guard in the head. A witness in the background watches this and does not react. The shooter then bends over, steals the guards pistol and something else, then wanders off, going past the witness. Neither react to the other. Witness gets up, walks past guards body, continues nonchalantly on his way. Then three more people happen upon the guards body; one bends down and rifles through his pockets and takes something; the other two stand there for a bit and seem to look at the loot, then they all wander off, unconcerned.
Where did this spectacular display of inhumanity take place? Mogadishu? Iran? North Korea? Cartel-occupied Mexico? Nope.
Atlanta.
One murderous dirtbag? Well, these things happen, in a sense. But a whole collection of people seemingly utterly unconcerned with concepts of “justice” and “right & wrong?” These were not, so far as is known, a group of hardened criminals who all planned to gather there; they were apparently a random selection. That they were *all* this awful says a lot about the local culture, and none of what is says is good or complimentary.
A rare bit of good news here on Twenty-Twenty Part Two: This Time It’s Personal.
It's #WhiskerWednesday, and Buddy says – toy is life! #saveeverybuddy pic.twitter.com/SObpbsl8NF
— Pennsylvania SPCA (@PSPCA) April 20, 2022
Little feller seems to be happy and healthy, if a bit patchy. I have high hopes that the two animals responsible for the attack on him never again feel a moment anywhere near as joyful as this little guy right here is having. Sadly, I fully expect they’ll be released to wreak havoc upon society again and again.