Monday, 31 July 2017
Baby Driver (5 Stars)
From the first few minutes the viewers are unsettled. They want to figure out what the film is about, but the clues are contradictory. Is it a musical? Is it a comedy? Is it an ultra-violent crime story? Soon after the first dazzling car chase we finally figure it out: it's a love story.
Baby is a young man who's the best getaway driver there is. The police can't keep up with him. He out-drives and out-wits them in every car chase. They don't stand a chance.
Baby despises the violence of the men he works with. He's become involved with them by accident. He began his life of crime as a petty criminal, a car thief. It wasn't for financial gain, he just liked fast cars. He made the mistake of stealing the car of a crime boss called Doc (Kevin Spacey). Doc has forced him to work for him to pay back what he owes. The alternative is death. Doc has full faith in Baby's talents, but the other men in his gang don't trust him. At the briefings for robberies Baby sits listening to loud music over headphones. Does this mean he isn't paying attention? Not at all. He can follow the instructions by lip reading, and he remembers every single word.
But it's a love story.
Baby meets a waitress called Debora at a diner. It's love at first sight. He expects to be released from his debt to Doc after one more job, so he can drive away with Debora, but it's not so easy. One more job. After that just one more job. And after that.....
"Baby Driver" wouldn't be "Baby Driver" without its music. There's an erratic soundtrack with music of all styles from the 1970's to today. In every scene the music is appropriate. The action is synced to the music, rather than the other way round. For me the film's highlight is the use of "Hocus Pocus" by Focus during a gun battle. Amazing.
Edgar Wright is a brilliant director. There's no doubt about it. Until now we've thought of him as a maker of comedy films. "Baby Driver" shows that he's capable of more, much more. This is one of the best films of the year.
General: How to contact me
When I first started writing my blog in September 2010 only my friends read it. They were curious to see what I had to say. I had less than 200 pageviews per month. (I often say readers instead of pageviews, but that's technically not correct, because a single reader might visit 10 pages and be counted 10 times). It remained that way for six months. I wasn't discouraged, I kept on writing regularly. Then there was a sudden surge in my pageviews, probably because I'd written enough for Google's search engine to list my posts in prominent positions. Over the next few years my pageviews steadily grew, and I now have over 30,000 pageviews a month. Most of my readers are people I have never met and will never ever meet.
Maybe someone is reading my blog who wants to get in touch with me. It might be someone who remembers me from Queen Mary's Grammar School or Aston University. It might be an old neighbour from Westbourne Street in Walsall. It might even be a relative who's lost contact with me. Maybe it's someone who lives in Stuttgart (where I am now) and would like to meet me for a drink.
No problem. If anyone wants to send me a personal message, use the comment box which is shown after every post. The comments on my blog are moderated, primarily to avoid spam, so I read every comment before I make it public. If you write that your comment is intended as a private message, I won't publish it. I'll be the only person who reads what you've written, that's a promise. I shall never publish any comment that includes a phone number or an email address.
Flag of the Week: United Kingdom
As promised last week, I'll be regularly presenting some of the world's flags. This week I've picked the flag of the United Kingdom. I consider this to be one of the world's most attractive flags. Some of my readers might accuse me of being biased, since this is the country where I was born, but it's not true. I'm fast to admit that Albania's flag is more attractive.
The flag, which has been in use since 1801, is a combination of three previously existing flags.
The flag of England, St. George's Cross |
The flag of Scotland, St. Andrew's Cross |
The old flag of Ireland, St. Patrick's Cross |
If the three flags had simply been super-imposed on one another, the white of the Scottish flag would have been lost and the result would have looked like a star, removing all similarity to the three original crosses. For this reason all three of the original flags were modified.
The St. George's Cross was given a white border.
The blue of the St. Andrews Cross was made darker.
The St. Patrick's Cross was made thinner, and its four lines were each shifted anti-clockwise.
This leads to the lack of symmetry that makes the flag so appealing. It also makes the flag difficult to draw. It's the world's misrepresented flag, often drawn symmetrically on web sites. I refuse to give any examples. Look for yourself if you're interested.
There's an urban legend that the flag should be called the Union Jack when it's used on a ship, and the Union Flag when it's used on land. It's uncertain when this myth began, but it's been perpetuated by being repeated in an episode of "Doctor Who".
Sunday, 30 July 2017
Spider-Man: Homecoming (4½ Stars)
I've been excited about this film for a long time, ever since I heard that Tom Holland would be the new Spider-Man, the third after Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. "At last they've got it right", I said. What I meant is that in the comics Peter Parker was 15 years old when he became Spider-Man, and Tom Holland looks like he's 15. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both looked older when they played the role, and although the ages weren't stated in the film they both seemed to be 18, in the last year of school.
I can't fault the plot or the film's style. A lot of the film is more of a comedy than a drama film. Peter Parker is shown as a super-hero who's still getting used to his powers, so he's clumsy and makes a lot of mistakes. He's being mentored by Tony Stark, who is more interested in Peter staying out of trouble than fighting crime.
The film's super-villain is the Vulture, although he doesn't give himself the name. It's a nickname Spider-Man gives him after capturing him. In the comics the Vulture designed his flying apparatus himself, but in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" he uses stolen gadgets left behind by the aliens who invaded New York in the first Avengers film. Sam Raimi wanted the Vulture to be the villain in "Spider-Man 4" before he was fired. That would have been a very different Vulture, probably much closer to the comics.
My biggest criticism of the film -- my reason for deducting half a star -- is the cinematography. The film has a very dirty, cluttered look about it. Compare it with any of Sam Raimi's three Spider-Man films. In the old films the picture was always bright and clear. You could immediately see what was happening. In "Homecoming" the fight scenes are dark and untidy. You have to sit and stare to figure out who is fighting who.
I'm hoping things will improve in the next film, as far as the cinematography goes. Everything else is on track.
P.S. Will we ever see the Sinister Six on the big screen?
Saturday, 29 July 2017
Pleasantville (5 Stars)
A year ago I published a list of my 30 films to watch before you die. I mentioned that I had already compiled a list of my favourite 50 films, a list which would include some other films that I regretted not including in the first list. This is one of the near misses, and an essential inclusion in any longer list. I just checked my list. It's actually a list of 100 films, and this is number 54. Oops! I need to rearrange the list. "Pleasantville" can't miss the cut a second time.
There have been disagreements about what "Pleasantville" is about. It's obvious why. The film quite deliberately touches on many different issues. If you ask five people what the film is about and they give five different answers, none of them are wrong. What's important is what you can take out of it for yourself.
The film is about racism.
The film is about the subjugation of women.
The film is about the role of science in society.
The film is about the beauty of art and literature.
The film is about the struggles between the old and the young.
Today I'll just pick on the religious themes. Pleasantville is a perfect world. It's the Garden of Eden. The people are innocent. God lives among them, in the guise of a television repair man called Norm. Since it's a perfect world the televisions never break down, so nobody ever sees Norm. His shop is in the middle of the town, but the most anyone does is look through the window. There's no reason to go inside.
Norm allows David, a teenager from 1998, to enter the world of Pleasantville, which is forever stuck in 1958. David appreciates Pleasantville and wants it to stay the way it is, but his sister Janet accompanies him. Janet brings temptation into the pure and innocent world by taking on the identity of a schoolgirl called Mary Sue. She has oral sex with the captain of the school basketball team, and she teaches older women how to masturbate. In traditional Christian thought these are terrible sins.
Even David falls into temptation. He sees the changes all around him, wrought by his sister, and he enjoys them. Not just that, he begins to argue with Norm. Norm wants to put things back the way they were, but David claims that the new ways are better.
There's a burning bush outside David's home. Could the Biblical allusions be any more obvious?
Of course, there are many other things that could be written about the film. I feel overwhelmed, unable to write an adequate description of "Pleasantville" and its themes unless I spent days writing about it.
David (Tobey Maguire) wishes he had a coloured girlfriend.
David finally finds himself a coloured girlfriend.
"Pleasantville" was highly praised by critics, but it was a box office flop. At the risk of sounding arrogant, the public wasn't smart enough to appreciate it. It's a very deep film that requires the viewer to think about it. I watched it repeatedly when it was new, I forget how many times. In the last few years it's been less often, only twice since 2010. So many films, so little time.....
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Friday, 28 July 2017
The Party (4 Stars)
Don't let the splash of colour in the poster fool you. The film is in black and white.
Janet has just been appointed the health minister in the UK's shadow cabinet. It's never stated which party that is. It's probably the Labour Party, but it doesn't matter. I assume that the director Sally Potter, who also wrote the script, wants the film to remain relevant to viewers whenever they watch it. Today the Labour Party is the opposition party, five years from now it might be the Conservative Party. What's important isn't Janet's political party but the party at her house which she's holding to celebrate her promotion.
One party, seven people.
Janet is the centre of attention.
Bill is Janet's husband, a retired university professor. He says that he's given up his own career to support his wife's political career, suggesting that he retired early.
Alice is Janet's best friend, a political activist with left wing views.
Gottfried is Alice's husband. He describes himself as a Life Coach. He encourages people to be happy and enjoy life by reciting pseudo-mystical slogans which none of the other party guests take seriously.
Martha is a university professor who was once Bill's student.
Jenny is a young woman who was once Martha's student, but is now Martha's wife.
Tom is a successful investment banker, the husband of Janet's personal secretary Marianne. Tom and Marianne were invited as a couple, but he arrives at the party without her.
Once the guests arrive the party can begin. There are multiple intrigues. I'm afraid to say anything about them because I don't want to give away any spoilers.
The film's strength isn't in what happens, it's in the conversations. All seven of the actors put on first class performances. There are subtle hints of a battle of the sexes, although the topic isn't overplayed. Bill is certainly the most intelligent person in the room, but he's chosen to live in the shadow of his wife. Jenny is a man-hater who claims that all men are rapists, but her wife Martha insists that not all men are completely evil.
Usually Germany shows films later than in England, anything between two weeks and three months, but this is an exception. "The Party" is a British film, but the German release date is two months before it will be shown in England. I strongly recommend that my English friends go to see it in the cinema in September.
Click here to listen to "Party über alles", recorded by Sturmgeist. If you understand German you'll enjoy the irony of the song. If not, just tap your feet and enjoy the beat.
Party eins, Party zwei,
Party drei, Party Sturm,
Party vier, Party fünf,
Party sechs, Party Geist,
Party sieben, Party acht,
Party neun, Party Sturm,
Party zehn, Party elf,
Party zwölf, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party Fritz, Party Helga,
Party schnell, Party Sturm,
Party ich, Party du,
Party ach, Party Geist,
Party hier, Party jetzt,
Party hard, Party Sturm,
Party ihn, Party sie,
Party geil, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party eins, Party zwei,
Party drei, Party Sturm,
Party Fritz, Party Helga,
Party schnell, Party Geist,
Party frech, Party frisch,
Party stark, Party Sturm,
Party hübsch, Party Deutsch,
Party geil, Party Geist,
Party frech, Party frisch,
Party stark, Party Sturm,
Party Ordnung, Party muss
Party sein, Party Geist,
Party hübsch, Party Deutsch,
Party Sex, Party Sturm,
Party Thor, Party Fricka,
Party Siegfried, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party eins, Party zwei,
Party drei, Party Sturm,
Party vier, Party fünf,
Party sechs, Party Geist,
Party sieben, Party acht,
Party neun, Party Sturm,
Party zehn, Party elf,
Party zwölf, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party drei, Party Sturm,
Party vier, Party fünf,
Party sechs, Party Geist,
Party sieben, Party acht,
Party neun, Party Sturm,
Party zehn, Party elf,
Party zwölf, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party Fritz, Party Helga,
Party schnell, Party Sturm,
Party ich, Party du,
Party ach, Party Geist,
Party hier, Party jetzt,
Party hard, Party Sturm,
Party ihn, Party sie,
Party geil, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party eins, Party zwei,
Party drei, Party Sturm,
Party Fritz, Party Helga,
Party schnell, Party Geist,
Party frech, Party frisch,
Party stark, Party Sturm,
Party hübsch, Party Deutsch,
Party geil, Party Geist,
Party frech, Party frisch,
Party stark, Party Sturm,
Party Ordnung, Party muss
Party sein, Party Geist,
Party hübsch, Party Deutsch,
Party Sex, Party Sturm,
Party Thor, Party Fricka,
Party Siegfried, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party eins, Party zwei,
Party drei, Party Sturm,
Party vier, Party fünf,
Party sechs, Party Geist,
Party sieben, Party acht,
Party neun, Party Sturm,
Party zehn, Party elf,
Party zwölf, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Party, Party über alles,
Party Sturm, Party Geist.
Coco Austin Lingerie Promotion Day 28
This is the last day of my Coco Austin Lingerie Promotion month. At the current time she's only selling 28 items on Amazon, not 30 or 31. I hope you've enjoyed my campaign, and even more, I hope you'll be tempted to buy some of the items. Even if you don't want to buy anything, I hope you've enjoyed looking at the photos of Coco Austin. She's beautiful, isn't she?
Coco Austin is the definition of bedroom eyes, although I suspect that her lover would have problems looking into her eyes.
Coco Austin in black lace teddy. |
Coco Austin in black lace teddy. |
Thursday, 27 July 2017
St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (4 Stars)
This is the second film in the rebooted St. Trinian's franchise. It takes place one year after the previous film and begins on the first day of the school year as the girl's arrive at the school. Kelly Jones, the head girl in the previous film, played by Gemma Arterton, has now left the school and joined MI7. It's a British Secret Intelligence agency that specialises in carrying out illegal operations that are in the national interest. The end justifies the means. The organisation is so secret that not even MI6 knows it exists. Kelly returns briefly to help her old school friends.
So who's the new head girl? None other than Annabelle Fritton, who joined the school in the last film. It helps being related to the headmistress.
David Tennant is the dastardly evil bad guy in this film. He does it so well. He plays Sir Piers Pomfrey, the leader of AD1, a secret organisation that is dedicated to resist feminism and keep women subjugated. "Women are for making cakes and babies", as Sir Pomfrey eloquently describes his agenda. The organisation was founded in 1559 as a reaction to Elisabeth becoming the Queen of England, and it has existed ever since. Now his path crosses with St. Trinian's, because he wants to find the gold hidden by Miss Fritton's ancestor, a notorious pirate.
David Tennant wears a purple robe for his role. That's very appropriate.
If a pompous, evil, sexist man wants to suppress womankind, there's only one solution. A gang of schoolgirls have to cut him down to size, and which schoolgirls can fight better than the bad girls of St. Trinian's?
Despite being less of a success with the public, I find this film much better than the last film. Battle of the Sexes films are always enjoyable, because we know from the beginning who will win. What I also like about this film is that it concentrates on the older schoolgirls, the sixth form girls. There are only brief scenes with the younger girls.
And guess who plays the school's oddball receptionist!
Because of its failure at the box office it's unlikely that another sequel will be made. That's a shame. It was fun while it lasted. Maybe there will be another reboot one day, with even sexier schoolgirls.
I'n curious why it was never released in America. Were there too many complaints about sexualising underage schoolgirls in the first film? If you check the bios of the cast you'll see that the fifth and sixth form girls, supposedly aged 15 to 18, were played by actresses in their twenties. The members of the pop group Girls Aloud appear in both films. They look a lot better than they sing.
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Off-Topic: Knives and Forks
In October 1978 I bought a stainless steel cutlery set. It cost 300 Marks (150 Euros), which was very expensive at the time, but I wanted good quality to start my life as a newly independent bachelor, rather than have to make do with the cheap cutlery I'd used all my life with my parents. It was a 30-piece set, with six each of knives, forks, tablespoons, teaspoons and fish knives. Who uses fish knives anyway? I would have preferred a set without fish knives, but they were only missing in the cheaper sets.
In March 1982 I got married. The wedding present from my wife's parents was a 60-piece silver cutlery set. Yet another 12 fish knives that we would never use, but it meant we would have 18 each of the useful articles. Or so I thought.
As soon as we had the silver cutlery my wife started complaining about my cheap cutlery and said she didn't want to keep it. It's true, silver cutlery costs a lot more than stainless steel, but that doesn't mean my old cutlery set was any less valuable. Over the next few months my wife began to throw away my cutlery. I didn't complain about her disposing of the fish knives, but I frequently rescued the other cutlery from the garbage and put it in the dish washer.
All that's survived to today is the four items shown above.
Usually my wife is stubborn and refuses to accept when she's wrong. This is a rare exception. She now agrees that my stainless steel cutlery is better than the silver cutlery, but it's taken her 35 years to realise it.
There are two problems with silver cutlery. The first problem is that it becomes discoloured with time and has to be treated with silver polish to be restored to its original appearance. How many housewives want to spend time polishing their cutlery? Stainless steel cutlery retains its shine by being washed, with no additional treatment.
The second problem is more serious. Silver is sensitive to the chemicals used in dish washers. It might not be immediately apparent, but over the decades it becomes thinner. Two days ago I was eating dinner with a silver knife, and the knife snapped. That would never happen with my remaining stainless steel knife. Stainless steel cutlery can last a thousand years.
This might sound like useless information to some of my readers, but others will see it as a recommendation for their future. Don't buy silver cutlery, even if you can afford it. Stainless steel is better. If you buy a good stainless steel set, not the cheapest on offer, you will have something practical that you can use for the rest of your life.
Coco Austin Lingerie Promotion Day 27
Wednesday, 26 July 2017
Auf der anderen Seite ist das Gras viel grüner (4 Stars)
"The grass is greener on the other side".
In 2009 Jessica Schwarz made a film called "The Door" in which she travelled back in time to 2004 to be reunited with her dead daughter. Rather than commit murder, as was expected of all time travellers, she decided to send her daughter into the future while remaining in the past with her ex-husband. Poor Jessica. She really messed things up.
Now it's 2016 and Jessica is given another chance to travel five years into the past. This time it's made possible by Kerstin Gier, the author of the Ruby Red Trilogy.
Jessica is happily married to Felix. He's a doctor that she met five years ago outside the hospital after having her appendix removed. She still loves him, but since his promotion to the hospital's senior consultant he hardly has any time for her. Then she meets Mathias, a handsome young artist, and she begins to wonder if it would be better to be with him. She's about to begin an affair when a road accident sends her back five years to the day when she met Felix. She's determined to do everything differently, so she carefully avoids meeting Felix. She hasn't reckoned with fate. An invisible force is trying to put her together with Felix, however much she pursues Mathias. This time she doesn't have a daughter to send into the future. There's no door she can walk through. She's stuck where she is.
All Jessica can do is wait. Maybe in a few years she'll be given another film and another chance to go back five years. Maybe she can travel back from 2014 to 2009, where she can film "The Door" again. With a bit of skillful manoeuvring she can skip from film to film, back to the early 20th Century. She can ride with the Ku Klux Klan in "Birth of a Nation". If she wants to get back any further she needs help from Georges Méliès.
"The grass is greener on the other side".
St. Trinian's (3 Stars)
It's been almost 10 years since I first watched this film. I didn't know what to make of it then, and I don't know what to make of it now.
Four films were made about St. Trinian's Girls School from 1954 to 1966. After a long pause a fifth film was made in 1980. The first five films followed a logical continuity. Now, in 2007, the St. Trinian's franchise has been rebooted. The spirit of the early films has been revived. It's all about naughty girls. The older girls (16 to 18) are sexually provocative, the younger girls (11 to 13) are mischievous, and there's a grey zone in between.
The school is shown through the eyes of Annabelle Fritton, a new girl who arrives in the school at the start of the term. She's the niece of the school's headmistress, but that doesn't give her any advantages. She's shocked by the chaos and lack of discipline in the school, but as she settles in she gives up and becomes like the other girls.
The main plot of the film is that the school is facing bankruptcy. St. Trinian's is £500,000 in debt. Not even the money from the sale of the illegal vodka that the girls make in the cellar is enough to save the school. There's only one solution. They decide to steal a painting from the National Gallery in London and sell it to an art dealer. Bad girls!
I would have expected Kelly Jones, the head girl, to be the sexiest girl in school, since she's played by Gemma Arterton. Somehow she looks too plain, too goth and too pale. She doesn't even wear a short skirt.
This is the most we get to see of her. No, it isn't a short skirt, it's just the way she's sitting.
What sort of girls school lets a man pose naked for the art class? I couldn't do it. I'd be too afraid that I might have an embarrassing "problem".
Here are a few girls, from the youngest to the oldest. Do you see what I mean about Gemma Arterton's skirt being too long?
So why don't I like the film? For me it's too much of a contrast. I like the idea of sexy schoolgirls, but the presence of too many very young girls is a turn off. If it were just about older schoolgirls it would be an erotic fantasy, if it were just about younger schoolgirls I could treat it as a comedy, but mixing the two side by side in the same scenes is disturbing.
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Coco Austin Lingerie Promotion Day 26
Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Knock Knock (4½ Stars)
In the John Wick films Keanu Reeves wiped out the whole of the Russian Mafia in New York single-handedly. In "Knock Knock" he has to tackle two pretty girls who arrive at his door on a rainy night, soaking wet. He doesn't stand a chance.
Keanu Reeves plays Evan Webber, a good husband and loving father of two children. The marriage still has its spark, but there are practical problems which unmarried people can never understand. You go to work during the day, then you want to spend a romantic evening together, but the children demand your attention. By the time they go to bed you're exhausted, so all you can do is sleep. If by any chance you both have any energy left to have sex, there's a noise from the children's bedroom, so you have to go see what's the matter. Or worse still, the children walk into your bedroom when you're just getting started.
This is the premise for the film. Evan complains that he hasn't had any sex for three weeks. This leaves him feeling on edge. He's vulnerable to temptation.
The family wants to go to the beach for the weekend, but Evan has a deadline to meet. He's an architect, so he can work at home while his family is away. Then the two wet girls arrive, Belle and Genesis. They're supposed to be going to a party, but the taxi driver has dropped them off in the wrong part of town. Evan offers to let them dry off while they're waiting for another taxi. He gives them bath robes while their clothes are in the clothes dryer, but as he finds out, they don't want to leave. They tell him outright that they want to have a threesome with him. As I already said, he's a faithful husband, but what man can resist two naked girls? It's every man's fantasy.
The day after. Evan wakes up satisfied. He's had what he's wanted for the last three weeks. Now it's time for the girls to go. But they still don't want to leave. Worse still, they're wrecking his home, in a literal way. They are painting penises on the walls and smashing sculptures. Evan threatens to call the police, but changes his mind when the girls tell him they're only 15.
Eventually the girls catch Evan off guard and knock him unconscious. He wakes up tied to the bed. Belle -- that's the blonde girl -- dresses up in his daughter's school uniform and rapes him. Speaking from experience I can verify that guilty sex is the best sex. Torture follows, but the physical pain isn't the worst part of it. The real terror is that the girls are wrecking his home and posting videos of their antics to Facebook. There's no way he can hide what's happened. His marriage is over.
"Knock Knock" is directed by Eli Roth, known for his horror films. This is a horror film as well, but it's more subtle than his other films. The glamour and sexuality is what we see first, so the full depth of the horror isn't apparent until we sit and think about the film. It's a film which deserves repeated viewing.
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Flag of the Week: Albania
I recently saw a strange red and black flag hanging on a house opposite where I live. It took me a few days of asking around, but I eventually found out that it's the national flag of Albania. It was hanging on the house because an Albanian building company, SGN Bucolli, has been renovating the house.
All I can say about the flag is Wow! It's the most artistic flag I've ever seen. Just compare it with the other European flags, which are mostly just three stripes on a piece of cloth. Boring.
Over the next few weeks I'll present a few other world flags and give my opinion on them. I doubt any of them will be as good as Albania's.
Coco Austin Lingerie Promotion Day 25
This is too daring for public display, but it's too good to be confined to the bedroom. I'm sure that if you're half as naughty as Coco you can find an excuse to show it off. Answer the doorbell in this outfit, and you'll give the Jehovah's Witnesses a shock they'll never forget. After half an hour sitting with you you'll be able to convert them to any religion of your choice.
Coco Austin in red fishnet bra and panty. |
Monday, 24 July 2017
Olympus Has Fallen (5 Stars)
Sometimes I don't understand film critics. Why does this film have such a low rating? Judging by the box office figures the public loved it. So do I. It's heart pumping action from beginning to end, with hardly a pause for breath.
The White House comes under attack from North Korean terrorists. The first step is a low flying plane with automated machine guns that kill hundreds of innocent bystanders in the streets of Washington. That's the way terrorists work; they deliberately target civilians in order to provoke chaos. Then a concentrated attack on the White House itself is carried out. Within minutes most of the security and administrative personnel are dead, and the president and vice president are taken hostage.
The only person able to fight back is Secret Service agent Mike Banning, one man fighting against dozens of trained Korean commandos. Is it realistic? All I can say is that if Sylvester Stallone can do it, so can Gerard Butler.
The most gripping scenes are at the beginning. Gripping and disheartening. It's terrible to see how quickly the White House is taken and how many people die in the assault. It's so realistic that I have to ask myself whether Kim Jong-un has watched the film to find inspiration for his own attack.
Morgan Freeman stars as the Speaker of the House, who becomes the acting President of the USA when both the president and the vice president are captured. Recently I've become aware what a magnificent actor he is. Whatever role he plays he has a regal bearing that puts everyone else in the shadows.
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