Brief Tributes To An Unlikely Threesome...

To three men totally unrelated by nationality, background or general worldview, no doubt...whose 'passing' I've been thus far unable to acknowledge (c/o el typical internet 'black/blockout')... *To Val Doonican, Entertainer/Singer Extraordinaire, who graciously condescended to vouchsafe for me, then a pre-teenage whippersnapper basically from nowhere, his autograph upon an old photo of his he kindly forwarded in the mail/old-fashioned post. *To David Nobbs, creator/director (I believe) of the inimitable, inestimable, inomparable 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin', a comedy almost wholly in its own league - alongside Fawlty Towers - which I've never tired of watching and re-watching. *To Dr Khaled al-Assad, a rare 'specimen' of dedication and devotion to things and artifacts that transcend a mere mortal life... . To say that he 'died in action', 'engaged in service' seems somehow to trivialize his accomplishments, which were no doubt way overshadowed by the person he was - "a very nice, very good man" who "was nice to the big [people] and to the small."; apparently "All the people liked him." May I 'say', in the immortal words of the beloved Apostle John: "the light shineth in [the] darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which sh[o]w the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." Dr al-Assad was one of those rare gems whom many might dismiss as an obsessive crank, an obstinate old fool, but he knew what really mattered, and gave his life in sacrifice thereof. Not so his murderers - whom I will not dignify to identify or describe, but about whom 'the sweet psalmist of Israel' might well have 'remarked': "[But] the ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

And while we're reflecting upon songs (and stars) of yesteryear...

...it's oh so sad to learn, only tonight (from my brother), that the song - in my view, obscenely hijacked, by the Coca-Cola Corporation...a company which once, like my own Christian denomination, shared the distinction (when no-one else did) of being located in each and every nation-state on the corner of the Globe (though unsure if that applies - in either case - to that little but ever significant piece of real estate known as the Holy See, i.e. the Vatican, a geo-political power that, utterly belying its geographical size or populace, today once more wields a religio-political influence upon world affairs unseen or unheard of since probably the time of the Great Protestant Reformation of the 1500s) - 'I'd like to teach the world to sing - in perfect harmony', was itself originally composed by said CCC as an advertising gimmick (or suchlike). A song in my view of such profundity that its 'co-option' (as I choose to see it) by the world's most popular and egregious pedlar of physical poison (next to and alongside the five Western powers still 'downloading' the dangerous, destructive 'elixir' of sodium fluoride upon their respective populations, quite apart from releasing its carcinogenic et al cousin compound 1080 upon the same) is a truly disheartening thing to say the least... ...and yet fails to detract one iota from the song's worth or quality in and of itself... This blogpost is my way of 'celebrating' - not! - this week's apparent 100th (or whatever) anniversary of said Coca-Cola Corporation...whose profiteering pirates and poisoners incorporated, may they reap the 'rewards' they so richly deserve for helping rot the teeth (among other things) of so many...contributing to humanity's teeth what the likes of Rothmans and Pall Mall et al have so long contributed to the lungs of so many others...

You Were Always On My Mind...You Were Always On My Mind: Thank you, and sleep in peace, Wayne Carson...

Four nights ago for some reason I still cannot quite fathom, the title and recurring refrain of this inescapable song of yesteryear, its haunting, brooding melody and simple yet oh so profound lyrics kept returning to my mind and conscious awareness... So recurring were the tuneful words of the song's chorus that I sought eagerly among my 385-odd record collection to uncover the singer and/or particular LP containing it, but all to no avail...though it seemed to me the likes of Frank Sinatra or Burt Bacharach might have brought it to fame (and fortune)... Little was I to know that only days later was its (to me, anyhow, never known) writer to leave this life...but that eerie reality came home to me this morning upon BBC News, where they mentioned none other than Wayne Carson, and a couple of other songs he'd composed, of which only one (or the three) I recollected at all, but not as anything great. And then the penny dropped (as I recalled my weird experience Saturday night, as 'You were always on my mind' was at last cited...and its composer...who just so happened (and happens) to share a surname which means and has meant an awful lot to me...shared by a lady who might have meant an awful lot more to me if I hadn't let nerves and fear - those many (almost 22-odd) years ago in the US of A - consume me. But thank God and praise the Lord for their fellow namesake Ben Carson, whose impeccable credentials - of character - place him head and shoulders, heart and soul, above and beyond any of his various and sundry Republican party rivals for the presidential nomination in 2016...not least of all the Self-Trumpeteer himself, a 'man' (if he ain't rather a mouse, to adopt the old adage) who has had the audacity, some would say the sheer nerve, to 'call out' and seek to cut down someone (Senator John McCain of Arizona) who had the ill-fortune to be captured in Korea, or was it Vietnam, and undergo torture as a prisoner of war for five long and rather miserable years...decrying and disparaging his status as a war hero, when said Trump himself epitomized sheer cowardice in the same, seeking (and obviously wildly succeeding) in five times apparently evading the draft, a fellow who didn't even have the courage of his convictions - as my own Dad certainly did, and suffered in consequence - to go to prison (or the equivalent in a labour camp and/or army barracks) for however long, because he happened - in The Don's case, it would seem quite evidently, not, to suffer whatever might befall him for being a man of integrity, a man of principle... So rest in peace Wayne, go well Ben, and Elizabeth, all I can say with the immense benefit which hindsight ever provides, is 'You've been [oftentimes] on my mind'...and in my heart...

And by the by, while the Western media loses no time in pursuing Queen Elizabeth the Second's supposed childhood Nazism, how about that selfsame media 'fessin' up to its absolute, unremitting double standards on that particular score...And no, I couldn't frankly give a toss about Wild Harry's Naziesque party escapades...it's also relatively small fry in the scheme of things...but surely - in view of all the regaling, celebrating and metaphorical wining and dining being entered into and engaged in by one and all over Pope Francis these days (admittedly oftentimes for good reason it would seem) - to maintain proper balance, ever and always a basic tenet of true journalistic ethics, least when I spent years deeply involved in the same on my high school newspaper - a little more investigation into the two previous pontiffs is called for: firstly, re the highly-acclaimed, long-serving John Paul the Second, who evidently never corrected the longstanding, incorrect media impression that he'd been at all, let alone deeply involved in the WW11 Resistance Movement, when none other than renowned author David Yallop long since uncovered the absolute falsity of such a pretension; and the media's very hands-off approach to *Pope Benedict the 16th's neo-Nazi youth, surely deserving of a far more in-depth, thorough investigation than the pitiful, pitiable, pathetic excuse for such we were all well and truly dished up with at the time...(*And that's not even reflecting upon how said mainstream (BBC in this instance) media, after loudly, repeatedly and rather insistently suggesting that he'd be facing no less than a citizen's arrest upon arrival in the U.K. (for what transpired, back in 2009 or 2010 I believe, as a well-feted, celebrity success, as appears from a video of the same I made of BBC footage at the time) for his well-publicized involvement in effectively covering up for various high-profile Roman Catholic cardinals and/or archbishops by repeatedly failing to follow up or through upon requests from numerous Catholic laity to properly investigate the same, instead effectually and continually sweeping the same under the proverbial carpet, despite maintaining for years, even decades prior, the position of head of the Roman Catholic Church's modern Inquisition (as it was indeed called, if in far more elaborate terminology admittedly, in a very recent incarnation of the same). Or perhaps it's a matter of who happens to be the geo-political flavour of the month, or to paraphrase George Orwell: we're all equal (and entitled to identical treatment from the powers that be, especially the legal authorities), but a few of us just so happen to be a little more powerful and influential than all others...Which surely, seeing as we've just celebrated the 800th, I believe, anniversary of the Magna Carta, isn't what its authors had in mind...or is it? But then other major geo-political leaders of recent years - the likes of Tony Blair and George Dubya - have managed to evade citizens' arrests and/or prosecution by the International Criminal Court for their own involvement in war crimes and/or wilfully misleading their respective citizenry, Sudan's President has once again evaded the same, Bashir Al-Assad, Benjamin Netanyahu et al routinely get away with the same or some might legitimately claim far worse...while Germany's Angela Merkel - alongside her Eurocratic colleagues-in-arms - has the sheer gall to heavy little old Greece into repaying comparatively insignificant monies when set, in relative terms, against the massive reparation debts owed by her own country following its barbarity and evil inflicted upon so many of its own and others in the 1930s and 1940s, which debt was freely and generously forgiven and forgotten by one and all and resulted in placing both it and its Eastern ally Japan on the sound economic footings in subsequent years and decades which saw both countries racing to the summit, the very zenith, of modern Western technological supremacy, and then some...'Nuff said? Methinks so!

Sure, the Pope looks real cute in that new outfit, and what a trickster, using that eaterie (or whatever) in South America for a redressing number: what a dag!...But hey, all I really wanna know, is how come the Vatican recently interposed to stay proceedings against a high-profile Polish archbishop/cardinal being arraigned on charges of child abuse/paedophilia etcetera...or could it happen to somehow implicate a former very high-profile pope from that thar part of de world? Just wonderin', truly...

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness."

Dear Haley Barbour, Gary Cleary & Doug Brennan, South Carolina Republican Governor and legislators

At long last, a couple, no, three Republicans with the guts, the 'balls', (if you'll excuse my utter crassness), to stand out from the crowd, to deviate from the beaten track...to show that there are still a (if comparatively) few politicians in that land willing and prepared to go out on a limb and stand for principle; even if (and when) it'll - and it most assuredly will, so the South Carolinian opinion polls declare - inevitably cost them, and big...perhaps even finishing off their public careers.

But hey, if one's career is thus ended, because one allows one's emotions to correspond with the realities one's facing, is confronted with, and let's those have their full force, their true gravitas and bearing - upon one's political views and moreover decisions - then all power to such...and 'thank goodness' there are still such fibre-laden individuals in the land of the living. Eat your heart out, folks: Abe Lincoln and JFK would've been proud of y'all! And so is this lowly kiwi pleb... .

Hey, USA, Step Up (to the diplomatic plate)and Say "A-OK" to President Putin's Recently-Reiterated Commendable Offer of Support in the War Against SISSII's Incorporated

ISIS: Iconoclasts (S.S. Revisited) Incorporated

In what struck me as an astonishing insight/'revelation' - as I revisited the History Channel's dvd set, 'Nostradamus: 2012', specifically its first dvd (by the selfsame title) early yesterday afternoon...I repeat, I was simply astonished/stunned - beyond measure... Well aware as a prophecy buff, and moreover - (for a fraction under) three-some decades now - belonging to a Christian 'tradition' well-known for the same (i.e. its prophetic/end-time emphasis/understanding)...that prophecy is best understood 'after the fact'[i.e. event outlined] - since every man and his dog is otherwise only too capable of and willing to indulge in endless fanciful, imaginative interpretations of pretty well anything, and indeed everything under the sun - well into this long (one-and-a-half hour-long dvd) upon the predictions/'prophecies' of the likes of Nostradamus, the Mayans, Hopi Indians, (ancient) Egyptians, the Order of Freemasons et al...relating to whether, as a species, we're presently 'approaching a massive cosmic collision, a global environmental disaster, or an Armageddon-like religious showdown'...as I was 'saying', I was suddenly brought up short... For it was indeed rather difficult to fully credit what I had - once again, this time with 'gobsmacking' impact - stumbled upon/across... For amidst the seven-fold collection of symbolic image-adorned cards 'transmitted' by the alchemist Nostradamus was this rather stunning one: *An 'S', much like a sibilant snake diagonally curled/draped around/across an upraised blade held by the hand at the end of an outstretched arm. Quite apart from such (ISIS) instantly springing to kind - no doubt, for all sorts of obvious reasons - its' hugely impactful role in majorly significant worldwide-impacting conflict at present, its characteristic (brutal and bloodthirsty, yet simplistically crude and primitive) weaponry...but what then hit me across the face as it were was my then (involuntary, even quite natural and logical) 'setting' of this symbolic image penned/drawn by Nostradamus all those centuries ago in its clear and obvious context...which was 'the coming [December 21st, 2012] Galactic (Re)-alignment'... And then it hit me in all its raw power...said upraised sword 'en-tentacled' by its menacing-looking letter S was pointing - as the contributers to said dvd pointed out themselves, in fact - right up towards, even 'into' the point of this 26,000-year galactic (re-)alignment...- i.e. (and here I admit being a word buff no doubt helped immensely) right up into the very eye of said GRA, i.e. the very 'eye of the (coming) storm'... And tell me, prithee, what does an S wrapped around an I (eye=I in symbolic shorthand, if you will) suggest...and no, you're no brain surgeon or Einstein for so guessing, I assure you... But as if that alone were not anough to give me the goosebumps and then some...as if that alone were insufficient - in and of itself - to readily 'commend' such an interpretation to an impartial mind/disinterested onlooker, amidst the various and sundry 'quatrains' of the ever-enigmatic 'Nostradamus' was one disturbing yet eerily up-to-date poetic 'offering'(just a little earlier in said dvd) citing how 'the (ancient) pyramids of Geza' would be destroyed...an unimaginable prospect even in comparatively recent times, one would presume, yet now 'all of a sudden' an all-too-imminent prospect on the very near horizon for humanity... Yes, no longer quite so unimaginable, as we warily watch and await these neanderthals from the Dark Ages even now - this very day, or rather night - entering the ancient historic city of Palmyra and preparing to wreak their will upon humanity's shared collective treasures of yesteryear... Important and (as I see it) Necessary Caveats (to the foregoing) Well aware that any 'offering'(of mine) such as this will be seen by some as only playing into the hands of such terroristic thugs and inhuman barbarians - about which, incidentally, a new neighbour - evidently as a number of others in modern-day Western society - apparently disbelieves, supposing such stuff all a media fabrication/conspiracy to keep one and all of us in the dark about what's really going on 'and down' upon Planet Earth - by thus 'naming' and identifying them as the subject, God forbid!, of prophetic writing...since they are evidently only too willing to be seen as fulfilling some apocalyptic end-time scenario role in world events...be that as it well may, I nevertheless feel it my duty to alert anyone willing to listen that the One Above 'is not ignorant of the wiles [of such, the devil's little henchmen - and women)'...and so, doing nothing without alerting His servants upon Earth, is not desirous of our remaining in naive ignorance a moment longer that we in fact do... Moreover, as events now move rapidly into Syria, I am once again reminded of the various cryptic messages in Michael Drosnin's The Bible Code and The Bible Code 2, in which he reveals the notable place of Syria in final end-time military scenarios, perhaps - if we homo sapiens fail to heed due warning, resulting in a nuclear 'cataclysm' - itself mercifully limited maybe to Israel and in particular Jerusalem as things really start to wind down upon this Earth... Interestingly, and as many of the contributers to aforementioned Nostradamus dvds often remind viewers, whether December 12th, 2012, as the time of the 26,000-year galactic realignment of our Milky Way, represents the actual 'end of all things' or rather 'the beginning of the end', i.e. the countdown thereto, is really one of personal conjecture and interpretation, and so to those who instantly dismiss anything related to such prophetic surmising as unworthy of any educated person's perusal much less credence, I would simply 'beg' this of you...go along to a dvd rental etc and view such programming in its entirety and then see where you stand...

I'll Stick With Barnaby rather than depthless Depp...

Undoubtedly my undying partiality for David L Wolper's inimitable, insurpassable, all-time wondrous original - and for me anyway, only 'true', authentic, ever-memorable - version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory(starring/showcasing Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and Peter Ostrum as Charlie)has much to do with it, but - from word go - I've never had a lot of time for, much less been a fan of, 'celebrity' Johnny Depp... ...and so, following very recent events in Aussie, in particular after viewing Campbell Live's refreshing item on the tail-end of last Friday evening's (May 15th)show...all I can 'say' is: At last! A politician (Australian Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce) any self-respecting *anti-politico (can readily respect, and then some... Though, truth be told, I quietly and earnestly breathed a prayer that the two pooches in question, what're their names, **Pistin and Peaches? -whatever!...might have their lives spared: after all, who likes to hear of innocent defenceless pets being 'put down' through no fault of their own... ...still, my view of Mr Depp and his entourage of press supporters no doubt, in this regard anyway, is pretty well in synchrony with that of 'ye average true dinkum Aussie'... 'Stuff you', mate, get real...and get yourself together...and stop 'strutting your stuff' (though you probably really believe it)...somehow supposing that your 'big name', your endless fame and fortune etcetera, can in some way get you off the hook where 'us', your fellow 'lesser mortals', Joe and Jane Pleb, wouldn't have a chance, a brass razoo in fact, of getting dealt with similarly... Yes, 'power corrupts...(etc)', but all power to Mr Joyce - hopefully no relative (near or far) of our (i.e. God's Own) own Minister Joyce...yep, he's 'called out' Mr Depp for the ............ he apparently is...simultaneously giving all of us 'little guys' (and gals) a rare politician to look up to...in a day and age of endless policy 'wonks', gutless wonder wannabe politicos parading themselves as anything but... And how appropriate for John Campbell to air the item following one tub-thumping NZ Minister known of recent times as one only to happy and willing to throw his not inconsiderable weight around...and get away with stuff which, again, us lower-level 'plebs' never would or could have... And what a refreshing contrast in this instance where the shoe is well and truly upon the other foot...i.e. the politician is the one here doing the naming and shaming (rather than (some among the ranks of) the so often high and mighty realm of generally elitist actors and actresses who never tire of pronouncing upon matters political...contrasting this, in my own mind, anyway, almost without even trying, with some of our own (again, Aotearoa-New Zealand) politicoes of recent years (e.g. brain-fading P.M. John Key with ponytailgate and his predecessor Helen Clark with her own litany of paintergate, speedgate etc...). *classiless names well-befitting such a non-star as JD, anyhow.. *Including, surely, that British fella in the news of late (who fatefully-, or rather fatally-endorsed unsuccessful British Labour's here today, skedaddled tomorrow, leader Ed Miliband (David's younger brother; I say that as a David myself with an older brother), what'shisname, ah yes - at last: Russel(l) Brandt (I believe...) **Or were they 'Peaches and Cream' pr'haps?

A Brief Catalogue of Bouquets to Bestow & Brickbats to Bequeath...

*The United States' InJustice System...0-2 out of 10 *That Sugar Film...8/10 out of 10 *Lee Kuan Yew...A Good, even Inimitable Innings *Malcolm Fraser...Proof That Principle Ever Trumps Political, Ideological Partisanship *The British Election Result: Victory of The Personally Secure over their Opposite No. *Barnaby Joyce versus Johnny Depp: The Sheer Superiority of Depth Over Vain Vacuity *Euthanasia NZ-style Revisited: A Debate the Self-Opinionated Media Refuse to Let Lie All posted in brief simply due to being chronically time-challenged, computer-compromised and techno-thwarted of recent times, and moreover 'today' to mark/celebrate my 50th Year and 5th month to the day...

Recklessly Precipitating the Infamous 'Doomsday Clock' Ever Closer to the Midnight Hour

Benjamin Netanyahu - all my one-time admiration has now completely vanished, vamoosed, like the proverbial puff of smoke...admiration, that is, for the man's steely resolve, determination, 'principle(s)' - if of a rather perverse, twisted sort, at least ever since he and his cohorts unleashed criminal barbarity upon the innocents of Gaza (bearing in mind that not all those supposedly targeted there were 'innocents', but surely they bore the brunt of Israel's appalling inhumanity, yes genocide last year)...

...yes, he is nothing less (nor more) than an unregenerate warmonger driving the world, this Planet Earth - at the very least the Middle East (I hear some saying, not such a bad thing either - if that were 'all' it meant, i.e. a regional, 'localized' war - seeing as that region seems the main instigator, the chief culprit in inexorably plunging this globe) - into scenes of bloodshed, slaughter and wanton barbarity not seen since the very depths of the Dark Ages or the two world wars (the Holocaust excepted) themselves...ever more inexorably toward an all-out nuclear *Apocalypse, maybe even global *annihilation itself...the much-fabled *Armageddon of John the beloved's Revelation even.

Oddly enough, almost a cardboard cutout (as in the perverse 'alter ego' as it were) of his 'opposite number'...i.e. Isis - in thus - apparently - believing himself to be the fulfiller (**indeed arguably means of fulfilment) of ancient (doomsday) prophecies (contained in various scriptures)...

And note well the uncanny proximity of his recent 'completely unexpected' (landslide) re-election (victory) to Friday's 'triple whammy' of interstellar events, rare ****solar eclipse included, itself 'recalling' and echoing the biblical 'markers' of unwonted *****'signs in the heavens' *****('sun, moon and stars'), all serving to prefigure the very last days of Earth's rather checkered history,  and the ever more imminent Return of the Messiah and associated 'End of the World'...could well and truly send a veritable chill down the spine of any objective observer, any punter out there looking on...

And these 'two' (i.e. Netanyahu and Isis, an odd 'couple' were there ever such) have recently been joined, or rather re-joined, by a third 'co-conspirator', itself no stranger to belief in and firm adherence to biblical prophecy, or moreover the historical enactment/unfolding thereof...i.e. the U.S. Republican 'Right'...no, wrong, which - - would, ******apparently, like nothing else than to (if none too gently) 'help' secure its part in the fulfilment of said biblical prophecies supposedly centering around the nation-state of Israel.

Such inglorious 'part' it has indeed now 'played' in its unprecedented, unbelievable and quite frankly traitorous, treasonous gall - worthy of the most severe criminal penalty in the United States, i.e. the death penalty or capital punishment (*******itself arguably befitting former American Vice-President Richard Chaney and President George W Bush for their respective parts in the Iraq War (#2)...- in seeking an unheard of unWhite House-sanctioned Congressional Address by Israel's leader, and then publicly-repudiating and effectively giving formal notice of future revoking (via an open letter from the US Congress to Netanyahu) President Obama's noble if likely ultimately unavailing efforts to get the Iranians to and around the the nuclear negotiating table...surely not a bad thing in view of the possible, potential, and increasingly glaringly obvious alternative, let alone the Iranians' admirable, commendable efforts of late in constituting one of the biggest bulwarks in the (Iraqi-based) fight-back against Isis...indeed in thus helping drive back (bigtime) the Isis push into Kurdistan... . (Such 'insubordinate' actions, I humbly submit, that were they even proposed much less enacted by a congressional Democratic Party majority opposition to a sitting Republican president - whether of the ilk of 'George W' or otherwise - would meet almost universal opprobrium and condemnation across the U.S. political landscape, yet the Republicans seem likely to emerge completely unscathed by the whole sordid affair.)

But none of these three protagonists/powers that be apparently want peace - even 'at minimal cost' - but rather seem ever so determined - and may I add it's no idle overstatement - in their apparent hell-bent quest (and in uncanny unison) to hurl/jettison this planet to the very edge/precipice of nuclear winter/ destruction...

 Yes, indeed, the so-called Doomsday Clock has now well and truly inched a couple seconds, yea even arguably minutes closer to that fateful 'midnight hour' (except that post-9/11 it'd already moved so close to midnight that there haven't been all that many moments left remaining anyhow)...'simply' as a result of their various, criminal, recklessly foolhardy, but oh quite and ever so deliberate...race to oblivion...

May God Almighty help us all - because believe you me, nothing else will...    

*Meaning here of course the end of all things, rather than the biblical book of endings, the aforementioned Book of Revelation, though the term is often interchanged for the same. Interestingly, all three 'concepts' (though I almost shudder to use such an abstract term for 'things' with such horrendous yet oh-so-down-to-earth, practical (and moreover ineradicable) consequences) of annihilation, Apocalypse and Armageddon used in conjunction remind me all of a sudden of an ancient biblical prophecy alongside an 'interpretation' of the same in an early 21st Century tome by a distinguished Jewish author, namely Michael Drosnin's The Bible Code and The Bible Code 2. To leave a little suspense and surprise for the avid reader, but to whet his or her appetite for such things, let me simply refer them to Isaiah 29:1-8, and TBC pp.130-133-135/136. And say that Jerusalem, Iran, Syria, Libya, and moreover, devastating (?nuclear-type?) weaponry are all writ large in the particular scenario depicted, itself enough (though admittedly read two-three years ago now by myself) to make me reconsider some of the points I've been making in this blogpost in accusation of Netanyahu at least. And scarily in synchrony with that deceased 20th Century 'apostle' of prophecy, Herbert Armstrong, which prophetic view his successors in 'the Church of God' have been bringing out of late upon their Sunday morning TV slot - though unfortunately jettisoning his Scriptural teachings on the Creator's and Redeemer's Seventh-Day Sabbath in a sad attempt to curry favour with aforementioned 'religious right' American fundamentalists, who will, for their own part, before all that long I suspect, themselves help precipitate - with the tacit but hearty blessing and sanction of a current world leader of no mean repute - not only their own nation, but the entire globe, into a crisis over religious liberty that will rapidly divide this world into but two classes: those adhering at all costs to their Maker and Remaker in upholding an institution whose origins date back to the Creation itself, and those who choose the easy way out - whether by actively rebelling against such by deliberately choosing to trample upon such or by simply acquiescing in such an ungodly arrangement, by passively merely 'going along, going along, going along'...with the crowd of humanity.

I'll add one hopeful though nevertheless somewhat realistic caveat to the just aforementioned: that scenario may well be the outcome for this planet and its inhabitants if the various 'actors' don't mend their ways, but thankfully, whereas in biblical prophecy much is conditional upon the response of human beings both individually and collectively, likewise in the various biblical codes uncovered by Drosnin & Co over recent years and decades...there ever seems room for that most inexplicable, unaccountable element of human life that makes life on Earth so simultaneously unnerving and exhilarating - so constantly 'predictably unpredictable': that much-maligned element of human choice/freedom/free will...

**As so graphically detailed/spelt out in the History Channel's spellbinding and uncannily ***accurate. 'Nostradamus: 2012: Hindsight Is 20/20. Foresight is 2012'     - in particular in Parts three and four, 'God Vs Satan: The Final Battle', and Apocalypse: The Puzzle of Revelation'. 

***If not in 2012 as the ultimate end-date of history, but then that's another matter for another discussion...such as I've already discussed, actually, over two years ago in fact, upon my other blogsite, http://consideryourself-frombothsidesnow.blogspot.com/ (or .co.nz/) - in a number of blogposts, in fact...

****In relation to said extremely rare 'blood (red) moons' of recent times, not only are these - in terms of human observation - extremely few and far between, exceedingly rare cosmic 'events', there have been a highly forboding succession of such interstellar 'signs' since 2012/2013 (I believe)...over the 20th Century associated with such pivotal historic events as the re-establishment of Israel in Palestine in 1948 and the re-capturing of Jerusalem in the 1967 War...and last year (in my view) with the unprecedented events of Israel's bloodthirsty bombing the hell out of Gaza, which event singlehandedly I would humbly submit, has itself done more than anything previous and possibly anything still to come to - rather permanently, I sadly suggest - turn the world's population and its political leadership decidedly against Israel and its people.

*****The 'Good Book' itself, of course, makes numerous mention of such 'signs in the heavens' - embracing 'sun,.moon and stars'[no doubt including various interplanetary bodies not only suns like ours] in all manner of places, both Older Testament and Newer Testament, including  - especially - in the prophetic delineation by Jesus Christ (and his beloved disciple John) of the final days of Earth's 'His-story'...

******See e.g. their (ofttimes) ideological bedfellows the 'Neo-Conservatives' et al.

*******That is, if one truly, genuinely believes in 'justice', that one law ought to apply to one and all, to both leaders and 'subjects' etc etcetera etcetera etcetera - i.e. if one's profession to such noble virtues is not mere ideological hyperbole, just more empty, vacuous intellectual bombast and hype.

Battling On Beyond Belief, with Armies and Enemies Galore: Hobbit film Instalment #3: An Unexpected Desolation, But Not of Smaug's Making

So what may we conclude about this third instalment upon the Jacksonesque reinterpretation of JRR Tolkien's great kids' fantasy story, The Hobbit? Well, far as this dude's concerned, it's an adequate film, rendered moreover in classic, even inimitable Peter Jackson Et Al style, but, alas - in the final analysis - one all too soon forgotten, much less fodder for writing home about. So where does it go wrong - if my preceding comments are to mean anything at all? As well as, in fact, right, if I'm to do my own previously-posted notes and observations the justice they deserve?

To avoid relitigating each and every last point and/or issue, angle and nuance thereof raised in my previous three blogposts upon 'The Battle of the Five Armies', let's cut to the chase, and deal with some broad, overarching aspects and themes relating thereto, ones that bear directly upon the significance, the poignancy and power, the utility if you will, of this third and final take upon Tolkien's classic childrens' adventure tale. On how - if in any way or in any real sense at all - the Five Armies actually adds value, if you will, to JRR's literary legacy: as in, say, expanding upon the impact, the pathos and power, the sense and force, the understanding of Tolkien's original story. Whether this particular interpretation or take upon The Hobbit really contributes anything meaningful to the literary tome left us a little over *77 years ago by JRR Tolkien, thanks to George Allen and Unwin 'running with it', as it were, following the chance or indeed providential reading, nay devouring of the story by ***Stanley Unwin's 10-year-old son Rayner, who 'gave it the thumbs up and the rest is history.'

Beginning on the positive side of the ledger, giving the good news (on the topic) first, my overriding impression is that this final flick certainly shows great consistency with the previous two cinematic adaptations of Tolkien's work (or, more correctly, five such (already-produced and screened) filmic reinterpretations, if we include the three Lord of the Rings 'sequels', termed such only inasmuch as, in strict Tolkienesque chronology, they are successors to the current Hobbit 'prequels'.). As such it is typically and thankfully full of, yea overflowing, with el usual super-abundance of superlative visual effects, action and even carefully-nuanced characterizations of certain key members of the cast, most notably Bard (the Bowman, Dragon-Slayer and Saviour of Esgaroth), Alfrid, Chief Advisor of the Master of Lake-town, Smaug the Chiefest and Most Terrible of Calamities, the Elvenking Thranduil and his warriors of note Tauriel and Legolas, and Thorin, Gandalf, Balin and Dain Ironfoot (aka comedian extraordinaire, Billy Connolly). Not to ignore the ongoing, superb performance of Bilbo Baggins, though his role in this film I feel is, though not necessarily less impressive in delivery, somewhat played down in scope and/or prominence at least.

Yes, we are treated to an ongoing roller-coaster ride, for sure, of fast-moving, coherent, suspense-laden action and plot moving toward the much-heralded, climactic Battle of the Five Armies and its immediate aftermath/denouement: Thorin's death; the reconciliation of all the forces of good; and ultimately Bilbo's gracious exit from the scene with chief adventurer Gandalf the Grey and a distinctly ungracious reception by one and all Baggins' kith and kin upon his home-coming in Bag-End. Yes, the ending, in its complete de-escalation of the plot and ****anticlimactic return of our hero Bilbo the Adventurer to the supposed comforts of home in quiet little Hobbiton - in both quintessential Tolkien substance and style - thereby pays long-overdue credit and tribute to JRR's remarkable literary instincts and good sense. For arriving at said comfy Bag-End residence we see Mr Baggins - as were Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin and Merry in Tolkien's original storyline in The Lord of the Rings (if definitely not so in the Jacksonesque take thereupon!) - 'greeted' not only by ignorance of his great world-saving adventures, but by positive indifference thereabouts and even utter contempt for his very (and moreover now justly-esteemed) personage; 'in absentia' this being misunderstood, misinterpreted, misconstrued in the worst possible light and with the worst possible construction placed thereupon - to be duly charitable to Bilbo's 'folks' and townspeople.

Anyhow, suffice to say, in their own unique, truly inimitable way and style, Jackson & Co sweep one and all up and along in their usual cinematic tsunami of action-studded, exciting, suspense-dripping action and adventure... . So much so, in fact - but of course! - we can hardly breathe a breath till it is all over, rover, all too soon, nuff said, 'that's all she wrote'. Before we can barely blink an eye (under our 3D glasses, themselves under our regular ones if you happen to be 'four-eyed' like me). So far so good, that's for sure...and yet... .

And yet - as I've alluded to already - when I later, even immediately afterwards, outside the picture theatre, sought to involuntarily, instinctively, intuitively as it were, reflect upon said experience...nothing no nothing stuck nor came back to me, sprang readily to mind, nothing really 'grabbed me', leapt out at me from said experience...much to this Jackson devotee's very real disappointment, you can be sure!

*Incredibly, not only did the Hobbit finale premiere upon the 77th anniversary year of the first printing of The Hobbit, December 7th (NZ time) and/or the 8th (Northern Hemisphere time) would've actually been **77 years and 77 days to the date, and my own (recent) ****50th birthday would've constituted the 77th year and 88th day!

**When I discovered this fact - around the 3rd or 4th of December, to be sure - I'd meant to inform Weta Workshop et al, but I missed doing so and realized anyhow that they'd probably not be able to transfer the start date at such a late stage anyway even were they to consider my point an interesting and moreover valid one!) 

***Info well known and freely available, provided in this instance by Sarah Oliver's An A-Z of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit: An Unendorsed Colourful and Critical Guide Celebrating the Movies. (Completed and published perhaps even before, or at least simultaneous with, the release of the first film.)

****Even more amazingly to this devoted hobbit-worshipper, the Hobbit trilogy's grand finale this year not only happened to coincide - in an incredible way, as just outlined - with my own first half century, but just a little over two months following what would have been my beloved Grandma's 111th! In addition the New Zealand premiere of Battle of the Five Armies also coincided with my own (one-time fellow LOTR and Hobbit devotee, till the politics thereof skewed his views thereof to the nth degree and beyond) nephew's *****22nd ('tweens, to paraphrase Tolkien), or came a day or two (at most) prior. The first and second films' premieres likewise coincided with CJB's birthday, moreover he like myself at one point was also actively looking into trying to secure a role as an extra upon the movies (c/o auditioning in Oamaru, a stone's throw up the road). But ultimately only I went up, and as readers of my blogsite will be well aware, I didn't manage to cut the mustard; otherwise I'd have been one of the many townspeople in the various Lake-town scenes (in movies #2 and #3), shot around the North Otago township/village of Twizel, which I believe also featured in the Rings' films, or at least Fellowship of the Ring, that is those (like the first and/or second Hobbit flicks) featuring Bree and its infamous bar.

****I noticed also yesterday, as I now start re-reading The Hobbit once more for perhaps the fourth time, that Bilbo's own adventures 'never arrived, until Bilbo Baggins was grown up, being about fifty years old or so...'!

*****My fascination with all these various and assorted 'milestone' birthdays, or, more correctly, 'birth-anniversaries' as my beloved (might've been )'step-dad', Richard Welch, used to put it, is simply the fact - as all devoted Tolkien afficionadoes would only be too well aware - that Bilbo and Frodo of course celebrated their 111th and 33rd respectively in the immediate run-up to Frodo setting out with his three cobbers on their quest with the one ring, and also - as I only rediscovered just the other day, Bilbo's own original adventure likewise coincided with his own 50th. So the seeming synchronicity with such is rather striking to me, to put it mildly.

******In yet another serendipitous twist - in light of my essential evaluation of this final film, and moreover in terms of my view of the relative diminishing 'quality' of the two preceding ones - I'm more than just a little intrigued that my trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary provides the following entry definition to the word 'anticlimax': 'a ludicrous drop in impressiveness after a progressive rise.' Hey, what can I say, but 'nuff said'!

*******Disclaimer: As with previous blogposts, I have scrupulously avoided listening to or reading all but the most cursory references to (as in 'reviews' of) this final hobbit film (as of 'penning' these four blogposts, indeed as of the present moment still), one way I feel I can legitimately critique them without being unduly influenced by others' views, opinions and/or prejudices. Indeed even my brother, loath to do the same and thus spoil my cinematic experience, and who'd invited me along with my two young 'all things Lord of the Ringish-loving' nephews, to the midnight premiere for my 50th, refused to even say whether he and they actually really enjoyed the experience or otherwise...and indeed I'm still not altogether all that sure.