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. 

Bullet-Pointed Inventory of The Battle of the Five Armies

So let me run through what I see as the major flaws/foibles and successes/strengths of the third and final Hobbit film, which we'll presume is PJ et al's *'lucky last' cinematic interpretation of JRR Tolkien's fantasies. These - with much 'after the fact' additional fleshing out - I am simply repeating in the exact order in which they occurred to me on Tuesday the 16th of December (New Zealand time), with a **plus or a **minus immediately preceding each one, signifying whether that point is to me on the positive or negative side of the ledger, i.e. a bouquet or a brickbat.

+Bilbo Baggins - Master of the (perfectly placed, carefully enunciated, and adeptly put) Understatement.

+Lotsa rather effective love metaphors (cf Song of Songs in the Good Book's Older Testament).

+Tauriel/Kili and Legolas/Thranduil were very carefully and effectively - if rather unTolkienesquely, let's be honest - portrayed.+Especially good characterization/character development of the three elves. 

+/-Alfrid (the Master of  Lake-town's #1 civil servant, courtier, PR consultant and general bootlicker): as in Hobbit film #2, very well done - but what became of/where'd his Master disappear to? (Or, as my brother informed me, was he in fact not vaporized by, but rather landed upon and squashed to death and a million odd smithereens, as Smaug impacted upon the Long Lake in his final death descent? Most probably.)

--The fabled Arkenstone itself? Not all that impressive; in fact I was distinctly unimpressed. For the very 'heart of the (Lonely) Mountain', surely PJ & Co could've come up with something, anything, much better, i.e. a gemstone - in colour, texture, shape and size, in sheer, pure outward glory, splendour and overall majesty - more truly befitting royal status? Would that have really been too much to ask? As a bare minimum any of Earth's present-day super-abundance of precious metals and crown jewels of say India or Burma, or some Middle Eastern emirate or caliphate even would've sufficed, one would have presumed. I mean, really. (As so often happens in my life - 'beset' by odd, bizarre serendipities, felicities, synchronicities or what some would merely term 'coincidences', but which I prefer to see as mini-Providences or even minor miracles (of a sort) - just a few minutes ago (4/1/2015) NZ TV One's nightly 6 p.m. News featured an item about a comet presently passing over Planet Earth and/or through its ionosphere: this little 'beastie' from outer space, named ***LoveJoy apparently, glowing with a stunning bright blue radiance like the most majestic, dazzling midday sky, is exactly, precisely, in every which way in fact what the Arkenstone ought to have looked like. So take good and proper note, Sir Peter, and realize what a little more time and effort could have done...transforming an utter fizzer into something to write home about. At least you got the general colour of the Mountain's 'Heart' right, though even that was a little fuzzy and hazy around the edges.)

-Bilbo oughta have become invisible during the major battle finale - again, as in Tolkien's original story; and not only for this reason, as Mr Baggins was quite obviously hardly any sort of a match for the various orc/goblin etc adversaries accosting, confronting and tackling him (and his associates and other allies) from all directions. (See similar remarks vis-a-vis Bilbo Baggins and the wolves/wargs at the very end of film #1.)

++(Cinematically) effective as in well wrought, powerfully portrayed battle royales - especially those between Azog and Thorin, and Bolg, Tauriel and Legolas. Yet, oddly enough, unlike the two earlier Hobbit and three Lord of the Rings films, in this particular instance it seemed somewhat appropriate, being, after all, effectively 'the Battle of the Five Armies' (and much more significantly, of course, of Smaug's demise). Surprisingly, for Peter Jackson, not overdone (in terms of what was 'necessary' to make the film, as they say, a 'goer'), and, as I say, if ever such high dudgeon-based action were justified, it was in this film (of the six). Though such fighting did probably absorb, when Smaug's death-dealing siege of Esgaroth is included, well over half this final film, the comparative portion of the book, by sharp contrast, actually constituted just under a sixth (less than 16%) of its contents, I've only now uncovered to my surprise; and for the barely three pages devoted to Smaug actually attacking Esgaroth, only seven measly pages concerns the topic/title of this final film, i.e. the battle of the five armies!) Not that I really find such warfare something I particularly enjoy, much less consider an apt or accurate reflection of Tolkien's relevant tomes (i.e. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings), but if any of the six Hobbit/LOTR films seemingly deserved such treatment, one might have supposed it was this one. But once again, closer inspection proves vastly otherwise! (It wouldn't escape an observant reader of this and earlier posts just how much PJ et al's rendition of JRR's works has gradually, insidiously, imperceptibly lowered my otherwise once high expectations, so that as this grand finale has at last shown its head not only has mediocrity now apparently become the norm and trumped all in its inexorable path, Tolkien-Jackson devotees such as myself now indeed expect no more, and are thus almost content with that rather sad and sorry status quo.) How have the once mighty cinematographers fallen!

++Much more realistic (cf LOTR) in terms of the multiple deaths of the protagonists.

+/-Billy Connolly is well utilized - as far as he is in fact used - but strangely vanishes off the page in the various mini-battle finales (such as those aforementioned ones between both Azog and Bolg and 'the [various and assorted] goodies').

++Good - if rather belated - reversion to Tolkienesque ending - unlike LOTR. Hence much more realistic and true to JRR's tome, as in (again, cf the third LOTR film - not) Bilbo, much like Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry in Tolkien's The Return of the King, arriving home not to cheers, hurrahs and general, well-earned acclaim - i.e. what he (and they) properly deserved, a heroes' welcome - but rather to a general divvying up of Bilbo Baggins' (& Co's) assorted lifetime goods, hoardings and everyday stuff. Of course, upon arrival back in Bag-End, Mister Baggins by his very, if unwelcome, presence, promptly puts an end to these unwarranted proceedings, putting swift paid to all those unjustified consequences of assuming he'd suffered a premature demise. As ****one wag famously described a similar past occurrence: "Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

+/-Am glad that Billy Boyd (Pippin in LOTR) secured some sort of a role in the film, if 'only' in the musical score 'The Last Goodbye' at the very end. Though actually, unlike both the preceding Hobbit flicks and especially the three Lord of the Rings' films, I'm constrained to say that musical scores in The Five Armies were neither especially well done nor for that matter all that noticeable much less memorable. In fact, I have to add that I've absolutely no lasting memory of any tunes let alone lyrics from film #3, though a haunting one remains from one of the first two flicks, something about going in search of dragon treasure and the like, upon an adventure the end thereof being still completely unknown and eliciting much trepidation. That one, whatever it was, did have a certain 'catchiness' and haunting broodiness to it, enabling easy recall; indeed readily coming into mind just now for the first time in possibly yonks when I simply tasked my mind to recollect any such tunes and words still residing within one of memory's vaults.

+/-The film early on seemed to constantly jump back and forth between various settings with their respective actors and thus evoked a sense of the Rings' films especially following the splitting up of the Nine Companions; such 'cutting' in and out actually serving the useful purpose of keeping the viewer upon his or her toes and in a state of unremitting suspense thus only enhancing the tension and dramatic effect.

+/-Fine characterization of Thorin: his stubbornness ('purest' obstinacy), 'dragonsickness' and relationship to Bilbo are conveyed with aplomb; but his death, though welcome as one of the film's realistic elements (see above), appears uncannily reminiscent of Boromir's death 'speech' in PJ's Fellowship of the Ring, belatedly apologizing for not having had the prescience to discern the reality of Bilbo Baggins' (cf Frodo's) loyalty and devotion to the cause. (See also my criticisms of Hobbit #2 film's disconcertingly frequent echoes/repeats of other major Rings' film scenes and speeches.)

+/-Despite the relatively (as in appropriate to the source text) fitting ending (as above) - and admittedly it was probably much too hard to show Bilbo's return alongside Gandalf et al all the way back to Bag End or at least Hobbiton - it is a bit strained at times vis-a-vis frequent and all too obvious attempts to tie together all three Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films (is too much like 'with the benefit of hindsight' etc), though such touches as re-inserting Bilbo - at the start and end of the Hobbit saga - in his older Ian Holm manifestation, is obviously necessary to tie the two trilogies together, notwithstanding these 'touches' do come over as increasingly forced and unnatural in my view.

+Thranduil's (the Elven-king's) imperious coldness, severity is well-depicted.

+Alfrid's weaselly/cowardly and money-grubbing tendencies is a brilliant touch.

+/+The Lakeshore (cf LOTR film#2) is well shot/very realistically done (set similarly along some Central Otago lakescape?)...and Lake-town residents' well-founded anger at Alfrid and his Master (who has now vamoosed, leaving his dutiful, most devoted servant to cop all the blame and opprobrium) is well-depicted.

+Bard's kids - very 'quaint'(ly done) and appropriate in both attire and sober, serious demeanour (again, cf the Two Towers film).

-The talking raven, Roac son of Carc, could have been used to much better effect, as in actually doing just that, i.e.talking, communicating in actuality with the likes of Bard and the dwarves, as in Tolkien's tome. As opposed to Bard et al simply instinctively, intuitively knowing precisely what to do, which was the most appropriate course of action to take in the circumstances - whether in terms of unveiling, literally uncovering Smaug's best kept secret, the hollow beside his left breast, or as in the tread of footsoldiers coming towards the Lonely Mountain as the imminent 'battle of the five armies' drew ever closer, or for that matter Bilbo's being informed that 'Hi-ho, Smaug is Dead, the Dragonbeast is dead, the Dragonbeast is dead, hi-ho, the wicked Smaug is dead' (in the inimitable manner of The Wizard of Oz) rather than - as the film erroneously depicted - his being able to espy such as occurring merely by the dancing of light and flame upon the far horizon.

+Effective villains/battle sites [Stone/Mountain Trolls etc: cf Thunder 'Trolls' in film#1]. The snowy mountain fastnesses and melting ice crusts are realistic, as is the poignant, literally gripping moment when Azog stabs Thorin from below, piercing his battle-hardened and weary feet from beneath, another more realistic touch, showing there's life in the old rogue yet.

+Villains (especially Azog/Bolg) were thus realistically portrayed here, not being easily defeated let alone killed off (for good).

+Odd but effective 'touch' having King Thorin himself thus die, and before he gets to taste the joy of securing Smaug's vast treasure hoard for good and ever after, but as in the book, this realistic scene only enhances the credibility of the story as a whole.

+Nice good-bye scene of Bilbo with the ?nine/ten? remaining/surviving dwarves, not only Thorin, but Fili and Kili also suffering martyrdom for the cause I believe.

-Not so/very much is seen of the other company dwarves this time, including Balin, the overall emphasis indeed being distinctly non-dwarvish, upon such new stars/novas as Bard (and the Lake-'men' generally), Tauriel, Thranduil and Legolas.

Introductory scene of the Chief Villain, the Dragon Smaug, beseiging Lake-town is well-enacted/depicted  - featuring no Jacksonesque el typical (though they do work very well in The Lord of the Rings flicks, and in the first Hobbit film anyhow) backgrounder or flashback. Yes, Smaug here in his final moments is every bit as downright scary, vengeful and fire-breathe-ingly nasty as he should have been, as his well-earned reputation warranted.

Radagast the rustic, country bumpkin wizard is okay, if merely adequate here, though the eagles are well done again. Whereas 'the Lady Galadriel' - shades if not major overtones of 'Mother Mary' of Roman Catholic 'Mary, Mother of God' in/famy (which I realize is no great insight or new revelation) - is also okay, if a little strained (in trying to connect Lord of the Rings' and Hobbit films; again, cf Hobbit films#1 and 2.)

+/- Six-minute specially-designed Introduction adequate - as far as it went - but really neither here nor there (as in a useful add-on). Better for Jackson/Tolkien afficionadoes to invest in proper backgrounder dvds (like those accompanying the Lord of the Rings films).

-/+Way too many un-credible close shaves for Bilbo Baggins, whereas compare and contrast and note well the highly credible near-killing of Gandalf.

+/-Scenery at the start is typically kiwi-ish picturesque, yet somehow, unaccountability - it pains me to say this and quite frankly I didn't think I'd (ever) be doing so - unrealistic, as in somewhat unpersuasive; like picture painting, cf actual photo shot.

+Depiction of Thorin's unaccountable, 'death'll first freeze over before I'll ever back down, and even then I won't', stubbornly senseless intractableness - seen in relation to other characters, not only Bard the Bowman and Dragon-Slayer, but moreover his fellow (special company) dwarves - i.e. both friends and kindred and foes alike - is especially effectively portrayed, being almost a master-stroke of the film's characterization...and unfortunately one of the very few really good examples thereof in Battle of the Five Armies.

+Billy Connolly's much-vaunted entrance a welcome and interesting respite, even a foil of a sorts to other characters/the situation in general. But ultimately a bit of an anticlimax, as no sooner are we introduced to Dain, King of the Northern Dwarvish Kingdom than, hey presto, we see no more of him.

+Thorin et al's determination to go in a 'to the death' pursuit of Azog, Bolg et al [Enemy Head Honchos Inc.] is a somewhat useful addition to Tolkien's original narrative.

+Much more creative licence and liberty is employed in this third Hobbit film, but generally to good effect, effectively capturing the essential spirit of Tolkien's book despite it all.

+/-The Master's attempt at all conceivable costs, whatever utter shredding to his erstwhile fastly vanishing credibility, to escape from Lake-town like the proverbial rat from the sinking ship - and many of his former townspeople, in days, weeks and years to come, no doubt would've considered that an all too fitting symbol and metaphor for their former Mayor - is effectively portrayed, but as I say above, he shouldn't have henceforth disappeared entirely from the story.

+Hobbiton folks' utter ignorance of Bilbo's adventure and the consequent raiding of all his personal effects they are able to lay their grubby little paws upon, is very well and quite cleverly depicted.

(Something pretty well only alluded to in previous films, including and especially Fellowship of the Ring, though the extent to which and the way in which that film in particular dealt with Lobelia Sackville-Bagginses is brilliantly portrayed for all that, however brief and savagely succinct the 'mention' therein may well be.)

+Refreshing greens and hues of Hobbiton's and Bag-End's rich, earthy setting and surrounds at very end following the exhausting, long drawn out battle scenes around the increasingly desolate and forlorn-looking Lonely Mountain.

+Galadriel's and Saraman's and Elrond's mini-battle royale with Sauron is well portrayed - especially his speedily returning might, readily sapping Gandalf's and Galadriel's energy reserves/life forces. But, and it's no small but, as I remarked in one or other of my various blogposts upon Hobbit films one and two, if Sauron is really this very powerful already, what could possibly have delayed him 60-odd years from making - c/o his henchmen, the nine Ringwraiths, so memorably and skilfully and powerfully, hauntingly rendered in PJ's Fellowship of the Ring - his raid upon the Shire in pursuit of the 'One Ring to rule them all'?  

+Use/employment of neighbouring mountains and vistas is good.

+/-The re-employment of Beorn (and Radagast: see above) is again okay as far as it went.

So what sort of initial conclusions can one make about this third and final part of Peter Jackson Et Al's second Tolkien trilogy? Overall, some rather brilliant touches, innovations and creative genius displayed in this final Hobbit film, but so many of my responses seem to reflect a sense of mere adequacy, of that mediocrity-eliciting term 'okay', that overall - upon  (soon-arising) reflection if not admittedly upon initial impression - one cannot avoid the idea that the whole Jacksonesque take upon Tolkien has ended more with a whimper than a bang, fizzling out much like a damp squib or a Guy Fawkes sparkler that has simply failed to really kindle much less flare up...a disappointment upon all manner of fronts even if said movie nevertheless featured some powerful portrayals and characterization, some stunning settings and scenery, and several brilliant touches and master-strokes. But if nothing else, Smaug the Dragon, the Chiefest of Calamities, goes out in the blaze of infamy and inglorious splendour well befitting JRR's exquisitely-depicted portrayal of said 'giant worm'. At least Smaug the Terrible fails to disappoint, and perhaps that is a redeeming feature of The Battle of the Five Armies that makes it all worthwhile, alongside Bilbo's sadly inglorious return to his home, where his kindred could frankly care less that he has just managed to save their collective bacon for a little while longer from not only a Dragon but Sauron's soon-coming wrath. As One has well said, and indeed has Tolkien well portrayed in The Lord of the Rings even if this was completely absent from Sir Peter Jackson's Return of the King: "A prophet is not without honour except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." So Master Baggins, you're amidst some very esteemed company indeed!

*I'm assuming, that is, that he and his crew are finally completely through seeking to convert JRR's classic fantasy tomes to movie format, seeing as the only likely contender, The Silmarillion - Tolkien's own especial favourite - is, aside from exceedingly complex in nature, apparently more of an historical take upon all things Middle Earthian than a strictly go to woe narrative as such. Then again, if PJ Et Al were to seek to also adapt this book, approval would again have to be sought, and I somehow strongly suspect such authorization would now be a lot less likely to be given than heretofore...but it's only a strong suspicion.

**Double (or even triple) ratings naturally being reserved for especially positive/negative efforts.

***Confirmed to me a couple weeks later by an astronomical buff I happened to almost literally bump into, who - admittedly, perhaps simply to be agreeable, but he seemed totally genuine - also agreed with me that the famed Arkenstone had indeed been a bit of a let-down.

****Or was it in fact post-World War Two United States President Harry Truman, in regards to his presumed election defeat in 1948 - as opposed to his premature death - as in the notorious and much-lampooned, with the benefit of hindsight, U.S. newspaper proclaiming his imminent defeat by Republican challenger Thomas Dewey on election night prior to all the votes being counted?

End of An Era - with arrival of 'The Battle of the Five Armies'...So What To Make of it all?

Yes, 'she's all over bar the shouting', and screaming, stomping, stampeding and endless scrutinizing, dissecting, analyzing, evaluating. C'est la vie - "such is life". So what to make of it all - i.e. both my initial impressions of, and later, but still recent reflections, upon this latest and final 'trilogic' instalment of Peter Jackson & Co's cinematic take upon JRR Tolkien's classic kids' fantasy?

Initially? Well, fairly positive, yea even somewhat taken aback. I actually found much instinctive applause welling up within to PJ's creative licence as the Five Armies suddenly, and rather unashamedly, began. And indeed this final Hobbit film saga metaphorically got underway in a superbly unique fashion.

Much as someone being told to strap on one's seatbelt and 'get ready, steady, (to then) go' as the flight abruptly began its takeoff, we the viewers were treated - no apologies proffered - to Smaug the Dragon's no-holds-barred, relentless assault upon the Lake-Town Esgaroth with its peasant fisherfolk and their little ones scattering helter-skelter in all directions, especially 'underground' or rather onto life rafts as they furiously scrambled to escape by the virtual skin of their collective teeth from the fiery monster as he continuously circled like a vulture in the skies and came ever lower, lower, lower, spewing out fire and brimstone upon all in his path, whether human, animal or mere 'artifacts' of architectural devising. Such 'for real' was the impact of Smaug's 'wrath and fury' upon all in his fiery path. This dragon (originally 'giant worm' in Tolkien's characteristically delightful and whimsical rhetorical flourish, and personally illustrated, and superbly, by JRR himself), was not one to be messed let alone trifled with! No, not on your - or your nanna's - nelly.

Yes, and this positive impression remained pretty well throughout the rest of the film despite the many obvious discrepancies between this particular 'edition', the classically Jacksonesque version, and Tolkien's original, as it thenceforth rapidly decelerated from rocket into simply breakneck speed and thence eased off into and soared along in cruise control on to its relatively speedy conclusion just over two hours later. A feat, need it be mentioned, itself possibly a record of brevity in the annals of PJ's take upon both Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. And yet, oddly enough, after then in an equally rapid-fire flurry penning a not inconsiderable succession of bullet-points upon the final film - both during the movie's final credits as everyone vacated the theatre except movie staff and myself, and then at a secretive outdoors lunch retreat immediately thereafter (having previously during the long-anticipated build-up to the finale planned to dedicate the entire rest of this day to writing up one, if not several, blogposts upon this final instalment)...after all the foregoing, I cannot but address the following question: What did I feel?

A sense of being quite if not wholly underwhelmed by the entire (Hobbit film) experience, and in particular this final 'episode'. And that quite despite myself wanting to find any and every reason for that not being so. Yes, I'm shocked, indeed almost ashamed, to have to admit that as I left the picture theatre I had the feeling, the sense of having found this final film - and therefore in some sense the *entire trilogy - distinctly immemorable; without, as I've said, wishing this to be the case let alone happy that I'd found it thus. But if honest at heart one cannot but state the reality of one's actual experience.

So, to succinctly summarize - admittedly not a thing that comes naturally to me! - a more than adequate finale, rendered in classic, even inimitable Jacksonesque style to boot. But, equally sadly - again, I confess to saying this quite involuntarily - one all too soon forgotten, vanishing from my mental, imaginative grasp almost as quickly as it'd left its various impressions upon me. And that despite ensuring I'd achieved **one of my most restful, refreshing sleeps the night before so that my wits were all about me, my mind was fresh and active, and my recollections vivid and distinct. Such were my initial and soon-thereafter impressions of  The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Shuteye being needful and moreover 'early to bed, early to rise [being the secret of] mak[ing] a man healthy, wealthy and wise' - of which the first, and arguably the third, if hardly the second, I like to think apply in my case - this is where I'll leave matters tonight, before elaborating upon this another day. Leaving till then that aforementioned bullet-point list of positives and negatives for one and all to peruse, chew over, digest and hopefully assimilate. Though it's much more commonplace, I'll readily grant, to cite all the details first, then summarize into generalities, I've - if quite unintentionally - done otherwise this time around. And perhaps that's not altogether a bad thing, as it's sometimes all too easy to get lost in the detail and lose sight of the bigger picture. And ultimately that 'bigger picture' is what we tend to take away and retain.

*Bar 'The Battle of the Five Armies' 's beginning anyhow, and pretty well the entire first film: a splendid adaptation in my book, anyhow - whatever the multitude of (I believe largely politically-motivated, as in anti-the special N.Z. Government deal effected in late 2010 or 2011) critics of the day declared.

**Sadly, quite unlike the last three weeks since, and that despite my very best efforts. So my decision to go when I did - in retrospect, as in prospect at the time - was one of my better ones.

Finally There, and At Last Back Again: The Hobbit movies, having come full circle, are finally at an end and bring Peter Jackson, Weta Workshop et al's cinematic adaptations of JRR Tolkien's two most famous and celebrated works to an abrupt, anticlimactic conclusion

Yes, she's all over bar the shouting, with nary a whimper much less a bang...save the upcoming 'Academies' (awards, that is), for which I predict a very mixed review for Jackson, Weta workshop Et Al's sixth and final take upon JRR Tolkien's classic tomes (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit). The Jacksonesque version of said hobbit-obsessed works has indeed at last come to a rather abrupt and anticlimactic end for Tolkien/Jackson afficionadoes like myself. Yes, we've quite literally, it seems, arrived at the end of an era.

Sure, I've little doubt whatsoever that the team here in God's Own will scoop up not only the dragon's share of Academy Awards for visuals, costuming, special effects etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...indeed quite possibly sweeping 'em all, even 'hand's down', though I *strongly suspect that the 'major' awards (for best actor, director, story etc) will not go their way. Which is rather sad for not only Sir Peter himself and his co-writers/directors (in view of his/their lifetime work essentially being this triad turned sextuplet, a monumental work and accomplishment in its own right even were it not such a distinctive and powerful 'production' and internationally popular, prize-winning undertaking), but - if realized - will also be an unfair reflection upon some other superb 'assets' in the enterprise. Such as the unquestionably exceptional talents of the younger Bilbo Baggins, Martin Freeman, who has turned in another very good rendition of Tolkien's inimitable character, on top of what was an equally good performance in the second film and a simply superb characterization in the very first Hobbit film. Somehow I suspect that the films have not - even remotely - come up to, much less exceeded, the simply out-of-the-universe expectations built up over the years (and now decade plus) since the Lord of the Rings' films bowled all before them. I suspect people - even some Jackson/Tolkienophiles like myself - have simply tired of the long-winded, never-ending project, which seems to have become more about a monument to Peter Jackson & Co's extraordinary cinematic talents and imaginative genius than a tribute to the original idea(s) and creative legacy of JRR Tolkien.

For which I certainly impute no intentionally self-serving motive to Jackson Et Al, I simply recognize their inextricable closeness from the whole affair and believe that 'incestuous' involvement has tended - if rather subtly, largely unconsciously, even almost imperceptibly - to obscure their vision and stunted their ability to distance themselves from the project often enough to really see whereto their efforts have ultimately led them: i.e. to a somewhat self-perpetuating, self-referential retelling of Tolkien's stories in such a way that they point less and less to his creative genius and more and more to that of their modern-day technically brilliant, even unsurpassed cinematic interpreters. And in addition I believe the case can easily be made that the movie version of said tales has also become more a matter of placating modern sensibilities, prejudices and perspectives - see: gender equality, spicing things up with a dash of romance here, and an extra large helping of violence and warfare there - than faithfully fulfilling the creative worlds and vision, quintessential quirks and inimitable ideas and inspiration of JRR himself. Such seem unavoidable conclusions, even were the Hobbit films never to have come about, and all we had to go on (and therefore judge or make evaluations by) being the three Lord of the Rings movies.   

*Though, if only in Martin Freeman's case at least, I hope to be disproven. And PJ, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Richard Taylor, Tania Rogers and Weta Workshop et al have also surely 'proved their quality', as Sam Gamgee might have put it, and earned not only their keep but commensurate rewards for - overall - their consistent, top-of-the-class talents and efforts. I simply suspect that, as the films have come to an ending with more of a whimper than a bang, the onlooking Academy Awarders will see things likewise, having, much like myself and many others I instinctively feel, simply come to tire of the whole affair and rather impatiently wishing for its speedy wrapping up. Moreover, failing to see enough 'new stuff' (qualitywise) to justify the seemingly never-ending project and to compensate their already greatly diminished expectations. 

Undue Self-Exaltation Inevitably Precedes and Anticipates A Speedy and Severe Fall

"An exultant Western triumphalism" is the pithy yet comprehensive way in which the one-time Soviet Union's arguably most celebrated President, Mikhael Gorbachev, has, just the other day, chosen to use to describe the ideologically partisan manner in which the West(ern powers), 'led' by the then United States' President, George Bush the First, understood, interpreted and publicly described the historic fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago (yesterday, New Zealand time, and today, Northern Hemispheric time - November the ninth, 1989).

'Right on' was my own automatic, instinctive reaction the other day - indeed what Gorbachev said pretty well echoed my own long-held view and perception of that decisive *'event' almost word for word - though unlike that prescient and domestically unfairly-maligned - essential, if often unrecognized (at least by his own countrymen and women) architect of the one-time Soviet Union's counter-revolution - it astonishes me to realize I cannot for the life of me **recall exactly where I was and what I was doing when news of such history-in-the-very-making finally hit home to me, or that precise event (of the Berlin Wall's fall) transpired.

*Though more a series, a succession of similar events, as nation after nation, country after country amongst the U.S.S.R.'s string of satellite states stretched across the former Eastern Europe buckled, crumbled to the ongoing 'onslaught' of democratic sensibilities, of the simple thirst for not only 'liberty' but indeed even ***'equality' - two of the three pillars of the itself historic, earth-shaking events of the French Revolution almost exactly two centuries prior.

**Again unlike where I was (and what I was doing) when news reached me of Princess Diana's death (or anticipated end, anyhow, following her motorcade's horrific smash/crash in a French tunnel), or similarly when I first heard (and, moreover, it truly sunk in) that America had just undergone the events of '9/11' (as it will ever after be known) - those incredible scenes of airliners crashing into the sides of the 'Twin Towers' being indelibly etched, seared into the memory cells, one's consciousness, and thereafter is unfailingly remembered for time immemorial, world without end. (Though I do distinctly recall pacing the streets (in my itinerant, door-to-door selling capacity) observing a headline in the local Courier Mail proclaiming - at least some significant parts of - said events occurring, now I really come to it.)

***As is now well known 'everywhere' and to 'everybody' taking even just a casual interest in such matters, the so-called 'equality' for which that autocratic, monolithic system was best known was only ever a parody of such egality envisaged by the likes of Friedrich Engels and his infinitely better known fellow theorist Karl Marx - being in actual, everyday, concrete practice far more akin to George Orwell's brilliantly satirical line: "all (2-legged creatures) are equal, but some are more equal than others".

Pretty Well Right On All Fronts, Mr Prime Minister: Well Done

The chance to find things to congratulate our present, rockstar-popular P.M. John Key upon seems less and less frequent these days, so can I say - as succinctly as possible - his (and his Government's) very measured, ever-so-carefully calibrated response to the obscenity and loathsome spectacle that's known as ISIS, ISIL (and all the seemingly endless variations and permutations thereupon) is RIGHT ON, JUST WHAT THE GOOD DOCTOR ORDERED. In every which way. Utterly irrespective of the petty partisanship (and niggardly damning with faint praise and/or noticing the trees but missing the forest) thereupon displayed this afternoon by Metiria Turei and Winston Peters in the unhallowed corridors of Aotearoa-New Zealand's Parliamentary debating chamber. Yes, a good and thoughtful debate all round - including very insightful contributions especially (and to me surprisingly) by both United Future's Peter Dunne and Act's newbie Epsom M.P. David Seymour. Alongside some good speeches made by the likes of Annette King, David Shearer, Phil Goff and especially the ever erudite, learned and reflective Kennedy Graham: who at least gave a series of step points which he noted the Green Party had brought to its evaluation of how to properly, and coolly and rationally, determine whether or not New Zealand ought to become, and if so in which particular ways, the conflict over IS in the Middle East. We also had the unflappable, temperamentally ever equable Murray McCully, the equally reasonable and earnest Gerry Brownlee, and the Jim Hickeyish man of colour, flair and dramatics (if not histrionics!) Christopher Finlayson, and of course the P.M. himself, giving especially thoughtful contributions, and - in a quietly dissenting voice - the mild-mannered, oh so reasonable (and likeable) Te Ururoa Flavell, who brought up (if a rather misplaced comparison, it seemed to me, upon this particular occasion) the historic spectacle of Parihaka and the 2007 Urewera terror raids.

But upon and after hearing the Prime Minister 'rounding up' and concluding said debate two hours later - before politicians entered into another, all too predictable and oh so unproductive Question Time which rapidly brought all this 'untoward' and refreshingly different meeting of minds to a sad and abrupt end - my thoughts immediately turned to John Key's Jewish counterpart, the famed leader of Israel, King David, about whom the biblical writer of 1 Samuel penned this/the following:

"So David went out wherever [King] Saul sent him, and behaved wisely[prospered]...and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants...he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him...he behaved very wisely...all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them." [1 Samuel 18:5; 14-16]

Granted, perhaps a - huge, even humongous - stretch - to even contemplate comparing our present P.M. to that celebrated great leader of historic Israel, however popular Key may still be in historic kiwi terms...approximating in that sense, however, to such 'heavyweight' (as in similarly popular and/or longserving) Prime Ministers as Keith Holyoake, and 'King' Dick Seddon, as well as William Massey, Michael Joseph Savage and 'Big Norm' Kirk himself; but let's briefly enumerate his 'accomplishments' in this latest and arguably (indeed as widely noted, potentially) most important decision in his premiership. What precisely did the Prime Minister achieve today in his speech and plan for New Zealand - whether in terms of active overseas engagement vis-a-vis IS and/or surveillance of its domestic (kiwi) sympathizers/adherents?

He informed us that his Government: *Would not send ground troops into Iraq (and of course also Syria). *Would nevertheless provide practical, hands-on support to other forces taking up the cudgels to battle the evil that is IS, so would not shirk 'doing its part' in the global fight against patent wrong (as in genocide). *And indeed would be providing extensive support and humanitarian aid to refugees fleeing IS and its rampant atrocities.*Had no gripes or quibbles or qualms with New Zealand's sizeable and essentially peaceful, peace-loving Muslim community. *Nevertheless was well aware that New Zealand had folk in its midst apparently actively sympathetic with the aims of IS, and so potentially of real concern to our citizenry. *Would not be enacting sweeping new laws to deal with this 'threat'. *And indeed would be imposing special measures to carefully safeguard citizens' rights and indeed even the 'rights' of those who themselves could - theoretically - cause trouble in God's Own (as in carefully extended police warrants over a limited period).
Etcetera etcetera etcetera.

But of course 'the devil' is ever in the detail, and even more worryingly - as folk far more erudite and articulate than I have oft expressed - who knows in what unwholesome ways and to what worrying an extent such newfangled powers may one day be employed by a much less benign, liberty-loving government of our nation. For, as noted author C K Stead's memorable hero in Smith's Dream - the book upon which the first truly famous kiwi film, Sleeping Dogs, was based - eventually found out, discovered to his 'eternal regret', political powers once obtained are rarely disbanded or eschewed. They indeed may be ever so finely tuned and adapted to achieve aims which - if not in SD, admittedly -  their original proposers never envisaged, and which draw down the curtain well and truly, and 'for good', upon people who all too blithely and naively place tacit, inherent trust in the good intentions of their leaders, and trust all too implicitly to their fair professions and fine speeches. Not realizing until it is forever too late that their pet snake has become a stinging, lethal serpent, whose fangs will bite deeply and not release their prey until it is all well and truly over.

'...England shall at last admit a foe, The world to an end shall come...'

Thus 'spake' the famous Mother Shipton, the medieval 'prophetess', in her fifteenth century (poetic) prediction of coming 'attractions'. Though one cannot - in all good faith and adherence to the truth - avoid adding that her very next, last stanza line added, obviously very significantly, 'In **eighteen hundred and eighty-one' as the end-date of that end of the world 'prophecy', one cannot help be taken by the above (title of this blogpost) quotation from said 'prediction'; alongside many other stanzas of equal interest and note/significance, as a matter of fact... 

But this little blogpost is for another reason altogether, in fact simply to record my - admittedly all too feeble - obituary to the premature passing of a humble hero and modern-day paragon of virtue, the taxi driver Alan/Allan Henning, cut down in his prime just three short days ago now... May he rest in peace, and his kith and kin be - somehow (I don't know how) - consoled/comforted...and may every last one of your tormenters/torturers, Alan, rot in hell - to the very end of time...alongside every last one of their fellow-travelling apologists...

*A poem I quite literally stumbled upon Sunday week ago in a classic olden times' tome of Clarence Reed, entitled Great Prophecies About the War...though I'd previously also come across 'Mother Shipton', supposedly a Medieval 'crazy woman' (as in a dreamer/visionary/mystic), in one of two wonderful dvds signalling presumably/supposedly the End of the World in 2012, the History Channel's 'Nostradamus: 2012: Hindsight is 20/20. Foresight is 2012'; and Nostradamus Effect: The Complete Season One: How Will The End Begin?'.

**Curiously enough 1881 is a bombshell of a date in numerological terms, with two '18s' back to back, a number in occult meaning impregnated with psychic power and oomph, associated (from recall of my late teen days when becoming a professional astrologer/numerologist was top upon my agenda) with such worldwide, earth-shattering, traumatic events as revolutions...and together creating a third 18...almost like the synthesis and its antithesis out of which Karl Marx (alongside Friedrich Engels) manufactured their infamous theory of imminent global Communist Revolution.

A Person of Principle versus Pragmatism Personified: A Personal Perspective Upon Two 'Concurrent' Electoral Results (in diametrically opposite corners of the world)

Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland, versus John Key, thrice re-elected Prime Minister of New Zealand: Two Men of Diametrically-Opposing Character and Qualities. But, as the thoroughly thrashed cliche goes, first let me explain myself... How much better - and ultimately satisfying - to go down, as the noted Scots nationalist, *Alex Salmond, just has, in a blaze of glory (as it were), than to win however decisive and overwhelming, moreover 'comprehensive', an electoral victory - let there be **no doubt whatsoever - as his Antipodean 'first minister' (of Aotearoa, New Zealand), John Key, has/did...while unashamedly playing, on a consistent basis, as fast and loose with the truth as kiwis have seen (at least since Helen Clark herself; admittedly, Key's immediate predecessor!) As noted author of NZ election conspiracy-style thrillers, Nicky Hagar, remarked during the veritable slew of '(two) morning(s) after' interviews following thick and fast here in NZ, and which expressed this idea of mine even more forcibly and cogently: "We (i.e. the people-at-large) can make a mistake in politics, we can think that [political] success means that you've done the right thing" Amen! (If I can say, as I said, or at least attempted to articulate, myself.) And in response to another political commentator, the ever incisive, ***if often quite politically partisan, Newstalk ZB talkback host Leighton Smith, to refer to the Maori Party, post-Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia - as he then mentioned NZ First will be in the (coming) era following the inevitable, ultimate departure of the inimical 'Right Honourable' Winston Peters - as being 'a party of cult personality', is, quite frankly, to not see the wood for the trees, to strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, to miss the gigantic elephant in the middle of the room. (If you'll excuse my own rather shameless juxtaposing of three tried and well-used cliches within the one sentence.) Sure, who'd disagree? But then what about John Key himself? Surely if one ever wanted to identify, to highlight the closest thing New Zealand has politically ever come to a personality cult, simply look no further. And it would hardly be a stretch to say that, were it not for him, and his considerable political acumen and skills, the National Party's electoral fortunes from 2008 on would likely be a whole lot less impressive - and by a country mile or a million! *a man of rare integrity, grit and steely determination (to the sadly, rather bitter, end). **Some have said, not only since Sidney Holland's Waterfront Workers Strike snap election win in 1951, but even since that grand old gentleman of NZ Politics Inc, "King Dick" Seddon, in 1899. ***Though admittedly not even remotely in the same league as the likes of fellow broadcasters Larry Williams or Mike Hosking, who've made a virtual art from of that completely anti-journalistic 'practice'.

A Real Straight-Shooter Bites the Dust: Ian Paisley, All Out (like Tony Benn) for 88: May he rest therein in peace until the Resurrection Day...

The Man of (NZ) Labour Was Truly 'Our Big Norm': A Shamefacedly Belated Tribute to a Leader we were proud to follow: 40 years on, may we pay due tribute...however negligent our 'now'-fixated mainstream media (Q&A excepted) has been to commemorate this grand anniversary of his premature, still unresolved and perplexing passing

What Hast Thou Done? (Part 2)

These six things the LORD
hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination
to Him[His soul]:
A proud look[haughty eyes],
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent 
blood,
A heart that devises wicked
plans,
Feet that are swift in running
to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord
among brethren.
(The Holy Bible, New Kings James Version)

(The state of) Israel has much innocent blood  upon her hands, and conscience. NOTHING - WHATSOEVER - can possibly, or remotely, excuse her or be a reasonable defence/justification/acceptable rationalization for her shedding the blood of innocents - wholly innocent infants, toddlers and even nursing babes (or, for that matter, the lives of the aged, the sick and suffering, the infirm, and other vulnerable Palestinians)...cut down/singled out and slaughtered - heartlessly, mercilessly, in sheer, savage butchery...upon the seashores of Gaza; within its hospitals and schools and other supposed 'safe havens'; and upon the streets and in the homes of Gazan cities, towns and villages.

Let's get something - perfectly - straight (at the outset): this is as far as can be found from the reflections (or rather heartfelt reaction/response) of an apologist for Hamas (or Hezbollah/Hezbullah): terrorist organizations alike whose #1 aim, purpose, even very raison d'etre is to exterminate Israelites, to erase the state of Israel from the map of Planet Earth: once and for all time; no ifs, buts or maybes.To drive the nation literally into the [Mediterranean] Sea This is evidently in their very charters, and has been since Israel's re-inception as a sovereign territory upon that fateful, long-prophesied day in 1948. At which time surrounding Arab nations tried - totally unsuccessfully - to take and defeat her, to dislodge her from her God-given and returned/restored lands/territories in Palestine.

I'm sorry, Jewish survivors of the world's most heinous historical act - against a people - simply had to find and have a home of their own; and one, moreover, with inviolable, globally-acknowledged and accepted borders wherein she might dwell safely, in peace and safety and without undue concern and anxiety. Surely following the Holocaust 'the world of men' could do, could offer her no less?

"What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."

Near the outset of recorded human history - according to Holy Writ - the following conversation, immediately after the first murder was committed, was heard:

"And the LORD said unto Cain, "Where is Abel thy brother?" And he [Abel] said, "I know not: Am I (emphasis mine) my brother's keeper?" And [H]e[God] said, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto [M]e from the ground."

Fast forward to the very end of all things, where, in the Apocalypse, the last book of the New Testament, otherwise known as the Book of Revelation, we read these words of strong appeal: "And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost [T]hou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"

Blood, symbolic of the life of its possessor, has ever been a potent metaphor in the Scriptures - though in its plain-as-day, literal meaning it is arguably equally so. Indeed, human life is so sacred, such an inviolable thing, that following 'Noah's Flood' humankind was instructed as follows: "...flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your [life]blood will I require...at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made [H]e man."

Indeed, so wonderful a condescension was the incarnation and self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon Calvary's cross, that the human race saw its redemption accomplished and ultimate salvation assured through the Deity, in the form of the Second Person of the Godhead, willingly consenting to have His blood shed on behalf of it.

Picture that: the Creator willingly offering Himself as a Victim to His creation, accepting death by murder to assure that creature's eternal life...

An awful portrait of a so-called 'God of Love' as some deem such an image? Not at all: rather a portrait of a Personified Love so broad and deep and vast that it was willing to forgo living eternally with its Fellow Godhead (Father and Holy Spirit) if only the object of its love might be saved eternally in God's eternal kingdom. Because nothing less could possibly atone for the sin which that creation had committed. A Love which voluntarily emptied Itself of all its privileges and suffered on behalf of and in that creation's stead - even if it were to cost that Divine One His Own Eternal Life! As the hymn writer has so well put, 'Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!'  

Bastille Day (2014) Overnight Afterthoughts...

But perhaps the real (war 'and other miscellaneous matters') criminals are not these aforementioned, including said global 'actors' claiming special *papal/religious dispensation, if not outright diplomatic immunity, for their past crimes and disreputable conduct.

*And may I suggest here that not all the (current) pontiff's 'tears', pleadings, and corporately-invoked self-flagellations - however welcome and appropriate and justifiable and even downright commendable - and/or all said Church's amends and penance, whether merely milked for public consumption or actually motivated by heartfelt repentance and true sorrow and contrition for sin, will ever make things right ever again. (Much like Pope John Paul the First's much-publicized 'apology' for the Roman Catholic Church's Dark Ages' abominations (such as the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the St Bartholemew Massacre et al), all historically well-documented if nowadays conveniently omitted from social studies and history textbooks.) I'm referring of course to the legions in their ranks whose lives and hopes have been effectively destroyed and dashed by the glossing over and covering up of heinous evil...the ignoring, sidestepping and wilful ignorance of years, decades, yea - were the real truth made known - doubtless literally centuries, even perhaps (one-and-a-half to two) millennia, of such crimes against humanity.

                But onto the real substance of this posting:

No, methinks, vis-a-vis the ofttimes and usually justifiably criticized and moreover roundly condemned recent ex-President of the U S of A, whose much-vaunted 'War on Terror' effectively only 'upped the ante', metaphorically placing into the hands, and, more's to the point, thoughts and minds of each and every last would-be jihadist, terrorist and supposed 'freedom fighter' - this world supposedly has ever known - sufficient excuse, reason, justification and rationale (yea, all of these 'with knobs on'), for 'taking out' as much 'collateral damage' upon Bush Junior's (and Vice-President Dick Cheney's) own, supposedly condoning, nation and society - 'till kingdom come', and well beyond... .

Anyway, in relation to said ex-President Bush - the second - just as if not indeed even more reprehensibly, though seldom suggested except by the likes of the much-maligned investigative reporter/journalist John Pilger, is or rather was the record in office of George W Bush's father, the first George Bush presidency America was subjected to (from 1988 through 1992). Perhaps like me, into your own cranium, is seared for all time the first ever, live, 24-hour TV war, Desert Storm, against Iraq, or, more precisely, challenging the then Iraqi incursion into and attempted annexation of Kuwait. Well, be that as it very well may, it just so happens to set a rather appropriate setting for why I, like Pilger, view Bush Senior's conduct as so deplorable, or even criminal.

Though now - very recently - feted as 'a bit of a (real) lad' for his sky-diving antics ("down thar in Texas with all ma clan", George Junior et al), and indeed internationally (admittedly, including by Yours Truly), as President, for presiding over the justly-celebrated demise/breakup/disintegration and destruction of the former Soviet Union, alongside its string of satellite states, which perhaps like myself you recall 'falling' like dominoes with exponentially-increasing velocity: from Poland's years, to the next nation's months, to the following one's weeks, to the next one's days, to another's mere hours (well, you get the picture).

Anyhow, laying aside the fact, however unpleasant to some and loath they may be to admit it, that the epoch-changing revolution commonly known as 'the fall of the iron curtain' can much more justly be sheeted home to Bush Senior's predecessor ***Ronald Reagan, methinks said President Bush himself has a very serious charge or two to answer, yes, were it possible, at the International Court of Justice, though one day assuredly at the Universal Bar of Divine Justice and Judgment.

***Who, as American President in strategic alignment with Pope Francis' and Pope Benedict's own acclaimed (and decried) predecessor John Paul ****the Second - as well as, of course, the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev - didn't only preside over but played a decisive role in said epoch-making and altering events.

****Wonder what ever became of Pope John Paul the First? Hey, silly me, there's an entire book devoted to the subject, isn't there, In God's Name by David Yallop, I believe.

The charge being? Just this: not only the then President's elaborate and all too technically dextrous attempt to extricate himself from the fallout of the first Iraq War (which I will shortly detail), but, just as significantly - and awfully for all concerned - his complicity in, nay apparent authorization of, dreadful war crimes therein. To wit, the massacre of some 200,000 surrendering troops of then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Despite a specific, indeed virtually unanimous(ly carried), United Nations' mandate and thus apparent near-global sanction even, for the American attack upon Hussein's army in Kuwait - to free the Kuwaitis anyhow - Bush later constructed an all too convenient and ingenious argument, cited in Time Magazine, to attempt to excuse the subsequent immediate U.S. force withdrawal, or more particularly their failure to 'take out', i.e. assassinate, the brutal, bloodthirsty Iraqi dictator himself. It being against international law and all that sort of thing to specifically kill the leader of a nation. Hey, perhaps Bush Senior was thinking of his own back? Though evidently it was (and is) quite kosher to dispose of hundreds of thousands of its' people, even when they no longer posed any kind of threat (either internationally or regionally) whatsoever. And thus to - if only by default, but don't you tell me Bush Senior wouldn't have been only too well aware of the potential, even probable consequences of so doing - effectively be complicit in Saddam Hussein's subsequent butchering of the Kurdish population of Iraq, using  internationally-outlawed chemical weapons to do so. Yes sirree, the late Saddam Hussein did indeed once not only possess but fully and mercilessly utilize said 'weapons of mass destruction'; that he verily did do. 

And so effectively making himself - by his cowardice at a time of great moment when all the world stood behind him as it were - more than somewhat responsible for all the atrocities that followed for Iraqi citizens throughout the decade-plus remainder of the departed tyrant's reign of terror. (The death total of Iraqis exterminated by his regime apparently numbering over one million by all accounts.)

So may all the world's present-day remaining war criminals please come forward - no, not to be honoured and awarded for your callous and coldly calculated inhumanities, but to plead your case before a world of war-weary peoples and citizenry. I dare you to - though somehow I suspect I'm wasting my breath. Perhaps if 'y'all' did so now - voluntarily, before push comes to shove - the eternal verdict later might perhaps stand you in rather better stead. But since true repentance ever involves a whole lot more than fancy footwork, public relations spin, media-condoned  'porkies' and poll-driven hype, methinks we'll all be waiting awhile yet... . Still, I've no doubt whatsoever Who'll eventually have the very last word. And I'm so sorry to have to be the one to break to you the news that after His oh-so-just deliberations and ultimate everlasting Judgment, there will not be any further appeals possible. Probation will be over - for both time and eternity.

No, our Creator's verdict will stand for time and eternity, and the outcome for all who fall foul of that decision will evidently be not too pretty. Hey folk, I didn't write the script. The Lamb of God slain from the very foundation of this world did, but some day - very, very soon in fact - He's returning to this old world, in great glory...no longer meek and mild, but the All-Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, ready to execute Vengeance upon all who've acted unjustly, yes, however 'religious' they may have once claimed to be... 

In Memory of Our (Aotearoa-New Zealand's) Rainbow Warrior Patriots, Cut Down in their Prime 28/29 Years Ago Today - by French State-Sponsored Terrorism Issuing - Undoubtedly - From the Very Highest Echelons of Power

May I take the liberty - and for that matter likewise employ in my 'defence' those other twin pillars of French society, equality and fraternity - of, *this Bastille Day (down here in the Antipodes, anyhow), 2014, marking the day by noting the anniversary of two pivotal events in our history (i.e. the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand waters - in 1985 or 1986, I believe; and the decisive and epoch-changing general election of the Fourth Labour Government of David Lange and Roger Douglas et al in 1984). And so of saying as follows:

The present-day witch-hunt of ex-President Nicholas Sarkozy, as has occurred evidently with various of his conservative predecessors (Jacques Chirac among others), as well as Monsieur Strauss-Kahn I believe (from the other side of the political divide), is a great if oh-so-effective smokescreen - deliberately intended or otherwise - from the deeds, increasingly discreditable evidently, of the present occupant of the Elysee Palace. But far more significantly, and troubling, of a former colleague of his, a 14-year, two- term-serving President known as Francois Mitterand to one and all, both in France and elsewhere. For that Monsieur Mitterand committed state-sponsored terrorism and indeed murder in the name of the French Republic seems almost beyond controversy these days.

Which is one major reason why New Zealand's own inimitable leader of the day, the now deceased David Lange, was such an ultimate disappointment. Though initially vocal about said event (Rainbow Warrior bombing), out of - perfectly understandable, but nevertheless - fear of the possible consequences, he let his criticisms be rather muted, and failed to pursue Mitterand and his Socialist Government all the way to the International Court of Justice/Criminal Court and press appropriate charges: i.e. against interference by a foreign power in the domestic affairs of God's Own, which interference moreover resulted in the tragic killing of a freelance photographer whose only crime was to be associated with the RW.

But don't expect Monsieur Mitterand to anytime soon, let alone ever be pursued by the French, much less the international, wheels of justice. Admittedly they turn rather slowly, but, more to the point, those who'd be indicted, were things to really operate as they should, would doubtless include among their number a number of previous American presidents and Roman pontiffs, and, as we all know, in this world and in this life such will doubtless escape justice. (Though citizen arrests have been attempted upon both the previous Pope and the then-serving ex-British Prime Minister - whether as war criminals or just plain 'ole international outlaws - while the world awaits 'with bated breath' the moment when Blair's buddy 'Dubya' may also receive such just desserts. But I'm advised to inform you you oughtn't lose any needed shuteye holding out.)

*Crediting National Radio's guest panellist John Bishop, upon their prestigious weekday Panel today, of reminding me of the fact.