The Great by Tony McNamara – with a look at the legacy, The Small who is now on the throne in Russia, the dictator that tries to become a czar and re-create the old empire, mass killing innocents, women and children - 9 out of 10

 

The Great by Tony McNamara – with a look at the legacy, The Small who is now on the throne in Russia, the dictator that tries to become a czar and re-create the old empire, mass killing innocents, women and children

9 out of 10

 

 

Vladimir Putin is such a terrible jerk that he spoils the pleasure of watching The Great…well, he does not eliminate it, but his atrocities do cast a large shadow over what is otherwise a splendid, humorous, creative, sardonic, often outré perspective of the land of the crazy czars, merciless killers and extraordinary people

 

The feeling that one can get after watching some episodes of The Great – surely available on HBO Max, somewhere near you – is something along the lines of ‘all right, this explains what we see now, albeit Ukraine and the vile invasion launched by Russia has pretty much taken second place, or disappeared from the news

The massacre committed by monstrous Hamas in Israel, where they have killed over fourteen hundred human beings, many of them women, children, old civilians, and the response from the Israeli forces have taken the main spot, and this is a calamity that could provoke more chain reactions from other lunatics

 

As it is clear by now, these lines venture into alien territory, so let me just stop for a moment, say that I am enjoying The Great, notwithstanding the background that is hostile to many (if not all things) Russian - it does help that this is not really made there, and history is actually played with – but you could stop here

Indeed, there is no audience to speak of for these notes, and it makes sense, only seeing the reality, I did not bother with spoilers, and one ‘reader’ complained about it, so there it is: Warning, spoiler alert, disclaimer – you are doing this at your own peril, it is not interesting, felicitous, mirthful, and goes to what bothers me at the present

 

Looking at Catherine the Great one has mixed feelings – or it could be just yours truly – for on the one hand, she was so much better than the other czars – called The Great, right?- that we could say, well, why have they ignored this role model, and went for the likes of the Terrible, or nowadays, little Putin

Furthermore, they have not stayed within their fucking borders – they are now killing innocents in Ukraine, and ready to replicate that elsewhere, if idiot Trump wins the American elections next year, ales bules, which as far as I now means it is finished in Romanes, or gypsy – and exported their calamitous system to other places

 

Ergo, we have had Ceausescu here, until 1989, when a Revolution took place, and I will mention my role in it at the end of the note, with a link to the copy of a Newsweek article, which will be shown to my grandchildren, if there will be any, boasting of the (minuscule) participation of their ancestor in the rebellion

 

Catherine the Great was not without flaw, but then who is, she is portrayed in a book that is fundamental, To The Hermitage, by Malcolm Bradbury, who writes so many glorious ideas, one of which will be mentioned at the mentioned end of the lines, because it is a favorite and underlines how Great characters of good fiction are, they are much more interesting, the lives in excellent literature are way more worthy of our attention than what happens around, where you have folks that idolize the new czars, from Russia to China, Trump in America, and the list is so long, it does not make sense to put it here

At least the rulers of some centuries ago have not taken to lying so bluntly as the would be czars of our times, for instance, they have arrested these days the lawyers that have tried in vain to defend Alexey Navalny, the leader of the opposition in Russia, who is imprisoned and will stay there for as long as the tyrant is in the Kremlin

 

Secret agents from the GRU have placed Novitchok, a military grade, forbidden poison, into the underpants of the brave dissident, and then claimed that ‘he did it to himself’, which is so much garbage, if the man were to commit suicide, and decided to go for this kind of thing, this substance would not be available for him, it is their army and the GRU that has access to it, and besides, Navalny has caught the authors confessing over the phone

The Great has had these things in the open, when a rebel had to be executed, he gave the order, not like in this fiction, but clearly, they would just assume the decision, and not lie about it and say it is the aliens, the present rulers are innocent…then we have the horrific killing of Alexander Litvinenko, in London

 

A documentary looks at this and the way this Putin - who is the opposite of the Great, his shortness could have contributed to a Napoleon Effect or Complex, but what matters is that spiritually, this is a Gnome, The Small, The Worm, would be more appropriate for the despot – has made killing his occupation

Then he used jail and the threat of it to become the richest man in the world, he had placed Hodorkovsky, once the wealthiest tycoon, in a cage (this is how they do things there, with humans in cages) then sent him to prison for years, with the message for all the other oligarchs that either they surrender, or it is the same fate for them, and the deal he offered is half the fortune from each, or nothing for them, except the internment camps

 

It is thus a tragic and comic situation, when you watch The Great, because you have humor there (and the ghastly customs, plus the jokes that are cruel) and when you think of what happens now, you have the Super Villain in charge in the Kremlin

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”