There could be many titles for this post.
What Goes Around Comes Around
Turn of the Screw
The Circle of Time
Day of Reckoning
In 1605, Robert Catesby, Community Organizer, figured "enough was enough" and decided to blow up the British Parliament, up to and including the king.
You have to admire a man for being thorough.
He tasked ace henchman Guy Fawkes for the job because of his military background and explosive personality. Alas, some pansy-ass liberal peacenik clued in the authorities and the plot was foiled. Fawkes was hanged, and ever since then November 5th has been celebrated as 'Guy Fawkes Day' in Britain, where everyone spits on his grave and thanks the heavens above that such a terrible tragedy was averted. That's why the above poem was written. As a reminder.
At least, that's how it used to be.
But with the continuing corruptness and atrocities conducted by every government in the world since that day, and with it only getting worse and worse and worse, the tides are slowly turning.
And now, the poem is a reminder of something else.
Click on the symbol on the player's tool bar to display full-screen
The above is from the 2005 movie, V For Vendetta. The fear he speaks of is also the centerpiece of Michael Crichton's book on the global warming hoax, the appropriately-named State Of Fear.
So here's to Guy Fawkes. ("clink!") Or, as one wag called him, "The last man to enter Parliament with honorable intentions."
More notes, chit-chat, and other meaningless drivel below the fold.
First off, if you don't know who played the lead and thought his voice had this wonderfully interesting cadence and pitch to it — and you know you've heard it somewhere before — think Lord Elrond from 'Lord of the Rings' and Agent Smith from 'The Matrix'. That great voice control he has totally made those two roles, as it does here. It's just IMHO, of course, but if James Earl Jones had the Great Voice of the last generation of actors, Hugo Weaving has my vote for the present generation.
A great clip of him in 'Lord of the Rings' is here. Double-click on Media Player after it start playing to open it to full-screen size. Headphones are recommended because of the cool music track and special effects. (sorry, Mac users, it's a WVX/WMV video and may not play on your rigs)
And I heartily recommend the movie. Apart from it being a 'message movie', it's a pretty good yarn in other ways. And the swordplay is some of the best you'll see. I could have done without Natalie Portman (I think she peaked in 'The Professional'), but she did a credible job. They did a superb job casting the good guys and bad guys, and the music track is excellent. And, as you saw in the above clip, the editing is razor-sharp. There are a handful of story lines developing along the way so it always has that fun 'busy' feel to it.
Second, if you think it was pretty ballsy of Hollywood to put such an anti-establishment message in a mainstream movie, consider who was president in 2005.
Yeah, I figured that would end any further discussion.
Historical Notes:
— This is where we get the word "guy" from. After the infamous event, it was used as an extremely derogatory word, kind of the local version of "asshole", but time has washed it clean.
— One oddity in the story line is that there were something like 26 men involved in the plot, yet Fawkes was the only one caught planting the gunpowder. So, what were the other 25 guys doing? Hanging out at the airport waiting for a flight to Rio?
— Because of the heinous nature of his crime, Fawkes was sentenced to be 'drawn and quartered', which means first the person is hung by the neck until almost dead, then his limbs are pulled off. They really knew how to party back then, eh? The sly Fawkes (get the pun?) cheated the hungry mob by leaping off the stage and snapping his own neck, doing it his way to the end.
Well, happy Guy Fawkes Day, everybody. Be sure to spit on ol' Guy's grave.
Unless, of course, you're one of us.
