Tag: great

The in-laws

There was a 1979 movie starring Peter Falk titled “The In-laws”, and for some strange reason I just remembered this movie. I tried to download the torrent, but it is taking forever. It is just a goofy and funny comedy, but for some reason… it came to mind.

It is available free on the Internet DB. HERE.

And still, I have downloaded the torrent from this site...

Three Cheers For the Guacamole Act of 1917!!!

The premise of this film is really simple: if two families are about to enjoy the union of their children in a marriage, is it not likely that the in-laws involved can come to depend and help each other out in times of need? Most of us would probably say no, or want to know the extent of the help. However, when Vincent J. Ricardo (Peter Falk) asks Dr. Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) to assist him in retrieving something from a safe in Ricardo’s office, Kornpett is willing (if somewhat suspiciously) to do it.

The reason that Kornpett is suspicious is he is not quite certain what to make of Ricardo. They only met at Kornpett’s house the night before, for a dinner party introducing the families of the bride (Kornpett’s) and groom (Ricardo’s) to each other. Ricardo acted…well oddly. He told tales of his business travels in Central America, including how in one country babies are being carried off by huge bats that are protected by the Guacamole Act of 1917. Kornpett hears this with a blank face, although his eyes do bug out a little in disbelief. Later, when Ricardo gets testy with his son over a comment about the former not being home enough, Kornpett can’t believe the near rage that Ricardo demonstrates at the table. So his suspicions about his future in-law seem well based.

Shortly, after being chased and nearly killed by two men who are after the items that Kornpett picked up, the suspicions seem confirmed. Ricardo explains to him, over pea soup in a restaurant, that he actually is not a successful salesman but a C.I.A. operative (a photo in Ricardo’s office confirms this: it is of President Kennedy, and the autograph refers to the Bay of Pigs Invasion). He is in the middle of a critically important mission in Latin America dealing with international finance and a conspiracy against the richest nations. Kornpett hears him out, and is upset to hear that there is more material that Ricardo hid in Kornpett’s home the night before. He wants no part of it, and leaves to go home – only to find the police there. He flees, and does evade capture – at the cost of having his car repainted in a way he never would have wanted it to look.

Soon Kornpett is forced to join forces with Ricardo, and enters the deadly serious but (here) quite farcical world of international espionage and intrigue. At the end of the road is the ringleader of the conspiracy, General Garcia (Richard Libertini) who has a special little friend that makes Al Pacino’s little friend in SCARFACE lethal but sensible in comparison.

THE IN-LAWS is funny. Arkin with his tight-ass repressive personality works well against the free-wheeling, anything goes Falk. Libertini appears only in the films last twenty minutes, but he does equally nicely as the ultimate in screw-ball dictators. Well supported by a cast including Nancy Dussault, Arlene Golonka, Penny Peyser, Michael Lembeck, and Ed Begley Jr. the film is just a laugh fest until the happy ending. As mentioned elsewhere in these comments Arkin and Falk should have made several films together. They have only done one other movie together since THE IN-LAWS. Pity.

What’s the coldest thing a doctor has ever said to you?

‘If you lose this baby, you could always have another one’. The comment above was made by the doctor who my husband and I had a consultation with. I was roughly 10 weeks pregnant with our first child. I was in my mid 30’s while hubby was in his early 40’s.

An elderly man in his fifties, he barely looked at us, ignored me, said hello to my husband, looked at my file fleetingly, a file with tests and scans which showed I had fibroids, looked directly at my husband and said to him, ‘She will be fine’. I was furious that this man was clearly sexist, ignoring me as if I was invisible. I responded by asking what that meant, what was the cause of the bleeding as he had not told us at this point about the fibroids. ‘You do not need to bother about it. That is why we are here’. This statement was addressed again to my husband who he was still looking at while still ignoring my presence.

At this point, something in me snapped and I snapped at him, ‘Look at me and tell me what is causing this bleeding. It is my body and I need the details’. He then slowly turned to look at me as if seeing me for the first time and emotionlessly said, ‘you have fibroids. They are not massive and do not pose a danger to your baby’. ‘But I am bleeding. Is that not dangerous? ‘ I worriedly asked.

That was when he looked at the file and without lifting his head, retorted ,Not really. However, if you lose this baby, you could always have another one ’. I almost cussed the insensitive idiot out but my husband who knew I was fuming at this point, got up and ushered me out of the office while the doctor was still talking about ante natal visits at their hospital. We had heard enough. I went on to another hospital where I met the amazing doctor who delivered my daughter without complications and went on to have a son after that.

She is now a healthy, happy 10 year old who is pure joy and always a little mama to her 7 year old brother.

London Broil

London Broil is a favorite recipe from the Iowa Beef Industry Council.

delish london broil horizontal 1546553273
delish london broil horizontal 1546553273

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 (1 1/4 to 1 3/4 pound) beef flank steak
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  1. Combine vegetable oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper for marinade.
  2. Place steak in plastic bag and pour marinade over it.
  3. Close bag securely and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
  4. Pour off and reserve marinade.
  5. Place steak on grill and broil at moderate temperature for 5 minutes.
  6. Turn, brush with marinade and broil 5 minutes or to desired doneness (rare or medium).
  7. To carve, slice diagonally across grain in thin strips.

10 STOIC LESSONS TO HANDLE DISRESEPECT (MUST WATCH) | STOICISM


Learn something important.

ASML

Here is the reason why ASML CEO said a few years ago that if ASML gave China the blueprint for the EUV machine China would not be able to make it.

This is because all of the core technologies is NOT owned by ASML. ASML is the system integrator that was allowed by the US government to participate in the US government project to create an EUV light source.

This project pulled together many US national labs including Lawrence Livermore Labs, Sandia Nation Lab, Brookhaven National Lab, Lawrence Berkely National Lab, IBM, Intel, AMD, etc. And it took over 10 years to create this laser light source.

This was considered a national security project so Japanese companies like Nikon and Canon were not allowed to join.

The difficulty of this light source and the engineering problems that had to be overcome was as difficult as the first atomic bomb.

So I have to admit that I was wrong in my speculation about using a Rube Goldberg device to generate EUV. They didn’t have a choice. This was the best possible source at the time. It took literally the US, Germany, and some other nation’s best experts to create this light source.

The other parts are relatively easy in comparison.

The problem is that China has also created this light source and using another method so it isn’t so Rube Goldberg machine. Not that it was simple to make. But it is more reliable and you don’t have to worry about residue removal that will mess up your mirrors and the inside of the your machine which has to remain at clean room levels.

Is China creating fear in many Americans because China’s success challenges the American belief that democracy is necessary for a successful market-driven economy and intellectual freedom is necessary for technological innovation?

This is a very good question indeed.

Thank you for asking.

The Answer is yes. Yes indeed the U.S. and the west has been propagating that only western liberal democracy works. Nothing else. Either be a liberal democracy or die says the US. That is of course simply not true at all. And the real truth is simply that the West wanted to install liberal democracy so that the west can easily manipulate it and install a government that surrender its sovereignty to the west in order to manipulate and steal it’s resources to enrich the former colonials.

Now that China proved beyond reasonable doubts and against all odds that it could grow phenomenally and economically dwarfed every other nation, this fear and worry the U.S. mightily. Failure to contain China means failure to perpetuate this lie!

This is indeed worrisome for the west since they the west in general has essentially collapsed in a huge pile of debts. And law and order disintegrates through the western world. With high inflation and a looming recession with countless millions of homeless people living in the streets while their government finance and orchestrate wars. Based on printing money without basis and rampant money creation.

China U.S. out innovating the U.S., it U.S. out thinking the U.S., out growing the U.S. and out influencing the U.S. growing even its military and wealth and out manipulating the U.S. government everywhere on earth. The U.S. wants to stop the truth from being revealed to the world.

It’s Not Just You: American Jobs Didn’t Used To Be This Terrible

My Dad’s Union IBEW is the reason we went from lower middle class to solid middle class in 10 years. Unions are one of the most important checks for capitalism.

Why are Chinese people so satisfied with their government?

Easy – shit gets done.

Government promise something. Give it a few years and it happens.

Some bigger projects like Mao wanting to borrow some water from the south took a bit longer.

OTOH governments like the UK one I lived under… they promise shit, then they say haha you sucker you actually believed me? Fuck you!

Gordon Brown’s QC literally said that election pledges and promises were not subject to legitimate expectation.

Here? Here in Hong Kong? The government construction projects shaved 20 minutes off my commute.

25 years ago they shaved an hour off the commute for the villagers by widening the dirt track that lead to my village and paving it. Then offering a bus franchise nearby so it was connected with the world.

We literally see things happen.

What is something weird that you enjoy doing?

I observed something while traveling.

Most people my age would either be listening to music, watching some TV show/movie in their smartphones/tablets. A very few would be reading a newspaper or book.

I was one of them. I always had music on. I can’t read/watch anything because of motion sickness while traveling on road.

The older generation- they do nothing. They don’t use phones, they don’t talk, don’t read, nothing. They just sit and look around.

I wanted to try this and coincidentally my earphones broke down.

Now it has been over six months. I travel in the metro for 3 hours everyday and do nothing, just look around. This has helped me so much. I observe people, their behaviours. I look around to see what’s actually happening.

It may sound weird but there’s something weirdly enjoyable about it. It feels like living life the old school way. This has helped me reduce the screen time as well.

I have even started recognising the regular commuters. I am sure they don’t recognise me.

Unbreakable (2000) | *First Time Watching* | Movie Reaction | Asia and BJ

Still one of the top 10 best comic films of all time. Its really the first one that showed what the comic genre could do when taken seriously.

This is one of my top, and most favorite movies. It is so meaningful to me. Seriously people. I can relate to this movie. So very much!

What did someone do that made you think they were really smart?

When my daughter was about 9 or 10 years old, whenever she got a scolding from my wife, I would annoy her by doing a chicken dance and do so in a way that ONLY she sees it.

“Mommy! Dad is making fun of me!” she would always complain.

When my wife turned around, I would stop and act normal and go on with my stuff. This went on for a while till it became a game of HER trying to catch me in the act and prove it to her mother.

She would learn to very quickly take out her mobile phone and try to snap a picture of me doing it. I would tease her by dancing until the moment the phone was almost pointing towards me, then I would stop and behave normally.

“I will get you someday,” she said.

“No, you won’t! I am too fast for you,” I replied.

On a particular day, I again did the ridiculous chicken dance, she was rolling her eyes and her hands move slowly towards her phone. I continued dancing and mentally calculating how fast she could key in the pass-code and turn on the camera mode.

Something didn’t feel right, her action was slower than usual, by the time she pointed the camera at me, I had stopped. But she started laughing loudly.

“Guess what daddy? THIS isn’t my phone. I switched the phone cover with mum. MY PHONE is behind you, just above the cupboard, ON VIDEO TAKING MODE.”

Ouch! A full two minutes of myself being ridiculous caught on video!

NOT genius smart, NOT intellectual smart, perhaps a little STREET SMART!

That was my last chicken dance.

How is the Chinese government treating MPOX?

The gay and bisexual men are not as common in China as they are in the West. It is difficult for MPOX to become an epidemic in China.

From June 2 to June 30, 2023, 106 new confirmed cases of monkeypox were reported in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), including 48 cases reported in Guangdong Province, 45 cases reported in Beijing City, 8 cases reported in Jiangsu Province, 2 cases reported in Hubei Province, 2 cases reported in Shandong Province, and 1 case reported in Zhejiang Province. There were no severe cases or deaths.

The epidemic presents the following characteristics:

  • One is that the vast majority of cases are mainly transmitted through male homosexual sexual contact.
  • Secondly, the risk of transmission through other forms of contact is low, and the vast majority of close contacts, except for sexual contact, have not experienced infection.
  • The third is that most cases were found during medical treatment, while a few cases were found through follow-up screening of close contacts.
  • The fourth is that the vast majority of cases have typical clinical manifestations, mainly symptoms such as fever, herpes, and lymph node enlargement, with no severe or fatal cases.

An American Reacts to Why America Sucks at Everything – THIS ONE HURT

This is very good. Really.

It is a MUCH watch. This is the real truth about the United States.

“I’m so glad you made this video because my conservative mom watched it and now she’s starting to wake up. I got screwed over by the “in network out of network” bullshit recently. My employer changed our healthcare coverage, and I had to find a new neurologist and start the “prior authorization “ process for a particular drug that I take all over again”

Is this the end of Xi Jinping, now that he has lost FACE over Qin Gang?

The sheer power of Xi Jingping is the fact that QG has been buried away and cut off in a matter of seconds and China and it’s foreign affairs moves without a single blip

Thats power

Had Xi been weak, a rival faction would have lobbied immediately within the CPC but the fact that China has simply chosen to forget QG and not talk about him shows the power of Xi Jingping

China and CPC knows that today in the hostile atmosphere with the West — Only XJP is the right man to lead China

  • Hu JINTAO would have kowtowed in seconds
  • Li Keiqang would have kowtowed in maybe a month
  • Bo Xilai would have kowtowed in nanoseconds

Xis power is at its peak now

Had QG defected to US and been declared a mole for CIA then yes , Xi would have been finished politically

Yet QG is in China and safe and under the Partys safe hands 😁

So NOT A CHANCE

Have you ever had a premonition that saved your life?

My father-in-law did. He was moving some tools around in his garage and suddenly had a strong urge to move one of the cars, a Subaru, out into the driveway. He tried to ignore this feeling, because the car was not in his way and it seemed like a needless waste of time. But he couldn’t shake it, so he went and got his car keys and backed the car out of the garage.

Just as he had done so and was getting out of the car, a speeding Tesla flashed past him a couple of feet away and crashed into the open garage, then burst into flames. If he’d stayed in the garage working, he would most likely have been killed.

The resulting fire destroyed the entire garage and his other car. It was 9 months before he and his wife were able to move back into the house. But he was alive, and they still had their Subaru. There was no good explanation for the “little voice in his head” that told him he needed to get himself and his car out of the garage.

By the way, the Tesla driver, who was pulled out of the burning car by a neighbor, was uninjured but was convicted of DUI and had to pay restitution and perform community service.

He was suffering from pancreatic cancer at the time, but from that moment his desire to oversee the restoration of the house gave him a new determination in life. It was a very busy and stressful time, during which he and his wife lived in rental housing. At last they were able to move back into the house which had been perfectly restored to its original state, including a new garage of course, new roof, new heating & a/c, new paint and flooring, and every item inside the house had been removed, professionally cleaned, and replaced. It was beautiful. However, his condition declined rapidly after that and he passed away in August 2018, not quite a year after the fire.

The US Plan to KILL Second Citizenship

“As a Venezuelan born in the 90s (post oil-golden era for that country), I know first hand what he means when he says it’s important to have options. I saw how my mother and her siblings were unable to get their second citizenship by descent from Trinidad and Tobago, once things got terribly bad in my country. My grandparents had both US residency and Caribbean citizenship, but because things were going so well in Venezuela in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, they didn’t work on securing and passing along those other options; and their children never thought things would get this bad. It only took less than 30 years to see things turn around for the worst.”

America isn’t an ordinary country, it’s an idea, it’s the very embodiment of democracy, freedom and hope for the whole world, and now China threatens American democracy and freedom for all mankind. How will humanity unite to defeat Chinese autocracy?

For many years now, the USA has been classified as a “flawed democracy”. Events such as the Capitol Hill riots – intended to disrupt the inauguration of your elected President – did not help. A significant proportion of Americans themselves believed that the last election was rigged and “stolen” from them. So how can the USA be said to be the “very embodiment of democracy”? This strikes me as an extremely grandiose and indefensible claim.

As for freedom, the USA comprises 5% of the world population but holds about 20% of the world’s prisoners. With so many Americans literally locked up behind bars, how can the USA claim to be a “free” country? Furthermore your 13th amendment legalises the enslavement of prisoners – and the USA heavily exploits these slaves/prisoners in ways that your own civil liberty lawyers have described as an abuse of fundamental human rights. (Eg US prisoners can be forced into hazardous jobs – such as fighting wildfires – for as little as zero to fifty cents per hour of work). Errrr, seriously, you think that the US is the embodiment of freedom?

What hope does the USA bring to the world? In the past 40 years, the USA has dropped more bombs, fired more missiles and killed more people in other countries, than any other country in the world. In the past 40 years, the USA has killed people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Grenada, Bosnia, Somalia and Uganda. Because of US sanctions, the world was afraid to send even vaccines, masks and ventilators to Iran during the covid–19 pandemic. This is how the US brings death and destruction to the world.

Please stop watching your Hollywood movies where the USA is always the one to save the world from invasions by aliens from outer space. Open your eyes and look at the real world. At least look at your own country. Your people are dying from drug overdose at the highest rate in the world. Your people are getting shot to death at the highest rate among all developed countries. Your policemen are shooting citizens for minor offences. Your cities are littered with homeless people living in tents. Your national literacy rate is collapsing together with your average life expectancy. Medical bills are the biggest cause of personal bankruptcies in the USA; your infrastructure is crumbling and aged water pipes are leaking lead into the drinking water for your public schools. To lead your country, you are choosing between a criminal octagenarian and a senile otagenarian. Your income inequality is vast, with the top 1% controlling more wealth than the middle 60% – let’s not even discuss the sufferrings of your bottom 20%.

The US is the embodiment of … HOPE, you say?! Hopelessness is more like it. The USA is no example for the world – unless we are talking of negative examples.

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

Not so much a rule.

I used to work for a major mail order company; as tech staff I could be sent out anywhere in the country, for which the company would pre-pay for accommodation and pay 40 pence per mile for fuel costs (which was tight-arsed of them, as other companies paid 65ppm).

They also supposedly insured us for using our private cars this way.

People who regularly went out for long trips had a company card to pay for hotels with.

One day they decide they are cutting the fuel payment to 25ppm, and back-dating it SIX months, and also cancelling the company cards – people would have to pay with their own money and claim it back.

This latter move caught a few out who were already out on trips – one guy was unable to pay his bill at a London conference centre, and the staff there were threatening to call the Police.

We also discovered at the same time, that the company HADN’T been paying for the extra car insurance policy, so we were all using our cars effectively with no insurance.

Next day, everyone parked 1/2 mile away and walked into work. “Sorry, can’t go on that job, no car” was the story from every member of the technical staff.

Every senior manager was made to turn over his company car for us to drive around. Even the CEO’s chauffeured Bentley was pressed into service, but it still wasn’t enough; by the end of the first week the taxi bill was running into the high hundreds, and everyone was refusing overnight jobs on the basis they couldn’t afford to pay for the hotel.

It took a MONTH for the suits to cave, and god only knows how much it cost them, in money, customer relations, and the lost goodwill of the tech staff.

Why the American Dream is a Myth

“It’s expensive to be poor” Just…. damn man!

Mediterranean Steak and Pasta
with Tomato-Olive Sauce

Whole-wheat pasta is served with beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks and a tomato and olive sauce. This one will please the adults and the kids in your family.

2023 09 25 15 07
2023 09 25 15 07

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces uncooked whole grain fettuccine
  • 4 beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 4 ounces each)
  • 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives*
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
  • 1/4 cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

  1. Cook fettuccine according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
  2. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place beef steaks in skillet; cook for 11 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook.) Remove from skillet; keep warm.
  3. Combine pasta sauce and oregano in same skillet; heat until hot. Return steaks to skillet; turn to coat with sauce.
  4. Place steaks on fettuccine; spoon sauce over all.
  5. Sprinkle steaks with cheese, allowing cheese to melt. Sprinkle with parsley.

Notes

* You may substitute 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives for 1 (26 ounce) pasta sauce plus 1/4 cup chopped olives.

US loses first round in attempts to curb China’s tech progress; change of course a better option

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she was “upset” when China’s Huawei Technologies released a new phone with an advanced chip during her visit to the country last month but noted that the US has no evidence China can make these components “at scale,” Bloomberg reported. She also said the US is trying to use every single tool at its disposal to deny the Chinese the ability to advance their technology in ways that can hurt the US.

Raimondo’s words are nothing new, but saying that China’s technological advancement “can hurt the US” is a stupid and ridiculous line of thinking. Many American elites refuse to accept that the Chinese have broken through the technological blockade. Radical lawmakers are calling for efforts to strangle Huawei and SMIC, which is not only hegemonic but also an evil way of thinking.

Whether it is ASML, the Dutch manufacturer of lithography machines, or the American chip giants, they do not believe that decoupling can stop China’s progress in semiconductor technology. They believe that China can find alternative methods and its own technological path. However, a large number of American elites are non-technical and refuse to face reality, blindly believing that Huawei’s breakthrough is because the US export controls on technology to China are “still too loose.”

It should be said that Huawei’s breakthrough has to a certain extent undermined the credibility of the US’ technological blockade against China and shattered the collective confidence of the West in this regard. Washington’s current investigation into the origin of Huawei’s chips and attempts to tighten the noose on the blockade against China will only isolate itself.

Because Washington clearly lost the first round, it has to bet even bigger and risk losing the Chinese market for many Western semiconductor companies. Imagine the result of continuing technological restrictions if Huawei makes further breakthroughs – can ASML’s lithography machines still enjoy their current glory? Where will the US-controlled chip production factories find their next market? Just look at the panic faced by Japanese and German automotive giants today in the face of the rise of Chinese electric vehicles. If the current semiconductor leaders are cut off from the Chinese market, who can guarantee that their future situation will be better?

Huawei’s Kirin 9000s is a breakthrough that it was forced to make by the US sanctions. If the US exerts even greater pressure, it will turn this breakthrough into a systemic breach, promoting a highly integrated and strong production chain in the Chinese semiconductor industry. Chips produced in China will also be much cheaper than those produced in the US.

If the US semiconductor industry loses the Chinese market, it will not be as lucky as Google and Facebook. The latter have software advantages that some Chinese internet companies do not have, including the application ecosystem they established by being the first movers. However, semiconductors are hardware, and when Chinese companies like Huawei can provide a cheaper alternative, the situation will be completely different.

A crucial crossroads has been reached. If the US forces China to achieve complete independence in the semiconductor industry, it will have no further cards to play in blocking China’s progress. Moreover, the technological landscape of the world will undergo a rewrite. China now possesses the capital, and we will continue to progress no matter what. It is now the US’ turn to make a choice: continue gambling or change course and resume cooperation?

Expat’s THAI WIFE disappears and so did his fortune $$. Then it got WORSE!

Gosh! This is horrible! You all must be careful.

Awesome Movies – The James Bond 007 classic – Thunderball.

How can movies stand the test of time? I really don’t know. But in my mind, this 007 James Bond flick seems to get better with age. There are so many things that I love about this movie. It’s just stunning.

This movie fits the public narrative perfectly. Men watch the movie as escapist entertainment where they can envision themselves in the same role. Shooting bad guys, seducing women, and looking good while going on exciting adventures all over the world, and riding in nice sports cars.

And, it’s true, too. Women feel the same way in the roles that portray the women as well.

Thunderball - this film's undersea battle is still rated among the top ones of all time - but I liked the "moments"- remembering how everyone on campus had a mink glove or access to one, after this film - fun memory.

And  how many of the "gimmicks" were brand new at the time - the amazing jet  pack flying suit is still a topic of conversation and excitement for  those who now chase the hoverboard;  and then neat "discipline" gimmick  for  the embezzling Spectre agent #9 

- and Domino's brother's lookalike  surgery,  and the bombs and their robbery, and the famous " Do you mind  if my partner rests here for a moment 

- she'd "Just DEAD" when the  villainess is shot by her own men aiming for Bond 

- and then Domino's  "  I killed him - I'm glad I killed him"  line when she gets Largo .  

A  perfectly perfect take from  " you killed him - I'm  glad you killed  him"  quoted from Melanie  in Gone with the Wind , to Scarlett, when   she shoots the home invading soldier as he tries to harm her - "right  between the eyes" as her paw would have taught her. 

- Elle Shopper Lady

The pre-title credits sequence was set in Paris, France at the funeral of JB (SPECTRE operative No. 6, French Colonel Jacques Bouvar (or Boitier)), who had murdered two agents, Bond’s colleagues.

Bouvar had faked his own death (reportedly passing away in his sleep) and dressed up as his own widow (Rose Alba/Bob Simmons).

After the funeral and aware of the ruse/disguise, James Bond (Sean Connery) hurriedly followed her/him to his French chateau, where he fought and then strangled and broke Bouvar’s neck with a fire-poker (# 1 death, #1 Bond kill).

From the roof, Bond escaped by using his jet-pack rocket belt to fly him to his parked Aston Martin DB5 vehicle nearby, accompanied by French agent Madame La Porte (uncredited Mitsouko). He avoided pursuit by activating his car’s rear armored shield and rear-firing water sprayers.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Thunderball has something for everyone. What woman would not be able to see themselves in this role? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

The high-ranking SPECTRE No. 2 villain, white-haired, black eye-patch-wearing Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), was introduced in Paris, entering the building of the philanthropic International Brotherhood for the Assistance of Stateless Persons.

In a large, secret inner chamber, he met for a debriefing with unseen, ruthless Persian cat-petting SPECTRE No. 1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld (uncredited Anthony Dawson) and other SPECTRE agents – “a dedicated fraternity” of international terrorists. 

While  I liked "Goldfinger" a little better, "Thunderball" is certainly a  solid, entertaining and worthy part of the James Bond franchise. This is  especially impressive considering this movie was made over 50 years  ago. In "Thunderball", it feels as though the elements of what makes a  Bond film a Bond film begin to emerge. While some things strain  credulity (by this film, the paradox of James Bond's renown as a secret  agent is becoming apparent), "Thunderball" does a nice job of capturing  the style of James Bond without completely abandoning a sense of  realism. And of course, the Bond women (eg, Domino), exotic locations  and cool cars don't hurt when it comes to coaxing an audience into  willfully suspending disbelief. 

- Norman Oro UCLA 93

One of the agents, suspected of embezzlement, was promptly eliminated by electrocution in his chair (# 2 death) and disposed of into a hole in the floor beneath him.

No. 2, in charge of SPECTRE’s “most ambitious” NATO project, reported that his blackmail plan was a ransom demanded from NATO of $280 million/£100 million pounds – his assistant Count Lippe (Guy Doleman) was in the South of England making preparations, at a health clinic named Shrublands, near the NATO air base.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Getting your top secret orders. Yikes! Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Bond was also at the Shrublands for a rest-cure, receiving a massage from pretty blonde physiotherapist Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters), where he met Lippe and noticed a small, suspicious red tattoo on his left arm (a possible Tong sign – the Red Dragon from Macao).

Bond snuck into Lippe’s room where he found nothing, but was spotted by face-bandaged neighbor Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino), reportedly recuperating from a car crash.

During another appointment with Patricia, Bond forced an unappreciated kiss on her. 

The  title says it all!  I've been a James Bond fan for many years, mostly  for the Roger Moore films but I do like the Sean Connery films, as well  and "THUNDERBALL" is one of them.  I love the film for the beautiful  scenery since a lot of the movie is filmed in the Bahamas.  I also love  the beautiful actresses that play in the film, especially Claudine  Auger, who plays Domino, the main Bond girl.  Boy, is she beautiful,  especially when she's in a bikini, underwater, snorkeling or scuba  diving.  

Those scenes made me resume swimming, completely submerged  underwater, now with a mask & snorkel.  I also like the wonderful  acting job of Sean Connery in his 4th film as James Bond  as well as the  supporting cast.  Also, praise goes to the crew on the fantastic job  they did in making this film, especially Terence Young in his 3rd &  final time directing.  Lastly, I love the fantastic underwater battles.   To sum it up, this is a terrific movie & I recommend it to every  James Bond fan out there because, believe me, you'll enjoy it! 

- Rob Holly

She strapped him to a motorized traction table (“the rack”) to stretch his spine (she joked: “First time I’ve felt really safe all day”).

After she left, Count Lippe entered and turned the controls to the red danger zone to kill him.

Patricia saved Bond after he passed out. She asked for him to keep silent about the incident – his price for cooperation was her seduction in the Turkish steam bath room (# 1 tryst).

To retaliate, Bond sabotaged Lippe’s steam-bath cabinet and trapped him inside. In his room, Bond rubbed a soft black mink glove over the naked back of now sexually-liberated Patricia (# 2 tryst).

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
In this movie we have all the elements of adventure. Weapons, romance, unique and unusual places, and a scheming evil genus. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Meanwhile, NATO’s French pilot Major Francois Derval (Paul Stassino) was being seduced by voluptuous, red-haired ‘black widow’ mistress – a SPECTRE agent named Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi).

When he was leaving for the airbase, a look-alike Major Derval was outside his door, and sprayed him with lethal gamma gas (# 3 death).

The look-alike was SPECTRE agent Angelo, who had undergone plastic surgeries over two years to face-replicate and impersonate Derval.

He had also studied films, reports, and taken voice lessons.

He greedily demanded (or extorted) $250,000 rather than $100,000 to complete the task.

He appropriated Derval’s watch, ID disk, and bag, and departed for a training sortie at the NATO air base. 

This  is my favorite Sean Connery Bond film.  Thunderball is loaded with  style, slick action, great stunts, beautiful scenery, beautiful women,  and Sean Connery.  

This film continued the practice of great opening  action sequence, a 'larger-than-life' villain in Largo/ AKA No. 2  (Adolfo Celi), a collection of vicious henchmen and woman - Count Lippe,  Fiona, Vargas and Janni (played by Guy Doleman, Luciana Paluzzi, Philip  Locke and Michael Brennan), an elaborate plot and a beautiful leading  lady (Claudine Auger who plays Domino)  Bob Simmons, the main Bond  stuntman opens the film as the villainous aCol. 

Jacques Bouvar AKA  SPECTRE No. 6 who is dispatched by Bond.  

The scape by jetpack sets the  stage for the great action film that follows.  Largo and SPECTRE have  downed a UN Vulcan fighter and stolen two nuclear warheads and hidden  them in the Caribbean.  

Bond must intervene before the UN pays a ransom  to SPECTRE.  Along the way, Bond romances, fights on land and  underwater, and finally squares off on a hydrofoil.  

The one change here  is that the villain is not killed by Bond - someone else (Domino)does  that that favor.  

The cast of British actors (Bernard Lee, Desmond  Llewelyn and Lois Maxwell) return as the MI-6 crew with Rik Van Nutter  playing Felix Leiter in this film.  

The hi-lights of this film include  the incredible underwater photography and action sequences, the  villainous and voluptuous Fiona, the Vulcan crash and cover-up, and the  incredible fight on the hydro-foil, the Disco Volante.  

There are two  quintessential Bond scenes: SPECTRE's HQ and MI-6' briefing room which  are a treat for all Bond fans.  

This loud, action-filled and very  entertaining Bond film raised the level that future Bond films would  have to meet.  This one is great! 

- Jaime Contreras

“Derval” commanded a routine NATO flight of a Vulcan jet bomber at 45,000 feet, armed with two atomic bombs (MOS type).

As the noisy plane took off, Bond was still seducing Patricia with the mink glove, although they were interrupted when Bond left to snoop on Count Lippe – who was supervising the return of Derval’s corpse (face-bandaged to look like Angelo) in an ambulance back to Shrublands (it was later claimed that “Angelo” died of a heart-attack).

Bond unwrapped the corpse’s facial bandages, and then avoided a second attempt on his life by one of Lippe’s henchmen.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
James Bond interacting with the office staff. He always has such a way with the girls. You can tell, eh? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

During the NATO flight, “Derval” took the co-pilot’s seat, gassed five other crew members with the lethal gamma gas canister (while wearing a separate oxygen supply/mask) (# 4-8 deaths), and deliberately crash-landed the plane near the Bahamas in the Caribbean.

Nearby, on his luxury hydrofoil yacht the Disco Volante (Flying Saucer), Emilio Largo ordered underwater lights switched on to guide the plane to its proper landing strip location, where it gently sank to the bottom.

Wearing scuba gear, Largo swam to the submerged plane, and cut “Derval’s” air-supply hose to drown him (# 9 death) (punishing him for his extortion demand), when he was trapped in his seat-belt.

From an underwater hatch, three of Largo’s henchmen took a submersible craft to the NATO jet to unload and transport the two massive thermonuclear weapons back to the yacht, and then covered the jet with a camouflage net to hide it. 

We  just recently decided to delve into the Sean Connery James Bond films.  

We went into Thunderball appreciating that it was a landmark film in  terms of cinematography for the time; it's the only film I've seen that  outdoes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in terms of underwater  choreography. 

We also knew that Thunderball wasn't on any top ten Bond  films lists so we didn't expect too much from it, aside from  entertainment. 

It certainly delivered in that department and we were  swept away in an undersea adventure that was tastefully and masterfully  executed. 

I particularly enjoyed that Domino had a bit more complexity  than the standard Bond girl. 

It's not one of the best of the Connery era  but it's certainly a great entry and far, far better than the campy  nightmares that the Roger Moore films became. 

Even though many people  site Goldfinger as the best Bond film of all time, I actually enjoyed  this one a bit more.

-  ashbwell

As the yacht returned to its base in the Bahamas, SPECTRE No. 1 ordered the execution of Count Lippe.

Bond was summoned away (to London), and bid goodbye to Patricia, promising to reunite with her “another time, another place.”

As he drove off, he was followed by Lippe – SPECTRE assassin Fiona also rode behind them on a rocket-firing BSA Lightning motorcycle. She fired two deadly missiles at Lippe’s car, which exploded and crashed, killing him (# 10 death), and then submerged her bike in a nearby lake.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
James Bond negotiating with a pretty evil chick who does not have his best interests at heart. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

In the British Secret Service conference room in an important briefing held by “M” (Bernard Lee), with nine 00- agents in attendance (including Bond), the group was told about recent troubling developments regarding SPECTRE’s possession of two NATO bombs.

A ransom of £100 million pounds sterling was demanded of the British government within seven days – otherwise, SPECTRE threatened to destroy an unspecified major city in either England or the United States (later revealed to be Miami).

To signal their cooperation with the ransom, the Big Ben clock was to strike 7 times at 6 pm the following day.

The problem was that there was no indication about where the Vulcan jet had crashed or landed. 

There  is only one 007, and that is the Scottish actor, Sean Connery. Seeing  this one again over the summer was wild and wooly. Yes, they made movies  a bit differently in the early 60's, but that's ok. With 'Thunderball'  you get what you paid for. 

Relentless action, supercool  locations(Bermuda/Virgin Islands) and ultra sexy 'Bond Girls'. Alot of  the action scenes toward the end are all underwater. Connery has fun  with this installment, as the series was still new at the time. Who can  forget the 'shark scene'? This is first class entertainment, and far  from 'politically correct.'

Everyone who is cool in the film smokes  and drinks, as well. 

Connery appeared in a total of 7 Bond movies. This  one was so good, they re-made it in 1983 and called it "Never Say Never  Again"!  True Bond fans will rank this one high on their list. So sit  back, crack open a cold one and watch the remastered version on your  flatscreen. You will not be disapointed! 

- metalhead Ted

The mission, code-named “Thunderball,” was to work with NATO, the CIA, and all allied intelligence units.

In the briefing packet was a picture of Derval with his sister Dominique in Nassau, Bahamas. Bond was specifically assigned to Station C (Canada), although he requested that his assignment be changed to Nassau.

Bond claimed that he saw the dead pilot Derval at Shrublands (although the situation was confused because Derval was also seen boarding the Vulcan), and he wanted to interrogate Derval’s sister Dominique, presently in Nassau.

With only four days to complete his mission, Bond quickly flew there.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Everyone has to report and defend their actions to the higher ups. James Bond is no exception. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

While free-diving near Dominique “Domino” Derval (former Miss France Claudine Auger), Bond saved her from drowning when her flipper was caught in coral.

Bond and his own local dive assistant, bikinied native Bahamian Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick), faked a conked-out motor and Bond asked Domino for a lift to Coral Harbor, where he invited her for lunch by the pool. 

The  film is different from the recent Bond films, but they are from a  different era and cannot be compared.  Sean Connery is absolutely  charming and charismatic.  Daniel Craig is equally perfect for the  modern 007 roles.

I love 60's cinema, the 70's less so, and the  80's just kinda stunk.  It's film's like this that make me love the  60's.  There are certain special effects that are available for modern  film that weren't around then.  There is a scene where Bond is escaping  with a rocket backpack and you can actually see the supporting cables.   This does not take away from the movie.

I won't give away any  plot points, but Sean Connery is what really makes this movie special.  I  admit to Daniel Craig being my favorite 007 agent, but Connery comes in  as a close second.  If you can tear  yourself away from modern effects  and try to appreciate this film (and the others) for what they are, I  think you will be pleasantly surprised. 

- J.AllenTop Contributor: Poker

He learned that she was the bored, love-starved mistress/kept woman (“niece”) of a possessive “guardian” (Emilio Largo) who owned a yacht and an opulent estate on the island.

He knew her nickname was “Domino” – observed on a bracelet on her ankle.

At a party that evening in a casino, attended by Bond, Domino, and Largo, Bond challenged the villain to a game of cards (with raised stakes to 500 pounds) and won, then briefly shared a drink and dance with Domino, before Largo interrupted and invited Bond to dinner at Sunday noon at his private beachside villa-estate in Palmyra.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
James Bond always has so much fun, now don’t you think? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

The next day, Bond was returning to his hotel room (#304), but avoided directly entering, and came through Paula’s adjoining room (#306) instead.

He listened to a tape recording, hidden in a hollowed-out Nassau Directory.

It had recorded someone’s entry into his room.

With a silencer in his hand, he answered a knock on the door from CIA agent Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter), punched him in the stomach to quiet him before he said 007, and also roughly dealt with Largo’s henchman Quist (Bill Cummings) – scalding him in his bathroom shower before sending the disarmed assassin back to his superior. 

I  fondly remember this movie when seeing all the James Bond -Sean Connery  movies for free with my brothers up in the above theater balcony with  special seating as my father held a second job during that decade  (1960's and early parts of the 70's) as the Motion Picture Machine  Operator.I was pretty young though at the time (just 7 years of age).Dad  was also a Commander too in the long past before I was born just like  James Bond.

I especially liked the C.I.A. Fulton equipped B-17 Flying  Fortress 44-85531 in the movie and pointed that out to father after  watching it on cable television with him a few years before he passed  away in 2004 as he was an Aircraft Commander/Pilot of the B-17's during  World War II.Sean Connery as James Bond was a character that my father  and I too adored.

To me Sean Connery is James Bond and no other actor replaces him as that for me.

Seeing this again brings me back to happier times.
The DVD was shipped quickly and it plays well. 

- x9078ljk4+

At Palmyra, a disgusted Largo ordered Quist – after his failed mission – to be thrown into a swimming pool containing sharks (# 11 death).

Bond met with local MI6 ally-contact Pinder (Earl Cameron) and was taken to a base of operations behind a marketplace, where “Q” (Desmond Llewelyn) provided him with the latest multi-purpose gadgets, many for underwater use.

In approximately 55 hours, the British government was planning to drop the “blood money” ransom (off the coast of Burma) in the form of blue-white diamonds worth £100 million pounds.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
This is an old movie and the technologies are dated. However that in no way detracts from the movies. Instead, it only adds to it’s charms. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

At night, Bond donned scuba gear and swam under Largo’s yacht — where one of Largo’s sentry-frogmen discovered him and fired a spear-gun.

Largo watched Bond struggle underwater, after turning on lights and activating closed-circuit video cameras, and saw that Bond cut the man’s air-hose.

Largo ordered hand-grenades dropped on him as Bond was taking photos of the hull of the boat (with his infra-red camera).

Bond was stunned, but escaped unharmed, and evaded a search-boat – letting them think he had been killed by its propeller.

After he came ashore, he hitchhiked and was picked up by Fiona Volpe (wearing a ring with an Octopus symbol, similar to the one worn by Largo) in a light blue Mustang and speedily driven at 100 mph back to his Nassau hotel.

The photos were developed at Pinder’s base, revealing an underwater hatch beneath Largo’s yacht.

Bond guessed that Largo’s entire operation was concealed underwater, and that the Vulcan plane was submerged. 

Another  excellent James Bond film looking at men of international crime.  A  very realistic villain emerges here in this fourth James Bond film.

 Bond's crime nemesis Emilio Largo has a seaside home in Nassau out of  which he runs a nuclear weapons theft operation.  His small crew are  able to conceal the warheads easily,  and almost escaped detection if it  weren't for Bond's excellent tracking instinct and bravery.

True  to the 007 film franchise formula,  this movie has all the gizmos and  equipment that 1950's and  60's Westerners were convinced would be in  high demand such as hydrofoils and jetpacks and that sort of thing.   Unfortunately the jetpack has fallen into disfavor as a mainstream idea.   Though a lot of the tech in Thunderball has  fallen into disfavor,  still it was very cool nonetheless to journey back through the era  before I was born and see how people embraced the future.

In  summary,  this 007 movie follows on the heels of other excellent ones  that set the bar very high. Also, the underwater photography and ensuing  action sequences are really excellent,  which adds immensely to the  enjoyment of the move.  

I would consider watching this again after a  short time just for the shocking diving action sequences the end of the  film alone. However,  there are other aspects of this movie that kept my  attention as well,  such as the feeling that Ian Fleming's work  inspires us not to underestimate the deviousness and creativity of  criminal minds.  

Though we sent a man to the moon, and are optimists by  nature,  the plot stays grounded in the reality that Bond almost doesn't  prevail at several junctures against a nuclear madman.  

To Fleming,  Broccoli,  and Saltzman's credit, they seem to convey an important  subtlety well: though the MI6 team thought failure was unimaginable,  it  also doesn't mean mission accomplishment was guaranteed, or failure is  impossible. 

- Aye Aye Captain!

The next day (Sunday), a search by helicopter for the missing plane near Nassau was unfruitful.

While shooting skeets at Largo’s oceanside villa of Palmyra, Fiona vowed to assassinate Bond when the time was right: “I shall kill him.”

Later that day as a guest at Largo’s villa for lunch, Bond was shown around and also shot skeets.

Largo bragged about his pool with Golden Grotto sharks (“the most savage, the most dangerous”). Because he was busy, Largo also invited Domino to accompany Bond to the Junkanoo, the “local Mardi Gras” that evening, to keep him occupied.

A sex scene done properly. You do not need to show pornographic activities to titillate. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
A sex scene done properly. You do not need to show pornographic activities to titillate. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Meanwhile, in her hotel room waiting for Bond, Paula was chloroformed and abducted by Largo’s goons (and Fiona).

The assassinatrix noticed Bond’s photos of the yacht’s hull. During the Junkanoo celebration that night, after learning that Paula had disappeared, Bond snuck away (Leiter kept Domino occupied) and infiltrated Palmyra, at the same time that Pinder had requested a power blackout to cut the electricity.

He located Paula being questioned by Largo’s silent, sadistic black-dressed henchman Vargas (Philip Locke) in an underground room. 

Thunderball  is one of the best of the James Bond movies. Although it was filmed in  the 1965, the technology and action scenes still look good 50 years  later (I bought the DVD in 2017). In this film James Bond is played by  Sean Connery, who I think did the best portrayal of Bond. The plot  revolves around the stealing of nuclear bombs by Spectre, the nefarious  group that opposes Bond in several other of the films. 

The underwater  fight sequences are spectacular – even recent films have trouble topping  them. 

The Bond girl in this movie is played by actress Claudine Auger;  excellent casting. A classic Bond film throughout; much better than many  of the other Bond films. I think Thunderball and Goldfinger are among  the best two Bond films made. 

- Lee Gimenez

When Bond attempted to rescue her, he was too late – she had already heroically committed suicide by self-administering a cyanide capsule (# 12 death).

As Bond fled, he shot one of Largo’s men (# 13 death, # 2 Bond kill) to get the group to shoot at each other, and engaged in a fist-fight with one of the men.

The two fell into a second swimming pool (Largo deployed the metal pool cover, and then opened a tunnel hatch to the other shark pool).

Bond stabbed his opponent in the gut (his bloody wound soon attracted the hungry sharks and he was consumed) (# 14 death), and then swam through the tunnel to narrowly escape.

Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
I can see me doing this. Can’t you? (Actually, I’ve done it many times, don’t ya know.) Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

After contacting Pinder and being driven back to his hotel, Bond found Fiona naked in the bathtub of Paula’s vacated room.

After making love with the “wild” woman (“You should be locked up in a cage”) (# 3 tryst), the two dressed up and planned to return to the all-night Junkanoo celebration.

However, Fiona (revealing her true identity as Largo’s assassin) betrayed Bond and held a gun on him, to escort him to Largo’s presence with support from other thugs. 

After  the first three attempts, they finally got all the right ingredients to  making a great bond film. 

A Nato Vulcan bomber carrying two atomic  bombs has crashed in the caribbean, SPECTRE has informed the British  Government that they hijacked the plane's cargo, unless a ransom of 100  million is paid in seven days a major city in england or the U.S will be  destroyed. 

So MI6 calls in all it's agents, but only one will have the  lead. 007,  and awaiting Bond in the Bahamas is Fiona Volpe. 

A SPECTRE  executioner, she's the one who orchestrated the Vulcan hijack, as a  matter of fact, as she and Bond are dancing in a street cafe. 

One of her  men is about to shoot Bond, but he swings her around, and Volpe gets  shot in the back instead of Bond, a very deadly and sexy assassin. 

Paula  Caplain, she is another MI6 agent. But sadly Fiona Caplain and Largo's  men kidnapped her from her hotel room, and Bond was too late to rescue  her. Emilio Largo, SPECTRE number 2. 

Owner of a luxurious yacht, a  niiiiice house. And owner of the two missing bombs, and last but  certainly not least is Domino Derval. The sister of NATO pilot Major  Derval, she is also Largo's girfriend. 

But grows tired of his  overbearing ways, and soon becomes attracted to Bond. As a matter of  fact, she ends up being the one who kills Largo. 

This movie has it all,  the pre-title sequence. Where bond kills another SPECTRE agent, at a  funeral, then gets away via a jetpack. Bond also has his way with the  ladies, but is also decisive when need be, a cold blooded killer. 

This  movie doesn't focus on gadgets, but it does use them. Me personally, i  think this is arguably the better of the early Bond films. 

- Ben Milton

But Bond escaped from their car when they were held up in festival traffic, although wounded in the lower right leg as he ran into the crowd.

He was chased through a carnival parade by five henchmen, and Fiona caught up with him at the open-air Kiss Kiss Club where patrons were being entertained by a female fire-dancer, and a bongo-band played.

As Fiona danced with Bond and asked him to surrender, while steering him closer to an assassin, she was shot in the back and killed by her own bodyguard (with a bullet meant for him) (# 15 death).

The Bad guy with the pretty seductress. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
The Bad guy with the pretty seductress. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

With only about 15 hours until the drop of the ransom, Bond took another helicopter search with Felix Leiter for the submerged plane, spotting something at a shark-infested location called the Golden Grotto.

One shark was shot to distract the other sharks, as Bond dove down with one scuba tank to investigate.

Inside the downed plane, he found the bodies of the dead crew members, including “Derval” (Angelo, the counterfeit NATO pilot).

Bond engaged in a second dive with Domino, an opportunity to become more intimate with her underwater (# 4 tryst) although discreetly hidden when they ducked behind some coral and bubbles exploded to the surface.

Later he commented: “I hope we didn’t frighten the fish” before kissing her.

She stepped on poisonous sea egg spines as they came ashore, and after treating her, he delivered the news of her dead brother Francois, and offered his dog-tag and watch: “It’s a long story and it involves your friend, Largo…Largo had your brother murdered, or it was on his orders.” 

Of  the first four Bond films this one is a powerhouse from the get-go.   Even the pre-credit section gets you going with the music, the art, the  visuals.  Thunderball really put it all together for this franchise. It  was, and still is, literally a thunderball of a production.  Everyone is  included in this and everyone shows up and delivers.  There is a real  serial moving story here from beginning to middle to end.  From the Bell  Rocket Belt, to more of the Aston Martin, to the gadgets and sheer  style.  Who can forget "Huit pour la banque. Pass the shoe."  Bond has  been his best in the casinos.  It is a real education.

This  franchise has always been big on Fords, too, and used the hot car(s) of  the time such as the Mustang.  Part of the "special relationship" we  have had with our British cousins.

I did not see any AMPAS marks  on the jewel box, but there is no way this should not have won an OSCAR  in some category -- especially a whiz-bang technical category.

This surpasses the third very impressive installment, "Goldfinger," and is probably one of the best ever of the Bond Franchise. 

- lidz

As Bond asked for her help and trust, he explained how hundreds of thousands of people might die.

He admitted he didn’t know when the bombs would be loaded on the Disco Volante, and wanted her to detect them with his geiger counter gadget.

Bond turned and shot Vargas (pointing a gun-silencer his direction) in the stomach with a harpoon gun, impaling him to a palm tree (# 16 death, # 3 Bond kill) (“I think he got the point”).

You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

As she was leaving, Domino told Bond about a canal, a bridge, and a flight of steps that led into the ocean, on the far side of Palmyra – a perfect entry-point that Bond soon swam to.

He noticed SPECTRE diving gear stashed there, swallowed a homing device, and awaited darkness.

When Largo’s army of frogmen arrived, Bond knocked one of them out, stole his scuba gear, and swam with the group out to the yacht, where Largo ordered: “Once we pick up the merchandise, head for our target area, Miami.”

Their plan was to retrieve the bombs from a hidden undersea cave compartment with the submersible, and then threaten to detonate one of the bombs at a wreck near Miami.

During the retrieval process, Bond’s cover was blown (he was recognized by Largo), and he was forced to kill one frogman (# 17 death, # 4 Bond kill).

Trapped and stranded inside the underwater cave, Bond looked for an exit and emerged deep in an island cavern. 

While  many rank GOLDFINGER as the best Bond ever, THUNDERBALL has always been  my favorite.  To me it had all the Bond ingredients (gadgets, lots of  sharks, the Aston Martin, scuba diving, gorgeous babes & plenty of  action) as well as a cohesive plot.  Spectre remains one of the most  formidable villains in Bond history, even after all these years.

The  underwater brawl between the Spectre divers and the Navy(?) divers  remains a classic climactic scene in all of the Bond movies.  I'm just  guessing that they were Navy (SEALS?) as usually Army guys are not  trained in scuba operations.

Connery's final Bond movie, NEVER  SAY NEVER AGAIN, was more-or-less a remake of THUNDERBALL.  There were a  few variations here & there, but the basic plotline & many of  the elements remained the same.  This goes to show just how enduring  THUNDERBALL was to the Connery Bond movies. 

-D. Roberts

Back onboard the yacht, Largo caught Domino using the geiger counter “toy” given to her by Bond and threatened: “There is no escape for you.”

He menaced her with torture unless she revealed the extent of Bond’s knowledge, but was called away to activate the bombs.

Onboard a Coast Guard search helicopter, Leiter used Bond’s homing device signal to locate him.

Bond also indicated his exact whereabouts with a red flare gun. A cable was lowered to him for rescue.

Bond warned that Largo’s target was Miami, and that one bomb was being transferred from the yacht to a wreck off Fowley Point.

Bond. James Bond. You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Bond. James Bond. You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

With support from the CIA and the US Coast Guard aqua-divers in red (parachuting from planes into the waters around Miami), an intensely fierce underwater battle was fought near the wreck against Largo’s frogmen-henchmen (in black) (unknown number of deaths).

Bond joined the Coast Guard divers, wearing an underwater jet pack propulsion unit (with high-velocity exploding spear-heads) strapped to his oxygen tanks.

During the bloody struggle, he cut the air-hoses of a few frogmen and also speared one of them (# 18 death, # 5 Bond kill). 

Yes, that's what Bond says to the just bedded villianess
once he's captured. You gotta admire the style of it.

Though a little slow at times expecially in the underwater
scenes this fourth Bond adventure is pushed forward
by the music, the cast, and great locations. 

Bond gets off
lots of good lines and the girl is especially beautiful.
The villian, Largo,is one off the top five baddies in the
series.

The title sequence is one of the best with Tom Jones
Giving his all and falling unconscious in the
recording booth after holding the last note of the hit
title song. Way to go Tom! 

- Paul Kyriazi

Bond then removed his tanks, used his re-breather device, and detonated an explosive canister to kill three more pursuing henchmen within the wreck (# 19-21 deaths, # 6-8 Bond kills), and then helped to turn the tide in the battle.

Blood in the water attracted sharks to the scene, as Largo’s men were routed and then surrendered.

When Largo swam away with two of his remaining men, Bond killed one of them with a harpoon-gun (# 22 death, # 9 Bond kill), and pursued an escaping Largo to his yacht.

Underwater, Bond held on as the Disco Volante weighed anchor (with one stolen disarmed atomic bomb still onboard), but was under attack by cannon-fire from the US Navy.

Largo created a smoke screen and jettisoned his yacht’s rear cocoon to increase the speed of the separate hydrofoil. The cocoon section of the yacht, with a machine gun and deck cannon, exploded and killed all onboard (many deaths, number unknown).

Bond being the quintessential man. Bond. James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Bond being the quintessential man. Bond. James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

During a life-and-death hand-to-hand struggle between Bond, three crew-members, and Largo in the hydrofoil’s cabin, Bond threw one crew-member overboard, and knocked the other two unconscious.

He was saved from being shot by Largo, when Domino (who had changed allegiances), was freed in her cabin by Kutze (who had disarmed the bombs), appeared from below deck, and harpooned him in the back with a spear (# 23 death). 

Can  you imagine a film getting any better whether it is the women,the  villains,the locations or even the plot this one has got it all.One  might think it is outdated now but then look again this film is the  stepping stone to any action movie that is to be made in the coming  years.

Sean Connery stamps his signature yet again as James Bond 007  in the fourth installment of the Bond franchise.Director Terence Young  makes it more tongue and cheek than any other Bond movie.There is no raw  filth or even gore but the story is so perfect that it makes you forget  about its tiny if at all faults.

There are some memorable moments in  this film like the opening jet pack sequence,gunfight at Largo's house  during a blackout and the final underwater battle.Simply breathtaking  and proof of quality film making which today is seriously considered by  Jerry Bruckhiemer/Joel Silver and Steven Speilberg.

Adding to the  movie's good points is also John Barry's superb score which to this day  haunts me as it is quite memorable.I also took a great liking to the  leading ladies because they can not get any sexier to me.

The plot  revolves around Blofeld's organization hijacking nuclear warheads and  demanding a ransom.The beautiful location of the Bahamas a used  extensively where Bond tries to unravel the doomsday plot. 

- Anisha Dharmadasa

(Domino: “I’m glad I killed him.” Bond (relieved): “You’re glad?”).

With Largo death-locked to the jammed steering, they jumped overboard to escape from the yacht’s explosion when it ran aground and struck a reef (# 24-25 deaths, # 10-11 Bond kills).

Kutze was left at sea with a life preserver, while in a yellow raft, Bond inflated a red balloon tied to a rope that was snagged by a US Navy Boeing B-17 plane with a skyhook, and the two held onto each other during their rescue.

Rescuing the girl. All in a day's work for James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Rescuing the girl. All in a day’s work for James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

The fourth film in the series. This was director Terence Young’s third and final direction of a Bond film. (He did not direct the third film, Goldfinger (1964).)

The code name for the MI6 mission, Thunderball, was also the film’s title.

This was originally intended to be the first Bond film but a series of legal disputes delayed its release.

This was the first James Bond film shot in wide-screen Panavision.

The film’s remake was Never Say Never Again (1983), one of the unofficial James Bond films. However, Sean Connery portrayed Bond in the film it was his seventh and final appearance on the screen as the character. He claimed it was his favorite 007 performance.

Lighting up a cigarette while the secret agent beside you has a gun trained on him. This is a scene you won't see today. It's usually the police pointing guns at you, and usually because you are smoking cigarettes. That devil stick!
Lighting up a cigarette while the secret agent beside you has a gun trained on him. This is a scene you won’t see today. It’s usually the police pointing guns at you, and usually because you are smoking cigarettes. That devil stick!

This was the only Bond film in which all nine 00- agents appeared together in London, England, where M summoned them to a briefing about SPECTRE’s plot.

Molly Peters (as Patricia Fearing) was the first Bond girl to appear nude (in silhouette) – in the steambath scene. And Martine Beswick, as Paula Caplan was the first Bond girl to appear in two Bond girls as different characters (she was fighting gypsy girl Zora in From Russia With Love (1963)).

With an Academy Award win, the second (and last win, to date) for Best Special Visual Effects.

With a production budget of $9 million, and gross revenue of $63.6 million (domestic) and $141 million (worldwide).

Thunderball had the highest domestic box-office earnings of the Bond films (to date) – when adjusted for inflation. Its domestic unadjusted gross of $63.6 million was $600 million when adjusted. Goldfinger (1964) was a distant second with $51 million (and $531.7 million adjusted). 

I  wanted to watch the original early films of Bond, beginning with Dr.  No. It's great to see Sean Connery evolve from film to film to become, I  feel, the best Bond there ever was. 

I'm progressing in order from Dr.  No, to From Russia with love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You only live  twice, Diamonds are forever, and the later semi-Bond "Never say Never  again". 

I know many fans of Bond dislike the last film Connery did, but  perhaps they were expecting too much from a then, pretty weathered,  franchise. 

I still have to watch the final two Connery films and am not  expecting too much from "Diamonds" and even less from "Never". 

But that  doesn't take away from the talent and artistry of Sean Connery and I'm  more into those last films to simply watch how he slowly bows out of the  James Bond role forever. 

It's sad film history to watch sometimes, but  I'd rather watch these first Bond films again and again than to tolerate  the works of Roger Moore and the others. 

Daniel Craig is a fresh  approach to the role, but he lacks the warmth and humor that Connery  brought to the role. 

I'd love to see one final film where Sean Connery  has taken over the position of "M" and guides newer agents along, making  them the best they could be. Sort of like an episode of "NCIS", I know,  but it would be entertaining to see, none-the-less. 

- Richard Behmer
What's a James Bond movie without action and excitement? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
What’s a James Bond movie without action and excitement? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Bond Villains:

  • Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi)
  • Count Lippe (Guy Doleman)
  • Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino)
  • Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi)
  • Ladislav Kutze (George Pravda)
  • Quist (Bill Cummings)
  • Vargas (Philip Locke)

Bond Girls:

  • Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters)
  • Dominique (“Domino”)
  • Derval (Claudine Auger)
  • Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick) 
Thunderball  is one of the better James Bond movies in the set of Bond.  I have  heard the rumours about the underwater fight scene being edited but in  my personal viewpoint still an amazing fight scene and very well filmed  for the movie.  

The movie plotline was actual very believeable about  stealing a weapon and holding it for a money trade off in exchange for  where the weapon is located.  

I also would like to add that I thought  Sean Connery was in one of his best phsyical shapes as James Bond base  on the fight scenes and action stunts unless they used a stunt man.  

I  thought every actor did a great job with what they had to work with and  the added benifit of the dance scene and all that music going on very  impressive turn out.  

I look forward to many more James Bond movies and  writing up much more reviews of them to come as I watch them.  So watch  this one with an open mind and make up your own mind weither you enjoy  it as much as me or not. 

- Jack D. Lowry  Top Contributor: James Bond
After killing the bad guys, it's time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Don't you think? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
After killing the bad guys, it’s time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Don’t you think? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Number of Love-Making Encounters:

There were four love-making encounters.

Film Locales:

  • Paris, France
  • Shrublands Health Farm/Clinic
  • (and the) nearby NATO airbase in south of England
  • London, England
  • Nassau
  • The Bahamas and other surrounding islands
  • Miami, Florida
The bad guy with the beautiful chick. A James Bond standard.
The bad guy with the beautiful chick. A James Bond standard. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Gadgets:

  • A Bell Textron jet pack rocket belt.
  • Devices in Bond’s Aston Martin.
  • Angelo’s/”Derval’s” separate oxygen supply and gamma gas canister.
  • Largo’s Disco Volante (with an underwater hatch, hidden video cameras) and his yellow submersible submarine.
  • A modified waterproof (underwater) Rolex watch with geiger counter.
  • An underwater infra-red camera for nighttime photos.
  • A miniature pistol that fired distress signal flares (bright red).
  • A miniature (pocket-sized) underwater re-breather device good for four minutes.
  • A harmless radio-active homing device in the shape of a pill.
  • An underwater jet pack propulsion unit with exploding, high-velocity spearheads.
  • A sky-hook.
Bad guys look great with patches, or monocles. Having a pretty chick in a nice slinky dress helps as does piles of money at a casino table.
Bad guys look great with patches, or monocles. Having a pretty chick in a nice slinky dress helps as does piles of money at a casino table. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.

Vehicles:

  • A silver Aston Martin DB5 (with rear armor shield, and rear-firing, high-pressure water cannon-sprayer).
  • Vulcan jet.
  • Hydrofoil Disco Volante.
  • A gold BSA Lightning Motorcycle (with missiles).
  • Domino’s Boehler Turbocraft dive boat.
  • Volpe’s light blue Mustang.
  • A Bell helicopter.
  • A US Coast Guard helicopter.
  • A US Navy Boeing B-17 plane.

Number of Deaths (Bond Kills):

There were a total of 25+ deaths in the movie, of which James Bond killed 11.

Conclusion

This is a great movie, and fantastic escapist entertainment for men and women alike. Childish millenials need not watch it, as they are far too easily offended by normal adult interactions.

"When arrows meet".
“When arrows meet”.

Not to worry, a transgender, role-reversal Bond flick is in the works. They will continue their narrative that White Males are the scourage of the universe, dumb, stupid and a bane on society.

Don’t waste your money on this new progressive propiganda. Enjoy these older flicks before they are banned from distribution. Because, if history is any indicator, they WILL be banned.

The New “modern, progressive” 007…

You can tell why liberal Hollywood selected her. If you morphed Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama together, this is what the result would look like…

The new "face" of 007. She's modern, she's progressive, and she's LGBT friendly. She is the new woman that will lead America towards the social utopia as promised by the "great ones".
The new “face” of 007. She’s modern, she’s progressive, and she’s LGBT friendly. She is the new woman that will lead America towards the social utopia as promised by the “great ones”.

If you enjoyed this post, please check out some of my other posts in my Movie Index…

MOVIES

Articles & Links

You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.

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Some of my favorite links and browser bookmarks.

Here are just some pretty decent websites, bookmarks, URL’s and sites that I would like to share. I think that there is something here for everyone. These, in my mind, are the “cream of the crop” of underappreciated websites, and some places that you all might want to visit.

My first up is a major personal favorite. I could spend hours flipping though the photos here…

Shorpy

Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring hundreds of thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.

Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s.
Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s.

What is really cool about this site is that you can see what things were like “back in the day”. The visions of everyday life, the buildings, the cars, and the people are just wonderful to browse and explore.

It often carries me back to a simpler time…

Fall 1911. "The village street -- Lee, Massachusetts."
Fall 1911. “The village street — Lee, Massachusetts.”

All the photos are in glorious clarity.

Most are black and white, but some are in color. Additionally, super high resolution photos are available for you to obtain, and put on your wall if you want. It’s a fantastic resource, and super fun. Not to mention, a great way to reconnect with our past.

Here’s another photo…

A tough-looking group and their Essex sedan somewhere in Northern California in 1929. From a box of negatives found in a thrift store.
A tough-looking group and their Essex sedan somewhere in Northern California in 1929. From a box of negatives found in a thrift store.

And the photographs of the buildings are absolutely astounding. Seriously. Why in good-Gods name would these structures be demolished back in the 1960’s and 1970’s? What were people thinking?

New York circa 1910. "Bird's eye view of new Pennsylvania Station." Demolished in 1963.
New York circa 1910. “Bird’s eye view of new Pennsylvania Station.” Demolished in 1963.

The Woodpile Report

Update 28APR21. Ol' Remus passed on. The website is still up but it hasn't been update in months. FYI.

From the beautiful photos to some thought-provoking articles. We go to the Woodpile Report. It’s glorious.

Here’s what it’s all about, from o’ Remus himself…

Woodpilereport.com is an entirely  private information service that is my sole property made available to  others as a form of free personal expression under my de jure Preamble  Citizen’s right as later guaranteed in the First Article in Amendment to  the Constitution. 

Woodpilereport.com is not a “public accommodation”  and it is preemptively exempt from any forced or coerced accommodation,  via legislation or bureaucratic interpretation thereof or any dictate,  directive, or decree by any agency of government or by any NGO or by any  individual under any future “Fairness Doctrine” or similar charade. 

I  reserve the right to refuse service - to wit: to refuse posting,  linking, or mention of anyone or anything, at my sole discretion - to  any person, agency, corporation, or other entity.

Woodpile Report is from the  Hermetic School of websites. There is no advertising, no partnerships,  log-ins, popups, subscriptions, print version, Disqus, feedback section,  tip jar or shop. There are no trackers, cookies, LSOs, analytics or  widgets. Posted links are cleansed of superfluous identifiers.

The woodpile report is a wonderful weekly report by ol’ Remus.

He collects and reads the news and articles from all over the internet. Ones that he finds interesting, he places a paragraph or two and his opinions plus a link. These articles are what are of interest to him, and most lie outside the mainstream media.

As such, each week is a great cross section of alternative (non-mainstream) thought on the internet. There are great links to such diverse topics from canning, to history of old radios, to prepping, and opinions on modern American politics.

It’s all worth a visit. Don’t you know.

Like this here blog, it’s not a well-known and heavily trafficked site, and I think that part of what adds to it’s charms. Go ahead and take a visit, you will not be disappointed.

Here’s an example, as this screen capture can plainly show…

Screen Capture from The Woodpile Report.

But, you know, I do like to look at art and enjoy the beauty and the meaning that lies with in. As such I often go to the…

The Art Renewal Center

The Art Renewal Center was founded by an Art Lover who was perplexed why museums and the “art industry” rejected the works of the old masters.

He wondered why, instead, they embraced the “new, progressive” art without form and meaning. (Such things like turd in a jar of olive oil, and a painting of dog foot prints on a white background.)

So, he built this website, and to his surprise, discovered that others, much like himself, were appalled at the treatment of the old artists, and the embrace of new “junk art”. He discovered that there is a world full of people, much like himself, that loved art for the sake of beauty and poetry. They, like himself, felt deprived as modern “progressive” thought was eradicating real beautiful art from society…

The Art Renewal Center was founded by an Art Lover who was perplexed why museums and the "art industry" rejected the works of the old masters, and embraced the "new, progressive" art without form and meaning.
The Art Renewal Center was founded by an Art Lover who was perplexed why museums and the “art industry” rejected the works of the old masters, and embraced the “new, progressive” art without form and meaning.

He created a website that collected all the known beautiful works of art in the world, and offers them up for free to view and appreciate.

This is what he has to say about the Art Renewal Center…

Leading the revival of realism in the visual arts, the Art Renewal  Center (ARC), a 501(c)(3), non-profit, educational foundation, hosts the  largest online museum dedicated to representational art and includes works by the old masters, 19th century, and 21st Century Artists as well as articles, letters and other online resources. 

The ARC is the foremost and only vetting service for representational art schools  ensuring that the teaching curricula and quality of teacher and student  work meet our strict standards to become ARC Approved™. 

The ARC also  runs the ARC Salon Competition,  which is the largest and most prestigious competition in the world for  realist artists painting, sculpting and drawing today with eleven  categories and thousands of works competing, culminating in a traveling live exhibition of many of the winning works. 

The ARC works with other ARC Allied Organizations™, artist groups, museums, and publications to become a central news hub for the 21st Century Representational Art Movement. 

Read the ARC Philosophy written by ARC Chairman, Frederick C. Ross, to learn why ARC is so passionately dedicated to representational art.

Well, we know now, that the “new, modern, progressive art” is just a mechanism for transferring enormous sums of money. It does this back and forth between the global oligarchy so as to avoid the tracking and banking (read taxation) issues that the rest of us have to deal with.

Never the less, those of us that appreciate art, want to be exposed to it, and share our love of art with others. Thus this site.

Here, you can find many, many beautiful works of art done in the classical sense. This is the stop for beauty and art.

It’s got everything from the old masters…

Napoleon I and the King of Rome at Saint-Cloud by Francois Flameng , a member of the Academic Classical artist technique.
Napoleon I and the King of Rome at Saint-Cloud by Francois Flameng , a member of the Academic Classical artist technique.

To new up and coming artists…

The International Figure Painting Competition is one of a series of competitions held by NTD Television. It is a platform for artists all around the world, to showcase their talents and jointly revive the traditional art of realistic oil painting.
The International Figure Painting Competition is one of a series of competitions held by NTD Television. It is a platform for artists all around the world, to showcase their talents and jointly revive the traditional art of realistic oil painting.

I cannot stress how profoundly important this website is. As such, I am including ” The Philosophy of ARC”. If you agree with this philosophy, perhaps you might want to browse the collections and make a donation and become a member. They are doing great work. I’ll tell you what.

Fine art at its best has the power to move one to tears, or  grab your sensibilities and rivet you in the moment with an overwhelming  sense of beauty and excitement. 

People often report the sensation of  cold chills going up and down their spine. It may be the rare work that  accomplishes this, but for those who have had this experience, many have  credited it as the stimulus that set them on a personal lifetime quest;  whether as an artist, collector or art historian. 

Other human  activities can create a similar experience, whether in poetry,  literature, dance, theatre, or music, but it is the experience of beauty  in fine art and beauty and its relationship to fine art that is the  focus of this essay.         

If you are reading this, in all probability you are one of the millions of art lovers who in the 21st  Century are disillusioned with the Modernist paradigm which for more  than a century has been the dominant way the concept of art has been  taught and presented in nearly all institutions of higher learning  throughout the world.         

If you are like us, it seems more than a little self-evident  to you that works of art have infinitely more to say and communicate if  they portray the real world, or use figures and objects from the real  world even when portraying fantasies and dreams. 

You experience such  "realist" works as infinitely more successful than any Modernist works.  

The success of Modernism seems like a form of mass insanity, a  nightmarish anomaly from which we pray the art world will finally soon  awake.
         
For most of the 20th century, people who felt as  we do, found themselves attracted to fine art in most if not all cases  from having been to museums and fallen in love with a number of works of  art created in the 15th through 19th centuries.  

You may have wanted to become an artist yourself and were channeled by  advisors into fine art courses taught in the art departments of colleges  and Universities where you were promptly told that your instincts were  all wrong. 

That such works had a place in their time, but that modernist  works were far superior. 

What followed was an attempt to change your  attitudes and beliefs and to convince you that works, which commemorated  the destructions of some aspect of what used to be traditional Realism  were the only worthwhile artworks and concepts.        
 
You were never told that these "educators" had never  themselves learned any of those skills needed by all artists during  prior centuries, and so were completely bereft of any of the experience,  skills and knowledge for which you had assumed your tuition bills would  be paying. 

They made you believe that they all could draw and paint but  had chosen to abandon those skills due to some great epiphany.    
     
If you were true to yourself and your feelings and beliefs,  you probably left that "art" department and considered doing something  else with your life. 

Many of you went into commercial art. 

Others became  art historians, but most found other fields entirely. A rare few of you  searched out and found one of a handful of ateliers who actually still  taught the methods of the old masters. To the best of our knowledge  there were 7 such ateliers in 1980 and all of them were taught by  students of  Pietro Annigoni  or  Ives Gammell 1. Both atelier masters could trace their training seamlessly to the 19th century and beyond.         

By 2002 when the Art Renewal Center decided to add to their  website a section of ARC Approved® Ateliers schools the number of such  schools had grown to 14 with each having between 5 and 15 students. 

We  added a map of the world where it became very easy to identify all the  schools and to find the nearest one to any local. Within a few months  the numbers of students able to find these schools started to grow  geometrically, and today, just 14 years later, there are over 100  schools teaching the atelier style training and thousands of students.2 
        
So, what do all these students and educators see that  Modernists do not? And why is it that most educated people who are not  part of the art world seem to also prefer traditional realism?3

It is the purpose of this essay to answer that question in  the clearest most direct way possible, and to thereby help establish for  artists and the consumers of art, a set of criteria by which they can  judge works of art, understand their own preferences, and if needed, to  arm them with the facts, concepts and information to deal with the  modernists, educators and apologists who are constantly attacking and  denigrating the skills and subjects which enable fine art. 

The skills  like with literature, poetry and theatre that enable us to communicate  our shared humanity.  

We will accomplish this by delineating a simple  way to understand and define what fine art is. We will also look in  particular at the aesthetic foundation of fine art as it evolved during  the 19th Century and the Modernist juggernaut which almost lead to its complete suppression during most of the 20th  Century. 

The following information also advances criteria by which to  view artists and movements, and help to determine why some works of art  are experienced as beautiful and successful and why others seems to fall  flat or are even boring. 

It will hopefully also satisfy the needs of  practicing artists to determine what type of art and subjects they wish  to explore and which skills and techniques they will need to learn and  practice in order to accomplish this. 

As in all education, individuals  should ultimately decide for themselves what makes sense and what is  nonsense or babble.      

CONTINUED HERE
The visual fine arts of drawing, painting and sculpture are best understood as a language ... a visual language. Very much like spoken and written languages, it was developed and preserved as a means of communication. And very much like language it is successful if communication takes place and unsuccessful if it does not.
The visual fine arts of drawing, painting and sculpture are best understood as a language … a visual language. Very much like spoken and written languages, it was developed and preserved as a means of communication. And very much like language it is successful if communication takes place and unsuccessful if it does not.

Fark

Fark is what Free Republic should of evolved into, instead of being bought-out by progressive liberal interests. People post links and a sort introductory paragraph, and others comment on it. It’s clean and just getting started. It has a lot of potential, and a healthy dose of sarcasm.

On Fark, people post links and a sort introductory paragraph, and others comment on it.
On Fark, people post links and a sort introductory paragraph, and others comment on it.

Archie McPhee

This is a store, but… what a store!

Boys like being mischievous and playing tricks. It’s a boy thing I suppose. (I just don’t remember any girls doing these types of things. Though, I am quite sure that they were involved in more cerebral activities playing “head games” with other girls.) Boys like to see the physical results of their torment. They want to see girls react in horror to a toad. They want to light firecrackers outside people’s bedrooms, and set bags of dog poo on fire on people’s porches.

Advertisement for toys and gadgets inside a vintage comic book.
When I was growing up, we would find these types and kinds of advertisements inside of our comic books and magazines. They would be full of all kinds of fun things to amuse a young child.

I remember as a boy how we had somehow come across a gadget catalog that was advertised in the back of one of the comic books that we would often read. You know the kind. Pages and pages of things like magic tricks, pranks, books on Black Magic, fake (pellet shooting) fingers, trick buzzers, masks and ”pea shooters”. As a kid, we loved it and wanted everything. We must have circled over a hundred items in that catalog.

I think that it is an interest of growing children to expand and explore these tricks and devices of prankster humor. Too bad that the days of yodeling pickles are long gone. Indeed, you need to leave the ultra-sanitized United States to find some politically incorrect playthings for your child to enjoy.

…Or, do you?

Let me introduce the reader to the Archie McPhee store.

This is the kind of place that is a young boy’s wet dream. Inside the store (physical as well as the Internet version) are absolutely enormous assortments of useless pursuits. They’ve got boxing nuns and bacon scarves. They’ve got yodeling pickles and finger hands. Don’t know what a finger hand is, well then go HERE to find out. They have stuff that only a madman could think of.

“Less talk. More monkey.”

How about rotisserie chicken flavored candy canes, emergency inflatable toast (why?), rubber chickens (big and small), and propeller beanies. Ah we all wanted one of these as a kid. They have trick gum, Holy toast, and bags of busted businessmen. They carry x-ray glasses (yes, you wanted these didn’t you?) and hypno-glasses, wind-up lederhosen, and strange action figures to include horrified movie victims. They’ve got everything from plastic arks, to singing fish. It’s a childhood delight. This store brings out the little kid in all of us. It’s many things, but above all, it’s the go-to place for plastic poop.

I just can’t stop! It’s such an amazing place.

“If there’s a heaven for the deranged, Archie McPhee is probably it.”

-Josh B in Seattle

How about vinderhosen, an emergency Santa kit, crime scene sandwich bags,  and classic disguises. What about underwear for your pet squirrel, inflatable turkey (again, why?), and contemporaneous prayer cards. Here is probably the only place where you can find cool World War II occupation money. How about medical posters from India, they’ve got religious themes, cat themes, food themes, mad scientist themes, and themes that defy description. I am not at all kidding!

The Archie McPhee store in Seattle.
There is a store in Seattle. The rest of us are limited to visiting their (most comprehensive) website.

Do yourself a favor. Let your child buy something from this store. Give them ten dollars to spend, and wait while they go back and forth, back and forth deciding what to buy. It’s all in good fun.

SOTT (Signs of the Times)

Sott is another collection of articles. This one tends to be on the intellectual side, with occasional forays into human interest.

Sign of the times screen capture.
Sign of the times screen capture.

Collective Evolution

Here are some great articles that are out of the mainstream, yet do not fall under “doom porn”, ‘Global Warming” or “Reptilian Government secrecy”. LOL. Maybe some of the articles are out there, but they do make you think. And at that, it’s a good thing.

Collective Evolution
Collective Evolution.

Leenks

Leenks is another website where links are posted. These links tend to be entertainment links, and includes porn, memes, and articles worth a passing glance. If you are bored, this site will give you a ting or two to look at.

Leenks screen capture.
Leenks screen capture.

Ace of Spades

This is a reasonably decent conservative site with great links and organization. I tend to visit it from time to time to get my American-insanity political fix.

Ace of spades screen capture.
Ace of spades screen capture.

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.

Mongolian Women under Genghis Khan
The history of how Australia obtained Sheilas; the story of The Lady Juliana, The 18th-Century Prison Ship Filled With Women. This is the story of the Lady Juliana. This was a special ship designed to convey female convicts from England to Australia. The idea was that a boat load of female convicts would happily link up with a colony of convicts in Australia. Thus making everyone very, very happy, and reform the colony in New South Wales.
What is going on in Hollywood?
Why no High-Speed rail in the USA?
Link
Gaslighting
Link
Link
End of the Day Potato
Dog Shit
Tomatos
Link
Mad scientist
The Navy is scrapping the F/A-18 Hornet.
Gorilla Cage in the basement
The two family types and how they work.
How to manage a family household.
Link
The most popular American foods.
Soups, Sandwiches and ice cold beer.
Pleasures
Work in the 1960's
School in the 1970s
Cat Heaven
Corporate life
Corporate life - part 2
Build up your life
Grow and play - 1
Grow and play - 2
Baby's got back
Link
A womanly vanity
Army and Navy Store
Playground Comparisons
Excuses that we use that keep us enslaved.

More Posts about Life

I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.

Being older
Things I wish I knew.
Asian Nazi Chic
Link
Travel
PT-141
Bronco Billy
How they get away with it
Paper Airplanes
Snopes
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
1960's and 1970's link
The Confederados
Democracy Lessons
The Rule of Eight

Funny Pictures

Picture Dump 1

Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.

Be the Rufus - 1
Be the Rufus, part II. More tales of heroism.

Articles & Links

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