This is just too icky and sad

[rozk]

I feel slightly soiled from reading this particular bit of gossip - Supposedly this is what Bin Laden does in his spare time Copied from Avedon

Where is Charles Grey with a white Persian cat on his knee? Or Stalin listening to Mozart as he lay dying? Standards have declined, I tell you, standards have declined.

****

And farewell Caligula, as played by John Hurt, a performance that goes on giving right to the end. Venus, sea-shells, dice, swapping Homer quotations, giving his uncle Messalina as a joke.

Now poor old Clau-Clau is emperor. In a way, it is a shame it doesn't end there, because most of the best bits are over by then.

When I first read the books, as a kid, the worst thing I could imagine - and it is pretty bad - is the rape of Sejanus' daughter because they couldn't kill a virgin. I hate violence and treachery, but what I particularly despise is the legalism with which people justify their crimes. And the crimes they support.

This applies to Blair and Bush over the Lebanon, but it also applies to Qaradwi. and this is the man Livingstone wanted to ask to London People die in agony because this fatuous academic thinks it would be a neat idea and is what God wants. Heaven knows I wouldn't want to hurt the old fool, but I would cheerfully throw a drink in his face were I ever to be in the same room.

Comments

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that once Augustus is out of the picture, it's not as good, and certainly once you've lost Livia and Caligula, it's almost a different series (were they running out of budget by this point?). Mind you, I suppose it can be argued that Claudius the God is not quite the novel that I. Claudius is, though there's little to distinguish them.

Putting Up Pompeii! on before, rather than after, may be a scheduling mistake, though ...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yep, any self-respecting supervillain would make sure that she was in no condition (piranha pool, alligators, sharks with fricking lasers) to sell her revelations. Standards are definitely slipping.

Anyone claiming to know what god thinks gets handed over to the men in white coats if I ever become the Evil Overlord. Clerics who say that they're making an educated guess may be allowed to stay around.

vision-free leadership

[(Anonymous)]

Do you recall what Hussein had on the wall of his palace's Naughtiness Room? A Rowena painting (almost certainly a knockoff).

There's a story -- John Romer tells it -- that a young architect went to Alexander with a plan for a new city. A mountain would be carved into a bust of Alexander, and the slope down sculpted into an arm, with canals for the veins. At the base, the city would literally rest in the king's palm. Alexander understood that this was an impossible project, but he rewarded the architect, and told those around him, "This is the kind of man I want. He has a vision of great things."

We have leaders who draw their imaginings from popcult images, and very specifically don't want anyone with a bigger vision than theirs to be allowed in the room. (PNAC, let it be noted, is not a large vision; it is a tiny-minded view of Running Everything from the Playstation gamepad. With cheats enabled.)

I seem to be all rantyfying this week. Will probably get better.
JMF

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Bin Ladin - Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

IC rocked.

[debg.livejournal.com]

Heaven knows I wouldn't want to hurt the old fool, but I would cheerfully throw a drink in his face were I ever to be in the same room.

You're nicer than I am, beloved. I would personally like to batter him repeatedly with rocks, or smack him in the head until I saw some evidence of brains. Since it appears he hasn't got any, that could take a good long while.