I Can See We're Going To Need Definitions Here
Conrad did have an alternative title, which is not going up on public display today as it might get me sued for defamation. I would win, yet it would take a l
ANYWAY I need to explain about 'Shill', which has no presence in either my 'Collins Concise' or 'Brewer's', so I have resorted to teh Interwebz. Art!
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| Unfortunately |
We'll come back to that. Meanwhile -
Definitions from Oxford LanguagesLearn more
- an accomplice of a confidence trickster or swindler who poses as a genuine customer to entice or encourage others."I used to be a shill in a Reno gambling club"
Conrad gave up on "Empire" when it awarded that cinematic turkey "Indiana Jones And The De-Aging Technology" a four-star review for a one-star film. You remember Indy 5, don't you? Perhaps not. It was phenomenally expensive, at least for 2023, costing $300 million (plus promotion, advertising and distribution) and made less than $200 million globally. Proof that one can polish poop but the shine won't last.
Why did "Empire" blatantly lie and deceive about a wretched gangrel of a film that ought never to have been made? Because if they told the truth the studio would be angry with them and cut off any future perks or exclusives. Hollywood loves a winner even if it's pretending and they don't like the truth if it's uncomfortable. Art!
More pop culture references for you: 'Jumping The Shark'.
Now, having got into full creative flow, I have to get back to definitions, because this is one I looked up earlier, so I know it exists.
"Sycophant: a person who uses flattery to win favour from individuals wielding influence" which is derived from the Greek for 'Fig' 'Sukon', and 'To show' 'Phainein' because dried fruit is evil or somesuch. I hope not, I've been adding a few raisins to my porridge of a morning.
Moving swiftly along, we come to 'Ryan Kinel - RK Outpost'. Ryan's vlogs are not always SFW as he throws in the occasional swear when he gets ramped up. Art!
Plus, his rants are never more than five or six minutes long as he knows the value of brevity. One thing he does harp on about is The Media Shilling For Films, which Your Humble Scribe usually sighs, rolls his eyes at and moves on. Because that's just one of RK's personal foibles, right?
Well, no. Art!
'Screen Rant The Sycophant' was my alternative title for today's blog. Catchy, hmmm?
"Ryan, Screen and now Confused Old Man - there's a lot of ranting and tanting going on today," I hear you quibble. Excuse me, whose blog is it?
Thank you.
Conrad, skipping lightly onto an anecdote that I cannot fully recall, remembers that when the final box office for "The Marvels" came out it was in the region of $300 million, for another terrible film that cost $300 million. Some shill film reviewer promptly claimed, in print, that it had therefore broken even, toot the horns, rattle the drums -
Except NO, because once again studios only get back 50% of the box office takings, and on top of that $300 million expense one needs to add another $100 million for promotion, advertising and distribution. Art!
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| Undoubtedly cheaper and probably more entertaining |
Back to 'Screen Rant'. "Rachel Zegler's second-highest grossing" film sounds verrrry impressive, doesn't it? What they don't tell you is that Rachel has only made five films. O! how careless of them, one might think, except Ryan has actually caught them shilling for this worthless farrago of a film. "She deserves so much more" is naked favouritism because what she deserves is a kick up the bottom. Ryan pointed out that the two stars of the quite terrible 'Minecraft' film, Jack and Jason, kept their mouths firmly shut when it came to personal politics, and thus did not alienate potential audiences. But did make shedloads of money. Art!
It's like the old Soviet joke, where the American runner beats the Soviet runner, and Radio Moscow proudly states that the Soviet runner, having put his heart and soul into the race, came second, whereas the American <dubbed boohs are heard> came in next to last.
Conrad is now dubbing this publication "Screen Sycophant". Ha! Take that!
A Casey Of Whisky
Yes, more shenanigans about whisky, this one still being on-going. It concerns one Casey Alexander, which is where this item's title comes from. Art!
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| The scoundrel in question |
This one is interesting in that the criminal-in-charge above is British, but the scam was being carried out in South Canada. As mentioned on a couple of forums, doing business abroad is a BIG RED WAVING FLAG, as criminals try to make detection of the fraud harder.
So, matey and his minions spent their energies in cold-calling elderly investors, offering the usual gigantic mark-ups that simply don't exist in reality. To the tune of $13 million, so no small potatoes here, more a very large tuber. When people wanted to withdraw their money, they were either ignored or fobbed off with nonsense. Conrad is unsure what the long-term goal of this scam was, because it didn't seem to exhibit legs.
Enter an annoyed Idahoan, who got fed up being given the run-around and contacted his local police department. Mister Casey might have shrugged at this turn of events, win-nearly-all-lose-a-single-one type except the locals contacted the FBI, and the Feds are not people to shrug at, at all. Art!
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| "Wire fraud". Thank you AI Art Generator. Thank you so much. |
The Feds, doing what they do so well, 'persuaded' another criminal to pretend to be an investor, allowing them to get the skinny on Casey The Crim, who was slated to visit Idaho. Possibly thinking about winding-up his scheme.
Surprise! he was arrested by the FBI when he flew in, charged with wire fraud, plead guilty, paid a $50,000 bail and is now to be sentenced in July. Looking at a potential 20 year sentence. Tee hee!
The Grumpiness Will Continue
More proof, were it needed, that the Teuton army abroad in 1944 was not the same steely instrument it had been in 1941 or 1942. Conrad remembers a Dutch woman complaining to a Teuton officer in 1940 that one of his men had stolen her bike; he tracked the thief down and shot him dead on the spot. Subtle-sub text: no looting.
16 September 1944
Model's appeal to the troops is made known to us. Anti-aircraft platoon is very busy plundering the chateau. The cattle-dealer goes to the hospital because he fell from his bicycle. On purpose? A 21-year old lieutenant from the Hitlerjugend battle school is his successor. He needs four batmen!
Conrad's Commentary: No, we are not talking about Bruce Wayne, here. A 'Batman' in military parlance is a personal servant for an officer, one whom carries out numerous minor tasks to lighten their officer's load. One is a luxury; four is pure selfishness and would be expected from an extremely entitled Guards officer! Note that there are no consequence for looting the chateau.
What's This?
And why did I only discover it mere minutes before finishing my lunch break? Art!
I am going to have to do a bit of digging and get back to you about this. Is a 'motion comic' what they did with 'Watchmen' and a single serial of 'Zero-X'? because if so then it's a kind of unholy hybrid of stills and animation. We shall see.
Evidence
Last night Your Humble Artisan made another diabetic recipe from Worrall-Jones' cookbook: Involtini in Ragu. I had to improvise as there was only a single sirloin steak, so the pork joint did service in pretence. Art!
I just had a portion for lunch and it's very tasty, as it would be when there are five cloves of garlic in it and the whole thing spent two hours cooking in the oven. What's that song lyric? don't stand so close to me.
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