The Magnificent Century Season 2

A review. 

Well, it did take me a long time to finally finish watching it, but keep in mind it is 39 double episodes. It starts with Leo's murder/suicide and ends with the iconic scene of the triumph of Hurrem. Because it's so long it's difficult to write a short review. I guess it could be summed up in a couple of sentence like this: A group of evil murderous psychopaths is trying to get rid of another group of evil murderous psychopaths by all means possible, with some characters changing their allegiance in the process. The stage is being set for the final power struggle which will take place in the last season.

All the characters who were more or less sympathetic in Season 1 change for the worse. By the end of the season there are few of them who never shed innocent blood. Basically, it's Prince Mustafa, his aunt Hatice-sultan and strangely enough, his mother Mahidevran (but not for the lack of trying). Mustafa is basically too good for this world (as someone pointed out in comments, he even sleeps with women out of pity) which will ultimately bring his downfall in Season 4. As for Hatice, I guess she just really didn't have it in her. She is literally the epitome of a pampered, sheltered, spoiled royalty (I am the dynasty. You serve ME;)

The story goes as follows. After her boyfriend Leo's death, Hurrem is obsessed with taking revenge on Ibrahim. For this purpose, she starts visiting an astrologist and black magician who gives her deadly poison. In the meanwhile, Sultan Suleiman is falling for Princess Isabella of Castile who is kidnapped by a pirate while sailing to meet her fiance and consequently sold to him. Her disappearance is one of the riddles of the series. What did really happen to her? Did Hurrem have her killed or just exiled? My bet is she was murdered, btw.

Ibrahim survives the attempt on his life but there is a conspiracy brewing against him led by the mysterious figure called "His Holiness" (or Master Lord in another translation). At the same time Hurrem realises that her position as the chief consort is really shaky and does her best to trick Suleiman into marrying her, with success. This and Isabella's disappearance finally turn Suleiman's mother (also known as Valide or Royal Mother) firmly against her. The power struggle between them will continue for years.

After the wedding takes place, Mahi goes into exile together with her son. When she returns, Mustafa is basically an adult and she decides to choose a concubine for him. Little does she know, that the girl she chooses is Hurrem's spy and a would-be assassin. Ibrahim, in the meanwhile, is banging his best friend's wife Nigar while telling his wife Hatice that his frequent absence at night is due to the "state business"...

There are several other subplots but this is basically it. From what I read, when the show just came out, it was widely criticised by conservative elements in Turkey for its licentiousness. A big part of action takes place in a br8thel. This br8thel is basically visited by everyone, including eunuchs (except Suleiman, that is). Eunuchs and Nigar's husband Nasuh efendi basically just go there to get drunk (that's where Nasuh spends his wedding night). It's mostly called "a tavern" but some translations just called it what it is which makes for some funny dialogue between Hatice and Nasuh:

"Why did my husband and you keep visiting the br8thel?"

"To discuss state business." 

"So you only went to the br8thel because of state affairs?"

"Yes, m'lady, why else?"

Nasuh efendi in real life was a poet, a scientist and a very important historical figure but the show depicts him as an unlucky alcoholic who will try to pass Ibrahim's child as his own in the end. I heard that his family who is still around tried to sue the producers and I sympathise;)

Anyway, while Hurrem wins in the end, for me this victory was bittersweet because honestly, I don't see her as a positive character. But then, it's difficult to say who is...

The acting is superb, btw, which makes it a really great show. But the characters aren't really black and white but rather all shades of grey. Watch it at your own discretion.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends:) 

God Bless

A New Trend In American Christianity

Read about it over here

Alcohol And Health

 Time to rethink casual drinking:

Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, increasing risk for at least seven types of cancer. While scientific evidence for this connection has been growing over the past four decades, less than half of Americans recognize it as a risk factor for cancer.

Book Review: The Long Way Home

  This is probably the 1st review of my book written 10 years ago. I can distinctly remember that I had it published but somehow discovered it in "drafts" so I'm posting it again. Please keep in mind that internet trends have changed considerably since those times. I don't even remember any more what "neoreaction" is. The quote was inspired by the bailout in a certain European country which had happened a couple of years earlier, btw.

 

07/14/2015Donovan Greene
 

Today’s book review comes from (where else?) the request of a reader. Sanne Wijker is a reader of mine who herself blogs over at athriftyhomemaker.blogspot.nl. She is the author of the book “The Long Way Home”. She dropped me a friendly e-mail asking if I’d give it a look. Me being me, I did.

Before I even made it to the table of contents, I found myself gazing at the lyrics of a Manowar song.

It actually did a pretty good job of setting the tone for what turned out to be a thrilling adventure novel.

The story begins with a brief introduction to the two central characters and allows for a steady glimpse of the fantasy world that Wijker has created. I quickly found myself taking a liking to the character of Lennart, though I had a sinking feeling that he was being set up to be an eventual antagonist, given that he was being presented as a cold and pragmatic figure. Needless to say, I felt great relief when it turned out that he was to be the main character of this tale after all.

“Oh, you are hopeless,” sighed Brian. “You never can be serious, never.
Think about your honor. That swine called you —.”

“An idiot, I know, but I think I can live with it, while in your opinion my honor demands me to challenge him to a fight, kill him and get executed. No, thanks. I don’t like the idea. I have only one year left to go and then I will be free as a bird and with money in the bank, too. I’d rather stay alive.”

It is hard not to like a man with perspective and restraint (and lest certain of my readers find that this description of Lennart paints him as an unsympathetic a hero, I would let them know that he very quickly comes to learn which moral lines he will and will not cross, and his pragmatism is often tempered by his unyielding adherence to his moral code).


Neoreactionary themes are not hard to find, if you’re into that sort of thing. Some of them were painted into the work with a hammer, not a brush.

“The locals made a pretty mess out of things, what with uncontrolled immigration leading to an ethnic conflict which they did nothing to prevent, irresponsible spending and all other ill-conceived policies; at least now they’ll get some semblance of order. I’m not going to lose my sleep at night because of it,” replied Lennart calmly. He ordered another drink.

Ever present in the background is the fantasy of well-run societies, which is a soothing indulgence that should resonate quite strongly with many of you.

This in mind, Wijker could learn to do with a bit of subtlety. Everyone is almost always unbelievably honest, and I do mean unbelievably. It frequently jumps out at you how pretty much no one in the book ever fails to be completely straightforward and direct when conversing with others. Still, if you take it as being a part of the world that has been built, it is not too jarring, though it never stops being a bit odd. Additionally, people sometimes behave in ways that don’t quite make sense, though it always moves the story along and so such oddities are quickly forgotten.

As for the actual plot itself, it winds and weaves and it only rarely fails to be absolutely thrilling. Though the record seems to skip on the phonograph every once in a while, the sound is crisp and smooth. This is an exciting story that was great fun to read. Bumps and twists and turns and oddities aside, the simple fact of the matter is that this is a rewarding book that when you finish it makes you feel glad to have read it.

Buy it here if you’re interested.

Armistice Day

Just to remind you what the war is all about:

 

 

This one misses the last lines: 

 See my spirit on the wind 

Across the lines, beyond the hill

 Friend and foe will meet again 

Those who died at Passchendaele

Faces Of Feminism: The Good, The Bad And...The Ugly?

Facebook must be some sort of spyware. I don't even have a Facebook account yet it somehow managed to find me and to push me some sort of short story (in Dutch) which I then got hooked on and ended up reading all of it. And that is what I want to talk about today.

It starts with a woman throwing her partner's teenage son's dirty laundry out of the window and declaring that she is not a cook and not a maid and is not going to take care of him any more. Let his father do it. The boy and his father then stage some sort of protest and keep leaving food and dirty dishes everywhere until she decides to kick them out. 

Women below in the comments applauded (predictably).

The story left me wondering. There are so many details we don't know. First, they are evidently not married since she says something along the lines of deciding to live together with a man, not his son. (This is her first mistake). The story insinuates strongly that both he and his son are freeloaders (the son plays computer games the whole day), yet if the man is such a loser why on Earth did she move together with him? Whose house is it? Presumably hers since in the end she decides to change the locks. But again, something in that particular guy must have attracted her in the first place, didn't it? 

Does she work? Does the guy work? Who is the main breadwinner? Why did the son move with them in the first place? How old is he really?

There are a couple scenarios which come into my mind. Number one, the guy is a total moocher who moves into her house and sponges off her while not contributing financially and refusing to do any housework and then invites his son who is just such another. In this situation, her reaction is understandable but her decision to let him in in the first place is not. In fact, it portrays her as a total idiot (sorry) who finally gets some sense, not a victim of some imaginary patriarchy or whatever the story tried to convey.

Or may be it's an average couple (what passes for family nowadays) where the woman works slightly less hours than the guy and thus does laundry and cooking (and the guy, in fact, asks her since she already did it for him, why would she refuse to do it for his son). Then the son probably quarrels with his mother and decides to move in with the father and his new girlfriend. If we presume that his father provides for him what then is the lady's problem? Her children aren't mentioned at all so she probably has none. 

Why on Earth can't she be more maternal and show some love to a troubled teenage boy (I think the story mentions that he is still at school so he can't be really that old), especially since she is already in love with his father? While women of other cultures pride themselves on being hospitable, caring and maternal, Western women apparently should pride themselves on being total b8tches nothing of the sort.

But then, a decent woman from a traditional culture wouldn't have moved in with a man she wasn't married to. Her family wouldn't have allowed her to...

For My Reader From Texas

Well, it took me some time but I finally did check your links yesterday evening. 

For the record, here they are:

Legion of Men

Pearl Davis

https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/68-percent-of-americans-consider-the-condition-of-the-economy-to-be-poor-as-millions-of-u-s-consumers-reach-their-breaking-points

Just a couple of thoughts. Concerning the 1st video, I really had no idea that Americans have it so bad. What about your president fixing economy and stuff? Compared to this, we still have more or less decent life over here, even people who live on welfare and can't afford a car. 

As for Pearl, yeah, I'm not a big fan of her but as I'm lazy I won't do any fact checking and just take what she says about divorce at face value. There are two things I'd like to point out. First, despite the American divorce system which she criticises, according to her statistics, Hindus and Muslims somehow manage to have pretty low divorce rates which means that you still can have a normal family even with easy divorce laws. Which really makes it shameful for Christians to divorce so much. Especialy considering that Islam allows divorce and Christianity forbids it.

However, and this is my 2nd point. If you are a Christian, please keep in mind that if you want to have licit s8x and avoid fornication, marriage is your only option. And if you really don't want to marry, it's fine. Just stay single and celibate (or at least try to). Again, our divorce system is different and men do pretty well in it, BTW, the divorce rates started climbing in the 1990s when married women started working en masse. There was even scientific research which proved that the more hours the woman works the higher her chance of divorce. So make your own conclusions.

Your last link is more like the summary of the first video. 

I do appreciate the discussion so feel free to express your thoughts in the comments below:)

Prayer Request

Please pray for a relative of mine who is very sick right now. Please pray that she gets better and can come back home. Thank you:)