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"Wuthering Heights"   As a doomed man gasps for breath, the hood covering his mouth expands and contracts with his exertions until the rope coiled tightly around his neck completes its task, and he dangles still from the gallows. The crowd gathered to witness the day's festivities are mostly silent and awe-struck until someone points out the dead man's visible erection, the ejaculate seeping out through the cloth of his trousers. At this, there is a great uproar and the crowd goes wild. Their suppressed excitement bubbles over into an orgiastic free-for-all as participants revel in the aftermath of this public execution in Georgian-era England.   This opening scene pretty much sets the tone for director Emerald Fennell's  "Wuthering Heights" (quotation marks hers not mine). Since I am not well-versed in the history of the UK, I am uncertain if public executions induced sexual frenzies amongst the attendees or not, nor do I know whether this scene was th...
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Hamnet (A quick note: In Shakespeare's time, the names Hamlet and Hamnet were allegedly interchangeable. They were one and the same).   For well over a century, the works of William Shakespeare have played an essential role in classroom curricula in secondary schools and colleges throughout the world. Mention Shakespeare to anyone with even the slightest degree of cultural knowledge and they will be able to cite Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet and Macbeth as hallmarks in the canon of western literature, even if they are unable to discuss the finer points of the hallowed classics of a man most consider to be "the greatest writer in the English language". The Bard of Avon, as Shakespeare came to be known, was incredibly prolific in his time, ultimately establishing himself as the Elizabethan Era's finest dramatist. Despite the fact that Shakespeare was, in fact, a small-town boy , his family was of sufficient means to allow the young man to receive a formal education until ...
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The House with Laughing Windows If you were ever a habitue' of grindhouse movie theaters or drive-in cinemas during the 1970's, chances are you watched a giallo film or two (or ten) without ever knowing it . For those unfamiliar with the term, giallo is a genre of cinema that arose in Italy during a tumultuous period (late 60's to early 80's) which saw extreme political unrest, terrorism, kidnappings, assassinations and radicalism developing throughout the country. Combining elements of mystery, horror, gore and sexploitation, gialli were notorious for their lurid, often incomprehensible plotlines, sexual objectification of women (sometimes bordering on misogyny), clueless cops and ultra-violent deaths. Most often the protagonist was some everyday Joe (or Jane) unwittingly caught up in terrifying situations that, due to the ineptness/indifference of authorities, required them to play amateur detective. Well over half of the numerous giallo movies I've watched don...
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The Housemaid Sydney Sweeney seems to have popped up everywhere these past 12 months, and not always in a flattering way. Her modeling gig for American Eagle jeans generated considerable backlash on social media after the clothing manufacturer was accused of promoting eugenics through their ads focusing on Sweeney's superior (read: white) "genes". It didn't help matters when the Unspeakable Toilet Clot in the White House defended Sweeney in a gushing post that declared her promos "the hottest" out there. Then there was Mother Sweeney's birthday party with the MAGA be-hatted guests in the backyard, and the revelation that Syd, herself, is a registered Republican. Throughout it all, Ms. Sweeney remained mum until all the bad press and speculation finally prompted her to publicly disavow the ideologies ascribed to the ad campaign. Following this, she further clarified (maybe) that the birthday party's MAGA hats were simply worn as a joke by a group of A...
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