"Victory" has a price...

...and apparently that price is $3.99.

12 Inch Communists

Just when you thought this crazy world couldn't get any crazier... I was browsing through stuff on Ebay as I often do when I'm bored it's 1am and I came across the toy pictured above.

So bust out your CUCs or in the case your US Dollars and place a big on this amazing 12 inch replica of the "Bearded One", your pal and mine Fidel Castro. I don't know what's next Pinochet and Pol Pot dolls? Well I looked around and didn't find any, but surprise I did find a Che action figure complete with murderous stare.



A little more digging and I found a Stalin toy soldier.



It makes me wonder, because if people actually manufacture these, it must mean there's a market out there for toys that depict murderous communist bastards out there. What kind of people actually buy these things? I mean when I was a kid we had Darth Vader and Cobra Commander and Megatron and My Little Pony, but these guys were all made up and aren't actually responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people.

One thing's for sure: my future kids will never EVER be playing with a Che or a Fidel doll unless they plan on burying it deep in the ground where no one will ever ever find it again. That's just my opinion...

Bargain Basement Hero?

Walking through Zellers a few days ago I found in a discount art bin a reprint of the famous Che painting that you can see above... I took a picture with my blackberry but the price still came out blurry... The price (if you can see it) reads $14.97 (that's 12.87 USD, 9.22 EUR, 11.88 CUC). And I had to ask myself, if they're liquidating Che art is the Revolution in better shape then its poster-boy?

So I went to the internet and searched for answers and according to an article in Reuters Fidel Castro himself foresaw this whole economic downturn 26 years ago when he said: "The current state of the world economy and its gloomy outlook should lead to a profound reflection in governments and in the most lucid minds of the developed world."

But according to an article in Itar-Tass: “Since the signing of the agreement (on granting a state credit against Russian goods and services) the Cuban side has three times violated the payment terms. However, the credit provision has not been suspended and no fines were imposed as for June 1, 2009.”

So did the "Fearless" leader actually see this coming 26 years ago and fail to plan? Or is Cuba just not paying its debt because it's slowly gearing up for yet another Special Period?

With Che paintings selling at discount prices and the decline of sales Che t-shirts one wonders if people are undergoing (in Castro's words) a "profound reflection" on if they feel like advertising a murderer and spending their hard earned fast disappearing money supporting a government that spits on human rights while criticizing everyone else for doing just that?

So to answer my original question:is the Revolution in better shape then its poster-boy? The answer is that I think the Revolution is in the same sad state as its bargain basement hero: old, tired, cheap, over publicized, underachieving and dead.

Muchacho Enfermo

Che Part 2

So today I was going to review Che Part 2 with Benicio Del Toro... But instead what I've chosen to do is publish some of the comments that were on The Pirate Bay's comment thread in regards to this movie. Because in all fairness, the comments were much more interesting than the movie and much more insightful... Here is the thread... now sit back, enjoy and please remember that some of this language might be offensive to some readers.

Best comment ever:
-thecash907 at 2009-05-31 22:50 CET:
So... when does the Hitler-as-hero movie come out in this Time Life series of murderous dictator fuckheads? Are Pol Pot and Stalin featured in volumes 3 and 4?

Second best comment on this movie:
-thecash907 at 2009-06-03 08:52 CET:
I'm sure all the people who disagreed with Che during the great revolution would have something to say about the subject.
Oh wait, he fucking murdered them all, along with their families. No wonder their point of view didn't make it into the film. I wonder if that interview where the guy from the Times pissed off Del Toro by asking him about all the people Che slaughtered will make it into the DVD extras? Probably not... can't have the truth dirtying up their revisionist history flick, now can they?


Rebuttals from Che fans:
-0-LSD-0 at 2009-06-04 23:46 CET:
thecash907 PLEASE try not to make assumptions and do your fucking homework.
You don't know shit, so shut the fuck up and get the fuck out.

- sanvodka at 2009-06-03 11:05 CET:
Pelotudos ignorantes. Estaria muy bien q se informen lo q pasaba en cuba cuando estaba gobernado por el titere de EEUU... Lo mismo paso en varios paises de sudamerica con los gobiernos militares impuestos por EEUU.
El che no fue un santo, pero no era el malo de la pelicula.


The conclusion? I still haven't seen the movie! But if it's anything like part 1 it'll be some propaganda machine that makes Che look like the second coming of Christ and idiots around the world will continue to buy Che shirts and think he's great. But at least reading these comments on the download page was kind of entertaining. So maybe I'll get around to watching the movie eventually... I doubt it though, so don't hold your breath for an actual review because odds are I'm just never going to write one.

Muchacho Enfermo

Che: A Hero of the 20th Century?

Image from lasshrugs2000.typepad.com

What would a week be like without me writing about Cuba? I don't know. I don't think it's happened yet. So here is your weekly dose of the rantings of a Canadian about a corrupt government that enslaves its people and tells them it's for their own good...

I recently downloaded from The Pirate Bay the new Che movie with Benicio del Toro. Just because I wanted to see what kind of one-sided propaganda style of film this was going to be without supporting the film monetarily. I never got around to watching it, but it did motivate me to do some research online to see how many people actually thought Che was a hero.

One of the first websites I found was a website called MoreOrLess which lists heroes and killers of the 20th century. Surprisingly Che is listed in the Heroes category along side of the Dalai Lama and Rosa Parks. In his bio on the site there is no mention of the cold blooded killing machine we all know. It's almost like the person writing the site watched "Motorcycle Diaries" and decided Che was awesome.

I wonder what Rosa Parks would say about being categorized as a hero by the same people who think a mass murderer is a hero? Or maybe we should ask the embodiment of peace and serenity himself the Dalai Lama.

Tonight I'm going to sit down in front of my computer and watch the pirated copy of the infamous Che movie and post a review in the coming days for all of you to read. If you need to watch this movie for any reason please do not pay money to go, just "steal" it, I'll post up the link to the torrent along with my revue.

Muchacho Enfermo