Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Lauren Greenfield's 'The Queen of Versailles'
















Conspicuous consumption, vacuous gumption. Meet timeshare billionaire David A. Siegel, his loopy wife Jackie, multiple shell-shocked kids, trapped Filipino servants and a heap of hubris. Insight into this crazy milieu comes thick and plenty with Lauren Greenfield's masterful 2012 documentary, The Queen of Versailles. By the end, many will feel sorry for everyone but the Florida-based central patriarch, a man who boasts on film that he was personally responsible for the election of George W. Bush in the 2000 election, and perhaps in 2004, too. This is one of those "stupid Tea Party assholes" that, in the 2012 election cycle just ended, "strongly suggested" to all of their employees that they vote for Mitt Romney or "risk losing their jobs." When his own economic overextension begins to bite him in the ass in 2008, Siegel blames everyone but himself -- especially "the bankers." What a jape. Excellent film.

Today's Rune: Signals.    

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