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‘Romeo and Juliet’ Sex Scene in 1968 Center of Court Case

There is a huge gap between child pornography and art. It’s definitely not a fine line as some artists might want you to think. When a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy are filmed naked together, that constitutes child pornography. This is why it’s so hard to believe that the sex scene with these two kids in Romeo and Juliet in 1968 has fallen between the cracks and totally missed the censors.

Leonard Whiting was 17 and Olivia Hussey was 15 at the time of filming as the video below shows when Whiting corrects the interviewer early in the conversation. The love scene itself does have nudity and there are some very shady details about that. As AP News reports, Director Franco Zeffirelli discussed the nudity with the kids and first told them that they would have “flesh-covered undergarments” during the sex scene, which didn’t happen.

On the day of filming, Zeffirelli assured them that they would have body makeup and that the cameras would be positioned in such a way that there would be no nudity in the film. Imagine their surprise when they attended a viewing and found out they had been lied to and that their nude bodies were on full display for the world to see. That right there is against the law since they were filmed nude without their knowledge and that’s just one example of child exploitation as far as this film is concerned.

During my amateur sleuthing, I was able to find the following at the Department of Justice, “The production of child pornography creates a permanent record of a child’s sexual abuse.  When these images are placed on the Internet and disseminated online, the victimization of the children continues in perpetuity. Experts and victims agree that victims depicted in child pornography often suffer a lifetime of re-victimization by knowing the images of their sexual abuse are on the Internet forever.”

As a result, Olivia and Leonard filed a lawsuit yesterday against Paramount Pictures for more than $500 million listing sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and fraud. During further amateur sleuthing, I found in a history of child sexual exploitation laws at Women At Risk that it would take until 1978 for the Mann Act, first passed in 1910, to include the sexual exploitation of children. That was 10 years after the filming, so that might answer how it missed the censors back in 1968.

However, for anyone following the story, Zeffirelli discussed the sex scene with the actors and made assurances that he didn’t keep. That means he had an awareness that what he was doing was wrong, or that they were uncomfortable with it. The director has been dead now for a few years and it’s no longer his problem. It’s Paramount Picture’s problem and lawyers have a lot to sort out like why is this coming to their attention now? These actors are in their 70s.

As reported by Variety in 2018, the movie was filmed in Italy and laws are different there. It appears American audiences weren’t too happy about seeing the young kids nude. Yet, Olivia defended the film, “Nobody my age had done that before. It was needed for the film.” She added that it was done tastefully. Today, she’s suing.

However, they were kids at the time and it is sexual exploitation of children. I don’t know why it has taken so long for this to go to court, but it belongs in court, sorted out, and decided in their favor. Plus, the fact that the movie currently streaming and there’s still a YouTube video with the nude scene in it has me wondering why something hasn’t been done about that. I guess we’ll just have to see if people care as much about this as they do everything else in this world.

Tell me if you don’t think he looks like Zac Efron…

The Chemistry Between Olivia and Leonard

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Damar Hamlin Collapses On Field During Bills Versus Bengals Monday Night Game

I have never seen anything like this in all my years of watching football. Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills tackled Tee Higgins of the Cincinnati Bengals, and then collapsed.

We went for a long time without any information, just that they kept taking commercial breaks because no one had any more to say. But I saw an ambulance on the field. I heard he was being given CPR for what was about 9 minutes. That’s when I realized this was not your normal football injury. This was something much more serious.

With 5:58 left in the first quarter, both coaches got together and talked. They sent their teams back to their locker rooms. The game had been temporarily suspended and I felt at that time, there was no way anyone was going to return to the field.

It was the last thing on anyone’s mind. All anyone cared about was Damar Hamlin. Players were crying. Some were praying. Players from opposite teams were hugging each other.

I hope that Damar Hamlin comes out of this okay. My thoughts are with his family as they go through this time of need.

Damar Hamlin Clips

Football is a very violent sport with players playing at their highest level to compete. Injuries happen all the time and that’s why precautions are made to keep the players as safe as possible. Damar Hamlin brings us back to remember that regardless of the precautions, football is a dangerous sport and players need to take care of themselves as much as possible before, during, and after the game.

I give the NFL, the coaches, and the players credit for showing their humanity tonight. The game can be played another time. It doesn’t have to be finished tonight. In the meantime, there is a player in the hospital fighting for his life and that’s all anyone should be concerned about.

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Strong Connections to ‘Love’s Theme’ by Barry White

Do you ever get a feeling of loss when a certain song plays that you haven’t heard in a long time? It’s like you found something that you didn’t know you were missing and all these feelings from that time come rushing back. There are several songs that do that for me and “Love’s Theme” by Barry White is one of them.

Released in 1974, it is the ultimate dance floor song for me. I see visions of people on the dance floor dressed in the fashion of the 70s. Particularly, there’s one lady dancing who is young and vibrant wearing a white dress and black heels. My emotions are often associated with imagery and I have the strongest feeling I knew this girl. But, I was a kid at the time when the song was released so I’m not sure how.

She could be from a television show or a movie, one of my mother’s friends, not sure. But imagining her dancing with a nice feathered haircut and glossy lips shining under the disco ball, it’s a strong vision. It could just be an imagination, something I made up to represent all the people from that time.

Other images come to mind like planes flying in and out of a Las Vegas airport. Beaches and blue waters of Florida. New York high rises. Los Angeles mansions with pool parties and more dancing. For some reason, it feels like I’m touring the greatest places and having the time of my life.

Images aren’t the only sensations I get when I hear the song though. I also suddenly feel cold as if someone just turned on the air conditioning. Then, I get hot as if I’m wearing a suit on a sunny day. These are some intense sensations, but that’s what I’m talking about when I say only a few songs do these things to me.

I know that’s a lot going on in one song, but the one thing I can’t shake is that the song signals an end of some kind. That’s the worst part about it. I enjoy the song. I love it. But when it’s over, it’s the end of an era. The 80s weren’t far away and there is a drastic difference between the 70s and the 80s, but it’s more than that.

It’s as if we lost our innocence and we had to grow up. We were having fun and we had no responsibilities, but that all changed. As the Barry White song ends, the lights come on and everyone leaves the dance floor. We all go our separate ways to only see each other every once in a while and catch up on how many kids we have and what we’re doing these days.

Some people got stuck in a life that never moved forward. Bumping into them years later, they’re still working part-time at the Burrito Bar and driving the same Cutlass Supreme. That life worked for them and it was easy. They didn’t even try to step into anything else.

In a very real sense, “Love’s Theme” did mark the end of an era. All imaginations aside, the 80s took us in a different direction. The 70s were a tumultuous time, but it wasn’t all bad. Being a kid, we weren’t aware of everything that was going on around us. The Vietnam War ended. Saturday Night Live starts airing. Elvis Presley died. Space Invaders comes out. Michael Jackson releases his first solo album Off the Wall.

With just those few brush strokes through the 70s, it’s easy to see how things were changing. And when they did, they did forever. Some designers have tried to bring back the styles and some musicians have tried to include some retro sounds in their music. But the 70s were gone and it was a great time for most of the people who lived through it.

As far as my life was concerned, I moved from Virginia to Maryland when my parents split. I left a life I loved and was ushered into a new life that getting used to was going to take some time. So just like the 70s gave way to the 80s, a whole world of change, my personal life had drastically changed too and “Love’s Theme” takes me back.

I feel good hearing “Love’s Theme” by Barry White but a sense of loss as it comes to an end. Do you have any connection to a song like that?

Let Barry White take you back

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Russia Gets Roasted Over Complaining About Ukraine’s Aggressive Behavior

If memory serves, Russia attacked Ukraine in February. They’re the ones who picked this fight to begin with and now, they’re complaining to Turkey about Ukraine’s aggressive behavior.

Who would have expected that? It’s a serious matter over there with people signing up left and right to join the fight, including some celebrities like The Klitschko brothers, Oleksandr Usykm, and Sergiy Stakhovsky. Not only that but many celebrities have lent their platforms to support Ukraine like Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Stiller, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain.

All seriousness aside, Reddit is having a field day with the idea that Russia is complaining about the “aggressive behavior” and their jokes are dead on:

Comment from discussion rakkadimus’s comment from discussion "Russia Complains of Ukraine Military’s ‘Aggressive Behavior’".

It reminds me of the story when the thief who was breaking into a house fell through the skylight and injured himself. He went on to sue the owners and won, somehow. One Reddit member is running with that line of humor.

Comment from discussion WorldEdit-‘s comment from discussion "Russia Complains of Ukraine Military’s ‘Aggressive Behavior’".

If you know how these Reddit talks get, they can go on with increasingly more funniness.

Comment from discussion 2016sucksballs’s comment from discussion "Russia Complains of Ukraine Military’s ‘Aggressive Behavior’".

That would be a Karen, right? Putin is now officially a Karen.

I remember living in Maryland where a friend of mine was arrested for defending himself. I couldn’t believe it. I had to ask his lawyer how that works. Did the other guy get arrested for his attack in the first place? Why doesn’t it work that way? This is kind of the same thing as that.

Comment from discussion misanthropic47’s comment from discussion "Russia Complains of Ukraine Military’s ‘Aggressive Behavior’".

This conversation might go on for a long time. There is too much meat here to chew on. It seems Russia isn’t as hard and sinister as they seem. With the latest amusement of hearing about Putin falling down the steps and pooping himself, this is a different Russia we’re looking at.

Of course, that incident might signal the end of Putin being in charge. Maybe the next guy won’t be so power-hungry. Maybe he won’t cause any problems at all. Maybe this becomes a Reddit too and they make fun of how delusional I am.

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Do The Arby’s Commercials Offend Anyone Else?

I can imagine that Arby’s commercials might offend someone, especially vegans and vegetarians. After all, they do announce loudly and proudly, “We have the meats!” It’s a wonder they’re not standing outside every Arby’s chanting, “Free the meat!”

It’s like the restaurant chain is so proud of itself for making delicious meaty sandwiches that are so juicy and mouthwatering. The Classic Roast Beef packed with meat on a toasted sesame seed bun comes with so much top round roast that it’s hard not to think about when an Arby’s commercial hits my TV.

The whole menu rocks with Crispy Chicken sandwiches and Wagyu Steakhouse burgers. Then, they added the Gyro, originally with luscious lamb, fulfilling feta, and tasty tzatziki. I’m getting hungry!

So, back to my original question, do vegans get upset when they see these commercials with all the meat? I’ve seen chicken lovers picket a KFC. I once visited a protest across from a McDonald’s.

These Guys Were Good SportsProof

You can’t tell me there aren’t any vegetarians in this world who aren’t even mildly annoyed that Arby’s brags about all their meat?

The reason I’m asking is that their latest commercial actually has me a little upset. It happens about two seconds into it when the voice actor says, “Too many bad burgers are served in drive-thrus every day…”

That absolutely got me in my feels. I mean, who do they think they are? I have never heard of a bad burger. Not one!

The Whopper with Cheese is obviously the best burger in the world, but there are so many burgers out there that I really can’t pick a second. Five Guys can sling a burger and that’s what makes for a good burger, the slinging part. Then at the other end, Raoul’s in Manhattan has a top-of-the-line burger that is so prized that they only make 12 of them a night. So no, I haven’t had that one.

I’m more the guy who goes through a drive-thru or hits a dive bar and orders one from the grill. Either way, I have had the greatest burgers life has to offer and I’ve never had a bad one. A bad one doesn’t exist.

If I could write up a yelp for a commercial, I would give it one star with a few choice words that wouldn’t be too pleasant for the commercial guy. But not the restaurant itself. I would never give that a bad yelp. They have the meats!

The Arby’s Commercial I’m Talking About

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Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield Team Up To Offer Holy Ears Edibles

In a very savage move, Mike Tyson is offering Holy Ears, edibles in the shape of Evander Holyfield’s ear. When I first heard about it, I rolled from laughing so hard, and then I thought about Holyfield. Turns out he’s involved and he’s making money from it too.

Image getting the two of them together after all these years. In case you don’t know, it was a very famous fight between the two of them. It’s the one where Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear off. Not the whole ear, but he got a good chunk of it.

I can still remember it like it was yesterday. I remember Holyfield pulling away from Tyson and he was acting weird. None of this had registered yet. No one knew why he was acting the way he was until they saw Mike Tyson spit the ear out of his mouth.

That’s when I believe an entire nation was in disbelief. We had no idea what to think or say. It was unimaginable that Tyson had just done that. All these years later, he comes up with an ear edible? That’s just too much. The world keeps spinning with crazy stuff like this going on in it.

I’m glad he pulled Holyfield into it with him. What was that first conversation like?

Mike: Hey I was thinking of selling edibles and the funniest thing I can come up with is they would be in the shape of your ear. What do you think?

Evander: You want to…you want to what?

It’s good to see them together, laughing about something that happened years ago. I don’t remember them laughing then about it. And they’re not only laughing now but banking again on it. I guarantee they sell like hotcakes.

Go, get you some. Only from Mike Tyson 2.0!

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‘Wheel of Fortune’ Flashback When Veteran Lets Other Veteran Win

Nura Fountano was killing it at Wheel of Fortune. She was winning all the money. The two other contestants looked like they were standing still compared to her. That is until she got to the final round and flipped the script on everyone.

All three contestants were veterans. Steve hadn’t won a dime all night. Troy had won some money, but he was nowhere close to Nura. She had the game in the bag.

That’s when she started calling out weird letters. She asked for a Z, a Q, and an X. A few times when it was her turn, she acted like she was thinking and time ran out on her. It was like Nura had left the building and an imposter was standing in her place.

Meanwhile, Steve was making some money!

It’s always good when veterans look out for each other. It’s also good when others see that. In the military, there’s a level of looking out for each other that goes beyond what people usually do for each other on a daily basis. For those of us who have served, there’s a very real threat that hangs over our heads at all times. Looking out for each other means a whole different thing to us.

But on a game show? The objective is to win. So, get to winning Nura. But no, Nura Fountano would pull off the most boss move ever.

Steve was the happiest about that. But what Nura was trying to do was a little tricky. In order for her to pull it off, that meant Troy couldn’t guess the answer. Steve would have to get this one and he was going to have to do it on his own. That was something out of Nura’s control. Did Troy guess it first? Or did Steve finally make some money to take home with him?

Watch Nura Fountano In Action

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‘Catfish: The TV Show’ Exposes Mom Who Used Daughter’s Naked Pics

Catfish: The TV Show caught a wild one in Episode 32 of Season 8, “Paul and Caitea.” Of course, they built up the tension beautifully and kept viewers going. First, they introduced Paul who told his story of being a boy at the age of 16 years old who fell in love with who he thought of as Caitea.

Of course, we all know that she didn’t exist. But she was more real than most catfishers on the show. But they made a point to spell her name Caitea when she shared another spelling of it online, Katy. So, that was even part of the deception. But let’s get to the good parts of the show, or should I say, the absolutely most disgusting parts of the show.

Just as Paul finally gets Katy on Zoom with Catfish hosts Nev and Kamie on the call, Katy announces that they are missing someone. For an awkward moment, Paul, Nev, and Kamie scratch their heads wondering what’s going on until Katy returns to the call…with her mother. Martha is the one who had been catfishing Paul.

And it gets worse. She would sneak into her daughter’s bedroom at night, steal her phone, and get her nude photos so that she could share them with Paul who, if you recall, was 16 at the time. That’s right. Martha was sharing her daughter’s nude photos with a teenage boy to catfish him.

As it turns out, this isn’t just one incident. It appears that Linda Paolini, age 45 of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is another mother who shared her daughter’s naked photos with a 16-year-old boy online. The thing is that Linda’s daughter was also 16 years old. So, this amounted to child pornography as well as online enticement of a minor that resulted in a 35-year prison sentence.

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That Moment I Tried To Sign Into Facebook From A Different Browser

I was dragged into an interrogation room blindfolded. I guess Facebook genius Mark Zuckerberg didn’t want me to know where the compound was. But I could smell as I was first dragged into the location that the flowers were nicely arranged.

However, I was dragged down to another Facebook level where the aroma of wealth deteriorated into a doom of despair. That’s right! I have the ability to smell despair, which meant that I had internal clues of what lay ahead for me in my very near future.

With a light shining in my eyes, they pulled off the blindfold. And there I was, sitting in a chair, looking at only the silhouettes of my abductors, “Who are you? Why are you trying to sign into Michael Allen’s account?”

“I am Michael Allen. I am him. He is me!”

“No. No. No. No. No,” one of the hidden voices snapped back, “Don’t be playing games with us, Mr. Sir. Who do you think you are?”

“I just said. That’s who I am.”

“Well, let me tell you something buddy. Facebook sent out an email and you didn’t respond to it,” the silhouette yelled back at me.

“Oh well, normally when I get those kinds of emails, they say not to worry if it was me,” I answered.

He banged on a table I could not see, “Well, we don’t! You have made a mistake thinking we are just like any other internet site out there.”

“Don’t make mistakes like that,” another silhouette echoed.

“No. You got us all wrong, Mr. Allen,” another unknown voice confirmed with a hint of sarcasm. Then, I heard laughing throughout the room.

“Do you really believe that a multibillion-dollar website like Facebook that has a third of the world trapped under its spell is going to just let it go,” the first unknown voice asked. “You have to confirm, which you didn’t. So, you are highly suspect!”

“But it’s okay for fake accounts to send me friend requests,” I asked humbly.

There was no answer from the darkness in front of me.

“It’s okay for someone to duplicate a friend’s account and send me a friend request,” I asked with the same humble tone.

Still no answer.

“What exactly did I do wrong,” I asked out of sheer curiosity.

“We have our ways. Trust me, we have our ways of knowing everything. You signed in from a different browser than you normally sign in from if it is in fact you. You who you say that you are.”

“But the browser is on the same laptop,” I retorted.

“Yeah uh,” he hemmed and hawed, “We saw that.”

“My same IP, same internet connection, same address,” I added.

“Uh, yeah,” more hemming and hawing from the man hiding himself behind the light, “That’s exactly what we’re talking about!”

I heard more pounding on the table. I rolled my eyes because I didn’t have the ability to do anything else. They had handcuffed me to the chair.

“When you do something like that, you have to let us know. There is no excuse for your failure to communicate,” I heard echo through my ears as I saw two silhouettes approach me.

They slathered ink on my hands and got fingerprints. Then, they took a picture of my face from three different angles. They made me speak into a microphone, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Again, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Again, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Then they stuck a tongue suppressor into my mouth, which I can only assume was to collect DNA. But there might have been a different reason because I started to lose consciousness.

I found myself on 34th and Twine missing a sandal. As I looked around trying to figure out where I was, I quickly learned they had taken my phone and my wallet. But had replaced them with identical duplicates. Now, they knew everything about me and I wondered how much longer they were going to own me.

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Police Cause More Carnage At Indonesian Soccer Match Than Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian was on the minds of everyone across the country. Florida is used to having hurricanes, especially during Hurricane Season, but they really weren’t ready for this. The Hurricane that went across Florida and then shot back to hit in South Carolina has claimed 87 lives so far.

That’s why it’s so ridiculous that we wake up Monday morning to find out that there was more carnage at a soccer game in Indonesia. The home team lost, which caused fans to run down on the field and fight each other. But that’s not when the carnage began.

The police tried to stop the huge brawl with tear gas. A stampede ensued and some people were trampled to death. Others succumbed to suffocation as they breathed in too much of the chemical weapon.

More Damage Than Hurricane Ian

In all, 129 people died because of how the police handled the situation. It’s a sad day when people cause more deaths than a hurricane. Of course, now that the hurricane has finished and officials are looking back on their actions, they will go over everything that could have been done, should have been done, and what was done.

Fingers will start pointing and mouths will start running. Because anytime something bad happens, people are expected to be perfect. Did they let residents know and give them enough time to vacate their homes? How fast can all the resources and the infrastructure be put back into working conditions?

Residents are begging for relief because many of them have nowhere to go while phone lines and electric services are down. It’s a really sad situation that no one should have to live through. But storms are going to happen. We haven’t learned how to stop them from happening.

The thing is you’d think we’d be better at handling other people. When there are potentially over 40,000 fans in the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malaysia, it’s not a good idea to shoot tear gas. I am no official and I don’t know what the protocol is for dealing with a huge riot. But I’m pretty sure I’m right that shooting chemical weapons into the crowd is not how you handle the situation.

Carnage at Indonesian Soccer Match

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