I really enjoyed writing this feature.

WARNING: Libtards and those into political correctness, do not read!

Story and photos by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM

Copyright all rights reserved

The indomitable and Irrepressible Travelling Gourmet TM delves in to man’s desire for GOLD, and…

MORE GOLD and Geld (German for money)…The theme of Greed is found in many movies, books, stories and songs. Greed for Gold, synonymous with wealth and money. Although Salt and Spices (remember the SPICE Wars) were used as money, nothing epitomizes money more than Gold. Having studied Metallurgy, Gold is actually a useless metal in its PUREST form. Too soft to do anything…unlike Titanium and cold Steel. They don’t like it up them…wahahaha!

METAL

A poem by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM

Gold is for the mistress,

Lusting for Diamonds

Silver for the maiden pure.

Copper for the craftsman, cunning at his trade,

Aluminium for the pilot

flying through the skies

Titanium for the Watchmaker

600 times stronger than steel,

But said the Baron in his castle,

sharpening his sword…

Steel, cold steel

is MASTER of them all.

GOLDFINGER

This classique 007 movie was based on the children’s fairy tale…The Midas Touch which Ian Fleming adapted for the 20th Century. The villain is German called Auric (means Gold) Goldfinger. Somewhat racist perhaps but after WW2 the abominable HUN aka malignant midget Hitler and his Nazi hordes were demonized. I ove Sean Connery in the Trilby hat walking so slowly and smoothly with his Walther PPK 7.65mm in his right hand held close to this thigh. Bond knows there is an enemy lurking to shoot him…The barrel of the assassin is seen through your eyes complete with the rifling in the barrel. The classic passive-aggressive personality..Bond turns and fires in the nick of time. His would be killer dies and blood runs down the screen…Incredibly profound. As they say: You have NEVER lived until you have almost died.

GOLD

“If the fancy Wall Street Bankers had to venture down to the unknown…They’d forget their precious Gold if they had to dig their own…goes the theme from the movie starring sexy and alluring Susanah York and Roger “007” Moore. Profound meaning in the song. Alas all the other “Bonds” could not hold a candle to ,,das Original”, Sean Connery. I ADORE the African rthym and tribal drumbeats in the music and the sardonic lyrics of the song! Evil Jho Low the 1 MDB fraudster are you listening? Karma is coming for you and yours creep…

Why is there this lust for GOLD…

The Man with the Golden Gun

Here Bond goes head to head, literally…with Francisco Scaramanga, a prima-donna narcissistic professional “assassin”…it sound so much more refined than ‘killer’, don’t you think? More classy…elegant.  After all, the true “assassin” is an artist in his own right…Christopher Lee plays The Man with the Golden Gun very well. Aber Naeturlich! Christopher Lee was a member of SOE in WW2, and had killed men before. See his dead Goldfish eyes. Those eyes are no act. They are the real deal. I know. One day, I shall write a book called “Killers that I have known… and liked”…but that is another story.

I like a girl in a bikini…no concealed weapons.

Pistols at dawn…

One of the stars of the movie is the amazing Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong with its Rolls Royces…I love to stay there and be driven around in a Rolls…The other star is the delightful Mandarin Oriental Bangkok…my favourite hotel in the City of Angels with fabulous Sala Rim Naam for Thai Cuisine and the famous Oriental Thai Cooking School where I have trained and studied. A roy mak mak!

The Wild Geese

Moore…Roger Moore, stars again in this movie which examines the role of Mercenaries in World Affairs and GREED in very high places…Loosely based on the famous or infamous…depending on your point of view…Colonel Mike Hoare. In the 21st Century, Erik Prince , ex-Navy SEAL and CEO of Blackwater is the morally ambivalent equivalent. Known to friends and comrades-in-arms affectionately as “Mad Mike”. To enemies feared as “Mad Mike” and “Le Affreux”. Here the keen moviegoer can see the very thin red line drawn in life’s blood between the Soldier who fights for Queen and Country and Duty…and the Soldier of Fortune who will fight, destroy and kill for whoever pays him. Somewhat like a lawyer who will argue that something is white, or something is black…depending on who pays him. This movie always reminds me of an old pal who was a Mercenary. His favorite pistol was the Luger P08, a war trophy. I don’t care for the Luger myself…obsolete and prone to jams, especially if the ammo is not of the highest quality, and compatible with the sophisticated toggle action. IN this movie you see the idiocy of Hollywood, so many different small arms with all the logistical needs of ammo and spares. All purely for dramatic effect…This does not work in real life. Depending on the Operation and Objective, you need one type of SMG, one type of Assault Rifle and one LMG plus some disposable RPGs. KISS. The Regiment use the M4 5.56mm with M203 grenade launcher attached, and GPMG in 7.62mm.

There is always Honor for those whom money cannot buy…they cannot be sold down the river…

Honor is priceless. Worth MORE than mere gold.

The Mercenary toast,

Vive la mort

Vive la guerre

Vive le sacre mercenaire!

As Colonel Robert Denard said, “La guerre c’est mon métier.”

Guns, lots of guns…even a Madsen SMG…a very fine weapon for close work.

The Green Berets

De Opresso Liber. The motto of the US Army Special Forces. Not for Glory but to liberate the oppressed. Highly trained and cross trained. These are the Professors of warfare. Operating in small teams deep behind enemy lines. Multi-lingual, parachute trained for conventional and HAHO, HALO infiltration, SERE and many other skills.. Weapons specialists can operate, repair and use all Small Arms from the AK47, the preferred weapon of their enemies to the Sterling SMG and more…Demolition Experts can make IEDs from sugar and flour…not wholemeal. This movie gives the other side of the war against the communist subversive propaganda from peaceniks, hippies, libtards, cowards and pro-VC (Vietcong) sympathizers like evil despicable vile and ugly jane fonda the scumbag. Incidentally, on a side-note, President Trump has named his Beagle, John Wayne. John Wayne plays US Special Forces Colonel Mike Kirby in a tiger suit, veteran of many covert and clandestine missions against the enemies of Freedom.  My friend, Colonel Roger Donlon, won the 1st Medal of Honor in Vietnam. Roger survived and lives today. Iconic John Wayne, had the money and influence to make this politically incorrect movie (at that time) movie. The US Army showed their appreciation and extended him and his crew every courtesy. I support them. I have friends in high and low places and buddies in the US Special Forces. As the “Boat People” showed post-1975, Communism is abhorrent to so many. Refugees are those who vote with their feet.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates or Privateers, are of course, mercenaries or sea robbers. In the past some even became respectable like Captain Morgan, a real person who was a pirate turned good guy…The British even used pirates to further their political ambitions…so in the past they were not exactly pure as the driven snow n’est pas…Remember the Opium Wars…Jardine Matheson were the original Drug Lords before Pablo Escobar and the Medillin Cartel of Colombia. Pirates are always after GOLD…and more GOLD! Greed is one of the 7 Deadly Sins, not that I am a very religious gourmet…but it is in the Bible. When you are hungry you cannot eat gold…think about it.

MacKenna’s GOLD

Every mother’s son has a date with fate…as they search and lust after Gold in the Wild West…Iconic Gregory Peck shines while Jose Feliciano thrills with a sarcastic song whose lyrics show contempt for men who lust after Gold…You can live without that gold…Feliciano sings…

A man called Sledge

James Garner excels in his role as a greedy cowpoke lusting after Gold…Very different from his usual role as the hero…here he is more of the dirty unshaven anti-hero. Jose Feliciano again sings the theme song…”You must beware of the curse that follows other men’s Gold…” Love this song.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Yes, they are after the GOLD! In the American Civil War, 3 desperados want to find that GOLD! They will do most anything to get it. Lots of guns too in this movie and fast draw shooting fanning their 6 shooter revolvers. Samuel Colt named his gun The Peacemaker. Yes, when your enemies are dead..there is peace…for a time at least. Clint Eastwood revels in his role as the laconic “Man with no name”. The strong silent type beloved of lady novelists. This “Sphagetti Western” filmed in Europe in Italy and Spain (cheaper production costs) propelled Clint “Dirty Harry” Eastwood to superstar fame and glory. “The greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.” is what Clint Eastwood said about former traitor obozo the WORST President ever in history! I agree with Clint completely.

The In Laws

They are after the MONEY in the form of counterfeit US Treasury plates…A superb and wacky comedy thriller with Peter Falk as a veteran officer of the Company who planned the Bay of Pigs fiasco…The bay of Pigs failed because President JFK lost his nerve and had no cajones to carry through the operation to overthrow evil dictator Castro. Many believe JFK paid for this fiasco with his life…Peter Falk excels as the career Company man…cynical, sneaky, cunning, crafty and conniving as all spies have to be, working in the back alleys and dark places of the world. Falk ensnares Alam Arkin to aid him in his latest diabolical mission and they travel to a banana republic in South America. Alan plays the future father in law of the spook’s son, and is a humble stick in the mud Dentist. Inevitably, Alan the Dentist’s safe and mundane world is gone in a flash. The Dentist finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the murky world of spooks and espionage…where nothing is ever quite what it seems.  Peter Falk rants to his goody-goody two-shoes son, °°I put you through college making those calls from pay phones!°° The funny scene is when °Columbo° tells his partner in spookery, ^^Serpentine!^^ That is, to run in a zig zag manner to avoid the bullets fired at you. Hilarious but actually that is SOP for avoiding being shot…it is very hartd to hit a moving target as those in the know…know.

The 2003 remake is really good too with some minor plot changes…and starring Michael Douglas, son of Kirk, in the leading role as deep cover Company Intelligence Officer wheeling and dealing his way through a maze of deceit, conspiracy and international CA (covert action)…

In this hilarious scene, Michael dines at the Vietnamese Restaurant of his old comrade in arms from Vietnam…and resorts to extreme violence in the Men’s room….all in the line of duty! His son says nonchalantly: “Oh, an unconscious person, you must be working..”

Kelly’s Heroes

Inspired by a true story, the GIs are fighting for their lives and GOLD…and maybe a little bit for Old Glory…Clint Eastwood at his laconic best cradling a Thompson M1A1 SMG .45 and showing his incredible stage presence and charisma. Veteran Canadian actor Donald Sutherland makes a debut as a WW2 Hippie before the term “Hippie” was coined…

GOLD…lust after GOLD and you will live to regret it…Those who can be bought…can be sold.

FREE men have NO price.

Non, je ne regrette rein.