I want to make a quick statement on my article from last week.  Given the response to the controversy Budweiser released earlier this week was made in the manner to make me consider joining the Marines, I rescind my statement and now believe the backlash may actually have legs.

That aside—this is my review of Nebraska Brewing Mélange a Trois:

For some reason people are upset at Netflix for casting a black woman as Cleopatra.  Silly people upset about historical accuracy for some reason.  Some of those people involved in casting responded to the controversy:

Born in Iran, I am a Persian, and Cleopatra’s heritage has been attributed at one time or another to the Greeks, the Macedonians and the Persians. The known facts are that her Macedonian Greek family — the Ptolemaic lineage — intermarried with West Asian’s Seleucid dynasty and had been in Egypt for 300 years. Cleopatra was eight generations away from these Ptolemaic ancestors, making the chance of her being white somewhat unlikely. After 300 years, surely, we can safely say Cleopatra was Egyptian. She was no more Greek or Macedonian than Rita Wilson or Jennifer Aniston. Both are one generation from Greece.

Doing the research, I realized what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress. For me, the idea that people had gotten it so incredibly wrong before — historically, from Theda Bara to Monica Bellucci, and recently, with Angelina Jolie and Gal Gadot in the running to play her — meant we had to get it even more right. The hunt was on to find the right performer to bring Cleopatra into the 21st century.

Apparently, Cleopatra was also an NPC

The rest of this article is predictably, moronic.  For example:

The last thing we needed was another Cleopatra divorced from her womanhood and her power only sexualized. The HBO series “Rome” portrayed one of the most intelligent, sophisticated and powerful women in the world as a sleazy, dissipated drug addict, yet Egypt didn’t seem to mind. Where was the outrage then? But portraying her as Black? Well.

That’s because maybe she was a sleazy dissipated drug addict?  If only there was some form of record which we could look and see exactly what Cleopatra looked like to settle the matter.  Perhaps they had people during the Roman occupation of Egypt with some ability….wait just a daggone minute…they did.

Woof.  The issue here is not necessarily race, rather it is one of beauty.  She was supposed to be known as the definitive female standard throughout antiquity.  Such standards of course change with time (hence that nose), so if a culture in 1960’s America chose a standard of beauty in line with Elizabeth Taylor, so be it.  So in today’s world if someone else is to be chosen, it should therefore track with today’s feminine standard.  In which case Adele James was the wrong actress from the beginning.  Given our societal push to define beauty by any standard and therefore no standard whatsoever, the correct choice to play Cleopatra today was Lizzo.

 

A brewery from Nebraska?  It happened.  Aged in repurposed chardonnay barrels this takes the traditional Belgian Trippel to strange new places:  Hillary Clinton’s palate.  Don’t be too startled, she’s not going anywhere near Nebraska.  This winds up having a light oak character, but still maintains the fragrant loveliness this style is best known.  Pair it with a crusty, fruit filled dessert or perhaps just drink it by itself the next time you watch your copy of History of the World Part 1.   Nebraska Brewing Mélange a Trois:  4.2/5