Is it still true that blondes have more fun?

That was the question asked by the ancient Clairol TV ad. And I am asking, not for a friend, but for a fiend.

His (or maybe her) name is Jacob Guerrero, indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Boston for sexually exploiting an 11-year-old girl in Norfolk.

After staking out her home for days, this alleged degenerate climbed to the roof of her family’s garage and videotaped the child naked inside her own home as she got ready for bed.

Although he (or is it she?) is only 23, Jacob has quite the rap sheet already. The cops say he’s been involved in sex crimes in at least three states.

And as you can see from the accompanying photographs, Guerrero likes to, uh, dress up, especially when he’s hanging out in ladies’ rooms.

In a memorandum filed in federal court in Sacramento in support of detaining the California native, the G-men included some of Guerrero’s earlier cat-walk struts around the outlet mall in Wrentham.

One of the photos was snapped by a cisgender female in a ladies’ room in Wrentham. Guerrero is clad in what I guess what the fashionistas would call activewear. His hair, er wig, is blonde, which is a departure from what appears to be his standard-issue black hair in the mugshot taken by the Wrentham Police Department.

Guerrero also occasionally steps out in a red female wig, as you can see from a different surveillance photo included in the feds’ motion to detain.

Last August, he was captured on surveillance video at the mall at 7:55 Wednesday night in his favorite gals-night-out outfit wearing a blonde wig. Two days later, at 5:25 p.m., he donned a red wig.

But the most significant part of Guerrero’s fashion statement is his footwear, specifically, what are attached to his sneakers:

“Authorities reviewing the photo later noticed that GUERRERO appeared to have long, dark-colored, cylindrical items (pen cameras) attached to his shoes – shoes which also appeared unusually long.”

The better, of course, for photographing females in a state of undress, either in the bathrooms or the changing rooms of clothing stores at the mall:

“The employees reported that on one occasion, a customer had complained, in sum and substance, that a male in a wig was waving his foot at the dressing room while her teenaged daughter was changing.”

Nice, huh? Remember a few years back, when lunatic judges began ruling that men dressed in female attire could use women’s facilities, at least as long as they “identified” as female.

What could possibly go wrong?

Down on Route 24, a woman was soon murdered in the ladies’ room of a fast-food restaurant by a cross-dresser. At Massachusetts General Hospital, a woman was attacked by a guy in a remote part of the complex while using a women’s restroom. Then Target announced a new national restroom policy and … can you guess what happened next?

And if anyone ever dared to point out the obvious, he or she was denounced, canceled, doxxed as a cisgender transphobe homophobe etc. etc. etc.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey sneered at any women worried about dudes in the ladies’ room, telling them that if they had a problem they should just “hold it.”

It was probably the most deranged thing Maura ever said, at least until 2020, when she endorsed the nationwide George Floyd looting-and-arson crime wave as a good thing:

“America is burning. And that’s how forests grow.”

Back to Guerrero. The feds describe him as a true mall menace, “behaving in an odd and disturbing manner toward … minor girls in a bathroom at the mall,” as well as stalking at least one adult woman “following her from stall to stall.”

But it was worse than that. According to the motion to detain him, he also molested family members, including children as young as 3 and 5. He set up hidden cameras in bathrooms, in the manner of a former state rep from Malden.

“He targeted children. This is not the behavior of a stable or controlled individual. This is the behavior of a dangerous, obsessed and calculating individual.”

As horrifying as Guerrero’s behavior was at the Wrentham mall, it was worse elsewhere. He was working south of Boston last year, the feds say, “as a driver for a sub-contractor that delivered goods for Amazon.”

Wonderful. What a “prime” job for scouting out locations for more perving. And indeed, he “targeted multiple children, in multiple homes.”

The federal crime he’s charged with came after his phone was checked following his arrest in Wrentham. His phone records indicated that he scouted out multiple suburban homes, making notes on his cellphone on such details as “teens” and “good trees” or that some nights the girls took “no showers.”

On one night, Guerrero recorded:

“No sign of older daughter from 8:15-8:50. Neighbors have good sight to one bedroom. Motion lights and dog :(“

As the feds noted:

“It is truly telling that, when writing a note to reflect how the presence of a dog, or motion-sensing lights, might frustrate or impede his efforts to sexually exploit Minor A and her siblings, GUERRERO made a joke to himself using the ‘frowny face’ emoticon :(. It says everything about this person, that he would joke about circumstances that might prevent him from sexually exploiting a child … That is the real person before this Court.”

This is the United States of America in 2022, where blondes do have more fun.

At least if they’re in drag, and wearing a wig.

Celebrate diversity.

MOVIE REVIEW

‘SNIPER: THE WHITE RAVEN’

Rated R. In Ukrainian with subtitles. On VOD.

Grade A-

An alternately rousing and mournful call to arms, Ukraine’s “Sniper: The White Raven” is an amazingly relevant film at a time when Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine and waged war for four devastating months. The film begins in 2014 with the battle between Ukrainians and Russians and pro-Russian separatists in Donbas. It is in many ways a Ukrainian “American Sniper.”

Actor, musician and photographer Pavlo Aldoshyn is marvelously charismatic in the role of real-life Ukrainian sniper Mykolo Voronin, who co-wrote the screenplay. After the murder of his pregnant wife Nastya (Maryna Koshinka) at the hands of barbaric invading soldiers, Mykolo, a physics teacher and eco-settler in Donetsk, enlists in “sniper school,” where he undergoes rigorous training in scenes that will be familiar to fans of such films as “Full Metal Jacket.”

“Sniper: The Raven” is the more real and more resonant “Top Gun” movie. Before her death, Mykolo’s artist wife Nastya had given her husband, who takes the nickname Raven in her honor, a small, cross-shaped wooden angel she carved, swearing it would protect his life. Armed with the angel, which was saved from the fire set by the soldiers, and an old, banged-up sniper rifle, Mykolo earns his nickname in battle and is taken under wing by his paternal superior officer Cap (Andry Mostrenko).

“Sniper: The White Raven” resounds with the beats of war stories of this kind. But because it is set in Ukraine and based on a true story, it has more resonance and urgency than the current hit sequel to the aforementioned “Top Gun.” In opening scenes, Mykolo teaches a class the physics of speed and distance, two subjects that are going to be important to a sniper. One of his students is a pro-Russian separatist and a bully.

The oath the Ukrainian soldiers take as they are given their rank, “I serve the Ukrainian people,” has more ringing significance to us now, knowing what we know about the brave and righteous fight the outgunned Ukrainians have put up in the face of the Russian invasion. Aldoshyn’s Mykolo plays guitar and sings about “awakening” and “building strength.”

Four years after the beginning of the conflict, Mykolo hears someone on TV talk about how “Russia respects borders.” Mykolo drives himself back to the front to confront a Russian sniper capable of killing from a distance of 1.5 kilometers with a .50 caliber-sized gun. Talk about physics. Mykolo leads a raid on the sniper’s lair in a factory where cyanide is produced and stored, risking a disaster.

“Sniper: The White Raven” will appeal to combat film buffs and supporters of Ukraine alike. First-time feature film director and co-writer Marian Bushan, whose previous effort was a TV sports documentary, handles both the cast and the action well, painting evocative images in smoke and mist.

The film’s hero, Mykolo Voronin, returned to service after the Feb. 2022 invasion by Russia, something referred to in the film’s stirringly patriotic closing scene. He is presumed to be still fighting as the film about his life and exploits is released in the United States. He serves the Ukrainian people.

(“Sniper: The White Raven” contains war violence, bloody images, nudity and profanity.)

MOVIE REVIEW

‘APPLES’

Not Rated. In Greek with subtitles. At Landmark Kendall Square.

Grade B

From Christos Nikou, the assistant director of Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” comes “Apples,” a modern fable about a plague of amnesia cases in an analog, perhaps alternate universe Athens. Our tall, bearded and no longer youthful protagonist (Aris Servetalis) bangs his head against a wall as we see still life photos in opening scenes. We hear Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair.” Remember me, indeed. He dresses in monochrome colors, buys flowers and takes a bus, but he forgets to get off and cannot recall his name at the end of the line. This is the beginning of an adventure for the man dubbed 14842.

We remember seeing him in his flat and petting a neighbor’s dog as he leaves the building. But all he knows is that no one has searched for him, yet, and he finds an apple the hospital has given him with his dinner “delicious.” Amnesia cases have increased. No one has recovered. Dressed in hospital blues, the man faces tests and injections. He is “unclaimed” and must learn how to live again.

This will involve living alone in a flat, accepting visits from hospital staff from the “Disturbed Memory Department” and following increasingly complicated instructions involving socializing efforts. His medical caretakers visit him regularly. He speaks with a produce dealer about different apples. He takes bites of the peeled apples he eats from the same hand holding the paring knife. He takes selfie-like Polaroid photos of himself, following the order he receives in the mail. He keeps a scrapbook. Our man spends a lot of time staring into the distance.

“Apples,” which was shot in a square aspect ratio, adding to the boxy, truncated sense, boils life down to its Kafkaesque essence, which suggests that our sense of identity is an apparition and perhaps even meaningless, that we are merely nameless entities going through motions without meaning.

In a park, the man encounters the neighbor’s dog again and calls it by name. Is he beginning to remember his life? Following orders to “get close to a woman’s body,” the man goes to a strip club, gets a brief lap dance and takes a photo of the dancer. He meets another woman (Sofia Georgovasili), notably, at a movie theater showing “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” She can’t look at the screen. Afterwards, they chat and walk together. We want them to bond, if only to give us something more to look at, feel and think about. “Apples” can be bleak.

Not much happens in “Apples,” which was produced by Cate Blanchett, who obviously sees more in it than I do. The film is often like listening to a single note held for a very long time. In a sweet scene near the end, the protagonist feeds soup to an old man facing death in a hospital bed.

For reasons unexplained, the amnesia victims are not given new names, which is awkward and seems not very well thought out. The amnesiac world recalls our real-life pandemic and resonates in that way. But this gentle, metaphorical tale lacks solidity and threatens to lift off and float away.

(“Apples” contains profanity and scenes at a strip club.)

Free arts offerings abound in Boston. There are free museum days, Berklee hosts free concerts at 20 venues this summer (college.berklee.edu/events/summer), Shakespeare on the Common (“Much Ado About Nothing,” July 20 – Aug. 7).

Then there’s the Boston Pops Firework Spectacular.

The Boston Pops’ signature July 4 concert is so embedded into the fabric of the city that it almost hides in plain sight. But it’s Boston’s biggest free arts offering.

This Independence Day, the Boston Pops and nearly half a million fans will celebrate the orchestra’s return to the stage of the Hatch Shell at the Charles River Esplanade for the first time since 2019.

“This concert has always been expected to take place on the banks of the Charles,” Pops conductor Keith Lockhart told the Herald. “It’s our gift to the people of Boston. It is and always has been a free concert. It also puts the whole city on a national stage as the seat of the Revolution and our democracy.”

“When we do this concert we are more part of a sociological phenomenon than a musical phenomenon,” Lockhart added. “And maybe it’s something I took for granted, so it will be pretty exciting to return.”

As usual, Lockhart balances the program between superstar guests and homegrown talent, patriotic requisites and progressive compositions. This year that means a Stephen Sondheim tribute and a performance of the Ukrainian National Anthem, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Chaka Khan.

Yes, Chaka Khan!

“I grew up listening to Chaka Khan, the soundtrack to my senior prom,” Lockhart said. “It’s very cool.”

Lockhart’s tastes run from disco to Duke Ellington to Antonín Dvořák. That’s part of the reason he’s so good at his job. But as a self-proclaimed “theater geek” in his teens, one of his deepest passions is the work of the late Stephen Sondheim. Lockhart wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass to celebrate Sondheim in front of his biggest audience of the year.

“He was probably the greatest American creative genius alive in my lifetime,” he said of the Broadway maverick.

Tony and Grammy winner Heather Headley will help the Pops with a couple of Sondheim selections. Elsewhere, “The Voice” series premiere winner Javier Colon, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums and the Honor Guard of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Regiment will join the Pops for new works and classics.

As always, Lockhart has crafted a night that caters to multiple tastes.

“This is a concert that has to be omni directional,” he said. “Everyone watches it so that’s a huge age range, background range. In that older Pops tradition, this is a variety show that promises that the next thing up will be something completely different.”

Completely different but back home at the same venue the Pops have played for decades.

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The Boston Pops concert will be broadcast live nationally on Bloomberg TV and radio, and locally in Boston on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7), from 8 to 11 p.m. Details at bso.org/pops.