So I am about 2000 words into my review right now, but nowhere near a point of publication yet. I realize my fatal flaw, being lack of brevity. I am also realizing there is so much in this movie that only comes to light once you think of it.

So here’s the deal. I am going to work on the synopsis/review, but I want to see the movie one more time, and have more time to write this thing.

Here’s the dirty little secret of the movie though.

There are roles and messages in this movie that the left don’t want you to see. You see the hero, Leonidas, decides to fight a war he knows has little political support, and despite the odds being against him, he wages on, even after his allies waiver. You see the corruption of politics, the notion of pride in one’s nation and way of life, and the duty one feels to defend it at all costs.

More at a later date.

Update:

( So a little RF behind the scenes of an email exchanged between me and my accompaniment to the movie, IE my GF to see where this is, or the thought process behind. [numbers] are to help you follow, as this is our stream of consciousness way of interacting and such. I sent her the first 1000 or so words to see what she thought. The following took place from there. )

At 10:54 She wrote:

[1] So far so good. I assume that you’ll warn your readers to be prepared for the death of horses. Just saying.

[2] In reality, the Spartans owned slaves themselves, even while being vehemently against their own slavery. And sometimes perfection isn’t available, but the Spartan’s knew that their way was better. The Revolutionary war springs to mind.

[3] I guess that in my eyes, the biggest thing to take away from the movie is that Western Civilization is worth fighting for . . . even if few show up for the battle.

[4] Errrr, how about I let you write the review and shutup? Sorry.

[5] One last thing, and this actually gets to me in quite a few movies. The politicians are represented as mindless twits who would rather argue than act. I know that none of us wants a dictatorship because that is an insult to freedom. But as a postscript, the politicians get it right and after the sacrifice of a few, are ready to defend freedom with every resource that they have. I don’t know what the next battle was . . . but it would be interesting to know if the Greeks won. (consider this whole last paragraph as a note to me to do a little research).

My reply at 10:58 after another 1000 or so words she hadn’t yet seen:

[1] after 2000 or so words and not even being to the battle scenes I figured I couldn’t just hammer this out. Will you ever let the horses go?

[2] there’s a lesson for today there too, but I have neither the brain power nor energy to go there now.

[3] That’s exactly it. Those who know it is worth it, do fight for it. Others fight against the fight, for their own crude power.

[4] yeah, but no you make good points.

[5] No, that’s it. Politicians lose relevancy when men with swords are more powerful or important. When there’s the chance of negotiating, they rule, when arms be taken they are meaningless and powerless. that’s the point of the movie. They use their power to garner more of it. Once the world doesn’t revolve around them, or those swindled to give them power no longer trust them as all knowing, all bets are off.

The key is that they portray that politicians will do anything to get what they want, IE the slime ball politician raping Leo’s wife and eluding to getting what he most cherished. He thought it was of flesh that Leo did desire, but it was of soul. His wife believed as he did in freedom. That’s the whole point or story to be taken. Freedom trumps feelings.

Her reply at 11:15:

You just wrote your review.

My reply I didn’t send:

But I really want to beat a dead horse … (kidding)

But what I was really wondering was: How did I get so lucky?

More will follow.

I saw - 300 this weekend. The best movie I have seen in ages, both cinematography-wise, and with its message. There’s a host of subplots and storylines that can teach us a lot about the state of politics and the world today.

The left in America and pacifists around the world will not be happy if this movie continues its record breaking performance in the coming weeks.

I will try to have it up later tonight, or in the morning.

Well I’m back. I have no clue what really happened in the world when I was gone. I had a great time though with the fam. My sister, her hubby, 4 boys, and pyscho dog came up. We had a ton of fun on the lake. The oldest one is just getting to the point where tubing is fun for me, the driver. The others are still just straight and smooth riders. But the oldest, likes to get airborn. On his last ride this morning, I actually got him to clear the wake.

We watched the movie ‘Failure to Launch’ last night. My sister’s choice, so don’t hold me accountable for the language. It was a great great movie. Funny, and what not. Although the Terry Bradshaw nude scene was a bit too much.

Well, I’m up at the Fortress to catch up on current events. Stay tuned.

First off, let me say that I didn’t watch.
Second, who bleeping cares?

Brokeback Mnt Gross $78 million

Pink Panther Gross $69 million - and still going

OK, no one saw the movie, and in 2 wweks this slapstick movie will out gross Brokeback. No one saw it. No one gives a rat damn about what these 2 actors did in the sleeping bag.

And for crying out loud, Wedding Crashers raked in more money ($209 million) than the ‘Movementie’ known as Brokeback.

Guess what movie finished just ahead of the movie to end all social discussion on the importance of gay cowboys? Yep, Dukes of Hazzard $80 million.

Shut up, and I’df like to see us go back to a society where no cares if you’re gay, and if you are, they say good for you, we’d like to give teh award to the best movie now. Thanks for coming, we hope you enjoy the gift bag, no not that kind. Get a room you 2. (Couldn’t resist.)

OK? Everyone stop it already. Recount is not an option. America didn’t give a crap about any of the movies in for the top honor. OK? Move On already!

And to the Strib, it wasn’t too hot for the Oscars, it was too bleeping irrelevant to seriously honor as best picture!

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone stop it! Go back to your lives. Hollywood doesn’t really matter. It is more fake than wrestling!

I was going to be heading up to the cabin Wednesday and Thursday with a guy from work to get the other side of the roof done, but he has a funeral to go to now, so that is off.

This weekend, I’ll be attending the MNGOP State Convention. It is supposed to be organizational, so there probably won’t be much news from it, but you can get whatever news there is, right here.
I misread some info I have, the State Convention is not until September. So all you people with the life size Cheney costumes and ppuppets can leave them in the storage unit for another month.

I was watching Ace Ventura last night on TBS. It was a director’s cut or something. It had some new stuff I hadn’t seen before. Good stuff.

Homework on my blog? I disapprove! Well, its not what I had in mind when the blog started. Heck, I hate reading. Well, I dislike reading due to my short attention span. I’ve started lots of books but finished few.
I’ve been tagged to talk about books. My gut instinct is to disregard, but superstition always gets the best of me. I think this whole thing is about seeing who reads your blog.

So here’s what being tagged means. I was ‘tagged‘ by The First Ringer who was ‘tagged’ by Doug at Bogus Gold, who was ‘tagged’ by Rick at Stones Cry out. And by being tagged I mean you have to answer some questions about books and then ‘tag’ 5 others to do the same.

Total number of books owned, ever:
Well, I’d say around 30. That’s probably high, but I’m a book borrower. Mom’s on the Conservative Book thing, so she already gets them all.

Last book I bought:
Give Me a Break by John Stossel - I’m only half way through it. The blog really took off, right about then. I spend most of my time writing now. My shrink says I should spend more time exporting thoughts than importing them.

Last book I read:
As for cover to cover, that’d be American Soldier by Tommy Franks & Malcolm McConnell - Check below.

Five books that mean a lot to me:
American Soldier -Great book. If you want to know what honor, duty, and service to one’s country is all you need is this book. General Franks takes us from his boyhood days with his Dad right up to his leadership in today’s War on Terror. He gave his entire self to his country and describes what a true hero is in this book. If you haven’t read it yet, do.

Blog by Hugh Hewitt - I haven’t written a review on the new blog yet. Not good.
Here’s what I said way back when, which is now on the new blog. But, he is the blogfather, so I’m sure you need no more input from me on it.

Roberts’ Rules of Order Newly Revised - It is not exactly by choice and any one who can, should avoid needing this book if at all possible. If you don’t know, it is a book entirely about how to run a meeting. Full of boring and dull procedures, it is hardly worth the time unless you have to.

State of Fear by Michael Cichton - Yes, I know it is fiction. But it is the first book over 200 pages that I finished in a week and a half. Great book for any one who knows the Global Warming crap is a joke loosely held together by smart publicity. Crichton is a great writer and this one just happened to hit me on all the right marks. Plus here is some more I wrote on it.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - It is a book about a fictional future where people are created in test tubes and genetically engineered to perform certain tasks in life. The society is caste based and very hierarchical. There are a few savage (naturally conceived and born) that are brought into the civilized world and end up proving that life is best when left up to nature. The one sentence summary doesn’t do it justice, but it makes me think of the leftists dream if they were left in power. This book, in my mind, describes how they would have it if they could. Ignorance is bliss?

And now I get to pass along this curse to more bloggers who, I’m sure, are better suited for book club.

Douglas from Apprehension
Gary from Kennedy v. Machine
Swiftee from Pair o Dice
Martin from Martin Andrade Blogs
Tony from Always Right, Usually Correct

Tag you’re it!

Sorry if I left anyone out. Not sorry if you don’t like your assignment.

A few weeks ago, an old friend gave me the money to go see the last Star Wars movie. And since I was mentally drained after yesterday, I went and saw it last night. It was the first time I’ve been to a movie theater in almost 3 0r 4 years. The ‘preview/commercials’ are too long, not for me, but I got tired of the annoying person in front of me counting off how many each one was.

I liked it, but I also liked ALL 6 movies.

If the critics of the Star Wars movies after Ep 4 ( The original), were intellectually honest they’d rip the living heck out of the Lord of the Rings movies. After the first one, the others just bam, started with the plot, no set up. I was the only one alive who didn’t like them.

There were some cheesy moments like Vader screaming at the end. The love stuff could have been cut shorter. I knew what was going to happen to Skywalker, but still I was kept intrigued.

Wisdom wins over rage.

This one was the best of the last three if you ask me. The effects had finally been dialed in so that they weren’t fake looking. By my untrained eye, it even appeared that the actors actually did a little of their own saber rattling, not all CGI. Battle scenes were cool.

Its over now. The whole series. That kinda sucks. I was always a big fan of the series and still am. Hopefully some young writer will pick it up and carry it on. I’m not talking about the between movie stuff that some have done. I remember my brother telling me when I was a youngling that there were supposed to be 3 more after ‘Return of the Jedi’. That would be great, now that we see what the Republic used to be. It would be nice to see it rebuilt.

If you can tell, I’m wiped out after yesterday, and it seems some think I overreacted. I’ll comment later if I can muster the energy.

So I just watched it again to see if I was maybe I was imagining things. I have a tendency to put myself in movies. I always do it. I use movies to analyze what I did, or what I should do.

It’s not healthy, but it’s me.

I do this because movies are there. You just hit play, that’s it. There is no effort required. You don’t need to get dressed up. No need to make reservations. You don’t even need to build up the courage to ask permission to see them. You don’t need to build up trust with them to become friends. There is no pressure.

There are now 2 movies that have deeply affected me. They both seem to have been written specifically for me to learn something about myself. This one, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Life as a House.

I watched both these movies on a whim. One just happened to be on back when I had movie channels. The other I rented because there was nothing else that seemed worthy. But both movies grabbed me. They both made me cry for different reasons. One reminded me so much of my final time with my Dad before he died. And the other of how I deal with things.

Neither of these movies were rated fondly from what I remember. And since I haven’t been to a movie in a theater for almost 4 years, I don’t get wrapped up in the initial hype. I usually rent DVD’s or buy the ones I think I’ll like. I have often forgotten what was said about the movies long before I’ve seen most of them. I go into them pure, with an open mind.

I really like to do this with movies like these. It gives you a chance to see what the movie is really about. And what the writer wanted you to see. Many movies are held until a certain time for release. Others have their scripts, which had been filed away, polished up to be current and released to capitalize on something that just happened. Most movies are crap. Some are great stories that were done poorly. But these 2 movies were well worth the wait for me.

I just watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , stone cold sober, and I understood it.

I don’t know what this means, but it’s really got me thinking. And I’m scared about what this means.

I have just finished reading State of Fear by Michael Crichton.

Let me say that it is just fascinating. I have never been a strong or committed reader. I often started books but rarely finished them. I couldn’t stop reading this book.

Crichton is a masterful author. He was able to do what good ones do, he got me to be able to see the story in my head. I felt I knew the characters, as if they were real. Which wasn’t hard since many of them were loosely based on actual people. From ‘Ted Bagley’ the Ex TV President, to the billionare Mr. Gordon who goes from enviro philanthropist to action hero in the jungle saving the world from …

I won’t ruin the it for you.

The book is a twisting and turning tale. I was hooked, I have long believed that the enviro crisis that is being portrayed by the media is not quite true. State of Fear is filled with factual references that will make you question the stories you’ve heard. Crichton carefully documents each of the studies he uses with real world scientific data.

So its a thriller/ science/ end of the world book that I read in a few short sittings. that is good for me!

Crichton’s timeliness with this release is spot on. What with the tsunami of recent time.
Since reading his book I have noticed certain tendancies of the media. Their uncanny ability to sell out journalism for ratings by capitalizing on disasters and anguish of others to bump their ratings. And how they increase the runs on stories relating to the Earth whenever there is a NATURAL disaster somewhere.

The best part of the book is a simple quote. It will make non Global Warming Poeple cheer. those of us who hate being told to conserve from celebrities who own multiple homes on multiple continants that are all heated and cooled year round when no one is home. And are guilted to think us driving our own internal combustion engine to work every day is killing mother nature when celebrities have suv limos drive them to the corner.

I can’t remember the quote exactly but this is the basic princpal.
There is one thing I hate more than a limosein liberal… A Gulf Stream liberal. We are burning hundreds of galons and hour flying this jet with 6 people on it when we could have flown commercial to conserve. And when we land each of them will have their own suv limo pick them up and drive them to their huge over indulging mansion.

Great book!