Favorite Movies, No. 1

Number one, as in the first one I'm writing about, not my all time favorite. Akira Kurosawa's film "Stray Dog" (1949), which I first saw when I was in college, is worth putting in your rental queue. A young Toshiro Mifune plays a detective whose gun is stolen by a pickpocket. When people start getting killed by his gun, Mifune feels responsible. I'm not going to go deeply into the story, you should enjoy it unfolding as you watch. The thing about this movie is the way it makes you feel. Most of the film takes place during a hot summer, and you really feel hot watching everyone wilting in the heat. When the rain finally comes later in the film, you really feel a bit relieved, until Kurosawa ratchets up the tension as the story rushes toward the ending. This film has been released on DVD, and should be watched with subtitles on, so you can appreciate Mifune's acting ability.

Hold On

This shot took about a year to complete--mainly because I didn't work on it after shooting for most of a year. I have to give credit to Tina Watson and Heather Spradling for their retouching and assistance. I couldn't have done it without them.

Audrey

While taking shots to use on www.simpsonizeme.com, I got a shot of Audrey actually smiling. She works hard to look serious/bored so this is a rarity and I had to share it.

Wish List

I've been really missing having a guitar loaded with P-90s and after much research, I've decided Reverend Guitars makes the guitars to fit the bill. Unfortunately, although they are very reasonably priced, I don't have the money to blow on another guitar. Anyone care to buy a well-used '89 Telecaster?

Salad Days

This is a Tuscan Bread Salad I made for dinner Monday, but before I tossed in the toasted cubes of Tuscan Bread. So I guess it's just a salad at this point.

Little Boy Soldiers

Come out on the hills with the little boy soldiers.

Come on outside--I'll sing you a lullaby,
Or tell a tale of how goodness prevailed.

We ruled the world--we killed and robbed
The fucking lot--but we don't feel bad

It was done beneath the flag of democracy,
You'll believe and I do, yes I do, yes I do--

These days I find that I can't be bothered
To argue with them well, what's the point?
Better to take your shots and drop down dead,
Then they send you home in a pine overcoat

With a letter to your mum
Saying find enclosed one son--one medal and a note to say he won.

The Jam, Little Boy Soldiers

Film Festival 3

Click on the image to make it bigger.

"Mom, Steve stole my Crazy Cow!"

This is a scan of a drawing I mailed to my cousin Craig when he was in Mexico in '85. I'm not sure what it all means.

High Key Grip

Great White Hunter

I can't emphasize how much I loved GI Joe when I was a kid. My first Joe was a Talking Commander GI Joe with life-like hair. I vividly remember the commercials when they introduced "Kung-Fu Grip." The space capsule, the shark and underwater sled, the mummy and the six-wheeled scrambler, the pygmy gorilla, and, of course, the white tiger hunt.

A Kiss for an Olive

A Quote From The General

My brother Mark sent me this quote, which pretty much applies to any conflict at any time:

“[W]e made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers. "--Robert E. Lee

Playhouse

This is a shot I really like taken by the very talented Julia Cassis; it's at the Charleston Playhouse and Tavern in '89 or '90.

Currently Reading...

I'm in the middle of "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents," by Terry Pratchett. And since it's by Terry Pratchett, it's hilarious, of course. Here's a brief excerpt that I think illustrates Pratchett's wonderful sense of humor:

Darktan turned to Number Two platoon. They were some of the older rats, scarred and bitten and ragged, some of them with stubs of tails or no tails at all, some of them missing a paw or an ear or an eye. In fact, although there were about twenty of them, they had among them only enough bits to make up about seventeen complete rats.

Hoping for Longevity

I'd like to live long enough to find out the real reason our troops are in Iraq. We as a nation were first told that Iraq under Hussein was an imminent threat, that there were stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, that there was an active and nearly complete nuclear program, and there were hints of links to 9-11. If we didn't hit him first, he'd use all his WMDs on us. After all these reasons proved to be false--or if not entirely false, grossly exaggerated--we have been told that we went there to bring "freedom and democracy" to the Iraqi people. The vote to authorize the use of force was given to end a perceived threat, not to try our hand at nation building. If the threat of phantom nukes hadn't been trumpeted so loudly, the authorization to use force wouldn't have been so easily obtained. I want to know, however many years it takes to come to light, why Bush and Co. had such a hard-on to topple Saddam's regime. Was it because the first Bush didn't finish the job? Did they truly believe that they could create by force a viable democracy friendly to the U. S. in the region? I know for sure that we weren't led into this conflict for the reasons they gave us at the start. I want to know why, really.

Gardening and Cats

Amee took a few shots in the back yard and garden; Audrey took a few pics of the cat.