heart of mighty oak
will not bend or break or tear
you can’t keep me down
Friday Poetry – indomitable
One fantastic site
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/
It’s funny ’cause it’s true.
Monday poetry
life on the hot seat
wed to the critical path
don’t scorch your trousers
What an awful headline
‘Let the baby go,’ Jennifer Hudson’s sister says of missing son
What, she doesn’t have a name of her own? And who would file this story under “Arts & Entertainment?”
If the story isn’t noteworthy in and of itself (and it isn’t – it’s tragic, but not noteworthy) then don’t run it. If you find yourself miscategorizing it (it’s not about arts and entertainment) then don’t run it.
If you’re going to advertise the grief of a hysterical mother, at least grant her the dignity of calling her by name. Julia Hudson deserves at least that much.
CBC – Be ashamed.
Somewhat old timey movie review – One Eyed Jacks
If you only ever watch one movie directed by Marlon Brando, watch this one.
Why? Because Wikipedia tells us he’s only directed this one. Oh, and he took over from Stanley Kubrick. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.
Yes, that 1961 classic, “One Eyed Jacks” directed by and starring (come on, you knew this was coming) Marlon Brando.
Marlon Brando plays a tortured, dark, ‘bad-boy’ hero who is torn between the woman he loves and his burning need for revenge. At least… I think he does.
I’d know for sure if he didn’t mumble his lines all the time.
The plot for this one is solid, but I’d hesitate to call it original. Strangely enough, there’s another film on my old timey movie review list dating from 1961 with another tortured, dark ‘bad-boy’ hero who is torn between the woman he loves and his burning need for revenge: “The Deadly Companions”, starring Brian Keith.
Strangely enough, “The Deadly Companions” was directed by Sam Peckinpah, who worked on the screenplay for “One Eyed Jacks” before Stanley Kubrick fired him.
What a small world we live in.
There’s not a whole lot to set this film apart from your average tortured-dark-badboy-hero film. I’ve no complaints about the acting, and the script-writing holds its own. There’s even one or two lines I’d quote for cheesy cliche value. Overall, “One Eyed Jacks” is quite enjoyable to watch, although I’d hesitate to say I was captivated.
There’s a reasonable amount of intrigue, a reasonable attempt at romance, and a reasonable dose of gun-slinging. As with most old timey films, you’ve seen all this before, but it’s somehow different. The roles and lines are the same, but they’re not so pat as the ones you remember. They’re missing 45 years of polish.
Looking at old stuff with young eyes is fun. In some ways, the new stuff is genuinely better (stage-fighting, special effects, scenery). In some ways, the new stuff is tired and the old stuff is fresh.
If Hollywood remade this film for 2009, it would star a good looking piece of meat who couldn’t act as the lead. The sex would be explicit, the blood would flow more freely and there would be explosions. I suspect the 2009 “One Eyed Jacks” would be similar in feel and quality to “The Italian Job” – a run of the mill action/adventure film with some star power but nothing to raise it above the ordinary.
Hmm… Better stick with Brando. He might mumble a bit, but that’s not always a bad thing.
I know they’re all sad, but…
This one is sad.
The parents defended their son’s decision, saying he was “an intelligent young man of sound mind” who was “not prepared to live what he felt was a second-class existence”.
It doesn’t always matter whether or not we’re intelligent or of sound mind.
The article titles him as a “paralyzed rugby player”.
Now if, when you asked him who he was, he would say, “I am a rugby player,” then what choice did he have once he lost his body? For a rugby player, being paralyzed is a second class existence.
But if he had said, “I’m a man, created by God to serve him,” would he have had another choice? Being still a man, still created by God, and still having the opportunity to serve him, would he still consider his existence before God to be ‘second-class?’
If we don’t actively protect our own perception of our identity, we will lose it. It will be swallowed up by the things we do and the things we care about. It will be corroded and gobbled away until we’re left as the meagre sum of our experiences.
Every hour I program, I understand myself more as computer programmer and less as what I was before.
I guess I’m even a little scared, because so much of how I see myself is tied up with my mind. Were I to lose that, would I have the strength to resist saying “I have lost everything.” ?
Bored young terrorists?
People turn to terrorism for social solidarity.
I’ve blogged about bored young men before.
But here’s a funny thing: If people turn to terrorism for social solidarity, because they are bored and alone…
What does that say about effective strategies for dealing with terrorism? Prayer might work.
Where do your namesakes live?
Apparently, you can find out at the World Names Profiler.
This is a nifty idea. It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know about my surname (nearly exclusive to Great Britain and its colonies).
On a whim, I plugged in “Boateng”. Great Britain came up first. Who knew?
“Mensah”. Same thing.
Apparently West Africa is a giant hole in the surname map. As it turns out, their results are based off of data from 26 countries…
Well, garbage in, garbage out, I guess.