I watched this movie last night. It was riveting. It is only an hour and a half long but I was glued to my TV the entire time. He Was A Quiet Man chronicles the life of a desperate worker and his attempts to find happiness. It is about how society can create desperate men and what those men can do. I highly recommend it. I watched on a In-Demand channel. You can probably find it there. I’m not sure it is out on video yet. The IMDB site for it is here I don’t know what I did to mess this up but here it is.
Archive for March, 2008
Okay, I will admit I am a fan of American Idol. I personally think Michael Johns should win but the more I hear form David Cook the more I like him. We shall see. If you like rock music you will like this season. About half the field fits some type of rock category. I think the producers and judges worked it this way. There has never been a rocker win the show. I think they stacked the deck. I don;t think it is wrong, these may very well have been the best singers left, but I have a feeling these were the best rock singers they have had since Chris Daughtry.
This commentary by Hendrik Hertzberg offers an interesting idea for John McCain’s running mate. One I would have never thought of. The second half of the article talks about Condoleezza Rice as perfect running mate for McCain.
Personally I would love to see J.C. Watts get into the picture. He is conservative, speaks his mind, and would be historical, he’s black.
Raleigh Eyes Easing Restrictions as Falls Lake Fills Okay, we have a lot of rain the past week and Falls lake is filling. But, we are still down 3/4 of a foot in rainfall since last year and the summer months are just around the corner. I think it is premature to lift any restrictions just yet. This seems to be a continuous problem with Raleigh city leaders. There is a short sightedness that boggles the mind. We have been struggling to conserve water for 8 or nine months now, why do we need to squander the resources God has given back to us? We need to continue to conserve water. I do agree that stage 3 water restrictions may not be needed but stage 2 restrictions should stay in place for the foreseeable future, until we begin getting consistent rain. Don’t be stupid Raleigh. Save your water.
3/7/08 Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes This is a collection of short stories from the Dragonlance Realm. Check out “Definitions of Honor” by Richard A. Knaak, it is one of the best short stories I have ever read. If it wasn’t set in a fantasy realm it would probably get more attention than it does.
This is one of my favorite moments from one of my favorite shows.
Okay, the Democrats National Organization set rules for primaries. The states that broke those rules would have their delegates thrown out of consideration during the convention. Hillary was the only major candidate to leave her name on the ballot in those states, though the other candidates could have their name written in. Florida and Michigan break the rules and there votes are discounted. The 2,025 delegate figure the Democratic candidates are trying to reach does not include those two states. Now, since the election is so close, those two states could swing the nomination to one of the two candidates. The states are also now crying to have their votes counted. What to do? The party wants new primaries paid by the state. The state said it would hold new primaries if the Democratic National Convention would foot the bill. Neither is budging. They want the other to pay.
The solution I embrace is being called the Solomon Solution. Take the delegates from the states and split them evenly between Obama and Clinton. The two states would then have a zero net effect on the primary. This would be the punishment, they have no influence on the nomination, but there delegates would still be seated and they would be represented at the convention. It is simple and easy, but will never happen.
3/2/08 Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen. The apocalypse is here but where is the Anti-Christ?
Stricklands settle after death of son I am not going to debate the question of whether this teenager needed to die. He did not. The sentence did not fit the crime he committed. I do have a problem with one issue here. If Stricklend had never stolen a PlayStation, the cops would not have been at his door. This is aspect of the situation that seems to have been overlooked in the outrage over the actions of one trigger happy cop.
In today’s society we seem to overlook the actions of a person if an injustice results from those actions. Rodney King would not have been in a situation to be beat by LA officers if he had not been doing drugs and driving erratically. Why did someone not point this out. It was wrong for the cops to bludgeon him, but he brought the cops attention to himself by being high. There are other circumstances also, he kept resisting the officers. If he had just stayed on the ground he would not have been beaten either.
How many times a day have officers arrested someone and no one was hurt in the incident? Many. But when something goes wrong the blame is always placed on the cops and little mention is made about the offenders crimes. When can we place some blame?
In discussing the Native Americans in Austin’s history class, I thought about the specialized treatment Americans have tried to show Natives throughout American history. What many people never point out about the Europeans moving to the New World was the fact that it was an invasion of a new land. The colonies were the foothold the Europeans needed to begin establishing the invasion. A characteristic I have noticed about successful conquest of lands is the gradual nature of the process. Few invaders who try to sweep the indigenous people out of the land in one fell swoop succeed. It is the slow invasion, where people take over a small section at a time, that works. The conquered people of the land, after it has been controlled by the new people, then have a choice between assimilate or die.
With natives, though, we laid the ground work for invasion then tried to negotiate for the land. That doesn’t work. Now we are apologizing to the Natives for successfully defeating them. It seems ludicrous. How many other invaders have ever apologized to the people they defeated. I have never heard of the Normans telling the Angles and Saxons “I’m sorry for taking your land.” The ultimate point is, if the people of a land are too weak to defend themselves from invasion, they should assimilate. Not expect apologies. But America has decided to feel sorrowful for doing something that has happened for centuries before we even began conquering the land we now occupy.