WitW #7 (Church) was taken at as small roadside village on the way to Lake Titicaca, Peru.
This one was taken on a beautiful day in 2009.
Where was I?
Where in the World Photo Game #8
1
2013 Superhero Movies
2013 will be a big year for superhero flicks. There will be two films in The Avengers domain. The third Iron Man film will be out at the beginning of the summer and Thor: The Dark World is out at year-end. Given my preference for superheroes that don’t wear tights as outer garments, I have to say that Iron Man 3 is shaping up to be my favorite. The Wolverine is also unlikely be in tights in this personification, but I’ll go into that one with low expectations. (Don’t disappoint me again, X-men. Actually, I liked First Class, but the others were making me consider a life of super-villainy.) I’m not big on gods as heroes, but that’s just me.
I am serious about having high hopes for Iron Man 3. The trailer suggests they are putting Stark in his darkest hour. Hopefully, they won’t entirely lose the trademark humor of the franchise. Having said that, I think some enhanced tension could be good. I don’t know why they couldn’t find a Chinese guy to play Mandarin, but it’s a good arch-villain and will be mirrored by some brawn. (I’m not down on Ben Kingsley. I loved him in Ghandi. I just think we should have left casting Caucasians for non-Caucasian parts with 1950’s Westerns.)
I recently did a post on the Man of Steel. As I suggested, I like my superheroes more flawed and vincible (it’s a word, and it doesn’t mean capable of being turned into a Vince.) It sounds like they’ve made efforts to build tension, but in the trailer we pretty much see that as superman v. man conflict (which doesn’t sound like a thrill-ride.) I’m leaving room to be pleasantly surprised.
The most tight-lipped franchise is that of Kickass 2. I don’t know if that should be taken ominously or not. They may have been so surprised by response to the first that they don’t want to jinx things.
Iron Man 3 (May 3)
Man of Steel (June 14)
Kickass 2 (June 28)
The Wolverine (July 26)
(This is not a trailer, but it’s a summation of movie’s development that is humorous in places.)
Thor: The Dark World (Nov 8)
Also not a trailer
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Book Review: We Are Soldiers Still
We Are Soldiers Still by Harold G. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is a mix of the story of meetings between American and Vietnamese military men a couple of decades after the war and a treatise on leadership and war –plus some filler material. It’s a follow-up to a book written by the same authors on the Battle of Ia Drang, We Were Soldiers Once… and Young. That book was the subject of a movie starring Mel Gibson.
Both parts of the book are interesting, but this book is at its best when it discusses the meetings with Vietnamese officers. General Moore (Lt. Col. at the time of Ia Drang) gets to meet with the opposing commander at Ia Drang, Lt. Gen. Nyugen Hu An, and get his perspective on the battle. While the meetings go from being tentative to cordial with changing political winds, one gets a feel for the tension and the melting away of those tensions. With the latter meetings, additional U.S. fighters from Ia Drang are present, and not all have as easy of a time letting bygones be bygones as Gen. Moore. The group of U.S. soldiers spends the night on the Ia Drang battlefield (in an area that was near the border and not entirely settled at the time of their return.)
I don’t wish to suggest that the second part, which talks about leadership strategies and views on war, is not worthwhile, but it very much felt like padding to get the book up to a salable thickness. Gen. Moore is obviously quite competent to address these subjects, but the shift in the book is glaring and jarring.
This is very different kind of book than its predecessor. If you are expecting a tale of war, that’s not what you’ll find. If you are interested about how mortal enemies can be come close friends, you’ll find this book intriguing.
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Where in the World Photo Game #7
10 of My Favorite Quotes on Writing
Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college. –Kurt Vonnegut
Write without pay until somebody offers pay. If nobody offers within three years, the candidate may look upon this circumstance with the most implicit confidence as the sign that sawing wood is what he was intended for. –Mark Twain
The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. –Ray Bradbury
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. –Elmore Leonard
The first draft of anything is shit.—Ernest Hemingway.
Omit needless words. –William Strunk
The only rule for writing I have is to leave it while I’m still hot… –William Faulkner
Whoever wants to tell a story of a sainted grandmother, unless you can find some old love letters, and get a new grandfather? –Robert Penn Warren
When you write the thing through once, you find out what the end is. Then you can go back to the first chapter and put in a lot of those foreshadowings. –Flannery O’Connor
As far as I’m concerned the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning. –Neil Gaiman
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Book Review: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2) follows an earthling, Arthur Dent, as he is introduced to galactic hitchhiking by a Betegeusian named Ford Prefect. This duo joins the other sole-remaining human and the Galactic president aboard a stolen ship. Along with a chronically depressed robot, the group gets to the bottom of life’s grandest questions.
I just finished re-reading this book. I wouldn’t have figured there was any reason to review a 34-year-old book. To my knowledge, there isn’t another movie in the works. Surely, everyone who is likely to read it already has, right? Young people like new stuff, and if you’re… let’s say… youthfulness-challenged and haven’t gotten around to it then it’s probably not your cup of tea (which, sad so say, means you are likely devoid of a sense of humor.)
Then I saw a “best in 2012” list by genre, and H2G2 was on it. Yes, I realize that “best-seller” lists are a euphemism for “most-printed” and are not a perfect indicator. Of course, when I went to look for said list, I was unable to re-discover it. It may have been the “top 20 books used to prop up the corner of a coffee table” for all I can prove. However, in looking for the list, I did find H2G2 on a lot of other lists including best-selling books of all time and most popular sci-fi of all time.
In short, read this book.
I don’t want to give a lot of spoilers, but here are just a few of the things H2G2 will do for you:
-It tells you the answer to life, the universe, and everything. (Now everything else will be anti-climactic and thus stress-free.)
-You’ll never look at a mouse the same way.
-It tells you what you need in order to hitchhike through the Milky Way (Spoiler alert: a towel.)
What more could one want from a book? (If you say vampires or zombies, I’ll choke you through your USB port.)
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Where in the World Photo Game #6
Clouds and Mountains: Pisaq, Peru
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Wisdom in 5 Simple Lessons
Confucius statue at the Confucian Temple, Beijing
1.) Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle –Plato
2.) If you choose, you are free; if you choose, you need blame no man. –Epictetus
3.) …the greatest carver does the least cutting. –Lao Tzu
4.) If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. –Martin Luther King Jr
5.) A gentleman wishes to be slow to speak and quick to do. –Confucius
