Weblog 136
September 14, 2008~ 12:15am
Right up above here....this was all of my online stuff........just 2 days ago. The graphics were "GONE"-- cripes, what a situation. Luckily the host came back up, so it's just a question of reloading everything onto their server; it's time consuming, but works without much fuss. I'm restoring from the latest weeks back to the earliest. It's at a snail's pace to be sure, but there is no choice. MAD PICTURES are nearly 100 percent back, and these weekly entries are reappearing with pictures- little by little.
Life does that.....it will simply crack up on you. Nothing to be done, but go ahead and pick up the pieces.
I'm not entirely without other amusement however. LOL! I did watch an engaging film this evening (another older one, but new to me)- I saw Billy Bob Thornton in "The Alamo".
I love a good historical film about men being tested to the limits of their mettle. War films are often like that: "Glory", "Saving Private Ryan"......they all make me tear up eventually. It's the dying purposefully and courageously, locked in commitment to one another.
I am ever ambiguous about my love of these kinds of films: I hate war......love a good war film. It makes no sense. Perhaps it's the tension between these two things that make them so very memorable to me- they're like scars.
Who could forget the image of Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, standing atop the Alamo and playing his fiddle while the Mexican army, in perfect formation under Santa Anna, its Mexican foot soldiers- their red army coats and gold epaulets gleaming in the setting sun as they surround the Texans, filling the air with impressive martial death strains only to stop suddenly- to listen to Crockett's Tennessee fiddle, both joining and defying them. What a moment! Or Crockett's warning to the enemy as they converge to bayonet him, "I gotta warn ya....I'M A SCREAMER!" -one last moment of humor, as well as a nod to the chasm between his mythic reputation, and a mere human's frightened howl at fate in the very last seconds of a life claimed by violence.
Another favorite scene of mine has their youngful commander, so gripped by his book of regulations, so totally without the respect of his men -as much for his attitude as his inexperience- stepping out to retrieve an unexploded cannonball that had fallen in their midst, then tapping out the burning fuse and carrying it up the ramparts saying, "We can re-use this" -- as the men stare open-mouthed at the youngster they'd underestimated. (Yep. I got choked up there.)
There's a purity to battle that's unlike any other situation: it's being swept up in a tide that tends to make men lock arms and ride it out together, even if they're going under- and with certainty.
I suppose it's the purity of a love that makes a man completely forget self for the most intense period of this life, in the moments when life is livedtotally- second by committed second.
It's the horror and the magnificence of lost causes kicking at heaven-- it's all of these things. And I think "The Alamo" captures that beautifully. If you're a person who's also moved by such things and you haven't seen it, do. It's truly time well-spent.
September 16, 2008~ 8:15pm
From an email this morning:
HOW TO INSTALL A HOME SECURITY
SYSTEM IN THE SOUTH...
1. Go to a second-hand store and buy a pair of men's, used size 14-16 work boots.
2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo magazines.
3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazines.
4. Leave a note on your door that reads:
Hey Bubba,
Big Jim, Duke, Slim & I went for more ammunition. Back in an hour. Don't mess with the pit bulls - they attacked the mailman this morning and messed him up real bad. I don't think Killer took part in it but it was hard to tell from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all four of 'em in the house.
Better wait outside.
~Cooter~
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
Right up above here....this was all of my online stuff........just 2 days ago. The graphics were "GONE"-- cripes, what a situation. Luckily the host came back up, so it's just a question of reloading everything onto their server; it's time consuming, but works without much fuss. I'm restoring from the latest weeks back to the earliest. It's at a snail's pace to be sure, but there is no choice. MAD PICTURES are nearly 100 percent back, and these weekly entries are reappearing with pictures- little by little.
Life does that.....it will simply crack up on you. Nothing to be done, but go ahead and pick up the pieces.
I'm not entirely without other amusement however. LOL! I did watch an engaging film this evening (another older one, but new to me)- I saw Billy Bob Thornton in "The Alamo".
I love a good historical film about men being tested to the limits of their mettle. War films are often like that: "Glory", "Saving Private Ryan"......they all make me tear up eventually. It's the dying purposefully and courageously, locked in commitment to one another.
I am ever ambiguous about my love of these kinds of films: I hate war......love a good war film. It makes no sense. Perhaps it's the tension between these two things that make them so very memorable to me- they're like scars.
Who could forget the image of Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, standing atop the Alamo and playing his fiddle while the Mexican army, in perfect formation under Santa Anna, its Mexican foot soldiers- their red army coats and gold epaulets gleaming in the setting sun as they surround the Texans, filling the air with impressive martial death strains only to stop suddenly- to listen to Crockett's Tennessee fiddle, both joining and defying them. What a moment! Or Crockett's warning to the enemy as they converge to bayonet him, "I gotta warn ya....I'M A SCREAMER!" -one last moment of humor, as well as a nod to the chasm between his mythic reputation, and a mere human's frightened howl at fate in the very last seconds of a life claimed by violence.
Another favorite scene of mine has their youngful commander, so gripped by his book of regulations, so totally without the respect of his men -as much for his attitude as his inexperience- stepping out to retrieve an unexploded cannonball that had fallen in their midst, then tapping out the burning fuse and carrying it up the ramparts saying, "We can re-use this" -- as the men stare open-mouthed at the youngster they'd underestimated. (Yep. I got choked up there.)
There's a purity to battle that's unlike any other situation: it's being swept up in a tide that tends to make men lock arms and ride it out together, even if they're going under- and with certainty.
I suppose it's the purity of a love that makes a man completely forget self for the most intense period of this life, in the moments when life is livedtotally- second by committed second.
It's the horror and the magnificence of lost causes kicking at heaven-- it's all of these things. And I think "The Alamo" captures that beautifully. If you're a person who's also moved by such things and you haven't seen it, do. It's truly time well-spent.
September 16, 2008~ 8:15pm
From an email this morning:
HOW TO INSTALL A HOME SECURITY
SYSTEM IN THE SOUTH...
1. Go to a second-hand store and buy a pair of men's, used size 14-16 work boots.
2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo magazines.
3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazines.
4. Leave a note on your door that reads:
Hey Bubba,
Big Jim, Duke, Slim & I went for more ammunition. Back in an hour. Don't mess with the pit bulls - they attacked the mailman this morning and messed him up real bad. I don't think Killer took part in it but it was hard to tell from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all four of 'em in the house.
Better wait outside.
~Cooter~
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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