It's a Monday morning. And the final day of another month of all our lives that is slipping away into oblivion and the beyond. Time and life (not the magazines) - always in their relentless march, leaving us grasping at the air and begging for yesteryear.
I recently had some advice for a college freshman who had just moved into his dorm: Leave your door open at all hours and say hi to every single person who walks by. Not creepy hi. Not lame hi. Not sarcastic, I'm-a-skateboard-punk-who-says-hi-as-a-way-of-being-funny-to-my-skateboard-punk-friends hi. Just a nice, friendly smile and a "hey, what's up?" Don't be like me - wasting your freshman year living in a cave, seeing only unfriendly faces whenever you cross path with others when in all likelihood, they're just putting up a tough front like you. And this got me to wondering what I'm doing wrong now. What advice would my future self be screaming at me if he could go back in time (but naturally be unable to be heard by me or even seen...like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol)? Is he standing here right now, pleading with me, warning me, frantically trying to prevent the sands from slipping through the hourglass?
I find that the Foo Fighters (or maybe simply Dave Grohl's voice) always makes me feel 19 or 20. Whereas Thom Yorke's voice (Radiohead) feels more mid-20s. And Daniel Johns (Silverchair) seems to fit my current age, place, time, spot in the sun. (What any of that means to you, dear readers, I have no idea...I'm simply musing openly this morning...)
This weekend I was lucky enough to catch "Inglorious Basterds." Superb film. Much better than the current elitist flavor-of-the-year "District 9." IB didn't follow any predictable plot-line and at no point could I discern where the moving was going - meaning, no tired sigh and me thinking to myself "O-kay...I see what's going to happen now....get on with it..." (a very refreshing and pleasing aspect). The style was inescapably Tarantino-esque, but it also did not feel like a rehashing of his older works.
The poor souls who encounter me on a daily basis will now be burdened by an onslaught of Inglorious Basterds lines, repeated ad nauseum, for at least the coming weeks.
That's all I have this morning, folks. Keep fighting the good fight - trying to keep those hourglass sands at bay.
Showing posts with label Inglorious Basterds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inglorious Basterds. Show all posts
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Fresh Beer and Dismembering Nazis
So Quentin Tarantino's new film, Inglorious Basterds, is coming out in a few months. I caught the trailer online the other day. Basically the movie is about a group of Jewish-American soldiers in World War II who are dropped into Nazi occupied France with the purpose of brutally slaying, mauling, scalping, and otherwise killing Nazi troops. So, uh.....why no outcry that it glorifies brutal torture from a certain segment of society? What if the movie were set during modern times, say a group of Navy SEALs sent out to hunt down and disembowel terrorists, creating fear and terror amongst those who make it their life-mission to bring fear and terror to others? Well, I can imagine it would be publically slammed (by a certain segment of society) as horrible and despicable and would be boycotted -- or at the very least there'd be some nut saying "See! This is what evil America does to people in real life!"
But what is the difference here? Why is it okay for Brad Pitt and his buddies to scalp Nazis, but if Pitt was killing Osama Bin Laden it would be politically incorrect and offensive? Doesn't anyone else see the disconnect here? Some of the same people who freak out over waterboarding at Gitmo and love to brand the US as capable of only actions that are evil or wrong or reprehensible will go and see Inglorious Basterds and laugh and say "man, that was awesome." And they'd probably have no issues (or mere minor grumblings) if the story were true and we actually did send troops over to brutalize Nazis and cut swastikas into the foreheads of the survivors. Perhaps that's because Nazis have no political clout today. There's no political power to be gained from defending them. Or from victimizing them. Yes - just imagine that. Nazis being painted as victims. But some people in this world do it all the time with other just-as-evil groups/individuals.
Ah, well...enough of that. The movie looks like it has potential to be good. I can't even recall the last Tarantino movie that I saw...much less one that was decent.
Since Lent is over and I can have beer again, my tastes have been renewed and my enjoyment of beer reinvigorated. Yesterday I stopped in to pick up some new beer (my stocks are virtually depleted) and resisted the temptation (and the risk) of buying imports that could possibly be 9 months past their Best Before date. I was looking at some Tennent's, but could not find a date anywhere on the bottle and so passed it by. Instead I bought more Sam Adams White Ale and decided to give Schlafly's Summer Lager a try. The Schlafly's is excellent. An exceptional summer/spring brew. And for me, what was almost as good as the taste was the writing on the bottom of the lable: "Bottled With Love On: 03/30/09." That means the very beer I was drinking was only a few weeks old. And fresh beer is infinitely better than old skunky beer.
But what is the difference here? Why is it okay for Brad Pitt and his buddies to scalp Nazis, but if Pitt was killing Osama Bin Laden it would be politically incorrect and offensive? Doesn't anyone else see the disconnect here? Some of the same people who freak out over waterboarding at Gitmo and love to brand the US as capable of only actions that are evil or wrong or reprehensible will go and see Inglorious Basterds and laugh and say "man, that was awesome." And they'd probably have no issues (or mere minor grumblings) if the story were true and we actually did send troops over to brutalize Nazis and cut swastikas into the foreheads of the survivors. Perhaps that's because Nazis have no political clout today. There's no political power to be gained from defending them. Or from victimizing them. Yes - just imagine that. Nazis being painted as victims. But some people in this world do it all the time with other just-as-evil groups/individuals.
Ah, well...enough of that. The movie looks like it has potential to be good. I can't even recall the last Tarantino movie that I saw...much less one that was decent.
Since Lent is over and I can have beer again, my tastes have been renewed and my enjoyment of beer reinvigorated. Yesterday I stopped in to pick up some new beer (my stocks are virtually depleted) and resisted the temptation (and the risk) of buying imports that could possibly be 9 months past their Best Before date. I was looking at some Tennent's, but could not find a date anywhere on the bottle and so passed it by. Instead I bought more Sam Adams White Ale and decided to give Schlafly's Summer Lager a try. The Schlafly's is excellent. An exceptional summer/spring brew. And for me, what was almost as good as the taste was the writing on the bottom of the lable: "Bottled With Love On: 03/30/09." That means the very beer I was drinking was only a few weeks old. And fresh beer is infinitely better than old skunky beer.
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