Danielmedley.com

Friday, November 28, 2008

Black Friday

Ah, well, we did the Turkey thing yesterday which was a good thing. I didn’t eat too much.

I’m going to go through my list O links and purge some of them and add some others. Years ago, in another blog life, I used to pal around with this chick. If she talks like she writes, I have to wonder if she ever comes up for air.

Reading through the news today, I’m glad that I didn’t, nor ever will, participate in the so called Black Friday nonsense. I mean, c’mon, people. People die because there’s a sale at Wal?

A worker died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers when a suburban Wal-Mart opened for the holiday sales rush Friday, authorities said.

Also, there’s this video of people going absolutely bonkers over the last Xbox at Wal. In some of the comments I see people shouting that Wal should be sued. Bullshit, I say. The problem isn’t Wal, it’s the mullet-wearing, tooth-missing, inbred, Natural Light drinking, half-shirt wearing, Trans Am up on the blocks in the back yard waiting for the next welfare check to “git ‘er up and runnin’” dolts that are to blame. My God, people, have some pride, will ya? I appreciate a deal as much as the next person, but ... I know that my above characterization sounds horribly elitist, but really, next time you go to WalMart, take a look around you and tell me what you see. Not all, I know, but just take a look around.

Anyway, on this Black Friday, instead of participating in it, I’m staying at home bitching about it. It’s much more fun.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Film Wisdom

An interesting article on cliches in film, or more accurately, how they have changed. There are the givens like the fact that no matter where someone on the screen lives in Paris, the Eiffel Tower will always be visible through their window. Really, keep your eyes open and you’ll notice it.

Fans of traditional western movies, for example, know that the gunmen on the American frontier settled their disputes fair and square, meeting in one-on-one main-street pistol duels, ideally at noon. I was shocked when Elmore Leonard said he made it a rule to omit that scene from the western books and movies he wrote. He claims no one would ever be so foolish as to do that.

Good on Elmore Leonard. Thankfully, for the most part, you’ll never see a western movie with two pistol-swinging gunmen facing each other down in the middle of main street. Nowadays, mainstreet is turned into a gritty, gut-shot, messy bloodbath. Think of Open Range or Unforgiven. Watching Open Range, I remember thinking that it felt like watching Vietnam War footage.

One “wisdom” not mentioned in the article is that, as of the past few decades, Republican or Conservative means bad.

When I was very young, I wasn’t subjected to much television or film. It’s not that I’m that old (46), it’s just a result of where I grew up at. The 60’s and 70’s, in the mountains of Idaho didn’t lend itself to much television. Try to see what kind of reception you get with rabbit ears while living in a town of 400 or so people at the bottom of the second deepest canyon in North America. Also, there tends to be very little in the way of local theater going experiences. What people mostly did for entertainment was bitch about the weather and government, and read a lot.

The reason I bring this up is because while growing up, my young eyes and ears caught much of what the old-timers would say and talk about. There was a certain standard of how a “man” was supposed to act. I still have vivid memories of ranch hands standing around the fireplace, holding cups of coffee and talking about one thing or another and through it all, for the most part, there was a certain code of behavior that was pretty cut and dry. That’s not to say that there were not those who did not or would not live up to expected standards. They just weren’t respected. In hindsight, I realize that human behavior is what it is and has not changed much for perhaps thousands of years, but, often times, people like to put on a good and/or righteous face. A few years later, when I became more exposed to film and television, I saw, in westerns, much of the same kind of “code” of behavior that I witnessed as a child when men with names like Jake, Jasper, and Arlin stood around that stove holding their coffee talking in low-toned, rumbling voices. 

At the time I wondered if this code of behavior presented in the western films was a reflection of reality, or if the reality was a reflection of the cliché. I still haven’t figured that one out because I’m pretty sure that Jake, Jasper, or Arlin hadn’t had much exposure to films and television as well. Of course, I’m sure that they all had lots of experience reading Louis L Amour and other writers of the Western Mythos. I also must point out that some of the most well-read individuals I’ve every met were simple, rural types that I’ve come across in remote villages and mountain campsites. Show me a real cowboy who spends a good portion of their life in the outdoors away from people, doing the things that cowboys do, living the lonely life that cowboys do, and I would be willing to bet that they are extremely well-read. Think about it, what the hell else is there to do out there in the great wide open? You will rarely see something so incongruous as a bow-legged, filthy cowboy with a wad of tobacco in his mouth, punctuating his dialect with “y,all”, “fixin’”, and displaying the manners of someone ill-equipped to handle social interactions beyond telling his dog to “Git in the back of the truck” while at the same time, in casual conversation, throwing out a quote by Keats or Oscar Wilde or applying a Shakespearean incident to an anecdote. Trust me, this isn’t all that uncommon.

Which brings me back to the whole cliché thing. Sometimes the anti-cliché is the cliché.

Go figure. 

Saturday, November 08, 2008

On To Level 2

This morning I, along with nine other sorry S.O.B.’s, went through the hell that is known as level testing in Krav Maga. This particular bout was for completing level 1 and moving on to level 2 training. It was nearly three hours of abject brutality. This was, without a doubt, the most physically exhausting experience of my life. But it’s all good because I passed. Hell, we all passed which which is cool because it’s not easy, and people do fail these tests. I did catch a knee to the mouth, causing a small split in both upper and lower lips. Had it not been for my mouthpiece, I would’ve lost some teeth and had some stitches instead of licking off the blood and carrying on.

Ah the things we do for fun.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Nitwits To The Left, Nitwits To The Right

From the moment G.W. Bush became the President Elect, nitwits were calling for his impeachment. Such people were, quite simply, idiots. Now, B.O. is the President Elect and the nitwits are already crawling out of the woodwork.

Barack Obama has not even been sworn in yet as the 44th president of the United States but groups are springing up online calling for his impeachment.
On Facebook, an “Impeach Barack Obama” group has attracted more than 700 members and a lively debate about the Democrat’s election victory on Tuesday over Republican John McCain.

Another Facebook group of the same name has 160 members and urges others to join because “we might as well get a head start on the impeachment of Obama.”

Look, I’ll be the first to tell you that B.O. makes me real nervous. From what he’s said, done, and who he has hung out with for the past 20 years, I don’t feel real good about it. His views on the Constitution and “spreading the wealth around” are downright idiotic, and nitwit like. Yes, he says he will reach out, close divides, and all that feel good shit, and, yes, actions speak louder than words--something the majority of voters seemed to have forgotten,
But.

BUT ...

Unlike the dolts from the left who brayed “Bush lied ...” and who did everything they could to marginalize and tear him down, I will at least give the guy a chance and hope that I’m wrong about him.

If, as I fear, the left begins to threaten freedom of speech or my Second Amendment rights, or go all Woodrow Wilson or FDR, I’ll cry bullshit. But, until that happens, I’m plugging my nose, swallowing the caster oil, and giving the guy the benefit of the doubt. No Daily Kos or Move On bullshit here because the ends does not justify the means. Stupid nonsense from the left--and believe me, there’s plenty of it--does not justify stupid nonsense from the right.

I’m just saying.