the dissident frogman

16 years and 7 months ago

Good omen. Of sorts

the dissident frogman

Necrothreading much?

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Okay, I briefly caught this and just had a quick look:
The Kingdom Gets the War on Terror Right

Peter Berg's new film dares to portray Americans as the good guys.

The Kingdom, Universal's $70 million contribution to the burgeoning Iraq/War-on-Terror genre, will not hit theaters until September 28, but already word on the film is immensely encouraging: all the right people hate it.

(...) Berg needn't worry-I bet the film will be a blockbuster. In the suburban New York theater where I saw it, the audience, full of New York Times readers and NPR listeners, seemed not only shaken afterward, but a little confused: the Americans were the good guys, and they won. But reports have it that elsewhere in the country, audiences are cheering.


Out September 28 — there's the good omen to me.

And on that, my dear reader, I'm off, out of the door with my rifle on my back and headed to the woods. This is the first day of the season and nothing, short of a full-scale Islamic invasion, can keep me away from hunting wild boars and the mighty European Red Deer (if we're lucky) today.

Have a good one.

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the dissident frogman

I own, built and run this place. In a previous life I was not French but sadly, I died.

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The Wise knows that Cities are but demonic Soul-tearing pits that shall not be entered.

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The Wise knows that Cities are but demonic Soul-tearing pits that shall not be entered.

Comments thread (12)

2705 - Grimmy

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  • Grimmy Where I'm at.

Good hunting, friend.

Where does the light go, when the light goes out?

2706 - HeckBoy

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  • HeckBoy Auburn, AL USA

Images of Asterix and Obelix dance through my head.

2707 - Proof

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  • Proof Stockton, Callifornia, USA

Bonne chance and good hunting!

2712 - Banjo

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Oops. It turns out Berg was dismayed , saying the movie awakened the latent "jingoism" in the audience. So he not only missed the bullseye but his target altogether.

2713 - Valerie, Texas

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So, he didn't mean to get those latent tendencies going?

Could be he's just doing a little CYA spin to keep in Lefty Hollywood's good graces. Or he is just another one of those deluded idiots. Will wait to see if more such comments are made before he gets my money.

This reminds me of some interview with Paul Verhoeven from 20 years ago. I no longer recall the ircunstances, but it was when RoboCop was released. The filmmaker was dicussing his satire of America (greedy capitalists, violent, what, you thought it was just a sci-fi movie?!) and he went on and on about how violent Americans are. At some point, either the interviewer or a fellow guest on the tv talk show said calmly "Well, as you are Dutch, aren't you glad Americans wer so violent in 1944." Verhoeven had no reply.

So, DF, get any ribs to BBQ?

2714 - Reggie from Ramstein

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  • Reggie from Ramstein St Paul, MN

Il est rassurant pour moi de voir que j'ai encore des compatriotes assez sain de corps et d'esprit pour taquiner le cerf ou le sanglier. Bonne chasse et je suis jaloux: il me faut attendre encore 1 mois et demi...

2715 - SisterToldjah

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Saw a preview commercial for The Kingdom over the weekend - looks like it's going to be a good one. And it's about time Hollywood made something that didn't portray the US as the bad guys!

Speaking of movies about war, did anyone catch part one of Ken Burn's "The War" last night on PBS? I typically don't watch war documentaries, but I read Jules Crittenden's review of it decided to watch it, and caught part of it last night to check out the old footage he talked about. His review was spot-on: the footage was incredible, but the documentary (from what I've seen so far) doesn't do WWII justice in terms of why we were fighting it and why it was important for us to win it, and I found it hard to follow the narrative. Still, at least it wasn't anti-American. Normally, that is something that is hard to find on PBS.

2717 - Valerie, Texas

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Sis, I tried. Jules' is of sterner stuff than I. (And have a better control of urges to shoot TV sets.)

Was really no surprise that it was typical PBS BS. I clicked it off after 5 mins. I did check back in to see how they treated various battles. Found it very interesting in one series of battle images where the narrator persisted in referring to the two sides as "Americans" and "the enemy". The vets speaking during that segment had no problem uttering the word "Japanese". I clicked it off again and it stayed off. As will part 2, which will deal with The Bomb.

Gee, Ken will probably have our pal Richerd Gere back for that part!

2720 - trainer

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  • trainer New Jersey

This Burns' effort isn't up to the standards of Civil War or even the baseball doc. Too much on the nisei or too little. Great video, some of which I'd not seen before...but it's missing the drama and the story line is disjointed.

I think he should have narrrowed his focus.

Bye the by...what rifle are you using to hunt the poor little piglets?

2722 - Valerie, Texas

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Trainer, you are being very generous to Ken Burns.

I tried to watch it last night. I really did try to watch the latest tinstallment. Let's see, Kenny boy took great delight in all the casualities of the early North Africa campaign, which was a disaster until Patton and [roper equipment showed up. Oh, but Rommel getting pushed back had little to do with any thing the American soldiers did, it was more the Germans were low on gas. Bull shit. My dad was there I know better.

He put in a qupte from Ernie Pyle that I am sure would ring true with all his fellow lefty lemmings: how the great casualities (6,000 men) needed to happen as Americans were too confident. Thought they could whip anyone. In short, we deserved all those deaths. Gee? Where have I heard that before? And another quote from a Brit officer saying how worthless Americans would be if they didn't learn hot to fight. Well, Kenny boy I say we did learn how to fight and we did did whip 'em.

But the last straw, and why I will not give this piece of drek another minute of my life, was when, after detailing the conditions fo the camp set up by the occupying Japanese force or foreigners in the Philipphines--no food, no shade from the sun, nothing. Ken immediately switched over to the begining of the distrust of Japanese Americans. The start of the internment camps in America. As if to see, SEE! the Americans were just as bad as the Japanese! Ken Burns is a sorry SOB.

If he provides attention and honor to the Nisei soldiers, the legendary Purple Heart Battalion, I will be thrilled. These brave men deserve it. Them, and the Navajo Code Talkers.

Interesting. When the Americans of Japanese heritage were confronted by an enemy who came from their parents' home land, did they set up something like CAIR? No, they set up the Purple Heart Battaion and went out to defend the country that was their home. Pearl Harbor did not have only military casualites, civilians died that day too -- men, women, and kids. You bet the japanese American soldiers had something to prove. That they were nothing like the cowards who attacked without warning. How times change. Or is it the people?