Archive for the ‘Books, Movies, Music’ Category

More on that Clint Eastwood Chrysler commercial last night which was so good that Murdoc refused to watch any more Super Bowl commercials.

At first Murdoc was “Wow! That’s Clint Eastwood!”

Then Murdoc was “Oh, my God…I think this is one of those Detroit Chrysler commercials.”

Looking online after the fact, Murdoc sees that there was a lot of talk about this beforehand. He wishes that he would have seen some of this so he would have been prepared.

But seeing Eastwood up there being a huckster for that crap was sure disheartening.

Murdoc doesn’t know why these “Detroit rocks” commercials drive him so nuts. But they do. I see firsthand a lot of what these celebrity spokesmen like Eastwood and Eminem are talking about, and the reality ain’t pretty.

(Aside: Who would would have ever thought we’d see “Eastwood and Eminem” in print?)

Halftime America! Clint Eastwood Makes It All Better! Ugh.:

So, bringing in the city of Detroit as some city on the ‘comeback’ after being knocked down, and blah blah blah, was a bit disingenuous as it fails to mention they knocked themselves out. Detroit and the American car industry would not have made it to ‘half-time’ if it wasn’t for the Bail-Out ™. They were carried by the taxpayer to half-time, beaten and bruised by building inferior products, bloated management and union mismanagement and over-the-rainbow promises to it’s retiring workforce.

Exactly. Especially the “blah blah blah” part. (via Instapundit)

I know that Eastwood has long been a solid Conservative in an environment where being open about being such a thing is usually fatal. And I know that this is just a commercial. And, for what it’s worth, I DO hope Detroit and the American automakers get their crap together. But this commercial is a crock, and it’s disappointing to see Clint Eastwood starring in it.

Actually, it’s more “disheartening” to me than “disappointing.” A little of the shine just disappeared from so many of those movies and characters that I like so much and, to be honest, have been influential on me in many ways.

I hope I’m just over-reacting and feel better about it tomorrow.

Just saw it. It’s the first time I’ve paid any attention to it.

Oh dear Lord.

UPDATE: Speaking of commercials, Murdoc is sure disappointed in Eastwood for that Chrysler or Detroit or whatever commercial. No more commercials for Murdoc tonight.

Murdoc has been remiss in not mentioning this sooner:

The Veil War by Stephen Gustav
The Veil is a door between worlds, long closed. One day, it opens. Through the door come creatures half-forgotten, creatures of legend and myth. We feared them once – for a reason. They want blood, dominion, and power. And they have the power to take it.

One company of Marines is trapped in Iraq, pursued and hunted by the invaders. This is their story.

Murdoc’s not very far in, but it’s a good read so far. Nine chapters online already. And it looks like there are plans to keep it churning. This is a great example of web fiction. Free installments, Marines, and goblins. What’s not to love?

I know we’ve got a number of military SF readers here and this could be right up their alley.

Start reading here.

There are also a number of options to subscribe or follow The Veil War on the About page.

Murdoc’s toyed with something like this in the past but never followed through. This has got him thinking again.

For those of you who have had some of your faith in humanity restored on this blessed day, I direct your attention to the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL:

This appears to be the whole thing. Watch it if you dare.

Peggy Noonan:

Our movie culture has descended into immaturity, deep and inhuman violence, a pervasive and flattened sexuality. It is an embarrassment.

In Iraq this year I asked an Iraqi military officer doing joint training at an American base what was the big thing he’d come to believe about Americans in the years they’d been there. He thought. “You are a better people than your movies say.” He had judged us by our exports. He had seen the low slag heap of our culture and assumed it was a true expression of who we are.

And so he’d assumed we were disgusting.

Hollywood: Movies by people who hate America most of the time. Except when Americans go to the movies or buy Blu-Rays.

Via Instapundit.

Debunking, uncovering, and just plain mocking the Occupier movement could be a full-time job, but some things just stand out:

Occupy Wall Street protesters stay at $700-a-night hotel

The $700-per-night W Hotel Downtown last week hosted both Peter Dutro, one of a select few OWS members on the powerful finance committee, and Brad Spitzer, a California-based analyst who not only secretly took part in protests during a week-long business trip but offered shelter to protesters in his swanky platinum-card room.

“Tents are not for me,” he confessed…

Dutro, 35, one of only a handful of OWS leaders in charge of the movement’s $500,000 in donations, checked in on Wednesday, the night after police emptied Zuccotti Park…

“I knew everything was going to be a clusterf–k in the morning,” he told The Post, alluding to Occupy’s own disruption plans. “How would I get over the bridge when they were shutting it down?”

Oink oink, piggy piggy.

Via Jammie Wearing Fool via Instapundit, who writes

It really is getting more and more like Animal Farm all the time, isn’t it?

Animal Farm has been on my family reading list for a while, and the whole devolution of the Occupier movement has had me thinking that perhaps I should put our current family read (Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard) on hold to get in while it’s so clearly relevant.

I really thought that once all the kids hoping to get their college loans paid for with tax dollars went home, enough serious people would be left to form a valid political movement, sort of Left-leaning cousin to the Tea Party. But it looks like most of the serious people (well, besides the serious Marxists and anarchists) went home, too.

Looks like it has potential.

Just re-watched The Final Countdown again and, as usual, enjoyed the footage of the carrier air wing days that included A-6 Intruders, A-7 Corsairs, S-3 Vikings, and, of course, F-14 Tomcats. Even an RF-8 Crusader showed up. Those were the days.

Though the plot isn’t exactly top-notch, it’s above average and a good watch. Even if only for all of the great shots of carrier action and planes from 1980. They even put a Corsair into the barricade.

Saw this as a kid and it probably gave a big boost to young Murdoc’s interest in all things military. Especially things with variable-geometry wings.

The audio commentary with DP Victor. J. Kemper is interesting, but he noted that planes could be landed by remote control from the carrier’s bridge if the pilot had been incapacitated. We wish.

If that were the case, Murdoc would vote to take the A-6s and A-7s in mothballs and turn them into attack drones rather than flying targets like the F-4s are being used these days.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on Twitter:

If censoring Huck Finn will help get a great book back on h.s. reading lists, isn’t that worth it?

If pasting FoxNews transcripts into the NYT will help get people to read it, isn’t that worth it?

Hell, even if it DOESN’T get people to read the NYT, it’s probably worth it.

FWIW, Murdoc probably wouldn’t feel the way he does about this if it hadn’t been for the past two decades of political correctness police running around getting all worried about all sorts of stupid crap. At some point people are going to say “enough is enough” and reject even the more reasonable PC thinking.

Murdoc’s “some point” was somewhere in the mid 1990s.

(Via HotAir)