Junie on a good day - Just Kidding!

The Anderson Platoon

A few weeks back I watched "The Anderson Platoon", a 1966 French documentary that follows a U.S. infantry platoon in Vietnam. The hook, for that era, was that the platoon was led by black West Point grad Joseph B. Anderson. The film is well regarded and often praised, but I thought it was a poorly edited mess. 

Yes, there are poignant images (the body of a U.S. soldier we met earlier is left out in the open on a tarp awaiting transport/a chopper crash is caught on film/a GI on leave blows his earnings on a prostitute) but it's all just random images pieced together with little narration and no real sense of a narrative thrust. 

Sure, someone can argue that the documentary mimics the chaos and uncertainty of the Vietnam war itself, but that's academic gobbbledegook; I don't think that was the intent here, I simply think the filmmaker was content to let the film roll without a guiding hand.

I give it a C as a film, a B+ as a historical time capsule.

The Cabin in the Woods

I just got done watching "The Cabin the Woods", a horror film about a group of people who are the unwitting pawns in a complex sacrifice to ancient, hungry gods. Five minutes into it I knew the writing was strong enough to craft a winner, but my oh my did it exceed my expectations. It's funny when it should be ("Good work zombie arm!"), wickedly original without being obnoxious about it, and just plain good. I loved it. Grade: A+

Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu" by Lee Goldberg

Today I finished reading "Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu" by Lee Goldberg. When San Francisco's cops go on a work stoppage Mr. Monk is drafted by the mayor to become the temporary homicide Captain. I liked the story, and the dialouge, but dang nabbit I still feel using Natalie's voice to tell the tale is wrong, in part because I don't think Goldberg has enough flair to pull it off. Grade: C+ Book #76 of the year

A Sad but Honest Quote

The ugly truth was that these [psychiatric] patients weren't here to be cured. There were no cures for them. They had illnesses that had to be managed, by them and by those who treated them. They were like ships that would never find a shore. The most you could do was bring them supplies; the most they could do was get used to the rocking, the unpredictability, of the vast, impenetrable ocean below them," - Victor Lavalle, The Devil in Silver

Victory

The Sad Sack Slapjacks won this past weekend, bumping me up to 1-1 on the year. Final tally: 134.50 to 115.40

Fax

Carson Daly: Ryan Seacrest's older, much, much duller brother

That was a heck of a storm

Our power just came back on. I had walked the kids home from school, not realizing there was a storm coming until it was too late. I hustled those kids hard and we made it home in record time, literally setting foot on the front porch just as the wind picked up enough to blow down a nearby tree limb and dump rain and hail in great gushes. The power was out within a minute or two of that, then our street flooded and so did Oklahoma, which is still a lake around Whitnall Ave. Jeez.

re: Smiley - he was fine. took a nap actually

Occupy Wall Street

Lol

150 years on

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, where more than 2100 Union soldiers lost their lives ending Lee's invasion of Maryland. It was more or less a tactical draw (though Lee fled the field) largely because McClellan failed to commit a full 3rd of his forces and would not pursue a retreating enemy (costing him his job). However, it was and remains a significant strategic victory for the Union, allowing Lincoln the means to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and preventing England and France from recognizing the Confederacy. To those who lost their lives on that day near Sharpsburg, thank you. RIP.