Swompdonkey

Why Bother?

I've been blogging so sporadically lately, that I feel like Dan Aykroyd, popping by Studio 8H with my lifetime pass for an SNL cameo, blithely ignoring the fact that I have not done anything that merits an appearance in decades.

Well I'm about to become a dad for a second and third time (twins!) so I've had to engage in some radical re-prioritizing. Here's some stumbled-across content from my hiatus

***

I think Detroit is the new Palenque--hey that ain't a bad idea for a tourism slogan! Behold, its Feral Houses

***

My brain don't work so good. What's the highest form of patriotism again? I keep forgetting that neat little aphorism I kept reading everywhere during the period of 2000-2008.

Mark Steyn:

Well, on mid-day on January the 20th, pretty much everyone ripped off those bumper stickers off the back of their car, and told us now what was important that we should all be united. We should all be one. We should be in effect a one-party state.

***

Behold, the worst wrestling match ever:



Nice fireball!

From what I gather, this match basically finished Jim Hellwig as a wrestler once and for all. Given what followed, one could argue that Hogan never recovered from this debacle either.

***

The suberb miniseries Generation Kill has been on HBO all summer, and viewing it has motivated me to hunt down The Wire, which was produced by the same people. This is some truly good storytelling, people. Maybe because it was based on a book written by Rolling Stone's Evan Wright, who was embedded with The Marines of First Recon throughout the invasion of Iraq, it somehow rings true. Maybe it is the way that the filmakers refuse to adhere to tired tropes or engage in Hollywood shorthand and supply us with the usual lazy archetypes within a group (i.e. the black one, the southern one, the jewish one...). Rather, we gradually come to know a few of these young, vulgar and phenomenally brave young Americans in striking, character-revealing moments amidst the crucible of a strangely improvised war. The producers do not condescend to the audience, either: In the end, you are neither pressed to cheer the conquering heroes nor moved to deplore the amoral aggressors, you are merely left to contemplate what you have seen, and draw your own conclusions. It is as if we are being told: "This all happened... now, what do you think?"

One who was there, and has been fairly open about what he thinks, is Nate Fick, who in the miniseries is depicted as the young Lt he was in 2003 when First Recon stormed across the Iraqi border in its Humvees. Here you can see retired Captain Fick, author of his own memoir on his time as a Marine Officer, speaking on his experiences.

Interestingly I had read somewhere that one of the members of the cast was not a professional actor, but an actual marine who played himself. I could not guess who it was while viewing miniseries, and was surprised when I learned it was Rudy Reyes.
Here is an article on a most unique member of the USMC. Check out the comments section for a few chuckles.