Thursday, July 01, 2004
it's two to three hours after my last post. i had the painful molar pulled, everything came out all right.
the student dentist was cute,but i have a rule about not hitting on people at their jobs. he had bedside manner.
i decided coming home to rest and play online was my safest course of action. i did stop at a used bookstore to see if the books i'd picked out were still there. most of them weren't but i came home with some kennedy and adali stevenson material, like a copy of the warren report. i'm reluctantly becoming on of those kennedy-assassination nuts. not the killing itself, but i'm working on a bio of lbj, since i don't have the patience to wait for volume 4 of caro's life of johnson. volume 3, monster of the senate, rocked.
this odd personal anecdote leads up to the topic of this entry, the films of mel gibson as moral philosophy.
my ex-wife [hereinafter X] first turned me on to mel, and director peter weir. i grew up in a house where we didn't go to movies.
a few disney things. in college karen and i would go to the free foreign films on sundays sometimes for a cheap date, stuff like the tin drum or the seduction of mimi.
But it was X who introduced me to the idea that, frugal or not, with most of our dishwasher-and-maid's pay going to rent, we could still see a movie now and then.
picnic at hanging rock [i'm not sure he was even in that one], galipoli, mad max, and especially the year of living dangerously. i didn't see "tim" till years later, but she'd seen it and understood how it fit in mad max-beyond thunderdome.
after that gibson went kind of mainstream, and i lost interest, and i did not rush out to see lethal weapon one through five, or bird on a wire. "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."
but gibson continued to make films that weren't just entertaining and box office, they were something more,
like clint eastwood has done.
conspiracy theory, braveheart, payback, the patriot,
each was solid box office and serious art. i forget when the stories about his father became loud enough i noticed. probabably in reference to passion of the christ, his most controversial so far. but in thinking about these movies as a group, it's easier to see a pattern emerging.
the pattern plays into well-established cowboy movie cliches, so it takes a bit of focus to see what gibson does with it. clint eastwood, for example, was not the first actor/director to make movies about a lone hero standing up for virtue in the face of a dangerous gang. on the waterfront wasn't the first either. a variation is the buddy movie, a lone ranger and his ethnic sidekick, standing up for virtue. [feel free to insert links to pics of bush and condi, i was thinking jay silverheels.]
as a great man once said, you are serious about music if you can listen to the william tell overture without thinking of the lone ranger. william tell, by the way, is a great movie and great story. it's about a lone hero, and sidekick son, standing up for virtue in the face of a dangerous gang.
conspiracy theory. julia roberts the damsel in distress, patrick stewart the evil villain who gets his nose bitten. it reminded me of enemy of the state.
payback. mel's character, from a series of action adventure books i haven't read, just wants his $75,000 back.
He has the strength of 10 because his heart is pure. It's your basic jackie chan plot.
braveheart is a midievil [sp?] "dude, where's my county?"
telling the story of my kinsman robert the bruce, whose daughter married hugh fitzallen and started the stewart monarchy. it reminded me of rob roy, starring another actor who works with this theme. the good mother, michael collins, darkman, star wars, liam neeson.
braveheart is also blatantly ripped off in "the new kid" starring the adorable dj qualls.
braveheart.
you know the drill by now. a lone hero stands up for virtue against a corrupt king and his brutal henchpersons.
joseph campbell's hero's quest, frasier's golden bough, jung's archetypes.
passion of the christ - well, you know the drill by now.
let's say it together.
a lone hero
stands up for virtue
against an evil empire.
with that out of the way, i want to talk about the patriot, a movie i haven't seen.
it reminded me of the postman, kevin costner and tom petty. i'm the only one who liked the postman.
it's about a lone hero,
standing up for the evil empire,
in a post-apocolypse north america,
against a corrupt warlord and his henchbuddies.
[i'm currently in a bit of a rumble with the post office.
they've arbitrarily turned off my mail, without telling me, when i've written them before asking them not to do this again. i digress.]
i come now to the patriot.
when i was a kid, i read some books by leonard wibberly that had a big effect on me. john tregates musket, peter tregate'swar, and a sequel. tells the story of bunker hill, the battle of trenton, the shift of the war to the south, the battles of kings mountain, the bullpens, leading up to yorktown.
i was a weird kid, at 10 i insisted on taking this book with me to summer camp. camp was cool, especially the trip in the war canoes on the chesapeake, where we went skinnydipping and sang county joe's fixing to die rag around a campfire. on rainy days we watched westerns in the nature lodge and i learned how to safely handle a rifle.
the counselor, a neighbor of mine, became a friend and is someone i've always looked up to, one of a handful of positive male role models.
but i was a weird kid, didn't quite fit in, and there were times i wanted to be left alone at my bunk to read my book.
back home, i was called to dinner, but was sent from the table for being barefoot. while putting on socks and shoes in the living room, i picked up the book and forgot all about dinner. i got beaten for that.
in high school, which i completed in 3 years, with time off for good behavior, i was a b student, showing up but not showing off.
but the exam question in american history was "describe the events leading up to the battle of yorktown." I got an A, and i think confused the teacher, since i seemed to know more about it than he did.
The Patriot is that story.
I live in marion county. 99% of the people here have no idea why it's called marion county, or who the heck francis marion was, or why it matters.
They don't know we have a state bill of rights, or the story of how we fought for those rights, or why a few, very few, are still fighting today.
One of those guys is Andy Horning, republican candidate for congress in the district that mostly makes up marion county.
A few years back, he invited me to a screening of the patriot at hollywood bar and filmworks. It was a fundraiser, and i'm broke, so i didn't go, and i still haven't seen the movie. But it turns out gibson's character is loosely based on francis marion.
It's a film.. about a lone hero.. who stands up for virtue... against an evil empire.
Andy's kind of like that too.
On my election law blog, at http://ballots.blogspot.com,
I have a subheader that reads "Andy Horning for Congress"
Since there's no disclaimer, pursuant to McCain-Feingold,
this is considered illegal by the FEC's regulations.
But you know the drill.
I'm just a guy,
standing up for what i believe in,
against the assembled forces of the united states of america.
I have them outnumbered.
Vote for Andy this November.
If they ask, tell them the swamp fox sent you.
the student dentist was cute,but i have a rule about not hitting on people at their jobs. he had bedside manner.
i decided coming home to rest and play online was my safest course of action. i did stop at a used bookstore to see if the books i'd picked out were still there. most of them weren't but i came home with some kennedy and adali stevenson material, like a copy of the warren report. i'm reluctantly becoming on of those kennedy-assassination nuts. not the killing itself, but i'm working on a bio of lbj, since i don't have the patience to wait for volume 4 of caro's life of johnson. volume 3, monster of the senate, rocked.
this odd personal anecdote leads up to the topic of this entry, the films of mel gibson as moral philosophy.
my ex-wife [hereinafter X] first turned me on to mel, and director peter weir. i grew up in a house where we didn't go to movies.
a few disney things. in college karen and i would go to the free foreign films on sundays sometimes for a cheap date, stuff like the tin drum or the seduction of mimi.
But it was X who introduced me to the idea that, frugal or not, with most of our dishwasher-and-maid's pay going to rent, we could still see a movie now and then.
picnic at hanging rock [i'm not sure he was even in that one], galipoli, mad max, and especially the year of living dangerously. i didn't see "tim" till years later, but she'd seen it and understood how it fit in mad max-beyond thunderdome.
after that gibson went kind of mainstream, and i lost interest, and i did not rush out to see lethal weapon one through five, or bird on a wire. "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."
but gibson continued to make films that weren't just entertaining and box office, they were something more,
like clint eastwood has done.
conspiracy theory, braveheart, payback, the patriot,
each was solid box office and serious art. i forget when the stories about his father became loud enough i noticed. probabably in reference to passion of the christ, his most controversial so far. but in thinking about these movies as a group, it's easier to see a pattern emerging.
the pattern plays into well-established cowboy movie cliches, so it takes a bit of focus to see what gibson does with it. clint eastwood, for example, was not the first actor/director to make movies about a lone hero standing up for virtue in the face of a dangerous gang. on the waterfront wasn't the first either. a variation is the buddy movie, a lone ranger and his ethnic sidekick, standing up for virtue. [feel free to insert links to pics of bush and condi, i was thinking jay silverheels.]
as a great man once said, you are serious about music if you can listen to the william tell overture without thinking of the lone ranger. william tell, by the way, is a great movie and great story. it's about a lone hero, and sidekick son, standing up for virtue in the face of a dangerous gang.
conspiracy theory. julia roberts the damsel in distress, patrick stewart the evil villain who gets his nose bitten. it reminded me of enemy of the state.
payback. mel's character, from a series of action adventure books i haven't read, just wants his $75,000 back.
He has the strength of 10 because his heart is pure. It's your basic jackie chan plot.
braveheart is a midievil [sp?] "dude, where's my county?"
telling the story of my kinsman robert the bruce, whose daughter married hugh fitzallen and started the stewart monarchy. it reminded me of rob roy, starring another actor who works with this theme. the good mother, michael collins, darkman, star wars, liam neeson.
braveheart is also blatantly ripped off in "the new kid" starring the adorable dj qualls.
braveheart.
you know the drill by now. a lone hero stands up for virtue against a corrupt king and his brutal henchpersons.
joseph campbell's hero's quest, frasier's golden bough, jung's archetypes.
passion of the christ - well, you know the drill by now.
let's say it together.
a lone hero
stands up for virtue
against an evil empire.
with that out of the way, i want to talk about the patriot, a movie i haven't seen.
it reminded me of the postman, kevin costner and tom petty. i'm the only one who liked the postman.
it's about a lone hero,
standing up for the evil empire,
in a post-apocolypse north america,
against a corrupt warlord and his henchbuddies.
[i'm currently in a bit of a rumble with the post office.
they've arbitrarily turned off my mail, without telling me, when i've written them before asking them not to do this again. i digress.]
i come now to the patriot.
when i was a kid, i read some books by leonard wibberly that had a big effect on me. john tregates musket, peter tregate'swar, and a sequel. tells the story of bunker hill, the battle of trenton, the shift of the war to the south, the battles of kings mountain, the bullpens, leading up to yorktown.
i was a weird kid, at 10 i insisted on taking this book with me to summer camp. camp was cool, especially the trip in the war canoes on the chesapeake, where we went skinnydipping and sang county joe's fixing to die rag around a campfire. on rainy days we watched westerns in the nature lodge and i learned how to safely handle a rifle.
the counselor, a neighbor of mine, became a friend and is someone i've always looked up to, one of a handful of positive male role models.
but i was a weird kid, didn't quite fit in, and there were times i wanted to be left alone at my bunk to read my book.
back home, i was called to dinner, but was sent from the table for being barefoot. while putting on socks and shoes in the living room, i picked up the book and forgot all about dinner. i got beaten for that.
in high school, which i completed in 3 years, with time off for good behavior, i was a b student, showing up but not showing off.
but the exam question in american history was "describe the events leading up to the battle of yorktown." I got an A, and i think confused the teacher, since i seemed to know more about it than he did.
The Patriot is that story.
I live in marion county. 99% of the people here have no idea why it's called marion county, or who the heck francis marion was, or why it matters.
They don't know we have a state bill of rights, or the story of how we fought for those rights, or why a few, very few, are still fighting today.
One of those guys is Andy Horning, republican candidate for congress in the district that mostly makes up marion county.
A few years back, he invited me to a screening of the patriot at hollywood bar and filmworks. It was a fundraiser, and i'm broke, so i didn't go, and i still haven't seen the movie. But it turns out gibson's character is loosely based on francis marion.
It's a film.. about a lone hero.. who stands up for virtue... against an evil empire.
Andy's kind of like that too.
On my election law blog, at http://ballots.blogspot.com,
I have a subheader that reads "Andy Horning for Congress"
Since there's no disclaimer, pursuant to McCain-Feingold,
this is considered illegal by the FEC's regulations.
But you know the drill.
I'm just a guy,
standing up for what i believe in,
against the assembled forces of the united states of america.
I have them outnumbered.
Vote for Andy this November.
If they ask, tell them the swamp fox sent you.
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