Everybody Staze...

Wonderful Movie. Deserves the Oscar far and away. Robert MacNamara is really misunderstood. People remember him mostly for the Vietnam war, and sure, it was a bad war. We didn’t belong there. He admits he made mistakes, but I find it really interesting how different the opinions were around that time. He from the beginning wanted a way out. He convinced Kennedy that they should pull everyone out by ’65… Kennedy was obviously shot in ’63. Johnson came in. Johnson didn’t agree with MacNamara and didn’t like him much either. Johnson, while he agreed we should get out, didn’t agree that we should pull out of a war we’re losing. He felt the only way to end the war was to win it. MacNamara thought they should just cut their losses and pull out. The whole nation was under the wrong impression about why the war was happening in the first place. We felt we were there to stop Communism. The Vietnamese felt we were just another Colonial force there to replace the french. The entire war for them was one of civil independance. It was a civil war. They would have fought to the man woman or child. They never would have stopped. Just as the South would have done in the Civil war had they not finally come around. You fight for your belief. The Vietnamese didn’t have anything to do with China… they hated China. They hated Russia. They just wanted to be their own Country… free from France, China, the US, everyone.

All and All, the movie gives the viewer a really good impression of MacNamara, and a really bad impression of Curtis LeMay. A real Jackass that was a lot like Sherman. He felt that you could do no evil when you were trying to save the country. Kill however many you want, it didn’t matter. Casualties of a greater good. LeMay was the one who ordered the Firebombing of Tokyo during WWII, and signed off on the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and was the man who felt instead of trying to reason with Krustiev, we should level Cuba, and invade (we weren’t going to get a better chance). Asshat. He fully admitted during WWII that if they hadn’t won, they would have been tried and convicted of being War Criminals…. killing over 100,000 Civilians in a single night of firebombing Tokyo. Amazing that actions like that can happen. I found the movie refreshing in a way because Americans never hear about the Pacific Theater during WWII. All we hear is, Europe Europe Europe, Nuclear Bomb. That’s it. That’s our idea of WWII. There were SOOOO many people killed in the Pacific Theater… as many or more Chinese were killed than Russians in WWII. 20 Million Russians were killed. Think of that.

Vietnam… 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam… about 3.5 Vietnamese (that’s the official number… I don’t believe the actual number is known). That’s equivalent to about 28 Million Americans dying (percentage wise) at the time. How do you think we would have handled that if we had had those casualties?

Anyway, I highly recommend to anyone that has access to a theater to see it, go see it. While I saw it with one person who knew many of the facts, a few of the other people didn’t know much about MacNamara… and even if you know what was happening back then, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see the movie. There’s a reason it got the Oscar.

For those of you in Portland, it’s currently at the Fox Tower, with showtimes at: 12:05pm | 2:25 | 4:50 | 7:20 | 9:50. For those in Eugene, it’s at the Beiju, at 5:05, 7:05, and 9:05. It’s typical 110 minutes or so long.

Go see it if you can… download it if you can’t… either way, get an idea of the man that was an analyst in WWII, worked for Ford for 10 years, Ran Ford for 5 weeks, was Secretary of Defense for 7 years, and since then has been a real Humanitarian even while haunted with being involved in the Vietnam war.

Sorry I’m such a slacker.

For those of you who were there, you know that Tara’s party went over very well. I still need to get the video processed… but I promise to do that asap.

For those of you not there, I’ll say that things went smashingly. She loves her pad… she felt really touched that we all chipped in to get it for her… she really had no idea that this all was happening… and she’s already improving since she got it. Though I must say it’s a bit (A lot) louder than a soft pad… clack clack clack. Oh well… it’s a great pad.

I hope to write some type of review of it soon… but with finals coming up, and papers coming due… I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it.

Meetings for the next Kumoricon are coming along well. We didn’t have one this week, but I hope by the one next week the site will be ready to go live. Here’s hoping.

As a follow up to the con info and critisism… I must retract a bit I think. Turns out Ohayocon was the first to square everything. While it was impossible to get ahold of the person incharge of the artshow, we just got the check back and the 2 pieces that didn’t sell. Katsucon should be sending the check soon… and Ushicon, the girl is being a tad odd. First she looses a $900+ Money order… then certified letters us $300 cash… then supposedly mails the remaining $600+ Money Order Monday of last week… 13 days later, no check. It doesn’t take that long to get something from Austin, TX. So at this point I’m thinking the girl is either lying… or she really isn’t that bright. Just give us the money. And we’ll be done with you. I’m trying to push Druihd into emailing the conchair and letting them know about this horrible irresponsibility to follow through. As she mentioned… is there something wrong with just paypal-ing the money? GAR!

On a political front… Kerry is our man. Lets hope he can pull it off. Nothing Is sacred to the Bush administration. Using 9/11 footage for reelection commercials. Come on. Why didn’t daddy think of that and show footage of us bombing the hell out of civilians… or Reagan use it showing the wars in Central America, or Oliver North shredding documents with a smile on his face. Heck, why doen’t the Bush Administration show Rummy meeting with Sadam, Cheney at a board meeting for Haliburton, and W meeting with the Bin Laden Family, and Ashcroft hanging the sheet on blind Justice… that would be more appropriate’ “This is what we can do for you… join us in another 4 years”. How about Welcome to Hell… they are currently seating in the back… please watch your heads, and do check your bags and coats at the desk. Sorry… ranting.

Short of that… oh, and gay marriages are starting to happen. Thank God. Maybe if we can get about 40-50 Mayors doing this, we can get it to the point they can’t be reversed. How many thousands now? San Fransisco, Multnoma County in Portland, Upstate New York… come on… lets keep this ball rolling. And lets hope it doesn’t stop there…. there are so many good things that could happen… if we have a few mayors that are willing to risk being tried for breaking the law, maybe we can get some Governers, Senators, or Congressmen to start moving toward bettering humanity and the counry and saying to hell with the consequenses… this is the right thing to do.

Alright, so, since I just looked through about 220 pictures from the SAG awards, and then happened upon the oscar noms, I thought I’d give my predictions.

Best Picture: LotR. It’s missed the last 2 years, but it might win it this year. I just hope it doesn’t go to that garbage from Crowe.

Best Actor: Also tough. I’d say Kingsley from House of Sand. But all the listings for this one are good… while Depp was really good, they usually don’t give them to those type of performances. :-/

Best Actress: Damn. I’d say Charlize Theron in Monster. Good role, good job acting, all and all, very good. Runner up, Diane Keaton.

Supporting Actor: hmmm… Ken Watanabe, far and away. Amazing job with Last Samurai.

Supporting Actress: No Clue. Didn’t see a high enough precentage of these to comment.

Director: I hope it goes to Sofia Coppola. Ron Howard has won it the last 2 years in a row, and might win it next year with his new movie. But this year, I hope it goes to Sofia. Runner up, Clint. I won’t say Peter Jackson because like I said before, they usually don’t give them to movies like this.

Best Writing, Screenplay for Screen: Uhhh… Lost in Translation.

Best Writing based on Previous Material: guh. Probably Mystic River or LotRs. I hope not Seabiscuit. Didn’t much care for it.

Cinematography: hmmm… haven’t seen Pearl Earring yet, but I’d guess either Cold Mountain, or it. Maybe Cidade de Deus. heard very good things.

Editing: Lord.

Art: Lord or Last Samurai.

Costume Design: Last Samurai. Lord has won it, but really there wasn’t much new in this last one, so I think Samurai has it.

Makeup: tough. Either Lord or Pirates. (are we sensing a theme with me ignoring the Crowe shit?)

Music: Big Fish I hope. Go Danny Elfman!

Best Song: uhhh… no clue. Probably one from Cold Mountain… I’d say Sting since he’s more mainstream than Elvis Costello… but I like Elvis… so I do hope he wins.

Sound: Samurai or Lord… or Pirates for that matter. All of them were quite remarkable for sound quality and realism.

Sound Editing: Nemo or Pirates. (Pretty sad when a movie is so bad in my mind that I will ignore it in favor of a Bruckheimer movie)

Animated: Nemo. Was there any doubt? Brother Bear looked dumb.

Foreign Language: hell if I know. didn’t see any of them unfortunately.

Documentary (The Michael Moore catagory): Fog of War. I so want to see this.

Best short Documentary: not sure. haven’t seen them.

Best Short Film, Animated: no clue.

Best Short, Live Action: No clue.

Well, that’s it. Let’s see what my average is in a few days. The Oscars are Sunday Night, the 29th, at 5 Pacific. Shortly before Tara’s party. I hope to listen to them while I’m cleaning and cooking for the party. If I miss any of it, I do expect those attending to know the important ones. 🙂

Oh, as far as myself? I’m doing well. Today was a pretty good day all and all. Much better than Friday. Tara got some of her money from Ushicon, and will get the rest wednesday or thursday. Also means I got paid back for some money I loaned her. So financially I’m doing okay. Now if she can just get the other two cons to pony up the cash they owe her.