How ‘Bout Just Obeying The Law?

The ultimate solution to the race problem lies in the willingness of men to obey the unenforceable.
—    Martin Luther King, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2012	Or Maybe Not
2011	My Interval Is Too Short!

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Enjoying The View?

We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.
—    Konrad Adenauer
Former Chancellor of Germany
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On This Day In:
2012	Adam’s Rib
2011	I’m Sure I Remember That…
	Memorial Day, 2011

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Pen In Hand

Tonight I added the lyrics to a great song from just a few years ago to my “Poems” page.  The song is titled:  “Unwritten” but it’s also known as “Feel The Rain On Your Skin” as performed by Natasha Bedingfield.
When ever you feel like IT is all getting you down (whatever “IT” may be for you), remember, the rest is still unwritten.
As always, enjoy the lyrics then go listen to the artist performing the song.  Buy it if you have to…  Live if you’re able to…  In any case, support the arts!  They make a life a lot more worth living.
––    KMAB
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On This Day In:
2012	Disturbing
	Trying To Keep Up
2011	Unreliable And Selective
2010	Adult-Onset Athlete

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Word Up!

Maybe pollution is nature’s way of saying, “So you think you’re smart!“
—    Mal
Washington Star Syndicate
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On This Day In:
2012	Disturbing
	Trying To Keep Up
2011	Unreliable And Selective
2010	Adult-Onset Athlete

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Just Paying The Rent

The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth.
—    Wilfred Grenfell
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On This Day In:
2012	Remembering…
2011	A Little Farther

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Ouch!

You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.
—   John Nuveen
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On This Day In:
2012	Just Lookin’ Around
	Still Growing
2011	But Do You Want To?

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Memorial Day Video

This weekend especially, I pray for our brave warriors, who are willing to place themselves in harms way to keep us safe.  God Bless You All.

(Thank you Russ at:  http://russtowne.com/2013/05/27/memorial-day-video/ and beebee at:  http://beebeesworld.wordpress.com/.)

beebeesworld

Beautiful tribute to our veterans

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Equal = Equal

It may be that men are not equal in all respects, but they are all equally men.
—    Hugh Gaitskell
[Nowadays, you would have to substitute “men” with “persons”, but the quote remains correct.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2012	Still Growing
2011	Are We Still At War With The Poor?

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Long Range Exploration

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.
No single space project in this period will be more exciting, more impressive, or more important for the long-range exploration of space;  and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.
—    President John Kennedy’s Address to Congress
May 25, 1961
[And having succeeded, we’ve now been over 40 years since mankind stepped on the moon (13 December 1972).  I hope I’m around to see a permanent station on the moon and a landing on Mars (and safe return).    —    KMAB]
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Reasons

I believe that everything happens for a reason.  People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
—    Marilyn Monroe
[This quote was originally found on one of the blogs I follow, maintained by Deodatta Shenai-Khatkhate:  Deo Volente at:  (http://dshenai.wordpress.com/)
The actual post is:  http://dshenai.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/interesting-quotes-by-marilyn-monroe/ Thanks, Deo!    —    KMAB]
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More Democracy, Please

Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.
―    Alvin Toffler
From his book:  “Future Shock“
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Look Up

Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information.
—    Edward R. Murrow
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Legal (Almost)

The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced.
—    Frank Zappa
From his book:  “The Real Frank Zappa Book“
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Full Participation

The secret message communicated to most young people today by the society around them is that they are not needed, that the society will run itself quite nicely until they – at some distant point in the future – will take over the reins.  Yet the fact is that the society is not running itself nicely… because the rest of us need all the energy, brains, imagination and talent that young people can bring to bear down on our difficulties.  For society to attempt to solve its desperate problems without the full participation of even very young people is imbecile.
―    Alvin Toffler
From his book:  “Future Shock“
[In the forty odd years since “Future Shock” was published, the role of the ages in society has now reversed.  It is the older and the elderly who are now being told – not so secretly – that they are the one’s not needed.  It was wrong for youth then.  It is wrong for the old now.    —    KMAB]
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The Run Continues

Well, the last thirty days have seen a good run of new movies for me: “Oblivion“, “Iron Man 3“, “The Great Gatsby” (last weekend) and yesterday, “Star Trek Into Darkness“.
The Great Gatsby – movie review
“The Great Gatsby” movie is based on the “classic” novel by the same name and written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I saw the movie promo’s starting several months ago, and as I’d read the book several decades ago, I decided to do something I almost never do – read the book and then go see the movie.  On the rare occasions when I do both read the book and then see a movie based on a book, I tend to see the movie (and enjoy it), and then go read the book.  In all honesty, this is normally because it takes a couple of years for the movie to follow the book and I would pick up the book in paperback after the movie just cause it’s cheaper to buy it used then.
But I digress…  This book is from the 1920’s and the movie has been done multiple times since its initial publication.  I guess the most famous is the 1970s version starring Robert Redford (which I have never seen).  Anyway, my daughter is an English major and she has a copy of the novel, so I read it in advance of seeing the movie.The movie follows the book very closely.  The characters are not the way I imagined them from the reading, but the major scenes are pretty spot on to the book.  As I didn’t “like” the book, I ended up finding the book only slightly better.  The costumes and feel of the movie seem pretty accurate and the acting was okay, but a couple of things bugged me.  Visually, the shirts and coats of many of the men didn’t seem to fit.  Almost all were too tight, and many were too short (particularly in the sleeves).  Now, normally this wouldn’t bother me much – if it all – but one scene has Gatsby raining down clothes on the female lead bragging about how he has them sent from his personal clothier in London.  So, why don’t the shirts, vest or jackets fit?
The second thing which bothered me was the music score.  It was too modern.  It had a ’20s “jazzy” feel, but it wasn’t, and a couple numbers even seemed to be almost rap.
So, is this the “definitive” Gatsby?  Even not having seen any of the other versions, I’d be inclined to say no.  I enjoyed DiCaprio in the title role, but everyone else was kind of blah.  Well, Maguire was okay, but not better than so-so.  None of the other characters were the way I imagined them from the book and certainly none of them played the role better than my imagination – again, even though the book was followed fairly closely.  Final recommendation:  unless you are a MASSIVE DiCaprio or Gatsby fan, wait for TV release.
Star Trek Into Darkness – movie review
First off, full disclosure…  I watched all of Star Trek (the Original Series – aka ST:TOS) in first release back in the ’60s.  I have seen every episode at least five times (and most, many, many, many times more).  I even have the Enterprise and the Galileo Seven Christmas ornaments, for cryin’ out loud.  So, maybe this reviewer is slightly biased.  Having said this, what did I think?  This is a terrific movie!!  Get out your DVD of the first re-boot to get prepped and then RUN down to your local cinema to see this on a big screen.  Do NOT wait for this to come out on DVD unless you have a huge video set up at home.
Is this episode a “soap opera” in space? Yes (so what).  Are there “enough” nods to the original series and earlier movies? Yes!  Is there action?  YES!  Are the special effects up to snuff?  YES!  (Well, mostly.  Some of the CGI is pretty fuzzy / noticeable).  Is the acting good to great?  For the most part, yes!  These guys are really starting to own the roles, particularly the “minor” regulars Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin).  It goes without saying that Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Bones/McCoy (Karl Urban) are well played.  Once again, Scotty (Simon Pegg) dominates most of scenes he’s in.  And ethnic issues aside, Benedict Cumberbatch makes for a good Khan.  For me, the two touchstones of ST:TOS were humor and friendship.  Both are abundant in this movie.  I honestly believe that if you are in any way a fan of the original series, you will enjoy (if not love) this movie!!
Now, before all the absolutists start in on me, here are a couple of the “WTF” moments:
The transporter has a limited range (even in “The Next Generation” (TNG)), you can’t beam from one solar system to another.  So, Khan can’t beam from Earth to the Klingon home world.  Khan defeats the combined crews of three Klingon Birds of Prey (30 to 40 guys), but he can’t wup on one Vulcan (okay, so Khan was popped by 6-8 phaser stun blasts, but still), come on…  And finally, even at warp speed, travel from Earth to the Klingon home world is not instantaneous.  And, yes, there are other things, but REALLY, the movie is terrific!
Anything else?  Yeah.  Two “reality” points.  First, enough with the retread story lines.  The purpose of the reboot was to provide freedom for new stories, not just to re-hash the old stories with new actors.  How about Star Trek 3 gives us a new story?  Now, that I’d love to see!  Second, Pine isn’t younger than Kirk anymore.  If you’re not careful, you’re going to age Pine right out of the role for future movies.  I don’t see how you can do five years worth of exploration while shooting a movie once every three / four years…
Time will tell…
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On This Day In:
2013	Defining Maleness
2012	All Set
2011	Not Always

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