Finally...Summer

Summer is finally here for the Hollywood household. The animal whisperer completed summer school, and we get to go on vacation for a few days...all I can say is "Yay!"

Analysis: Powell flap gets GOP to ask 'What kind of party ar

Colin Powell stirred up the Republican Party's very public internal debate about the direction of the party and asserted it's losing because it doesn't appeal to moderates like him.

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I think I've got it now...

I think I've finally got it now...after years of listening to talk radio and reading the right wing bloggers...

1. Everything is Obama's fault...conversely nothing is the fault of George Bush, except that he was just too damn liberal...(i.e. NOT a true conservative)...
2. Pure free market capitalism would solve everything. If you don't believe that then you must read Ayn Rand and F. A. Hayek followed by Neal Boortz...Repeat as often as necessary...
3. Affirmative Action is apparently much, Much worse racism than oh...say...the lynchings of the 20th century...
4. Huge deficits to fund foreign wars such as the one in Iraq will NOT have to be paid off by our grandchildren, but apparently any money spent now on education or infrastructure WILL have to be paid off by our grandchildren...I mention this because some are silly enough try to say that deficits run up under Republicans count, while it is obvious that ONLY deficits run up under evil Socialist Democrats count...
5. "Government" has NEVER accomplished anything...Moon landing - doesn't count; Federal Highway system - doesn't count; World War II effort - doesn't count; and so on...

And yes, for those of you who voted Republican in 2008 and think it was a good decision, I AM being sarcastic in all the above...

I could go on, but I think most folks will get my point. There is a mind set in this country that will never accept anything that doesn't square with their so called conservative beliefs. I say so called conservatives because the modern day right are not true conservatives in the sense of the word that Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley, Jr. ever were. No, today's right wingers want to undo most of the changes in this country since the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. A return to the "good old days" is what they claim will solve all our problems. For a realistic look at what America was like in the "good old days" of 1919 I suggest they (and everyone else) spend some time reading "Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919" by Ann Hagedorn after reading the usual right wing gospels of Rand and Hayek and Limbaugh and Boortz. It might open some eyes.
My closing point, this is a great country not because it is perfect or anointed of God. It has been great to this point because of people who have loved it while still recognizing it's flaws and trying to correct them. People such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Frances Perkins, Ida B. Wells, and Martin Luther King, Jr. to name just a few...
As for the present cast of right wing "heroes" such as Tom Tancredo, Eric Johnson, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Sanford, and Rick Perry...I'd enjoy it if they all moved to a country more to their liking so that the remainder of us Americans can actually try to show our love for our country by trying to work to help it and to (yes) improve it. Just saying...

Another one down

Hard to believe that 2008 is almost over, and 2009 just days away. If you had predicted many of the year's events 12 months ago, I'm sure many folks (including yours truly) would have have scoffed. Barack Obama the new president elect? The Miami Dolphins division champs? The Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs, with a rookie quarterback no less? The worst economic scenario in years, possibly decades?

No, I wouldn't have predicted any of the above. Having said that though, I'm hopeful about the upcoming year. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, and I hope all of you have a Happy New Year.

Good bye November (personal asides)

Well, the month of November is almost over, along with it comes the end of my Thanksgiving holiday. Wish I could say I had been more productive, but overall it was a good month. Mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law came to visit for a short week the first of the month, and we had a good time with them, if they do destroy me at cards whenever we get together!

A good month at work, with some positive changes at school. Most important to me is that a new Counselor co worker came on board, and she's been a blessing.

On the work out line, both the teen age moralist vegetarian and myself have fallen off the wagon so to speak. Definitely need to hit the gym. In his defense I will say that he's taken several long distance walks lately, so at least one of us hasn't been a total loss.

The animal whisperer is surviving middle school, and like her sibling turning into a pretty good writer. I'm proud of both of them, perhaps they will have the self discipline their old man lacks.

The saint survived the month, but the stress of Christmas time is fast approaching. She both loves and dreads this month, perhaps I should actually help with the Christmas decorations this year...

On the personal indulgement side, I've watched some really good college football games (last night's Oklahoma - Oklahoma State contest was particularly good - even though I was kind of rooting for the underdog). I am very disappointed to see Sylvester Croom resign from Mississippi State though. He was (and is) a class act and I think something is wrong with college athletics when a good man like him has to resign while the Bobby Petrinos and Lou Sabans thrive - nothing against them personally - but I'd rather my child be coached by Croom or someone like him if he/she was in college sports.

It has been nice to see the Atlanta Falcons return to a competitive level in pro football. I think GM Thomas Dimitroff and Head Coach Mike Smith are class acts too, and I'm happy to root for the Birds this year.

On the writing side nothing to report of any substance. November was a good month for reading however. Read my first book by Christopher Buckley with the new "Supreme Courtship" and slso my first book by David Sedaris with "Me Talk Pretty One Day". Loved the first, thought the second was ok, although I'm willing to check out more by Sedaris, and definitely looking forward to reading more Buckley.

On the Pulp Magazine era retrospective personal list I've read most of the University of Nebraska Press Bison Books Frontiers of Imagination Series re-issue of Clark Ashton Smith's "Lost Worlds". I'd forgotten how much I really really like CAS, especially his Hyperborea and Averoigne stories.

Thanksgiving 2008

I'm really thankful for a vast number of things this year, foremost my family, followed by my good friends and co-workers (two groups that overlap a great deal). My health is a little better, I still have a job, a roof over my head, food to eat, and a few good books.
On a more mundane level, I'm really thankful for some small things, like:

Facebook - I really like this social network, even though it contributes to a lot of time wasting, but I keep telling myself I could be doing worse things...

Planet Stories publishers - Any group that prints old great stuff like the works of Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, Henry Kuttner, Otis Adelbert Kline, and others is alright in my book. I really really love these guys...

My bosses - both the ones at home and the ones at work - I'm serious about this...cause I've lived through other principals and significant others who were much harder to please...

The Jonesboro branch of the Clayton County, Ga. library system, along with the interlibrary loan pines system that they use. A nicer bunch of people with a better selection of free books is impossible to find out there. I know...

The Atlanta Falcons are winning again!! Who'd a thunk it??

Dishnetwork tv, along with that little thingie that allows you to pause and / or record. Oh, and for my children who know how to work it...

Debate Thoughts

Interesting that the debate of Friday night seems to have changed few minds. I thought Obama was clearly the more Presidential of the two candidates, and in my mind won the debate, although it seemed to me that McCain did get in a few zingers along the way. Of course in corresponding with some of my friends who are McCain supporters they had a completely different take on things, feeling that McCain won. Probably what matters most are two things, first, how the undecideds perceived the debate and second, how the public/media/blogger etc. buzz puts a spin on things, cause there are few things I believe in more than self fulfilling prophecies.

With those points in mind, it seems that early results are tending in Obama's favor, but I think it's still too early to tell. Like most of those in the country who are interested in politics, I can't wait for the Biden-Palin debate coming up next week. I'm planning on making a point of watching that one as well.

New Blog for Book Reviews

I've decided to put all my future book and movie reviews on a seperate blog from this one, the new blog is entitled "Coach's Reviews" and the link is
http://coachhollywood67reviews.blogspot.com/
which can also be found on my profile on this blog.

Review of "Pulsifer: A Fable" by Wm. Michael Mott

This is a really good read. The main character is a "rogue" in the model of other literary rogues such as Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever and George Macdonald Fraser's Harry Flashman. Many of his adventures and misadventures are the result of his own machinations. Despite this, I found myself caught up in the story and actually caring about what Pulsifer did or what happened to him, which to me is the mark of a good storyteller.
The fantasy world in which the action takes place is a continent surrounded and threatened by encroaching ice, where magic works, and science has been forgotten. The story is reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique and Jack Vance's The Dying Earth series, high class company indeed, but Mott pulls the whole thing off with his own imagination. I highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys fantasy and adventure.

Belated thoughts on the US Olympic Track and Field Trials

As always, this was a great track meet. I think holding it in Eugene, Oregon was a plus, as there's probably not a town in America more supportive of Track and Field. As always happens, some favorites didn't make the team, either because of injury or having an off day. This year's prime example was probably Tyson Gay defending world champion in the 100 and 200 meter sprints. Gay is a supremely talented athlete, who apparently works hard, isn't afraid to compete against his rivals unlike some sprinters of the past, and just seems to be a class act and nice guy from the interviews I've read. He made the team in the 100 meters, but pulled up lame in a 200 race, so he won't running that event (which is arguably his best perhaps) in Beijing. This mishap has ignited what seems to be an every four years debate regarding how the U.S.A. selects it's track teams. Those who don't like our system of only taking the top three in each event, based on the trials races/events only, always point to something like this and complain that we are leaving our best people off the team. Their proposed solution is usually some way of allowing a top ranked athlete a guaranteed spot on the team in case of a mishap such as the one that affected Gay in the 200.
And they're probably right.
However, the key word here is probably.
Gay, defending world champion in the 200 is a great runner, but there is still no guarantee that he would have beaten first place finisher Walter Dix, or second place finisher Shawn Crawford, or third placer Wallace Spearmon in the 200 if he had not been injured. Indeed Spearmon said as much after the race. And if you think that Gay should have been guaranteed a spot on the team in the 200, what do you say about Crawford, who is the defending Gold Medalist from the 2004 Athens games? Or Dix, who is a rising young star and national collegiate champion and who actually won the trials race? Or Spearmon, who has medaled in the 200 in both the 2005 and 2007 World Championships, and just happens to have the fourth fastest legal time in history for the event? Which one of these athletes would you kick off the team for a guaranteed spot for Gay?
My answer would be that you don't. You go with the top three placers in the trials, just like always. That's the fairest most objective way. No one can claim politics, or favoritism, etc. that way. You're one of the top three, you're on the team and may the best person win in a similar winner take all format at the Olympics themselves. First place? You get a Gold Medal, and so on.
I wasn't alive in 1948, but there's a classic story about the 1948 games that I think pertains to this debate. Harrison Dillard was the all out favorite to win the 110 Meter High Hurdles and go to the 1948 London Olympics and win the Gold in that event. In the trials, Dillard (you guessed it) failed to place in the top three and didn't get to race in the 110 Hurdles. However, the United States still took all three medals in the event, thanks to William Porter, Clyde Scott and Craig Dixon.
As for Dillard? Well, he did make the 1948 team in his second event, the 100 Meter Dash, in which he was manifestly not the favorite, having barely made the team by placing third in that event. What happened in London? Dillard won the 100 meters, beating out the favorites. He also won another Gold medal as part of the 4 X 110 relay team. In 1952 he made the team finally as a hurdler, won the Gold and took another Gold as a member once again of the 4 X 110 relay team. The point of the story isn't that he should have been on the 1948 team as hurdler but was kept off due to a poor trials performance. The point is that the beauty of Olympic track competition like most athletic competition is that favorites don't always win, and sometimes heroics come from those from who we least expect it. I'll be rooting for Tyson Gay in the 100 if he makes the final, but I'll also be rooting for Dix, Crawford, and / or Spearmon if any of them make the 200 final, because they all deserve to be on the team.

Del Toro's golden touch illuminates 'Hellboy II'

In Hellboy II: The Golden Army (* * * out of four), the giant crimson daredevil is a snarky bad-boy superhero taunted and misunderstood by the masses. This weekend, the cigar-chomping, beer-swilling big guy faces off with another reviled superhero: Hancock.Hellboy wins pretty much hands down.

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Hellboy Heats Up the Superhero - TIME

The clamor of moviegoers to be the first to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight — theaters that scheduled midnight shows next Thursday have added others at 3 and 6 a.m. — proves that superheroes are plenty hot these days. But one of our favorites is downright infernal. That would be Hellboy. A demon summoned to Earth by Nazi scientists in 1944

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