| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
This is a big day for me... happens to be my mother's day of birth. This always held a strange fascination for me... and I always paid attention and tried to learn about the other, more significant reason to mark this day. Wow. What a day. God bless this great country, and the women and men who defend it. Good day to re-watch "Hidden Figures" or learn about the code-talkers. I know most of you haaate anything that NPR does. Get over it and read this great piece. National Public Radio is a great American institution, and has always done great work. Journalism, top notch, and DAMN the politics and or the Fin torpedoes. https://www.npr.org/2021/12/07/1061743405/pearl-ha rbor-attack-80th-anniversary-hawaii-witness-accoun t-in-letters  | ||
| Aesquire |
I love NPR. I sometimes curse the leftysnots when they lie to me... But nowhere else do you get real journalism between the propaganda broadcasts, that last more than seconds. They did a solid report on Lake Powell that covered the history and the ongoing ecological disaster. ( nice vacation spot, though, bring water ) My complaint with NPR is that it's run by people absolutely convinced that Stalin could have made Communism work, if only he'd been as smart as they are. But the "NPR Moment" is quite real. ( when you sit in the car in the driveway, to finish the captivating story ) They Can do great work. I love "wait, wait, don't tell me" and it's one of the 3 AM stations I set in every car. ( center left, center, and Left radio. Or if you're a pinko scum, Right wing, Right wing with guns, & Correct Thinking ) Rant off.  https://babylonbee.com/news/cnn-reports-japan-acci dentally-crashed-planes-into-pearl-harbor-ships Tip, watch Tora Tora Tora and skip the movie Pearl Harbor. No CGI, true, but also no fake airplanes impossibly flying at head high magically through power lines. | ||
| Hootowl |
Great film. | ||
| 86129squids |
Patrick... one thing I've always appreciated about YOU is your great ability to write well, with clarity and strong wit. Whatever our politics may be, you'll always have a chair around the TWoS fires or at my home, brother! There's a common misconception that journalism should, should be impartial. Firstly, that would be impossible- kinda like Watson writing recipes...  Any good writer has an angle, and any two good writers should examine and sometimes stand to oppose one another... if only for more mutual clarity and understanding. This was once called dialogue, which is sadly lost to much of our society today. (Rant off... ) Over the decades, NPR has been a consistent source of great content for me. I used to like Reader's Digest too, once had a year's long subscription, until they took on way too much politico-flavor. Nowadays I'm still digging Smithsonian magazine! Back OT. I'd forgotten about Tora Tora Tora... and I do loves me some old TV documentary action about times of old. I'll try to remember that one. Like you, Pat, I can barely tolerate the CGI stuff. "Avatar" about drove me to a foaming mouth, it sucked so bad. LOL! | ||
| Aesquire |
Thanks, I try. CGI if done well can be great, but that takes hours of detail work and it's easy to get wrong. Uncanny valley, glitches that drop you out of the moment, fake shaky cam? ( wailing scream... "Why!!!!???" ) One reason I enjoy the Comic Book movies is when it's right, you can suspend disbelief and roll with... Superhuman feats. But a Jackie Chan movie! Superhuman feats, and comedy platinum. A few break away tables, a hidden pad, and everything is "practical", no green screens etc. Just solid stunt work. And it's like knowing the magic is supposed to ruin the trick, but if you can pull out the right card, & I can't catch it, that's a wonder of it's own. Penn & Teller's Fool Us is a pleasure. I don't do magic tricks, but I know how a few are done. When Penn loses it because He can't catch the fade, or palm, or gimmick, That's Entertainment. Penn's nail gun bit, or Teller's shadow flower, are both masterpieces, in different ways. Comedy/tension & seamless illusion, and that's what a "Marvel movie" or a Wonder Woman can deliver it they get it right , & a muddy confused mess if they don't. Pearl Harbor had some great CGI, but for me, the "follow the bomb into the smoke stack" shot didn't make up for the unrealistic strafing scenes and only fire could atone for silly characters you don't care about. Mjdway, otoh, also had the problem of disproportionate size/space relationships, for the same reason, to make it more dramatic. Zeros way too big & low for photo frame filling, actually ruin later scenes where unusual proximity, ( like pulling out of the dive bomb run so low the wingtip brushes the wave ) should crank up the awe factor. Better plot, people you felt fear for, because you cared, and less, but not none, messing with history and inserting fictional characters. The big roles were real people, mostly, not the utterly made up Star of Pearl Harbor who basically is given all the hero credit for several, more interesting real people. Rant, rave, foam.... | ||
| 86129squids |
Damn... you been taking notes from Froggy? He kinda got unglued about the new Star Trek thingy. LOL! I was actually thinking about this movie a day or two ago... Koyaanisqatsi. Talk about a non-CGI movie, plus Philip Glass music. I got to see the composer in Nashville, decades ago when he was on tour... can't remember if it was to promote this movie, but it was a damn great concert. TPAC Concert hall, back in the day. (Message edited by 86129squids on December 09, 2021) | ||
| Aesquire |
Sorry for the digression from the anniversary of the Real tragedy that changed the world on Dec. 7 1941. I've moved my response to the Comic book movie thread. | ||
| Aesquire |
A dispassionate view of the lead up to the Pearl Harbor attack has to include understanding that the American pressure on the Empire over the war in China was the rationalization behind the attack. There are frightening parallels behind oil embargoes and trade conflicts then, and today. Another important detail ignored by the limited education in grade school is the Reasoning behind attacking the American base in Hawaii. That goes back decades, with the Washington Naval Treaty, which was a post WW1 attempt to stop an arms race in a world economically damaged by the war in Europe. Basically the idea was to limit the numbers and size of battleships and cruisers, and the Japanese were limited to a smaller fleet than England or America. One aspect of the response to being limited to 2/3 of the prospective enemy fleet was to go for quality over quantity, culminating in the secret building of the Yamato class Super Battleships. Designed to take on 2 normal ones, etc. Super cruisers, too, same idea. Another was the universally accepted idea of Decisive Battle, as seen in WW1 at Jutland, where enemy fleets hammer each other, and the winner then controlled the Seas, which hopefully wins the overall War, by cutting off supplies and colonies. The American naval thinker Mahan coined the phrase, Decisive Battle, and it was known world wide. This the "Plan", was to use submarines and air power to whittle down the Enemy fleet so after bleeding them across the Ocean, the Decisive Battle would be a Japanese win. And Naval Power was the Only way to attack an island nation. The attack on Pearl Harbor was meant to trash the American fleet, which it did, and force us to negotiate a peace which would leave Japan the Western Pacific Empire it was planning, or we'd foolishly send our diminished fleet out for revenge and get hammered by the Superior Japanese one. Same goal. We'd have no choice. It didn't happen that way. We'd underestimated the Japanese technology and skill, partly due to racism and preconceived notions, and the Japanese underestimated our fury and leadership, for the same reasons. Instead of a big rush into doom, and the Big Battle that would win the war, or cowardly negotiations, ( insert current events here ) the Americans took a step by step approach that is, as they say, history. We never had the Big Battleship Battle for all the marbles. So consider 21st century conflicts and remember the Big Plan is probably wrong. | ||
| Tootal |
I feel you Squids. My father's birthday was 9/11! He passed away the year before the the towers fell. December 7th has always been an easy date to remember. Not only do I remember what happened back then but it was also my starting date in the brewing industry. This year marked my 40th year in the industry. So some dates mark times of good and bad. |
