Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

The Chair Broke AKA Remaking a Movie

I gotta admit, the response to my last post (or lack thereof) was underwhelming. This probably had to do with the fact that everyone was insanely busy yesterday (except me. I gotta find a job), but still...

Okay, I really don't have all that much right now (I might add stuff later), so I'm gonna try something on you guys that I've been mulling over for a while.

If George Lucas (all hail the Flanneled One!) walked up to you and said that he wanted you to remake the original Star Wars Trilogy, who would you cast, and in what role?

Da Rules:

You have to cast the following characters:

  • Luke Skywalker
  • Princess Leia Organa
  • Han Solo
  • Lando Calrissian
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • Emperor Palpatine

One more thing; Anyone who had a role in the Prequal Trilogy can't be cast. So no Hayden Christensen, no Natalie Portman, no Ewan McGreggor, no Liam Neeson(Qui-gon Jinn), no Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), no Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine), and no Kiera Knightley (Sabé, AKA The Decoy Queen in Ep. I)

Besides that, It's all up to you guys. Comment your suggestions. I'll create a Master Cast List on, oh, let's say Wednesday.

Well, that's all for now. Later!

Friday, September 29, 2006

The Chair Is Against The Wall

The title for this post is actually a quote from one of my all-time favorite movies, Red Dawn. Which, by extreme coincidence (or lack thereof) is what this post is about.

The background to the story is as follows (as quoted from the opening title cards):

1983: Soviet Union suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years... Labor and food riots in Poland. Soviet troops invade... Cuba and Nicaragua reach troop strength goals of 500,000. El Salvador and Honduras fall... Greens Party gains control of West German Parliament. Demands withdrawal of nuclear weapons from European soil... Mexico plunged into revolution... NATO dissolves. United States stands alone.
(So, basically, The USSR is plunged into famine, most of Central America falls to Communism, NATO is disbanded, it's just the USA vs. the USSR.)

The movie starts in mid-September 1984 at the high school in the town of Calumet, Colorado. Everything seems normal, until the students notice the Paratroopers landing on their football field. What they are witnessing is the opening blow in a joint Russian/Cuban/Nicaraguan invasion of the United States of America. As World War III erupts around them, eight students manage to escape into the mountains. After a month of hiding, the kids are discovered by a trio of Soviet officers, whom they kill. In retribution for the deaths, the Soviet Commander has the students' families executed. Adopting the name of their high school's football team, the Wolverines, the kids launch their own privare guerilla war against the Communist invaders.

I know, I know, this sounds really cheesy, but it's actually a very good film. It's pretty realisticand the characters (both the good guys and bad guys) are all three-dimensional. It also shows the true horrors of war and doesn't try to glorify the conflict at all.

What I like about this movie is that the protagonists (The Wolverines) don't start out with a macho "Let's kill us some Commies!" attitude. Their only goal at first is to escape, then avoic, the Russians. After they take out the three Russian soliders, again, they don't go "Well, that was easy. Let's get us some more!" Instead, they start fighting after their families are slaughtered. They're don't begin fighting because they want to, they start fighting because-in their minds-they have to. Over the course of the film, the group of scared school kids transforms into a hardened band of guerilla fighters. Likewise, the battle-hardened Nicaraguan commander in charge of the area around Calumet slowly becomes disgusted with the war, wanting only for his tour of duty to end so he can go home to his family. In short, this isn't just a war movie, it's also a sort-of character study.

Like every movie, this one has it's faults. First, the Russians stay pretty dumb for a little too long. Secondly, the special effects are not too great, even for 1984 (the film was shot on a really low budget), and the acting (and to some, the plot) is, well, no one here would have earned an Oscar for Red Dawn unless Hell froze over.

I won't give away too much of the plot, but I will say that this movie doesn't have a very happy ending. I'm not the most emotional person on the planet, but as many times as I've seen the film, the ending still moves me to tears.

Despite it's relative anonymity, Red Dawn actually served as a major launchpad for a number of well-known actors, including Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, and Jennifer Grey. An interseting bit of movie trivia; Swayze and Grey would costar together three years later in the famous chick-flick Dirty Dancing.

If I ever get around to starting a paintball or an airsoft team, I'm gonna name it "The Wolverines" after this movie. Yes, I love Red Dawn that much. Plus, "WOLVERINES!" makes one heck of a battle cry. That's one of my favorite moments from this movie; Matt Eckert(Charlie Sheen) standing atop a cliff, AK-47 held high, letting the Soviets know who just kicked their butts.

If at all you're interested in this movie, you can get it on DVD at Blockbuster. I highly recommend it.

The main reason I love Red Dawn is that it makes me think; If I were in those kids' shoes, could I have done what they did? Could I pick up a gun and defend my country from invasion? Or would I just stand there, scared stiff as a board, while the USA fell around me? I'd like to think I'd do the former, but I really don't know.

Ask yourself this question; If you looked out you window and saw the Chinese or the Iranians, or even the North Koreans landing in your backyard, what would you do? Surrender and submit to their rule? Or go down hard with a rifle in your hands, defending your freedom? You don't have to comment what you decide. Quite frankly, I don't give a hoot. Just think about it.

I leave you with this quotation from Theodore Roosevelt, an edited version of which appears on a statue in the film's opening shots:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

FIRST POST! Part 2

Okay, hello again, it's me, Jedi_Raptor07 (Well, duh! Who else would it be?) with an important update.

First off, since I started this blog kinda late last night, I didn't really have a chance to think things through (I was really tired), so I'm gonna add some things.

First off, I'd like to thank nerdjedi for his help with setting up this blog. I knew absolutely nothing about blogging when I started (and still know practically zip), so I'd like to thank nerdjedi for the assistance he gave me last night and any help he might (and probably will have to) give in the future.

Secondly, I'm canceling the "Name the Blog" contest I mentioned in Part 1. Or it's at least going on hold for a while. I've decided that I like *Insert Title Here* as the blog title and I don't want to change it right away. I also want the blog to develop its own personality before I change the name, so the name reflects the nature of the blog. (I hope that made sense to you, because it left me pretty confused.)

Third, I decided that I am going to, when possible, end each post with a quote of some kind. It might be meaningful, it might be funny, I might just think it sounds cool. So, here's my first ending quote:


One way or another, we all fight for the things we believe in. Doesn't that give us some common ground?

-from The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

FIRST POST!

Um... Hello there. If you're reating this, than I'm assuming that you have nothing better to do than check out this blog. nerdjedi says that I'm known for being brutally honest, so I'll lay it to you straight; if you're reading this you must be either really bored or really messed up. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume the former, though if you came from Multimedia of the Mind the latter is a good possiblility. Moving on...

Like the title says, this is my first post on this blog. In fact, it's my first post ever. Wait, no never mind. I've done guest posts on M.o.t.M. and The Irrelivance of the Universe. But this is my first post on my first blog. nerdjedi says I should say "w00t" here, so "w00t!"


Although I pride myself on being creative, I couldn't think of an approprate title for this blog, so I called it "Insert Title Here." I know, real original. So, what I'd like you tocome up with a title for me. Comment your suggestions.

This blog really isn't about anything in particular. When I come up with an idea, feel like ranting, need to vent my frustrations, or if I'm just plain old bored out of my skull, I'll update with whatever's on my mind. So I warn you, reader, turn back now.










Fine, then. Don't say I didn't warn you.