Reflctions of the 4th of July
Reflections of the 4th of July
Personally, I had a great 4th of July.
I walked down to the beach to catch the local fireworks show. It was great; it lasted almost two hours. The explosions were loud and colorful and not obscured by low clouds and fog this year.
Embarrassed, Angry, Hurt, Cry, Ashamed?
I really enjoyed my local fireworks display. It was loud and bright and colorful and long. It lasted almost two hours. I got my exercise in my walking to and from the beach. Granted, it took longer to walk home than it did to walk to the beach; the trip home is mostly up hill.
I returned home in time to see a rebroadcast for the 4th of July celebration from Washington that was held outside, on the Mall. All I can say about it was I am so glad to have missed. I didn’t know whether to cry; feel hurt, ashamed, angry, or embarrassed by the performance.
The performance was one that simply churned my stomach. It seems as the program was prepared to entertain the so-called “elites” of Washington, most of who are useless yuppie scum. You could tell that these people were so out of touch with Mainstream America. Who wears a suit and tie to the 4th of July fireworks? No American that I know.
Of course, these useless elites were seated in chairs behind a metal fence; I guess to keep the common people away from them. I noticed several members of Congress sitting with the elites including some members who are in positions of leadership.
The entertainment was pathetic in my mind. Two of the performers were opera singers and one was an actor-singer whose career has been in performing in stage performances. Not what you could call appealing to the Mainstream of America.
Never heard of any of them. Probably just as well, too.
There were two rock and roll performers; one had his last big hit fifty years ago and the other had his last hit thirty years ago. Oh, I almost forgot; the performers included a winner from television show American Idol.
Pathetic, simply and horribly pathetic.
Then, there was the orchestra.
In a word, pure crap.
Ok, two words then.
Aside from one or two John Philip Souza songs, there was no patriotic music. I can’t understand how you can celebrate our Nation’s independence by excluding songs like “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” or “Dixie” or “Over There.”
You cannot simply avoid the impact or role the armed forces have played in our Nation’s history. Our Nation, rightly or wrongly, was largely built by the American armed forces.
In my final analysis, it seems that political correctness won out over history. We don’t want to offend anyone.
Screw that notion.
I like, I mean that I really like, the sounds of freedom whether it is the music or the sound of an F/A 18 Super Hornet flying low and fast overhead. That will always work for me for as long as I live.
4th of July 2009
I plan to take another walk down to the beach; assuming that I am still physically, otherwise, I can drive myself there. I will spend part of Memorial Day 2009 loading my Apple Nano with a bunch of John Philip Souza songs and a bunch of other military songs or songs that are associated with our Nation’s wartime history like Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” or “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
I think I’ll need maybe three hours of music. That ought to cover the fireworks and the walk back home. That will be a much better way to remember our history.
Cinema
I haven’t written about the cinema is some time; mostly because I have not been to the cinema in some time. I went a couple of times when Doug was staying with me after my surgery and when I started on the chemotherapy routine.
I was thrilled to read in Friday’s paper that the missing 25 minutes from Fritz Lang’s masterpiece METROPOLIS has been found in Argentina. The Friedrich Murnau Foundation has authenticated the scenes. Now, all I have to do is wait for a couple of years until the newly restored and complete film is available. Then, I will be purchasing a complete copy of the film.
Perfectomundo.
METROPOLIS was one of the first science fiction films. It has influenced succeeding science fiction films like BLADE RUNNER, FAHRENHEIT 451, and STAR WARS, except for Jar Jar Binks. We can hold Lucas responsible for Binks.
I went to see four films over the weekend and I think this was a good set of results for me. I saw two on the 4th, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. This schedule allowed me to relax and loaf around as well.
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL was the first film that I saw. I loved it for a variety of reasons such as tying up the story line with his father from THE LAST CRUSADE and Indiana Jones’ relationship with Marion Ravenswood. I thought the CGI was superb.
I wonder if the next episode will involve aliens from outer space. That is assuming we have a fifth episode.
Then, I saw WALL-E which was a continuation of Pixar’s dominance of high end computer generated animation. I had my breath taken away when I saw how well the metal on one of WALL-E’s eyes had aged and responded to the weathering. It was fantastic as our Governator might say.
I have added both films to my list of films to be acquired. Doug said WALL-E would be out in time for Christmas.
Perfectomundo.
My last film was today. I saw MONGOL today; it is a joint Chinese – Russian film about the early years and subsequent rise of Genghis Khan. I rather liked and enjoyed the exterior shots of Mongolia; the film had one of those cast of thousands look and feel to it and some CGI soldiers as well. The film was in Mongolian and it had decent English subtitles.
It was a nice way to end the cinema session for this weekend.
Me and the Cancer
I don’t have too much to say about my cancer. It has been a week since I had my final dressing removed. The underlying skin on my arm is slowly recovering. It is slightly discolored. I have been applying some lotion to it to speed the recovery.
I am still sensitive to the cold; mostly in my fingers and my toes. The sensitivity is slowly draining out of my system as my body flushes the residue of the chemotherapy medicine. I have still a lingering cold sensitivity but it is getting better with each passing day. Hopefully, my sensitivity will be gone in another week or so.
Visitors
June was the best month ever for the blog in terms of visitors and page views. We had 1,494 visitors who viewed 2,468 pages.
Cool.
We had more international visitors [57%] than we had domestic visitors [43%]. We had visitors from Japan [13], Australia [5], Canada [12], France [10], United Kingdom [6], Germany [15], Texas [5], Mexico [4], Italy [7], Indonesia [4], India [2], Korea [4], Poland [3], Singapore [4], Czech Republic [2], Sweden [2], Hong Kong [3], Thailand [4], Macau, Peru, Belgium, Israel, Iran, Switzerland, Portugal [4], Venezuela [4], Spain, Finland, Netherlands [2], South Africa, China [2], Austria [2], Ireland, Romania, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Estonia, and United Arab Emirates.
I think this was the first that the blog has had visitors from Estonia and the Dominican Republic.
I know I have undercounted the international visitors this week. The daily traffic count is approaching 60 visitors per day so I may miss some visitors if I don’t check regularly. Not checking happens as it did this week when I substituted for another teacher on Wednesday and didn’t cheek the visitor logs until Friday.
I had a great weekend. I hope that you did as well. I should have posted this blog on Sunday; oh well, life happens.
Be well and stay happy.
Personally, I had a great 4th of July.
I walked down to the beach to catch the local fireworks show. It was great; it lasted almost two hours. The explosions were loud and colorful and not obscured by low clouds and fog this year.
Embarrassed, Angry, Hurt, Cry, Ashamed?
I really enjoyed my local fireworks display. It was loud and bright and colorful and long. It lasted almost two hours. I got my exercise in my walking to and from the beach. Granted, it took longer to walk home than it did to walk to the beach; the trip home is mostly up hill.
I returned home in time to see a rebroadcast for the 4th of July celebration from Washington that was held outside, on the Mall. All I can say about it was I am so glad to have missed. I didn’t know whether to cry; feel hurt, ashamed, angry, or embarrassed by the performance.
The performance was one that simply churned my stomach. It seems as the program was prepared to entertain the so-called “elites” of Washington, most of who are useless yuppie scum. You could tell that these people were so out of touch with Mainstream America. Who wears a suit and tie to the 4th of July fireworks? No American that I know.
Of course, these useless elites were seated in chairs behind a metal fence; I guess to keep the common people away from them. I noticed several members of Congress sitting with the elites including some members who are in positions of leadership.
The entertainment was pathetic in my mind. Two of the performers were opera singers and one was an actor-singer whose career has been in performing in stage performances. Not what you could call appealing to the Mainstream of America.
Never heard of any of them. Probably just as well, too.
There were two rock and roll performers; one had his last big hit fifty years ago and the other had his last hit thirty years ago. Oh, I almost forgot; the performers included a winner from television show American Idol.
Pathetic, simply and horribly pathetic.
Then, there was the orchestra.
In a word, pure crap.
Ok, two words then.
Aside from one or two John Philip Souza songs, there was no patriotic music. I can’t understand how you can celebrate our Nation’s independence by excluding songs like “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” or “Dixie” or “Over There.”
You cannot simply avoid the impact or role the armed forces have played in our Nation’s history. Our Nation, rightly or wrongly, was largely built by the American armed forces.
In my final analysis, it seems that political correctness won out over history. We don’t want to offend anyone.
Screw that notion.
I like, I mean that I really like, the sounds of freedom whether it is the music or the sound of an F/A 18 Super Hornet flying low and fast overhead. That will always work for me for as long as I live.
4th of July 2009
I plan to take another walk down to the beach; assuming that I am still physically, otherwise, I can drive myself there. I will spend part of Memorial Day 2009 loading my Apple Nano with a bunch of John Philip Souza songs and a bunch of other military songs or songs that are associated with our Nation’s wartime history like Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” or “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
I think I’ll need maybe three hours of music. That ought to cover the fireworks and the walk back home. That will be a much better way to remember our history.
Cinema
I haven’t written about the cinema is some time; mostly because I have not been to the cinema in some time. I went a couple of times when Doug was staying with me after my surgery and when I started on the chemotherapy routine.
I was thrilled to read in Friday’s paper that the missing 25 minutes from Fritz Lang’s masterpiece METROPOLIS has been found in Argentina. The Friedrich Murnau Foundation has authenticated the scenes. Now, all I have to do is wait for a couple of years until the newly restored and complete film is available. Then, I will be purchasing a complete copy of the film.
Perfectomundo.
METROPOLIS was one of the first science fiction films. It has influenced succeeding science fiction films like BLADE RUNNER, FAHRENHEIT 451, and STAR WARS, except for Jar Jar Binks. We can hold Lucas responsible for Binks.
I went to see four films over the weekend and I think this was a good set of results for me. I saw two on the 4th, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. This schedule allowed me to relax and loaf around as well.
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL was the first film that I saw. I loved it for a variety of reasons such as tying up the story line with his father from THE LAST CRUSADE and Indiana Jones’ relationship with Marion Ravenswood. I thought the CGI was superb.
I wonder if the next episode will involve aliens from outer space. That is assuming we have a fifth episode.
Then, I saw WALL-E which was a continuation of Pixar’s dominance of high end computer generated animation. I had my breath taken away when I saw how well the metal on one of WALL-E’s eyes had aged and responded to the weathering. It was fantastic as our Governator might say.
I have added both films to my list of films to be acquired. Doug said WALL-E would be out in time for Christmas.
Perfectomundo.
My last film was today. I saw MONGOL today; it is a joint Chinese – Russian film about the early years and subsequent rise of Genghis Khan. I rather liked and enjoyed the exterior shots of Mongolia; the film had one of those cast of thousands look and feel to it and some CGI soldiers as well. The film was in Mongolian and it had decent English subtitles.
It was a nice way to end the cinema session for this weekend.
Me and the Cancer
I don’t have too much to say about my cancer. It has been a week since I had my final dressing removed. The underlying skin on my arm is slowly recovering. It is slightly discolored. I have been applying some lotion to it to speed the recovery.
I am still sensitive to the cold; mostly in my fingers and my toes. The sensitivity is slowly draining out of my system as my body flushes the residue of the chemotherapy medicine. I have still a lingering cold sensitivity but it is getting better with each passing day. Hopefully, my sensitivity will be gone in another week or so.
Visitors
June was the best month ever for the blog in terms of visitors and page views. We had 1,494 visitors who viewed 2,468 pages.
Cool.
We had more international visitors [57%] than we had domestic visitors [43%]. We had visitors from Japan [13], Australia [5], Canada [12], France [10], United Kingdom [6], Germany [15], Texas [5], Mexico [4], Italy [7], Indonesia [4], India [2], Korea [4], Poland [3], Singapore [4], Czech Republic [2], Sweden [2], Hong Kong [3], Thailand [4], Macau, Peru, Belgium, Israel, Iran, Switzerland, Portugal [4], Venezuela [4], Spain, Finland, Netherlands [2], South Africa, China [2], Austria [2], Ireland, Romania, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Estonia, and United Arab Emirates.
I think this was the first that the blog has had visitors from Estonia and the Dominican Republic.
I know I have undercounted the international visitors this week. The daily traffic count is approaching 60 visitors per day so I may miss some visitors if I don’t check regularly. Not checking happens as it did this week when I substituted for another teacher on Wednesday and didn’t cheek the visitor logs until Friday.
I had a great weekend. I hope that you did as well. I should have posted this blog on Sunday; oh well, life happens.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 6:10 PM
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