The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
HA! I Beat Instapundit!
One of the links at the bottom of The George Orwell Daycare Center überpost was to a piece entitled In the Basement of the Ivory Tower. Only today does Glenn Reynolds link to it!
(Yes, I’m petty. “George Orwell” didn’t get an Instalanche. It did, however, garner at least thirteen links from other blogs, a Livejournal link or six, and links from three or four different message boards. Thanks, everybody!)
Bumper Sticker Sales a Success
The “McCain ’08” bumper sticker sales have been a roaring success. We cleared enough not only to cover Jed’s dental work, but also to donate $100 to Soldier’s Angels with a little left over for restocking. I’m currently down to two stickers left in inventory, but I can get more coming on very short notice.
From this point forward, any additional profits will go to Soldier’s Angels. Thank you for all of your support.
Are You a Browncoat?
I can’t really say that I am that fanatic, though I am a major fan of Joss Whedon’s Firefly TV series and the feature film it spawned, Serenity. Most of the readers of this blog probably are, too. But if you are unfamiliar with the franchise, I strongly urge you to pick up the boxed set of the first (and so far only) season of Firefly. Amazon carries it (in widescreen) for only $37.99 and in Blu-Ray HD for only $62.95 when it is released. Get it. Watch it. Fall in love with it like tens of thousands of us have.
Now a group is trying to get a second season of Firefly made, even if it is not broadcast on TV or carried on a cable channel. I applaud their efforts. I’d like to see it, too. So I’ve added a link on the sidebar for those of you who might want to join in their petition.
Band of Brothers
The History Channel is running a marathon of Band of Brothers episodes.
I had to get my Springfield Armory M1 Garand out of the safe, detail strip it, clean and lube it.
I think I’ve got two or three full bandoleers around here somewhere…
Quote of the Day
This is bad in a jaw-dropping “they can’t really be serious, can they?” kind of way. The closest comparison I can draw is to Neil LaBute’s “Wicker Man” and, like that film, the only consolation I can offer potential theater-goers is that you might want to see it just to be in on the ground floor when the film gets its ass handed back to it. – An Early Review of M. Night Shyamalan’s THE HAPPENING
It looks like Shyamalan’s directorial career has bottomed out.
After viewing Lady in the Water I didn’t think he could go any lower. It would appear I was mistaken.
(h/t to Ian Hamet for the heads-up.)
Waiting for Godot Tam
Half a dozen of us are sitting in the pressroom at the convention center waiting for the Empress of Snark™ to arrive: Squeeky, Unforgiving Minute, U.S. Citizen, Bitter Bitch, Sharp as a Marble, Rustmeister, and me.
OMG, we’re groupies.
UPDATE: Now there are twelve awaiting her arrival.
Word of Advice
I’m at the airport, waiting for my plane to arrive. It’s probably NOT a good idea to fire up the laptop in the waiting area when you’ve replaced Window’s “Startup” chime with a soundclip from the movie Serenity. Especially when the speaker volume is set to “High”.
And most especially when the soundclip says this:
This is the Captain. We’re having a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence, and then… explode.
And I wonder why I’m on a TSA list.
The Secret Service Doesn’t Trust Us
There’s a shocker. I guess they heard the reaction to McCain’s Plan on Global Climate Change.
By email from Ashley Varner of the NRA, apparently the Secret Service will not allow anyone carrying anything more lethal than a shrimp fork (if that) in His Presence:
I know there’s very, very little time, but i just received confirmation about guns in the forum.
This came down from the Secret Service–it was not our call, nor Sen. McCain’s.
NOTICE: By mandate of the U. S. Secret Service, no firearms will be allowed in Hall A of the Kentucky Exposition Center, the location of the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum, on Friday, May 16. Please be prepared to go through security screening to enter the venue.
Honestly, I’m not at all surprised. I was in fact shocked that they were going to let him appear at a venue where a significant portion of the audience would be A) not government employees who were B) armed.
Vote Early & Often.
Patti Patton-Bader, founder of Soldiers’ Angels, is one of the fifteen semi-finalists in NBC’s “America’s Favorite Mom” contest. There are five categories, and she is nominated with two other mom’s in the “military mom’s” category. The winner receives a $250,000 cash prize, and Patti has said she’d like to use the money to build a ranch for soldiers and their families to vacation at with assistance from Angel families.
Tomorrow, Patti will be featured in the morning on NBC’s Today Show, and all day tomorrow (but ONLY tomorrow) folks will have the opportunity to vote for her at http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Favorite_Mom/. Allegedly everyone can vote up to ten times per email address, so I’m hoping folks will vote early and often!
As you’ll note, Soldier’s Angels is at the top of my left sidebar, and directly under it is a subset of that group, Project Valour IT.
Patti Patton-Bader is someone special. Please vote for her tomorrow – early and often.
h/t to Instapundit, who got the email from NZBear.
Iron Man ROCKS!.
My wife and I just got back from seeing Iron Man. I also just read Kyle Smith’s review of the film at Pajamas Media.
Oh, please. Enough with the “Hollywood hates America” paranoia. Look, we all know that a bunch of people in Hollywood do, but not every film coming out of Tinsel Town has anti-Americanism undertones. (It’s not paranoia when they really are out to get you, but it is paranoia where you see them where they ain’t.)
First: The special effects in this film enhance – make it possible, in fact – but do not overwhelm the film.
Second: Robert Downey Jr. is outstanding, and the rest of the supporting cast ain’t bad, either. Gwyneth Paltrow has never looked better. Somebody needs a Oscar nomination for casting.
Third: It’s PG-13. Really. Unless you don’t mind your small children watching Robert Downey Jr. rolling around in bed with a hot blonde (who gets up the next morning and wanders around his palatial house in nothing but one of his shirts), leave them at home.
I’m not going to write a review full of spoilers, but I take exception to this line from Smith’s review:
You come to Iron Man to see a bullet-proof one-man flying tank, not hear a Ralph Nader lecture on how American industry is responsible for all the wars in the world.
Excuse me? Did we see the same film? Downey’s character had witnessed a bunch of American soldiers killed with weapons that had his company’s name on them. He had a negative reaction to that, and it’s understandable and well-played.
I won’t comment on the final fight scene – I didn’t see Transformers, so I don’t know how that film played out. I will say I thought it was terrific and I’d like to see it again.
The whole film (with the exception of the initial battle scene) was a lot of fun. I strongly recommend this film to anyone who likes the genre.