Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

Monday Book Pick: Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge

August 29, 2016 – 09:35 | by admin

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by John Ringo and Larry Correia
As my gentle readers know, I’m a big fan of John Ringo and Larry Correia. So when John Ringo decided there was a few Monster Hunter books in him that just had to come out, of course I was there. This is the first in a series of books detailing the life and hard times of one Oliver Chadwick Gardenier, a hot shot monster hunter during the 1980s and early 1990s. Returned to Earth by a fisher named Peter, who said “the boss” had a job for him. That job was hunting monsters. Interesting fellow Chad, genius with a gift for languages, who studied the ASVAB tests so he could make sure that he was made a Rifleman when he joined the Marines. Then there was Chad’s relationship with his parents, especially his mother. Let’s just say they didn’t get along well. One of the cool parts of the book was the “Pro Tips” Chad scatters around his memoirs. Here are some examples: “Pro-tip: If you’re going to be cutting off a lot of heads, get a really good katana.” “I don’t care how big and muscle bound you are, things like yoga and ballet are useful. That’s the pro-tip.” Then there is what to wear when jogging in the dark in an area you know monsters live in. A fun read, like most of Ringo’s books, there is a fair amount of humor mixed with really, really good actions scenes.

Monday Book Pick Archive

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Friday B-Movie Pick: The Last Legion

August 26, 2016 – 10:24 | by admin

The Last Legion
Yet another historical fantasy on the Arthurian legend. When I say fantasy, there is a wizard, but he is limited to slight of hand. It’s more alternate history. Start with a historical fact. The Goths invaded Rome, and the last Caesar, a teenager named Romulus, ended up in exile for the rest of his life on an island. In this movie, Romulus (Thomas Sangster, the kid from Love Actually), is rescued by a Roman general (Colin Firth), and advised by is tutor, the before mentioned wizard (Ben Kingsley).  They travel to Britain, fight a major battle, defeat the bad guys, and set the stage for King Arthur to show up later. Throw in Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as an Indian warrior in the service of the Eastern Roman Empire (work with me on this), and Kevin McKidd as one nasty Goth, and you have a B-Movie worthy of the rental and popcorn. Movie nerd note, Colin Firth is in Love Actually as well. He doesn’t share any screen time with Thomas Sangster. Sangster does share a lot of screen time with Kevin McKidd in the HBO series Rome. If you are interested, the movie was based on the book by Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

Friday B-Movie Pick Archive

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Friday B-Movie Pick: Hail Caesar

August 12, 2016 – 10:58 | by admin

Hail Caesar
The Cohen Brothers managed to produce a particularly subversive movie. A very well made movie, but subversive. Frankly, I’m surprised this movie made it out of Hollywood. It’s a story about movie industry in the early 1950s. It was the era of big studios. When the stars worked for the studios and did what they were told, and the studio took care of them. The protagonist is the studio boss, who runs the Hollywood end for the owner in New York. He is dedicated to his job, loves his family, is devoted to his wife, takes care of his stars, and is a devout Roman Catholic. Like I said, this movie is subversive to the Hollywood culture. To fight the current Hollywood culture even more, the bad guys are actual communists. To be fair, they aren’t very competent, mostly whiny writers who are pissed that they are not running the studios and making the big money. I really enjoyed this movie, it was very rich in detail, and provided good insight into the time. The studio didn’t care if you were homosexual, or Hispanic, or had poor taste in husbands (“He was a minor crime figure.” “He was not minor!”). You were part of the studio family and the studio took care of you. Loyalty was expected in return, but that was part of the studio culture of the time. Fire up the popcorn, lean back, and enjoy this well crafted bit of film work. Excellent work by a excellent cast that includes Scarlet Johansson, Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum (singing and dancing), Alden Ehrenreich, and Veronica Osorio.

Friday B-Movie Pick Archive

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Round Up Post

July 17, 2016 – 15:34 | by admin

Guccifer 2.0 Leak Reveals How DNC Rigged Primaries for Clinton  Is any really surprised about this?  Just about the only thing that socialist with nationalist tenancies got right was that the DNC had the system rigged against him from the start.

Democrat who opposed welfare fraud measure indicted – for food stamp fraud Again, no surprise here. Arizona state rep state Cecilia Velasquez, a democrat, was charged with three felony counts: unlawful use of food stamps, fraudulent schemes and practices, and theft.

New York state congressional democrat Charlie Rangel Found Guilty on 11 of 13 Ethics Charges. Rangel has a lot more he needs to answer to the American people.  He was the one who first publicly suggested that Hillary Rodham Clinton run for the Senate in New York.

“This Is Going To Get Very Ugly” – Former Top CIA Officer Says “Obama Has Lost Control Of The Middle East”

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Friday B-Movie Pick: 1776 & An American Carol

July 1, 2016 – 06:47 | by admin

1776 and An American Carol
Once again, I’m going with an Independence Day double header. Starting with the 1972 film version of the Broadway musical 1776. It tells the tale of getting the resolution on Independence passed through the Continental Congress in the summer of 1776. William Daniels is quite good as John Adams, but it is Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin who steals the show. The second film was the 4th of July weekend pick for 2009. It is the story of Crocumentary filmmaker Michael Malone (name slightly changed so you will be sure which fat communist bastard it is supposed to be), who wants to ban the “4th of July” and is visited by the Ghost of John F. Kennedy, who tells that he will be visited by three spirits in order to cure him of his un-American ways. Very funny, with a great cast of actors who put their careers at risk by outing themselves as Conservatives in the far left extremist moonbat haven of Hollywood.

Friday B-Movie Pick Archive

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Round Up Post

June 26, 2016 – 08:31 | by admin

France Closes Down Mosques; 334 War Grade Weapons Found

Larry Corriea points points out that Self Defense is a Human Right

Anti-Civil Rights Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) Earns Three Pinocchios from Washington Post for “Gun Control” Lies. Is anyone really surprised that he has to lie in order to promote his extremist agenda?

Wired: The AR-15 Is More Than a Gun. It’s a Gadget

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Friday B-Movie Pick: Mr. Right

June 25, 2016 – 15:45 | by admin

Mr. Right
A delightful romantic comedy with plenty of violence mixed in for flavor. Anna Kendrick plays a quirky young woman who picked the T-Rex as her spirit animal at a young age. She meets “Mr. Right”, played by Sam Rockwell, and they quickly fall for each other. Rockwell’s character is a former CIA assassin who has gone bizarrely free lance. He also wears a clown nose when killing people. Yes, he is slightly crazy, as is Kendrick’s character. Throw in Tim Roth as the crazy hitman’s former partner trying to track him down, and RZA as some local New Orleans muscle with great potential, and you have a fun little B-Movie.

Friday B-Movie Archive

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Quote of the Day

June 24, 2016 – 08:41 | by admin

“I am for a government rigorously frugal & simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication of officers & salaries merely to make partisans, & for increasing, by every device, the public debt, on the principle of it’s being a public blessing.”

— Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States of America

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Quote of the Day

June 22, 2016 – 09:37 | by admin

“Must be encouraging to Jihadists all over the world: they can murder our people on our soil, and our President will blame the GOP and NRA.”

— Buck Sexton

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Monday Book Pick: Liberty 1784

June 21, 2016 – 22:00 | by admin

Liberty 1784 by Robert Conroy
Another excellent alternate history from the late Robert Conroy. In this one, history changed when the British Navy defeated the French convoy sent to support the American in their bid for independence. The British army is reinforced at Yorktown, and Washington’s army is defeated. Things don’t go well for the defeated Americans: George Washington is taken to London, tried for treason, and beheaded at the Tower of London (which how the book starts); many members of Congress, including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, are captured and sentenced to hard labor as slaves in Caribbean.  Members of the American army are branded, and are ill treated by the Tories and the British Troops still in the colonies.  Many surviving patriots went west, to towns like Liberty.  These included people still wanted by the British, such as John Hancock and Ben Franklin.   In order to root out the last bits of rebellion, the British gather a large force to enter the wilderness and destroy Liberty.

Liberty is a hard thing to destroy it turns out.

Monday Book Pick Archive

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