"Race," A Righteous Release?

The DVD movie "Race" hit the general public on May 31 and is the tale of an American racing legend Jesse Owens.

The play on words, the title "Race" fits the story-line perfectly. The quote unquote 'good old days' were really not so good, even now, too many people can't accept skin color differences, but in the 1930s bigotry was as common as air, especially in Nazi Germany.

Whether or not Owens marital life was hollywoodized, the movie adheres to the basic facts of the 1936 Olympics which were held in Germany. The Germans not only wanted Jews banned from competing, but African Americans as well. The political powers that existed back in the day put the kibosh on that one and Owens was allowed to race in the 1936 Olympic games.

Owens not only raced, he dominated the sport, setting three world records in 45 minutes, the 200 yard dash, broad jump and the 225 yard hurdles, while also amassing four gold metals that summer.

"It's no secret our government is insane," Larry Snyder said in "Race." Snyder was Owens college coach and Olympic one.

Words of reality then and now, I just have a penchant for the truth.

Even when Owens was awarded the congressional gold medal for being an Olympic hero and an American one everyday of his life, he had to enter the White House through the back door even though the White House was having an extravagant dinner party in his honor. Now we have a black President, so some progression has happened.

"Race" is a three star movie easily and well worth the watch if you enjoy movies with dialogue and a solid plot.

"Alice Through The Looking Glass," A Big Screen See?

All in the golden afternoon, leisurely we glide.

The dream-child moving through a land of wonders 

wild and new, in friendly chat with bird or beast, thus grew 

the tale of Wonderland, the rest next time-it is next time.

Lewis Carroll

The entire visual effects crew did a phenomenal job bringing Lewis Carroll's imagination to the eyes and screen writer Linda Woolverton who also wrote Disney's 2010 "Alice In Wonderland" sagaciously transformed Carroll's books into a joyous mind journey on the 3-D big screen.    

Acting greats Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen return from the 2010 movie "Alice In Wonderland."

Disney's "Alice Through The Looking Glass," released May 27 in theaters is being shown in 3-D and regular movie mode. I went to the 3-D version and yes, it was an awesome movie experience that warrants the big screen showing. When Alice is traveling back in time, the thoughts of her past pictured in the raging waters of the ocean under a dark sky was captivating.

Alice is forced to go back in time to save the life of the Mad Hatter, who is grieving the presence of his parents and other immediate family members. I love the dialogue when Alice meets the Mad Hatter before they met (time travel) and the Mad Hatter says to Alice;

"So I'll meet you again for the first time when I'm older and your younger."

I thought the Red Queen was too nice in this movie, but hey, no movie or story is absolutely perfect, especially when your catering to both the adult and child mind, a very tough combination because, if the writer leans too much toward the child mind, the adult could get bored and vise versa.

"Alice Through The Looking Glass" will be better on the big screen than in the home and Alice (Wasikowska) portrays an excellent role model for young girls across the universe.

If A Buffoon Has A Blog Site

If a Buffoon has a blog site, he'll want to write in it. Once he starts writing, the rhythmical structure of words will remind him of books, so he'll want to go to the library to get some more books. To do his part for Gaea, Mother Earth, he'll ride his bike to the library. While riding his bike, the sheer beauty of nature will make him want to take pictures.

The colorful pictures of the plants and trees near the waters of nature will inspire the blogger to take more and more pictures. He'll want to put the pictures on his blog site. Once he starts putting pictures on his blog site, he'll want words to go with his picture.

Once he starts writing again, it will remind him of books, and chances are if he wants to read books, he'll want to go to the library.

Of all the six pictured books I got at the downtown Sonoma County Library, each and everyone was neatly illustrated by Felicia Bond and well written by Laura Numeroff. Numeroff has numerous children books out, but my favorites happen to be the six books I recently borrowed.

These books are entertaining for both adult and child minds. I especially like how quick they are to read which makes it more fun for an adult to read to a preschool aged child. "If You Give A Moose A Muffin" is the oldest of these six books which was written in 1991. "If You Give A Dog A Donut" is the latest of these particular six, released in 2011.

"If You Take A Mouse to School", give a pig a party, a pig a pancake, a cat cupcake, a moose a muffin or a dog a donut, chances are your imagination will ignite inspiration and influence many wonderful thoughts.

"Risen," and "Zoolander 2," Worthy of Watching?

"Risen," or a more appropriate title, "Rotten," is a great flick if your having trouble sleeping.

From beginning to end, "Risen" was a snooze fest. Released for home viewing on the 24th, the screen writers Kevin Reynolds and Paul Aillo never had a clear direction as to whether they wanted the Romans to be villains or heroes. All good stories need quote / unquote hero's and villains, and this movie  had no real enemies or people to root for despite the timeless subject matter of God and man.

The Christian faith dictates that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day of his crucifixion and the faithless claim his body was simply stolen from his tomb to sway more people into following the Christian faith.

A Roman soldier Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) is sent out by his leaders to find the corpse of Jesus portrayed by Cliff Curtis. "Risen" has a simple plot, if Clavius can find the dead body of Jesus, the Romans can show first hand to the Christians that their faith is wrong. The Romans felt it dangerous to their culture if too many people believed or adhered to the Christian doctrine that the Son of God is real and not a myth.

Clavius and his Roman crew were not mean enough to the Christians or the Roman soldiers who were guarding the body of Jesus after his execution. When questioning these people who might have know what exactly happened to the body of Jesus after the third day, Clavius a his counterparts simply didn't have that stereotyped Roman meanness needed for this particular movie.

In the end, the writers side with Jesus, but their case for Christianity was weak as was the case against it, "Risen" was quite simply boring for both the believers and non believers, a merger half star for this lame flick.

"Zoolander 2" is the 15-year-old sequel to the first "Zoolander" which was a 4.5 start comedy classic.
Also released for home viewing on the 24th, "Zoolander 2" should have been title "Boolander 2." Ben Stiller was one of the four screenwriters for this movie, which I would not want credit for and he also returns as the model Derek Zoolander.

Owen Wilson also returns as Hansel, Christine Taylor as Matilda and Will Ferrell as the villainous  Jacobim Mugatu. I never got to see Ferrell's performance in this lame flick, because I turned off the movie at about the 40 minute mark.

"Zoolander 2" is a comedy, and it's not at all funny. I didn't smile once more than a half hour into it, so a 0 star rating for this complete waste of a time movie that should have never been made.            

Hillary Clinton, Soulless, or Just Successful

In 1975 when Hillary Clinton was a 27-year-old defense lawyer, she defended accused rapist Thomas Alfred Taylor, a then 41-year-old on trail for raping a 12-year-old girl.

The hospital reports confirmed that the 12-year-old girls injuries were consistent with rape. Clinton discredited the young victim and got Taylor's rape charged reduced to unlawful fondling of a child under 14-years-old, hence he spent less than a year in prison for brutally raping a child. The CNN tapes confirm Clinton laughing about the matter and suggest she knew his client was guilty, but hey, the due process of the law is just that, win at all cost if your a lawyer, it's just the way of the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ03Nw7ohww /    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/jul/17/did-hillary-clinton-ask-be-relieved-rapist/

Maybe Clinton is just the type of person America needs as its leader, someone who uses the brain and not the heart. The heart after all gets in the way of success, and success equals money and power and those two things are what rule the world.

"It's all bull-**** folks," the late George Carlin said.

Dead Poems, One new, Others From My Archives

Time Enough?

The helpless feeling of limited time, even the crazy night-mare of the
ocean swallowing me alive, do I have time to finish all the words in
my head? Nothing to live for, financial futility, perennial solitude,
forever unloved, yet laughter always finds its way in, I enjoy being the
fool, a modern day court jester for the few who enjoy my presence.
There's always more, photography, books, blogs, ball games and
barbecues and the never ending quest for the absolute perfect combination
of words that communicate flawlessly, and entertain marvelously.

                                 

Life and Death

Geckos dwell in the caves of the ancients, and roam
through hollowed rib cages where the heart used to be.
Demons laugh as we plan for tomorrow. Predator’s dwell
in anticipation. Indeed the devils work shop is a busy
place. Near death or seized success?
Just another pawn in a soulless generation. Which gener-
ation will destroy the last of civilization? Knowledge over
powers laughter. Laughter dances on knowledge, it
dances with wisdom, it dances with folly.                                
Izzy Schurr / Nancy Simpson Hoke
                                    

                               

Great niece Lexy

Children

   Innocent eyes breed love and laughter. They

harness wisdom and dispense imagination.

Youth’s unfiltered emotions dwell in the 

adams of eternity.

                         

Great niece Lexy

Nonsense

Razzle dazzle, pies in the castle. Where is Ms.
Frazzle? Under da castle? Perhaps causing a
hassle? Why no, she’s eating sassle. What is
sassle? Sometimes it’s sweet, bright, and
light. Other times it’s sour, dark, and heavy.
Sassle is often like dark chocolate, and some
times it’s like white chocolate. It’s never like
hot chocolate. Mostly it’s Wokalit. Wokalit pie.
chocolate pie, sapple pie, apple pie. Scary pie,
cherry pie, chicken pot pie. Never eat a mud pie
like a Burf or a Wurf. Instead why not surf. Perhaps
walk with a Wurf.

                          

Still Lexy

"Future Shock," A Bountiful Book For the Senses Or a Bust?

The less then two month old novel "Future Shock" is a young adult novel dealing with nefarious big business practices, young love, murder, futurism and much more.

Elena Martinez, a 17-year-old who is growing up in the U.S. foster care system is about to be 18-years-old and on her own. Struggling to find even a waitress job, the Aether Corporation which has developed an accelerator that creates a rift in the in the space-time continuum, a temporal aperture that can send people to the future has plans for her. 

The Aether Corporation offers Martinez and four other extraordinary teens to participate in a short research program that when completed will be enough money to graduate college 100 percent debt free. 

Adam O'Neill, another teen who is recruited by the Aether Corporation becomes Martinez's love interest, but is O'Neill just another rich self centered soul who is so evil, he'd allow the deaths of Martinez and the other teens for his own personal gain? 

The Aether Corporation wants to send Martinez, O'Neill and three other teens to the future so the teens can document what they see in the future and bring back their information to the company, so Aether can use their knowledge of the future to always have the latest medical and tech toys of the future.

It's only safe for the young to do time travel because of severe mental repercussions, and even teens aren't immune to these harsh repercussions, but the allure of huge money makes the teens want to go, except for O'Neill who is already rich, but his crush on Martinez gives him that sense of immortality. 

Once into the future, the teens really see the harsh complications. If the teens don't do the right things, they could all be killed and also the fate of a 4-year-old girl with cancer becomes their responsibility.

Can Martinez and O'Neill someday live a live of love together, or must their love for each other be thrust into the abysses for the benefit of many more people they know? 

Things really get complicated when Martinez realizes she may be a cold blooded killer like her father who bludgeoned her mom to death with a golf club when she was 7-years-old in front of her, hence her reason for being a foster child.

For a young adult book, some harsh themes are throw about, but in the end, real bad things happen in real life. The F-word is used once in a blue moon, but over all this is a PG-13 book OK for most readers. Three stars for UCLA graduate and author Elizabeth Briggs first young adult book "Future Shock."