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"Endowed By Our Creator"

From this piece by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson at NRO.

"The fact is that in the United States we are “one nation under God,” operating under the rule of law as citizens “endowed by our Creator” with unalienable rights that the state cannot abrogate.

 Such an understanding is not partisan. It is American. It represents the views of presidents from Washington to Jefferson to Lincoln to Kennedy to Reagan. In this country we may sometimes have to defend our rights vigorously, but we must also do so with civility if we would do justice to the responsibilities our rights entail."

Carl strongly recommends that we all go see "For Greater Glory."

John Carter

UPDATE: March 17, 2012

Here is another look at John Carter, from PJ Media.

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I went to see John Carter on Saturday.  I knew nothing about it, and wanted to see Act of Valor, but was talked into John Carter instead.

What great fun!  I think it's the first movie in at least a few years that I walked out of and said "that was really fun."

It's a little complicated, but hang in there as the ending is very much worth waiting around for.

Now I want to read the book.

Here's a review of the movie from Ed Morrissey at HotAir.

82nd or 101st?

I'm confused.

I was reading some old World War II magazines this week and came across a piece about the crickets issued to the 101st Airborne Division prior to the Normandy landings on D-Day.  In the piece (I can't find it online) the writer said that the crickets were issued to the 101st but not the 82nd.

Well, it just so happened that I recently watched The Longest Day, Darryl Zanuck's production of Cornelius Ryan's great book on the D-Day invasion of Europe.  In the movie, John Wayne plays Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort, a battalion commander in the 82nd Airborne Division. It's Lt. Col. Vandervoort who briefs his men about the crickets and their planned use in the movie (at about the 39 minute mark).

I am sure that someone has questioned this before, but am I missing something?  All I could find on the web indicates that the crickets were issued to the 101st only. 

Is this just a Hollywood Howler that I missed in my WWII issues?

"Brain Porn"

The Twilight flicks are "brain porn" for chicks according to a 32 year old NJ woman.  OK.

I don't recall that I have ever seen guys camping out for days in front of a theater waiting for the latest "Debbie Does Dallas" to open.  But I guess that is Mr. Hudson's point.

So I guess Larry Summers was right, guys and girls are different?  Maybe he can get his old job back.

NASM Udvar-Hazy Center

UPDATE: June 16, 2010-

For my cool photos of the business end of the shuttle Enterprise, and a space shuttle main engine (SSME) from the NASM click here, here, and here.  For some really cool photos taken this week at KSC of the NASA crew installing SSME's in Discovery, click here and here.

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Spent the better part of the day at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport.

Not a lot new there, although I don't remember seeing the F-14 or the Super Connie last time.

Saw the new IMAX film, Legends of Flight, which was ok at best.  Pretty much a 42 minute long Boeing commercial, starring Mike Carriker, who is Boeing's chief test pilot and is leading the test flights of the 787 Dreamliner.  The actual aircraft shots in the film were cool, but for an IMAX flick, there was way too much graphics and CGI.  I don't think some of the flight scenes were even real (very CGI like).

More pics from Udvar-Hazy and the NASM in DC here.

Superman Returns

Saw Superman Returns last night and I really liked it.  It was too long and my knees were killing me when I got up to leave, but it was a very enjoyable movie.  I had read several reviews and none of them were very favorable, or unfavorable, so I was pleasantly surprised.

The "return" of the movie is Superman coming back to Earth from a long absence, so it probably falls in a time line after the second movie of the originals.  His relationship (or more accurately lack thereof) with Lois Lane is already established, so the film makes use of many of the conversational and flirting gags between Supe and Lois from the original.  Some viewers may find that lazy on Brian Singer's part, but he pulled it off and it was one aspect that I especially enjoyed.  Of course, you  have to have seen and remember the original from 1978 to get the connections.  One I especially liked is Clark using his X ray vision to follow Lois up the elevator in the Daily Planet building as she heads out for a smoke.  It reminded me of the "What color under ware am I wearing?" scene on Lois's rooftop terrace in the original.

Also on the plus side is Kevin Spacey as the villain Lex Luther, and Frank Langella as a milder and less abrasive Perry White.  Director Brian Singer probably spent 80% of his budget on special effects, and they don't disappoint.  Even though I found the premise of the flick hokey, the effects are visually spectacular.  I was successful in remembering that it is in fact a fantasy movie, so the corny plot didn't bother me too much.  (And it's hard for me to not be analytical.)

My negatives are the overall length (it probably could lose half an hour), the shaky camera use that seems so prevalent these days, and Luthor's demise.  "An eye for an eye" should have come in to play with Lex, but then he might not be so Super.

All in all it was a good ride and I would definitely recommend it.  Just leave your sense of reality at the door to the theater.  And maybe watch Superman the original first.

George Clooney: Clueless

Austin Bay draws comparisons between Iraq and Sudan, and highlights the hypocrisy of George Clooney and his band of merry followers.

Clooney and the Hollywood liberals probably would have supported the Iraq war if Bill Clinton had the stones to do it when he was President.  They are just suffering BDS. 

HT:RCP.

United 93-No Way It Could Happen

The best review of United 93 that I have read so far.

Ned Rice satires almost as well as Scrappleface.

"United 93"

"United 93" opens in theaters today.

Here is a collection of reviews and commentary.

Rich Lowry on NRO-  "It's about time."

Alston B. Ramsey on NRO-  "It is not a political film, at least not in the sense the punditry will make it out to be. It does not strive to make a point. It does not take sides. It does not even try to develop characters, or to create an arc to the story. It is a movie that just is. And that is what makes its portrayal of September 11 so fitting: It treats the events of the day not as fiction, but as reality."

Mary Katharine Ham on HughHewitt.com-  "I'm not sure if I can use this word as an adjective, but it keeps coming to mind, so here goes. It was shaking. I was shaken. I was shaky. However you want to say it, that's what it did."

David Beamer on OpinionJournal.com.

Paul Farhi in The Washington Post.  More on this review later today.  I don't remember seeing anything like this on Fahrenheit 9/11.

Roger Ebert on RogerEbert.com. 

Moira Macdonald in the Seattle Times- "When I walked out of the dark theater early this week and back into the ordinariness of my own life, blinking away tears in the bright sunshine, it felt like a gift. If "United 93" helps us to honor what has gone and to appreciate what is still with us, then it's done more than most movies ever will."

Ethan Gilsdorf in the Boston Globe on Paul Greengrass-  "A serious man with a serious subject: 9/11."

Bruce Newman in the San Jose Mercury News-  "The end of innocence."

Rush Limbaugh interviews Paul Greengrass.

I'll have my own review later this weekend.

Freedom, or Tyranny?

Todd Beamer's father, David, writes on OpinionJournal.com about "United 93" and the challenges facing all free people.  Read the whole thing.

"United 93" opens in theaters tomorrow.