by John Walters
Starting Five
The War On Truth
After a three-year legal battle, The Washington Post finally obtains military documents that show that U.S. officials constantly lied about the U.S. “making progress” in the war in Afghanistan. Whom were we fighting again, by the way? And why?
So if you’ve been worried that the 21st century did not have its own Pentagon Papers story, worry no longer.
Of course, keeping America at war is good business for politicians who are looking to bring MIC jobs to their districts, or ex-politicians who are on the boards of such companies, or for demagogues who can secure votes by persuading Americans that there is an existential threat when actually the real threat is a government that is not honest with its own populace. But…whatevs!
Soft Ban On Russia
Following a hearing in which the evidence was just as plain as the quid pro quo transcript of the Zelensky call, the World Anti-Doping Agency has banned Russia from all global competitions for the next four years. That includes the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the 2022 Winter Olympics in whatever place on Earth is still cold.
The problem, as we see it: Russia is banned but Russian athletes are not. That’s like telling the Houston Astros they can’t compete as the Astros next season but that the same players can go out and play as long as they don’t wear Astros gear. If WADA and the world sports community truly wanted to send a message, it would ban all Russian athletes for the next quadrennial.
Because here’s the thing: Vlad Putin doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your finger-wagging. He just wants to win. So as long as Russia can still have Russian athletes competing in these prestigious events, then if they win, he’ll still be able to derive satisfaction from it. You can’t win if you’re not in the game.
Shark Thank
Love this video. All living creatures understand pain. And cruelty. This who inflict it on others for no reason other than their own personal aggrandizement deserve a very, very, very uncomfortable place in hell. This woman is a saint.
Blow Up
A volcanic eruption on White Island (funny, that’s what I’d always called Nantucket) in the Bay of Plenty, just off the coast of New Zealand’s northern land mass, has erased signs of life on the tiny island. At least five are dead and a dozen to two dozen more are missing.
Five Films: 1970
1.) Patton: George C. Scott’s opening monologue, delivered before an American flag that literally splashes across the entire screen, is an iconic film moment. We also love when Scott as the title character growls, “Rommel…you magnificent bastard. I read your book!” A deserving Best Picture winner in a thin year. 2. M*A*S*H: Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould are Hawkeye and Trapper in the film, based on Richard Hooker’s fantastic novel, that inspired the TV series. Director Robert Altman’s signature style of having actors say their dialogue over one another, which is more realistic but also more confusing for the audience, was not yet a signature style when he displayed it here. 3. Five Easy Pieces: Jack Nicholson’s second big role in as many years and the first real clue that audiences will get that he can be a real bastard on screen if he wants to be, but you cannot take your eyes off him. 4. Airport: The suspense film that kick-started a franchise that inspired a parody so on the nose that it killed the franchise. I’ve always been more terrified of airports than of sharks, by the way. 5. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: Written by Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert (yes, him), here is a musical melodramaabout an all-girl rock band trying to make it in LA. Lots of groovy gals and guys and tight dresses doing the late Sixties L.A. scene. Campy.
I agree with your Top 5 except for #5. I’d substitute one of the following :
A Man Called Horse with Richard Harris.
The Out-of-Towners with Jack Lemmon & Sandy Dennis. I didn’t see until on TV about a decade later & almost peed the sofa laughing. I would think a NYC inhabitant going on 3 decades would also have bust a gut. 🙂
Tora! Tora! Tora! – for the name alone! WWII flick but from Japanese perspective.
Two movies I have soft spots for because they were included in my high school’s offerings on back-back Movie Days (& both happened to star Clint Eastwood) – Kelly’s Heroes & Two Mules for Sister Sara (also starring Shirly MacLaine as a hooker posing as a nun). The day before a holiday vacation, my school always showed a movie in the Auditorium, the 2 lower classes went in the morning & the 2 upper in the afternoon. The movies were usually 4-7 years old but were shown on a real movie projector. Whomever picked the latter movie above didn’t realize there was a bit of nudity & put scotch tape over that part of the film when it was shown to us. Which prompted much hootin’ & hollerin’ from the ‘cheap seats’. 😉
And of course, there was Woodstock, which you may not include since it was a documentary. I didn’t see it until I was in college & it was part of my US History 1865-present class. Apparently, there were some parents who did NOT think it was “appropriate” for a college course. Which made ALL of us even more desirous to watch of course. 🙂
And no, I do NOT include Love Story! I actually went along with my older sister to see this in the theatre & I was too young I guess to think any of it was “romantic”. I HATED it! That the book (upon which the movie was based) was a MASSIVE best seller was probably the 1st sign that our country’s educational system was & had been in freefall for at least a decade.
I also saw Airport in the theatre & have been a disaster flick fan ever since.
Once again, the “Russian ban” is a JOKE! Except for Track & Field, where the folks in charge of that sport actually kept out the majority of Russian athletes in 2016 Rio & will do so again in 2020. In the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Russian athletes were introduced as “OLYMPIC ATHLETES FROM RUSSIA” (oooh, that sure showed Vlad & the boyz!) & on the final day, the impotent & CORRUPT IOC allowed the Russian flag in the final parade of nations! “Bygones”! Total bullshit.
And I hope you are wrong about Clemson winning the NCG. In fact, I’d rather see ANY of the other 3 take it, but Ohio State is my #1 choice. That the Buckeyes are apparently considered a slight underdog to Clemson by the betting consortium may give my team even more incentive to ‘wipe out the orange’!
And do you REALLY think Clemson has been the best team this year? WHO did they play besides Georgia just this past Saturday? I did watch parts of their early season games & I was NOT impressed. I’m assuming they improved a great deal since then if you think so highly of them now, but I’d like to see a different champion this year.
And really, you don’t get enough of me HERE, you’d want my ‘snappy patter’ on yet another website too? 😉 🙂