"Act of Valor" - A Review

Here is the last of my archived articles, a review of the 2012 war film, "Act of Valor". A story about a Navy SEAL team who uncover and attempt to stop a terrorist attack on the United States. I have been a fave of war films as long as I can remember, my favorites being the World War II films from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. What is unique about this film is that the main characters are played by actual Navy SEALS, so while they don't give the best performance, it does provide a higher sense of realism that we don't see very often.

Thank you, and enjoy:

Another late movie review, but with a busy work and school schedule, and a computer that doesn't like to run tumblr very well, sometimes this can't be helped. “Act of Valor” is honestly one of the best movies that I have seen this year, I haven't read any other reviews on it yet but I would defiantly give it an A grade. 

It was one of the mots unique war movies that I had ever seen, and I have seen plenty of war movies going all the way back to when I was a child. What made this movie so unique was how  realistic they decided to make this movie. Unlike our sugar coated Hollywood war movies with huge explosions and bullets flying in every direction (and somehow no one gets hit), the movie's battle scenes had smaller explosions, and bursts of bullets rather than a rain storm of them; there was also more stealth, rather kicking open the door. This created more intense scenes and left you hanging on the edge of your seat more. Granted I still like my Hollywood sugar coated war and action movies with the big explosions and ridiculous gun battles, but this is something unique.

The plot and the characters are pretty basic. Terrorist plot to bomb America is unraveled and the Navy Seals have to go and stop them. The characters are played by actual disciplined Navy Seals, and though they aren't the best when it comes to voicing dialogue for film, they were talking in the way that, I assume, would be most likely how they would talk on a mission. But in a way that is charm of this movie, you get a better idea of what actually happens in actual military situations. Hollywood tends to over dramatize it, which is not necessarily a bad thing and granted this movie also probably has some of that in it, but a movie based entirely around brining realism to the screen.

While it wasn't received well by critics, it's defiantly worth watching, especially if you are like me and highly enjoy war movies. It is unique, has really good action scenes, and good drama, the end might even get you to shed a tear at the end of the film when they have the funeral for the fallen SEAL. Again, as a fan of war movies, I am kind biased in favor of them, even some of the ones that aren't very good; with the exception being "Peal Harbor", which I review later. Overall, like with all movies, watch it with an open mind and make your conclusions.

Your Project and Your Printer

As I mentioned a while back, I currently work from my family's print shop; doing graphic arts, padding forms, and folding thousands of small forms. We started this year doing an email news letter as a big push for the business, and below is an article that I wrote for it under a column apply named "The Printed Rambler."

Even in a world where we do almost everything online, there is still a need of printers. Having a physical catalogue that you can flip through is more tangible than one in a browser. You can pick it up, put it down, and pick it back without any hassle. Not that there is anything wrong with online material, but there should be a balance, because not everyone is the same.

Thank you and enjoy:

Imagine for yourself this situation, you wanted a cake baked and when you showed up at your local bakery, you gave the baker all the ingredients for it. The flour, sugar, butter, eggs, etc., while you might think that this is helpful, the unfortunate truth is, it really isn’t. They might not be the right ingredients they need, or the correct measurements. The problem is, this might make a mess that they have to clean up, and you will have a longer wait for your cake.

            When you walk into your local print shop, it’s always good practice to have an idea of the layout you want for your job, such as a drawing (doesn’t need to be fancy), and well as any text or images you want as well. But laying out the whole thing yourself in a computer file thinking it would make the process easier and faster isn’t always the case. Just like the issue with the bakery, this may also make a mess they have to clean up. Low resolution photos, to many fonts, poor design, non-compatible programs, the list can go on and on.  Again, like the bakery, these issues could have you ending up with a longer wait time for your job to be completed.

            So next time you plan your order, be it for business cards, invoices, or brochures, is the time you spent laying it out really worth it? Discuss your project with Gateway Printing and we will work with you to design and produce your project to a successful completion.

Info:

The Gateway Printing Co.

174 Main Street, Wareham, MA

http://www.gatewayprinting.org/

A Quick Point

It has been pointed, some of my previous posts have spelling and grammatical errors. I will be going back to correct those. They were done a few years ago and I only edited them a small amount. So, at some point in the future, they will be fixed.

Thank you.

Idiocy and Ignorance at it's Finest

This is the third and final part on on my three part series on religion (but not the last). In this one we look at the ignorance and arrogance of religious groups against literature. Regimes, and governments ban books, films, and other forms of media, under the idea that they are protecting moral fabric of their society, because they fear what they contain. The Nazi’s banned books because they feared they might under mine their fragile power base. This can also apply religious groups as well; if your belief in God is so strong and instilled this faith in your children, how can a simple fantasy novel destroy it?

True faith comes from something deep within and can years, a life time, to achieve. Human creations can destroy it or undermine it. It is a powerful and deeply personal part of one’s life. So your faith has to be paper thin, if you think “Harry Potter”, or violent games, or “Dungeons & Dragon” will ruin it. I know that is is an old argument, and at the moment doesn’t have much relevance; however is crops up from time to time. People will always be trying to ban something because it “de-roots” their beliefs. So once again, enjoy!

Sometime ago I decided to take a look a the website: “Chick Publications”, a company known for it's very right wing, fundamentalist Christian views. They trash other religions as false and leading people down a path away from salivation. I happen to be Catholic (as mentioned earlier) and Catholicism is one of major targets of this company, making false accusations that can easily be explained away with a understanding of history and common sense. But this organization is most famous for their attacks on the popular “Harry Potter” series. They claim that it promotes Witch Craft and Devil worship. Those who have read the books know that this is false and very far from the truth and in fact the series promotes values that are actually very compatible with Christian beliefs.

Our journey to debunking the beliefs that “Harry Potter” is causing the destruction of Christian values begins with a look  at a summary of a book they have advertised on their site. It starts out with quotes from young kids saying how much they would love to go to “Hogwarts” and learn how to do magic and cast spells on their teacher. What kid wouldn't? It is adventure and excitement, traveling to new mysterious places and meeting new friends along the way. And what kid wouldn't want to bewitch their teacher so that they would get no homework? That fact that he uses theses quotes to say how the books are destroying our values and promoting witchcraft, shows how detached they are from reality.

They then try to go into how the books are promoting witchcraft and the religion Wicca and compares it to Devil worship. First of all in my understanding of Wicca is that it's origins come from pagan beliefs in ancient Europe before the spread of Christianity and even predate it by a few thousand years. Also their use of Animal sacrifices was bring about good conditions for harvest, similar to the ancient human Sacrifices of the ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures, which had no knowledge of Christianity. Not to mention that their are no animal or human sacrifices in “Harry Potter.” As well as being a huge difference between the beliefs and practices of Wicca versus the witchcraft and wizardry or “Harry Potter”, look it up, it's on wikipedia.

The true values of “Harry Potter” is loyalty, courage, love, friendship, forgiveness, and to stand against evil. These are values that are more than compatible with Christianity. It has also got nearly an entire generation more interested in reading and writing, hopefully inspiring many people. Those at Chick Publications might want to look at the believe in and reevaluate it based on actual research, reading the books, and having historical perspective. But sometimes that is like asking a brick wall to move, it's just not going happen, ignorance can be a terrible thing.

Next up on, a review of the 2012 film “Act of Valor”, a poorly reviewed film that I did enjoy. After that a review of the video game “Destiny”, and after that my favorite subject “Tolkien”!