"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”!

Do apes have souls?

Continuing on with previous article, religion is once again the subject; I have one more that I had written a while ago which will posted at some random occasion. After that it will back some reviews on films and video games.

This piece probably relates back to another debate had between atheism and religion. What seems to be prevailing idea of most atheists is that people of religion believe in fairy tales and think science some sort of evil lie meant to turn them away from God. On the contrary, the Catholic Church is well known in history as the founder of many universities, many priests and monks have made great strides in botany and astronomy, as well doing the complex calculations to develop our current calendar system. While there are Christians the do reject science outright, it’s not a prevailing amongst Christians.

The theory of evolution has been subject of contention between the religious community and scientific communities. As I explain in the following paragraphs, theology and the theory of evolution can coexist quite well.

I recent years, with new scientific discoveries, Charles Drawin's Theory of Evolution has picked up steam. It has sparked a debate between those who believe in this theory and religion, specifically with Christians; Evolution vs. Genesis aka Creationism. The debate has been over which one is true and explains the creation of humanity. It has been debated whether or not it should be taught in schools, and fanatics on either side, activists, religious leaders, teachers, parents, and students have argued whether or not it should be taught; but that is not what we are here to discuss. As I mentioned before I am Roman Catholic, and thus I believe God created everything (hate me or not, call be an idiot, I really don't care, you are more of an idiot for continuing that bigotry). As a Catholic not only am I taught God is creator, but I also to think and interpret the Bible, not look at liberally. The stories in the Bible are ancient, and thus the people who wrote the testaments to explain certain things. So, I present to you my interpretation of the Bible, how evolution and religion can coexist and how, if looked at a different way, evolution is mentioned within the Bible.

In the beginning God created everything, he sparked the Big Bang setting the Universe into motion, guiding the atoms that would form the building blocks of galaxies, planets, suns, the phenomena of the cosmos, and life. God guided these elements to form the universe as we know it, including our world Earth. According some religious theorist the Earth was created 6,000 years ago; and according to the Bible the Earth was created in seven days, but the question no one ever seems to ask is, how long is a “God day”? The answer is: no one knows, it could be millennia long, but I can assure you that it is probably longer than 24 hours. So with his creation, God was pleased, and then decided to populate it with life.

God would them direct the atoms to form living creatures, microscopic at first, coming out the rock and ash of the planet. Over time he guided it and molded it so that it would form into the various of life that would populate his new world. The one species that he specifically guided was humanity, so that it would fit with his image. He took the most evolved human and placed him in the Garden of Eden and then we have the story of Adam and Eve. Perhaps after their exile, there genetic material was spread to other, less evolved humans creating what we are today.

Another way to look at the genesis story is not explain the origins of humanity, but of it's greatest creation, Civilization (and no not the game, though it is awesome). The Garden of Eden is said to be located in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Middle East. This region is the home of the first civilizations. Perhaps God kicked us out of the first civilization and we forced to create our own, building the great civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, China, Rome, Japan, Britain, France, and America. God may have not created us in his image physically, but mentally, our ability to think and create.

So, can Religion and Evolution coexist? Yes.

A Religious Understanding

This is another older piece I wrote a while back (I’m trying to go through some of my backlog that has yet to be posted). To put this essay into context, in the past I have had debates with friends of mine on “Facebook”, who are atheists, on the subject of religion, they can get daily heated. I’m Roman Catholic, and while I will never profess myself to be overtly religious, I do believe in the teachings, but have a different opinion than most Christians.

This particular essay came from one of those debates, and it goes into how I see my own religious beliefs. Surprisingly, my atheists friends had no negative opinion on this, and now I leave it up to the rest of you to form your opinions.

Thanks, and enjoy! :

I won't deny that Christians have not been violent, history has shown Christians use their religion as an excuse for violence, persecution, and war. The Crusades, for example, were at their heart a trade dispute. They have been as violent as members of religions. I also admit that I have not read the Bible all the way through, I have read passages, but even with that I think I can get a clear picture of what it is trying to tell me.

The Christian Bible is divided into two sections, "The Old Testament" (aka Torah), and the other is "The New Testament". First section is the history of the Jewish from the beginning of the world to the time of the Romans. The Second part is the history and teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles. Again I have not read all of this, however from what I can tell is that a lot of it is allegory, and metaphors and not to be taken literally at face value. God doesn't want someone to cut off his arm, but remove that which causes the problem. 

While the Bible is an integral part of Christianity, if not at the heart of the religion, it's more than the book that, in my opinion, that defines the religion. It is how people act upon the words written in the book. The problem is a lot of people use it as way to persecute others and commit terrible acts, but the same could be said about any other religion. So in some way, yes on the surface, Christianity is no different than other religions, there are good and bad people who shape our image of the religion. Unfortunately, a lot of times the bad is what makes a louder bang. In a lot of ways you could compare religions to the loyalty to operating systems, on the surface Mac OS and Windows are not two different from one another, but when you ask someone why they chose Mac or PC, there are down to the smallest part, features the people like over the other one and many times they grew with one particular OS in their household, same with religion.

The one thing that I am not the most familiar with is the history of the early Jews and how they came to worship the one God. Maybe it did form out of previous polytheistic religion or it was some great revelation. All I know is that I believe in God, but that doesn't stop of me from wanting to uncover all the mysteries and accepting science, I am probably one of the few Christians who accept evolution. I happen to think science is a means of figuring out how God did it. I think God is a great writer weaving together a great story and we are the characters and we don't know how it is going to end or how it began, we are figuring it out a long the way. I guess that is one way of thinking about it.

"Red Tails": A Review

Here is an old one from my Tumblr account of the same name (linked below). This directly quoted, so it might sound a little dated, however, if you do plan to watch this film, take a minute and read the following review. Thanks, and enjoy!

A Review of "Red Tails" :

About a month or so ago I went to see the new George Lucas production “Red Tails”, a film about the Tuskegee Airmen, a squadron of black airmen during World War II. While the film was historically accurate, it is hard to explain whether the movie itself is good or bad. While “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” felt it had so much thrown at the audience, “Red Tails” had to little. The movie is enjoyable, historically accurate, and the battle scenes are amazing; but it was lacking in the way in the way it was directed “on the ground” and especially failed in the laughable dialogue.

While Lucas has made a cool World War II film, he really should have gone over how the characters speak and act and especially look at their dialogue before filming. I think the best example of this is the main villain of the film. The villain, know as “Pretty Boy” is the first major character of the film to make an appearance, he is the leader of nearly every German fighter squadron the main characters run into. Easily this character could have been played by a card-board cut out with a voice box. He only has about five or six lines in the entire movie and only barks out orders or says how much hates the Red Tails and is shocked that they are black. There is no development to this character, no personality, no back story, and his only emotion is “Angry German Face.” Though he is probably one of the most amusing characters in the entire film.

The white American bomber pilots fared a little bit better than the German pilot, but not by much. While they did have more lines and something of a personality, their lines are about as corny as some fifties TV shows (not that I really wish to rip on those shows as they’re still better than anything on TV today), or that guy who blows himself up in the original “Night of the Living Dead” (”Golly Mr. Cooper!”).  But they’re lines include “I’m sure glad the Red Tails were here”, I think you picture the voice that went with that. But again, these characters could have again been easily played by a Card Board cut out.

The Black pilots of the Red Tails were probably the most well developed, but suffered from another problem, over use of stereotypes. While not every one of those characters suffered from this problem, that ones that did played it up ten times. Though you have to keep characters in a historical film accurate with the times that they are in, you don’t need to make blatant; such as the constant and almost comical references “Black Jesus.” I think of these characters, the most well developed were the Squadron Commander, who was in Washington D.C. fighting to keep his squadron from being disbanded due to the racism of the time, the flight leader who had to face down a drinking problem and emotional issues, and Lightening, the pilot who kills “Pretty Boy” and has relationship with one of the women in the near by Italian city.

Overall the while the movie had a good story and action sequences, it really lacked in character development and personality. It is definitely worth seeing, though by now it should be coming out soon on DVD and Blue Ray. This movie where you might just want to shut your brain off and enjoy it, it’s still better than watching “Star Wars : Episode 2.”

Up next: A discussion on how Evolution and Christianity can coexist and some more movie reviews as well as an analysis of Table Top vs Video Game RPGs.

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mentalrambler