Month: July 2024

Mutiny on the HMS Biden

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Ah, the last few days without political posts have been really enjoyable.  Movies.  Now, that’s more like it.  And I’ll continue the trend going forward but I thought a short post on Debate-Gate would be okay.

This week’s news has been a steady drum beat of regime media flacks and Democrat operatives reiterating the message that for the good of Democracy Joe Biden must drop out of the presidential race.  They describe the replacing of Biden with Harris or some other, younger, less white, less male candidate in exciting and intriguing ways.  Obama and Clinton will preside over some kind of gameshow-like debate where these wondrous candidates will showcase for the nation their intelligence and charm.  A wonderful candidate will be chosen and it will inspire the voters and Trump will go down to ignominious defeat.  All we have to do is convince Joe to release his delegates.

But he doesn’t want to!

And this brings us to every talk show this week.  The formula is always the same, “I love Joe Biden.  He has done more for us than anyone possibly could and he is the most wonderful human being in the world and may possibly be a demi-god. But…”

And then there it is.  But!

But he is a senile, doddering old fool who will lose to Donald Trump in the general election unless we scare him off the ballot or, or, or…

Or what?  Because right now Joe Biden says he’s staying.  And I think he knows you can’t get rid of him unless one of two things happen.

One thing would be for the Justice Department to discover that Hunter Biden has been giving the “Big Guy” ten percent.  That would really work.  Joe would be hauled away and the Democrat Party could remove him for cause.  But would the Democrat side survive the fallout?  Wouldn’t it tar the whole party just in time for the fall vote?

The second way they could get him to quit is pay him off.  Probably $100 million in an off-shore account would do the trick.   But who wants to give Joe Biden all that money?

So, until such time as they are willing to bite the bullet, Joe is hanging tough.  And in the meantime, he puts out these interviews and press conferences where we can see just how demented he is.  And his poll numbers will keep drifting down.  He’s calling Kamala Harris, Donald Trump.  And Zelensky, Putin.  And he’s making millions into billions, into trillions and who knows what’s next.  And it’s only a matter of time until he stops wearing pants.  Basically, Grandpa Simpson is running the country and our allies abroad are starting to wonder whether they should start sizing up their other options.

And so, as we head into the Republican Convention and then the Democrat Convention media talking heads and congress-critters will continue running around in circles with their heads exploding all over the place.  All because the polls keep getting worse and worse for Biden but he just won’t do what he’s told.

And isn’t that great.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 12JUL2024 – Photo – Just Stumbled Across This

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

 

An early 2000’s Saleen Mustang. The Saleen modified Mustangs were/are renowned speed demons. This one has a supercharged 350.

Update:

For anyone who cares about this sort of stuff, all of these pictures were taken over a 12 year period with Sony cameras. The most recent, like this one, were taken with an A7IV using a Zeiss 16-35mm f4.0. I’ve got a pretty good lens collection and this Zeiss is one of the best.

2024 Summer Movie Talk – Part 3

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Westerns – Classic

I’m dividing Westerns into two categories; Classic and Modern, because they really are completely different categories.  I’ll list what I think are among the best or the most popular or the most interesting classic westerns in approximately chronological order.  I’ve reviewed a number of these movies so if you want my detailed opinion, you can do a search on the site.

  1. STAGECOACH (1939)
  2. DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939)
  3. THE WESTERNER (1940)
  4. THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941)
  5. THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943)
  6. ‘MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946)
  7. FORT APACHE (1948)
  8. WINCHESTER ‘73 (1950)
  9. HIGH NOON (1952)
  10. 3:10 TO YUMA (1957)
  11. RIO BRAVO (1959)
  12. THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)
  13. EL DORADO (1966)

Now this is just my list.  Your list will be different.  I left out some classic movies that are on everyone’s list; “The Searchers,” “Shane” and some others.  That’s just my taste. Some people consider “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” a western but because it took place in the mid-twentieth century I don’t consider it a classic western.  It’s a great film but I consider it something else.

So, there it is.  Feel free to add what I have left off or disagree with what I’ve included in the comments below.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 11JUL2024 – Photo – Just Stumbled Across This

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

The perfectly restored Lincoln Continental was a beauty in itself but look at it! No wonder we called them Land Yachts. BIG!  Though they were pretty in their own fashion, the handling, the weight, the drum breaks, the bias ply tires all teamed up to make these things terrifying in a corner or, God forbid, you have to stop rapidly.

2024 Summer Movie Talk – Part 2

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2024 Summer Movie Talk – Part 2

Comedy

I’ll list what I think are among the best or the most popular or the most interesting comedy movies in approximately chronological order.  I’ve reviewed a number of these movies so if you want my detailed opinion, you can do a search on the site.

  1. IT’S A GIFT (1934)
  2. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)
  3. MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935)
  4. THE BANK DICK (1940)
  5. ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948)
  6. THE ODD COUPLE (1968)
  7. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)
  8. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)
  9. MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975)
  10. GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)
  11. PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (1987)
  12. BEETLEJUICE (1988)
  13. UNCLE BUCK (1989)
  14. GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)
  15. SO I MARRIED AN AX MURDERER (1993)
  16. AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (1997)
  17. THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
  18. OFFICE SPACE (1999)
  19. GALAXY QUEST (1999)
  20. SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)
  21. IDIOCRACY (2006)

Now this is just my list.  Your list will be different.  It has to be.  More than any other genre comedy is incredibly personal and therefore subjective.  It is also age specific.  My children would list twenty movies from 2000 to the present day that I haven’t seen nor would want to watch.  I have tried to leave out comedies that I consider marginal that happen to overlap with my most active movie watching era.  So, I haven’t included “The Blues Brothers,” “Caddyshack.” “Stripes,” “Animal House,” “Meatballs,” “National Lampoon: Vacation,” “Trading Places” and a bunch of other movies from my heyday.  I put Ghostbusters in as the best representative for that era.  Someone else would have chosen otherwise.

I hope my list will inspire a million spirited comments.  Everyone has their favorites and their turkeys.  Unlike politics we can all have our opinions on comedy movies without fear of doing any damage.  Have at it.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 10JUL2024 – Photo – Just Stumbled Across This

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

 

I don’t have a clue what the parentage was for this unbelievably well done and beautiful car. It was one of the cars for a local 4th of July car show. I could have spent a good portion of the day there but the unrelenting Florida sun, mid-90’s and near 100% humidity had me thinking heat stroke after about an hour.