Category: Reviews

Reviews of books, movies, tv shows and other items

Woo-Hoo!!!  I Is Bona Fide – American Greatness Published My Article

photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews, Trump , , , , , ,

The good folks at American Greatness have gone temporarily insane and published an article by an anonymous troll calling himself “photog.”  Said troll claims to run a website called Orion’s Cold Fire and for his theme chose “Defining the Space Between Never-Trump and the Alt-Right.”  The article is overheated and borderline psychotic but I’ll leave it to you to judge the merits of the argument, such as it is.

Excuse me. I have the inexplicable desire to shoot off some fireworks in the yard.  Life is good.

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

Ryan Bingham’s “Mescalito” – A Very Short Country Music Review

photog Country Music Reviews, Music Reviews, Reviews , ,

Ryan Bingham is one of these new country singer/songwriters who sing about life and drugs and stuff.  There’s a definite southwestern flavor to a number of the songs and one song even features a Spanish lyric or two (Borachio Station).  My opinion of the songs varies from very good to meh.  For me the standout song is Bread and Water.  It’s got a sort of hard driving beat with banjos and guitars telling the story of a trek across the southwest.  The other songs vary in style and feeling going from traditional to more modern feels.  For me Southside of Heaven and Long Way from Georgia are the best of the rest.  Interestingly there’s a definite Springsteen influence detectable on the vocals of some songs.  I’m not sure if this is a positive or a negative for me.

If you want, listen to Bread and Water.  If you don’t like that song, then in my opinion don’t bother with the rest.  If you do then maybe Bingham might be interesting to you.  So that’s my read.

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

Exciting News For Orion’s Cold Fire

photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews , , , ,

American Greatness is gonna publish a new post of mine on their site.  I’m very excited to be in some pretty remarkable company.  Michael Anton, Angelo Codevilla and Victor Davis Hanson wrote essays last year that summed up where I felt I was in the political world.  I am thrilled that I’ll have the chance to add my own humble words to those of much abler writers.  I’ve been told it’ll appear on Friday. *   And the byline will of course be “photog.”  It’s basically my take on what it’s like to be a “red-pilled normie.”   Or as I jokingly paraphrase Gerry Rafferty, “Cucks to the left of me, Hitler to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with who?”

Come by and leave a comment of support (or protest, all publicity is good).

*  UPDATE – Oooops I guess something changed.  I’ll let you know when I hear from those folks.  Maybe they meant next Friday.

 

And they published it.   https://amgreatness.com/2017/11/25/defining-the-space-between-nevertrump-and-the-alt-right/

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

Tyler Childers’ Purgatory – A Country Music Review

photog Country Music Reviews, Music Reviews, Reviews , , ,

I heard of Tyler Childers by seeing his name as the accompanying singer on Colter Wall’s song Fraulein. Since I liked the sound of his voice on that song, I looked him up (on Amazon.com of course!) and saw that he had a few albums.  I ordered his most recent one (Purgatory) and gave it a listen.  It’s really very good.

BEGIN RANT – But what the hell is it with these Millennials and drugs?  I mean, almost every song is saturated with dope, cocaine and pills.  Understand, I know artists always adopt a bohemian outlook on substance abuse but it seems this guy is continuously stoned.  How does he manage to write and practice his music with most of his brain soaked with opioids or worse?  And if he isn’t really that much of a stoner why are his songs so filled with them?  Is it just required from his generation?  I grew up in the seventies and drug use was rampant back then but I don’t know, this seems even more exaggerated. – END RANT

So, putting the whole drug thing aside (dirty hippies), I like this Childers guy’s music. Lots of interesting instrumental stuff, good vocals, good story telling. All of the songs are good but if I have to pick a few favorites I’ll go with :

  1. I Swear to God
  2. Purgatory
  3. Honky Tonk Flame

There seems to be a generation of Country musicians who you don’t hear on the radio but play very original stuff that’s more closely related to traditional country music than most of the commercial country you hear on the radio. I wonder if the drug content in the songs is keeping these guys off the radio?  Well, whatever it is they are producing good music.  I just won’t be playing it around my grandkids. And get off my lawn!!!

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

American Greatness Suggestion for Today – Never Mind Trumpism, What is Deplorablism by Victor Davis Hanson

photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews , ,

Victor Davis Hanson has a very well written analysis of the actual significance of Trump’s agenda vs. what the left and Never-Trumpers and even some Trump followers think it is.  As usual give Hanson a few sentences to get around to his point.  He likes to paint a picture and this can sometimes make you think he’s going the wrong way.  Hanson is a very smart guy but also very grounded.  I liked the article a lot.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

Colter Wall – A Country Music Review

photog Country Music Reviews, Music Reviews, Reviews , ,

I work with this guy Joe.  He’s an engineer and he’s also a musician.  He’s a guitar player.  And he’s a country music guy, goes down to Nashville to hear the new singers in the small clubs down there.  Last week he sent me a link to a YouTube video of a new country singer named Colter Wall.  The song was called Kate McCannon.  It’s a murder ballad in the Appalachia style.  I thought it was great.  I looked into Colter Wall a little and found out he’s from Alberta Canada.  And despite this deep dark voice and a noticeable speech defect, he’s only a young guy in his early twenties.  Encouraged by that first song, I bought his self-titled album. I can say that I consider it head and shoulders above the bland commercial stuff being produced by the generic country groups currently on the scene.  My two favorite songs are the ballads Kate McCannon and Bald Butte.  But some of his lighter songs (e.g., Thirteen Silver Dollars, Fraulein) are also very well regarded by me.  And there really aren’t any bad songs on the album.  Now you may say that sounds like slightly faint praise.  It’s not.  This is a very solid album.  I have been playing it twice a day during my almost hour-long commute and have not even been tempted to switch to anything else in a week of playing.  If you’re a fan of old country music try to listen to a little of Wall’s stuff.  Of course music is that most subjective and individual of things so there’s no way of being sure but I think there’s a good chance you might be interested.

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

American Greatness looks back at the Catholic Critics of Candidate Trump

photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews, Trump , ,

I liked this article by Austin Ruse, “The Thoughtfuls vs. the Roughneck-in-Chief,” because it gives us a chance to review how the feared or predicted results by Catholics of a Trump victory compare to the actual occurrence.  Basically, Trump has exceeded the results for all republican presidents in my life time. I especially enjoyed the comparison of Trump’s Supreme Court assignment to W’s attempt to get Harriet Miers on the Court.  Very good review of the elitist attitude toward Trump.

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

Equilibrium – A Science Fiction Movie Review

photog Movie Reviews, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Movie Reviews , , , , , ,

I work with this young guy, he’s fresh out of college, maybe twenty-three-years old.  He’s an engineering graduate and is well read and has a good classical grounding in literature and history.  Good kid.  Sometimes we talk about popular culture stuff.  I can remember talking with him about the Matrix and saying there’s good and bad about it.  I think I said it would have been better if Reeves weren’t the lead.  And I think that’s when he recommended “Equilibrium.”  Now I think I know what he was getting at.

So, Equilibrium is set in a dystopian future after World War III has devastated humanity.  Mankind has decided that rather than chance another war, the root cause of war must be abolished.  If I remember the chain of logic is war is caused by hate.  Hate is an emotion.  Therefore, eliminate emotion, eliminate war.  So everyday every man woman and child self-inject with some kind of emotion deadening drug.  And of course, it doesn’t just eliminate hate and anger.  Love and happiness are extinguished too.  Brilliant.  Of course, it’s not explained why exactly they still want to live but whatever.

So just in case this premise isn’t bizarre enough, this society also has some kind of priest-like caste of ninja police whose job it is to hunt down and splatter anyone who doesn’t take his no-feelum medicine.  And of course, the Ubermensch of ninjas and protagonist of the movie is Christian Bale.  He is the most skilled proponent of the gun kata.  This stylized dance-like routine allows him to (somehow) avoid the bullets of apparently any number of gun toting opponents while literally mowing them down like grass.  The other mission of these holy stormtroopers is to root out any remaining pre-war artifacts that have emotional content.  And once located, apply a flamethrower to these emotional touchstones.  So, for instance, during one of Bale’s raids he somehow intuits that under a floor is the actual Mona Lisa.  He gives the order and the barbecue crew incinerates Leonardo’s mischievous lady.  So, what’s the problem?  It turns out there’s a resistance!  And it turns out Bale is not as emotionlessly happy as he could be.  It seems his wife unbeknownst to him was a secret feeler.  When she’s dragged away to be incinerated it seems to have left a mark.  And we’re off.  The rest of the movie is Bale going from emotionless executioner of the innocent to a guy who can’t let a puppy dog get shot.

Now let’s bring it back to my young co-worker who recommended this movie based on a comment about the Matrix.  Well, stylistically this movie is extremely dependent on the Matrix template.  Guns and swords abound and the wire work and fight scenes are very Matrix-esque.  Even Bale’s priestly cassock is like Neo’s garb in the second and third movies.  The emotionless police a level below the ninjas are close to the Matrix agents in appearance and behavior.  The Resistance is equivalent to Zion in the Matrix.  Without a doubt this movie is a reaction to the success of the Matrix.  But interestingly the dystopia is a completely different science fiction catastrophe from the AI revolution and human battery future of the Matrix.  What they share is humans fighting to be allowed to be actual humans.

What’s the verdict?  Well, it’s derivative in a number of ways but it is well done and Christian Bale is a slightly better actor than Keanu Reeves and there is the puppy dog, so there is that.  I don’t know.  I’m not a big Matrix fan.  So maybe I’m biased.  But I can’t say I recommend it unreservedly.  I will say if you really liked the Matrix you should give this a try.  It has all kinds of hyperkinetic gun and sword battles.  So, if that’s a big plus for you it’s definitely something to look at.  That’s where I’ll leave this one.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

Over at American Greatness – Read Ashley Hamilton’s Post – The Last Great All-American Film

photog Movie Reviews, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews
Mr. Hamilton clearly portrays why he loves “The Right Stuff.”  If you like the film read his tribute.  If you’ve never seen it this may inspire you to do so.

 

The Last Great All-American Film

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

Make Yourself at Home – What’s Coming Up This Week and Stuff About the Site

photog Current Events, Humor, Photography, Reviews, SF&F Movie Reviews, Trump , , , ,

I’ve been neglecting the photography side of things and the reviews this week and I’ll be getting back to that soon.  I took some photos in November that I want to post and I have a sci-fi movie review I want to do.  I might do a Trump vs … post on his trip to Asia.  I haven’t thought it all out but there must be comedy gold somewhere in a trip that includes Trump calling the president of a country short and fat.

I’m watching the slow returns on the Who Are We poll.  I wasn’t surprised to see a libertarian and an Ayn Randian among us but it was very interesting to see a Bernie Bro among my readers.  Look at that.  I’m a unifier and I didn’t even know it!  Well anyway welcome to you all, even you hard core Alinskyites and Stalinists.  If ping-pong could bring Mao and Nixon together then maybe photography and science fiction can heal the world’s divisions.  Or at least get more comments on my website.

By putting up polls and installing a forum section I’d like to encourage my readers to engage with each other and me.  I basically started this thing for two reasons:

  1. To have a place to say what I wanted about politics and social stuff without having SJWs tell me I was not allowed to talk.
  2. To find other people who wanted to talk about this stuff in a place where we were free to speak our minds. If I was discussing cameras and the conversation veered into laws on photographing public building I was sick and tired of reading a thousand-word rant about how the government was repressing Arabs and then when I objected having my comment deleted due to left-wing censorship.  Or if a Muslim guy shoots up a gay bar have to endure fifty diatribes against gun ownership but not be allowed to disagree.  I’ll bet there are plenty of photographers, sf&f fans and all kinds other folks who have had similar experiences.

So, be my guest.  Participate in the poll, leave comments and feedback on the posts and leave your own content on the forums, whether it be a political topic that you have an opinion on or some photo that you want to share or some movie or book idea that you want to share.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]