Gaul is Divided in Three Parts

In the French elections, the 'right-wing' party has won.  This is reported as the first round.  Do the votes change in the second round?  Is this like an American primary?  Whatever the case, the National Party carried 34% of the votes.  In second place is the New Popular Front with 29%.  Macron's Together Party secured 3rd place with 21% of the vote. Much like the election process, I'm not all that familiar with the political factions of France.  However, one thing did catch my eye.  The second-place party, the New Popular Front, is listed as "far-left Pro-Islam."  Can that be right?  Almost a third of France is in favor of a religion that will wipe out French culture?   Also, how far left does one have to be for France to label your party as "far-left?"  Yeah, this is the party that has the Marxists, the communists, environmentalists, socialists, and a surprising number of autonomy parties.  Apparently, Brittany, Martinique, Corsica, and others want autonomy; looking for a Frexit?

Will the National Party be able to assemble a coalition government with the Together Party, the one that appears closest to it on the right-left scale?  How far right would that move the needle? Will France be able to reverse the demographic collapse that is coming?  The French aren't having kids, but the immigrants are.  Worse, the French are paying for the immigrants to have kids.  A growing number of French citizens are seeing this impending doom and, since the Together Party hasn't solved it, they are going to try the 'far-right' party.  Exciting times ahead.

A Room with a View (1985)

It is 1908.  Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) and her chaperon, Miss Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith) open the window of their room in Florence, Italy to discover an alley.  They had been promised a room with a view.  At dinner that evening, the lack of a view becomes the topic of discussion among the many English visitors staying at the pensione.  Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott) eagerly offers to switch rooms, since he and his son, George (Julian Sands), care nothing of the view. Charlotte declines as it would place an undue obligation on them.  No, it just wouldn't do.  However, Lucy is more broadminded and wishes that the switch had been accepted.  Reverend Mr. Beebe (Simon Callow) gladly intercedes to overcome the awkwardness of the situation.  As English tourists, it is unsurprising that they go on outings together.  George and Lucy meet more than once without Charlotte, sharing a passionate kiss.  Charlotte intervenes before anything further happens, but she booked immediate passage back to England.

Back in England, Lucy accepts a proposal for marriage from Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis), an unappealing and bookish prig.  He has all the passion of a damp rag.  Still, Lucy appears happy, and her future is set.  Until!  The Emersons arrive and let a villa.  George becomes fast friends with Lucy's brother, Freddy (Rupert Graves).  Thrust together once again, Lucy cannot help but compare the cold fish of Cecil to the torrid desire of George.  What will she do?

The outcome is never in doubt though the path to that destination has its charms.  The exploration of Florence and the surrounding countryside is a highlight.  The characters are generally well-developed.  Rupert Graves as a goofball brother was fun.  He's just overflowing with charm.  Helena Bonham Carter is startlingly young.  She is generally very good though her crying scenes didn't quite ring true.  Not expecting nudity, it was quite surprising when Sands, Graves, and Callow offered the full Monty while 'bathing' at a nearby pond. Funny, sure, but maybe a bit more filming from the waist up or limiting it to butt shots.  Daniel Day-Lewis felt miscast. I am so used to him being a magnetic personality that this vapid empty suit felt all wrong.  Of course, this was early in his career, but it felt like he wasn't trying.  Maggie Smith is excellent as always.

As a romantic period piece, it is well done.  Not my usual fare, but worth a watch for fans of any of the actors.  A glimpse into the mores of Edwardian England and early 20th century Italy.

Megamind (2010)

As the story opens, Megamind (Will Ferrell) plummets toward the ground and his imminent death.  As he falls, he ponders his life.  Like Superman, he was sent to Earth as a baby during the destruction of his planet.  He was not the only one.  Metro Man was simultaneously sent to earth during the destruction of a different planet.  While Metro Man was raised by wealthy adoptive parents, Megamind was raised in the local prison. As kids, Megamind and Metro Man attended the same school for a time and became rivals.  Once he was an adult, Megamind embraced a career as a supervillain!  Of course, he had no powers beyond being a genius.  Despite his genius, Metro Man defeated him again and again, sending him back to prison for the next clash.

In his latest scheme, he has once again kidnapped Roxanne Richi (Tina Fey), a standard tactic that always lures Metro Man to certain doom. Well, ideally it would be his doom, but usually not.  Metro Man is not the only opponent for Megamind.  There is also Tighten (Jonah Hill), a hero that Megamind created with his genius. Oh, that may not have been wise.

It is easy to see the similarities of Metro Man to Superman, Roxanne to Lois Lane, and Megamind to Lex Luthor.  Metro Man is more of a showman than Superman, eagerly pumping up his fans in a display of his powers at the grand opening of his museum.  Likewise, Megamind stalks the streets of Metro City with a soundtrack playing, often dancing to the tune.

Ferrell is often hit or miss with his characters.  Megamind is a definite hit.  He is great in the role, which is several roles thanks to his disguise watch.  That Megamind has a character arc that few supervillains are ever given was quite entertaining.

Great popcorn fun.  Highly recommended.

Vanishing Act (1986)

Harry Kenyon (Mike Farrell) wanders the streets of a snowy mountain town, clearly looking for a brunette. Eventually, he makes his way to the police station.  There is only a woman playing a flute, who isn't a cop.  However, she does tell him where he might find the chief, Lt. Rudameyer (Elliot Gould).  He tells Rudameyer that his wife is missing.  They are newlyweds and had a fight.  She ran off with the car and he hasn't seen her for a worrying amount of time.  Rudameyer reassures Harry that he'll get on the case.  The following morning, Rudameyer says he hasn't found her yet but he's still looking.  Then, Harry gets a call from a local priest, Father Macklin (Fred Gwynne), who has news of the missing wife, Chris Prescott Kenyon. Harry goes to the church and Father Macklin presents Chris Kenyon (Margot Kidder). "Is this a joke?" Harry demands. "This isn't my wife."  Somehow, every situation paints Harry as a mentally troubled husband and Chris as an innocent.  Rudameyer is clearly convinced that "Chris" is the genuine article, and every witness confirms her story rather than Harry's.  Why is there a grand conspiracy to foist this impostor on Harry? Who is this woman and why is she pretending to be his wife?

An entertaining mystery that has twists and turns. The conclusion is quite good and surprised me when I saw this movie when it originally aired. Of course, watching it now, I see that all was revealed early on.

Good popcorn fun.

The Trouncing, Part 2

I have viewed Joe Biden as unqualified from the beginning.  As such, his performance wasn't a shock to me.  Most of my news sources have revealed his plentiful gaffes, his difficulties with keeping his train of thought, his spaced-out expression, and so forth.  Coming into the debate with that viewpoint, I was not at all surprised.  However, for those who have been watching the mainstream media, which has continually reported that Biden was at the top of his game, a sharp cookie behind closed doors, a man with purpose and vision, the debate came as a shock.  His diminished capacity has been intentionally hidden by the very people who are supposed to inform the public.  This was a huge blow to the trustworthiness of the media, an institution that is already at record lows for trustworthiness.

It is clear that Joe Biden is not making the decisions in the White House.  We have a repeat of President Wilson's last year in office.  Is Jill Biden the true president, as Edith Wilson was from October 1919 until March 1921?  Or are there other actors?  It sure isn't Joe Biden.

The Trouncing

A debate with no audience.  A debate that even barred other reporters.  Strict time limits.  Two moderators who have clearly been anti-Trump.  It was a debate that most candidates would refuse.  Trump accepted and the trouncing began.  Mostly, this was a debate of contrasts.  Joe Biden looks old, sounds old, and frankly is old.  He is too old.  There were plenty of accusations back and forth.  Trump repeatedly called Biden the worst president ever.  Biden called Trump a convicted felon and sexual predator.  I suspect a transcript would narrow the gap in performances, but the visuals were quite bad for President Biden.  Interestingly, though Snopes recently declared the Fine People story from Charlottesville to be false, Biden brought it up as though it were true.

As for moderators, we need to do away with them.  Not entirely, but certainly as far as the questions are concerned.  Let the candidates ask each other questions.  They will each go for the jugular and it will be a livelier debate.  Keep the moderator(s) purely for timekeeping and some organization.  For instance, "It is your question, President Biden."  Give something like 30 seconds to ask a question and a couple of minutes to answer.  Some rebuttals as needed.  However, rebuttals go against their time, so one needs to be strategic.  Have a time on their podium, so everyone knows how much time each has used.  Would need to do some tweaks to deal with talking over one another.  It is beyond exasperating that every four years, the moderators are a bunch of Democrats who can't help but favor the Democrat.  With clear time rules and candidates asking the questions, that issue goes away.

In some of the post-debate commentary, I read calls to dump Biden at the convention.  Yeah, probably a good idea.  Also, Joe Biden is the reason for the 25th Amendment, sections 3 and/or 4.  Woodrow Wilson had a debilitation stroke in 1919 and yet remained president until 1921.  Very few will willingly surrender power, which is why George Washington was such a great man and Joe Biden is not.  Of course, his party is also to blame; they prefer him over Kalama Harris, or he would have been removed already.

Capt. Samuel H. Walker, Texas Ranger

In 1882, Edmund Dana wrote a brief biography of one of the most famous Texas Rangers: Samuel Hamilton Walker.  Though born in Maryland, Walker set out south in his late teens.  He became an Indian fighter and scout in both Alabama and Florida before heading to Texas in 1842.  He was immediately involved in the ongoing conflict with Mexico.  Captured during a battle in Meir, he spent the next two years as a captive in Mexico.  It is unsurprising that he eagerly joined General Taylor at the Rio Grande in 1846.  His exploits won him national fame.  After the capture of Monterrey, he went east to recruit soldiers in Maryland.  He returned in time to join General Winfield Scott's march into Mexico.  After Mexico City was captured, Walker and his men ranged near and around Perote, hunting for guerillas and protecting supply wagons.  In October of 1847, he joined General Lane's brigade as it marched to relieve a siege at Puebla.  On the way, they learned of Santa Anna's forces in Huamantla.  As was his custom, Walker charged in the vanguard but was taken down by a sniper's bullet.

The biography is extremely brief and fails to mention Walker's meeting with Sam Colt to help design what came to be the Walker Colt, a monster of a gun.  It was nearly five pounds, over a foot long, and fired a .44 caliber ball.  This has been the official handgun of Texas since 2021.  Doubtless, Chuck Norris' Ranger Cordell Walker drew inspiration from Sam Walker.

Too short but still entertaining and educational.   

Another

The series opens in 1998 with a boy in the hospital.  As his father is working overseas, Kouichi was sent to live with his grandparents and aunt.  While in the hospital, he is visited by several students from the middle school where he will be a mid-year transfer student.  The meeting is awkward and there is clearly more to it than the students reveal.  Later, when Kouichi is being released, he runs into yet another student.  She has an eye patch and is carrying a doll.  There is something quite peculiar about the girl, especially when she gets off the elevator and heads to the morgue!  Kouichi finally begins class and notices that the one-eyed girl seems to be invisible to everyone else.  Is she a ghost?  Why does the class have a student in charge of countermeasures?  No one wants to tell Kouichi what is happening, but he eventually learns of the class of 1972.

In 1972, the most popular student died in the middle of the school year.  However, the other students refused to recognize the death and continued to act as though the student was still alive and well.  Even the teacher participated in the fiction.  Then, in the class graduation photo, the dead student was standing among them!

Ever since, the class has been cursed with mysterious deaths.  Students, their siblings, their parents, or even their grandparents have died in bizarre accidents during the school year.  One countermeasure has been to pretend a student didn't exist, a reverse of the 1972 event.  Kouichi's midyear arrival has foiled that and now the deaths are spreading.  How can they stop the carnage?  One student did, back in 1983.  If only they could find out how he did it?

Though entertaining, it is full of plot holes.  One of the easy fixes for that is everyone gets a limited amnesia after they graduate, so that previous students don't clearly recall how all went down.  Also, school records mysteriously change, not by the hand of some villain but as part of the strange curse.  That the original student didn't have reason to haunt anyone made the initiation of the curse perplexing.  Maybe the explanation was lost in translation.  Then again, maybe the big explanation was being saved for the next season.  As this is 12 years old, that next season is not likely to happen.

The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

It is the Middle Ages and a band of men trek through a frozen landscape until they come to a massive tree.  Torches blazing, they dare into the dark recesses of the tree to slay the Witch Queen.  The battle proves challenging as the Witch Queen's minions swarm the men and her magic confuses and misleads them.  Among the witch hunters is Kalder (Vin Diesel), who is clearly the strongest fighter.  He manages to overcome the queen's magic and skewer her with a flaming sword.  As she dies, she curses him with immortality.

Modern Day: Kalder is on a plane that is suffering turbulence as it passes through a storm.  Leaving his seat, he uses a glass of water and a bent staple to find a witch.  Matter of factly, he demands that she hand it over.  He finds charms that - when combined - cause storms.  Oops.  After confiscating them, he leaves the witch alone.  Back at his New York apartment, he meets with Dolan (Michael Caine).  Dolan is his handler and liaison with the church, the 36th to hold the position.  Kalder still calls him 'kid' and is not thrilled to see him retire.  The new Dolan (Elijah Woods) arrives the next day.  Just like everyday, there is witchery afoot and Kalder sets out to hunt it.

Rose Leslie, best remembered from Game of Thrones as the girl who said "You know nothing, John Snow" - is a witch who brews potions.  She finds herself needed by Kalder and hunted by other witches.  She also proves to be the love interest.  Maybe.  There is some flirting.  Perhaps it's nothing.  He's a witch hunter and she's a witch, so it looks like it probably wouldn't work out.  Besides, she's in her 20s and he's 800 something years old.  Talk about a May-December romance.

The character of Kalder needed more work.  As an immortal, he fears nothing but that doesn't mean his is invulnerable.  He regularly gets ensorcelled by various witches.  You would think he had a counter for witches messing with his mind after all these centuries.  Also, after 800 years, you would think he would have pondered something he says repeatedly in this movie: To break a curse, you kill the witch that cast it.  Hmm.  If you kill the witch, the curse is broken.  I'm cursed with immortality by the witch I killed.  Wait.  Maybe I should think about this.  Nope.  Another strange thing was that he is mostly unarmed.  I suppose being unkillable makes you cocky.  He has this vast armory at his apartment but only breaks that out for the big fights.

Good popcorn fun!

The Kentuckian (1955)

It is the early 1820s and Big Eli Wakefield (Burt Lancaster) is heading west with his son, Little Eli (Donald McDonald).  They have big plans of relocating to Texas; Big Eli has enough money to get transport and get them started in a new land.  However, there are problems.  The Wakefields have a long-standing feud with the Fromes; Big Eli keeps a wary eye out.  Stopping in a town, Eli runs afoul of the local sheriff who tried to shoot his dog; the sheriff locks Eli in jail.  Hannah (Dianne Foster), an indentured servant, hears the sheriff send for the Frome brothers.  She frees Eli and flees as well, but the sheriff finds them.  To buy them out of trouble, Eli surrenders the Texas money.  Is Hannah now indentured to him?  How are they going to get to Texas?

Without funds, Eli finds himself working for his brother, Zack Wakefield (John McIntire), a tobacco farmer.  To avoid obvious scandal, Hannah works in a local tavern run by Stan Bodine (Walter Matthau).  Ziby Fletcher (John Carradine) is a local snake oil salesman who inexplicably stays in town for the rest of the movie, a gadfly at Bodine's tavern.  Susie Spann (Diana Lynn) is the local schoolteacher and has eyes for handsome Big Eli.  Eli is a man of the wild and is soon made the fool among 'civilized' folks.  He learns quickly but it may cost his dream of Texas.  Little Eli is especially set on Texas.

There is a lot of silliness.  The fight between Big Eli and Bodine was ludicrous.  The Frome brothers were a pair of statues who stood with grim looks on their faces and staring straight ahead.  Look menacing?  Sure.  Look human?  No.  The acting is mostly weak and many of the characters have inexplicable motivations.  Little Eli looks to be on the brink of tears, either of joy or sorrow.  Why did Bodine manufacture a fight between Little Eli and his classmate, Luke?  In a later scene, he tries to weasel out of something by saying he has a reputation to maintain as a local businessman.  Really?  After getting kids to fight each other?  Hannah, who escaped indentured servitude thanks to Eli, sold herself right back into it to pay him back.  What?  Helping him escape a date with the Fromes while locked in jail wasn't a fair trade?

Despite being in the South, there are no slaves to be seen.  There was a scene when the riverboat arrived in town and several black men in colorful attire sang about the glories of Texas, clearly trying to recruit immigrants.  Slaves?  Almost certainly, but they seemed a happy bunch.  The movie doesn't specify the year, but James Monroe is named as the President of the United States; he served from 1817 to 1825.  Also, Moses Austin - father of Stephen Austin and advocate for Texas migration - is mentioned as recently deceased.  Austin died in 1821.

Mediocre.

Dr. Stone (Season 1)

In the modern day, Taiji, a high school student in Japan, has declared that he is going to reveal his feelings to Yuzuriha.  Senku, his brainy nerd pal, is indifferent.  While Taiji trips over his tongue, a pale green light washes over the earth.  Every human being is turned to stone.  3,700 years later, Taiji awakens in a cave, bits of stone still clinging to his skin.  He finds Yuzuriha, who is still a statue.  Nearby, he sees a note from Senku!  Senku had awoke six months earlier and was in the process of rebuilding the world.  He has discovered the 'cure' for the petrification but he is only one person.  With Taiji's help, he mixes up a formula to restore a couple of others: Yuzuriha and Tsukasa.

Tsukasa proves to be both a boon and a curse.  He is a great protector and hunter, but he wants to only restore the young and avoid the technology of the old world.  He is determined to prevent Senku's plan to bring everyone back and return the world to what it was.

Of note, there were some survivors.  The astronauts on the International Space Station saw the event take place.  Eventually, they returned to Earth and started a community on a remote island.  Why didn't they just go to an established town or city and work on restoration?  Don't know.  Anyway, their descendants live in a fairly primitive village that Senku adopts.  With his encyclopedic knowledge of chemistry, metallurgy, electrical engineering, physics, and any other hard science you can think of, Senku sets out to build his Kingdom of Science.  By the end of the first season (24 episodes), he has built a celluar phone, albeit a very big one; maybe a wagon could move it.

While Senku has been busy advancing technology, Tsukasa has been restoring strong young people for a coming clash.  Tsukasa will crush science and establish a pure world.

The characters are very campy, often expressing emotions by shouting.  It is frantic, crazy, and unlikely.  However, the science is accurate.  The show teaches science in every episode, explaining uses for sea shells or bat poop, qualities of tungsten, how a gear can be made to cause back & forth motion, and on and on.  Educational and entertaining!

The Know Nothing Speaker

In 1855, President Franklin Pierce had managed to infuriate the public.  Not only did he sign the Kansas-Nebraska Act that led to Bleeding Kansas, he had also floated the idea of purchasing Cuba from Spain to allow the South to expand.  In fact, if Spain didn't sell, maybe the US should just seize it!  The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was officially dead.  The Whigs, who were not an abolitionist party, couldn't really take advantage of this situation.  Throughout the country, different parties opposed the Democrats.

In the election, the Democrats were clobbered.  Though they retained control of the Senate, they had lost 74 seats in the House, going from 156 representatives to 82.  It should be noted that there were only 234 seats at the time.  The American Party - also called the Know Nothing Party - captured 51 seats, which made it the second largest block.  A variety of other parties (the Constitutional Union Party, the nascent Republican Party, and the remaining Whigs in the process of reformation, anti-slavery Democrats, etc.) organized themselves as the Opposition Party and caucused with the Know Nothings.  With this jumbled multi-party majority - a first in American history, the problem of selecting a Speaker of the House arose.  

While it took 4 days and 15 votes in the House to confirm Kevin McCarthy as Speaker in 2023, that is nothing compared to 1855-56.  It took 2 months and 133 votes to select Nathaniel Banks as the Speaker of the House on February 2, 1856.  Though he had long been a Democrat - albeit from Massachusetts, the Kansas-Nebraska Act led him to leave the party and join the American Party.  He eventually became a Republican and fought for the Union during the Civil War.

Juneteenth

On June 19th of 1865, the last slaves were freed in Texas.  Mostly.  There were other slaves in states that did not join the Confederacy; they had to wait until the end of the year for the 13th Amendment.  It should be noted that it was Democrats who practiced slavery and Republicans who freed the slaves.  This is not only a holiday for African-Americans, but one for Republicans.  At least, it should be.

When the Party Cracked

In 1848, President Polk could claim success on all four of his campaign promises.  He had reduced tariffs, reestablished an independent treasury, settled the Oregon boundary with Great Britain, and acquired California from Mexico.  Promises made and promises delivered.  This should have been a boon to his party.  Instead, his success broke his party.  That vast stretch of land was now up for grabs between the free states and the slave states.  Many northern Democrats weren't keen on the extension of slavery.  These voters split from the Democratic Party to join the Free Soil Party.  Former President Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) was chosen as the presidential nominee and Charles Francis Adams - son of President John Quincy Adams and grandson of President John Adams - as the VP nominee.  Though the Free Soil Party didn't earn a single electoral vote, it did manage to accumulate 10% of the popular vote.  The Free Soil Party out-performed the Democrats in three states.

Of course, Vermont and Massachusetts had voted for Henry Clay (Whig) in 1844, so Van Buren did little damage to the Democrats there. The important state was New York with 36 electoral votes.  In 1844, President Polk carried the state by a margin of 5,100 votes.  Native New Yorker Van Buren took all those votes and much more.  General Taylor, the Whig candidate, defeated Lewis Cass by an electoral vote of 163 to 127.  If Cass had carried New York, that would have been exactly reversed.  Van Buren knew full well that he had no chance of winning and that he was almost certainly handing the presidency to the Whigs, but he had moved toward the abolitionist camp over the years.

This was the second - and final - time that the Whigs won the presidency.  Like the previous time, the president died during his term: Harrison had only served a month as president and Taylor died after 16 months.  By the next presidential election, it was the Whig Party that unraveled.  By the mid 1850s, the disaffected Democrats, the Free Soil Party, the American Party, and various other splinter groups formed the Republican Party.

General Pierce's March

In 1852, noted author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a glowing biography of Franklin Pierce, then a candidate for president.  Pierce was a successful New Hampshire lawyer, a stalwart Democrat, and had been a Brigadier General during the Mexican War.  Hawthorne dedicates two chapters of the biography to Pierce's war service, which proves to be as hagiographic as the rest of the biography.  However, the most interesting part was that Hawthorne included Pierce's war journal.

The war journal begins when Pierce arrived in Vera Cruz at the end of June, 1847, when yellow fever was in full bloom.  He camped outside the city to avoid the disease and spent his days trying to gather the needed mules to transport his reinforcement army to Puebla, where he was to rendezvous with General Winfield Scott.  Though expecting to only take a few days, it was nearly 3 weeks before his troops departed, and then at a snail's pace.  Throughout the march, his army was repeatedly harassed by guerillas.  The guerillas would vanish into the countryside when the Americans sought to counterattack.  At the National Bridge, the guerillas setup a blockade and looked to be prepared for a battle.  Once again, when the Americans leapt the barricades, the guerillas fled.  The next bridge, an old Spanish stone bridge that had spanned a deep crevasse for more than a century, had been blasted apart.  Were the Americans now stuck?  No, Pierce declared that Yankee ingenuity would overcome and by the following day they had built their own route a few hundred yards further down the water way.  Named for the man that engineered it, Captain Caldwell Road saw Pierce's Brigade back on track with only a day's delay.  Pierce camped near Xalapa for a few days before continuing to Perote Castle.  There, he met Captain Samuel Walker, Texas Ranger.  It was the first of August.

Though only about halfway to Puebla, the journal ends here.  Perhaps this was as much of it as Pierce provided to Hawthorne.  Despite my extensive reading of the Mexican-American War, this is the only account I have found of Pierce's march inland.  Despite many skirmishes with hundreds of guerillas at a time, Pierce was never able to pin them down to have a proper battle.  Thus, his march is largely forgotten by historians.  Or I just haven't found the book that details it yet.

Only for the hardcore history nerds.

Hopscotch (1980)

Miles Kendig (Walter Matthau) has just busted up a spy ring in Munich that was providing information to the Mikhail Yaskov (Herbert Lom) of the KGB.  Though he had Yaskov in his custody, he let the Russian go.  Called back to Washington, he was reprimanded by Director Myerson (Ned Beatty) for letting Yaskov loose.  His field agent status is summarily ended, and he is assigned to a desk job.  Kendig doesn't take this sitting down.  He destroys his file, returns to Europe to hook up with an old flame - Isobel von Schonenberg (Glenda Jackson), and meet with Yaskov.  Though Yaskov offers him a path back into the spy game, Kendig chose a different course: he would write his memoirs, a tell-all that exposed the dirty secrets of espionage.  The first chapter provoked a manhunt by Myerson and Kendig's protege, Joe Cutter (Sam Waterston).  Can Kendig finish the book before the CIA or the KGB hunt him down?

Despite being a spy movie, there are virtually no action scenes.  This isn't James Bond or Jason Bourne.  Kendig is a professional spy who knows how to stay one or more steps ahead of his pursuers.  In fact, he is so good at the job that he teases his opponents and arranges encounters.  While this is deadly serious national security to Myerson, it's an entertaining game for Kendig.

Ned Beatty is terrific as the boss you love to hate.  Each time Kendig tweaks him, it brings a smile or a laugh.  That Kendig rented Myerson's summer house as a hideout and then triggered an FBI assault was the funniest part of the movie.

Good popcorn fun!  Recommended.

Attack on Titan (Season 4)

The story resumes in Marley, the most powerful country in the world and the source of the titans that have been terrorizing our heroes for the last 3 seasons.  Let's delve into the outside world and see the reasons for their actions.  The narrative begins by following Gabby and Falco, a pair of young Eldians who are being trained to inherit certain titans.  Though both are members of a hated minority - eerily treated like Jews in 1930s Germany, they are given citizenship thanks to their unique position.  Only Eldians can transform into Titans, making them both a boon to the army and yet a feared outsider.  They view the Eldian colony of the first 3 seasons as a source of dread that should be purged lest the Eldian Empire that terrorized the world for millennia should arise again.  Of course, Eren hasn't been idle.  He bursts on the scene in Marley to get some payback for the long years of Titan attacks on his homeland.  Through this attack, Eren has justified the fears of the Marleyans and assured a clash.  Returning home with Gabby and Falco as captives as well as securing more Titans, Eren and his allies consider how to prevent or win the coming war.  Of course, Eren already has plans that he has kept from even his closest allies: Mikasa and Armin.

A strong conclusion for the series, it is far from a happy ending.  The Apocalypse - called the Rumbling - sweeps the world and sacrifices - lots of sacrifices - must be made in order to save humanity from extinction.  Not quite the satisfying conclusion one might have expected.

Recommended.

The War with Mexico, Volume II

In the second volume of The War with Mexico, Justin H Smith opens with a discussion of Mexican politics.  The country had been ill-managed since its founding and had succeeded in chasing its entrepreneurial, wealth-generating class back to Spain.  The country had been stripped of most wealth, with the exception of the Catholic Church.  Unable to secure loans thanks to its long history of financial mismanagement, the government looked to plunder the church.

Meanwhile, Winfield Scott landed his army virtually unopposed on the beaches south of Veracruz.  Over the next 7 months, Scott's relatively small army trekked across Mexico in a path not unlike Hernan Cortes.  Veracruz was pounded into submission with artillery by early March.  Santa Anna was once again sent retreating to Mexico City after the Battle of Cerro Gordo in April.  Though some of his generals argued for an immediate assault into the capitol, Scott wanted more troops, supplies, and money.  The campaign stalled until August when he resumed his march to Mexico City and captured it.

The differing viewpoints of the Americans and the Mexicans is one of the more interesting parts of the book.  Where the Americans would willingly halt after a victory to discuss peace, the Mexicans - especially Santa Anna - viewed this as just an opportunity to rebuild his shattered army and somehow appropriate more money to take another crack at defeating the Americans.  Nicholas Trist, the plenipotentiary minister for the United States, had many conferences during the lulls in fighting and nothing ever emerged.  It was not until the Americans captured and occupied Mexico City and Santa Anna was forced to flee the country that real peace talks could take place.

Where the first chapter discussed politics in Mexico City, the final chapters look at the politics of Washington, from financing the war to lobbying for or against it, to international relations regarding it.  The overwhelming victory by American forces was in spite of, rather than thanks to, the machinations of DC.  Polk had wanted an inexpensive war but the costs grew rapidly and the Congress was not eager to provide funding, thus explaining Scott's halting advance.  Arguments about how much of Mexico to annex ran the gamut from virtually nothing to all of Mexico.  Polk himself was leaning toward a much larger chunk than was ultimately secured if only to justify the expense.  However, Trist's unauthorized treaty - though not to Polk's liking - was an opportunity to end the war as soon as possible.  As for international relations, Mexico had not won itself the allies it had expected because it had so often reneged on loans and harassed foreign merchants.  The US earned grudging respect for winning what many - even Lord Wellington! - thought was an unwinnable campaign.

Of particular note, Smith paints a picture that is mostly approving of the US arguments for the war.  The US invasion of the 1840s for unpaid debts was not unique. France invaded during the Pastry War of 1838 and again during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867), which initially saw Great Britain and Spain as French allies.  Smith argues that Mexico brought most of its troubles upon itself.

The final chapters are dreary reading.  Where the marches of Taylor and Scott offered a strong narrative that drew the reader along, the jump among various politicians and their disparate goals was often hard to follow and not very interesting.  However, the footnoting is spectacular and so expansive as to make one wonder how one man could have gone through so much material for this work.  Of course, he won the Pulitzer Prize for The War with Mexico.

Recommended.

High Life (2018)

While Monte (Robert Pattinson) repairs the hull of a spacecraft, his infant daughter watches videos from her crib.  Her crying becomes distracting, and Monte drops a tool that falls away into space.  As he enters through the airlock, several other spacesuits are on the rack.  Where is the rest of the crew?  It turns out that the crew consisted of death row criminals who 'volunteered' for a deep space mission to extend their lives.  As one would guess, they did not make the best crew.  One mission for the ship was to attempt pregnancy.  Nurse Dibs (Juliette Binoche), who had killed her own children, was charged with managing this.  As the opening shows, she was successful at least once.

The movie unfolds in a non-linear storyline.  Initially, there are brief flashes of how Monte earned his spot on the ship.  There is a random conversation between a scientist and a reporter on a train about sending convicts into deep space.  Then there are scenes that show the crew as it disintegrated and finally self-destructed.  As one would guess regarding death row inmates, none of them are particularly likeable, though Monte easily tops the list.  Heck, he killed a girl because she killed his dog, or that was how I interpreted it.  John Wick in space?

With pregnancy being a central theme, there are a lot of sexual references.  The crew mostly doesn't have sex to get pregnant.  Rather, Dibs gets the men to donate sperm which she injects.  Uh huh.  To make them compliant, Dibs also drugs the crew's water supply.

After all the backstory is explained, a return to the present proves to be more than a decade later.  Willow is now a young woman and Monte's gray patch has expanded.  How far is their destination?

Slow, dreary, and dark.  Avoid.

Not a Vaccine!

The 9th Circuit Court has ruled that the "COVID vaccine" is not a vaccine.  A vaccine is something that prevents the spread of a disease, which this did not do.  In fact, it was admitted that it was merely a treatment to lessen the severity of symptoms.  Yeah, tell me something I didn't already know.  Okay, the "vaccine" was given legal protection from lawsuits as a vaccine, not a treatment.  Though there is judicial history approving forced vaccination for the benefit of all, there is no such history requiring a certain treatment for one's own benefit.  Ergo, the legal protections against lawsuits has just collapsed.  At least, until the Supreme Court weighs in on the question.  Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, et al. may be in serious legal jeopardy if this ruling holds.

In any case, the next 'pandemic' will not see the populace quite so willing to follow the 'experts' recommendations.  In a recent podcast (EconTalk), Vinay Prasad - UC San Francisco Epidemiologist - explained how the overhyping of the mRNA 'vaccines' has negatively impacted faith in medical professionals to the degree that vaccination rates in general have fallen.  The mishandling of Covid has sown distrust that will take many years to undo.  This is the boy who cried pandemic and now no one will believe when the real pandemic arrives unless bodies start piling up in the streets.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Abraham Lincoln

The Mountain Men (1980)

Bill Tyler (Charlton Heston) is a trapper in the Rocky Mountains in the late 1830s and has an impressive collection of beaver pelts that he plans to sell at the next Rendezvous; Rendezvous was an annual event, usually in Wyoming, where the trappers could sell their pelts to fur companies and purchase goods.  On the way, he runs into an old friend, Henry Frapp (Brian Keith).  Frapp is escorting Nathan Wyeth (John Glover), to the Rendezvous.  Enroute, the trio have an encounter with Crow Indians and a battle with Blackfoot Indians.  In the ruckus, Bill finds himself with a squaw, Running Moon (Victoria Racimo).  Heavy Eagle (Stephen Macht) is determined to reclaim Running Moon and kill Tyler.  Though Tyler tries to return to his trapping, Blackfoot warriors are constantly on his tail.

The movie has plentiful cursing and quite a bit of violence, especially considering the era in which it was made.  This doesn't seem like an R-rated film, but the plentiful profanity, frequent violence, and occasional nudity would merit it.  By modern standards, it's pretty tame.  Though the main storyline follows Tyler and Heavy Eagle's quarrel over Running Moon, the more interesting part is the comradery of Bill and Henry.  Brian Keith is terrific as a cheerful yet grumbly mountain man, an excellent foil for Charlton Heston's cantankerous loner.  Their banter was the best part of the movie.  The plot reminded me a lot of Jeremiah Johnson: mountain man gets into a feud with an Indian tribe.

The cinematography benefits from the mountainous setting.  Doubtless, the Wyoming scenery was magnificent on the big screen but is still pretty impressive on the small screen.  Some of the shots with the Tetons in the background were outstanding, overshadowing the actors in the foreground.

As far as the history, it's very good.  There are some small qualms (e.g., the casting of all white actors for the Indians) but the time period is well-represented.  Indeed, the days of beaver trapping were on the way out because of the popularity of silk.  The wagon trains were just getting started for the Oregon territory though the trail was not yet blazed by John C Fremont.  Tyler's miraculous escape by hiding in a beaver lodge really happened, though it was John Colter (1770-1813) who did it.

Just okay.