June 24, 2008
You have obviously forgotten 9-11
Tonight Dad and I went to see The Incredible Hulk - 2008 and I wasn't expecting it to be great, but I really liked it. This was Dad's second time seeing it so I know he liked it. As we walked to the car I saw a note under the windshield wiper of my car. My first thought was that one of my movie going friends had been there that night and left me a note, but what I found was quite different and is displayed below.
Now I should explain: on my left and right rear back seat windows I have stickers that say Never Forget September 11th! I put them in the car I was driving back in 2001 and put them in this car when I bought it in 2004. On the rear window I have two stickers, the first is this one:
The second says: "If religious groups want to be part of the government they should pay taxes" or something similar, my apologies for not running out to the car to check. 
I'm guessing their objection was to the End This War sticker.
My first thought was "If they are so firm in their belief why didn't they sign it?" My second thought was, "Oh! They're a coward!, Silly me. "
The scariest thing I didn't notice till I scanned it in: it was written on a seating chart! This ignorant person is probably a teacher! Now, I have no problem with people who support the war in Iraq, obviously Saddam Hussein was a bad guy and someone needed to to do something about him, but what I do have a problem with is any attempt to tie Iraq to 9-11, that is just sheer ignorance. I fully support U.S. activities in Afghanistan, if they can bring in Osama Bin Laden and string him up I will dance on his grave, the war in Afghanistan is not the one I oppose. The Iraq war, on the other hand, has brought nothing but sorrow to everyone involved. I'm glad the surge seems to be working, because anything that can stop the killings of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi's is a good thing, but using 9-11 or imaginary WMDs as an excuse to be there is just plain wrong. Al-Qaeda wasn't even a blip on Iraq's radar before Bush's attack and subsequent result:
With Iraq's infrastructure destroyed the terrorists could run free and wreak havoc killing thousands of US troops and Iraqi civilians.
War on terrorism in Afghanistan is good, creating a terrorist breeding ground in Iraq is bad. As of this posting there are still 209 days until this murdering, useless, bastard of a president is out of office, and it can't come too soon as far as I'm concerned.
Thank you, good night, and good luck.
Posted by Mike at 10:26 PM | Comments (9)
May 27, 2008
Movies During Robyn's Trip So Far
Saturday Robyn and I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Sunday, we all celebrated Dad's and my birthday and went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We enjoyed both films. Monday Robyn and I went to see Nim's Island and we both really enjoyed that. Today Mom, Dad, Robyn and I went to see Iron Man, of course Dad and I had already seen it, but we wanted to see it again.
Posted by Mike at 7:40 PM | Comments (4)
May 17, 2008
Amelie
Robyn and I watched Amelie tonight. It's in French with English subtitles and it was just a wonderful film. Visually alone it was stunning, the colors were so rich, but the story was excellent as well. I'd highly recommend it!
Posted by Mike at 11:13 PM | Comments (4)
May 16, 2008
Ali
Robyn and I watched Ali last weekend. It was a phenomenal film. What a great cast!
Posted by Mike at 6:14 AM | Comments (4)
May 4, 2008
Iron Man
Dad and I went to see Iron Man today. It was freakin' awesome!
Posted by Mike at 9:44 PM | Comments (2)
Weekend Movie Update
Friday night Robyn and I watched The Nativity Story. It had some good acting and was mostly enjoyable, if a bit cheesy in parts.
Saturday afternoon Dad and I went to see Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. It was silly fun, despite the fact that the premise could happen. How many innocent men are in Guantanamo just because they looked middle eastern and acted suspicious? I just ordered The Road to Guantanamo (2006) from the library, it is a docudrama which is the story of three British Muslims who spent 2 years in Guantanamo for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Saturday night Robyn and I watched The Lookout, which was a great film! Great writing, acting, music, and directing. We both really enjoyed it.
Posted by Mike at 8:37 AM | Comments (3)
April 27, 2008
Movie and Book update
I've decided to try to keep up with blogging about the movies, books and music in my life.
Let's see, last Friday Dad and I went to see The Forbidden Kingdom and both really enjoyed it. Bill and I went on Sunday to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was very funny. Robyn and I usually watch a movie together over the phone on Saturday nights. Last week it was Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Askaban, which she had just finished reading and last night it was In The Land of Women. We enjoyed both movies.
I'm currently reading The Jesus Mysteries - Was the "original Jesus" a pagan god? It's very good so far. I already knew quite a bit of this, but it's good to have it all in one place and so enjoyably written.
Posted by Mike at 11:51 AM | Comments (3)
February 17, 2007
Breach
Bill and I returned a little while ago from seeing Breach. It was great. Terrific acting, wonderful pacing, great music, and terrific cinematography.
Posted by Mike at 8:20 PM | Comments (3)
October 1, 2006
John Q
I caught John Q this weekend. I enjoyed this movie. Whether it was plausible or not, it brought to light a very serious issue in America: The cost of health care. The movie brought forth the point: What do you do if your eight year old boy collapses from a heart condition on the baseball field, needs a heart replacement and you don't have enough insurance? Do you let him die? Denzel Washington's character sure didn't. He was willing to sacrifice everything to save the life of his child. That is love.
John 15:12-13 (New Living Translation)
New Living Translation (NLT)
12 I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. 13 And here is how to measure it--the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends."
Agree with him or not, you have to admire the courage he had to be willing to give up his life to save his son. You also are forced to think about the wealthiest country in the world not having free health care.
This addresses a real problem in this country. Why is it that there are 43.6 million Americans without health insurance? (U.S. Census Bureau) Why in the wealthist nation in the world do we not have free health care for everyone? Did Christ not tell us that when we do anything, good or bad, we are doing it to him? (Matthew 25:31-46) Sadly, a lot of my fellow, Bible believing Christians disagree with me. They are more concerned with who's allowed to marry who and telling women what they are and are not allowed to do with their bodies. They follow President Bush because they allow single issues to lead them instead of the whole gospel. Will you really allow abortion and gay marriage to lead us down a path that will rob all of us of our freedoms? The source of political power always sways. If neo-conservatives are in power now, then liberal/progressives will be in power in the future. What happens when someone with the opposite views of you is in power? How should that thought make you act now? Do unto others? Lock up your opponent or listen to them? What did Jesus do? He listened to them and locked up no-one. What will you do? I've been listening to a lot of progressive/liberal radio. They listen to conservatives, they don't seem so bent on legislating their morality as discussing it and letting all of us decide. Where do you stand?
Posted by Mike at 9:33 PM | Comments (3)
April 13, 2006
Bill Sent Me This Cool Video
Take five minutes and watch it. It's worth it.
Posted by Mike at 9:35 PM | Comments (5)
April 2, 2006
United 93, Too soon for me.
I was skimming Apple's movie trailer site and saw the title United 93. This is a movie about the incredibly brave passengers of United flight 93, which was the fourth hijacked plane on September 11th, 2001. It was the plane that was headed for the Whitehouse. The passengers banded together and prevented the terrorists from achieving their goal. Sadly, the plane crashed. We all know the story. It was only a few years ago and we were all riveted to our TV's watching it unfold.
I'm glad that someone wants to honor those passengers, but for me, it's way too soon. I can't even watch the trailer without being taken back, emotionally, to that awful day. This is one movie I won't be going to see. Not because there's anything wrong with it, but because the wounds are too fresh.
Posted by Mike at 11:06 AM | Comments (9)
November 27, 2005
525,600 Minutes
Dad, and I went to see the new movie version of Rent last night. We were both familiar with the music, but neither of us had actually seen the show.
We were blown away. We both can't wait to see it again.
Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:19 AM | Comments (4)
October 2, 2005
Dawn of The Dead and We Were Soldiers
Yesterday, I watched Dawn of The Dead and We Were Soldiers. If you like bloody, scary, gory, horror movies then you really need to see Dawn of The Dead, the 2004 version. It was very well done, great acting, engaging story, all around great flick. We Were Soldiers is one of those movies that really puts things into perspective and can really change the way you think. From IMDB: "The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it." It is, quite simply, an amazing film.
Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:34 AM | Comments (6)
September 19, 2005
October 15th - Star Trek The Next Generation Movie Marathon at the Canton Palace Theater
Good evening ladies and gentlemen! On Saturday, October 15th, there will be a Star Trek The Next Generation Movie Marathon at the Canton Palace Theater, beginning at 2:30 pm.
For more info, follow the link below.
Star Trek The Next Generation Movie Marathon
Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:26 PM | Comments (8)
September 4, 2005
An Unfinished Life
Bill and I went to see An Unfinished Life tonight. What a terrific film, great pacing, great cinematography, great acting. We both really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. The critics that gave it bad reviews must just be sad, bitter people, who don't like to see movies with realistic people with real feelings and experiences.
On the other side of the fence, Ebert and Roper loved it, as I'm sure other critics will too, once it goes wide release.
Posted by Michael Welsh at 10:12 PM | Comments (4)
July 2, 2005
War of The Worlds
Dad and I went to see War of The Worlds this afternoon, it was incredible!
When I first heard the Orson Wells radio broadcast I was blown away. It was so immersive, it really made you feel like the whole world was being overrun by aliens, destroying all human life. I never thought I would be able to feel that in the movie version. I was wrong. This movie is so intense! I loved it! It really made me feel all the things I felt from the radio broadcast. Even though Tom Cruise has, seemingly, done a swan dive off the deep end, he still has the potential to act.
Posted by Michael Welsh at 10:37 PM | Comments (2)
June 26, 2005
Missing DVD List
Ok, I was on the phone with Robyn tonight, talking about stuff we could do when she comes here. She's never seen the movie Camelot, so I thought we might watch it. I looked over at my DVD collection, but it's not there. Last I recall I loaned it to Bill, but he returned it. Anybody have any ideas where it might be?
At any rate, I thought I would create a list of DVDs that I know I own, but loaned to people and can't remember who.
Camelot
The Animatrix - Ben?
Mortal Kombat - Rick?
Rush Live in Rio - Rick?
Memento
That's it for now. I'll update this post at another time.
Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:45 PM | Comments (4)