Today, I did another Patriot Guard Ride.It was in Mingo Junction, Ohio. It wasn’t far from my home, so I didn’t need to travel far.  The turn-out was good.  One attendee was the father of a soldier who was killed in Iraq and the PGR attended his son’s funeral in February.  His was in East Liverpool, Ohio.  It was a freezing day, but I am glad that I attended that day.  This father was impressed by our mission to honor his son and he decided to join the PGR. His attendence today could not have been easy for him, so I applaud his courage and his dedication to honor the sacrifice of other soldiers.

Testing.

This has to be one of the — if not THE — saddest songs of all time.

He Stopped Loving Her Today

Written by R. V. Braddock and C. Putman, Jr.
Performed by George Jones

He said, “I’ll love you ’til I die.”
She told him, “You’ll forget in time.”
As the years went slowly by
She still preyed upon his mind

He kept her picture on his wall
Went half crazy now and then
He still loved her through it all
Hoping she’d come back again

Kept some letters by his bed
Dated 1962
He had underlined in red
Every single I love you

I went to see him just today
Oh but I didn’t see no tears
All dressed up to go away
First time I’d seen him smile in years

(Chorus)
He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they’ll carry him away
He stopped loving her today

(Spoken)
You know she came to see him one last time
Oh and we all wondered if she would
And it kept running through my mind
This time he’s over her for good

He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they’ll carry him away
He stopped loving her today

Movies and Reality

I went to see “Eragon” today.  It was pretty good.  It could have been better, but was pleasant enough.    

Maybe I’m weird.  I’ll allow for the possibility.  Why?  Because even fantasy movies usually distract me with something that is not realistic.  I mean, I can be watching a movie about dragons – Eragon, for instance — and the fact that the man on the horse on the ground yells something to the man on the dragon in the air assaults my sense of realism.  This dragon is flying as fast as it can…. for several seconds… and the guy on the horse is heard by the guy on the speeding dragon.   That distracts me.

Eragon was a decent movie, though.  The baby dragon was darned cute.  The fight scenes weren’t very good, though.

I noticed things in Dr. Doolittle 3, too. There is a scene where the rooster with low self-confidence walks into the hen-house.  The hens start berating him and one hen says something like, “As if low egg production is **our** fault.  Hmmph!”   Well…. yeah…. it is, Miss Priss.  Roosters don’t affect egg production.  They affect chick production.  

Another thing about this “family” movie, Dr. Doolittle 3, is the blatant and innappropriate sexualization.  Here we have a teenager — underage and still in school — and in one scene in particular, they are doing “T&A” shots of her.   In one scene, there are multiple close–up shots of her clothed breasts, buttocks, and genitals.  And, she’s under-age.  What is this — lolita porn?!?  And they wonder why kids today are over-sexualized and too early.

Or… “Barnyard”.  I mean… give me a break.  A **cow** is the farm protector?  There is even a sheep guard-dog — a Komondor — in the movie; as well as herding dogs.   But, no…. the dog(s) can’t protect the farm.  No… that job belongs to the **cows**.   Sigh.

This problem I have is not just with fantasy movies, though you would think if I were able to suspend belief long enough to watch the movie, these things would bother me the least in fantasy movies..