Books and other stuff I feel like discussing
By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
Mood:
Contemplative
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Flags of our Fathers
We took advantage of the new weekday afternoon pricing at the local flick and took in "Flags of our Fathers", the story based on the best selling book of a few years back which traced the history of the young US Marines involved in the 1945 battle at Iwo Jima, and investigated the truth behind the famous photograph of the six Marines raising the flag.
The film is directed by Clint Eastwood, and my admiration for this icon of American movie making has increased as a result of seeing his latest effort.
The action is set in four periods - the present as the survivors are shown relating their memories to an interviewer; the battle itself; the 1945 war bonds tour in which the Defense Department shuttled three of the young Marines around the country; and the years immediately following the war as the servicemen attempted to return to an uneventful way of life.
Although there are one or two familiar faces in the cast (Gordon Clapp of NYPD Blue fame has a marvelous little cameo as a trash talking commander chewing out an unseen colleague over the phone), for the most part the characters are played by actors unknown to me.
No one's sensibilities are spared during the battle scenes, I hid my face more than once. This serves to accentuate the unreality of the plush receptions, hotel lobbies, and governmental offices which open wide to welcome the three young Marines. The glitz of a relentless PR campaign attempted to swallow the three whole and the organizers turned on one of the three when he rebelled at the hypocrisy.
It's clear that the script writers and Eastwood wanted to focus on the chasm between the reality of battle and what the dignitaries on the home front wanted the public to believe.
It's a good movie, and like all good movies, makes you think about the concepts it presents. And in a move no one who knows me will read about with surprise, I went around the corner to Barnes and Noble and bought the book.
Woodstock
The film is directed by Clint Eastwood, and my admiration for this icon of American movie making has increased as a result of seeing his latest effort.
The action is set in four periods - the present as the survivors are shown relating their memories to an interviewer; the battle itself; the 1945 war bonds tour in which the Defense Department shuttled three of the young Marines around the country; and the years immediately following the war as the servicemen attempted to return to an uneventful way of life.
Although there are one or two familiar faces in the cast (Gordon Clapp of NYPD Blue fame has a marvelous little cameo as a trash talking commander chewing out an unseen colleague over the phone), for the most part the characters are played by actors unknown to me.
No one's sensibilities are spared during the battle scenes, I hid my face more than once. This serves to accentuate the unreality of the plush receptions, hotel lobbies, and governmental offices which open wide to welcome the three young Marines. The glitz of a relentless PR campaign attempted to swallow the three whole and the organizers turned on one of the three when he rebelled at the hypocrisy.
It's clear that the script writers and Eastwood wanted to focus on the chasm between the reality of battle and what the dignitaries on the home front wanted the public to believe.
It's a good movie, and like all good movies, makes you think about the concepts it presents. And in a move no one who knows me will read about with surprise, I went around the corner to Barnes and Noble and bought the book.
Woodstock
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