Expendabelles and Westkust Troubador

Sarah and I have been fans of Sylvester Stallone's "The Expendables" since since a street promoter gave me a free t-shirt in a Pittsburgh bar. I mean, I had been intrigued by the trailer, but that sealed it. And we were not disappointed. It was pulpy, over-the-top, absurd, and fun. We've since made each  sequel a special type of date night tradition.

Cast of The Expendables 2

But they all fail the Bechdel test. Badly. Now a female-ensemble version of The Expendables is somewhere in the development process. Last week IMDb reported  Kate Beckinsale and Naomi Watts are in for "Expendabelles."

They're... ok. I was never into Underworld, but it's all action has been a juggernaut of a franchise. Watts is a good actress, but for this to succeed (and I hope it does), Stallone needs to reach way back for some actresses known for badass roles. The cast's previous resumes and audiences' recognition of them is part of the Expendables magic. To achieve that, I think there are two names he has to get on the poster: Linda Hamilton and Sigorney Weaver.

They're icons from the right era of action films and their team-up is the only thing that can compare to the original Stallone/Lundgren/Li/Schwarzenegger-type hype. Once they're on board, you have some wiggle room to round out the cast. If you'll indulge me:
Ronda Rousey was in Expendables 3, of course.
Lucy Liu has a strong action pedigree.
Grace Jones would be great to see back in an action role.
Maybe a reunion of Lucy Lawless and Renée O'Connor?

We can hope, right?

Troubadour Westkust

It's labeled a "Black Imperial IPA," but Beeradvocate classifies it as an American Black Ale. Tasty. similar to Great Divide's Belgian Yeti. Thick head tawny that dissipates to a half-finger. A bit more pungent on the hop profile than I normally enjoy, but the smokiness offsets it.

* Imperial IPA is one of those acronym-based redundancy missteps that bothers me the more I think about it. ATM Machine. CAC Card. PIN Number/VIN Number. HIV Virus. LCD Display.

Quadrophenia and Well's Bombardier

After seeing the Who's set during the 12.12.12 fundraising concert, I added Quadrophenia to Netflix que. Last weekend it arrived and today I finally got a chance to watch it. I'm not sure what I expected.

Image from collider.com

I don't have any nostalgia or connection to 1960s working class England, so a lot of the ambiance was lost on me. I did enjoy the music and spotting the different British motorcycles the Rockers rode.  Jimmy's just and angry little shit for most of the movie. Maybe that characterization is supposed to show how his constant pill-popping affects him. All the roles are really well cast, especially Sting as a vaguely Nazi style icon. The Criterion commentary revealed that Johnny Rotten was almost cast as Jimmy, but the studio wouldn't assume the financial risk. So, while I'm not lining up to become a Mod or a Rocker, but I'm glad I watched it.

Well's Bombardier

This is a tasty ESB with a distinctive British character. Malty, but less than a brown or Scottish-style one. I had it on-tap at BJ's Brewhouse some time ago and I've been meaning to try it again.

Starship Troopers

Image from Lugubrious-Delirium.com

I had been warned that Heinlein tends to ramble and lecture in his stories.  This warning was intended to dissuade me from reading or at least let me know what I'd have to "put up with" to get to the SciFi story.  However, I found those lectures/meditations far more interesting than the dated science fiction.  I could see how this work influenced later writers in the genre, but the creative details about the alien bugs and interstellar war were old hat to me.

The meditations and dialogues on military and social topics were much more engaging and probably each deserve a measured response.  I did not always agree with Heinlein; his concept that people still under contract with the services are not yet allowed to vote comes to mind.  Others were spot-on; I remember having a similar revelation about my Drill Sergeants and the process of soldier-making as Rico does about his instructor Zim.

On a mission shortly after I had started reading, a major we were escorting noticed the book.  He was a big fan and seemed impressed that a junior enlisted soldier would seek such a novel.  I was only in the first chapter or so, but he ended up talking to our Lieutenant about it for a while, specifically the concepts of citizenship and leadership.  Most people probably think of the Movie first, but it seems clear to me that the book is still widely read in the military, especially within the officer's ranks.

How can I talk about the book without some commentary on the movie?  I didn't see it until a few years after it premiered in 1997, but I thought it was cool at the time.  Much more focus on action and CGI of fighting the Bugs which fits the medium and popcorn-movie angle.  It takes the same frame of the story in a different direction with commentary on their imperialist society and concepts of propaganda with more military influence from the Vietnam war than the original space- and technology-driven fighting from '59

Lions for Lambs

Photo from pinartarhan.com

I have to thank whoever had the notion to include this film in the care package for our platoon.  It's very wordy and probably doesn't appeal to most soldiers who use action and comedy movies just to relax here.  The tone reminds me of the best episodes of the West Wing; articulate in-character discussions of important issues.  The characters are grounded with their own motivations, though; all executed with talented performances.  The film is from the same writer who wrote "The Kingdom," which I've heard unfairly called "Syriana for dumb people."  Apples to oranges, really.  The author began thinking he was writing a play, since the sets are very limited and it's almost all dialog.  I think it could succeed as a play, with some changes in presentation.

Spoilers below.
I really enjoyed it, but I have a few issues with the film at are primarily related to the Army portion.  Firstly, the two characters decided to go to infantry OCS after graduating from USC.  Reasonable with their motivations, but then we're just supposed to accept that both of them go through ranger school and are 1st Lieutenants in the same company in the 75th Ranger Regiment?  The senator repeatedly referred to the Rangers as "special forces" which is common for colloquial use, but unlikely for a character with 8 years experience in military intelligence to equivocate the two.  Lastly, I have a serious problem with the fact that one Lieutenant jumped out of the damaged Chinook after his buddy fell out.  Sure following after your best friend was all heroic-looking, but they were officers in charge of the operation. Their platoons and airlift crew had taken many causalities and would be making an emergency landing somewhere other than their intended LZ.  These platoons are now shorthanded and dealing with casualties without either of their officers and perhaps without communication with the command point.  In the DVD commentary, Redford says the Lieutenant acted on instinct to jump out, but I don't think that's good enough.  He jeopardized a lot more lives with that action and was derelict of his duty toward his men and the mission.

Overall, it makes me hope that Redford will eventually be able to follow through with the Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance project mentioned in Lila.  It wouldn't be a blockbuster, but I think he'd give the book the pacing, dignity, and articulation that Pirsig and the book deserve.

Caturday and Wrath of Khan

Darwin and Huxley sleeping on the floor in Sarah's new apartment.  Sarah and I decided to trade post topics today, with me posting a Saturday picture of the cats and her reviewing a craft beer.  What a crazy mix-up; I hope you are not too confused.

In other news, folks in my unit have begun receiving mail, so you can send me things if you wish.  Just ask if you want my address or if you think what you're sending may be contraband.  Do not send me booze.

I suppose the post title gives it away, but today I found a DVD of Wrath of Khan for a mere $3 at the Post exchange (PX) here.  Naturally I snatched that up.  The Moby Dick references were lost on me the first time I watched it.

Atlas Shrugged part 1 & Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout

I have never read The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged, so all of my impressions here will be coming from the film (and to a lesser degree, eavesdropping on the dialog from BioShock).  I went to see this movie on a whim one weekend a few weeks ago.  I had not even heard it advertised, but seemed to hold more intrigue than the comedies and whatnot playing at the time.  There may be spoilers below, but the film is only based on the first third of the book, so you'll probably be ok.

Every viewer starts off with a willing suspension of disbelief and the director can either maintain it or squander it or hope that the plot events are too cool/heartwarming for folks to care.  For me, there were too many holes and no effort to cover them up.  It made me wonder if Ayn Rand or the producers considered those elements to be weak parts of the plot at all or if this was an honest window into their worldview.  For example, the story is set in 2016 and one of the main characters (Rearden) is a steel magnate who has produced a new alloy that is practically Mithril.  Cool; I am on board with that sort of foreseeable future type fiction.  But in a tough economy, other metal production and fabrication companies want access to the secret formula for this alloy.  When Rearden tells them no, they throw their efforts into politically discrediting the material as "unsafe" while dismantling the Rearden consortium that produces it.  Ok; business is war and while corporations are rarely so openly Machiavellian, it's plausible.  Now the part that's hard for me to stomach is how this "political pressure" affects the scientific community in the film.  As a whole, they completely sell out and publish "studies" whose results follow the party line (the audience sees a montage of magazine covers like Nature and Popular Science with expose articles on the unsafe fraud metal).  This is not social science application theory or something like pharmaceuticals in which long-term interactions and affects are difficult to predict.  This is metalurgy!  As clear-cut an engineering discipline as any.  While it may have a secret formula for production, there are hundreds of labs at universities around the country that can easily confirm or deny the weight and tensile strength properties that Rearden claims.  The producers want me to believe these political interests bought out all of these professors to keep them from publishing the "true" capabilities of the alloy?  What about grad students with keys, ambition, and an aversion to both authority and sleep?  And how did our other industrial heroine Dagny figure out that Rearden's claims were genuine?  It's a throwaway line; "I looked at it myself; I studied engineering in college."  The whole plot turns on this concept that our heroes are the only ones who know how good this metal is; the world is out to get them.

Well I felt there were other problems later in the film, but I've rambled for longer than I thought I would already.  I may continue later, but for now let me leave you with this quotation that is similar to my experience with the film:

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. — John Rogers

Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout
Well I didn’t taste any hint of oatmeal.  This came off as too bitter for me; too much hops and over-roasted malt for my palate.  Didn't strike me as worth the craft price point compared to import classics like Murphy's or Guinness.  Just another stout I won't be trying again.