Commentaries

Here’s to the stories…

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Here's to the stories...

As a kid growing up in the desert of Northern Arizona, I used to go outside and stare into the night sky. Being so far from the lights of the cities, we could see the stars like few others can in the United States. They stretched from horizon to horizon, so close it felt like you could fall off the face of the earth to touch them.

Spielberg Saved Private Ryan and Killed Patriotism

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Synopsis: The classic 1998 gory D-Day movie Saving Private Ryan is a triumph of war cinema that lesser filmmakers have attempted to imitate countless times in the following decades up to the present day. Saving Private Ryan practically defined the entire genre of American war films, but also helped destroy it, perhaps irreversibly.

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War Games

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War Games

Synopsis: A group of archeologists discovers the rambling diary of a tortured soul slowly going mad. There’s no consistent logic, coherent meaning, or even an apparent chronological order to the bizarre episodes scrawled across the tattered book’s pages. But nonetheless, the adventurers can’t help but digest the entire manifesto cover to cover. In The Man in a White Corolla, our unhinged protagonist was in uniform, sent away to a faraway war zone.

Now he’s back home, but still in uniform. This time around, he managed to cobble together a chapter that was close to lucid from beginning to end, quite an accomplishment for him. It’s a brief reflection on leadership, humility, and staying grounded in what’s in front of you. Is this really a reliable source for “staying grounded”…? Don’t lose the battle before you even leave the drawing board, as the old saying goes.