What is Best in Life

I am a pretty big fan of portraying myself as a PFC (pretentious film cock for those not in the know). I throw out names like Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer as if they are all that is needed to prove I belong to some elite cinematic club. But even someone who consumes such a careful movie diet as I do can not deny the appeal of a bit of good old fashioned “action”. This is also not to say that an action movie (or any movie with the goal of entertainment over enlightenment) can not be high art. Robin Hood (Flynn or Fairbanks), Rio Bravo, hell even something like Die Hard (which I’ll admit I have not seen in years, but I bet it will hold up) are all examples of guilt-free guilty pleasures. But sadly, since the advent of the Hollywood Blockbuster model (thanks a lot Star Wars); true “pure entertainment” classics are few and far between. This was made all too clear as I returned to one of my teenage year’s favorites, Highlander.
(more…)

Having read literally ONES of books on World War II, and perused literally TENS of Wikipedia articles on the subject, I have decided to use my vast expertise to write a bit about a common (at least so it is beginning to seem to me) misconception about Hitler’s decision to invade Russia. And since this isn’t just a cut and pasted post from an actual researched essay like my last post, there won’t be any citations, so everyone will just have to take my word for it.

It seems I have always heard that Hitler’s greatest blunder was invading Russia and that he did it too late in the year. Now, don’t get me wrong, without a doubt, Russia was THE reason the allies won, far more so than the United State’s prodigious production capability and the British victory in the Battle of Britain. Had Russia lost, Germany probably would have won. The main misconception about the Eastern front that I would like to address here was that the invasion of Russia was a poor decision on Hitler’s part.
(more…)