Hoffa Vs. Milk

* = Lesson learned, never doubt The Cushing!

I am sick. Oh so very sick. I’ve got the hollow chest cough, the runny noise, the lack of sleep, the periodic fever, and the wonderful world of body aches. You’d think I would have been smart enough to stay home, but NOPE! I came in, survived the deadly commute, dealt with trainees, and now am counting the seconds till I can go home and pass out. I feel awful, but you know the best part? I have to go to Mankato tomorrow and teach not one, but TWO CPR classes! Yeah! Someone please kill me know.

But I digress.

While praying for a quick death I had plenty of time to watch a crap load of stuff this weekend here are the capsules;

- The Filth & The Fury (**** out of 5) – I had had this documentary on the DVR for some time, and had been unable to find the time to finish it as Cassandra had NO interest in it. This one is a nice look at the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols. I already knew quiet a bit of the history, and was a tad disappointed that the last 35 minutes devolved into Sid & Nancy-centric crap, but other than that it was very entertaining. I have to say that that one album is pure thunder! Seriously, it is just all gnashing teeth and fury; it’s a beautiful disaster you get to listen to unfold before you. The elements of disenfranchised youth, the poor, the state of Britain, coupled with the changing times just melted into something very powerful for a short time. I’m also still not sure how Steve Jones didn’t just beat Lydon & Vicious’ asses and tell them to get on board or get out. It was interesting to hear Lydon come down so hard on himself and his inability to save Sid from himself or heroin. It’s an interesting take on a fascinating band. Oh and Malcolm McLaren is a creepy fucker.

- The Devil’s Playground (*** ½ out of 5) – Did you know that when an Amish young person gets to be between 16 and 21 they go out on what’s called a 'Rumspringn', it’s basically a time where they go out into ‘The World’. When they are done they can come back and decide whether or not to join the Amish Church and rejoin the community or they can leave. It’s fascinating. You see these kids who have lived a very sheltered life basically throw themselves into reckless abandon of drugs, alcohol, technology, and sex. For me it placed the Amish life in a totally different, very humanizing light.

- Inside Polygamy: Life Inside Bountiful (*** ½ out of 5) – As you can see National Geographic Channel had some interesting stuff on Sunday morning. So this had to do with a Fundamentalist Mormon group in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada that was in litigation with the government over their practicing of polygamy. If followed the family of Winston Blackmore, who has like 25 wives and over 125 children. He’s not a ‘Prophet’, nor does he claim to be, in fact he broke with the Fundamentalist Mormon movement. He’s just a clergyman, he doesn’t support arranged marriages, nor will he condone or officiate marriages where one of the participants is under 19, and he isn’t insisting that his children follow his marriage style. Frighteningly enough he was a very ‘normal’ guy, except for the 24 extra wives and the 125 kids. Again it was eye opening. I’m not going to go so far as to say I’m pro-polygamy, but I will say, if the Canadian government lacks the conviction to carry out their threats of prosecution then leave these folks & their religion alone. As far as I can tell they aren’t hurting anyone. See even though I’m anti-establishment religion, I’m all for your right to practice the way you see fit as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else or infringe upon their rights.

- Captain Clegg (*** ½ out of 5) – This was my first foray into non-Vampire, Frankenstein, or Mummy Hammer films for the most part, however it does have Hammer mainstay and cinema stud muffin Peter Cushing in the lead. So the basic premise is Captain Clegg, scourge pirate of the seven seas, is now hiding out in a small town and doing some smuggling of French liquor. The British send some ‘Revenue Men’ to figure out what the hell is going on, chaos and bloodshed ensue. Oh and there are Phantom Horsemen, Oliver Reed, hot women, and a killer mute. I was a tad disappointed in the way it wraps up and the pacing, but it was a nice flick, and gives me some interesting ideas for D&D!

- The Witches (**** out of 5) – Since I couldn’t sleep I went ahead and took a stab at another Hammer flick. This one lacked Cushing &/or Lee, but it didn’t lack craziness. The opening is down right freaky, although it really doesn’t play back into the flick. This has a very Wicker Man (**** out of 5), the good 70’s version not that crap from Nicholas Cage, vibe about it. I won’t spoil it as I could see this being a Movie-A-Thon contender.

- Tristan & Isolde (***** out of 5) – I also decided to depress myself and watch the modern version of this classic tale. James Franco is impressive as always. Sophia Myles is fantastic. The movie is lush, the soundtrack is solid, and while it has the sad ending it’s a very beautiful movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. GO SEE IT!

I noticed I sort of fizzled out there at the end on the actual reviewing. Before I fizzle out completely how ‘bout some

RANDOM CRAP!

- I’m almost all the way through the Gamma World rulebook. I think I’d like to run this game in short three adventure bursts. It would be set here in the winter wonderland of Minnesota, and I think I’d call the first adventure “THIS is the Nuclear Winter of our Discontent!”
- Speaking of winter F’ YOU SNOW! Seriously, it’s like you know I’m sick and you’re just doing this to piss me off.
- Thank you WI for brining the elements of Class Warfare to the forefront. It’s amazing to hear the delusional spout the carefully placed ‘talking points’ back into the media stump grinder for regurgitation to the masses. This is why I’m an adamant classist.
- My copy of Wrath Of Ashardalon came finally. I was a tad disappointed with the ‘Campaign Rules’, but I already had plans to flesh that out anyways. In fact I think I’ll be using some of the Ravenquest stuff from Board Game Geek dot com and some of the stuff I had done for my own D&D Crawl as basis for a more robust campaign system. I really need to get off my keister and get Domains Of Dread: Lamordia done.
- I didn’t paint due to hacking illness, and I am disappointed.

You know I think I’m done here.

“These eyes
cry every night for you
These arms
long to hold you again

The hurtin's on me, yeah
And I will never be free
no, my baby, no no
You gave a promise to me, yeah
And you broke it
and you broke it, oh no

These eyes
watched you bring my world to an end
This heart
could not accept and pretend

The hurtin's on me, yeah
And I will never be free
no, no, no
You took the vow with me, yeah
And you spoke it
and you spoke it, babe

These eyes are cryin'
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But they're never gonna see
another one like I had with you

These eyes
cry every night for you
These arms
these arms long to hold you
hold you again, ah

These eyes are cryin'
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But their never gonna see
another one like I had with you

Baby, baby, baby, baby
Don't ya know these eyes
are cryin' every night
I need you back in my heart”


* = Those don’t look like Presbyterians…