Freaking out, oh yeah
Where have I seen that plot before?
Oh, yeah, Capricorn One
Is this supposed to be a sequel? A prequel? A re-imagining? A remake? Or, a ripoff? I’m a sci-fi junkie, but I won’t be wasting my time with this. I didn’t even enjoy Capricorn One that much. But, it did the conspiracy theory justice.
The BBC conducted a poll of cinema-lovers on the best dialogue in the history of film. Here’s their Top 10:
(1979):You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like… victory. Someday this war’s gonna end…
(1992):You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know – that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
(1954):Remember that night in the Garden? You came down to my dressing room and you said ‘kid, this ain’t your night. We’re going for the price on Wilson’… You was my brother, Charlie. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum. Which is what I am. Let’s face it.
(1994):The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.
(1987):The point is, ladies and gentleman, is that greed – for lack of a better word – is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind. And Greed – you mark my words – will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
(1976):I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the streets, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.
(1996):Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family, Choose a big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends… Choose your future. Choose life.
(1971):I know what you’re thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?
(1987):What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a God! The beauty of the world, paragon of animals; and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dusk. Man delights not me, no, nor women neither, nor women neither.
(1995):You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight? Aye, fight and you may die, run and you’ll live. At least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!
There’s the top 10. I haven’t been able to find it on the ‘net, but I’m sure it’s probably real. However, there’s a couple there that do not belong IMO. Now, I’m no cinema buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I can think of two that should have been there that were not:
Although not a dialogue in the purest sense of the word, the accompanying dialogue is so intangible it may as well be a dialogue ( accompanying dialogue omitted ):
Mandrake? Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water? Vodka, that’s what they drink, isn’t it? Never water? On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason. Water, that’s what I’m getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this earth’s surface is water. Why, do you realize that seventy percent of you is water? And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids. Are you beginning to understand? Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure-grain alcohol? Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation. Fluoridation of water? Well, do you know what it is? Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?
And, once again, another of MY Top 10 Dialogues with just enough supporting dialogue to keep it going omitted:
Listen — strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. Well you can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! I mean, if I went around sayin’ I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me they’d put me away! Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system. Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP! HELP! I’m being repressed! Oh, what a give away. Did you hear that, did you hear that, eh? That’s what I’m on about — did you see him repressing me, you saw it didn’t you?
I’m just going to give up here. How those two dialogues can not be greater than Braveheart, Wall Street, or Network just tells me I’m not on the same wavelength as the people in this poll. That’s not unusual tho.
So, I enjoy some of these quizzes I see on Facebook. But, more often than not, the overwhelming ads and bait click garbage suck all the fun out of it. So, I’m going to stick some of the ones I enjoy here. Being as the content will be linked to the author’s actual content, I doubt there’s much anyone can do as far as the format goes. It’ll just work a lot smoother and more enjoyably. And, hopefully, it will sell some of the composers’ stuff whereas these bait-click quizzes don’t even try.
So, here’s the first one. The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones. This could have easily been 100 questions. Probably should have been 50 since several of my favorites from both bands aren’t on the list. And, they both had some fantastic lyrics.
So, this happened yesterday:
They’re calling that an “anomaly”. That folks, is complete failure. There was a $200,000,000 #Facebook satellite on that rocket. I’m sure the rocket itself was rather expensive as well.
Thank God it wasn’t the planned manned mission of next year.
We are still obviously not ready for manned missions.
Obama will be the first president to leave office without the ability to put a man in space since John F. Kennedy over fifty years ago. The decision to end the Shuttle program may have been made before he was elected, but he killed off the replacement plan with no plan B. Starting the private sector essentially from scratch AFTER ending the Shuttle program was stupid. Nothing else but stupid. Paying the Russians millions to get to a station we paid the heaviest burden of building was a stupid plan from the get-go. Putting a man in charge of NASA who thinks stroking young Muslims egos and promoting global warming propaganda is more important than actual space travel just showed the contempt Obama has had for science in general his entire presidency. The entire science community gladly jumping under the Obama bus is even more disappointing. They still see Republicans every time Obama cuts NASA’s funding. With this political climate, and the complete sell-out of the astronomy sector, we can’t even put a big satellite in space reliably. If Clinton gets elected, it’ll be my kids’ generation before they even have a chance to enjoy the thrill of watching a heavy-lifter sending a crew into space.
It was her “overcharged” bribe to the Russians to get them to play nice. It didn’t work. They invaded a couple of countries, we tucked tail and ran, and still give them millions every year to send our people to our mostly-funded space station. To think she’d suddenly change course as President is wishful thinking that hasn’t worked with Obama.
Obama, Biden, Bolden, and Clinton are the reason we’re watching huge fireballs instead of crews safely going to the Space Station and beyond. Period.
Remember all that talk months ago about Bernie Sanders being popular enough to run independent?
Don’t rule it out: Bernie Sanders (slightly) leaves door open for Green Party run with Jill Stein
That was on Salon. Jimmy Kimmel had a lot of fun with it. A LOT of Bernie’s supporters were talking it. He was just that popular. Then. But, first this happened:
History, made! Hillary Clinton accepts Democratic nomination
Then this happened:
Sanders endorses Clinton as Dems join forces against Trump
Then, this happened:
Here are the latest, most damaging things in the DNC’s leaked emails
Pretty rough, it verified every conspiracy theory the Sanders’ supporters had claimed the entire election, and worse. Debra Wasserman-Schultz had targeted voters using religious stereotyping, had insulted Sanders’ staff, and had pretty much made sure that any chance Bernie had of making a comeback were squelched in primarily the Kentucky primary, where questions about missing ballots were never resolved. Bernie was robbed! So, what do the Bernie supporters in Florida 23 do?
They re-elect Wasserman-Schultz.
Out of a little over 700,000 people in that district, 21,000 were so outraged with her they voted against her.
Out of those 700,000 people, 28,000 thought she was doing such a fine job they supported her.
A little over 650,000 didn’t even bother to vote.
That is a remarkable 7% turnout.
I’m not sure what statistically is the worst participation rate in a state level race is, but this has to be close. Debra has to be incredibly relieved that she has reduced her congressional district to the most apathetic voters in the nation. If even 1 in 10 had voted, she probably would have lost her job.
Two takeaways from this remarkable election:
Truly pathetic. And people wonder why we keep sending these losers to Congress, and then complain about them once they are there, when they don’t even bother to vote in the first place.
That’s going in my quote collection.
Before Snopes runs to Kerry’s defense, here he is:
I don’t think anyone’s surprised with this opinion by Kerry. I think some might be surprised he said it out loud. Personally, I’m not. He really is that stupid,
Saw this this morning:
In a 2003 heat wave, 70 percent of heat-related deaths in Paris were due to climate change: https://t.co/NoaEcjybCm pic.twitter.com/RVrgXaxSsA
— Science News (@ScienceNews) August 30, 2016
Do people really not see how stupid a lot of this climate change hysteria sounds? Got some questions.
Maybe we should take a quick look-see and see what’s actually happened in Paris since then. This shouldn’t be too hard.
OK, “climate change” means the “climate” has changed, right? Not just some one-off weather incident like a heat wave, but that it has “changed”. Right?
Given that the “climate” is almost exactly what it was in 1998 gives no support at all to the argument that Paris has experienced “climate change”. Therefore, the event of 2003 was simply what was previously referred to as a “heat wave“. Once it passed, Paris’s climate returned to normal. And for several years after that “heat wave”, it was actually cooler than it had been before the speculated “climate change” occurred just in 2003 that killed 70% of the people who died during that event.
Now that Paris is obviously cooling, since it’s not as hot as it was in 2003, does that mean we go back to the Impending Ice Age scare of the 70’s?
Even with headlines like:
Hillary Clinton faints during speech
Which came from CNN. As well as numerous bizarre comments during her speeches such as increasing taxes on the middle class and dizzy spells during speeches, CNN is quick to assure us all that her health and mental state are just fine. And, even though there has never been any reason to question the health of Trump, the fact that there are no headline events reflecting his health is the reason we should cast doubt on his health.
I kid you not.
Clinton’s health is fine, but what about Trump?
Seriously, Gregory Krieg wrote this.
Nothing to look at there according to Krieg, that’s a perfectly healthy mind at work there.
That makes all the sense in the world. Since the wealthy don’t pay enough taxes, she wants to tax the middle class even more. Krieg, that’s another momentary black-out. Either she really does plan to tax the middle class, which she now denies, and forgot to lie about it, OR, she got confused again, which would lead the average person to think something’s just not quite right.
And, my favorite:
Absolutely nothing to worry about there, huh, Krieg?
And why does Krieg, ergo CNN, think we need to worry about Trump instead of all that lunacy?
He likes McDonalds.
Dan Evon at Snopes is just all bothered by the meme implying John Kerry said that refrigerators and air conditioners are AS dangerous as ISIS. He even states that the meme is “ridiculous”. That’s his word, not mine. But, he’s right. Here’s what Kerry actually did say, according to Evon:
Yesterday, I met in Washington with 45 nations — defense ministers and foreign ministers — as we were working together on the challenge of Daesh, ISIL, and terrorism. It’s hard for some people to grasp it, but what we — you — are doing here right now is of equal importance because it has the ability to literally save life on the planet itself. Week after week, month after month, year after year, we continue to see new evidence, scientific evidence, tangible evidence, of the danger that climate change poses to life on our planet. Last year was the hottest year in recorded history by far. Last month, the hottest month recorded. The month before that was the hottest month recorded. 2016 is on track to be hotter than last year. And the decade was the hottest decade in history, and the decade before that the second hottest in history, and the decade before that the third hottest in history.
That’s right, Dan. Kerry didn’t say hydrofluorocarbons used in refrigerators and air conditioners were of EQUAL threat, he said they would end life on the planet whereas ISIS isn’t really much of a threat to the world since it’s now losing.
Snopes used to be objective and non-partisan. People just trusted that Snopes was non-biased when quoting their rebuttals to rumors.
Now, not so much apparently. Dan Evon is embarrassingly wrong on this one and obviously doesn’t even care. I mostly cited his story when rebutting his story. Kerry, according to Evon’s own quotes, DOES mention ISIS, refrigerators, and air conditioners, and does say their use is MORE dangerous than ISIS. Snopes needs to fact check Snopes a lot better.
There’s not much we can do about Snopes’ biased “debunking”, but we can help John Kerry achieve his utopian dream of no more air conditioners:
Ted Cruz not endorsing Trump would have meant something if it weren’t for this:
Ted gave his word he’d support the nominee.
As of last night’s self-absorbed speech that meant practically nothing, that nothing means even less because it very openly laid bare how seriously Cruz takes his own word. Not that most voters really seem to care about a candidate’s word any more, Cruz pretty much just negated any impact his speech might have had by not raising his hand in the past. No damage whatsoever to Trump here. The Republicans who seem to think having Hillary as president is better than having a member of their own party still feel that way. Cruz could have brought some of them into the fold, but refused to do so. As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t like Cruz before, he’s politically toast now.
And best I recall, John Kasich accepted the pledge as well.
And oddly enough, the only one who withheld from asserting he’d support whoever the candidate was, was Trump.
Probably one of the oddest remakes to be semi-successful in the history of the world:
Musically and lyrically, this is one of my all-time favorite Stones' tunes.
Kinda little known factoid about this one: It was written about David Bowie's wife, Angela Barnett. 
For no other reason than the overtly kitschy dark lyrics, I always personally considered this the birth of emo.
Although, I still prefer the Marianne Faithful version:
Written and originally recorded by The Beatles, taken to a whole different level by Joe Cocker:
