Just thinking

Just want to say, had a great year, next year will be better. My daughters are growing, and I love to just sit and watch them. I just can't imagine the day they don't need me anymore.

The Supercross season kicks off in 5 days. I have a new team. Blairmx.com Racing. Can't wait to get to the Stadium on Thursday. Like being home again, and shedding skin all at the same time. The seasons go so fast. I do what I love, I am lucky. My wife is my best friend and stands beside me through thick and thin. I am really lucky. My daughters are completely healthy and normal. I am truly blessed.

Every year about this time, people look forward, talking about the new, big change they are going to make in the new year; out of debt, find love, quit smoking, drinking or doing drugs. They are going to reconnect with their parents. They are going to take a romantic vacation to someplace far away. They are going to quit their jobs and move up into the mountains. You name it, because right now, someone somewhere is thinking about it.

Not sure what any of it truly means. Maybe your just never really satisfied with where you are in life. You should of turned left instead of right that day 15 years ago. What "if " you would not have accepted that job on the other coast or region? Where would you be now? Just thoughts I guess. The same thoughts you get after spending about 24 hours in your hometown, "nothing has changed here at all...now what time does my plane leave..maybe I can catch an earlier flight". Then as you take off, you almost feel guilty. Wishing you would of spent more time with your parents and siblings, old friends and forgotten enemies. However, you are where you are and did what you did. Something about the grass being greener, but it's not.

I guess what I am trying to say, I'm not going to do any New Year's type resolutions, illusions, or delusions. I think all us of would love to change some things. I also think that we are very lucky and blessed in many ways. Not with the possession of material objects, not at all. In the long run, anything material is completely useless. You have people that love you, have people with whom you love. You have your health, and you have your brain. People move Armies with less. Try and find a happy place within yourself. Go there when things get tough, or stressed. Drink a little juice or a glass of milk, then get a good nights sleep. Start everyday with a little humility. You will have another good year. I will too.

Don't let politics, world affairs, city, county or state ordinances, religion, the weather report, or the couple sitting next to you at lunch showing a little PDA get you down too much. They don't loose any sleep over us, why do them that favor? Don't let anything in which you can't directly effect bring you down. You can be active, and have a voice, but don't let it take over. You're no good to anyone, including yourself, at that point. And remember this, try and do something spontaneous every now and again. It keeps you young and full of life.

And please remember to call your mother. She truely misses you and loves you.

Here is to a great year.

WadeMC

So damn insane.

So we finally captured Saddam Hussein. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that this solves anything: Psychological Victory for US?

Didn't we want this man dead? Didn't we try to bomb the hell out of him at the outset of the war? So what purpose does is serve for us to put him on trial now? Why didn't they just put a bullet through his head when they found him? As always, there's more to this story than what first meets the eye.

Are we really fooling ourselves into thinking this man is/was responsible for the current insurgency in Iraq? Will the inevitable 24/7 media coverage of his trial help restore the political infrastructure in that pitiful country? Who has the answers to these questions?

More later...
Paul

The Last Samurai.

Oh boy, where to start? I guess the main problem is that I am apparently out of touch with the mainstream movie-going public. For I am hearing a lot of positive reviews about this ridiculous movie.

I witnessed this debacle at a nearly sold-out Century City theater. After arriving late (don’t ask), I was forced to sit in the very front row, so you could say I was in the perfect position to “thoroughly examine” this piece of…work. Okay, okay, it really wasn’t all THAT bad. It was kind of like “Gladiator”, in that despite the corny storyline, the movie presented some very well-shot visuals. The costume designer and art director did fantastic jobs of re-creating late 1800’s Japan, and I was actually thrilled by the detail of the samurai armor and fighting implements.

So much for the good stuff.

The rest of the movie, unimportant stuff like plot and character development and PLAUSIBILITY, well…just like “Gladiator”, it fooled a lot of people. Look, I don’t care HOW much time Tom Cruise spends taking daily samurai lessons, there’s NO WAY that he’ll learn enough to suddenly become the best warrior in Japan. I think, truthfully, Uma Thurman could kick his ass. In the battle of Anglo-turned-wannabe-samurai-sword-swingers, Uma showed MUCH more swordplay skill in “Kill Bill”. Not only that, but Uma, channeling Tarantino’s love for martial arts, demonstrated a much more believable respect for the art AND she had a true motive for chopping off heads. Somebody tell me why Tom turned into a blade-wielding maniac, because nothing in “The Last Samurai” clearly explained his motivation.

Nor was the motivation of his adopted samurai village clearly explained. Let me put it like this: if someone invaded your hometown with the intent of killing you and your family, AND they were successful in killing your friends and your brother-in-law, would YOU take their leader captive, force your sister to clean him, feed him, wash his clothes, let him play with your nephews, teach him how to cut off heads, basically trust him like a close friend? OF COURSE NOT.

Or how about this: if someone killed your husband, the man you deeply loved, the father of your children…would YOU clean him, feed him, wash his clothes, let him play with your kids and fall in love with him? GOOD LORD, NO! Well, maybe if he was Tom Cruise…

Somebody explain to me how and WHY the leader of the samurai (the excellent Ken Watanabe) spoke reasonably fluent English. What ever motivated him, who so revered the ways of his people, to learn that crazy language? No one else in his tribe spoke it at all, so how in heck did he learn it? And for what reason? Did he harbor some secret desire to modernize the samurai? Of course, it was too much to expect this issue to be addressed. We want to see some BATTLES!

And we got to see some battles. Two, as a matter of fact. Yes, they were grand spectacles, especially the second one. But don’t go in expecting to see the state of the art, unless you’re okay with the last century’s state of the art. An epic movie is supposed to amaze the audience with realism, and they came pretty close. But they didn’t go far enough for my tastes.

Remember the battle scenes from “Braveheart”? Well, “The Last Samurai” was almost as good. You could see the arrows flying and it really looked like they were hitting and piercing the soldiers. And the hand to hand sword-and-bayonet fighting was pretty good, but they cheated a little with quick cuts and blurry action. But my main problem was with the gunpowder-powered stuff. The significance of this battle was the dichotomy of old school versus new school with regards to the art of war. The Emperor’s army was equipped with the latest in military might, as supplied by the good ‘ol U.S.A. (just in time for Christmas: pro-war sentiment!), while the samurais stood on traditional cut-n-thrust cutlery, with the occasional dirty-trick-involving-fire (those savages!). So when the army cut loose with their shiny new cannons, I was looking forward to seeing the impact of this new technology. But director Ed Zwick chose to go with the tried-and-true “let’s blow up some turf to simulate the impact of a cannonball”, instead of actually showing what would happen when a 75 pound ball o’ lead traveling 300 feet per second hits the ground 20 feet in front of a bunch of people armored only in stiff, but pretty, leather. People, this is the 21st century! We have the special effects to show this stuff!

End of THAT particular rant.

Finally…okay, not finally, but at the end of the battle, when the army gets tired of being hoodwinked by those tricky samurai, they break out their secret weapons: gattling guns (which were not-so-subtly revealed in the second act). The problem is, when they opened fired and killed EVERYONE ON THE BATTLEFIELD, they somehow missed Tom Cruise. Well, actually they hit him several times in beautiful slow motion, but not a single bullet hit a vital organ. He single-handedly survived a machinegun attack! Even his horse was killed, but not our boy Tom. And because of his superhuman ability to take lead, he became, by default, THE LAST SAMURAI! End of movie, roll credits, politely applaud.

Oh, I wish it would have ended that way. But no! There was more crap about Tom taking the sword of the samurai leader to the Emperor, and then returning to the samurai village to demurely smile at his new “wife”. Blech.

So did I make myself clear about this particular travesty of a movie? It was awful. Fun to watch, sure, kind of like watching a train wreck in slow motion. If this film gathers any Oscar nominations for anything other than design and art direction…and maybe Watanabe’s soulful performance…then I’ll know the fix is in. And I happen to respect Tom Cruise as an actor.

More later…
Paul

You do NOT want to be this man.

So, the U.S. is currently prosecuting one man for the 9/11 attacks...and it ain't Osama. What are the chances of this man getting a fair trial in the United States?

Yahoo! News - U.S. Urges Court to Keep Death Penalty for Moussaoui

Sweet Land of Liberty.

More later...
Paul

Yeah, right.

Here's a typically goofy story: BBC NEWS | Business | Pentagon freezes Boeing contract.

Seems a former Pentagon procurement officer gave insider information to Boeing, then awarded a $18 BILLION contract to the aerospace giant, THEN quit her job and went to work for...guess who? BOEING.

Quel suprise.

So now the Defense Department is investigating whether her links to the firm "influenced" the decision. For this they need an investigation?

Watch this story quickly disappear.

More later...
Paul