Happy 96th Birthday to Clint Eastwood

Today is Clint's birthday (he turns 96 today - can you believe that?). Here are what I consider his Top 5 movies.

1. Unforgiven
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 
3. Dirty Harry 
4. Fistful of Dollars 
5. (tie) Kelly's Heroes (tie) Where Eagles Dare (tie) Outlaw Josey Wales 

Really liked Grand Torino but the ones I picked were classics. Also liked The Eiger Sanction but the book was better. The other Dirty Harry films didn't make the list because that character became cartoonish as it went along. Used to have The Outlaw Josey Wales as my number one but Sondra Locke's presence really detracts from the film.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

He's Not Wrong

Via

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Glenn Reynolds with 5 takes on the Iranian bombing.

- Clint Eastwood's not wrong here. He's long reached the age when he DGAF.

- The false promise of precision. Ocean waves crash into the shore every second but even the best physicist couldn't tell you the behavior of every molecule of water of any wave.

- NPR, the Democrats (but I repeat myself) and the basic misunderstanding of the Constitution.

Clint Eastwood

Today is Clint's birthday - he turns 95 today. Here are what I consider his Top 5 movies.

1. Outlaw Josey Wales 
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 
3. Dirty Harry 
4. Fistful of Dollars 
5. (tie) Kelly's Heroes (tie) Unforgiven

Where Eagles Dare almost made the list but Eastwood really is a supporting character in that. Many consider Unforgiven his best movie but I placed it further down the list solely based on the number of times I rewatched it. Really liked Grand Torino but the ones I picked were classics. Also liked The Eiger Sanction but the book was better. The Dirty Harry films (after the original) didn't make the list because that character became cartoonish as it went along (just glad the role didn't go to Frank Sinatra - that would have been a completely different franchise).

He last directed a movie last year begging the question of if he's finally retired from films?

Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone

 

Recorded in Venice in 2008. If you get visions of Clint Eastwood in a Spaghetti Western while listening to this - you're not alone.

Happy 84th Birthday to Clint Eastwood

Today is Clint's birthday (he turns 94 today - can you believe that?). Here are what I consider his Top 5 movies.

1. Unforgiven
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 
3. Dirty Harry 
4. Fistful of Dollars 
5. (tie) Kelly's Heroes (tie) Where Eagles Dare (tie) Outlaw Josey Wales 

Really liked Grand Torino but the ones I picked were classics. Also liked The Eiger Sanction but the book was better. The other Dirty Harry films didn't make the list because that character became cartoonish as it went along. Used to have The Outlaw Josey Wales as my number one but Sondra Locke's presence really detracts from the film.

Clint Eastwood

Today is Clint's birthday (he turns 93 today - can you believe that?). Here are what I consider his Top 5 movies.

1. Outlaw Josey Wales 
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 
3. Dirty Harry 
4. Fistful of Dollars 
5. (tie) Kelly's Heroes (tie) Where Eagles Dare

Really liked Grand Torino but the ones I picked were classics. Also liked The Eiger Sanction but the book was better. The Dirty Harry films didn't make the list because that character became cartoonish as it went along

Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone

 

Recorded in Venice in 2008. If you get visions of Clint Eastwood in a Spaghetti Western while listening to this - you're not alone. (Via)

The Wisdom of Clint Eastwood

Via

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Outrage-generating clickbait is the natural resource extraction of journalism." - Paul Graham

"I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. Even as a kid, I was annoyed by people who wanted to tell everyone how to live." - Clint Eastwood

"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius

"I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do." - Robert Heinlein

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Outrage-generating clickbait is the natural resource extraction of journalism." - Paul Graham

"I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. Even as a kid, I was annoyed by people who wanted to tell everyone how to live." - Clint Eastwood

"The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius

"This is a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before." - Maya Angelou

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Someone should edit Clint Eastwood's "Empty Chair" speech from the 2012 RNC convention to replace "Obama" with "Biden." The "empty chair" idea has never been so true in the history of the Presidency as it is today... Still my favorite photo of Prince Charles. I feel it properly captures his essence... Sometimes I come up with good ideas over drinks but I doubt I'll ever come up with anything so good or significant as the US Marine Corps which was created over drinks at the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia on November 10, 1775. The guy who ran the tavern was also named the first official Marine recruiter. God bless the Marines who gave the last full measure of devotion yesterday in Afghanistan... Morgan Housel: Rules, Truths, Beliefs. Some interesting insights... The cynic in me thinks the Democrats and the media will downplay and minimize the events in Afghanistan because to them yesterday at the airport was nothing more than another average weekend in Chicago... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Found myself worrying about the "Don't trust China! China is asshole!" guy. With the crackdown in Hong Kong I wouldn't be surprised if he was taken into custody a long time ago. I hope he's OK... The Great Certainty would be a good name for a blog (or social media app)... If lab grown meat technology is perfected - will that allow McDonald's to offer the McRib year-round?... True story - before picking Dan Quayle to be his VP - George H.W. Bush briefly considered picking Clint Eastwood to be his running mate. One of the great "What if's" of history...  You learn something new every day: the power symbol on your device, laptop, PC, etc. - that circle and line it's actually a binary 1 and a 0 with 1 being "on" and 0 being "off"... So when does Nintendo get cancelled for having a GameBoy and not a non-binary game console?... Predicting right now that no matter who is in the NBA Finals it will get the lowest TV ratings in history... Apropos of nothing - checked GameStop stock yesterday and it was at $313.75 per share! Yowza!... Bumper sticker suggestion: "Trump 2024 - Burdened with Glorious Purpose" (a little Loki humor)... 

Dirty Harry

The movie that made Clint Eastwood an icon was the 1971 classic Dirty Harry (I still can't believe that Frank Sinatra was the first choice for this role). In the movie, Eastwood plays Detective Harry Callahan - a cop with a black and white sense of right and wrong and a flare for bending or breaking the rules to bring justice to what George W. might call "evil-doers".

In the movie a psychopath (played by Andrew Robinson who immediately became typecast as "that guy who played the psycho in the first Dirty Harry") had kidnapped a young girl and had buried her alive with only so much time left before she runs out of air. Dirty Harry wounds the psycho in the leg and when he finally catches up with him he steps on the wound to torture the psycho into revealing where he buried the girl.

Unfortunately - the information comes too late and the girl is already dead.

I think it safe to say that most guys (and most girls for all I know) rooted for Dirty Harry as he tortured the information out of the psycho. We cheered and Dirty Harry became an icon because he acted how we wanted our cops to act when faced with those situations - torture and all. Some people today would seem more concerned with the civil rights of the psycho instead of the LIFE of the girl he kidnapped (in the movie the psycho actually cries out the he "has rights" just before Callahan makes him scream in pain).

If Dirty Harry was real life and I was on a jury reviewing Detective Callahan's actions - the only thing I would find him guilty of was having a bad 70's haircut. All the rest would be just fine with me. If that makes me a bad person - then so be it..

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- University President responds to those who have suggested the school should dip into the endowment

- The magnetic North Pole is "rapidly" moving

-  Laird Hamilton's morning routine

- Save Ron Jeremy's WOOD (not a euphemism)

- Video of Kevin Kelly giving his 68 pieces of advice. Worth 14 minutes of your time.

- 12 Facts about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I love Alex Trebek. I'm praying for him to beat the long odds. He's the best!

- In other medical news - Billionaire diamond trader dies during penis enlargement surgery.

- The physics still hiding in the Higgs Boson. Going to have to read this a second time (for comprehension reasons)

- Clint Eastwood's Code (Via Execupundit)

- Cool - the moment of impact for a bullet

- Well that's one way to look at Brexit I guess

- Israeli company can produce 5,000 liters of clean drinking water from just the air and a good electrical supply. The cost per liter is estimated at just $.02-04 per liter!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Disturbing report on the Navy's preparedness and operation. Thanks Obama!

- Speaking of Obama - the "Alt-Right" Vanity Fair makes the argument that maybe we didn't get Trump because Hillary was such a bad candidate but maybe instead we got Trump because Obama was such a bad President. Interesting - maybe the article should have ended with Matthew 10:36

- Spinning ice circle in Presumscot River in Maine has people thinking alien crop circles. Maine's most famous resident Stephen King was not reached for comment.

- Cell phone account fraud is a big new threat. At the very least you should have a PIN with your cell provider that needs to be provided before any changes can be made to your account.

- Cool - Jason Reitman to direct Ghostbusters sequel set in the original story universe.

- Clint Eastwood getting some head in the 1960's

- Toyota bringing back all-new Supra sports car in 2020

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

July was National Beer Month and August was National Anal Sex Month (seriously - you can look it up!). They should combine those two and make September National Regrets Month... Opulence - I has it... I would pay good money to see a remake of the movie Barfly if it cast Jay Cutler in the Mickey Rourke role... If Hillary Clinton were a Harry Potter character - there's no doubt in my mind that she'd be Delores Umbridge... Heh heh - take the guy with the huge bong!... Still say that the James Earl Jones character in Field of Dreams could have easily paid off Ray's mortgage to save the farm. That cheap fuck was a best selling author AND owned a successful software company in the midst of the tech bubble. One of the things that always bugged me about that movie... Clint Eastwood is not pulling any punches...