Hulk Smash!

[yendi]

Okay, I don't care what others think. I liked this movie. A lot. You know how I always defend the Disney version of The Three Musketeers as being a damned near perfect adaptation of the theme of the Dumas book, as opposed to the actual plot? That's what The Hulk is. It's spot-on in capturing the feel of the Stan Lee run (with a little backstory from the Peter David run, but the feel is definitely Lee). Not perfect -- the climax is underwhelming -- but still damned fun.

Started Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this morning. I'm only a few pages in, and I've avoided spoilers, but I do want to know when Jean Grey or Rachael Summers shows up and starts bossing Harry around.

Today is busy day, as work didn't seem to stop around here even though I was gone for five days. Weird.

In national news, Lestor Maddox died yesterday. He's a man who deserves no mourning, and won't get a lick of it from me.

And the Supreme Court overturned the Texas Sodomy law. Scalia's dissent continues to show that he either completely doesn't get the Constitution, or just plain doesn't like it. Either way, he's a hypocritical asshat who really has no right being on the Court.

Oh, and someone else did another one of those silly yearbook polls (which I still maintain are a horrible thing, by the way, so please don't ask me to vote in yours or even pimp it), and I appear to have tied a bunch of people (including kenhighcountry, storme, and daoistraver, but since I don't have the link on-hand, I don't remember them) as "most laid-back," to which I can only say, "whatever."

Work beckons. So does that damned book. I'll let them fight it out.

Comments

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Hulk was lots of fun, a great adaptation - just felt like 15 minutes of a radically different movie were shoehorning in at the climax!

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

I totally agree about the Hulk. I really enjoyed it. I just wish I hadn't seen it in a theater full of talking and laughing teenagers with cell phones.

[storme]

I was amused that the "most laid-back" category was tied with so many places.

So laid-back, we can't be doing with competing for the title.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

I liked the disney musketeers. Buckles were swashed in that movie. It was fun.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Hoorah! I now have THREE people who agree with me on that! (You, yendi and vill). :)

cheers,
Phil

[dwivian]

The loss of any human is worth mourning. Just mourn the loss of his life's potential at an early age, and not at the end.

Lester Maddox put more blacks into government roles than anyone prior. He instituted prison reform after meeting with escapees from a prison work camp (something people gave him great grief for). He was smart enough to play the politics of segregation to get into power, but he didn't walk it quite as strongly as he pretended. He was a product of his times, of course, but had he been a major reformer he would have never had the power to do what he accomplished.

He should be respected for having the guts to stick by his beliefs, at least -- we have too few people like that anymore. With a man like him you knew where he stood at least, and could work with him, or more likely around him, whichever you needed. The current politics of making nice to your face and stabbing you as you turn away is vile. He was a true stateman -- just a misguided one.

I mourn the loss of an example of a good husband, as well. He loved his wife dearly, and was devastated by her death in 1997. I would love to give as much to my wife as he did to Virginia, and to be as strong in my convictions as he was in his. He is a good example of the archetype, even if the details are a bit messy.

I also mourn the loss of Maynard Jackson, for many of the same reasons. Statesman, powerful leader, but someone on the OTHER side of the issues. Two bastions of the Civil Rights Movement vanished this week. I mourn for history, who will forget them in twenty years, and barely even mention them in textbooks in fifty.

Scalia has a right to be on the SCOTUS by virtue of appointment and confirmation. Too bad that's the only qualification required, though. One can hope he'll want to retire while BushII is in power, hoping that he'll be replaced by a like minded individual, but we can hope that someone more sensibly Constitutional and moderate rises to fill the gap.

[yendi]

Honestly, almost every piece I've read defending Maddox has uses two of these points -- the fact that he stuck to his beliefs, and his love for his wife. Both of these points bother me -- frankly, sticking to one's beliefs is not proof of anything other than the ability to stick to one's beliefs. Any category that can include both Ghandi and Hitler generally is about as morality-blind as can be. And the idea that only good people can love or be loved has always struck me as silly. Anyone can love strongly. It's part of being human, period. Only movies and pop culture have created some sort of belief that the bad guys can't feel love. It's patently untrue.

Granted on his creating jobs, but given Maddox's complete unrepentance over segregation over the last decade, I'm not sure I accept thta he wasn't really a believer.

No arguments about the history books. Frankly, I suspect that many people, already, have no clue who either of them were.

As for Scalia, yeah, he's got a right, in the technical sense, but at this point, I think he's proven himself judicially ignorant (unlike Rehnquist, who, much as I dislike him, at least recognizes that he's got a job to do, with certain requirements).

[dwivian]

As a person that is strong in your beliefs, you have no idea how many people are flimsy there, I guess. It's a major character trait, and a good thing and worthy of recognition. Too bad it was aimed the wrong way.

And, as someone that is strong in his love, you also don't seem to understand how much folly is out in the world today, where so many people pretend love and fall together and apart over and over. This man was married over 60 years, and was DEVOTED to his wife. That's rare, and also worthy of note.

I'd believe that he was a believer that people segrate, and forced integration would fail. It did, so he was right. But, segregation by force was just as wrong, and that he did come around on.

I'm with you on Scalia and Renhquist.

How do you feel about Thomas?