Below are three movies I recently watched and found very enjoyable. None of the movies are alike in any way, yet each touched me in some way.
I like movies that tell a good story and takes it time in giving the underlying parts/backstory. If there is one similar current running through these movies it is the slower pacing and dialogue. So, if you are looking for a fast-paced, action-filled Hollywood blockbuster production with all the bells and whistles, it ain't happening here.
However, if you like a good story and can appreciate the artistry of film making, you may find yourself riveted by the styles and presentations of stories in these films. Also, the cinematography gives a tasty visual flavor to each.
Again, nothing to see here that will knock you off your feet. But you don't always have to get knocked to feel the moving effects of a good movie. Sometimes it only takes a nudge. Enjoy!
Set five years after the Civil War, this Western drama follows former Buffalo Soldier Moses "Mo" Washington (Letitia Wright) as she travels west to lay claim on a gold mine bequeathed by her late slaveowner father. It is a mean, dangerous world, so Mo travels into the deep frontier disguised as a man.
London broker Nicholas "Nicky" Winton helps rescue hundreds of predominantly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in a race against time before the Nazi occupation closes the borders. Fifty years later, he's still haunted by the fate of those he wasn't able to bring to safety.
Smita, Giulia and Sarah are from different parts of the world and have never met but are bound by something intimate and unique.
The hardest part of losing great players is the thought of what-coulda-been. Injuries, suspensions, off-field troubles, surprise trades, head coach firings, all have haunted the Raiders like the plague. Two things that remain consistent with the Raiders are majority ownership and Raider Nation.
So-what if we have to say goodbye to a great wide receiver in Davante Adams. Football is a TEAM sport, requiring great play at all positions on the TEAM. Not every player needs to be the greatest/all-pro at his position, but each needs to execute at a level which makes the TEAM better than their opponent on any given day. And that includes coaches.
The Silver & Black hold a 2-4 record heading into NFL Week 7 against the L.A. Rams (1-4). The league is full of mediocre teams and few dominating ones. With eleven games still on their schedule, let's see if this Raiders squad will fight for our colors or just lay down and collect paychecks. Let's see if they are cool with mediocre or willing to put in the work and fight to win each and every game. Because as fans, it's one thing to see your team lose a tough, hard-fought game, but quite another to watch them display little to no effort in losing badly.
Oh My Goodness!!! Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam home run in the 6th inning to take a 4-1 lead. And Mets pitching shutout the favored Philadelphia Phillies the rest of the way to ADVANCE to their first National League Championship series in nine years.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. These Mets are simply Amazing!!!
They continue to find ways to win by biding their time and, sooner or later, striking when opportunity presents itself. Hats off to Mets pitching and clutch hitting. They have a special team chemistry working for them right now, where every cog to a man believes it's their time. And who's to say it's not after seeing what they've done to get to the playoffs and take down two Division champions.
Momentum is defined as "mass in motion." Applied to sports it can be "a team on the move." A team that has the momentum is on the move and is going to take some effort to stop.
Right now, the Mets pose a serious challenge to opponent(s) they'll face moving forward. Just when a team thinks they have them on the ropes, the Mets find a way to break through by striking out the side or getting a much-needed hit. Opposing teams can account for facing talented hitters and pitchers, but there is no preparation for facing a team with magical momentum like these Mets are riding on.
The first U.S. Election Official has been convicted of criminal charges to overturn the U.S. 2020 Presidential Election.
Her name is Tina Peters, and although she has been found guilty of crimes against the voters of Colorado, not to mention against State and Federal Constitutions, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk denies she did anything wrong.
The judge, who seemed frustrated with Mrs. Peters' election denials and excuses, spent 20 minutes admonishing her behavior, breaking down the hurt her actions cause citizens, the state, and the competency of elections in Colorado and the United States. I commend the judge for pointing out to this now convicted felon, the effects of her criminal actions.
Before announcing her sentence the judge gave Mrs. Peters a chance to speak. Her 40 minutes spent trying to convince the judge to show leniency in sentencing was full of conspiracy theories about Dominion Election Machines, which had been debunked. Mrs. Peters continued to paint herself as a victim, with no remorse and/or apology for the crimes she was found guilty of. She seemed only to feel sorry for herself and the privileges she would no longer have while serving a prison sentence.
If one jury and judge in one state can uphold and enforce the law related to one woman's illegal efforts to overturn a U.S. election, it gives the rest of the country's judicial branch added courage and incentive to prosecute and punish future persons, foreign and domestic, who attempt to interfere with United States elections. The fact Mrs. Tina Peters was a civil servant and elections official who attempted to illegally use her position to deny voters their constitutional right in an election is a very serious threat to our democracy and deserving of one of the stiffest punishments under the law.
On October 3, 2024, Mrs. Tina Peters was sentenced to 9 years in prison and immediately taken into custody. At her sentencing, the judge told her, "Your lies are well documented... I'm convinced you'd do it all over again if you could." Peters told the judge, "I've never done anything with malice to break the laws. I've only wanted to serve the people of Mesa County." The judge told her, "You are no hero. You're a charlatan who used, and is still using, your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that's been proven to be junk time and time again."
We are 28 days and counting, away from the 2024 Presidential Election. We know there are still citizens who believe with no factual evidence, like Tina Peters, that the 2020 Election was stolen. This is what is referred to as "The Big Lie" throughout mainstream media. A former president invented "The Big Lie" way before the 2020 Election ever took place. And that same president has spewed "The Big Lie" again leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election. Unfortunately, many like Tina Peters, loyal to this habitually lying president, continue to fall for anything and everything spewed from his impeached lips.
The great thing about this wonderful country of ours is we have freedom of speech laws, allowing us to speak our opinions about politics without prosecution. What the laws do not allow are any forms of Election Interference period. Attempts to overturn an election, whether using pre-election or post-elections methods, are a crime punishable by imprisonment in the United States. Tina Peters was found guilty and convicted on seven of ten charges of engaging in a security breach to advance a false conspiracy theory of election fraud.
In a sense, Tina is a victim of sorts. She continues to be a victim of lies told by a former President, now Republican presidential candidate, and his Republican party sycophants spewing "The Big Lie." Yes, sycophants too fearful of the candidate's wrath to call out his many false statements. Hopefully, someday Tina will receive an apology from those who wrongly convinced her the 2020 Election was stolen. She "drank the kool aid!"
To those Citizens who plan to be proudly on duty helping officiate our Nov. 5, 2024, Presidential Election, Thank you for your service. But my salute to you comes with a troubling request: don't become a Tina Peters. Serve your country. Don't break the law serving your own wants or others illegal needs. Serve the people of America by carrying out your duties honorably.
Posted for Raiders fans who have endured so much pain and suffering, but somehow continue to remain loyal to the Silver & Black. If you have to laugh to keep from crying at the latest team debacle, which led to star wide receiver Davante Adams preferring a trade, then this clip should ease the pain a bit. "Run, Davante, Run"
It was one helluva winner-take-all Game 3 Wild Card playoff match. The Brewers and their home fans rode a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning, waving yellow rally towels while celebrating what seemed so inevitable: a series ending victory. Meanwhile, the Mets came up to bat facing the ultimate reality. Their amazing 2024 team-of-destiny ride into the playoffs could end here and now.
So, what do they do? Well, they didn't look away or flinch from the moment, that's for sure. As manager of the Brewers stated in his post-game interview about the Mets, "they did what they do." With their lead-off batter walked, and a hit for a single following a swinging strike out, these amazing Mets were right where they expected to be, runners on first and third with one out in the ninth inning. They hadn't scored a run in 15 innings of this now tied series. If they truly were a team of destiny, this was the moment of revelation.
Up comes Mets slugger Pete Alonso, whose bat has been somewhat slumpy of late. The two-time Home Run Derby winner was just looking to make good contact on the ball put it in play. Instead, he blasted a 3-1 changeup pitch 367ft. over the right field wall for a three-run home run. And just like that, the team-of-destiny snatched this series away from the Brew Crew and their fans and never gave it back. Another RBI by Starling Marte three batters later added to the Mets lead, making it 4-2.
With the Brewers and all of Milwaukee shocked by this improbable Mets comeback, their desperation bottom of the ninth inning began with a promising single. The fan cheers were once again being heard loudly and proudly with a runner on base and no outs. But the next batter strikes out and the thick tension returns to the ballpark. Everyone in the place seemed choked-up with emotional anticipation of what would come next.
The end came so fast. One out with a runner on base and the third batter of the inning for the Brewers ready at the plate. It is truly a Casey at the Bat Mudville Moment. The Mets pitcher throws a first pitch 93mph sinker, the Brewers batter swings at the pitch and grounds out into a double-play. Ballgame over!
"And, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out."
(last lines of poem "Casey at the Bat")
The Mets win and move on to play the Philadelphia Phillies in a five game Divisional Series. The Brewers, NL Central Division Champions, are eliminated from the playoffs. "There is no joy in Milwaukee!"
Mets win. An instant classic. Steve Cohen, sign Pete Alonso. Mets win 4-2 and advance to face the Phillies in the NLDS. We're only through the wild-card series, baseball fans, and we're already exhausted and happy and sad and frustrated and second-guessing and absolutely joyous. Three more rounds. Let's do it. -- David Schoenfield
On a sunny San Francisco September afternoon, a Saturday made for taking in a bay area baseball game, I enjoyed seeing my SF Gigantes outplay the visiting St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park. It was the next-to-last game of the season for both clubs, as neither landed a spot in the playoffs.
Come Sunday, these two teams with win-loss records floating around .500 will close out their seasons with "wait-until-next-year" belly aches. Not sure about what led to the Cardinals losing steam after a first half 50-46 record. But for the Giants, injuries with inconsistent pitching and hitting doomed the team right from the start. There was some good, with young guys stepping in and contributing mightily. But the bad and ugly were all too common both early and late in the season. If you put together a collage of plays that consistently plagued the Giants this season, one theme runs through most of them:
plays with multiple men on base with one or no outs, and they end up popping out, striking out, or grounding out to end the inning without one runner crossing the plate.
I'm sure they rank high in the league on that all-telling baseball statistic (LOB), runners Left-On-Base. That, along with blown leads and strikeout at bats assured the Giants of watching another MLB Fall Classic playoff tournament from the couch.
For a Giants squad who at times demonstrated signs of competing with the big dogs this season, they lacked the threat of a clutch hit when needed the most. Also, when your clutch closer loses whatever dominating mojo he had to make him a threat in previous seasons, no close game is safe. But I won't blame the disappointing season on closer Camilo Doval. Every Giants player and coach has to take responsibility for coming up short this season.
I have been giving Giants manager Bob Melvin a pass since he arrived this season. I've criticized more than praised his judgement at times, thinking he took too long to make a pitching change or even call for a bunt with men on base. At times he seemed almost unattached or out-of-touch with the momentum swings occurring throughout the game. But what do I know, I've only watched managers like Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker somehow make the right call to fire up a Giants squad and get them to that final fall series of baseball.
But it does make one wonder when seeing Bob Melvin's old team in San Diego turn things around right after he leaves. One thing is a given when it comes to successful teams. Winning begins at the top and flows downward, onto the field of play. From putting together a team, to managing a team, to playing on a team. If there's a break or weakness in any part of a teams' chain of command, the battle is all but lost.
Thanks, SF Giants, for giving us fans a "torturous," yet exciting roller-coaster of a baseball season. "Maybe next year" we'll watch the Orange and Black chain of command exercise and execute their way right through October. GO GIANTS!!!
