I'll never forget the first time I watched “Saving Private Ryan.” I was 16 years old, and up until that point, my images of “real war” were as realistic as the movie “Beauty and the Beast.” My mind was absolutely blown when in the first scene the soldiers stormed the beaches on D-Day and seemingly got obliterated by the German forces. Very “real” images of men getting their brains blown to smithereens, and innards being exposed regularly left my jaw dropped for at least half an hour. My world was never the same.
There's a line in "Saving Private Ryan" where Tom Hanks' character says that looking for Private Ryan is “like finding a needle in a stack of needles” (If you’re unaware of the plot of the movie, they try to find and send home a soldier named James Ryan). I always thought it was an interesting line. They weren’t just looking for a soldier in an army of people (a needle in a haystack). They were looking for a soldier in military garb among thousands of soldiers in military garb. (Am I the first person to say garb twice in one sentence?) It was much harder than finding a needle in a haystack because a needle in a haystack at least stands out. My point? Well, I really hope my blog isn’t just a needle in a stack of needles, and that I actually stand out, as unknown and as obscure as I'm sure I'll inevitably be. I may not get a ton of readers, but I certainly intend to never blend in.
I have zero hope of being a blog that absolutely blows some teenagers mind and forces him to look at the world differently. I don’t have enough pyrotechnics or pretend blood for that. However, I’m a master of subtlety (Just like the devil). I intend to slowly grab your attention until some day you stop and say, “Huh, this blog is okay” (Just like the devil’s blog).
One more thing on D-Day. D-day used to be a military term used to mark any day that a particular mission began. But the enormity and influence of the events resulting from storming the beach in Normandy (June 6, 1944) were so large in scope that the term D-day eventually stood for that one specific incident. The actual mission was called “Operation Overlord.” I never knew this. A similar thing happened to “9-11.” Oddly enough, there isn’t a term for the day Michael Jackson passed away. What would we call that day? W-Day? The “W” of course would stand for “weird.” (“Hey, isn’t he that musician who had like thirty different surgeries to change his appearance, and had little boys sleep with him in a type of fortress?” “Yes, this is the worst day EVER! Let’s all mourn the same way Indians mourned the death of Ghandi!” See, weird.)
Let’s recap. This is my first attempt at my own blog. I will likely talk about sports, music, pop culture, family, politics, and my general view on the world around me. I will likely never be popular, but I will never be a needle in a stack of needles. I will follow an alphabetical order (You know, A-Z) of topics until I (as they say) find my voice. But since “V” (for voice) is like 20 letters away, buckle up. We’re subtly going for a ride, and if this first entry is a sign to come, we could be going anywhere.
There's a line in "Saving Private Ryan" where Tom Hanks' character says that looking for Private Ryan is “like finding a needle in a stack of needles” (If you’re unaware of the plot of the movie, they try to find and send home a soldier named James Ryan). I always thought it was an interesting line. They weren’t just looking for a soldier in an army of people (a needle in a haystack). They were looking for a soldier in military garb among thousands of soldiers in military garb. (Am I the first person to say garb twice in one sentence?) It was much harder than finding a needle in a haystack because a needle in a haystack at least stands out. My point? Well, I really hope my blog isn’t just a needle in a stack of needles, and that I actually stand out, as unknown and as obscure as I'm sure I'll inevitably be. I may not get a ton of readers, but I certainly intend to never blend in.
I have zero hope of being a blog that absolutely blows some teenagers mind and forces him to look at the world differently. I don’t have enough pyrotechnics or pretend blood for that. However, I’m a master of subtlety (Just like the devil). I intend to slowly grab your attention until some day you stop and say, “Huh, this blog is okay” (Just like the devil’s blog).
One more thing on D-Day. D-day used to be a military term used to mark any day that a particular mission began. But the enormity and influence of the events resulting from storming the beach in Normandy (June 6, 1944) were so large in scope that the term D-day eventually stood for that one specific incident. The actual mission was called “Operation Overlord.” I never knew this. A similar thing happened to “9-11.” Oddly enough, there isn’t a term for the day Michael Jackson passed away. What would we call that day? W-Day? The “W” of course would stand for “weird.” (“Hey, isn’t he that musician who had like thirty different surgeries to change his appearance, and had little boys sleep with him in a type of fortress?” “Yes, this is the worst day EVER! Let’s all mourn the same way Indians mourned the death of Ghandi!” See, weird.)
Let’s recap. This is my first attempt at my own blog. I will likely talk about sports, music, pop culture, family, politics, and my general view on the world around me. I will likely never be popular, but I will never be a needle in a stack of needles. I will follow an alphabetical order (You know, A-Z) of topics until I (as they say) find my voice. But since “V” (for voice) is like 20 letters away, buckle up. We’re subtly going for a ride, and if this first entry is a sign to come, we could be going anywhere.
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Today's recommendation: "Fantastic Mr. Fox" - I absolutely loved it!
Thanks for informing me about your own blog. You are a very witty writer and I enjoy reading your remarks.
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