Amici:
Rebel Sowell … This Southern Belle hails from Texas and has a B.A. in Literature from The University of Texas of the Permian Basin. She has published several poems and short stories in local literary contests. While working on the university newspaper, she received two awards through the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. She was an elementary school teacher for thirteen years and then became an adjunct writing instructor at Midland College. Married with two daughters and two stepsons, Rebel lives in Midland, Texas.
That’s Rebel with the Godmother of the MFA program, Katie Towler ...
Rebel’s thesis, Daughter of the Bride, is a historical YA novel about Ellen Cook, whose recently widowed mother marries a young farmer after answering a newspaper advertisement. Ellen fights her infatuation for her new step father, but some emotions are unstoppable. As she blossoms into a young lady she deals with circumstances and negative judgments of the townspeople forcing her to make difficult decisions. The setting is in the 1890s in Texas hill country.
Here’s Rebel reading from her thesis, The Daughter of the Bride.
Rebel is a genuine sweetheart … and her family is wonderful. Great Texas people. We’re honored to know her and her family.
Killing Them Softly ... See the ad above? They got the “Brutal” part right ... it was Brutal (as in bad) ... and I can’t say I wasn’t warned. The Godmother, Michelle Turlock Isla, told me it was one of the worst movies she’d ever seen. So did a few other people, but there it was on our pay per view Dish TV (or whatever it is we use) for $5.99 (probably because of James Gandolfini’s untimely death) ... the Principessa Ann Marie said, “It looks terrible” from the previews ... but I’m a George V. Higgins devotee and had to watch it eventually.
Man was everybody right. Cogan’s Trade was one of Higgins’ first 3 masterpieces. It is often filled with better dialogue than The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Frankly, it’s just brilliant ... and funny. I’m surprised at Brad Pitt for letting this one see the light of day. Horrible ... truly horrible ... an Aussie? Really? McCain vs. Obama TV ads in the background every ten minutes? Oy vey ... what a bomb. Ann Marie was out cold ten minutes into the thing. I suffered through to the end, cursing under (and over) my breath every so often, often repeating: “Are you fucking kidding me?” It’d be nice if someone took the last of the three masterpieces (The Digger’s Game) a bit more seriously and produced something closer to the movie version of Eddie Coyle (which was wonderful).
So Long Doma … Defense of What Act? Consider this country having moved one small step closer to all men being creating equal … and there are plenty more steps to go … good for the gay community, of which my sister was a part, but this NEVER, EVER should’ve been an issue …
Time Out … I’ve been given a Time Out from the conservative blog where I often visit, debate, argue, accuse, get accused, etc. (although this time I really tried to restrain myself). It’s a place to kill time when I’m bored and to engage in some debate when I feel like doing so. I do have some fun there, as well as enjoy some of the debates (and some of the people there are actually very nice), but it’s been taken over by a lunatic (in my opinion), and he didn’t seem to enjoy my pointing his apparent racism out to him in my most annoying way (without calling him names). So it goes … here’s the Zimmerman trial exchange that kind of did it for me … although telling him to Go and fuck himself later on is what seemed to banish me from the world of make believe back into the real world …
Me: The issue in the Martin case is pretty obvious, I think … an unarmed black kid was profiled by a wannabe cop, told not to pursue, followed anyway, and things got out of hand real fast … and the kid with the skittles was dead and the guy with the gun said his life was in danger.
Great law, Stand your ground … shoot first and claim self defense later …
Him: Yes, Charlie, Stand Your Ground is a perfect law! It tells criminals they are no longer in charge and cannot just terrify people with their actions. I love it, know why? I’m not a criminal. I’m not going to attack anybody, so those that chose to attack a weaker person should meet a bullet, head on.
If it were up to me, I’d whack every gangbanger out there and put their heads on posts at the entryways to each city with a sign that says, “This is what gangbangers get in this city”. Add a few more heads that say “this is what happens to wife beaters and pedophile’s too”
They are barbarians, the only way to stop them is to kill them, they are no better than a terrorist Jihad killer. Fuck them all!
Me: Spoken like a true lunatic, __ … be proud … But please wear your hood when commandeering the troops so your friends know not to shoot you too
Him: I don’t wear hoods, I’ll leave that to the criminals like Martin
Like I said, so it goes … now that all the lefty pinko commies like myself have either ran for the hills or been banished from the site, wingies like this one are forced to play with those willing to tolerate him … all 6 or 7 or 8 of them … mostly the site has become a whining festival aimed at Progressive Statists and their evil plans to redistribute the wealth, take over the world, kill all the babies and what else? Bring back disco?
You can’t make this stuff up …
Zimmerman vs. Life Threatening … okay, so here is what I call life threatening, this animal beating some women for God only knows what reason (click on the link and scroll to the bottom for the video--this is an affluent New Jersey neighborhood) The guy in this video (link) ... they could shoot him and/or put him through a meat grinder an inch at a time and I wouldn't have a problem with it. The beating this poor woman took was a life threatening situation. I just don't see the scratches on Mr, Zimmerman below as the same level of life threatening. Frankly, I've been marked up worse in fights that I won. These scratches below could've been made after he shot the kid--something we'll probably never know.
I guess my issue with the Zimmerman case has more to do with the "Stand Your Ground" law than the specific case. I don’t like a law that permits one person to kill another and then claim “self-defense” ... and then the victim/state is required to prove it wasn’t self defense. Huh? There’s already a self-defense law on the books … why invite people to use a “fear for their life” defense when they may have started the fight and maybe lost something as simple as a fist fight/shoving match. It’s way too subjective: one person’s fear of life and limb can far outweigh another person’s same fear.
As to the specific case, I find it way too hard to believe Mr. Zimmerman’s life was actually in danger … he just didn’t have enough bodily harm for me to digest his side of the story. And, of course, Trayvon Martin can’t give his side of the story. Add to the circumstance the fact that Zimmerman was a wannabe cop who felt the need to carry a gun everywhere is a little too much for me to believe “his” life was the one in danger.
Aaron Hernandez … he’s gonna need those muscles up above now ... but what’s to say about this moron? Anybody this stupid (yes, I’m prejudging) deserves the maximum the state can toss his way. Yesterday there was talk about tying him to a drive-bye killing (2 more victims) in Boston a year ago. Then there’s the guy in Florida who claims Hernandez shot his eye out. Oy vey ... I can’t help but wonder if he’ll do one of his dopey TD celebration dances in the prison yard end zones if/when he gets to play there …
Think he was digging his own grave?
—Knucks
Angela Gheorghiu, singing O mio babbino caro, from Gianni Schicchi. I was searching for the scene in Serpico when Al Pacino sings the title aria (a horrible high C) in his car, but no luck.
