one. charlotte gray. 

released: 2001.

starring: cate blanchett, billy crudup, michael gambon.

what makes it awesome: cate blanchett. and it's a beautiful story.

two. full metal jacket.

released: 1987.

starring: mathew modine, vincent d'onofrio, r. lee ermey.

what makes it awesome: r. lee ermey. 

three. the great raid.

released: 2005.

starring: benjamin bratt, joseph fiennes, connie nielsen.

what makes it awesome: this film is beautiful. i remember watching it in the theater and wishing i could have prints of some of the scenes the cinematography was so stunning. the story is miraculous in so many ways: it's about the largest u.s. military rescue effort in its history. it's long at times, but so, so worth watching. i loved the story of connie nielsen's and joseph fiennes' characters. and i loved seeing how awesome our military can be. 

four. incendies.

released: 2010

starring: lubna azabal, melissa desormeaux-poulin, maxim gaudette.

what makes it awesome:the story. it's haunting and horrific and shocking and so beautifully told. it's a foreign film, and i don't usually watch those, but this one... it's amazing.

five. the last samurai.

released: 2003.

starring: tom cruise, ken watanabe, tony goldwyn.

what makes it awesome: ken watanabe. the music. the cinematography.

six. master and commander: the far side of the world.

released: 2003.

starring: russell crowe, paul bettany, billy boyd.

what makes it awesome: paul bettany. and the ending's pretty nifty.

seven. saving private ryan.

released: 1998.

starring: tom hanks, tom sizemore, edward burns.

what makes it awesome: it hooked me from the beginning. i loved every actor's performance in this film. also a good tribute to what makes our military great.

tunes for tuesday: songs from the letter h

one. half of something else. the airborne toxic event. all at once.

two. hallelujah. jeff buckley. grace.

three. halo. depeche mode. violator.

four. happiness. abra moore. strangest places.

five. haunted. poe. haunted.

six. heartland. u2. rattle and hum.

seven. hellodrama. what made milwaukee famous. trying to never catch up.

eight. hells bells. acdc. back in black.

nine. hemorrhage (in my hands). fuel. something like human.

ten. here without you. three doors down.

eleven. here's a quarter (call someone who cares). travis tritt. it's all about to change.

twelve. heresy. nine inch nails. the downward spiral.

thirteen. hey daddy. korn. issues.

fourteen. hey jude. the beatles.

fifteen. hey jupiter. tori amos. boys for pele.

sixteen. hey ladies. the beastie boys. paul's boutique.

seventeen. hey pretty. poe. haunted.

eighteen. high and dry. radiohead.

nineteen. higher ground. red hot chili peppers.

twenty. hold me now. the thompson twins.

twenty-one. hold you in my arms. ray lamontagne. trouble.

twenty-two. hope for the hopeless. a fine frenzy. one cell in the sea.

twenty-three. the house is a'rockin. stevie ray vaughan.

twenty-four. how to save a life. the fray. how to save a life.

twenty-five. hysteria. def leppard. hysteria.

random quarter: the q&a edition--may

one. messy or neat? messy.

two. are you hesitating? i guess.

three. if you could have a superpower just for today, what would it be? ability to read people's minds.

four. when was the last time you went swimming? last summer.

five. today was hilarious because of sarah and adam.

six. what was the last party you went to? mae's baby shower.

seven. who would play you in a movie about your life? is it a good movie? hilary swank. i don't know.

eight. who do you think is cute? lots of people.

nine. what do you want to postpone? nothing.

ten. how did you start your day? playing texas hold'm poker online.

eleven. how do you want to be remembered? as a good writer.

twelve. what are you exploring? nothing.

thirteen. what do you consider to be your biggest achievement? living despite this shit.

fourteen. what was your favorite day this week? monday.

fifteen. what's the most creative thing you've done recently? written some newspaper articles.

sixteen. if you could travel anywhere tomorrow, where would you go? roadtrip across the south.

seventeen. list the things that nagged you today? shyness, fear and my mouth.

eighteen. what gives you comfort right now? baker street.

nineteen. what's the best thing you've read today? something i wrote.

twenty. if you didn't have any responsibilities for the day what would you do? hang at baker's and blog.

twenty-one. who loves you today? my family.

twenty-two. what makes a good enemy? hatred and fear.

twenty-three. today you got rid of money because i ate out.

twenty-four. when was the last time you had an inspiring conversation? i don't remember.

twenty-five. how much cash do you have in your wallet? three dollars.

motion picture monday

one. apollo thirteen.

released: 1995.

starring: tom hanks, gary sinise, ed harris.

what makes it awesome: gary sinise, ed harris. the beatiful job the cast and crew do to illustrate the extent of the efforts made to bring our astronauts home.

two. miss congeniality.

released: 2000.

starring: sandra bullock, michael caine, benjamin bratt.

what makes it awesome: benjamin bratt and michael caine.

three. office space.

released: 1999.

starring: ron livingston, jennifer aniston, gary cole.

what makes it awesome: stephen root.

four. smokey and the bandit.

released: 1977.

starring: burt reynolds, sally field, jerry reed.

what makes it awesome: burt reynolds. i never much cared for him, but here he's badass.

five. space cowboys.

released: 2000.

starring: clint eastwood, tommy lee jones, donald sutherland.

what makes it awesome: tommy lee jones.

six. talladega nights: the ballad of ricky bobby.

released: 2006.

starring: will ferrell, john c. reilly, sacha baren cohen.

what makes it awesome: ferrell (whom i usually detest) and reilly (whom i love).

seven. terms of endearment.

released: 1983.

starring: shirley maclaine, debra winger, jack nicholson.

what makes it awesome: jack nicholson.

tunes for tuesday: songs that begin with the letter e

one. easy. fuel. something like human.

two. eat the rich. aerosmith. get a grip.
three. eclipsed. evans blue. the melody and the energetic nature of volume.

four. egg man. beastie boys. paul's boutique.

five. elephants. rachael yamagata. elephants... teeth sinking into heart.

six. ellis island. big head todd and the monsters. sister sweetly.

seven. elsewhere. sarah mclachlan. fumbling towards ecstasy.

eight. the emperor's new clothes. sinead o'connor. i do not want what i haven't got.

nine. empire. queensryche. empire.

ten. empty. ray lamontagne. till the sun turns black.

eleven. end of the world. cold. thirteen ways to bleed on stage.

twelve. enjoy the silence. depeche mode. violator.

thirteen. enough for now. the fray. the fray.

fourteen. enter sandman. metallica. metallica.

fifteen. epiphany. staind. break the cycle.

sixteen. eraser. nine inch nails. the downward spiral.

seventeen. even better than the real thing. u2. achtung baby.

eighteen. evenflow. pearl jam. ten.

nineteen. everlong. foo fighters. the colour and the shape.

twenty. every rose has its thorn. poison. open up and say... ahh.

twenty-one. everybody hurts. r.e.m. automatic for the people.

twenty-two. everybody knows. concrete blonde. pump up the volume soundtrack.

twenty-three. everybody wants to rule the world. tears for fears. songs from the big chair.

twenty-four. everything changes. staind. chapter v.

twenty-five. eyes of a stranger. queensryche. operation mindcrime.

motion picture monday

one. about time.

released: 2013.

starring: domhnall gleeson, rachel mcadams, bill nighy.

what makes it awesome: the story. bill nighy.

two. a good year.

released: 2006.

starring: russell crowe, archie panjabi, albert finney.

what makes it awesome: it's in interesting study of the powerful impact one man can have on another's life, how upheaval can be beautiful. also archi panjabi's character's pretty cool.

three. keeping the faith.

released: 2000.

starring: edward norton, ben stiller, anne bancroft.

what make it awesome: the story. the dialogue. edward norton. anne bancroft.

four. one fine day

released: 1996

starring: george clooney, michelle pfeiffer, mae whitman

what makes it awesome: it's cute and happy. 

five. playing by heart.

released: 1998.

starring: sean connery, gena rowlands, angelina jolie.

what makes it awesome: the story, especially that of connery's and rowland's characters. i love them, yall. they are perfect in this movie. they are perfect. there's not a lot of action, here; it's billed as romantic comedy, but it's more a drama. and the cast is incredible. i've never seen such a wonderful ensemble. the way the story's told, the words used to tell it... not everything about it is good, and it's very chaotic at first, but i love how all the pieces come together.

six. the way way back.

released: 2013.

starring: sam rockwell, steve carrell, toni collette.

what makes it awesome: i LOVED this movie, yall. i remember watching it in the theaters; it made me laugh SO hard. i've never liked sam rockwell so much. it also made me loathe steve carrell. i've never really much cared for him as an actor, but he did good work here playing a truly despicable dude. 

seven. you again.

released: 2010.

starring: kristen bell, jamie lee curtis, sigourney weaver.

what makes it awesome: i like these characters. i like this story. it's cute and fun, but it's also got some heart, and i like that, too. and its cast is pretty nifty, as well.

saturday spotlight: the red lion project

in march, i changed jobs. a long, long time ago, i worked for a weekly newspaper. after a couple of years, i got sick of doing that and went back to selling books. i got sick of doing that, and spent four years selling children's furniture and accessories. i got sick of doing that and went back to working at the newspaper because i found i missed the work.

the thing i most love about this work is the perks... like the time i got to meet cheech marin and free entrance to events like the woodlands waterway arts festival and the tomball crawfish festival and the much more expensive ymca's dancing with the woodlands stars. the best perk is the stories we discover.

like the one about six marines killed in afghanistan and the red lion project the father of one has orchestrated to honor them. the father is thomas logan. his son was named joseph. 

prior to departing on that fateful tour, joey had expressed an interest in buying some land with his dad in montana because he'd loved going fishing there with him. 

they couldn't do it together, but tom bought the land anyway. more than a hundred acres of serenity near the clark fork river, surrounded by three thousand square miles of national forest. a quiet respite, ideal for horseback riding, fishing, hiking, canoeing... or just relaxing and observing the wildlife.

the plan is to build six cabins, one for each of the fallen, to be used by soldiers and their families... to create a haven, a place to heal, reconnect and ease the stress of transitioning from the military life to a civil one.

for those of you who live in southeast texas and like to fish, the project is holding a catfish fundraiser on may ninth. the deadline to enter was the first. but maybe latecomers will be welcome. doesn't hurt to ask.

i'm not necessarily posting this to encourage people to go fish. my older brother would've been all about that... he would've rallied all his friends to participate. and they would've done it because he could convince anybody to do pretty much anything.

i'm writing because my family goes to northern utah every summer for a week to visit my munkle (i've a great uncle who's a monk, for those of you are new here... yes, there are monks in utah, though not for long). anyway... that's our haven. that's my heaven. and i know full well how wonderful having that respite is. 

i know full well how our soldiers could use a place like this. like the one tom logan and his friends are making. 

i'm writing this because i want to help him make his son's dream a reality. i want to help our wounded. if they're hurt, we mend their bodies and then we send them home where they have to fend for themselves. we can do better than that. they deserve better than that.

to donate, click here.