jacc in the box - extra stuff -back-About the author
Me thinks what I have at the end of the about page says it all...
Nicholas Ralph Baum is currently an Information Management
Analyst with a utility in Phoenix, AZ. He has one son who he
bonds with via -Minecraft- and -Team Fortress 2- (hdgehog6).
He was married in Feb of '08 to Nedka Petrovova.Now, I think that should be enough but I'm being told 'no, it's not.' I've been infromed that readers really want to know about the authors they enjoy and they want details. [STARTLED EXPRESSION]
They want me to blog for Christ's sake! About what? Whatever comes to mind they say! Okay, whatever comes to mind....
[ON HOLD PENDING ORIGINAL THOUGHT]
Now, that's a colossal waste of time!
I tell ya what, let's do it this way, whenever you readers have a question that I think would benefit others, and not enchroach on my private life, I'll post it here. Deal?
As it is I'm still a nobody, and I don't see my status ever changing.
2009
____________Fav Movies:
I've gotten a lot of questions and most of those I've been able to defer to the Author's Notes, but this one just kept popping up and a fellow writer I talk to suggested that I should post a response to this one. I asked why and she said that it may give the readers a better idea on how I visualize my work. Pretty good response—even though I don't agree with her.
Now after thirty (30) requests for this she probably made her point so, in the spirit of sharing, I'll give you my "Top-10" favorite movies (as of 2016) and then turn the discussion to a film that was stripped from this list all because of revisionism. (There's a trigger word for ya!)
(01) Seven Samurai -LINK-
1954 / Kurosawa — No words can do justice to the works of Kurosawa. Rashomon may be a more intersting story but this film depicts their world with brutal honesty.(02) Nightmare Before Christmas -LINK-
1993 / Burton — I have seen this thing a bazillion times with my son, my stepdaughters and everyone else and... Well, it never grows old.(03) Pan's Labyrinth -LINK-
2006 / del Toro — If you are not in tears by the end of this movie you do NOT have a soul. It is cruel and beautiful.(04) Sorcerer -LINK-
1977 / Friedkin — What a counterpoint to the shite of Star Wars. It is damned intense (the bridge) and so very sad.(05) Zootopia -LINK-
2016 / Howard-Moore — I feel so unclean adding a Disney movie to this list, but the fact is that it is so fucking briliant that it would be amiss to exclude it.(06) Bringing out the Dead -LINK-
1999 / Scorsese — I think this is Scorsese's best film ever. What's more I don't like Nicholas Cage but he was perfectly cast in this role.(07) Hairspray -LINK-
1988 / Waters — This was such a delightfully fun little movie, but the remake was such a wrist slashing bore.(08) The Thing -LINK-
1982 / Carpenter — This movie was both terrible and fun as hell. It has been on my favorite list for 30 years now!(09) Full Metal Jacket -LINK-
1987 / Kubrick — There is absolutely nothing that I can say about this movie 'cept "hey there, hi there, ho there!"(10) Andromeda Stain -LINK-
1971 / Wise — This film is sooooo outdated but it was soooo damned scary when it came out. The remake in 2008 was ooooh soooo fucking terrible it hurt!PS: It was Dr. Strangelove that got pushed from this
list by Zootopia...those heartless bastards!
Before I get to the lambasting, here are some honorable mentions:
Alien, Aliens, Immortal Beloved, Scrooge (1951), District-9, SE7EN, THX1138, American Graffiti, Up, Rashomon, Throne of Blood, Dogma, Sweeney Todd, Fargo, Witness for the Prosecution, Brazil, Ed Wood, No Country for Old Men, Lego Movie, The Usual Suspects, Apocalypto, 12 Monkeys, Unforgiven, The Perfect Host, Galaxy Quest, Cloud Atlas, and The Godfather. Okay, now for the spittle flecked rant...No, wait! Let's add to the list Dracula (1992), Battle Royale, Deadpool, The Fountain, Barry Lyndon, A Boy and His Dog, Psycho, Fight Club, Winter's Bone, Constantine, Shindler's List, Blancanieves, Troll Hunter, Yojimbo, 1984, and The Lion In Winter. NOW let's do it!
Here's a little taste of what I call the: Han Shot First Syndrome
Apocalypse Now -LINK-I have never felt as cheated as I do with this film. EVERYBODY I know watched the general release that had the airstrike at the end during the credits. For my birthday in 1988 my new wife at the time bought me the movie and we sat down with popcorn and at the end...no airstrike! Then thinking it was defective I sent it back and soon with the replacement copy in hand I got...no airstrike!?! Dafuq!
1979 / Coppola — Revisionism at its most maligned.
Ten years later I buy a DVD from Blockbuster and...NO AIRSTRIKE!!!
It went into the trash. I didn't even bother taking it back...Years later my current 2nd edition wife gets me the 30 year anniversary DVD set and, low and behold, NO FUCKING AIRSTRIKE!! No surprise there but it's a new millinium and I gots the interwebs at my fingertips so I do a search and choked on my burbon, "Wait, wut! seriously..."
Francis, tizio, nobody thinks, I mean NOBODY I know thinks that it was Willard who called in that airstrike. EVERYBODY I know thinks Willard ignored the radio and motored on his merry way! And the CS-Allmighty, knowing his coords, called the airstrike anyway—killing nobody! Point being that Kurtz's crew made tracks long before the bombs fell.
In the greatest combat money-shot of the '70s, not one body was seen getting blown up. What that end credits airstrike did do was frame that movie (and the war itself) more perfectly than anyone could ever hope for even with an endless budget and reams of exposition.
It was a waste...
The movie itself (like the war) was a waste with nothing to learn or gain by watching it until those end credits slapped the audience in the face. The Redux version was gawd awful but you can keep that trash as your magnum opus if you want just GIVE US BACK OUR AIRSTRIKE!!!
If you heard that people did or did not think Willard called it in or not is meaningless—you don't have the right to up and fuck around with it on some whim. Put the Goddamned airstrike back!
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