A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Note: This a major revision of one of my first Epinions reviews. I wasn't too happy with either my original version or the rather low "turnout" hits-wise, so I decided to rewrite it almost completely.   Part One: Confessions of a Rank Sentimentalist  I love this book.  As a guy who has read hundreds of novels and non-fiction works, I can be classified as a certified (and, some might add,  certifiable ) bibliophile, and most people would say, "Hey, he reads and reviews lots of books...doesn't he love them all?"  Obviously, if I buy a book -- I rarely  borrow  books, and I haven't checked out any from the Miami Dade Public Library system in over 20 years -- I have to at least  like  it, so maybe I do love most of my books. I rarely say, point blank, that I  love  a book.  I can, however, honestly say that I love Michael Walsh's  As Time Goes By: A Novel of  Casablanca .  Not only am I a fan of the movie that is the well-spring from whic

On June 22, 1961 – by coincidence, the 20th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union – writer-producer Carl Foreman’s  The Guns of Navarone  premiered in the United States. Not only was it the first of several adaptations of novels by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean to become big-budget action-adventure movies, but it also marked the return of Foreman, who had been blacklisted during the Red Scare of the 1950s as one of the Hollywood Ten, to the limelight of the movie industry after years of working anonymously for more than a decade.  Starring Gregory Peck as Capt. Keith Mallory, David Niven as Corporal Miller, Anthony Quinn as Andrea Stavros, and Anthony Quayle as Maj. Roy Franklin,  The Guns of Navarone  tells the exciting – if at times a bit implausible – tale of a small Allied commando team tasked with one hell of a mission: Infiltrate the German-occupied island of Navarone in the Aegean Sea, avoid detection, and blow up a pair of large radar-controlled c

When Libyan rebels ousted the late Muammar Khaddafy's dictatorial regime in the late fall of 2011, their difficult task was made easier by the international community's timely declaration of a "No Fly Zone" enforced not only by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) but also by various members of the Arab League. Carried out by military aircraft from France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Canada, Qatar, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, and Norway, Operation Freedom Falcon and several supporting naval missions helped keep Khaddafy's forces from achieving air supremacy, prevented massive civilian losses from loyalist air strikes on rebel-held cities and degraded the regime's capacity to carry out successful ground counteroffensives against the Free Libyan forces. Back in 2011, the anti-Khaddafy coalition could count on the West, particularly the United States and her allies, to provide military assistance that would assist

Although most  Star Trek  fans would probably say that the show’s third season was its weakest due to Gene Roddenberry’s absence as line producer and the poor quality of many of its scripts, there were  some  good episodes which aired on NBC in 1968 and 1969.  One of the best shows which were produced under the aegis of Fred Freiberger was  Star Trek’s  77th episode,  The Savage Curtain ,   which was co-written by Gene Roddenberry and Arthur Heinenmann, based on a story by Roddenberry and directed by Herschel Daugherty ( Bonanza, Emergency! ).  The Savage Curtain   Stardate 5906.4 (Earth Calendar Year 2269)   Original Air Date: March 7, 1969   Written by Gene Roddenberry & Arthur Heinenmann   Based on a Story by Gene Roddenberry   Directed by Herschel Daugherty   On Stardate 5906.4, during the fifth year of her deep space exploration mission, the  USS Enterprise,  Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) commanding, is in standard orbit over the planet Excalbia, an uncharted world wit

History is written by the winners. This axiom is so old and has been attributed to so many persons over the centuries - Pliny the Elder said something like this, and so have such historical figures as Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill - that it seems as though it's become ingrained in history buffs' DNA. Whether you accept the idea that history, indeed, is often written in such a way that it favors the viewpoint of the winning side of a conflict at the expense of the losers' or not, if you carefully watch war movies about World War II - especially those made before the late 1960s - there's no doubt that films made by the former Allied powers (China, France, Great Britain, the Union of Soviet Social Republics, the United States and their allies) tend to prove that the axiom is more or less true. For instance, if you are an average American movie watcher (not necessarily a war film buff), chances are that when you think about World War II mo

Finding Balance: How to Juggle Academic Responsibilities with a Healthy Social Life in College For millions of American high school juniors and seniors, going to an institution of higher learning is the first big step forward in their post-graduation future.  After all, not only is a college degree necessary to start a career in many professions, but going to a college or university – often an out-of-state one – is a cultural and emotional transition from the dependency of adolescence to independent adulthood. If you are a high school upperclassman this year and plan to attend a post-secondary academic institution, perhaps you are looking forward to the freedom (and challenges) of living away from home for the first time.  Perhaps you are anticipating the new opportunities to make new friends and enjoy the college party scene.  Some of you may also be worried about how tough your professors may be or how to juggle your class schedule with off-campus responsibilities such as find