A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Inning 4: A National Heirloom (1920-1930) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns Directed by: Ken Burns The 1920s begin with America trying to recover from World War I and baseball trying to recover from the scandal of the 1919 World Series. America finds relief in the boom market and the Jazz Age. Baseball finds its own boom market in a player with a Jazz Age personality; a troubled youth from a Baltimore reformatory school who can hit the ball farther than anyone. George Herman "Babe" Ruth is one of the best pitchers in baseball. But he loves to hit even more. In 1919, he hits 29 homers for the Red Sox, more than any player has ever hit in a single season. On September 21, 1994, at the height of a long strike by Major League Baseball players, 300 member stations of America's Public Broadcasting System aired A National Heirloom (1920-1930), the fourth "inning" of  Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns. For many baseball-deprived fans, this ...

Q: Does Donald Trump represent your values and beliefs as an American citizen and why? A: No. Not one bit. As I often remark when I reply to Trump-related questions, I have never been a partisan kind of guy. Sure, since 1992 I’ve voted mostly for Democratic candidates, but I always take the time to look at what the Republican Party has to offer when it comes to state and national level legislators and chief executives. Look. When I registered to vote back in 1984 I chose to  not  join any of the established political parties. I sacrificed my right to vote in Florida’s closed party primaries because I felt then (as I do now) that neither the GOP or the Democratic Party fully represented my values or my beliefs. Back then, I still tended to think in Cold War era terms. The Republicans under Ronald Reagan and G.H.W. Bush tended to support a strong military…not one that sought to start a war with the Soviet Union, but rather strong enough to deter one. And 33 years aft...

Star Wars: Rebels Created by: Simon Kinberg, Carrie Beck, and Dave Filoni Based on the works of George Lucas Join the Ghost crew as it prepares for its biggest mission yet in Star Wars: Rebels - Season Three ! The story of the Ghost crew is far from over. While Sabine confronts new challenges on her home world of Mandalore, Ezra's growing power as both a Jedi and a rebel leader helps the rebellion acquire new resources and new recruits for the fight ahead. However, the Imperial effort to eliminate the rebellion is now being led by the coldly calculating Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose strategic, tactical, and cultural insights make him a threat unlike any they have faced before.  - Synopsis on Blu-ray packaging On September 24, 2016, the Disney XD cable channel aired Star Wars: Rebels - Steps Into Shadows, a one-hour TV movie written by Steven Melching and Matt Michnovetz and directed by Bosco Ng and Mel Zwyer. Set six months after the events of Twilight of the A...

Star Wars: Rebels  Created by: Simon Kinberg, Carrie Beck, and Dave Filoni Based on the works of George Lucas A year after the Walt Disney Company bought Lucasfilm Limited from its founder and CEO George Lucas, Dave Filoni and his crew at Lucasfilm Animation were told to close down production of the animated series  Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was airing on Time-Warner's Cartoon Network.  The Clone Wars had just finished its fifth season, and Filoni's team was in the midst of producing Season Six when Disney pulled the plug on the Emmy-winning series. Lucasfilm's corporate owners wanted to focus the company's creative efforts on the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens feature film and other projects - including a new animated series for the Disney Channel's cable sibling Disney XD: Star Wars: Rebels. Created by Filoni with writers Simon Kinberg and Carrie Beck, the series' first season is set 15 years after the events of Star Wars - Episode II...

Why can’t people respect President Donald Trump, you ask? Well, to be honest, not  everybody  disrespects Mr. Trump. He has a very vocal, very active, and (dare I say) incredibly aggressive core of supporters. This core is made up of mostly white, mostly Christian, extremely  conservative  and largely rural Americans, although quite a few African-Americans and a large subgroup of Cuban-American citizens - most of whom live in South Florida - are fiercely loyal to Mr. Trump. So, in essence, it’s fair to say that  not  everyone lacks respect for Mr. Trump. I, sadly, happen to be one of the many millions of Americans who simply can’t bring themselves to  respect  a man like Donald J. Trump. Listen. I don’t know if the person who posted this question on Quora is a genuine American citizen of the Republican/conservative/nationalist persuasion or a Russian “troll” in the service of the Russian Federation’s huge (or as Mr. Trump would s...

The best way I can think to answer this question, other than laugh at its silliness and  not  answer it, is to flip it around on you. Do “conservatives” regret being so dramatic over the 2008 and 2012 elections? To be fair, I know that not every American who identifies as a Republican or conservative was “so dramatic” (to use the original poster’s words) when Barack Obama was elected as the first non-white President of the United States nine years ago after defeating Arizona Senator John S. McCain III (R) and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the 2008 Presidential election. Many sensible folk just accepted Obama’s win and said to themselves, “Maybe we’ll win in 2012.” They might not have been happy about the loss, but were willing to accept Mr. Obama as the duly elected President. Others…not so much. See the guy in the photo above? If you listen to conservative-leaning talk radio or watch TV talk shows that skew to the right, you’ll know that he’s Rush Limba...