A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Photo: Pixabay Hello again and welcome to A Certain Point of View. It's a nice Wednesday afternoon here in my corner of Florida; currently, it's 79℉ (26℃) under sunny skies. We may see the temperatures rise a couple of degrees (81℉/27℃) by late afternoon, but it's definitely not a bad day to go out and get a bit of sun and fresh air. I had hoped to have that long-promised review of Strategic Command WWII: World at War at least half-way done by now, but I haven't played the game in a couple of days and I don't believe I could give you a decent review based on my experiences to date. So if anyone out there is eagerly waiting for my opinion about Strategic Command WWII: World at War (or WAW ), please be patient. I'll write a review as soon as possible. I also don't have anything to offer on the political commentary side of the blog. I used to find inspiration for my political "stuff" at Quora, but I stopped writing there last week and now co...

Screenshot of Strategic Command WWII: World at War. © 2018 Fury Software/Slitherine Ltd.  Hi, everyone! Welcome to today's "upcoming events" blog post in A Certain Point of View. As the weekend approaches, I'd like to let you know what my plans are regarding content and the future of this blog. In the near future, I'll try to focus my attention on writing reviews and back off from writing about politics, the conservative/liberal divide, and Donald Trump. This will probably result in a slow-down as far as creating blog posts since much of my energies as of late were spent writing about the toxic political scene at home and abroad. Additionally, I closed my Quora account this morning, and because most of my Trump-related content was derived from my answers on that site, I'll be forced to come up with new material that will be exclusive to A Certain Point of View if I have any hopes of getting any income from AdSense and Google. So, Constant Reader, I don...

On Quora, conservative member Philipp Andern asks: Liberals: Should Trump be impeached for speaking with the Ukrainian President? Why or why not? My reply: First, let me say that disingenuous questions like  “Liberals: Should Trump be impeached for speaking with the Ukrainian President? Why or why not?”  are annoying, dishonest, and meant to deflect from the truth. In other words, they are  insincere. Second, under most circumstances, it is part of any President’s job to speak to foreign leaders. Whether it is to congratulate one - such as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Kelensky - on winning an election or to consult with a major ally on matters of global importance, it is important that a President of the United States reaches out to his foreign counterparts. It’s part of the job and a crucial one at that. What is  impeachable  in the case of the conversation with Ukraine’s President Kelensky is the fact that the current occupant of the White Hous...

On the question-and-answer site Quora, Trump supporter Lauren Davis asks: Why do Democrats hate when people support our president? Don’t they know they make our country look bad? My reply:  Before I give you a proper answer, let me ask you this: Do Trump supporters see the hypocrisy in asking questions such as  Why do Democrats hate when people support our president? Don’t they know they make our country look bad ,  when many of them not only disrespected the previous President between 2008 and 2017 but depict Democratic Party politicians and voters as traitors, “socialists,” and overall evil destroyers of the United States? See, one of the great tragedies about our representative style of democracy is that it has gradually devolved into a vitriolic team sport. A sport, dare I say, where it is a zero-sum game of “my team is better, so yours is for losers.” Partisan rivalry in America, of course, is nothing new. George Washington did not like the par...

© 2013 Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment On Quora, Jason Handleman asks:  Do you look forward to cinematic reboots and remakes or do you prefer original, untested offerings? My reply: It really depends on the film and/or genre, as well as other considerations, such as  who  is making the reboot/remake, the cast, as well as the  why. For instance, I would not care for remakes of such films as  Casablanca, North by Northwest, Jaws,  the original  Star Wars  Trilogy,  Raiders of the Lost Ark,  or  Stand By Me.  Those are films that are representative of the times in which they were made, and no matter how hard one tries, they can’t be replicated and be expected to catch lightning in a bottle twice. I am open to remakes and/or reboots of comic book movies; DC and Marvel Comics reboot their established titles every so often, so if the source material can be revamped by their respective publishers, then their movie a...

On Quora, Tyler Hoffman asked recently: What do you think about Trump’s promise to eradicate AIDS if he is re-elected? My reply: What do I think about President Donald Trump’s hyperbolic promises to eradicate AIDS and cancer  if  he is re-elected? I think it’s a typical Trump hokum. Malarkey. Bullshit. Nonsense. It’s on par with “We will build a great, beautiful wall on the southern border, and Mexico will pay for it.” It’s on par with Trump’s long-lived insistence that Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen. It’s on par with  “If and when the Vatican is attacked, the pope would only wish and have prayed that Donald Trump would have been elected president.” It’s on par with his claim that on September 11, 2001, Trump  personally  witnessed “thousands of Muslims” in New Jersey celebrate as the Twin Towers burned and fell across the river in Manhattan. In other words, I think he’s no better than a snake oil salesman trying to peddle his w...

On Quora, member Ethan Endres asks Why do so many people think conservatives are racist? My answer: First, I’d like to point out that I think this question is rather flawed and shows a right-wing bias. It’s a prime example of what my high school and college English instructors taught their students to avoid in their argumentative essays: a gross generality. Second, let’s be very clear that I don’t think that every individual who espouses conservative beliefs is  ipso facto  a racist. There are black conservatives, Hispanic conservatives, Asian-American conservatives, and multi-ethnic conservatives. Calling them  racist  is rather ludicrous, don’t you think? That having been said, many of us who happen to embrace liberal world-views do think that conservatives as a voting bloc tend to do two things that make them look racist. They deny that systemic racism still exists in post-Jim Crow America Many conservative voters - especially in the former Conf...

On Quora, many Star Wars fan can't stop themselves from asking "Is Han Solo really dead?" and variations thereof. As a matter of fact, this is my second (and hopefully final) answer on this issue: Is there any possibility Han Solo is still alive? In Act III of  Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens,  the following events take place in the First Order’s  Starkiller Base,  a weaponized planet: Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, stabs Han in the heart with a very unstable lightsaber - fatally Han then falls from the catwalk into a deep chasm after suffering a fatal lightsaber stab to the heart A short time after  this,  the sabotage to the Starkiller Base’s shields allows Resistance X-wings to deliver a fatal attack on the base’s equivalent of a thermal exhaust port. The resulting explosion not only destroys the First Order’s facilities on the weaponized planet but the planet itself So, considering all these events, and taking into account that Han i...

Photo Credit: Michael Stewart/Getty Pictures On Quora, Trump supporter extraordinaire Paulie Duguay asks: Why can't people support President Trump the way U.S. Presidents in the 1940's, 50's, and 60's were supported? My reply: I wasn’t going to answer this; I have a comedy screenplay to finish and turn in, but since right now I’m stuck trying to add an extra scene the director/producer wants me to add for “dramatic tension,” I will use this rather bizarre and patently insincere question to loosen up my writing muscles and do some mental gymnastics. I’m sorry to tell you this, dear staunch Trump supporter, but this question is based on a flawed premise: that before the Sixties, Americans of all social strata and political stances supported American Presidents almost universally. This, my sweet summer child, has never been true in any era of American history. Since 1789, perhaps the only U.S. Chief Executive who enjoyed this kind of support  may have been ...

1977 poster promoting Star Wars. © 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation On Quora, Marielle Jenna asks: What is the name of the first Star Wars movie of the Original Trilogy? My reply: Officially,   the name of the first  Star Wars  movie of the Original Trilogy is  Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. Originally, though, 20th Century Fox released writer-director George Lucas’s now-iconic space fantasy adventure on May 25, 1977 as  Star Wars. The studio, which financed, marketed, and released the film (indeed, owning the rights in perpetuity, although that’s now a moot point since The Walt Disney Company now owns Fox  and  Lucasfilm) allegedly refused to allow Lucas to include the  Episode IV: A New Hope  subtitle in the main titles sequence. Per Lucas’s account in the director’s commentary, Fox executives feared that audiences would be put off by seeing an “Episode IV” subtitle at a time when no other  Star Wars  ...

© 2019 Salon.com On Quora, right-wing member and hater of all things liberal David Bolick asks this about Quora sponsor Salon : Why does Quora allow such offensive sponsors as this? I replied thusly: Well, for starters, because  Salon  is  not  what most rational and educated people would consider “offensive.” It is not, say, a site that peddles porn of any kind, incites violence, or promotes bigotry, misogyny, or engages in conspiracy theories. Of course, if you happen to be a self-identified conservative with what others might consider extreme right-wing views, i.e. all liberals are “evil” and “Democrats should all be shot,” then I can see - all too clearly - why someone might consider  Salon  offensive. For those Quora members who are scratching their heads as to why someone would consider  Salon  “offensive,” here are the basic facts about the website: Here’s Wikipedia’s description of  Salon: Salon  is an America...

On Quora, die-hard Trump supporter Eda Acuri asked this question yesterday: Why should the American public NOT take the Democrats interpretation of the Mueller's report? Quora has marked this question as being insincere. Here's my reply to Ms. Acuri: First, my fellow American, it’s not “Mueller’s report,” it’s the “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In the 2016 Presidential Election,” by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III. If you’re going to ask loaded, insincere questions in an effort to defend  “the greatest President in American history,”  as some of you like to call Donald J. Trump, you can at least try for a modicum of accuracy when you write, especially on a public forum like Quora. Second, it’s not the “Democrats interpretation” of the above-mentioned “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In the 2016 Presidential Election.” The way you phrased that question is as dishonest as it is grammatically incorrect, my friend....