Virtue Is Knowledge . com

Saturday I joined 3 corrections officers from my prison to make a 4 man team to participate in the 15th annual Beaver County Law Enforcement Invitational. There were many local agencies, civilians and Feds like the FBI and Marshal Service represented. It was a standard police pistol combat match. We shot the course three times, one for each event: single, two-man and four-man teams. Each course was 60 rounds on B-27 targets. For an IDPA and IPSC shooter it was a humbling experience. You only shoot 12 rounds at 7 yards and the rest of the course is shot at 25 and 50 yards. Most modern agency qualifications don’t go beyond 15 yards any more. To make it more difficult any hit outside the 7 ring counted as 0 points. Oh, you had left hand and right shooting from the barricades, prone sitting and kneeling strings too. It was tough.

I used my 4 inch S&W 686 and some generic Remington .38 special loads that ran around 755fps. I was holding on the shoulder line at 50 yards to try to drop rounds in the scoring zone. When you can’t see any hits you tend to focus on sight alignment and trigger control. I didn’t prepare properly and didn’t have a good barricade plan. I tried a couple of different holds and even single action fire, but found my double action pull was more consistent for me. (something Mas Ayoob has told me before) You shoot the course 3 times straight through and 180 double action trigger pulls in a half hour added a certain hand/finger fatigue factor into the mix. That may sound wimpy to some, but I use the Ayoob crush grip when I shoot and Mas will tell you that unless molten rubber or sap is oozing between your fingers, then you’re probably not squeezing hard enough.

So, when all was said and done my officers and I managed to bring a Bronze medal home in Marksman class of the 4-man team event. My teammates don’t shoot in competition as much as I do and performance anxiety effected them more than me. One told me he couldn’t sleep the night before and they had no prematch routine or rituals to help reduce stress. I’m sure on our home turf any of them could shoot the same course and score 100 points higher than they did this Saturday, but that’s one reason to shoot these matches, you always learn something. It was good to shoot at 50 yards where all your fundamentals have to be good to get those hits. If nothing else you learn your or your equipment’s limitations and like Dirty Harry said, “a man’s got to know his limitations!”

Finally, the string of bad movies is broken. The Coen brothers once again put together a farce that entertains. The cast of characters is rich and eclectic. They are all unlikeable, yet captivating in their unpleasantness. McDormand, Clooney, Malkovich and Swinton are excellent. The dialog is smart, the story whimsical, but they play it straight and it is quite funny. Brad Pitt is the weakest link, but doesn’t bring down the entire production. I don’t like spoilers, so I won’t give specific examples. Just believe me when I say you won’t look at your local home improvement store in the same light again. I don’t know why good movies are so rare. I think they have earned the luxury of control by their prior successes. They don’t have to play to the lowest common denominator to try to make money. Maybe they have respect for their art and the audience. Maybe a good story and interesting characters is too simple. Whatever the reason may be, I hope the Coens keep making the movies they want. Then I know at least once in awhile I’ll be able to see a really enjoyable movie.

The Chang brothers made a Thai film in 1999 that won some international acclaim for its directing and visual style. It was the story of a deaf-mute hitman. It was called Bangkok Dangerous. Why would you remake this film in 2008? Obviously, to try to break into the bank of big name western studio productions. Big name stars and distribution channels on a global level. But what about the movie? Nic Cage isn’t playing a deaf-mute. but you wish he were. Ooooh! I’m a hitman. I’m cold and aloof and don’t care about anyone. But wait! Now I fall for the deaf-mute cashier in a pharmacy?? At least there’s no language barrier. The girl emotes more as a deaf-mute than Cage does in this picture. I had a real problem with the cinematography too. It was dark and the color was washed out like the red hues were toned way down. It was so bad that I actually left one theater and asked for my money back (I got a free pass) because I thought the print or projector was bad. I saw it at another theater and it was the same, so I guess it was supposed to be that dark and colorless…like the soul of a hitman? I don’t know. Bangkok is a pretty place, but the only danger is to your wallet and your time.

This is three bad action movies in a row and I’m really disgusted with the whole industry. It’s my own fault. By going to these they make enough money to churn out more crap. It’s too late for me, but save yourself the money and show them you’ll only pay for really original and well made films.

It’s not the next Bourne Identity. It wants to be The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, but it’s just not that good. Don Cheadle should have stayed in the hotel Rwanda and waited for a better project. The subject matter could have been thought provoking. We could have been shown different perspectives of Faith and Politics, but once again the lowest common denominator wins out. That is the fear of upsetting ethnic/political groups and the assumption movie goers are stupid and afraid to see anything that may make us think. The result is a standard no surprise journey where we know the good guy is the good guy despite what everyone else says and we are supposed to sympathize with the bad guys because they have been misled by their leaders. Oh, and the CIA is doing shady things!

Score one for the trailers. I had hopes of a decent movie, but now I feel betrayed.

I like Vin Diesel. He has had some good character roles and was pretty good in XXX. I’d like to think he takes himself seriously as an actor, but this latest disaster makes me wonder. The movie is a mess from beginning to end. The story makes little sense and the dialog is laughable. Vin tries to do some Clint Eastwood one liners to no avail. The editing leaves me questioning what was left out and how bad it had to be to not make it into this film. It is clear that money was invested to make a film in order to make more money. Pay some actors and some effects people and turn out some formulaic sci-fi action movie. The first weekend sales will hopefully payoff enough before word of mouth gets out. DVD sales will bring in the rest, I guess. There are good stories and good film makers waiting for a chance to turn them into movies. That movies like this are allowed to be made is depressing and represents a cancer that infects the entire industry. I took this one for the team, so you don’t have too.

Car Sense

Dings, chirps, chimes and gongs
Greet you as the car starts.
Flit, flicker and flash
Go lights before your eyes.
Engine vibrrrato
Feeling pedal and wheel.
Senses attuned…you drive.