Birthday special

As I reflect on another birthday for me, I reflect on the train rides. I like riding the trains especially on a vacation. To reflect on the number of places I've arrived on trains allow me to offer some destinations.

By Amtrak, I've been to Washington, Memphis, Detroit, Dallas, & Los Angeles. With the exception of Detroit all of those have been multiple trips and often to visit family in all of those places. Without a doubt Los Angeles have been the most interesting of these trips as I don't go out west often enough. And sometimes I wonder why with the issues they seem to have out there with immigration and wildfires.

All the same it's exciting to see the parts of America that I don't always see. It's cool to go out east and see those sites that I normally won't see. Which reminds me, I would like to go back to DC in the future. It's such a great place to see historical sites of great political importance. I'm not done with that town yet!

Also it's cool to head out west and see the landscape of this country go from midwestern farmlands, to grazing lands, to mountains, and deserts. To look at dry riverbeds, buttes, sands, bushes, etc. Doesn't matter where my train passes through it's a treat to see some of these small towns and stop in them to see how much simpler it can be outside of our major metropolitan areas.

As you probably can tell of all the years I've taken the train the highlights of them have been going out west to Los Angeles. I've only done so twice in the first two decades of this century and had been waiting to do so for years. And at that one time doing so with a sleeper car berth which is recommended by me if you do at least two overnights on a train.

This comes to mind because I've been watching a lot of train videos lately. Especially those that involve the Southwest Chief. Look forward to a few more train rides as long as I remain in good health and finding places to go in the meanwhile.

As an extra treat, here's one my favorite pics from my trip in 2016 taken in Mendota, IL from the train. Had a nice rainstorm as we were leaving the state on the way to the Mississippi River to cross into Iowa.

Mendota, Illinois

Also, this is the shortest and best video I could find about taking the Southwest Chief. It's under 10 mins although find any video you want about any train. These are only for if you want to educate yourself. [VIDEO]

Tarantino "Trek"

Quentin Tarantino wants to do a Star Trek movie and at that it will be rated R. And how often is it that you will see this blog link to TrekMovie.com?

Man this movie might actually get me excited although the idea of an rated R Trek is an odd one. I can only imagine the violence, language or nudity. Although I hate to bring up Tarantino's foot fetish, it has come up in a few of his movies.

To me Tarantino has a strong affinity for those old style 1970s motif (I hope I used that correctly). Pulp Fiction was full of that 1970s style with hatchbacks. Often he also seems to go for those old school "blaxploitation" style which we may see in Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown or even Django Unchained. Also think about the Kill Bill movies which I certainly loved especially the first one, he seems to be a fan of B-movie action and portrays them very violently.

And now Star Trek. Will he give Star Trek a retro feel? Would this new Trek be far more violent than most Trekkies are used too? Will the sex be turned up on high in a new movie?

BTW, I didn't know this Star Trek Beyond didn't make money last year. The 50th anniversary movie lost money and to be fair I liked it but was it a great memorable movie not as much as the 2009 Stark Trek. Which reminds me...

[VIDEO] John Campea was debating a Tarantino Trek. Perhaps Paramount who owns this franchise might want to shake things up and find a new direction. Think prior to 2009 it was considered unthinkable not only to recast the original characters with new actors as they had in the JJ Abrams Trek. It was also unthinkable to even tweak the design of the original USS Enterprise.

It would be quite interesting to see Tarantino's take on Gene Roddenberry's universe. Will it be faithful? Or will it simply be a Tarantino story set in Roddenberry's universe telling his own story? All we can do now is wait...

I also want to note the new Trek series Discovery. My initial take on it is that the show started off interesting with the pilot that aired on CBS. It ended with the Captain asserting her authority against her first officer who essentially wanted to contradict her C/O in handling the newly revamped Klingons. I have no idea about this f-bomb Campea said occurred in the series and he also claims Trekkies took issue with the insertion of that.

Saw #JusticeLeague this evening

[VIDEO] I'm going to let John Campea do more talking about this movie. If I had seen the above video before seeing the 6 PM show I'd know what he was mostly talking about.

Since the start of the DC extended universe in 2013 with Man of Steel it seems the new series of films had starts in fits and starts. Man of Steel was OK there were some parts of the movie that threw me and basically they killed off Zod from Kryton so early.

Now I liked Batman vs. Superman though the whole film wasn't that good. Batman to me stole the show though in reading other reviews many had a serious issue with Batman as a cold killer. The Dark Knight or Caped Crusader showed he was a bad man in facing down the hoodlums of Gotham and Superman. It was a bit goofy how using Martha - the name of both Clark's mother & Bruce Wayne's - stopped the epic fight between DC Comics two most iconic superheroes.

I also liked Suicide Squad also problem is they threw in the Joker. I recognize that they threw in the Joker because Harley Quinn was in it - because she's been introduced to the main DC universe and is no longer exclusive to the DC animated universe. The first part seemed to have been humming along, the second half well I didn't get it. And again we get a glimpse of Batman & The Flash with a special appearance by Bruce Wayne near the end seeking to provide Amanda Waller cover.

The next movie changed the direction of the DC extended universe, Wonder Woman. Using the Great War (The first World War) was a nice touch that worked and contrasted with the canonical second World War origins of the superheroine. She fought the German Empire as easily as she fought the Nazi's Third Reich. It was quite an introduction especially if her introduction into Batman v. Superman wasn't as satisfying.

Finally we have the long awaited Justice League. Ah the Easter eggs I want to talk about we seem some hints of other DC super heroes in this one though nothing from them yet - and yes there will be other movies about these other characters. It was great to see Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg interact with each other. At first there was some hostility, then eventually they came together to fight a common antagonist. We even see a certain superhero who died in Batman vs. Superman return to finish the fight.Yeah I know a bit of a spoiler but if you've been paying attention to the trailers you already know Superman is coming back.

Just like Wonder Woman, the audience applauded and I missed the scene after the credits. There was a mid-credits scene that I saw, however, since I was at the movies far later than usual it was time for me to go. I may go see this film one more time to see this final scene. Although they could've ended this with the mid-credits scene which was very satisfying...and the audience also applauded that!

BTW, DC extended universe films aren't known for these end credits scene are they stealing a trick out of the page of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? I could like without it though only provided if they advance the story of the DC universe.

Also, I've never caught a midnight show, however, I've noticed over the years that they have slowly fallen out of favor. Basically if a blockbuster is expected to come out on Friday - in general - you can be amongst the first to catch it starting at 6 PM on Thursday. Of course this depends upon the venue where you seek to watch the movie. All the same I enjoyed this experience although a long way from saying this is something to do again. Perhaps for the right movie - the right geeky movie!

Go see Justice League, it gets a thumbs up from me!

#JusticeLeague is a winner not bad for watching the first showings of this film. Excellent! 👍🏾 pic.twitter.com/4RECjsI3wb

— Levois J (@levois) November 17, 2017

#Bitcoin

[VIDEO] I've been keenly interesting in learning more about bitcoin. Bitcoin is a crytpocurrency created in 2009 by "Satoshi Nakamoto" - the name is placed in quotes because the world doesn't know the identity of this person or persons. All we know is that there was a paper in their name, a computer program for bitcoins, and several forum posts and then a few years after developing botcoin this alias vanished. That's the story you see above from CNBC.

Back in 2009 I was on the verge of graduating from Morehouse College. Upon achieving my degree it was time to look for job which would happen by that fall. It was also safe to say, my finances were in the red with not a lot of income back then and student loans. Perhaps I was a long way from being able to take advantages of bitcoin with the low prices back in the early part of this decade. A small investment back then would provide nothing but significant returns now. You can check current bitcoin prices here.

While it seems one could make money from bitcoin, I have been advised that it's still considered make believe money. Since it mainly exists in cyberspace it's not real thus it's better to invest in something that exists in the real world such as a precious metal. And also the possibility that if something goes wrong with hardware or software the crytocurrenty can go up in smoke.

On the other hand, one good use for bitcoin I have seen is that if you need to sent money somewhere for example sending money to relatives in an unfriendly nation. No need for banks or a Western Union to be the middle man. Use the peer-to-peer network to send the bitcoins to where they need to go and those on the receiving end will get their cold hard cash from the crytocurrency.

You can read more about advantages & disadvantages here. Meanwhile through a variety of sources online and offline my goal is to continue gaining more knowledge of this.

Saw Spider Man Homecoming....twice

[VIDEO] Spider Man Homecoming is a movie I enjoyed seeing twice. The iconic Marvel Comics superhero is essentially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Tony Stark featuring heavily as something of a mentor to this young teenage meta-human. And yes for the most part comic book fans already know his origin.

When you think about it, this isn't an origin film. Basically the movie starts after Spider Man's cameo appearance in Capt. America: Civil War facing off against needless to say Capt. America and his allies. Then back to NYC where Peter Parker is juggling adolescence, superhero business, school, etc.

Even weirder Spider Man's suit is the coolest suit ever seen and near the end he had it taken away from him. Parker had to rely only on his meta-human abilities and identity essentially concealed by a homemade customer consisting of sweatpants and a hoodie. The suit is made by Tony Stark and has all types of cool bells and whistles which for a brief time was also taken away from him.

BTW, this movie's version of Aunt Mae, I'd be trying to gain favor from her also. The youngest and most prettiest incarnation of her ever. Although for most of her portrayals she had little clue of Parker's double-life. Time may tell if future movies go with this, but it looks like now she knows!

How this film was portrayed? Well you're reading the blog of a man who used to be a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I wanted to know martial arts like they did and wanted to be a hero. A kid likes to think about heroes and probably wishes they could be like Peter Parker with heart and the ability to beat bad guys.

I feel as if I gave away some plot points, but before that film leaves theaters near you go see it. Spider Man Homecoming essentially is the third superhero move of the summer. I was glad to see almost two months after a June release Wonder Woman is still going strong and having seen Guardians of the Galaxy which was also a good movie to see.

And I almost forgot about Logan which is a movie that rubbed me the wrong way. Main thing about that movie was that it ended on a depressing note and it was mostly a very dark feature. Although to be fair perhaps a fitting note to end Hugh Jackman's time as Logan/Wolverine.

Dunkirk

As briefly written at E.M. this film was my Saturday movie and one that was very heavily promoted in movie trailers for the last couple of months. Dunkirk is a French town near the Belgian border where allied forces of Britain and France were surrounded by forces of Nazi Germany. That situation and the Hollywood depiction of this battle were without a doubt bleak.

Knowing history you already know the conclusion of this story, however, just remember that in 1940 when these events took place the second World War wasn't looking very good. The armies of fascism and militarism had been expanding in Europe and the Pacific. With the collapse of France and Britain all alone with the United States staying out of the war yeah it was hard to say the Allies was going to win the war in 1945.

It became clear why it was very important for Britain to get their army back from Nazi occupied France, English military leaders recognize that they're next. The air Battle of Britain was coming after this and if the British couldn't hold their airspace soon Great Britain could be the next nation occupied by Nazi Germany. If you remember history, you also would know how that turned out!

The story was broken out in three parts to start the story began with the infantryman perspective, then we saw the airmen who tried to protect the ground troops from the air - and just think the troops on a beach waiting for evacuation were being harassed by German planes with bombs and bullets, and finally we see the story of one civilian mariner who set off for Dunkirk to do their part for Britain to help evacuate Allied troops from a bleak situation.

It seems many of Christopher Nolan's film masterpieces are known for being long at least over two hours. To my surprise Nolan kept this historic movie short at least slightly under two hours. It told the story it needed to tell and certainly it was wonderfully shot. The story was simple if the Allied forces fighting against the Nazis were to survive they needed to get out of France which had already fallen.

I would recommend this war movie if you will. Hopefully you'll go out and see it while it's out at a theater near you. Perhaps you should look up anything on Dunkirk before you purchase that movie ticket.

Saw the Tupac movie recently

Over at E.M. I wrote a post about seeing All Eyez on Me this past Friday. Many gangsta rap/Tupac fans were eagerly anticipation this biopic of Tupac Shakur who died so young in September 1996.

In that post at E.M. I start off by saying it's rare a negative post is written about a movie. Most of the time when going to the show it's about entertainment and you just go up find a movie to see and there's nothing groundbreaking about the movie. Instead you watch be entertained and then you just forget about it. It's not often you watch a movie that is entirely memorable.

I could compare this film with the hit movie from two years ago Straight Out of Compton. I'm not sure the Tupac film could even compare even if an important character included the infamous gangsta rap producer Suge Knight.

To be sure, though this film has brought back so many memories of the 1990s music scene. The young people are listening to vastly different music and some of it has very little meaning. Tupac at least started off with a message especially in providing a voice to the voiceless.

Here's hoping Tupac's story inspires someone, especially a young person to take up his mantle. Provide a voice for the voiceless through a variety of mediums whether social media or with art such as music, painting, sculpture, or writing.

Utilizing the platforms on the world wide web

Often on this blog I talk about the internet as it once was. Instead of blogs and social media sites people used to have their own personal web pages usually via their internet service providers. Many dialed onto the web with a dial-up modem using a phone line. There wasn't as many bells and whistles online back in say the late 1990s.

I vaguely remember this because for a brief time until my mother abruptly cut off our internet service after almost six months - she likely didn't see the point for herself at least and claimed it was starting to cost too much. As for that last part well I was taking to the internet more than she expected and just made the decision to cut it off and was in no rush during that ensuing period to bring it back.

Either way back in the 1990s where was no Facebook, Google was probably in its infancy, no Twitter, no Instagram, Blogger was likely also in its infancy. Basically if you wanted to connect with people you literally had to create your own platform  and there weren't many places back then that would provide one for you!

Blogger I now know was started in 1998. It was likely around when I attended a community college in downtown Chicago and had no idea about it although I spent a lot of time surfing the internet at school. During this period my interest was in creating this platform to connect with others or at least sharing information just had little idea or inclination to do the necessary work.

Anyway I only became aware of Blogger after perusing the forums over at ProtestWarrior. A blog was the perfect medium for me to share information of course the next step was readers which PW provided at the time. Then of course when Capitol Fax was beginning to grow by 2005 or so that would be more exposure.

Now in the 2nd decade of the 21st century a website isn't that important anymore. Social media is king today and the most popular sites to use is facebook, instagram, twitter, and YouTube. And in addition to websites or blogs we can use social media to supplement websites or blogs.

As of now this is my current challenge. If I wanted this blog or other blogs I created to be successful it hinges on utilizing those other platforms that exist today. Perhaps create a useful YouTube channel. Perhaps create an interesting ig account as I have for sixthward.us. Then effectively using twitter - both personal & sixthward.us to supplement the blog platforms.

I see now that utilization of various platforms can truly be beneficial, the question now is how to effectively utilize them.

2017 in the DC Extended Universe

Next month the next film from the DC Comics' Extended Universe will be released - Wonder Woman - starring Gal Gadot. Gal Gadot's rendition of this comic book heroine debuted in 2016's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. You will see a trailer for it below. [VIDEO]

As of now we are three movies into the DC Extended Universe and all of them have made money. Problem is all of them aren't exactly critically acclaimed. Batman v. Superman which is the second installment of this franchise seemed to have gotten the worst treatment from fans.

Personally it was a great Batman movie and surprisingly Ben Affleck did a great job portraying the caped crusader even if the story was lacking. Batman v. Superman is actually supposed to be a sequel to Man of Steel - the first installment of this franchise - however this story never seemed to be about Superman. If nothing else it was a response to Superman's arrival, debut on Earth, and essentially after fighting General Zod - a fellow Kryptonian - Batman's response to the man of steel.

Man of Steel wasn't bad itself that film too lacked in story, however, at least it was about the origin of Superman. Metropolis took a serious beating in this film being at the epicenter of an attempt to terraform Earth for the Kryptonians. Regardless the cool part of this movie is that we see how powerful an individual Superman and of course he wasn't always the boy scout we expected him to be. He's still however genuinely good.

The most recently installment was Suicide Squad. Basically a team of supervillians under the employ of the villainous Amanda Waller to be an expendable team of bad guys doing the right thing. In this one Harley Quinn joins the mainstream DC universe - she previously was a character of the Batman animated series from the 1990s. And we have a new Joker even if he wasn't part of the Suicide Squad.

As far as opening weekends the DC movies have done well unfortunately not enough for people to want to watch the movies beyond that. Especially if word of mouth goes around that many believe these movies aren't that good.

I'm hoping that the fourth and fifth installment of the extended universe will learn from the shortcomings of the first three installments. Looking forward to Wonder Woman next month and by the holiday season Justice League for which you will also see a trailer below. [VIDEO]

BTW, I've been watching some YouTube videos speculating on the shortcomings of DC movies in some respects many were spot on. In others I sometimes wonder if they're off-base. What do you all think?

I found one article about the top five things they like about the DC movies.

VIDEO: The new starship Enterprise design review

[VIDEO] I'm giving you a quick spoiler if you didn't see last year's Star Trek Beyond - the USS Enterprise as we've seen it since 2009s Star Trek had been destroyed. As you see above in the alternate timeline we see another USS Enterprise-A. So as the Star Trek franchise goes into the next 50 - 2016 was the 50th anniversary of the original series having first premiered in 1966 - there is a brand new starship Enterprise casting off in the next cinematic adventure.

In this above video we look at an artists conception of this new Enterprise and then shows what we saw in the STB. Basically a different design than the concept to be honest I hardly noticed, hell I hardly noticed a huge difference when the Enterprise was redesigned at the end of 2013s Star Trek into Darkness. Or admittedly all I noticed was the change in the impulse engines.

Either way this video wonders why they keep changing the basic design of the Enterprise making little tweeks here and there in each of the new JJ Abrams Star Trek film series. It seems to the author of this video gratuitous to make these changes.

Consider that many fans weren't that happy with the redesign of the original Enterprise in 2009, the original 1966 design by Matt Jefferies has never graced the silver screen. To be honest I wanted to see that ship on the silver screen only to see this new take on a TV classic. Whether tweaked or not, this Enterprise maintains the form we expect from Star Trek.

So I'll open the floor to "Trekkies". What do you think of this new Enterprise-A?

My review of #TheCircle

[VIDEO] Lately when I go to the movies most of them are just forgettable entertainment. You go in and be entertained, however, later you simply forget about it. There's nothing really groundbreaking about the movie itself or laugh, feel the adrenaline, etc. and then you leave.

That wasn't the case with The Circle. Now with that said I've seen the reception on its Wiki page and saw that so far there aren't many that like the movie so far. I never pay attention to Rotten Tomatoes and see that this film isn't rated highly.

Why does The Circle touch a nerve with me? It shows the scary effects of social media. Our hero Mae starts to work at this tech company which appears to be a cross between Apple and fb. It offers these small cameras that can be placed anywhere and unseen to the eye. And then there appears to be a social network attached to it.

Mae herself becomes a major show on this social network and likely billions log on to see how she's doing. Unfortunately some sad consequences come of it. Her friend Mercer comes to an unfortunate end as the latest online sensation. It seems the friend - Annie -who brought her to that company doesn't want anything to do with her although they seem to have an uneasy relationship as Mae's star begins to rise.

Mercer's strikes an unfortunate nerve. As Mae begins broadcast her life for her company her fans find out about Mercer's past and refer to him as a deer killer although he defends himself by saying he doesn't kill deer. It becomes a point where he as Mae's friend had to cut ties with her because of her new celebrity.

Unfortunately, later the crowd clamors for Mae to find Mercer - after she herself used the Circle to find a wanted fugitive. They do so and of course a comment about him being a deer killer. After keeping a low-profile and he flees. Without giving away much this is the point in the movie where I take off my ballcap. I was truly disgusted with the movie at that point.

To start we see a form of online shaming in this film. Let's say you find one piece of information about someone - whether that person posted themselves or not - and then it goes viral. Then it literally becomes a form of bullying and outright nastiness. Perhaps it's truthful or perhaps not, however, either way someone believes it and spreads it and for a moment it's like wildflower. Scary thing is, it might be a while before you find out about it.

I like how Mae turned the tables on her bosses at the Circle - Eamon & Tom - who egged on the many activities that led to what happened with Mercer. She got connected with one of the founders of the circle - he has a low profile because we doesn't like what's going on at this company - who helped her turn the tables. And we go back to one thing that they never wanted to give up for themselves - privacy.

They didn't truly want to be transparent, but everyone else should be. Mae's life was saved because she took a kayak got thrown about in high waves and almost drowned. Perhaps there is no right to privacy in a public place but how transparent does one need to be in the world. Beside we all should be embarrassed by something.

It lets me know, now that we live in a world with cell phone video cameras and we can broadcast those images live on Periscope, fb, ig, etc. we have to be more careful. Perhaps we might behave better if we're being watched - and yes that's not always true. At the same time at what point have we gone too far with this activity?

BTW, I never realized that this film was based on a book and see a vastly different story here. I got to find that book now and give it a read. Perhaps it'll tell me more about the story and the issues in real life that are shown.

How much money have you saved?

Posted this earlier today and shared the wrong ig post from CNBC. My apologies, didn't catch onto this sooner.

I've been doing much better saving money over the last four years and hopefully I'll look much better over the next four years. At least you couldn't coun't me in the 35% with less than $1k in savings or the 34% who has ZERO.

It takes some discipline to put some money away at least every pay period. Then scrimp and scrape as you spend money. Though as far as spending I'm still learning. A never ending process.

Funny thing, I used to complain about how my mother didn't want to spend money on things. Now I've acquired some of those habits.

69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. What's more, 34% have no savings at all. If your bank account balance is looking sad, you're not alone.

A post shared by CNBC (@cnbc) on Apr 11, 2017 at 6:18pm PDT

#IAmNotYourNegro - A review

[VIDEO] It seems often when I go to the movies the thing to see are some low-brow comedies such as the often maligned Bad Santa 2, Office Christmas Party or more recently Fist Fight. Those movies would give a great tickle but these aren't films that would place in the Oscars. Nor do they have to they're just entertainment that could be forgotten about later.

Before viewing Fist Fight on Saturday, I also viewed I Am Not Your Negro. It's a documentary based on an unpublished manuscript by the late author James Baldwin. It offers his thoughts on American culture, race relations, and the civil rights movement. It's pretty powerful and Baldwin's voice is provided by one Samuel L. Jackson and you couldn't recognize him if you tried. Jackson's voice was so unusually subdued.

We see this film has not only scenes shot in the present day at various locales such as New York or taking an interstate going somewhere. We also see a lot of archival news footage some of which I suspect was colorized for the film. Also we see this interspersed with footage from past films which were shown during Baldwin's lifetime.

Films are apart of American culture and Baldwin attacks it. For example using John Wayne who we know generally is a star of the Western genre. So the attack on America's culture begins with the idea of cowboys fighting Indians with the cowboys always the good guys. And then the portrayal of the weak Black man and a very unsexualized Black man - feel some would disagree with that characterization.

It seems Baldwin had been a figure in the civil rights movement. We see footage of him giving lectures or indeed him on a TV program addressing people who may not clearly see the racial angle to American issues of his day. Baldwin as an author who just so happens to be Black is quite eloquent and I understood his points even if my views on race doesn't share the same passion or experience his does.

I have to say, the only time I knew Baldwin existed was his brief appearance as a vampire during Arsenio Hall's tenure on FOX's The Late Show. Also I'm sure there was a biography I found of him long before the creation of Wikipedia or perhaps a quick introduction to him in a textbook on African-American literature. Regardless this gave me a greater appreciation for him as an author.

Perhaps someone will be seen as the voice of this generation with some of the troubles Black-America is facing. Baldwin's generation faced outright racism which was at best legal or at worst outright homicidal. By legal I mean to say to legally treat Blacks differently than the more favored portion of the population. Blacks having to ride the back of the bus or Blacks having to enter a business through a separate entrance. For a period of time in this country something such as that was legal.

Today's generation faces different obstacles of which racism could be one, but I may state that it's not as big as others. It's not as obvious as it once was. One could argue if it's an issue it's an issue in the criminal justice system. Perhaps even though we no longer have "separate but equal" it still might be an issue in public education.

When I saw the movie on Saturday, it's message resonated and the patrons in the auditorium gave the film a round of applause when it was over. Great film and if you see it, hopefully it will resonate with you as well.

Old TV against stereotypes

[VIDEO] Wednesday I was watching the classic western programs you would find on Me-TV. Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and The Rifleman. On this particular afternoon an episode of The Rifleman caught my eye.

The episode is question is entitled "The Indian" and features Michael Ansara - who played a Klingon in Star Trek -  as an Apache US Marshal who as the story progresses arouses the suspicion of the people in North Folk. Ansara's character Sam Buckhart was about to be the subject of a lynch mob if it wasn't for the quick action of the title character Chuck Connors' Lucas McCain.

We see the issue of racism or prejudice as shared in the context of a western show. Westerns weren't always about the cavalry chasing the Indians or cowboys/ranchers fighting the Indians. In that 1959 episode of The Rifleman a minority in the fictional town of North Folk was able to convince most of this lynch mob that it wasn't worth it to go up against some of their own people and an Apache US Marshal.

It lead me to a conclusion about so-called Hollywood activism. It seemed at one point the liberals of the 1950s and 1960s were on the right side of history. For example even though I may know Charlton Heston as a leader of the National Rifle Association - and may well consider him a right-winger - he was at the March on Washington.

The Civil Rights movement, was truly a necessary movement in the history of a country. Unless you accepted some of the injustices that lead to the boycotts and the marching how could anyone be opposed to any American seeking equal rights or even equal opportunity?

How can anyone be opposed to insuring that everyone has equal opportunity to a good education in a public or private school? How can anyone accept that a certain segment of the population had to be subjugated to a more favored segment of the population? If all men - well all people - are created equal how can we accept this?

Perhaps now the issues aren't much different. The issue may be less race/ethnicity than perhaps income. I hope I can be a rich man one day, but at this point that ship seems to have sailed. I'd be more than satisfied to at least eke out a middle-class lifestyle and I believe that should be relatively easy to attain.

Either way I can't say how this episode was received in the late 1950s other than perhaps most TV viewers of that time saw it as just another western TV episode. Westerns often did involve interactions between for example American Indians - or if you prefer Native Americans - and their interactions with European Americans. So who knows if episodes such as this made an impacts on their audiences.

Unfortunately the pendulum has swung directly in the opposite direction. My only concept of 21st Century Hollywood liberal activism is seen on FOX News. Perhaps today it's hard to do an episode about being fair to a person of a different ethnicity to whoever is the prevailing majority. Just as easily as we want to talk about fair play perhaps today's Hollywood activists are shoving their own agenda down the throats of the public.

I could ask if middle America thinks that Hollywood is out of touch with regular everyday Americans? As a person far removed from Hollywood and maybe even middle America I'm a long way from answering this question.

It just recently occurred to me that Hollywood has always had activists in some form whether they're the actors, directors, producers, or even writers. They created works of art perhaps showing how we can be fair to be people of different ethnicities. How it's certainly wrong to treat different people with outright scorn and disrespect.

Perhaps one day Hollywood will be on the same side of the issue of the day with most Americans. Perhaps one day taking a stand will not be equated with badmouthing other Americans - especially the ones that patronize your products.

Because of the McMansion Hell blog...

8459 South Michigan - Eric Allix Rogers

I've grown to appreciate mid-century modern architecture. There are plenty examples of these buildings on the south side. Not just Hyde Park/Kenwood, but further south. Perhaps here I will share my own observations with you.

Meanwhile you should read McMansion Hell to see what they have against these McMansions. We've seen them out there around the country. Surely you've seen them in the Chicago area and I know I've seen them in the suburbs of ATL.

BTW, if you've got the cash there is a mid-century modern revival. If you already own such a home this is what you can do to keep it maintained.

FTR, I'm posting this to lighten the mood just change subjects for a bit from the new administration in Washington. Perhaps the good times will roll again we shall see.

Kurt Angle is in the WWE Hall of Fame

[VIDEO] This is a clear sign Kurt Angle is returning to the WWE universe where he belongs since about 2006 he had been with the competing Total Nonstop Action Wrestling until his contract was up with them sometime in 2016.

What distiguishes Angle is that he is an Olympic gold medalist which is something he certainly played up during his time in WWE. In another era he'd have been the perfect baby face. But somehow they turned some of his baby face attributed into a very heel persona. As an Olympic hero/gold medalist he was not liked by the WWE universe however he still was able to put on a good match and had a legit amateur wrestling background as he was an Olympic wrestler and that was what he got in gold medal in.

I look forward to his eventual return even if he doesn't wrestle full-time again. He deserves one more run in WWE.

The man in the arena

This should be my charge going forward seen and heard in a number of places. This was a quote used when Extreme Championship Wrestling went bankrupt in 2001. Posted to the ECW website by owner Paul Heyman.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.  

What will be your charge in 2017?

This is a quote from a speech made in 1910 by former President Theodore Roosevelt considered one of our greatest presidents.