War of the Dead
aka Stone’s War
2011
directed by Marko Mäkilaakso
Lithuanian-Italian-US co-production.
A World War II zombie film about a Finnish, American and Russian soldiers who must band together when they encountering the hideous results of Nazi experiments in re-animation.
This is by far not a good movie, but on the other hand it does not commit the worst sin a movie can: be boring. This film never slows down and keeps you entertained all the way through. This film had a lot going for it. It is beautifully filmed, the action and horror sequences well put together, the creature and gore effects are great. This is a beautiful film.
But the down side is that this film is poorly acted. Most of the performances are wooden. The dialogue is sometimes almost painful to hear, but rebounds to be actually deep and thoughtful. And the story makes not sense historically or politically.
It is set in March 1941, long after the Winter War was over and months before the German-Soviet War/Great Patriotic War was about to begin. In the middle of this setting a team of Finnish and American soldiers are on a mission to find a hidden German bunker on the Finnish-Soviet border, while the whole time in conflict with the Red Army. To put this into historical context, the US was not involved in the war yet, and Finland was actually allied with Nazi Germany, and the US was friendly with, and eventually allied with, the Soviet Union. In the crazed world of this film it has Finland and America vs German vs the Soviet Union.
If you like films like “Hell of the Living Dead”, “Flesheater” or “Zombie 4: After Death” then you will love this! Its probably the best looking cheesy zombie movie ever made. Shot in Lithuania on a budget of about 1.3 million Euros ( or about 1.8 million US dollars) this film drips style. Its main problem is that it is style over substance, but there is a lot of style.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Remember, my children. This is a night for honoring the dead. When the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead can be crossed. When the spirits of our ancestors check in on us and warm themselves beside our fires. It may seem silly. Traditions like dressing in costumes, carving jack o'lanterns, trick or treating, building bonfires. But these traditions were created to keep us safe. Because unwholesome, dangerous things cross that barrier too. So we frighten them away with disguises and jack o'lanterns. Make the last harvest and prepare for winter.
Remember to respect the dead, my children. Especially during the hour of midnight to one. The hour that belongs to the dead.
Happy Samhain. Happy Halloween.
Dead bird.
I found a dead cardinal outside today. I don’t know what happened to him, but it must have been very horrific to leave in such a state, cut in two like that. Now that spring is under way, it is kind of disheartening to find the birds torn asunder like this and not singing.
You want to know the secret of pain? If you just stop feeling it, you can start using it.
“
| — | Freddy Krueger, “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” |
Sad state of the world and the death of chivalry
A notion that has been with us since the Ancient Greeks is the concept of observation. Sometimes watching a subject and meditating about the subject can teach us a lot. It can be taken to a whole other level by experimentation. But for this musing, what I see repeatedly with suffice.
The other day, someone pulled into the lot of my apartment block and caused a bit of a ruckus. It was some guy coming to pick up his girlfriend. Instead of going up to he door, knocking and asking if she was ready to go, he instead laid on his horn and screamed “Hey! Get your ass out here!"
Its no secret that chivalry is dead and people like me that hold to it are anachronistic fools, but I am pretty sure that women killed it. A woman that chooses a man that treats her like shit like that is not an isolated incident. I have seen it happen all my life. It has even happened to me once.
The incident in question was a girl had a choice between me and a guy from a rich family that drove a mustang. She made the logical choice: a guy who had everything over a guy who had nothing. Of course she used to complain that he treated her like crap and was forever pressuring her for sex and then telling her to get the hell out of his sight when she would not deliver. He was also about four years younger than she was. Last I heard, he beat her up, they broke up and now he is stalking her. Normally I would pity her but I don’t. She made her choice.
My mom and her sisters made same mistakes. That is why they divorced and started over. They all ended up with pieces of shit that were beneath them because they married for a good time. Except for Melinda, she married the only man that would tolerate her horrible ass.
I see this happening all the time. Women ending up in abusive, codependent relationships with men who are just poison for them. I wonder. What the hell?
Of course these are just random ideas. I don’t think that women purposely want a man who treats them like shit. But, they don’t seem to want one that is nice to them. One of first weeks of college, I opened a door for a girl. My reward was to be called a "faggot-ass mama’s boy”. Her eyes were red as if she were crying and upset over something, so I think I was convenient target for pent up rage that needed venting.
I know that I don’t expect to be instantly rewarded for being polite and that the world does not owe me anything, but is it really worth trying any more?
