The Best Movies

I thought that I would take a shot at listing my idea of the best movies ever.

My list is a bit different than most because I disregarded those movies that I did not like: Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane, The Godfather, etc.  There seems to be a surplus of western movies on my list, but most movies, with budgets worth considering, have been American.  And westerns are the definitive American genre.

1. High Noon (1952)
2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
3. The African Queen(1951)
4. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
5. Seven Samurai (1954)
6. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)
7. Casablanca (1942)
8. Shane (1953)
9. Cowboy Bebop (2001)
10. The Wild Bunch (1969)
11. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Not to be confused with my favorite movies (also a surplus of westerns):

1. Cowboy Bebop (2001)
2. High Noon (1952)
3. Once Upon A Time in the West (1968)
4. The Sheepman (1958)
5. Little Big Solider (2010)
6. Exiled (2006)
7. Election (2005)
8. Double Indemnity (1944)
9. Blazing Saddles (1974)
10. Rocky Balboa (2006)
11. Indiscreet (1958)

Movie I most want to see that I haven't: Gilda (1946).

My favorite actors:
Glenn Ford (The Sheepman)
Lee Van Cleef (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
Claude Rains (Casablanca)
favorite actress: Barbra Staynwyk (Double Indemnity)
favorite director: Johnnie To (Exiled)

I doubt that that was of interest to anyone but me, but here we are.

A Huffington Post Commenter Responds to This Blog

Last September I had a series of comment exchanges with Rumzee, at the Huffington Post.  He has recently discovered my repeating of the comments to this blog and he did not like what he saw.  For the full recording of our exchanges, in chronological order, please look at my "Deer Hunting" page under "Debating An Anti-Hunter."

I believe that his complaint comes from the fact that I did not, at least, link to the preceding post of comments.  In the post that he is complaining about I should have linked to its predecessor, here it is.

Had you by following my blog in real time you would have gotten the whole story.  As it was I was three months into my first blog, and I made a mistake in not linking to the previous post so that it would make sense after the fact.

For the record: I have copied and pasted, without editing, all of the comments during my "Debates in the Comments."  If anyone questions the order, or content, of any of the comments posted here, then tell me which comment you specifically question and include your email.  I will then forward you the email notification I received letting me know that someone replied to one of my comments.  (A few of the email notifications that I received were sent to my 'spam' folder, I did not 'unspam' them, and they have since been deleted.)

Rumzee specifically commented on this post of mine.

His comment:

AnonymousFebruary 2, 2013 at 3:53 PM

You have a lot of brass posting our discussion out of chronological order, assuming answers I would give to questions you never asked, and basically manipulating the discussion to make your points seem more than they actually were during our discussion. All that without my knowledge. You have proven yourself to be dishonest.

I was searching for a different Huffington Post comment I made a long while back and happened to come across your crapola here at this site.

Rumzee

My reply:

TimFebruary 2, 2013 at 6:36 PM

Thanks for stopping by.

The quotes are directly copied and pasted from the Huffington Post in the order that they occurred. I have not edited them in any way. Because our exchanges happened over the course of several days, they were copied here in different posts. The full listing of our comments is noted on my "Deer Hunting" page, under "Debating Anti-Hunter."

http://spootville.blogspot.com/p/deer-hunting-posts.html

If you question the order, or the editing, of any comments, then I will forward you the email notification I received for these comments.

If I have made an error in the order, then I do apologize. Please let me know which ones specifically are out of order and I shall make any corrections and issue an apology.

It is truly astonishing how often those of you on the left resort to name calling and insults.

Your comment could have been along the lines of: "The comment beginning with ... occurred at time x not time y."

How have I proven myself to be dishonest? You have not given any evidence to support this claim of yours.

If you tell me specifically where my error was, then I will look up the comment dates and times.

Once again we have a case of someone on the left using name calling and insults, rather than attempt an polite complaint.

We also, once again, have a statement "proven" to be true without any evidence.  You'll need to take his word for it that I misrepresented him at this blog.  But I am willing to give evidence to prove that I have not, if I am told where the specific problem is.

In future comments I shall include the date and time, as well as the specific article in question.

Rumzee, at least tell me where your specific complaint is.

***

One last note: Most of the spam comments on this blog are written by "anonymous."  I very nearly deleted Rumzee's comment here becasue of the "anonymous" author.

If you wish to comment here as "anonymous," then understand that your comment may get deleted accidentally.  It is not difficult to post under a name.  The name does not need to be your real name, it can be any name.  And you do not need to include your e-mail address either.

It is very easy to do this.  If you have difficulty, then click the following link, and read this post: How to Comment Using a Name (it has pictures and everything).

My thanks to Andrew for a very timely post.

Will You Stay? Updated

Have you considered exactly how bad this country will get before you do something like move?

Will you stay if semi-automatic guns are banned?

Will you stay if 401ks are confiscated?

Will you stay if we continue to add thousands of new rules each year?

We should all consider the exact point at which we leave.

Update: I guess that I'm surprised at the commenters who say that they'll stay.  I understand why someone with a family would want to remain in her house and near her friends and family.  But I surprised that someone like Cogitans Iuvenis is as ready to stay as he is.

Staying will not be the easy path.  Economic pain is inevitable.  I cannot imagine how the financial end of the country, as we know it, will be anything, but very bad.

We should all do a better job of promoting the good things, and pointing outthe many flaws with what we are doing now.

The Government is Incompetant, +1

As I was perusing Wikipedia, I found this line in the "elephant hunting in Kenya" page:

"Though elephant hunting has been banned for a 30-year period in Kenya, poaching has not reduced."(sic)

Something was made illegal, by the government, and yet it continued.

Can you think of anything else that has been made illegal and yet continued to happen?  Things like: prohibition, underage drinking, marijuana smoking...

The 2016 GOP Presidential Nominee on Immigration

Am I to understand that likely 2016 republican presidential nominee Marco Rubio wants amnesty for illegal immigrants?

If so:

1. Don't care.

If not:

1. Still don't care.

I once thought that China was my preferred idle threat to leave to, now I'm thinking Brazil.

Huffington Post Comments 2/1/2012

First take note of yesterday's post.

Quotes:

Commenter 1: "The man [Bush] is a dolt."

Commenter 2: "We didn't go after Bush personally..."


***

Me

Why is there such insistence to claim that anything a republican does comes from the "far right"?

lizt

Because the GOP has run out all the moderates and only has a far right base left.  

Me

Ha!

Before John McCain ran for president he was the democrats' favorite republican because of how often he sided with the democrats.

I stopped supporting the republicans when Mitt Romney, who signed socialized healthcare and gun control into law, became the GOP presidential nominee.

***

Me

Why is there such insistence to claim that anything a republican does comes from the "far right"?

Thomas Pain

Because the lunatic fringe on the "far right" has pre-empted what used to be the Republican Party, and if anybody with more sense still thinks they're Republians, they aren't paying attention.

Me

"lunatic fringe"

Oooo, insults! I'll change my mind then!

Btw, using numbers from this website, the NRA is less of a "lunatic fringe" than gays.

4.2 million NRA members > 4 million gays

http://spootville.blogspot.com/2013/01/gays-more-of-ideological-fringe-than-nra.html

***

strothersgirl03

The only sixty books Bush might have read, would have been picture books. The man is a dolt.

The President says he has done some skeet shooting when at Camp David.
Didn't say he did it all the time. Didn't claim to be an expert. Though they act like that's what he said.
After all the B.S. Bush said about WMD, etc. Then, your pathological candidate Romney, you should just shut up and be quiet.
This is the best you can do though with this President. Make a tempest in a teacup over any casual remark.
Republicans are pathetic.

Me

It must be sad having no actual arguments and needing to resort to name calling and insults instead.

Btw, Obamacare supporters: keep your laws off my body.

silverlaker71

Funny to see a conservative opposing laws that concern what choices people have about their bodies...

Me

Funny that you think that I am a conservative.

I'm more of a libertarian.

While we're on the subject of laws about "peoples' bodies"...

Dear Obamacare supporters,

Keep your laws off my body.

Sincerely,

Tim 

 ***

strothersgirl03

The only sixty books Bush might have read, would have been picture books. The man is a dolt.

The President says he has done some skeet shooting when at Camp David.
Didn't say he did it all the time. Didn't claim to be an expert. Though they act like that's what he said.
After all the B.S. Bush said about WMD, etc. Then, your pathological candidate Romney, you should just shut up and be quiet.
This is the best you can do though with this President. Make a tempest in a teacup over any casual remark.
Republicans are pathetic.

Me

It must be sad having no actual arguments and needing to resort to name calling and insults instead.

Btw, Obamacare supporters: keep your laws off my body.

strothersgirl03

Funny coming from a supporter of the party that spends all their time focused on trivial things to insult the President with. Kind of pot and kettle isn't it?
As for Obama care....We'll gladly keep off your body.
Bet we're not the only ones.
;)  

Me

What makes you think that I support the republicans?  I didn't vote because both Romney and Obama signed socialized healthcare into law, and favor gun control.

As for "trivial things to insult the President with", I can find several articles, on this very website about republican plans to balance the budget.

Can you find me one example of a democratic plan to balance the budget, on this website?

Also, its been nearly four years since the Senate has passed any budget; which party has controlled the senate during this time?

"We'll gladly keep off your body.  Bet we're not the only ones."

Another insult?  I have a challenge for you (it may be difficult for you): write a post without insulting anyone.

Good luck.

How can you say, "keep your laws off my body" when it comes to abortion, and not when it comes to other healthcare laws?  Isn't that hypocritical?

strothersgirl03

The healthcare law is the same as having car insurance. It's not making you take a specific insurance, just have some.

People who don't end up being paid for by all the rest of us thru Medicaid. I, for one am tired of covering other peoples bills if I don't have to. It's just trying to make each person able to be responsible in some way for their own.

As to which party you support, when peole start off by saying Libs in a somewhat insulting way, it certainly appears to be a Republican backer.

And everyone should vote. It's not just a right and a privilege, but a responsibility as a citizen.
Don't like either Republican or Democrat, then find another choice.

As to budget, I agree. One should be presented.
To your defense of the Republicans (which, again, certainly sounds like your party, though I don't blame you for denying them, I would too) and them having a budget plan, they had lots of numbers that they either never released, or didn't really add up when they did.
In fact during the whole campaign they refused to give out details of most of their genius (they assured us) plans.

I do apologize for the insults. 

Me

Obamacare is not just about making sure that we have insurance.  If it were, the laws would read "all citizens must have health insurance coverage."  It also includes laws about what type of insurance that we are required to buy and there are many other rules about what must specifically be in the insurance.  For example: You cannot buy a high deductible, low premium insurance policy, becasue the insurance that we get must include coverage for lots of things that we may or may not want.  My health insurance is required to cover pregnancy, despite me being a guy and I am therefore unlikely to ever get pregnant.

Your second paragraph is interesting.  First the government decided that it wanted to pay for the healthcare of the poor with medicare and medicaid.  Many became unhappy with these programs and so the government decided that it wanted to fix the problem by adding yet another government program.

Why should we pay for the healthcare of those that don't have insurance?  Would you still support Obamacare if we had never had medicare and medicaid, and we had actual competition to lower healthcare costs and improve quality all along?  If we could buy healthcare from where ever we want, and could get the plan that we want? Like high deductible plans for the young an healthy?

Why should me voting be of importance to you?  If I don't vote, then yours counts for more.  I no longer want to vote and to contribute to a system where, no matter who I vote for, I will pay more in taxes and be less free.

I don't like the budgets proposed by the republicans because none of them will balance the budget inside of ten years.  But at least they are trying.

I don't see how the budget will ever be balanced, when spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Unemployment alone exceeds the total revenues of the government.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals  (tables 1.1 & 3.1)

A few points in your last reply give me hope that you are willing to see the results and reconsider your thoughts if they are proven to be wrong.  This reply of mine is not a persuasive as I would like it to be.  I encourage you to look at the results of Obamacare over time.  When you see its flaws, consider if you still want to support it.  And don't blame republicans for its problems; not one voted for it.

My compliments on your lack of insults.  Insults are easy to throw around, but if you and I stop using them we will have slightly improved internet discourse.

This post from my blog may be of some interest: http://spootville.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-democrats-plan-for-balancing-budget.html

 ***

There were more replies, but that was enough for today.

My Book

I've been writing my book on the basics of hunting whitetail deer.  It has been amazing how easily the words are coming out.  The only reason that I did not write the whole rough draft in one sitting is because I type too slowly.

I made an attempt at writing a novel  in high school, but found that I did not like writing at all.  With this (hopefully) upcoming book, it is incredible how easy it has been.

I hope to have it done by next September, in time for next years deer hunting season, but I've never before written a book and I expect that something unexpected will happen and I'll be delayed.

(I promise have it proofread, and spell checked, it several times, unlike the content on this blog.)

Let me know if there is anything in particular that you would like to see in it.  I expect to cover a bit more than is necessary, but let me know if you think that something is important and I'll be sure to to not miss that.

I could probably write a similar book about fishing for muskies, and a book on fishing for Midwestern game fish too.  And maybe I will, if this book turns out well.