The Hurt Locker
February 20, 2010We watched The Hurt Locker last night, and I have a couple of bones to pick.
In addition to blatant uniform faux pas, there was a short sequence in there that was comically unfeasible. An E5 Sergeant becomes angry with a Sergeant First Class that he had only met the day before, and slaps him. The Sergeant First Class just smiles and takes it.
Insubordination in any form is unacceptable 99% of the time in the Army, but slapping someone two ranks above you (and getting away with it) is just not going to happen. That's like Nancy Pelosi slapping Barack Obama in front of the Cabinet -- that ain't gonna fly.
The other thing that ruined the movie for me was the hand-held camera work. I had to stop watching midway through.
I don't know how common this is, but I'm very susceptible to simulation (or simulator) sickness. It's similar to motion sickness, but not the same. Weirdly, I never get motion sickness -- airplanes, car trips, roller coasters, etc. all sit well with me.
With simulation sickness, your eyes rapidly track jerky camera movements on-screen, while your body remains stationary. This paradox makes the brain think you are hallucinating the images you see, and triggers vomiting to get rid of whatever poison is causing the supposed hallucinations.
The first time I noticed this was during The Blair Witch Project. I almost hurled during that one. Since then, I've come to find several movies (anything in IMAX) and almost all first person shooter video games cause simulation sickness.
I wish the movie industry would come up with a warning for movies shot with hand-held cameras so I won't waste my time on them.
I was looking for solutions, and one website suggests Women's One-a-Day helps simulation sickness. No thanks.
***Update 12 June 2010 ***
Add "The Karate Kid" (the new one) to the list of movies that causes simulation sickness.
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Military Movies
February 4, 2010Kate Hoit does a good job of explaining why military movies are usually letdowns for veterans.
The year is 2004, the Baghdad streets are clean, almost too clean, and dust lingers in the air, soldiers appear...in the wrong uniform. Soldiers deployed to Iraq in 2004, the year The Hurt Locker was suppose to take place, were not wearing the Army Combat Uniform. I should know I was there. We still wore the Desert Camouflage Uniform. How hard would it have been to get this correct? Apparently so hard that no one working on the movie could be bothered to consult anyone with knowledge on military dress, or visit the local surplus store. Congratulations, what seemed like a would-be decent military movie to those who had actually served was now automatically ruined within the first few minutes. And for future reference, military personnel do not roll their sleeves up in a combat zone. read more
As a member of the military, you've had certain things drilled into your head, like the proper wear of the uniform. A lot of the reasoning behind that is so we can easily spot someone trying to imitate a soldier and potentially compromise security. For instance, if I see someone in an Army uniform with their name tag stuck on the wrong side, that little detail is going to make that person stick out like a sore thumb and it will immediately arouse suspicion.
When I'm watching a military movie, all the little errors attract so much of my attention that I can't enjoy the actual plot of the movie. Some of the errors are so bad that it becomes funny to me when the movie isn't even a comedy.
I imagine it's the same thing for doctors watching medical movies or TV shows.
Full Metal Jacket (great example of Basic Training) and Saving Private Ryan (great example of military courtesy and strategies) are a couple of the most accurate military movies. Most of Renaissance Man was squared away, too.
That movie Basic with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta was just all around ridiculous.
This is Outrageous
January 17, 2010A soldier in Afghanistan has been imprisoned for a completely bogus charge:
"Tonight a Quad City area soldier is in Afghanistan being forced to stay to face charges connected to pictures his mother sent to him. The mother says the pictures were designed to ease the homesickness of life on the warfront but she had no idea they would lead to a child pornography investigation and months of wondering whether the accusations would bring charges. 8 On Your Side Reporter Chris Williams looked into the case.
The child is a relative whom the family says Billy treated as his own child when the girl was diagnosed with cancer as her father went through boot camp. Her father told us he can't believe the charges, especially since they're on other family computers and on Facebook pages and no one else has been investigated.
The Army says Billy will stay in Afghanistan until he faces court martial or there are other recommendations." read more
It looks like the Army has made a dreadful mistake on this one.
Shriner Tattoo
January 2, 2010The morning after St. Patrick's Day
2004
Sand Hill barracks
Fort Benning
Random pictures
September 1, 2008This is me and Kristen on Christmas Eve in 1995
This is me and some friends at Fort Gordon in the Fall of 1995. We were doing land navigation training, which is basically using a compass and a map to try to navigate from point to point. Well, my group had been wandering in the woods on what we thought was the right course, but we came across this sign that said "Off limits by order of the Commanding General". Oops.
This is Will's first picture:
This is Will playing in the sprinkler:
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