IL's cute pets thread

@Tall:

By the way,….this is reported as the World’s Tallest Flagpole, and it is so large,….

Actually this is North America’s tallest flagpole. I believe the tallest in the world are in North and South Korea.

Either way, very impressive and inspiring. Thanks for the read Paul.

@Cmdr:

As I do every year, I post my favorite Christmas Poem to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

This year, I include a link to YouTube so you can listen to the music that has always accompanied this poem (in my mind at least.): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D-OL-KQOt4

_With medals and badges, awards of all kind
A sober thought came through my mind.
For this house was different, so dark and dreary,
I knew I had found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
“Santa don’t cry, this life is my choice;
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more,
my life is my God, my country, my Corps.”

So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
And I covered this Soldier from his toes to his head.
And I put on his T-shirt of gray and black,
With an eagle and an Army patch embroidered on back._

A Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan wrote this poem. (Allegedly, from what I have been told, in other words, don’t go b*tch’n and moan’n that some yahoo in Uzbekistan who was constipated on a Monday morning wrote it, I was told it was a Marine in Okinawa, Japan and that’s who I am giving credit too until informed otherwise.)

I had to look it up because the emboldened items are not congruent.  Apparently a Marine wrote it for Leathernecks magazine, and others have come behind and modified it, like this one.  Here’s the original:
Merry Christmas, My Friend

_Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone.

I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this home did live

As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of a far distant land.

With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
a sobering thought soon came to my mind.
For this house was different, unlike any I’d seen.
This was the home of a U.S. Marine.

I’d heard stories about them, I had to see more,
so I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.

He seemed so gentle, his face so serene,
Not how I pictured a U.S. Marine.
Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?

His head was clean-shaven, his weathered face tan.
I soon understood, this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night,
owed their lives to these men, who were willing to fight.

Soon around the Nation, the children would play,
And grown-ups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom, each month and all year,
because of Marines like this one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye.
I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.

He must have awoken, for I heard a rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Corps.”

With that he rolled over, drifted off into sleep,
I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I watched him for hours, so silent and still.
I noticed he shivered from the cold night’s chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
and covered this Marine from his toes to his head.
Then I put on his T-shirt of scarlet and gold,
with an eagle, globe and anchor emblazoned so bold.
And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
and for one shining moment, I was Marine Corps deep inside.

I didn’t want to leave him so quiet in the night,
this guardian of honor so willing to fight.
But half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure,
said “Carry on, Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all secure.”
One look at my watch and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight._

Credit to Snopes.

Guys,

––First, let me start out by saying “Unbroken” is NOT a war movie,….at least like you normally think of one.
----It IS a very powerful, inspirational movie that is extremely well done. It also has a enough WW2 action/scenes to be “interesting” to a WW2 buff. The CGI as well as the physical props were well done. I only noticed one inacuracy,…when returning to America at the end of the war there was a transport aircraft that still had the early ww2 red dot in the star and red/white rudder stripes. I guess it might have been possible but I doubt it. Anyway, it was hardly noticable (except to a historian) and didn’t detract from the movie at all. All summed up, a great movie that’s well written, acted, with great cinematography.

----My opinion,…If you want to see a well done INSPIRATIONAL movie set in the WW2 era, this is a GREAT ONE!

Tall Paul

im looking for someone selling a tm-15 or a bt delta elite

LMAO

@Imperious:

I have seen: Mo’ Better Blues, Do the Right Thing, School Daze,Boys in the hood and Bamboozled

Most of the cast are African Americans but i was making a joke about him casting an african as a German General but its not too far off from reality from the examples of his casting in other movies.

Haven’t seen all those, but some of them were not good.  It happens.

Fair enough on the joke, but it is not reality at all.  He mainly does movies about the Bronx, in black neighborhoods.  That is appropriate.  Casting black men as German generals is just stupid (but yes, funny), and not something to do since he was so interested in showing contributions of blacks in WW2 - albeit from a book.

Oliver Stone only does movies where they ridicule conservatism viewpoints, so i expect to get that in all his movies.

Ok, maybe you do, but that’s Oliver Stone.  But “only does movies” is completely wrong when you see: Natural Born Killers, Alexander, Any Given Sunday, etc., or look at most of the movies he wrote the screenplay for.

@Cmdr:

Well, I never claimed he had black nazis, but yes, I’ve seen some of his fiction.  They’re okay entertainment value, but not something I enjoyed as a primary repository for my hard earned cash.  I prefer Jerry Bruckheimer :P

I wasn’t attributing the black nazi to you.  You don’t like him, ok, that’s fine.  No need to pull something nonsensical or unrelated like Michael Moore (yes, I know you don’t like him either).

@Cmdr:

I just went to see my first movie in the Theater of the year: “An American Carol” it was hilarious!

I only went to the effort to see it in the theaters because Blockbuster is boycotting it (like they did with Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed until they lost the lawsuit.)

Good fiction huh?

Question: how can a movie rental company boycott something that just came out on screen?

@Imperious:

I saw Miracle and as i suspected it was a typical spike lee movie. He extrapolates once again south central/bronx ghetto rough language of the 1990’s in every sentence, while the Germans look like mensa candidates. The Africans are portrayed as disgusting, corrupted and uneducated soldiers ( with some exceptions) ‘looking’ for opportunities. Its like he made it to appeal to the audience that watched his other movies by trying to turn WW2 france into “Gang Wars of the Hood” and frankly their was not any way it would have worked unless it was specifically about the “buffalo soldiers” and their bravery in fighting in spite of how they were treated at home. ON this level it had a chance and intimated that and similar points but it was very weak effort.

It should be a box office bust.

I saw stroke of genious and this was better but formalistic plot sequence.

Thanks for the assessment, I will reply once I’ve seen it.  Not holding much for it with the reviews, but will save the opinion for myself.

The worst invention in my opinion ever invented would be Video games. Talk about a waste of time and money for kids. About 99.5% of all video games may bring joy, but do nothing for the people plying them. They spend hundreds of hours playing them only to end up with NOTHING in the end. Nothing!

Not to mention it is the universal agreement between these companies to continue upgrading as fast as they can to get new systems to the market. It’s like they can’t wait to make these machines obsolete and squeeze another 300-400 bucks outta some family.

Oh, ……and I think Nuclear Weapons is a dumb invention also. I see many people already said this one. Good for all of you.  :-D

I saw it at your house, remember?
When they were picking on R. Kelly