The Continental

         The Ford Crown Victoria was a large sedan on a platform dating back to 1979, but unfortunately discontinued in 2011 . Its construction was body-on-frame, which is how conventional pickup trucks and old SUVs are built, owing to the Crown Victoria's reputation for being able to take a beating and still be drivable and cheap to service. Police departments loved and miss them dearly. The old proven technology and the old school construction contributed to making it a reliable American vehicle, even as sedans shifted to more modern unibody construction. More information about the Crown Victoria's legend status can be found in  this  article by Jesus R. Garcia, an automotive columnist.          Due to its mass production and having the reputation of a tank, the Crown Victoria was a very popular choice in Hollywood movies, especially the police interceptors . Many Crown Victorias have been susceptible to being destroyed for m...

Introduction          History is written by the victors. The typical American war movie shows the struggle that American soldiers went through during a specific war. Rarely do we get a look at the enemy or the civilian population. We Were Soldiers (2002) is a very powerful and emotional war movie, not only because the soundtrack is somber and amazing, but because it puts the viewers into the shoes of many different people, notably a military leader, a helicopter pilot, a reporter on the front lines, the enemy, and the women that the men left behind to go to war. Unlike most war movies, We Were Soldiers attempts to humanize the enemy and shows the impact that the civilian population had on the home front.          We Were Soldiers is a 2002 war movie based on a 1992 book,  We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: la Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam. The book was written by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway....

Hedy Lamarr. According to the National Women’s History Museum, Women’s History Month every March is meant to commemorate women’s contributions throughout history. Hedy Lamarr is one of many great women whose contributions to society changed the world.  She was known for her invention of frequency hopping that would be the basis for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and satellites. She was also considered one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, having inspired the model of Snow White and Catwoman.           Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is a 2017 biography movie, directed by Alexandra Dean, about Lamarr’s story, incorporating real footage from her prime. She was regarded as one of the most beautiful Hollywood actresses, and nobody saw her for what she truly was outside her beauty. She had a very inventive mind that was fueled by her father during her childhood. Her invention, frequency hopping, during WWII was designed to guide torpedoes using signal...

Introduction          Thomas Jane's Punisher in The Punisher (2004) seemed to draw mixed reactions. I think this movie is underrated, although I have not read the comics or seen any other Punisher movies or the show. Allow me to tell you why I love this movie, but first, let's talk a little about who the Punisher is.          The Punisher, alter-ego Frank Castle, is an antihero created by Marvel. He was depicted as an assassin and adversary of Spider-Man, and made his first appearance in Marvel comics in 1974. He was a Vietnam veteran and skilled in hand-to-hand combat, guerilla warfare, and marksmanship. He is well known for the Punisher logo featuring a white skull. Unfortunately, it became a political symbol, and a new logo was commissioned to replace it in 2022. The Punisher is driven to single-handedly go to war against crime after the murders of his wife and children by the mob, and his methods are brutal and violent.    ...

Introduction           Fallout 4 really amazes me for the retro 1950s-60s futuristic style that it incorporates into the lore. Much of the history of the era gets carried on into the lore as well, and I am fascinated with the game's stories about the pre-war U.S. military and its constant "neo-Cold War" with communist China, until the world gets destroyed by nuclear weapons in 2077. All games in the Fallout franchise focus on a character and their journey through the apocalyptic wasteland full of strange creatures and factions. Fallout 4 is based around Boston, Massachusetts. The map stretches from Concord to Natick in the west, to Spectacle Island and Quincy in the southeast.          One of the lesser known pieces of lore in Fallout 4 is associated with the Sentinel Site Prescott, a military installation in the shape of a pyramid in the Glowing Sea, a portion of the map covered in radiation where ground zero was. The Fallout Wiki ...

        This post was written before I watched Once Upon a Snowman (2020), an 8 minute short film about how Olaf became sentient and how he learned about summer during the events of Frozen I. My previous thoughts have been mostly unaltered but the short film gave me some answers. Enjoy! Introduction            Olaf is a little snowman built by Anna and Elsa when they were kids. Unfortunately, after Anna is accidentally struck by Elsa's ice and they get separated by their parents, the magical moments together all seem lost. After Elsa's coronation and disaster, Anna rushes after her to find her and bring her back to Arendelle. Elsa seeks refuge on the North Mountain, where she builds a new Olaf, who becomes sentient. Along the way, Anna and her companions Kristoff and Sven stumble across Olaf in the middle of the woods. They discover that Olaf has come to life and he can talk. Olaf is a sweet and adorable character in the franchise, ...

Introduction         My family is very old-fashioned. I am the youngest in my immediate family. As long as I can remember, we have always been subscribed to the movie channels on TV, like HBO, so I grew up watching movies on cable TV instead of on streaming services, that has become the norm in the U.S. As my siblings moved on with their lives, during my early teenage years, I still had one brother at home with my parents, who I was never that close to. I naturally made it a habit to go watch TV in his room with him every night because he was always watching something and I wanted to catch what was going on, and we eventually grew really close. He always liked to watch action movies, and they do a lot of 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s action and sci-fi movies on the movie channels. I began to find out about movies and I started to like action and sci-fi movies too. I learned about famous actors and actresses and noticed certain trends in movies from the different decades. ...