"Wanderers"

It isn't very often that the Huffington Post and I agree on something but we agree on this.  "Wanderers" is a stunning short film that shows us, humanity, what wonders may be waiting for us in our neighborhood, the solar system.  

Watch this and be a wanderer if only for four minutes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/30/wanderers-short-film_n_6244990.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

Cause for Paws starring Fancy, Muffin, and Pie!

Young Daughter was contacted recently to have her well trained and so very cute dogs play a part in the Fox TV show "Cause for Paws" that aired Thanksgiving evening.  Three of her lovable canines made the cut and were featured in the opening scene of the show... which was cut on the east coast due to football running long.  Shades of Heidi!

The clip opens with the dogs on the DC3 with Fancy the white Tibetan Terrier first and Muffin the little mutt just before the shot of the throttle controls in the cockpit.  Pie the Belgian Malinois is seen half way through.

Anyway, for those who didn't see it and those who want to see it again, here it is!  YD recorded it from the Grouch family TV.

Lockwood Valley 4WD trip

Great trip, read about it at Bundu Trek

http://bundutrekusa.blogspot.com/2014/11/lockwood-valley-trip.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!    We received a call from Older Son today who is working outside the country for another three weeks or so.  It was great to hear from him.  I hope everyone has a happy and plentiful Thanksgiving day and enjoys the company of family and friends.

All the best to the Grouch family and all the relations across the nation and the world.

The Missus had her 5th grade students make these Thanksgiving turkeys in her class this week.  Cute and yummy!

Peter, Paul, and the Missus

The Missus is a major-league Peter, Paul, and Mary fan.  Her very first LP record was the first record issued by PP&M, which of course she still owns.  The Missus has many PP&M LPs and we saw PP&M in concert some years ago.  We were sad when Mary passed away.

Recently the Missus spied a brief note in the paper that Peter and Paul were coming to the Skylight Bookstore in Los Feliz not far from where I work to sign copies of their book "Peter, Paul, and Mary: Fifty Years in Music and Life".

http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Paul-Mary-Fifty-Years/dp/1936140322

http://www.skylightbooks.com/

  Needless to say  the Missus was all over that opportunity.  She took her first PP&M record album along with their "Reunion" album to be signed.  Of course she also bought their book which they personalized to her.

Peter and Paul performed some songs at the signing and took questions from the attendees.  Then came the signing.  As you will see in the pictures, the Missus is a good stand-in for Mary.  She had a great time and came home full of excitement and stories from the event.

Peter and Paul (or is it Paul and Peter?)

The Missus says that they sounded great!

The Missus moving right in.  Who can resist a beautiful blonde with long hair?

I'm lucky I got here back and she didn't get invited on tour with them.  They are enjoying themselves a little too much.

Peter, Paul, and Missus

Happy Birthday to the Willys MA Jeep

Happy Birthday to the original Jeep of world war II!  This video has great scenes of pre-war testing of the prototype Bantam Jeep model prior to the final pattern as made by Willys and Ford.  In several of the scenes the driver almost tips his Jeep over from over enthusiastic driving.

My father said that he and his AAF comrades were going to get two things after the war;  an M1 carbine and a Jeep.  He had to wait until I came along to be reacquanted with both of those items.

The contract for the Jeep was issued in November of 1940 and has Paul Harvey used to say "...and that is the rest of the story!".

Short reading list for junior leaders, military and civilian

I recently completed a leadership master's degree and as part of the process we had many texts and articles that we read as part of the program.  I was thinking about leadership, junior military officers, and book knowledge on leadership and realized that pretty much all the leadership wisdom needed can be found in a total of four books.  Two are fiction, two are fact and between them, they cover a time span of several thousand years.

Read these four books and you will entertained and enlightened.

"Gates of Fire"  fiction by Steven Pressfield   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Fire

"Bugles and a Tiger

"The Road Past Mandalay  non fiction autobiography both my John Masters  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1739219.Bugles_and_a_Tiger#other_reviews
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198452.The_Road_Past_Mandalay

"Starship Troopers"  fiction by Robert A. Heinlein (not the horrendous movie adaptation!)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers

Some may complain about military fiction and non fiction as leadership guides.  Let me assure you that these four works will give you the framework that any successful leader needs: empathy,  courage, honesty, selflessness, sacrifice, decisiveness, technical knowledge, team work, humor, dedication to duty, and initiative.

Happy reading!

Guilty Pleasure: "The Paradise" on Masterpiece Theater

I stumbled on "The Paradise" on Masterpiece theater the other day.  It is a story of a department store in England sometime in the 19th century post the Indian Mutiny.  It is a soap opera hiding in a gorgeous period piece.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/programs/paradise/

I was instantly hooked by the characters, the vibrant colors, and musical score.  The storyline is compelling too.  It didn't help things at all that I picked up the story in the middle of season two but I was able to deduce certain pieces of the plot to figure out the dynamics of the story.  I then went to the PBS website and watched the 30 second previews of the season I episodes as well as the first and second episodes of season II so I now have a solid idea of what the heck is going on.

I'm a sucker for this type of show having watched many of the original Upstairs/Downstairs episodes and then the follow up Upstairs/Downstairs that was on a year or so ago.

If you get the chance, watch the episodes on the website but hurry, apparently when the season ends, so does the online access to the complete shows.

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's day to all of the veterans in my life both living and deceased.

 "All gave some, some gave all".

Between the Missus family and mine we have veterans from the Civil War, WW1, WW2, Vietnam, the Cold War, Iraq I and Iraq II

Someday we as veterans hope that as the traditional spiritual goes, the world " ain't going to study war no more"

I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside and study war no more

Down by the riverside I'm gonna lay my burden down
Down by the riverside I'm gonna lay my burden down
Down by the riverside I'm gonna lay my burden down
And I'll study war no more

I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more

Down by the riverside I'm gonna walk with the Prince of Peace
Down by the riverside I'm gonna walk with the Prince of Peace, Hallelujah
Down by the riverside I'm gonna walk with the Prince of Peace
And I'll study war no more

I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more

I'm gonna beat my sword into a cloud down by the riverside
I'm gonna beat my sword into a cloud down by the riverside, yes it is
Beat my sword into a cloud down by the riverside
And I'll study war no more

I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more

Interstellar - the Movie

Young Son and I saw "Interstellar" today at the Imax.  It is a great movie, reminiscent of "2001-A Space Odyssey" but with an ending that is unambiguous and neatly wrapped everything up.  This film was visually beautiful and had great themes such as the importance of family and a father's love for his children, exploration, and sacrifice.  My only problems with the movie were two:  1. It was LOUD; and 2. the music was so loud that it sometimes drowned out dialog although Young Son with his young ears did not have that complaint.

https://interstellar.withgoogle.com/

I like movies with admirable themes; "Oblivion" from 2013 was full of them: courage, sacrifice, loyalty, devotion to a loved one.  A classic line from the movie: 'Everyone dies...the thing is to die well".  While we waited in line for "Interstellar" I reminisced about seeing '2001' in the theater when it was a first run movie and the overwhelming experience of the movie for me.  I looked it up on the internet tonight (everything is on the internet) and learned that the showing that I saw was one of a select group shown in advance at Cinerama equipped theaters to create buzz for the movie.  For some the buzz was induced by smoking MJ during the extended ending but that is another subject for another time.  For me it was the incredibly realistic effects and the overall story of exploration.

http://cinematreasures.org/blog/2013/4/2/2001-a-space-odyssey-45th-anniversary-the-cinerama-engagements

I saw it at the Warner theater in Pittsburgh which is sadly history now.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/4368

I remember being offered the program of the movie but rebuffed it when I learned I had to pay $5 for it!  Wish now I had kept it.  The Warner was the scene of the infamous "Carrie" movie incident on Halloween that involved the Missus ( we were dating), an umbrella, and the hand coming from the grave in the movie, simultaneously. It is a miracle that she married me after that.

Young Son asked me what other movies that I saw first run gave me the same "wow" feeling as '2001' did when I was young so I told him five movies:

"Star Wars"
"2001"
the original "Planet of the Apes"
"Wind and the Lion"
"Robinson Crusoe on Mars"   Ok this one is cheesy but as a 10 year old it blew me away. I still enjoy watching it on DVD and pine for the Mars that hasn't existed for millions of years.  But still...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe_on_Mars

Back to "Interstellar".  See it, and see it on the big screen.  Your TV is way too small to capture the grandeur of this flick.  I give it 4 out of 4.

Labor day off road trip

A write up on my Labor Day off road trip can be found at Bundu Trek USA

http://bundutrekusa.blogspot.com/2014/11/big-bear-labor-day-weekend-trip.html