Just watched “Lincoln” which is probably, technically, illegal, seeing as how it’s still in cinemas, but I don’t give a fuck about that, if I can download something and watch it for free I’m going to do it and I do not feel personally responsible for taking money out of Steven Spielberg’s pocket. He can afford it a lot more than I can.
It was a good film, even a great film in parts and I can understand why Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor. Despite the presence of many other actors, it was a one man show.
Politics – The Art of Knocking Heads Together
Several of the congressmen gave brilliant performances, it was an interesting view of the politics of the time and I loved Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens in his speech where he said he knew that all men were not created equal because the congressman he was addressing (a Democrat, who would today be a Republican) was born with half a brain and sludge running through his veins instead of blood). It was much more bare knuckle than the politics of today.
Sally Field was brilliant as Mary Lincoln but, really, the part was not large. In fact, all of the female characters were in the background, in tune with the reality of the times.
There was little battlefield drama and not a great deal of action in the sense that most movies have action. Helena got a little bit bored. “Is this just going to be people talking all the time?” Yes, yes it was, and I thought that was great.
We need more films like that.
I loved Lincoln’s rambling stories. I suspect they were more or less verbatim as recorded by people who heard them and later written down in books because Lincoln was certainly a man who people paid a lot of attention to even in his own time. The story about Ethan Allen and the British toilet, the story about the 77 year old woman who killed her abusive husband, the whaling analogy, the story of why his father moved the family to Indiana, this, to me, was the thread of the movie, the thing that held it together and made it an exceptional movie, rather than just another movie.
I recommend it.
www.gurukalehuru.com 
I liked the multiple quotations from Shakespeare (of course); “If you can look into the seeds of time….” “Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art” etc etc . Wow. What a bard-fest.
Any credibility you might have built up over the years I’ve been following (and enjoying) your writing were dashed to the rocks when I read your justification for illegally downloading and viewing a movie. The mind boggles. Think I’ll go hotwire and take a car (probably, technically, illegally) because the car manufacturers can afford it a lot more than I can. That iPad looks intriguing; believe I’ll just walk off with it; Apple doesn’t need the cash. Christ, what a shabby fucking person.
You’ve been following my writing and you thought I wouldn’t watch an illegally downloaded movie? I’ve got to sharpen up my writing because, wow, you really don’t understand me. I’m a pot smoking, meat eating slacker who doesn’t distinguish between glass and colored glass because, damn it, 3 divisions is enough.
Not only do I believe Spielberg can afford it more than me, I don’t actually feel I have stolen from him at all. I’m not discouraging people from going to the cinema, I sometimes go myself (maybe once or twice a year – it’s expensive and, to me, the content of the film is much more important than the big screen experience) and, please take note, I just wrote him a good review.
I hope you keep reading because, Lord knows, I need the readers, but I will continue to be a pretty shabby person.
You smoke pot and eat meat? Good lord, what a rebel. I have no issue with either of those activities, but they don’t involve thievery. One isn’t a crime at all, the other is a victimless crime. Ah well. I’ll keep reading, but I’m warning you now, I might stop paying to read it.