What would Optimus Prime do?
If you’re ever having a few issues in life and need to think
about how to respond to someone or what decision should be made, it’s time to
forget about ‘What would Jesus do?’ and more correctly ask yourself, what would
Optimus Prime do?
And if the answer was shoot your enemy in the face, you’d
probably be right, as long as you were of course protecting the freedom of all sentient life.
If I'm wrong about this, the obvious answer is probably that Optimus Prime would change into a truck.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy Review
Here's my fawning review of The Road by Cormac McCarthy
It's horrific.
It's hungry.
It's human.
It's also on Amazon
.
The story is set in an unknown time of an unexplained post-apocalyptic event. A great fire has scorched the earth along the road on which a tired father and his son travel seeking warmer climes.
It's also on Amazon
.The story is set in an unknown time of an unexplained post-apocalyptic event. A great fire has scorched the earth along the road on which a tired father and his son travel seeking warmer climes.
Forget the story for a moment and read the writing - it is pure literary porn. This line is from the first page of The Road and just by itself it conjures up a bleakness that no winter frost could ever predict:
"Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world"
This sentence just sets the tone of the novel perfectly.
Note the glaucoma line should probably have a comma. Cormac McCarthy only uses full stops, question marks and the odd apostrophe for punctuation. He's a real Charles Dickens. This lacking only serves to highlight the bareness of the travellers' path.
At its heart, The Road is a story of an endearingly protective father who guards his son's life with his own. This is not Finding Nemo but is a broken road through hell where the sharks are men who think nothing of eating human flesh, in fact in McCarthy's world these men harvest the arms and legs of their captives, while the captives are still alive.
It is literally day-to-day living.
The story is savage enough but this book didn't with the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007 for nothing (The Color Purple or To Kill A Mocking Bird are past winners) .
It would not be wrong to imagine that this is what's left of the earth after the monsters found in The Book of Revelations have passed through.
Frankly, after reading this novel Jesus would have wept more than the time Judas betrayed him.
Not that Jesus could read English, mind you.
Unsurprisingly The Road was being made into a film by John Hill Coat and starred Viggo Mortenson and Charlize Theron (as the mother in quite depressing flashbacks - contrast with Imperator Furiosa as a feminist icon).
When I was 13 I read Z for Zacharia, a children's book about a young female teenager trapped in a valley safe from a nuclear wasteland but who was being tormented by Mr Loomis.
That story has always remained in my memory with its near rape and always pending doom - The Road replaces that for me and I doubt I'll be able to eat meat from a spit roast in a while.
Buy The Road from Amazon
now. Don't watch the movie instead. Read the book! Then the film!
"Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world"
This sentence just sets the tone of the novel perfectly.
Note the glaucoma line should probably have a comma. Cormac McCarthy only uses full stops, question marks and the odd apostrophe for punctuation. He's a real Charles Dickens. This lacking only serves to highlight the bareness of the travellers' path.
At its heart, The Road is a story of an endearingly protective father who guards his son's life with his own. This is not Finding Nemo but is a broken road through hell where the sharks are men who think nothing of eating human flesh, in fact in McCarthy's world these men harvest the arms and legs of their captives, while the captives are still alive.
It is literally day-to-day living.
The story is savage enough but this book didn't with the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007 for nothing (The Color Purple or To Kill A Mocking Bird are past winners) .
It would not be wrong to imagine that this is what's left of the earth after the monsters found in The Book of Revelations have passed through.
Frankly, after reading this novel Jesus would have wept more than the time Judas betrayed him.
Not that Jesus could read English, mind you.
Unsurprisingly The Road was being made into a film by John Hill Coat and starred Viggo Mortenson and Charlize Theron (as the mother in quite depressing flashbacks - contrast with Imperator Furiosa as a feminist icon).
When I was 13 I read Z for Zacharia, a children's book about a young female teenager trapped in a valley safe from a nuclear wasteland but who was being tormented by Mr Loomis.
That story has always remained in my memory with its near rape and always pending doom - The Road replaces that for me and I doubt I'll be able to eat meat from a spit roast in a while.
Buy The Road from Amazon
now. Don't watch the movie instead. Read the book! Then the film!It's Optimus Time !
Check out this wicked 'Optimus Time', a sweet T-shirt design by The Atomic Rocket that I bought. For those that are like WTF? it's a mix of Back to the Future and the Leader of the Autobots........
Who was the original MP3 player?
Let's face it, Soundwave was always the coolest Decepticon. If he had have been an Autobot, he would have been as popular as Optimus himself.
You can see in the picture below (taken from an early cut of the end of the Revenge of the Fallen) that Soundwave has rejected his evil ways and being the original MP3 player, has taken the music to the masses:
What does U2 really know about war?
As The Clash once spat, "When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come?"
U2 have been mulling over the same question for decades, weaving lyrics about conflict and its fallout into nearly every album they've put out.
But by the time they released War, U2 had turned up the volume on their political commentary. This was the album that saw Bono evolving into a lyrical force, channeling raw emotion and anger into songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, a searing portrayal of soldiers opening fire on unarmed protesters.
A song probably taken from the No Line on the Horizon album recording sessions, Winter was used in the soundtrack for the Wim Wenders film. Brothers (U2 have a long association with Wim - he directed their video for Stay and Until the End of the World was used for the film of the same name).
U2 have been mulling over the same question for decades, weaving lyrics about conflict and its fallout into nearly every album they've put out.
But by the time they released War, U2 had turned up the volume on their political commentary. This was the album that saw Bono evolving into a lyrical force, channeling raw emotion and anger into songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, a searing portrayal of soldiers opening fire on unarmed protesters.
Then there's Seconds, a haunting snapshot of the fear and paranoia surrounding nuclear terrorism—another recurring theme in U2's catalog.
In the end, maybe the message is simple: a plea for peace amid the noise and chaos.
In the end, maybe the message is simple: a plea for peace amid the noise and chaos.
Winter
A song probably taken from the No Line on the Horizon album recording sessions, Winter was used in the soundtrack for the Wim Wenders film. Brothers (U2 have a long association with Wim - he directed their video for Stay and Until the End of the World was used for the film of the same name).
Winter is about is a song about the experience of the armed forces in Afghanistan, where Winder's film is set.
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| I've got soul but I'm not a soldier |
The Unforgettable Fire
Inspired by haunting images from paintings that depicted the aftermath of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Unforgettable Fire captures U2's introspective take on the devastating legacy of these events. While not a direct commentary on war itself, the album delves into the lingering impact of the atomic bombs, focusing on the human suffering and long-lasting scars left behind.Rather than glorifying battle or victory, U2’s lyrics offer a somber reflection on the innocence lost and the lives irreversibly changed by this brutal show of force. Through vivid imagery and haunting melodies, the album becomes a meditation on the quiet, enduring pain that shadows the survivors, emphasizing the profound human cost that transcends the politics of conflict.
In this way, The Unforgettable Fire stands as a testament to the aftermath of war—a poignant reminder of the suffering that persists long after the bombs have fallen and the smoke has cleared.
Arguably the most political song U2 has ever written, at least it's probably the most popular one! The lyrics are a savage indictment on American foreign policy. Arguably the most political song U2 has ever written, and certainly their most popular one, Bullet the Blue Sky is a blistering critique set to a thunderous, distorted groove.
Bullet the Blue Sky
Arguably the most political song U2 has ever written, at least it's probably the most popular one! The lyrics are a savage indictment on American foreign policy. Arguably the most political song U2 has ever written, and certainly their most popular one, Bullet the Blue Sky is a blistering critique set to a thunderous, distorted groove.
The lyrics are a savage indictment of American foreign policy, painted vividly through Bono’s searing, almost preacher-like delivery. It's a gut punch of a track, where images of helicopters, burning fields, and faceless men in suits converge to form a dark vision of unchecked power. The Edge’s guitar howls like an air raid siren, driving home the sense of chaos and fury, making it impossible for listeners to ignore the song’s urgent, uncomfortable message.
When Bono asks if there's a time for East 17 (a boy band that everyone has now forgotten) during the Bosnian war, you've gotta ask what he's talking about.
The song's lyrics actually praise the rebellious spirit of the Sarajevan people who refused to surrender their way of life during the conflict.
And what did they do? They staged a beauty contest.
This clearly inspired the chorus of the song, "Here she comes, heads turn around, here she comes, to take her crown".
If you could consider that the IRA's disgraceful and disgusting campaign against the people of Ireland was a civil war of sorts then Please is U2 exhorting Ireland's Political leaders to stop the civil war they have been waging.
Is a lyrical expression of the suffering experienced by the mothers and grandmothers of the thousands of children abducted during the conflict in Central America from the late 1970s through to the mid-1980s, particularly during Argentina's so-called "Dirty War" (1976-1983).
The Dirty war was a civil-style war that the American government covertly sanctioned in a bid to stop the 'communist threat' that was pervading at the time. Given this song was written in the mid-80s one can see how it's a cousin of sorts to Bullet the Blue Sky - indeed both songs appeared on the Joshua Tree album.
Miss Sarajevo from Original Soundtracks Vol 1.
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| Please don't let them kill us... |
The song's lyrics actually praise the rebellious spirit of the Sarajevan people who refused to surrender their way of life during the conflict.
And what did they do? They staged a beauty contest.
This clearly inspired the chorus of the song, "Here she comes, heads turn around, here she comes, to take her crown".
Please
If you could consider that the IRA's disgraceful and disgusting campaign against the people of Ireland was a civil war of sorts then Please is U2 exhorting Ireland's Political leaders to stop the civil war they have been waging.
Mothers of the Disappeared
Is a lyrical expression of the suffering experienced by the mothers and grandmothers of the thousands of children abducted during the conflict in Central America from the late 1970s through to the mid-1980s, particularly during Argentina's so-called "Dirty War" (1976-1983).
The Dirty war was a civil-style war that the American government covertly sanctioned in a bid to stop the 'communist threat' that was pervading at the time. Given this song was written in the mid-80s one can see how it's a cousin of sorts to Bullet the Blue Sky - indeed both songs appeared on the Joshua Tree album.
The best Optimus Prime Cosplay Ever
So like it's time for a quick round up of what I've been up to internet-wise. First up I've been going a Lil crazy on the cosplay - here's some Barbarella.
Joker's evil girlfriend Harley Quinn made a costumed appearance and so did the Transformers.
We also visited some of Halo Reach concept art from a range of artists.
U2 stopped being invisible for a moment and turned it up a notch and played a massive show in Mexico which featured a version of Zooropa.
U2 stopped being invisible for a moment and turned it up a notch and played a massive show in Mexico which featured a version of Zooropa.
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