So this Post was originally supposed to be about Sinclair Lewis's 'It can't happen here.' I've been meaning to write about this classic novel for over a year now, but for a long time I couldn't really decide how to approach it. How to tie it in with this blog and its themes. Then some … Continue reading Supplemental Reading: It can’t happen here
Film Studies: Six Days & The Raid on Entebbe
One of the things that Douglas Bland seems to be setting up as a kind of grand finale for the novel Uprising, is a kind gigantic showdown in the North: Will Boucanier, a traitor to Canada's special forces community, will go toe-to-toe with the CSSR (the fictional version of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment) as … Continue reading Film Studies: Six Days & The Raid on Entebbe
Billy Bishop – Let’s have a proper introduction…
I've been meaning to do this for a bit. In Douglas Bland's Uprising, General Andrew Bishop is named after (and in story he's the descendent of) the real life William Avery "Billy" Bishop, who was a Canada's top Ace pilot during the First World War, and was a General training new pilots within the British … Continue reading Billy Bishop – Let’s have a proper introduction…
Leadership(?) – NTM/NMB/NLT and why timing is everything
I got some mixed feelings about the classic war movies like 'The Longest Day' or 'A Bridge Too Far.' Sometimes they capture the spirit of the age in a way we don't always manage in modern films, but other times they get uncomfortably sentimental or melodramatic (and in the case of wars featuring the Japanese, more … Continue reading Leadership(?) – NTM/NMB/NLT and why timing is everything
Film Studies – The Warriors
So last week I got a bit into the life and work of Malcolm X. I’m going to be referring to him more as we go on, but for this week I wanted to throw a bit more of a light-hearted example into the equation. That’s why today we’re going to be looking at Cyrus' … Continue reading Film Studies – The Warriors
Film Studies – Malcolm X
Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic Malcolm X (often just called 'X') is one of those movies that becomes more powerful the more you learn about the events it’s portraying. My first impressions of how Spike Lee framed the life story of American Muslim activist Malcolm X was that this was a bit of a fanboy hagiography. The movie … Continue reading Film Studies – Malcolm X
13-Has Douglas Bland even _seen_ the movie version?
By now Alex Gabriel has been walked from one end of the super-secret command post to the other, something we’re told the people who work here don’t get to do thanks to an army of security guards who themselves have the run of the compound. He has passed through several of the colour-coded work areas, … Continue reading 13-Has Douglas Bland even _seen_ the movie version?
Film Studies – In the Name of the Father
The 1993 movie ‘In the Name of the Father’ is a film based on the real life story of Irishman Gerry Conlon, who was one of the ‘Guilford Four;’ a group of innocent men wrongly convicted of a lethal IRA bombing. The whole movie is excellent (although not without controversy given that the script departed … Continue reading Film Studies – In the Name of the Father
4-How bad can you be?
One of the first things that happens as the raid goes down is the arrival of an MP (Military Policeman) carrying out a routine patrol. Luckily, the oddly-named Steve Christmas is on the ball! “A hiss from Christmas’s radio broke the silence. “Headlights approaching,” whispered Villeneuve. “How many…what speed?” “Looks like a single, a … Continue reading 4-How bad can you be?
Putting Down Uprising 