Monday Movie Mania - The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Mix Guy Ritchie and a plethora of hot actors, and you get a wild action comedy that's reminiscent of the crazy '80's action movies with Arnold and Sylvester.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is VERY loosely based on Operation Postmaster, one of the SOE's first sabotage missions against Nazi Germany. The SOE was the precursor to today's MI6. According to some sources, Ian Fleming based James Bond on Gus March-Phillipps.


**************


SPOILERS


**************


PROS
1) The lovely cast is headed by Henry Cavill as March-Phillipps. The entire team has a range of actors who normally play the hero in movies. This time, they show their acting chops as a bunch of psychotic misfits, a la The Dirty Dozen.

2) Guy Ritchie can normally bring out the characterization necessary to sympathize with his protagonists. I think he didn't dig too deep here because these are men who should be incarcerated for murder and many other crimes. The only redeeming feature is these men hate Nazis as much as normal Brits do.

3) It's very obvious the entire cast enjoyed the hell out of playing a bunch of psychotics.

4) In a movie that manages to go over the top, Rory Kinnear does a lovely, delicate job of protraying Winston Churchill as a real human being.

5) Cary Elwes was perfect as the eye-rolling Brigidier trying to keep a lid on the illegal mission while dealing with backstabbing idiots who want to surrender to Hitler.


CONS
1) I really can't think of anything bad about this movie. This flick isn't Oscar material, nor does it pretend to be.


Overall, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was a blast of weekend matinee movie. I give it 8 out of 10 stars for its explosive fun.

Prince in April

One of my favorite ballads.

Puppy Surgery

Princess Bella had to go in for dental surgery this morning. Somehow, she managed to break two of her upper molars, one on each side of her jaw. Even though she was the second surgery scheduled for the day, the animal hospital kept her until four p.m. to make sure she suffered no ill effects from the anesthesia or the anti-inflammatory meds. While she is a dog with a large personality, she does have a tiny body.

Everything went smoothly, and she's now cuddled with me on our recliner. However, she does have the glazed look in her eyes.

Tonight's dinner for her will be Little Cesar's Filet Mignon. Her favorite soft food for her poor abused mouth.

It will be a quiet night in the Harden household.

I'm Back to Work

After a much-needed break in D.C. over the weekend, I'm back home. The picture to the left is the view of the National Cathedral towers from our hotel room.

It was delightful to visit a former home and one of my favorite cities in the U.S. Lots of friendly humans. Lots of friendly dogs. Lots of good food.

Took the wrong Metro a couple of times because the subway system has expanded over the last 30 years. Also, I rode in a Tesla for the first time! We Ubered to dinner our last night because the Red Line was being serviced on Sunday.

Apparently, I still look like I know what I'm doing down at the Mall. I was asked for directions by three different tourists. The little bit of rain that fell over the weekend didn't impede our explorations. Plus, Saturday was way warmer and sunnier than predicted.

All-in-all, a much needed and rejuvenating break. Now, back to the ongoing story...

Prince in April

Still my favorite of all Prince's backup bands.

On the Road Again!

It's been a rather stressful four months here. Between recovering from surgeries and diving into the basement every time the emergency sirens go off, I got behind on a lot of publishing and writing things. My perfectionistic streak settled into my spine and connecting muscles in such a way that yoga classes are barely making a dent. Heck, I still have two people I need to send Christmas gifts to!

Anyway, a friend in Cincinnati said let's take a long weekend, get massages, and eat some good food. So, I'm heading down to her place tomorrow.

So, the blog will be relatively quiet for the next few days unless some major event occurs.

Don't worry. Darling Husband and Princess Bella have plenty of foods and snacks for when they watch On Patrol Live and this weekend's Premiere League games.

There's No Magic Handshake

I guess I've been a professional writer long enough that I'm attracting people who want to know the magic handshake.

There is no magic handshake.

There's no secret formula.

There's no password to riches.

Frankly, if you want to be rich, invest wisely. Or buy a Powerball ticket. Or find a sugar daddy/sugar mommy.

Over the last two decades, I've met a lot of writers who have quit. They got discouraged. Tired. Bored. But in almost every case, they tried to be like every other writer. They followed tropes and rules instead of being their own unique selves.

But the most important of all, it's what they don't mention that's really behind them quitting. I never hear them say how much they love story-telling.

Never. Ever.

If you don't love making up stories, you're not going to have a long-term career. I and most other readers can tell when your heart's not into the story you wrote.

Basically, if you're not having a good time writing your story, why do you do it? There's a shit-ton of of jobs out there that are tiring and frustrating.  I've been down those roads. You can usually leave the bullshit at the office or factory.

But writing and storytelling should be a passion. Something you can't live without. It's a tough road, but it's worth it when you love it. It's no different that any other art.

The only two things you need to remember is BICFOK, i.e. "butt in chair, fingers on keyboard".

And love your stories!

My Favorite Music Artists

I'm starting with two months of Prince and his various incarnations over the decades. I admit I play his albums while writing romance scenes.

Errands and Accidental Insults

I had a bunch of errands to run today after yoga. Picking up my prescription drugs. Dropping off paperwork for Princess Bella's surgery in two weeks--nothing major, but somehow she managed to break two teeth at the end March, and they need to be pulled. Stop at our dentist and request a full accounting from December of 2023 until now because the company handling our Flex spending account had thrown a fit about the documentation we've already sent them.

Also, I stopped to get a haircut.

Not a big deal, right? The stylist asked how my day was, and I said, "I'm running errands." He was like, "Oh, errands." I shrugged and said, "It beats being at work."

And I apparently offended him.

Oops!

And running errands did beat sitting at home, staring at the laptop screen, because I got stuck on a scene right before I went to bed last night. Ironically, I was able to work out a solution to the story in my head while he cut my hair in total silence.

It was pretty obvious he assumed I was a Karen. Most probably a wife of some Marathon Petroleum executive. But he didn't ask what I did for a living, and when he got huffy, I didn't offer.

I get it. Sometimes, it's hard for people to make a living, and I know I've been graced with certain privileges. However, my life has been all over the place. I've headed the probate division of a law firm, and I've worked three jobs while homeschooling an eight-year-old.

But good grief! I'm getting my hair cut at a discount place, not at a fancy, schmancy salon. Think it through, man!

Should I have apologized? Maybe. But I stubbornly dig my heels whenever someone jumps to conclusions about me. And that's the same whether it's a stylist in Findlay, Ohio, or the mom at GH's daycare who turned her nose up at me because she worked for Vinson & Elkins in Houston (second biggest law firm in the city), and I didn't.

ECLIPSE!

DH and I took today off. It's been a busy, busy year, and we're already a quarter and change through 2024. And today, our little town was almost smack dab in the middle of eclipse totality.

I've seen partial eclipses in person, and I've seen picture of full eclipses, but nothing prepared me for a full in-person eclipse.

We moved our front porch bench out into the front yard before we grabbed our eclipse glasses, DH's binoculars, and Princess Bella. The neighbors on our side of the street did similar things with their seats, equipment, and pets. Folks on the opposite side of the street were in their back yards. Local schools cancelled classes, so all the kids in the neighborhood had a grand time since our weather was damn near perfect--70 degrees, a scattering of cirrus clouds, and no rain.

Princess Bella was only confused about why we were sitting outside instead of relaxing on our recliner couch. The birds and crickets were like, "Whoa! That was a short day."

The drop in temperature and the darkness I expected. We were lucky enough to see Bailey's Beads and the diamond ring effect. What I didn't expect was my bionic lenses creating a blue diamond shape in the middle of the moon. There's a halo effect created by multifocal lenses. I've had them long enough my brain edits out the effect, but this was new so my brain latched onto the blue diamond.

The picture above is the only really good shot I captured. The neighbors' security lights and the street lights had just kicked on, and you can see the edge of the moon's shadow via the cirrus clouds just above the treeline.

At the moment of totality, a cheer erupted from the neighborhood kids, followed by a dull roar of voices from all the spectators in town.

Like I said, pictures can't replicate the thrill at seeing an eclipse in person.