Weekly Mail November 15, 2015

Hello:

I was looking forward this week to writing some fun stuff, because it actually wasn't a bad week and I had some enjoyable moments. But sadly, we have to start off with what happened in Paris on Friday night.

NEWS ITEM: ISIS ATTACKS PARIS:

            George W. Bush will never be remembered for his eloquence in speaking, but something he said struck me as I was watching coverage of the terrorist attacks in Paris by that scum of the earth terrorist group ISIS, that thus far has claimed almost 130 lives.
              Bush used to always say "We have to be right every time. They only have to be right once." He was referring to al-Qaeda, but the logic still applies. Earlier in the week, it was reported that a drone airstrike had taken out Jihad John, a senior ISIS leader responsible for several beheadings. President Obama, in an interview with George Stephanopolis on Thursday suggested that ISIS was in retreat.

"What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them,' 'They have not gained ground in Iraq, and in Syria they’ll come in, they’ll leave, but you don’t see this systemic march by ISIL across the terrain.'"


       Of course, he was severely criticized by the usual suspects,(Donald Trump etc.) but the fact of the matter is, he was right. Knock on wood, we haven't been attacked on our soil by ISIS, and until Friday, their attacks were sporadic and seemingly uncoordinated as of late. He didn't say that we had defeated them, he just said it seemed like we were winning, and well, we were. 

        But it only took one coordinated attack to shatter the notion that the world had ISIS on the ropes. What happened Friday night, was a reminder that this is most definitely a war, and one that needs to be fought with diligence, with every possible tool at our disposal in play. Thankfully, its a war that we don't have to fight alone, and if everybody realizes what's at stake and that working together will be the best way to defeat these pigs once and for all, it will make it all the more satisfying. 

       12 years ago, when we were gearing up to go to war in Iraq, I was all for going in alone, and I was amongst those slamming France and Germany for not standing with us. I just felt that France for years had taken shots at us, undermining the US at every chance. I'm still not sure I'm as wrong as people told me I was. But I do have to admit, they stood with us after 9/11, and now we have the chance to do the same thing. The slaughter of innocent, good people is something that needs to be dealt with. So far, we've been pretty good at it. But now, we need to step it up.

We learned that the hard way on Friday. 


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             I know that I promised a third part to my summer story, and also to write a heartfelt note to all who wrote me after I first wrote about it. I hope to do the former soon, and will definitely do the latter before Thanksgiving, but today I want to tell you guys about one really good thing that has come out of what happened, and that is the cardiac rehabilitation program the hospital got me into. 

             Cardiac rehab is, as the name implies, a program designed to get your heart back in shape after a heart trauma. It mostly consists of exercises, but there are also classes on dealing with stress, high blood pressure, healthy eating etc. You also get one meeting with a nutritionist and if you need it, some counselling. 

             But to me. the best thing about cardiac rehab, is that you meet people who are in the same boat as you are and it becomes a de-facto support group. Because of privacy laws I can't get into too many details about the guys (and ladies) I work out with....but one gentleman came up to me after the second session I went to and said in a brogue "Hey, aren't you from Rockaway?" I told him I spent every summer in Rockaway from the age of 2 till I got married, but that I was originally from Woodside. "Oh, yeah? Well I remember seeing you at the Kerry Hills quite a bit some years ago."

           What? The Kerry Hills? Do you know how often I went to the Kerry Hills? A few times with the Monaghans (and their various visiting cousins from Ireland), and maybe during one or two hat parties, but I wasn't what I would call a regular there. The Irish Circle? Sure. Conolly's? Guilty as charged. And when it was open, I spent as much time in the High Tides nightclub as I did at the Beach. The Blackwater was stumble distance from my bungalow, so I was there quite a bit as well. But apparently I did something at the Kerry Hills 20 years ago to leave an impression on this poor man. But that's how we hit it off. 

             Insurance usually pays for 36 sessions (3 sessions a week for 12 weeks) so after you complete your 36 sessions, you graduate (with a certificate to boot) so people come and go. I have a couple of other friends there too, besides my drinking buddy from the Kerry Hills. There's JJ, a mechanic, Mike, a retired postal worker, and Buddy (not sure what he did for a living) Anyway, with the new James Bond flick out in theaters, these guys started talking James Bond while we were working out. Now mind you, these guys are old enough to have seen Dr. No in the theaters. But damned if they all hadn't seen every single Bond movie. I'm not just talking about the 24 or so that made it in the theaters, apparently back in the 50's there was an hour long version of Casino Royale that was on a CBS anthology series called "Climax!" .  These guys even knew about that!

         So JJ decided that cardiac rehab needed to take a field trip to go see Spectre. I thought he was kidding. He was not. So......


MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****

Movie: Spectre
Starring; Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux 
Saw it At: Merrick Cinema's
Saw it with: My homies from Cardiac Rehab.

     So a quick explanation on how this works for those new to Weekly Mail: I rate three things mainly. Restaurants, Movies, and in certain restaurants their chocolate cake. (I obviously won't be doing that as much in light of recent circumstances) Movies I rate with Aces, in honor of Weekly Mail co-editor Karl "the Ace" Ludwig, who can recite movie dialogue verbatim better than anybody I know. Restaurants get rated with Patties, in honor of Patti-Ann Fitzsimmons, because she organized most of our group dinners in the late 90's and early aughts, And I rate chocolate cake with Razors, in honor of "Razor" Ray McGarvey, because well, he's a bigger chocoholic than I am. (almost) 

But I digress...Back to Spectre.... James Bond (Craig) is suspended by M (Ralph Fiennes) for insubordination after he causes some trouble in Mexico City. Unbeknownst to all, Bond has a videotape from the former M (Dame Judi Dench) telling him to go to Rome. While in Rome he discovers the existence of a criminal enterprise called SPECTRE. He also finds out the key to infiltrating SPECTRE is hooking up with the daughter of an old adversary, Madeline Swann (Seydoux)  Together, Bond and Swann head to the ass end of Tangier to confront SPECTRE's leader (Waltz). 

         I'm trying to explain the plot while not giving too much away, but I do have some advice for anyone so inclined to go see Spectre. Make sure you see all the other Daniel Craig "Bond" movies (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall) before you see Spectre, because apparently they are all connected. I was never a huge 007 guy, though I have enjoyed the ones I have seen, I hadn't seen any of Craig's portrayals, but I have to say he is quite good.  I won't say he's as good as Sean Connery, because I've noticed that many people who are Bond aficionados go absolutely bat$h-t when you suggest anybody besides Sean Connery as the ultimate Bond. (IMHO- all of the guys who have played Bond were very good, with the exception of Timothy Dalton, who was awful) 



       All in all, it was an enjoyable movie. I'm not sure if I just enjoyed getting out da house on a Tuesday night, or if the movie was that good. I told Mike that this was the first adult movie I had seen in a theater in a long time. I had to replay that line in my head a few times to figure out why Mike was looking at me like I was some sort of pervert. 

3 Aces. 

Friday night it was back to the theater for a film more like the ones I've been going to the past 7 years. 

MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****


Movie: The Peanuts Movie 
Starring; Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy Van Pelt, Snoopy and Kristen Chenoweth 
Saw it At: Grand Avenue Theater (Baldwin)
Saw it with: Tara, Timmy and Timmy's friend Ethan. 

           I was explaining to one of my millennial co-workers why guys my age love the Peanuts. When we were kids, we didn't have 24 hour access to cartoons. We had Ch 5 and 11 for a couple of hours after school, Sesame Street at 4 PM and that was it. When there was a Peanuts special on, be it The Great Pumpkin, A Charlie Brown Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter/Flag Day.., it was a big deal. If you had a particularly cool teacher, she would lighten the homework load so  we could all tune in. 

          It's those nice memories that had me looking forward to seeing the old blockhead on the big screen (and in 3D nonetheless). The plot is pretty straightforward. Hard luck loser Charlie Brown goes gaga when a new kid moves into the neighborhood. (the litte red-haired girl) He spends most of the next hour and a half working up the courage to chat with his new neighbor/crush. He pays a nickel for advice from Lucy, he gets encouragement from his blanket loving pal Linus, he gets drafted to bake for a valentine's dance by Peppermint Patti-Ann (um I mean Peppermint Patti) and he does a book report on Tolstoy's War and Peace with some assistance from Marcie. 

          Does our hero win the heart of his dream girl? Well, I'm not going to give it away, but I will say this, even if all the same gags and scenes from every Charlie Brown show  you've ever seen are in this movie (and they are) it's still cool to see it in 3D. More importantly for me, Timmy and Ethan loved it, and really that's what it's all about. 

3.5 aces.   


SPORTS:

       So far I have stuck to my guns about watching less football. Last Sunday, I went to the park with Timmy and missed most of the Jets-Jaguars game ( a game in which the Jets desperately tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, apparently) and then on Thursday night, I watched a couple of episodes of "The Blacklist" rather than torture myself watching Rex Ryan avenge his Jet firing. 

        I have come to the conclusion that the Jets will most likely end up with anywhere from,a 7-9 record to a 9-7 record, but you can take THIS to the bank... the games they will lose will be the games I really want them to win. Yes, wins against the Browns, Jags, Redskins, Colts and especially the Dolphins are nice, but so far they have lost to the Eagles (who they have never beaten in the regular season despite playing them every year in the preseason) the Patriots (led by lying lowlifes Bill Belichick and Tom Brady) and now the Bills, so we can all read about how Rex Ryan stuck it to his old team. They play the Giants on December 6th, so get ready to lose that one and hear about how the classy Giants have won 4 Super Bowls since the Jets last won theirs in 1969. 

        And once again, I am reminded why I really have tried to stay away from the NFL. Deadspin.com this week released police photos of the damage Greg Hardy did to his girlfriend. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called Hardy one of the leaders of the team. Tune in on Sunday for more excitement from our heroes!!!!!!

I know we started on a sour note, so I'll end it on a positive note; In soccer today, Timmy scored 2 goals and didn't send anyone to the hospital. 

I hope you enjoyed the movie reviews. 

God Bless the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris and their families. 

Have a Great Week!