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Monthly Archives: July 2007

Poet: Randall Jarrell

In the 102 class I teach (comp and lit), I have a section of “conflict” poems. For me, it’s not enough to include all the old standards about love or death, identity, or the many in that fat anthology about animals. That’s too easy. “Conflict” types of poems are important to read as well. Among […]

Shark Week, #5

I got to thinking about a passage I read in Fussell’s Wartime (I keep going back to that, I know, but it’s a great read) about public discourse (or what people could/would actually say in the 1940s regarding the actualities of conflict). Much of F’s argument has to do with light v. heavy duty, his […]

Shark Week #4

Okay, so I watched all two hours of Ocean of Fear and thought it was a pretty decent show. I bet my wife a dollar that there would be at least two actors from Band of Brothers in the cast, since those guys seem to show up everywhere. I thought maybe Matthew Leitch (Talbert), Peter […]

Shark Week #3

In light of the Shark Week and the documentary Ocean of Fear (premiering today, July 29), I found myself over at the USS Indianapolis Survivors web site reading about Woody James. His day by day chronology of events is most engaging. From Day 3 of his ordeal: The day wore on and the sharks were […]

More on Otoko-tachi no Yamato

This comment came from Peter Chen over at ww2db.com It’s too good to sit in the comment area. As naval warfare transitioned from the swashbuckling age of exploration to the age of long-range guns and steel platings, a lot of people say naval warfare had gone impersonal. Sailors deep in metal-covered beasts fired shells, hitting […]

Otoko-tachi no Yamato

Peter Chen over at ww2db.com sent me an email about this Japanese movie a few days back called Otoko-tachi no Yamato. All I can say is “wow.” The plot summary is here from IMDB: Makiko Uchida arrives in a southern Japanese port hoping to find a boat that will take her to the final resting […]

Jack Dempsey

Found this in a sports section from OCT 1944. Former boxer Jack Dempsey is here, and according to the caption, gives a “good natured kidding” to another. And the final phrase, still in use today: “You should have seen the other guy.” This is American copy writing bravado at its best. I was reading a […]

Shark Week, #2

There isn’t much I liked about the movie Jaws. It did, however, keep me out of the surf for a good portion of my youth. But that’s another story. When it airs on cable now, I always surf back in for Robert Shaw’s scene stealing moment on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis prior to […]

Band of Brothers?

Some time ago in a ww2 forum, I read a post that basically said this: “You mean Ambrose didn’t coin the term Band of Brothers?” Sometimes I have these moments where I’d like to scream through the computer and say something bad, like “mix in some other kinds of reading now and then, eh?” But […]

Shark Week

The Discovery Channel is set to air Ocean of Fear: Worst Shark Attack Ever, the story of the USS Indianapolis. Here is the blurb from their web site: A dramatic documentary featuring the story of the USS Indianapolis in World War II. Explore the sinking and the horrifying shark attacks that cost hundreds of soldiers’ […]