‘Twenty years ago’, said Mark, toying with his knight, ‘we were fighting to save wilderness from destruction. Now it seems like we’re just fighting to keep ourselves off screens twenty-four hours a day.’ AGAINST THE MACHINE, Paul Kingsnorth
September was, without a doubt, a month of history. If you’ve followed me a long time, you know that history is my mainstay here, but the sheer-exclusive focus I had on it this month was still unusual. Also happily unusual was the lack of hurricanes: September is usually the peak season for them down here, with no close rival. (Unlike April and March, who squabble over who has the most tornadoes.) We even had two potentials brewing, and then one bumped into the other and away they both went! It was a warm and largely dry month here in the Heart of Dixie, aside from some occasional showers. Enormous yard skeletons are evidently in vogue this year, as I’ve spotted no less than five houses sporting them.
Moviewatch Sept 2025
It was probably a consequence of 4.5 weeks of back-to-back dogsitting at 5 different houses, but I watched almost nothing this month — at least, not movies. I’ve been watching Roger Clark play Red Dead Redemption 2, which provides both his behind-the-scenes commentary and the weird feeling of knowing a game better than ‘the main character’ does. I’ve also been binging on police bodycam videos, mostly because of Frank Sloup. (“If you get another citation like this, you can trade in all three for a bicycle — because we’re going to suspend your license and you won’t be able to drive.”) He often introduces motorists to Stoicism.
Patton, 1970. George C. Marshall’s most-known role, here he plays George Patton during World War 2. Despite frequently reading about WW2, I know little of Patton besides his reputation for being..gung-ho, shall we say, and his role in D-Day prep by being put in charge of a fake army to confuse the Germans. This had some great depictions of tank battles, and one of my favorite-ever line deliveries: “Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your BOOK!” Sprinkled with humor – some intentional, some not.
Rush Hour, 1998. A rewatch for me. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan star in this comedic buddy-cop movie: Chan is a Chinese national whose former boss’s daughter is kidnapped by baddies in Los Angeles. Former Boss has the full cooperation of the FBI, but wants to bring in Chan to have someone familiar on the case. The FBI doesn’t want any interference, so they tap an LAPD detective who is known for being disruptive and useless to keep Chan busy. Hilarity ensues. This may be the only film to ever show realistic Los Angeles traffic, in that it’s at a complete standstill.
Fire Birds, 1990. Apache helicopter action? Check. Tommy Lee Jones? Check. Score by David Newman, who also did Streets of Fire? Checkity check check. “This warbird is agile, mobile, and hostile!” The acting and writing are….not good: this is the worst performance I’ve ever seen by Nicholas Cage. They’re as impactful as the scene where Tommy Lee Jones is giving the punching bag little “I got your nose!” boops. The plot is 2/3rds Nicolas Cage trying to get used to the new Apaches, one third using said helos to deliver death from above to drug cartels.
Coming up in October…
Wendell Berry is releasing a new Port William novel on October 7, so I’m probably going to be all over that. October also means a nod to German history, inspired by Reunification Day (October 3rd), and maybe some horror if I get in the mood for it. That’s unlikely. I also really need to get cracking on some more science reading: I have four categories outstanding in the Science Survey.
Reading Freely 
It’s looking very autumnal, and hooray for no hurricanes!
Gigantic skeletons seems to be contagious. I remember driving through Aberdeen, WA, a few autumns ago, and it seemed like the whole town had been overrun by them.
I watched Rush Hour for the first time not too long ago. It was quite funny in a “sooo bad it’s good” way, though I was shocked how much humor has changed since the late 90s. Being half-Asian, I’m glad some of it has gone the way of the dodo, but there must be a happy medium between that versus completely avoiding humor based on racial differences as it seems we have today.
Mr H and I just started watching John Adams (2008), one of my favorite historical dramas. The tarring and feathering scene in e1 took him aback, I guess they don’t teach that in British schools. I was also reminded of how popular handheld cameras were in the mid-aughts, as it they are used a LOT in this series. XD
Ohh, I love that series — but I skip episode 1, which has the bit you mentioned. There’s another ….squeamish scene later in the scenes, but it’s more medical related. There’s another series called the Adams Family Chronicles done in the 1970s that follows the Adams from John to….Henry, I think — throughout the 19th century.
Believe it or not, we watched Rush Hour in school. XD I’ve rewatched it numerous times since, and Rush Hour 2 a few times. That one has Jackie Chan repeating Tucker’s frustrated line, “Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?!” to comedic effect.
I wonder if those handheld cameras were the Blair Witch effect!
Great pics! We had two potential hurricanes go out to sea, too. I’m very happy about that. I hope you have a great October.