Uncanny resemblance 10

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri and Walter White.

My 2014 lesson

Scene from the movie "The Fan" by Tony Scott (1996).

Gil and Bobby playing baseball on the beach.

Gil Renard: How did you get out of that slump, Bob?

Bobby Rayburn: Say what?

Gil Renard: Got any idea what got you out of that slump?

Bobby Rayburn: You know Curly, I just stopped caring, man.

Gil Renard: What?

Bobby Rayburn: I just stopped caring.

Gil Renard: You stopped caring? What do you mean?

Bobby Rayburn: All my life, I've been working to be the best. You know? Trying to be perfectionist. And I thought about it. That's probably where I made my mistake. And when Juan Primo died, man, that completely changed the perspective. I mean...I mean, come on man, let's be real here man. What are we doing? We're not curing cancer, you know? We're playing a game. That's all it is. It's just a game. So I stopped caring and relaxed...and I started hitting again.

Gil Renard: Stopped caring. So that's your f---ing insight into life?

Bobby Rayburn: Yeah.

Lida Loop: The nightmare in Botkyrka

This is a MTB race held in Botkyrka in Sweden that consists of three loops, each of ca. 22 Km which adds up to the total of 66 Km. One can choose to ride one or two or all three loops. Given how it went for me in CV45 last year, in which I started to feel much better in the second half of it and I somehow felt that I could continue for at least a good 10 Km or so, I thought that maybe 66 is not that far out of reach so I signed up for three loops WITHOUT having a clear knowledge of what is actually waiting for me. 

It turned out to be the most difficult track that I have EVER ridden (or even seen for that matter!) and it was by far the toughest thing that I have been through, I have never ever felt so bad during and after the ordeal. The track was a lot of long and never ending uphills and very steep at times (which got you very exhausted even if you just wanted to walk with the bike) and if it wasn't that, it was highly technical parts or very steep downhill on a very rough and uneven surface. Put on top of that, a distance of 66 Km (well actually it turned out to be 65 Km, who cares at this stage, huh?) which something of its own per se.

In the middle of second loop (which is the most difficult loop of the three), I was totally spent. I got muscle cramps on both quadriceps which made it a hell if I wanted to stand to rest or walk slowly. Somehow I managed to finish that loop and came to a cross road where I had to quit right there and finish after 2nd or continue to 3rd, which (undoubtedly given my natural stupidity!) I did and it was a big big mistake. The 3rd, not being as difficult as 2nd, drained me of ALL my energy and whatever I had left in me. The last 10 Km or so I was feeling very sick but fortunately since I had nothing in stomach so I did not throw up. I had barely any energy to drink or swallow anything. The slightest of uphills turned to a massive project for me and besides, I felt mentally drained.

About 4.5 Km into the race, one of the girls in the elite group who started ahead of us had a massive crash on a quite narrow and sandy part of the track and made a massive jam right there because people stopped for helping out and being early in the race, there were a lot of riders trying to pass by. She was hurt pretty bad from what I could see and I heard afterwards that she hurt her neck badly and was transported to Karolinska hospital (the best and the most famous hospital in the country), that was NOT a pretty sight. That haunted me throughout the whole thing and got me thinking that, in the middle of all these problems that I am having now, I should absolutely avoid any stupid risks that can lead to injury because that would have made my misery at least 100 times higher. At the very end, I passed the finish line without any injuries except for immense fatigue beyond imagination.

I rode with a friend of mine and we held up together for a couple of kilometers in the beginning but he escaped away and I couldn't catch up with him. In the peak of my misery, I was desperately hoping that he had decided to quit after the 2nd loop and was standing right there at the finish and notifying me of his decision and urging me to do the same. I would have stopped in a heartbeat. But he wasn't there and later he told me that he was somehow hoping that I urged him to stop after 2nd but I don't know how I could have done that since I was trailing and he was ahead?!? He finished half an hour earlier than me.

The GPS data of the track, the lines indicate my heartbeat along the track with colours showing its level

At the end, I learned my lesson and most importantly, I realized my boundaries. If I assume that my physical and mental condition, remain the same or get better to some extent, I think I should never ever go beyond anything that is more than 40-50 Km or takes more than 4-4.5 hours. Anything above this leads to unnecessary suffering and pain, I was very lucky that in the peak of exhaustion, I didn't lose control and injure myself (mostly thanks to my new brakes), that could have had a catastrophic outcome. If we had ridden 1st or 2nd loop maximum, it would have been a good challenging workout and we would have been happy with ourselves specially that I had a very descent time after 1st, so riding the 1st loop only would have been perfect given the difficulties of the track and would have been more than enough. Riding all three of them, given our condition and bad preparation, was not a good decision.

I passed the finish line in 5 hours and 40 minutes, almost one hour later than what I had aimed for, which given the circumstances, is not that bad but (in the voice of Col. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now):

The fatigue...the fatigue...

Detailed information of my ride can be found here.

Lesson I learned from my father

Scene from the episode "Más" of season 3 of TV series Breaking Bad.

Walter White: I have made a series of very bad decisions, I cannot make another one.
Gus Fring: Why did you make these decisions?
Walter White: For the good of my family.
Gus Fring: Then they weren't bad decisions. What does a man do, Walter? A man provides for his family.
Walter White: This cost me my family!
Gus Fring: When you have children, you'll always have family. They'll always be your priority, your responsibility. And a man, a man provides. And he does it even when he's not appreciated, or respected or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he is a man.

Figuring out the streets according to Roger

Roger: Here's a joke boy. One day this man walks out of his house to go to work. He sees this snail on his porch. So picks it up and chucks it over his roof, into the back yard. Snail bounces off a rock, cracks its shell all to shit, and lands in the grass. Snail lies there dying. But it doesn't die. It eats some grass. Slowly heals. Grows a new shell. After awhile, it can crawl again. One day the snail up and heads back to the front of the house. Finally, after a year, the little guy crawls back on the porch. Right then, the man walks out to go to work and sees this snail again. So he says to it, 'What the f---'s your problem?'

Das Boot

This movie gives you insights of how great of nations the Germans are: hard work and obeying the rules as well as respecting the hierarchy almost at all costs, their attitude toward the work and their working culture in general under the most difficult of circumstances are just a few elements of the their success secret. No wonder that they rose to the to top of the world once and almost did that again after being completely flattened after WWII. It also masterfully depicts the fact that despite the hard work and dedication and sacrifice from many men on the work front, they were doomed to be defeated due to mismanagement and grave mistakes by the leaders above resulting in massive failure and causing all the hard work to yield nothing but catastrophe at the very end.

A very fascinating war film, however a bit too long, which gives insights from the other side of the war front, a well-made WWII war movie made by the Germans - we don't see that very often. 

I don't wanna die without any scars

He also said: "How much can you know about yourself if you have never been into a fight?"

From the book "Movies R Fun" by Josh Cooley.

A cleaner

From the book "Movies R Fun" by Josh Cooley.

Battle for Haditha

This is very strong and disturbing film made by Nick Broomfield, a documentary maker with outstanding film record.  The plot, as mentioned early in the movie is about:

"On 19th of November 2005 an IED bomb planted in the roadside in Haditha, Iraq killed 1 marine and injured 2 others.

In the following hours marines killed 24 Iraqi men, women and children."

The movie has been shot in the style of documentary and it took me quite some time to realize that it is not actually a documentary. The drama is so strong that it made me emotional at times during the movie. I firstly aimed all my hatred to the marines and I was hoping that they all would vanish despite knowing the outcome of the story. But then I noticed that both sides were crying (or rather bleeding) heavily after all the dust had settled. The audience inevitably aims his emotions toward the leaders of the both sides who manipulate the minds of their followers and fire up the war with disregard to its casualties or consequences.

Once again, it was confirmed for me that "The first casualty of war is innocence."

A very fine piece of movie and yet another great work by Broomfield nonetheless.

Once upon a time in America

Noodles: You dancing?
Deborah Gelly: You asking?
Noodles: I'm asking.
Deborah Gelly: I'm dancing.

Der Untergang

This movie depicts the last ten days in the 'downfall' of Nazi Germany in WWII with the main focus on the events happening in and around Führerbunker with all the people involved. The  film mostly follows Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge with her actual monologues in the opening and closing of the movie.

The main elements that I saw in this movie were:

- Fear

- Fanaticism

- Despair

- Loyalty
- Discipline

- Cruelty of war

- Pride

- Devastation of a city, country, culture and a civilization

It is also nice to see that not all the Deutschland and whatever/whoever related to the war was pure evil rather that there were human beings with feelings and human concerns even among the high ranking officials of Nazi regime in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. The movie despite its tough structure and scenes, is heavily emotional at times with great acting as well as directing which makes it a fine work of cinema.

Twins at the end of the corridor

From the book "Movies R Fun" by Josh Cooley.

Vamos a matar, Compañeros

Levantando en aire los sombreros
Vamos a matar, vamos a matar, compañeros

Pintaremos de rojo sol y cielos
Vamos a matar, vamos a matar, compañeros

Hay que ganar muriendo, pistoleros
Vamos a matar, vamos a matar, compañeros

Hay que morir venciendo, guerrilleros
Vamos a matar, vamos a matar, compañeros

Luchando con el hambre, sin dineros
Vamos a matar, vamos a matar, compañeros

Estudiantes, rebeldes, bandoleros
Vamos a matar, vamos a matar, compañeros

Hermanos somos, reyes y obreros
Vamos a matar, vamos a matar, compañeros

By Ennio Morricone

My indignation

"Got my indignation but I'm pure in my thoughts...I'm alive..."

- Eddie Vedder from Guaranteed

Change

"The significance of the moth is change. Caterpillar into chrysalis or pupa. From thence into beauty..."

- Dr. Haniball Lecter

Forgedaboudit

1. According to Donnie Brasco (played by Johnny Depp): "Foreget about it" is like, if you agree with some one, you know, like "Raquel Welch is one great piece of ass, forget about it." But then, if you disagree, like "A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac? Forget about it!" you know? But then, it's also like if something's the greatest thing in the world, like minga those peppers, "forget about it." But it's also like saying "Go to hell!" too. Like you know, "Hey Paulie, you got a one inch pecker!" and Pauile says "Forget about it!" And then, sometimes it just means forget about it.

2. New York term for "No comment" or "I would rather not say"

Vinnie: So Tony, how much money you made at the race track yesterday?

Tony: Forget about it!

3. A response to another person's statement indicating disbelief.

Joe: Tony Montana took 23 gunshots to the body before they took him.

Mickey: Forget about it!

Source: urbandictionary.com

A Serbian Film

This is by far the sickest and most disturbing movie that I have even seen, "Irréversible" is absolutely nothing compared to this. Tim Anderson says, and I can not agree more, "If what I have written here is enough to turn your feelings of wonder into a burning desire to watch this monstrosity, then perhaps I haven't been clear enough. You don't want to see Serbian Film. You just think you do."

I am just wondering what purpose does it serve to make such a twisted and disgusting movie, I guess human being never stop amazing one other. 

My god....so sick!

From The Hurt Locker

Colonel Reed: You the guy in the flaming car, Sergeant James?

Staff Sergeant William James: Afternoon, sir. Uh, yes, sir.

Colonel Reed: Well, that's just hot shit. You're a wild man, you know that?

Staff Sergeant William James: Uh, yes, sir.

Colonel Reed: He's a wild man. You know that? I want to shake your hand.

Staff Sergeant William James: Thank you, sir.

Colonel Reed: Yeah, how many bombs have you disarmed?

Staff Sergeant William James: Uh, I'm not quite sure.

Colonel Reed: Sergeant?

Staff Sergeant William James: Yes, sir.

Colonel Reed: I asked you a question.

Staff Sergeant William James: Eight hundred seventy-three, sir.

Colonel Reed: Eight hundred! And seventy-three. Eight hundred! And seventy-three. That's just hot shit. Eight hundred and seventy-three.

Staff Sergeant William James: Counting today, sir, yes.

Colonel Reed: That's gotta be record. What's the best way to...go about disarming one of these things?

Staff Sergeant William James: The way you don't die, sir.

Colonel Reed: That's a good one. That's spoken like a wild man. That's good.


Source: imdb.com

Leaving Las Vegas

This film is more about loneliness than anything else. How human beings feel, behave and react when they are lonely, and how miserable they become in that state. It is very sad story of loneliness in the shadow of all that extravagant Vegas life; a grave and yet attractive contrast.

Why are we build that way? Why can't we just bear loneliness? Why does it drive us crazy? And above all, why are we all so god damn lonely at the end of the day?

At the bottom of the hole

Source: swipelife.com: Inappropriate Golden Books: Movies R, Fun by Josh Cooley