Thoughts and Musings on Runaway Train

I would not want to be a part of any quasi-frightening imbroglios involving a runaway train, Ranken, or Manny.
Frankly, I couldn't think of anything else to say about Runaway Train. This is a simple statement assuring Mr. Bennett and the rest of the film class that I have seen, understood, and digested the material.
Sound familiar?

2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Picks

As we enter the greatest three weeks in sports I am going to help all you struggling bracketologists pick the winning teams and perennial busts in this years NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Here are several ideas to keep in mind when filling out your brackets. No one from Dickie V to Mel Kiper Jr. to Digger Phelps to Tim Kurkjian has a clue about what they are doing...except me. I knew Kansas would win last year not because I scouted them out but rather because of the giant Jayhawk at half court. Some general rules and trends to keep in mind are no 16 has ever upset a 1, 5-12 upsets happen at least once, and all four 1s never made the final four except last year. As far as 5-12 upsets go pick Arizona over Utah and Western Kentucky over Illinois. Gonzaga and Tennessee are always disappointments so pick them to lose after they win once. I do not trust the Big Ten anymore after Ohio State football and basketball were beaten by Florida to win the championship in the same year.
The Wild, Wild West:
UConn and Memphis are pick 'em because a team of preschool girls can have a good record in Conference USA and UConn's Jerome Dyson is injured. Missouri may upset both teams and make the final four but that is not likely. I have Texas A+M, Purdue twice, Washington, Marquette, Mizzou twice, Maryland, and Memphis beating UConn to make the final four.
Mouth of the South:
Beware of UNC because Ty Lawson is hurt and they will have to play Oklahoma to make the final four. Take Butler, Western Kentucky twice, Gonzaga, Temple, Syracuse twice, Michigan, and Oklahoma to beat UNC to make the final four.
Beast of the East:
Since I was impressed by Florida State's upset of UNC in the ACC Tournament pick them to make the Sweet Sixteen. Pick Tennessee, Xavier, and VCU to win once. Villanova will make the Elite Eight. Texas will win once and Duke will make the Sweet Sixteen. If Pittsburgh's center DeJuan Blair gets into foul trouble they are just a mediocre team at best. They will make the Final Four but they will not make the championship.
Best of the Midwest:
Take Siena to beat Ohio State and 12 seed Arizona to upset 5 seed Utah. Wake Forest who spent more time as #1 team in the nation than Louisville will make the Final Four. Pick West Virginia, Kansas thrice, Boston College twice, and Michigan State.
The Final Four:
The Final Four will be the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Oklahoma Sooners and the best player in the nation, and the Memphis Tigers.
The Best:
Wake Forest will beat Memphis, and Oklahoma will beat Pittsburgh.
The Champion:
Wake Forest will be the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Champion.

Midnight Cowboy Part II

Joe Buck finally finds a way to unify his Texan cowboy mentality and still hold a normal job. He commentates with a former Cowboy from Dallas, Troy Aikman, on NFL football games for FOX Sports. To provide additional cash to cover Rizzo's funeral, he commentates on baseball games with Tim McCarver.

All Quiet on The Western Front

As Mr. Bennett so eloquently put it, "The death of one man is a tragedy and the death of one million men is a statistic." As paradoxical as it may sound it is the truth. One man is a face, a personality, a friend, a brother, a human being. However there is no emotion attached to one million men because no one knew each person individually. One million is simply a number. Just 1 followed by six zeroes. As we begin to separate them and examine each person's life closely, we feel the tragedy attached to their deaths. For example as we read a history textbook the number of deaths from World War I is convincing enough to refrain from the next world war but we cannot sympathize with the millions killed in the wake of the war. One million deaths in my textbook is nothing more than ink on a page evoking a distant memory. However All Quiet On The Western Front examines the lives of Paul, Kat, Albert, Muller, Kemmerick, and Behn in detail. We can sympathize with them because they are humans and individuals with horrific deaths. My eyes hurt when Behn was blinded in 'no man's land' and my legs hurt when we saw Kemmerick and Albert lying in bed with phanton pain from amputations. Seeing a graph of deaths from World War I elicts aboslutely no sympathy from me.

Citizen Kane

After watching Citizen Kane for about an hour or so it is readily apparent to any conscious observer that we are no closer to unraveling the identity of Rosebud than we were at the beginning of the movie and that although Rosebud's identity is the drivng force behind the plot it is probably unimportant. I say that because someone would have seen C. F. Kane with Rosebud or at Rosebud if it were. By applying some Holmesian thinking I reasoned that Citizen Kane is similar to a magic show. Welles probably dropped several subtle clues leading to the elusive identity of Rosebud but also threw in some misdirection in the form of the story of C. F. Kane's meteoric rise and fall.
After consulting my Merriam-Webster dictionary I learned a name is what we call a noun and a noun is a person place thing or idea. At this point I doubt that Rosebud is a person because he/she would have come forward, or Kane's close friends would know who Rosebud is. Rosebud is as goofy a name for a person as Tucker Blake Brent or Cody is. Kane probably never met the Rosebud Sioux either. I also doubt Rosebud is an idea because I have never been in a Rosebud state of mind. Although I have no conclusive proof that Rosebud is not a place my intuition tells me that Kane never traveled to Rosebud, Montana. So by process of elimination Rosebud is a thing. The evidence for Rosebud being an item is convincing but not beyond doubt's shadow. We know Kane is a materialistic person. We also know that he built Xanadu and put most of his many possessions there.
Rosebud could be anything from a pet to a statue of a budding rose.