Posts tagged war
“The Company You Keep” a Blast from the Past
0“A Blast from the Past”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Company You Keep is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Neil Gordon; Robert Redford produced, directed, and stars in it; and it is about an anti-war protester from the Seventies who has been underground all this time, but is now being chased by the FBI for a murder that occurred in a bank robbery that went bad.
This is somewhat ironic, because the protester, Nick Sloan, was a member of the Weather Underground, also known as Weathermen, who used bombs to draw attention to their cause, which was an anti-Establishment protest against the war in Vietnam.
The story erupts into motion when a woman who was also a part of the movement is captured by the FBI, and a young newspaper reporter, played by Shia LaBeouf, starts digging into the details of her arrest and discovers a link between her and a lawyer named Jim Grant, who lives in the area.
The reporter’s editor tells him, “You keep telling me you’re a good reporter, right? Prove it.”
After more digging into Grant’s background and the details of the bank robbery in Detroit, the reporter believes that Grant is actually Nick Sloan, whom the FBI has been looking for since the Seventies and making them look bad, because they could never catch him.
The reporter’s suspicions prove to be true, and after Sloan gets his brother to take care of Sloan’s daughter, who is 11 years old, Sloan takes off across country with both the FBI and the reporter after him.
Although the FBI believes that Sloan is just running to escape capture, the reporter thinks that Sloan has something else in mind, and the reporter is right.
Sloan is searching for Mimi Lurie, another protester from back in the day, and he is looking up other colleagues who might be able to help him find Mimi, because Sloan believes that her help is the only way that he can get his daughter back.
The people that Sloan gets in touch with are all played by famous actors, so many, in fact, that their appearance can become distracting.
The Company You Keep is a look back at a time when the whole country was in turmoil and a protest group believed idealistically that what they were doing was right, a blast from the past.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
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“The Sapphires” a Sweet Story Set During Vietnam War
0“Sweet Story Set During Vietnam War”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE SAPPHIRES is inspired by the unlikely, but true story of four girls from the aboriginal outback of Australia who form a singing group that entertains the American troops in Vietnam during the war.
The movie begins in 1958 in Australia, and we see four little girls who love to sing performing before an audience. Suddenly a group of government officials show up, and one of the little girls, Kay, is taken away from her family by the officials, because she has light skin, and forced to live in a city with a white family.
This was all part of a government program to integrate aborigines into Caucasian society.
Then the movie shifts to 1968, and we meet Dave Lovelace, played by Chris O’Dowd, who is sleeping in his car and arrives late to work in a bar where he is the emcee of a local talent show, and his boss puts him on his last warning.
Dave says to the audience, “I sort of start off slow, and then I slowly peter out.”
Two young aborigine girls, Gail and Cynthia, are singing in the talent show, they announce that they are from “black fella’ country,” and they sing a country song that the audience doesn’t pay much attention to.
But when their younger sister, Julie, suddenly joins them on stage, their singing becomes much better and so does the audience’s appreciation.
After the talent show, the girls approach Dave, show him a newspaper clipping about an audition in Melbourne for singers and dancers to perform for the troops in Vietnam, and ask him to help them go to the audition.
Dave agrees to help, but says they should sing soul music instead of country music and that Julie should sing lead instead of Gail, which doesn’t please Gail one bit.
Also, while they are in Melbourne, they track down their cousin, Kay, who had been abducted 10 years earlier, and she is able to join them for the audition.
Ironically, while Dave is coaching the girls and teaching them choreography, he says that they should sing their soul songs “blacker.”
So, the girls, accompanied by Dave as manager and chaperone, entertain the troops in Vietnam, where there is danger, conflict, and even romance.
The Sapphires is a sweet and mostly true story set during the Vietnam War.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
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The Sapphires – Movie Trailer
0Inspired by a true story, THE SAPPHIRES follows four vivacious, young and talented Australian Aboriginal girls from a remote mission as they learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertains the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968. Cynthia (Tapsell), Gail (Mailman), Julie (Mauboy) and Kay (Sebbens) are discovered by Dave (O’Dowd), a good-humored talent scout with a kind heart, very little rhythm but a great knowledge of soul music. As their manager, Dave books the sisters their first true gig giving them their first taste of stardom, and travels them to Vietnam to sing for the American troops.
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Jann Scotts Journal : Some of the things I do to protect myself.
0an attitude” to see what they do. Then it doesn’t hurt to meet with police safety experts. It is also important to know who your enemies are and what potential they have to kill you.
In my case my life has been threatened so many times, I became proactive in my own protection and defense.
I have had police tell me straight up. We can’t protect you, you have to protect yourself.
As a talk show host I have interviewed countless Gang experts, cops of all types and I came away with one solidifying factor.
Cops carry guns in holsters on their hips. They wear bullet proof vests and they are constantly vigil when on the job. If you are a criminal or violent offender and you are going to get into a gun fight with a cop , you are probably going to lose.
If you are a mouthy talk show host and piss off the wrong element of society, you better be as prepared as a cop when bad guys come gunning for you or you are going to die.
An expert in the Amend program which treats violent offenders once asked me, “do you actually think you are going to out draw a violent man who is intent on killing you??”
People who are targets, who carry concealed weapons will never out draw a violent offender or come out of an ambush alive.
Now just so that you know in my line of work I have been kidnapped at gun point by three assailants who were never caught. I have had guns pulled on me twice. One was a drug dealer who aimed a gun at my chest point blank from his car window because he did not like my stance on drugs. I instantly disarmed him, drug him out of the car by his hair and pinned him until the sheriff got there..
The second time was during a live radio show with former DA Bill Ritter and Governor Rohmer at 9th and Corona in Denver. A right wing Arian man wanted to shoot me . He was subdued by two Denver PD who were standing in the crowd.
I don’t think Ritter nor Romer know how close we all came to dying that night.
Even so, I had two armed body guards provided by the Radio station standing ten feet from me and they missed the whole thing.
Body guards are a good investment when tensions are high and people are threatening your life. I have always hired armed body guards in my career on Radio and TV. You never know who or when an assailant will jump out of the bushes and shoot you dead when you are getting out of your car.
That happened to my colleague Alan Berg in 1984. He had so taunted the Aryan nation that they ambushed him and killed him outside his home.
When Seth Brigham kept whispering in my ear “ I can kill you any time I want” I wasn’t waiting to call 911 to protect myself. I hired an armed guard to watch Seth and to protect me. In that case the police could not protect me and the media made a joke out of Seths threats.
You cannot listen to people who say you are over reacting when you get death threats. The Daily Camera were in such denial in their reporting, that they actually made it dangerous for me. I told them about it in no uncertain terms. They still thought it was a joke. But you can’t listen to people who have never experienced vehement threats from fans, callers or political crazies who have targeted you.
You cannot listen to nay sayers when your life is being threatened.
Under extreme circumstances, I have armed myself to the teeth and wore a bullet proof vest. I have actually walked down the middle of a dark street with a gun in hand just to secure my ability to get to my car and drive home.
I have had black Cripps gangsters follow me to my car knowing that they were not going to kill me with out a fight. I have had Body guards walk with with me with shot guns to my car.
I have told people on the air if you come for me I will be ready and you may get a few rounds off at me, but I am taking you with me. It is very important to not show fear to violent offenders and to let them know you are as big a nightmare as they are. I swear that has saved my life more than once. That is the kind of attitude you have to have with violent offenders intent on hurting you.
You have to know when you are in a war zone and be prepared to defend yourself and match the threat with overwhelming bravado and visible firepower. Visible firepower.
If you in the line of work where people want to kill you… You know provocative talk show host, DA, cop, etc…. I think you have to be as prepared as a street smart cop.
I have taken multiple self defense classes. One was model mugging for men. How to defend against multiple assailants with hand guns. I have studied and practiced shoot no shoot scenarios. I have gone up against armed gunmen.
My son is a LERP special forces Marine. When I see him we train in how to disarm assailants at 30 paces.
So yes I take my personal protection very seriously. I learned from Denver Police: refuse to be a victim.
Now with me. It is protect myself or get out of the TV talk business.
And that is the question high profile people have to ask themselves, : How far am I willing to go for personal protection. ?
From the land of happy hippies
Jann Scott
Boulder Colorado






