The Man Who Would Be King

I recently saw "The Man Who Would Be King", a charming film starring the young and energetic actors Sean Connery and Michael Caine and based on the short story by Rudyard Kipling.

If you like Kipling's stories about India, if you like Sean Connery or Michael Caine, and if you're interested in adventure movies in the 70's style, then you'll love this movie. Chances are if you like any one or two of the above factors you'll like this move despite the unwanted third.

Sean and Michael play two former officers in the British army. No longer part of the army, they dismiss the idea of returning to Britain and instead concoct a fantastic scheme to travel to 'Kafiristan' (from what i could gather, somwhere around modern day Tajikistan) and become Kings by using their rifles to join with a warring tribe and take over the land.

The script is well written, with a lot of comedy that balances the adventure elements nicely to make for an entertaining movie. The scenery is great - not sure where they shot this movie, but the depiction of Kafiristan is beautiful. However, this movie is all about the acting. Sean Connery is wonderful as a rogue spirit with an impetuous nature and a talent for acting crazy, and Michael Caine is oddly endearing as someone with great military discipline but little moral value. The two characters weave their way through the story with ease and enjoyment, which makes the movie fun to watch.

As is probably obvious at this point, I had very few gripes with this flick. Perhaps some of the props were a little fake looking, and I did think the ending was overly dramatic. Somehow though, I found the cheeziness of this movie made it that much more enjoyable - much like the cheeziness of the Indiania Jones movies.

Good movies, good times.

Update

Regarding the post below, it appears that a belated apology has been issued for those remarks. I find the apology encouraging, but its delay and reluctant tone signify to me an apology in words only. If Mr. Stimson continues to demonstrate that he holds these views, the ABA should censure him.

Ethics

In a society that has been tarnished by many unfair calls of being 'unpatriotic', the recent comments by Charles Stimson, the deputy secretary of defense of detainee affairs, rank among the most foolhardy.

Mr. Stimson suggested that corporate clients of many top law firms should end their relationship with these firms if they do not agree to stop representing Guantanamo Bay clients. Upon cursory examination there seems to be nothing wrong with this: corporate clients may take their business anywhere they like, and consumer activism to change corporate policy is nothing new. However, the analogy is flawed in one very important aspect: domestic politics should not be allowed to effect Constitutional guarantees. Among these Constitutional guarantees, the right to 'due process under the law' from the 14th ammendment is a fundamental and critical one.

A possible rejoinder is that these corporate clients, along with the executive branch, do not believe that these Constitutional guarantees extend to inmates at Guantanamo Bay. They are entitled to their opinion, but their opinion is not controlling. The controlling opinion is that of the judiciary and its highest court: the Supreme Court. And this highest court has ruled that these prisoners are allowed certain 'due process' under law, which includes representation. The court (as well as the nation) is split as to exactly how much process is due to these folks due to their unique circumstances, but the right to representation at least is clear.

To exert private sector and executive branch pressure on law firms in the manner suggested basically circumvents the ruling of the USSC. It would allow the people's representatives and its monied interests to render the ruling of our highest court unenforceable. I'm not going to get into why this somewhat democratic-looking concept is not a very good idea just now (see James Madison's views on factions in the Federalists Papers). But suffice to say that I at least think it's a bad idea.

The Constitution has given the people of this country certain unalienable rights in order to allow the functioning of a just society. Irresponsible comments like those of Mr. Stimson threaten these principles.

English (and blogger) Migration

I'm back baby! And my blog has a whole new look! No, just kidding, it doesn't (clearly). But I have just migrated to the new Blogger, and I have to say that it's a big improvement over the past one. I like the interface better and it seems to be faster as well, which is impressive since new versions of things are usually slower. I'm also impressed that Google brought it out of beta so quickly (don't ask me why Gmail is still in beta. I don't think anybody knows.)

What motivates my return to the posting realm you ask? Other than blogger migration, and my guilty conscience for not posting in a long time, it was the news that Beckham has signed a deal with LA Galaxy for 5 years. Craziness!

David Beckham is an icon in the soccer world, and undoubtedly one of the biggest sports stars of the past 50 years. From his transition from the English leagues to Real Madrid (and that team's subsequent slump) to his relationship with one of the Spice Girls (i'm not sure which one...sugar....spice....something like that), his life has been great fodder for tabloids and newspapers alike for many years. And so it may not come as a surprise to people that Mr. Beckham is going where tabloid celebrities feel right at home: Los Angeles.

I'm actually quite excited about this. As a member of the small, but growing, contingent of people in this country who follows MLS I think this is going to do wonders for US Soccer. The US is starting to turn out some real soccer talent at the professional level, and the presence of Beckham playing soccer here will draw a lot of attention to this fact. He'll also force a lot of US players to raise their game to a new level, something which we desperately need to do before the next World Cup.

So welcome to the US, Mr. Beckham. The paparazzi will make you feel right at home.