Flashback Friday-The Sandlot (1993)

There is nothing more American than kids playing baseball in an open field during the warmer months.

In The Sandlot (1993), Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) has just moved into town with his mother and stepfather. In an effort to encourage Scotty to make friends, his stepfather teaches him to play baseball. Scotty soon joins a rag tag team of local kids, led by Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez (Mike Vitar). Over the course of the movie they battle another baseball team, lust after the female lifeguards at the pool like young boys do and hope to find the baseballs that have been eaten by the dog known as the beast.

This is a movie that has an appeal to all ages. Not just the twelve year olds in the audience, but also the former twelve year olds in the audience.  What I think keeps audiences coming back is that there is something about being twelve that is forever imprinted in us, no  matter how old we get.

I recommend it.

Stooping To Their Level

Readers who follow my blog regularly know that I support Israel and proudly so.

That does not mean that I agree with everything that happens over there.

In Jerusalem, Yishai Shlissel, an Ultra-Orthodox man stabbed several people at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade. This is not the first time that Mr. Shlissel  has attempted to kill members of the LGBTQ Israeli community. He was put in jail for attempting the same act ten years ago.

In Nablus, Jewish extremists are accused of starting a fire that killed a Palestinian toddler.

I am disgusted by both events.

While I believe that the Orthodox have the right to live as they wish to live (and I hope they would extend the same to me), they have no right to kill another simply because he or she lives differently.

In the same vein, starting this fire and killing this innocent child only feeds the hatred and the lies.

By these horrific acts, these people have stooped to the level of the terrorists.  I ashamed that these people are my own.

Flashback Friday-Toy Story (1995)

When we are young, our toys are our best friends. They are inanimate objects in which we bestow our hopes and our fears. But what would happen if  the toys came to life when their humans were not around?

This is the premise for Toy Story (1995).

Woody the cowboy (Tom Hanks) has been the favorite toy of Andy (John Morris) for a very long time. Then Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is brought home and Woody feels like he has lost his place in the universe.  Buzz becomes Andy’s new favorite toy and Woody becomes jealous. In an attempt to get rid of Buzz, Woody removes them both from the comfort of Andy’s room. Now they must work together to get home before Andy moves and leaves them behind forever.

The graphics, especially for a movie made in 1995 are incredible. At the time, they were groundbreaking. But what makes the movie for me at least is the story. For a kid’s movie, the  plot and journey that the characters go through is very mature. It also appeals to the adults who remember when they were kids and saw their toys not as pieces of plastic and metal molded together, but as an extension of themselves.

I absolutely recommend it.