What You Can Learn From A Group Of Has Been Metalheads - Anvil: The Story of Anvil

A group of 50 year old Canadian 80's thrash metal has beens tour Europe to play for whopping crowds of 174 people on a good night fully convinced that they are going to make their big splash in the music industry. It doesn't sound like the storyline of a highly acclaimed documentary, but that is exactly what Anvil: The Story of Anvil is. I wrote a post on the phenomenon that is the Anvil movie back when momentum was really starting to build around the film. At the time I really wanted to see the film but never made it to an indie theater where the movie was playing. Luckily my parents, who loved the film by the way, bought it for me on DVD for Christmas this year. I watched the film last night and was amazed at how good it was. I will admit that I can relate in many ways to the guys in the film. I have been really passionate about metal my entire life. In high school my band Mask of Sanity used to play shows for 15 people most of which were high school girls that thought Good Charlotte was heavy. Needless to say we received all but rave reviews. I also grew up playing hockey in Portland which was anything but a hockey hotbed. Yet I slugged my way through marathon like van and bus trips across the country and Canada fueled only by my love of the game and my parents love to see me succeed. As you watch the film you can see why I would be so touched by these goofy metalheads and their 30 year plus career through obscurity. However, what really touched me about the film were the lessons that transcend the comedic Spinal Tap-esque backdrop. Everyone can learn something from these guys and if everyone had a little more Anvil in them the world would probably be a bit better off. Here are the things I took away from this inspiring film.

1. Passion - The film shows Steve Kudlow and Robb Reiner's enduring love for the music they love. At times their passion borders on delusional, but I must say there is something really moving about people who so passionately undertake what they love to do. Not only does that passion serve as the catalyst for way they live their own lives, but that passion is infectious to those around them. When you are surrounded by a passionate person you cannot help but feed on that energy. That is why I loved my band and why I loved the game of hockey so much. I was constantly surrounded by people who loved what they were doing. Those who didn't love it didn't last very long. That is the great thing about passion is that it is a self regulating virtue. In order to keep pace with passionate people or within a passionate team/organization you must exude it yourself. People would rather be around someone who oozes passion than a talented individual who coasts through what they do. Just watch the film and by the end you feel like you know the guys, like they were buddies you grew up with your whole life. I attribute that feeling to their constant display of intense passion which opens the door for outsiders to see what these guys are really about.

2. Dedication - "It can't get any worse than it is right now. But if it does then at least we know we tried." That is a quote by lead singer Steven "Lips" Kudlow regarding the stage of the band as the film was being created. I thought that quote was great because it gave a glimpse into the bands optimistic nature, but it also showed that they are willing to do whatever it takes to continue to do what they love. I know that my hockey career was filled with plenty of obstacles, sacrifices, and life changing events that often caused me to question whether it was all worth it. But I persevered and remained dedicated because, like Lips, I knew that it was something I loved and over time no matter what happened I would look back fondly upon my journey. I think that is when you know you are truly are dedicated to something. You have an unwavering commitment to something because at the end of the day you would rather persevere hellish experiences doing what you love than suffer through the alternative. Perhaps that says more about optimism than dedication in that you have faith that over time you made the right choice by soldiering on. However, it is that act of soldering on like Anvil that truly embodies dedication.

3. A Lust For Life - There was a point near the end of the film where the band is reflecting on what life is all about and Lips says what it is all about for him. He says that life is all about relationships and the experiences you have. He talks about the most powerful choices are who you share your journey with and what you choose to do on that journey. I loved that! We all face adversity, challenges, and unexpected twists and turns. But one constant theme in happy people's lives is that they are surrounded by other good people on their journey. When you are watching this film you can just see that these guys love to be alive. In fact I think it is much stronger than a love for life; it is a lust for life. They need to feel alive. They crave it like an addiction. It radiates off the screen. I think they maintain that lust for life by keeping their simple philosophy in perspective regarding what they choose to do and more importantly who they choose to do it with.

If you haven't seen this movie then go see it today. Like NOW. You will laugh, you will be shocked, probably be a little touched, and most certainly walk away having learned something. I made the mistake of waiting far too long to see the film that takes a glimpse into a real life happy ending. Don't do the same! I have included a trailer below for those that still need further convincing.

Obama's War and The Fixer

Obama’s War. The title I imagine is very controversial to some, I know it piqued my interest since we have been at war for 8 years, the majority of which he was not Commander in Chief. Although I think that the title is more a realization that no matter what happened in the past the war is now in the hands of our Commander in Chief and therefore he is ultimately responsible to devise a strategy that ends the conflict. I must say I was pleasantly surprised that despite what many would consider a controversial title the documentary was objective, insightful, and very daring both in the footage obtained in harm’s way and daring via the questions asked of the true key players in Operation Enduring Freedom. Fellow classmate and blogger Cameron Schaefer provides some very well written and intelligent discussion on his blog, and recently I have adopted him as a pseudo information funnel regarding our nation’s war strategy (or lack thereof depending on your view). He highly recommended Obama’s War and I must thank him for doing so. The documentary coupled with my watching Charlie Wilson’s War last week have, sadly I must admit, greatly expanded my awareness of not only how we got into the crisis at hand, but the immense difficulties we face strategically moving forward. Below is the summary of the 55 minute masterpiece concocted by PBS. I like my adopted Afghanistan Guru friend highly recommend watching this show, especially if you are currently serving and will likely be headed over there.

In Obama's War, veteran correspondent Martin Smith travels across Afghanistan and Pakistan to see first-hand how the president's new strategy is taking shape, delivering vivid, on-the-ground reporting from this eight-year-old war's many fronts. Through interviews with top generals, diplomats and government officials, Smith also reports the internal debates over President Obama's grand attempt to combat terrorism at its roots.

"What we found on the ground was a huge exercise in nation building," says Smith. "The concept's become a bit of a dirty word, but that's what this is. We started with the goal of eliminating Al Qaeda, and now we've wound up with the immense task of re-engineering two nations."

The brunt of the work is falling on rank-and-file soldiers, and nowhere is it more difficult than in the dusty, unforgiving landscape of Helmand province, the Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, where FRONTLINE embedded with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. Since the Marines' arrival in July, Helmand has become the most lethal battlefield in Afghanistan. But FRONTLINE found the Marines trying to act as armed diplomats, attempting to build the necessary trust for badly needed economic development.

"It's trying to change the culture of the organization," Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, tells FRONTLINE of the administration's plan. "At the end of the day, our best counterinsurgents are going to be young sergeants who just have an ability to deal with people. We've got to give them the flexibility to make decisions."

Even as American soldiers struggle to make progress in Afghanistan village by village, equally vexing challenges remain across the border in Pakistan. "In Afghanistan we know what to do; we just don't know if we have the resources or the time available to do it," David Kilcullen, a leading counterinsurgency expert, tells FRONTLINE. "The problem in Pakistan is we're not really sure what to do."

When FRONTLINE confronts the Pakistani army about its reluctance to take out key Taliban leaders, the military's chief spokesman, Gen. Athar Abbas, argues that the accusations are misplaced. There is no truth, he claims, that insurgents stage attacks on American forces from the Pakistani side of the border. "They operate from Afghanistan. If somebody claims that everything is happening from this side of the border, I am sorry, this is misplaced, and we refute it."

Barred from sending troops across the border, the United States is left with few good options. No quick fix will solve Pakistan. "If we have a strategy in Pakistan," says George Packer, a staff writer at The New Yorker, "it's to build up the civilian government to the point where it can be a kind of counterbalance to the military and begin to reorient their own sense of their destiny. Is that even thinkable for a foreign power to do? Even as I say it, I think, why do we think we could even begin to accomplish that?"

CLICK HERE TO WATCH "OBAMA'S WAR"

Update: After I originally drafted this post I watch and HBO on demand documentary entitled "Fixer." A fixer is an individual who facilitates interaction between journalists and those they are out to capture on film. In this case the fixer was a twenty four year old Afghan named Ajmal. The documentary shows Ajmal and his American journalist counterpart interviewing Taliban members, corrupt Afghan elected officials, and terrified commoners. Between the candid glimpses of daily Afghan life and the candid real discussion of the fixer and journalist it is an incredibly powerful documentary for those interested in what is going on overseas. The documentary eventually shifts to tell how Ajmal along with an Italian journalist were captured by the Taliban. The Taliban (alleged by many including the makers of this documentary to be puppets of Pakistan) eventually negotiate a release with Karzai. While the Italian is celebrating his return Ajmal is never actually released and is eventually murdered by decapitation. The film shows Ajmal's father and his disgust for his government. He is appalled that Karzai would negotiate with terrorists to release a foreigner while they sit idly by while his son whose rights the government has sworn to protect are violated. The true value of the film, like Obama's War above, is the illustration of the difficult political interactions of all the players besides the Taliban. Ajmal in a very powerful scene in the film is lecturing his elder American journalist, who is supposed to be an expert on the conflict, that this is not a war against the Taliban. Ajmal states that it is an "international war." Pakistan, the US, and Afghanistan are deeply intertwined in every consequence of this conflict and to see it unfold with Ajmal's tale as a backdrop is truly incredible. I have included a trailer below.

Back From Hawaii.....With Movie Reviews Pt. 1

If you have noticed a slight decline in the number of Badskiblog posts that are commonly used to quench your thirst for cranium stimuli, it is because the wife and I were in Hawaii for the last week living the dream. More to come on a trip summary post, however I figured I better get back into action blogging again. On the long leg of our trip from Salt Lake City to Honolulu we were on a pretty large Delta plane both ways that had personal TV's at each seat. The TV's had a touch screen and a pretty decent free movie selection. Between the two trips there and back I got my fill of 4 different movies that definitely made the trip seem a little faster and much more enjoyable. Here are some short reviews of the flicks.

The first film I watched was "I Love You Man." IMBd has the following to say about the movie's plot.

In I Love You, Man, a comedy from John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, co-writer of Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers, Zoolander), Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd, Knocked Up The 40 Year Old Virgin) is a successful real estate agent who, upon getting engaged to the woman of his dreams, Zooey, (The Offices Rashida Jones), discovers, to his dismay and chagrin, that he has no male friend close enough to serve as his Best Man. Peter immediately sets out to rectify the situation, embarking on a series of bizarre and awkward man-dates, before meeting Sydney Fife (Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), a charming, opinionated man with whom he instantly bonds. But the closer the two men get, the more Peters relationship with Zooey suffers, ultimately forcing him to choose between his fiancée and his new found bro, in a story that comically explores what it truly means to be a friend.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. Any guy who starts to go down the road of commitment with a minx of the opposite sex can relate to the struggles of remaining close with friends and staying in touch with their manliness. I would say this movie is a must see for any guy age 21-40, especially if you enjoy the comedy/down to earth storylines of other movies starring Rudd and Segal. My favorite parts have to be when the guys are hanging in the man cave jamming Rush tunes. It's an instant classic scene and it only makes the actual Rush concert scene that much funnier. Check out the movie and tell me I am wrong on this one....it's a classic. All in all this is a great comedy that has a cool quasi-meaningful lesson to be learned feeling about it. I would go out of my way to watch this again.

The next movie I watched was "Gran Torino." This movie's plot looked a little thin from the previews I saw in the theatres a while back but with the selection on the plane I figured Id give it a whirl. It was pretty intense and about as polar opposite of I Love You Man as you can get. IMBd said the following:

Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy an old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors, a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood.

Upfront disclaimer: don't watch this movie if you are easily offended by racial slurs or scenes involving racial tension! I know its only a movie but for someone from my generation who is typically so far removed from that kind of language and behavior it can be a shock. Other than that I thought the film was pretty good. Enough Clint Eastwood badassness to be entertaining while also showing the development of him and those around him as people which adds some depth to a plot I thought was a little thin going in. Not the best movie I have ever seen but I definitely didnt feel like I wasted two hours either. Rent it.

Stay tuned for part two of my movie reviews.

Movie Review - Vicky Christina Barcelona

I saw Vicky Christina Barcelona last night and I must say that I really enjoyed it. I never really had any desire to see the film, but when my wife and a few of our friends came over for beers and a movie I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about the movie.

Without spoiling too much of the plot I am going to try and describe why I really liked this movie. I thought visually the movie was awesome. I was supposed to go on an exchange to Spain in college but funding ran out and I never got the opportunity to go. I was pretty bitter for a while and this movie reminded me why. Spain looks incredible and the lifestyle depicted in the film, and what I know from my Spanish minor in college, seems like an awesome experience in itself. I think the film did an awesome job of analyzing the differences in culture through the interactions of the characters. Yeah these are generalizations of two different cultures but like many generalizations you can relate to them in some way. I found myself relating to both cultures and the different parts of life they value. I think the film elicited the torn feeling we often have between the different things we value.

In a pure entertainment value sense I was involved and intrigued by the plot and undertones. In line with most of Woody Allen's movies (from what I've heard) he uses a lot of sexual situations throughout the film. I think that rubs a lot of people the wrong way but I really thought it was tasteful and served a definite purpose. I feel like he used those sexual situations to push boundaries and challenge social norms and cultural limits we all experience. If you remain open minded and step back from your life for a minute I think you can appreciate the attempt to bring a curious examination of those norms to light. Whenever I think of weird social norms, trends, and the like I try and put myself in an alien's shoes. I know that sounds really stupid, but imagine if you came down to earth and saw these weird human creatures performing surgery on each other to stuff their breasts with bags of fluid (one example). It really puts a slightly different angle on things we just accept as normal. Back to my original point, if you try to step back for a second this film makes you question whether the things you are engrossed with during daily life are truly important in the grand scheme of things. I thought it was very interesting that Vicky and Christina were used almost as the two outer extremes on both ends of the spectrum with regard to what they value and love. Vicky valued stability, rationality and the realization of her plans for life. Christina on the other hand was a free spirit that was spontaneous. A girl who only knew what she didn't want (basically what Vicky did want), and everything else that took place was all in search of love. I think that the way the film ended was incredibly symbolic in the sense that no way of living life is the right way. Both characters ended the film seemingly unfulfilled and borderline unhappy, yet they both lived life and sought love in complete opposite ways. To me it was extremely insightful, in that you must discover what truly makes you happy and that abiding by, or completely disregarding for that matter, social pressures and the appeasement of others is not a truth in and of its self. We the viewers are left with a visual of the black and white, or in this case the blond and the brunette, who arrive at discontent from two very different paths and views of life. The movie ends having not quite completed the story, yet what it lacks in closure it makes up for having illustrated a valuable life lesson.

Great actors, great story, great message, great movie.

Movie Review - Once

So it is 4:19 am and I am sitting at a computer at work. There is an exercise going on and I have to man a computer that spits out one irrelevant message every 5 hours for a 7 pm to 7 am shift. This easily could be a post complaining about the fact that I haven't slept in almost 24 hours, but it wasn't all bad. I got to read a fair amount of my first book in the Personal MBA program. I listened to some tunes and discovered some new blogs. I am mostly thrilled to have had the time to sit down and truly enjoy the movie "Once."

Once was recommended to me by my parents, in fact they bought it for Heidi and I a while back as a gift. I must admit that one night she and I tried to watch it and we didn't make it through 20 minutes of it. However, having made it through the film tonight I can see why. The film is definitely one that you must be in a certain mood to enjoy. If you are looking for pure entertainment and action this is the last film you would want to see. However if you are willing to truly tune into a movie and explore its subtleties then Once is a movie you should see.

The movie is centered around a broken hearted street musician and a Czech immigrant (to Ireland) and their unlikely friendship/love and musical chemistry. The film is heavily centered around music which definitely plays to my interests, but I think what I appreciate most about Once is that it doesn't dwell on a story. If that sounds strange and utterly boring to you hear me out. The film is out of step with regard to the way most American films are created, as it is centered around character development and not a highly intricate plot. In essence the characters are the story. It is fairly hard to describe in words what I mean, but I will give it a go the best I can. The film masterfully does what films are supposed to do; it plucks you out of your seat, your problems, your life, and it thrusts you into the lives of others. Maybe it is a combination of the low budget filming, the persona non grata actors, or the story in general, I am not quite sure. But it was almost like watching a reality show, or better yet an unscripted hidden camera documentary of a chapter in these characters' lives. There wasn't some deep, symbolic message crafted within the storyline. There was only the revelation that a short passage of time had a dramatic effect on these two people's lives. Their interaction was short lived and it was like one of those times in your life where you know you will never see the person again, and in a way that realization hurts. However, you know that you are better for having met and shared something with that person. It was that universal human experience that kept me interested, engaged, and emotionally stimulated throughout the film.

Once is definitely more art than entertainment and I must repeat my disclaimer that you must be in a proper mood to enjoy the film. To be honest, I think there are plenty of people that wouldn't enjoy it no matter what mood they were in. However, for those with an open mind who want to hear some good music, enjoy a truly unique moment in time with characters so believably ordinary that they are extraordinary, then this film is for you. I have always said you cannot write anything better than real life, and this film feels more like real life than any film in recent memory.