Tag: Dog

So Love Can Move Mountains

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So did love lift them where they belong and then again people fall in love, though personally I would like to fall in love somewhere it’s warm. So Love Can Move Mountains but first you have to get up and see “The Mountain Between Us” maybe?

Falling in love in the most literal sense, maybe that’s a little bit presumptuous of me but when I first saw the trailer I just thought, don’t let this end with someone floating on a door. If anything it’s Alive meets Blue Lagoon: The Awakening, and just like those people on the mountain believed God was everywhere, I can easily believe love is the same… I’m not any sort of theologian for the record okay.

The movie though was so much more than okay, seeing as how Kate Winslet and Idris Elba, of course, had to carry it alone, it shows how both have come quite a long way, especially considering Kate Winslet had so many people to play off in Titanic. Also, I’ll admit I haven’t seen many movies where Idris Elba was the love interest so this was new and I’ll say he took to it well. To be fair though the “OMG” moment for me was the dog, I don’t want to give anything away but if we’re going to be handing out awards that dog well dogs deserve some. Great movie to be sure, amazingly beautiful.

Now that I’ve done my song and dance for Fandango, is it mean to say that nobody else in this movie will be winning any prizes, not that I’m saying the rest of the cast was bad just no real standouts. Not that I was expecting that because this movie for all intent and purposes is all about the characters Alex Martin and Ben Bass.

Another thing some might ask is how do you make a love story in the snow, though I’m sure Lifetime might have mastered this craft a long time ago or so I assume. I hate being the guy that says, “I saw the movie but I didn’t read the book”, I’m expecting to be disappointed when I finally get around to it but as for this movie, I enjoyed it.

The good news is I can’t call it cliché’ because while I’ve seen these types of elements as I’ve already said I can’t compare it to any one thing. Kate/Alex for me did channel somewhat of a Leo vibe from Titanic and Ethan from Alive (1993), so am I calling Idris, Rose? Probably why they used someone I would consider a man’s man though personally, that’s how I felt about his character, that he was being used, such a way.

In case the trailer didn’t already give it away for you, Alex is on the way to her wedding, Ben is on the way to an important surgery, they end up chartering a plane, such and such pilot and wham they crash into the mountains. Now I see it… the Alive connection and yes I know the Andes was a true story but we have Ben looking after Alex for awhile then she wakes up and it becomes a choice of whether to wait at the crash site or take a chance at finding a road or something. I won’t spell it out because anyone can see where this is going but don’t let predictability stop you from enjoying this film, it has a surprise and a twist a bit.

I was hoping for more from Alex’s fiancé and the only other emotion you feel other than overwhelming love for the dog, is maybe a bit of anger towards certain individuals after everything that happened to Alex. There wasn’t much chemistry between Idris and Kate at first but I can’t decide whether that was the characters or while they picked two big names maybe they didn’t exactly fit, not until the sex scene and as the movie drew to a close. Which brings me back to how that would be accomplished but I won’t spoil that tidbit but get ready.

For most of the movie, Ben was doing the heavy lifting and Alex just had to be the woman behind the man, the voice of encouragement and given the circumstances of the situation I understand it but it still seems like he just needed to say “YES MA’AM” for most of it. There was even the, but you didn’t call, wouldn’t pick up the phone, where all the ladies get to cry, feeling Alex’s pain.

I’ll give it four stars on the grounds that I think the aftermath could have been done better while the ending was surely top notch and while I won’t spoil that you might want to turn around now. I always consider that maybe the problem is me when it comes to these things but with the world being crazier I suppose the fiction needs to be more real if that makes any sense at all.

I won’t say this was my favorite part but the dog and the mountain lion, I swear dogs are man’s and woman’s best friend as he was protecting Alex and they couldn’t give the dog a name? Next would have to be the sex, better than Titanic but leaves much to be desired, no worries if you have to bring the kids along, no nudity or foul language. Last for me was that you didn’t call, you were married debate, men always get blamed for this sort of thing but women give off signals really.

Speaking of women, even lost in the mountains, there is no end to being nosy, it figures they would have all the time in the world to talk but can a man not have anything? A working cell phone, I mean he’s a doctor, she’s a war journalist so yeah they would have the best equipment but most phones wouldn’t last a day, three tops but they were looking for a signal how long and the phone was good. What happened to everybody else… this was Ben and Alex’s story and of course, they would be the only two in the world that would understand but it’s like they just made everyone disappear so was this a good thing or a bad thing I wonder?

Nothing truly bad about the movie, I’d easily go see it again, just to feel that rush to come home and hug my dog, and they’ll be plenty of women asking would you do that for me to their men. Love lift us up where we belong, not that high, four stars out of five and I believe love can move mountains, take the step, See The Mountain Between Us.

Only Can Discover

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A cure maybe, or a way to find relief, other than filling my head with numbers, how many times I checked the door, or people stay quiet, a method of forgetting and not having to worry about so much. Only Can Discover healthy.

Oh did I forget to lock the door
or should I try once more, I swore
only to turn around, before

conceivable the dog runs out of water
catching myself but what I said to somebody’s daughter
catastrophic humiliation, why I oughta

delay going in if people saw it, read it, and
decided… it doesn’t matter, I think I can, I think I can
do it, get up and go, man

oops, how many times, five, four, three,
can I ever be free of this disease?
Don’t know but count on my being O.C.D.

Copyright © 2017, Will A. Bradford Jr. All rights reserved.

Bark Check

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All it took was a dog walking alone in the street, the little doggie I so wanted to save and I don’t know where he is now, how about my own four-legged son who this moment is lying under my feet waiting. “Bark Check” how I have gone looking for love

And I never ask the stars’ advice
on what to wish for or dream up next
I simply take it to the bank

neglecting to take the time to thank
God… people… my puppy dog once or twice
who never asks and I could never expect

to try, but somehow we both collect
not a dollar, rupee or franc.
No, it’s not some sort of prize

of life or waiting in some paradise.
It’s in every moment it doesn’t need a sec
a minute, a vault or a tank’s

protection, though my little friend you never shrank
from I love you, our names both blank
as love is without a price.
So what the heck
a dog’s love is a blank check

Copyright © 2017, Will A. Bradford Jr. All rights reserved.

Lesson 028 ~A Dog Day Afternoon~

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Don’t be a hero, why, because heroes die but if you’re not the hero, people don’t get rescued, I can live with that, you’re a villain, I’ve been worse, a dog dies, okay now I have to get up. A Dog Day Afternoon

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Lesson 028 ~A Dog Day Afternoon~

Hey Lady Lu,
I love Braxton, a statement of fact, I love that little dog, as far as I’m concerned he’s my son and I would do anything for him, does that make me a decent human being, a hero, anything at all, I don’t know and I don’t care, he’s mine and I love him. Now I could go all in about love but this is going to be a long day and an even longer night and how long does that dog have?

No, I’m not talking about Braxton, not talking to Braxton at the moment though what concerns me the most at this particular moment is the neighbor’s dog. I wonder when does the moment come when you have to take the law into your own hands, when do people come to the moment of busting the window out of a car to save a dog’s life? Am I there yet my lady, I mean the things that I have done on Braxton’s behalf honestly but what of this dog’s dire straits?

You know I don’t understand people at all but if people are truly made in God’s image and “God is Cruel” as Stephen King put it, what does that say about people? Aren’t I the one to blame as well, if I were any sort of man, I’d go over there now and rescue that poor dog, I would talk to the neighbor, I would be doing something anything other than talking to you. I like talking to you Luna I apologize but as I said this is going to be one long day and one boring night, but this shouldn’t be about me really.

I got one dog that again is making me feel like a failure as a parent, maybe now I’m starting to understand why my “father” is the way he is, yeah I can be all sorts of dangerous and I hate his guts. On the other hand, I wonder if Superman ever had kids (I’m not a comic guy or most heroes) which do you think is easier Lady Lu, to be a father or to be the hero hmm?

How many times have I said I’m looking for a new role model but what would Jesus do is not the one, what would a father do and what would a hero do, I pretend to be one and courage stops me from being the other. Does it not take courage to be a father, a pet parent, always concerned what other people will think of me, while a hero would simply do what is necessary regardless of anything else.

“Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight.” Lt. James Gordon, The Dark Knight (2008)

I was always more of a Batman over a Superman and why, because Bruce Wayne was only a man, albeit a wealthy one but a man nonetheless, I wouldn’t dare say I could be Batman though. No, I can’t kick the neighbor’s ass, can’t swoop in and save the poor doggie but what’s stopping me from offering money for his life and in the end whatever would I do with that life? Most people don’t see the dog at all and if they did what would they do, no I don’t want to be them I want to do a good thing, the right thing.

“Fear is the enemy of will. Will is what makes you take action; fear is what stops you, and makes you weak…” Green Lantern (2011)

Truer words huh Lady Lu, Batman had a choice but being a father to Braxton, the moment those four little legs hit the floor my course was set and I swore to look after him, even when he belonged to my sister when he wasn’t mine. To a father it doesn’t matter, a father does what has to be done as it has always been with me and Braxton, anxiety is damned, people be damned, there is no fear because he’s mine, I’m daddy and he needs me and that’s that. If I did it before can’t I do it again, hell when I wanted a dog so many years ago my father wouldn’t dream of it but my sister got an accessory for her purse, and then she had a real baby and Braxton came along with me, simple.

If anything I can’t sit back and do nothing, but as I say that here we are and he’s out there possibly suffering because I fail to act. Everyone I have told “Indiana” and “Gospel Girl” both say I should do something and I have always believed a man must see about his family but what about this poor dog.

A few months ago he was only the dog next door, Braxton’s nemesis and I was wondering what would happen if they actually did meet and now he’s a dog I just can’t watch suffer. I’m better than that, I want to scream at “Ms. Seasons” yeah I’m skeevy and inappropriate but I am a decent human being, I am.

“I feel like all I’ve done my whole life is be pretty. I mean, all I’ve done is be born! I’m a failed actress, a failed artist… I’m not much good as a mother. Come to think of it, I’m not even that pretty anymore. I have failed at everything, Yuri… but I won’t fail as a human being.” Ava Fontaine, Lord of War (2005)

I’ll ask you Luna and I suppose you’ll agree with everyone else, you see a dog, no collar and no tag, his back is dirty, he sleeps on a pile of rocks and hides from the rain and the heat of the sun. Your neighbors report that he’s been seen walking along, nearly hit by cars, the neighbors report him missing while his owner never does, you don’t see him eat or drink, you call out to him to make sure he’s alive. You return him twice, you block his gate so he won’t be in danger but you might have locked him into a prison, whatever are you supposed to do, what comes next?

They say, “Evil prevails when good men fail to act.” What they ought to say is, “Evil prevails.” Yuri Orlov

Because it does Luna, it absolutely positively does and if you don’t believe me ask the last couple of girls I made a pass at, then again while being evil or skeevy I did fail which in retrospect is a good thing. Only I can’t fail with this, would what I do be considered evil, “rescuing” the dog, I’m sure the neighbor and Braxton would probably. I don’t know what I’m going to do but the other neighbors are reaching out and they say this is wrong too, the way this dog is living and here I am, no hero, father, biology dictates a bit of man hood, just a bit if not longer, inappropriate?

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” The Dark Knight (2008)

Today I don’t want to be, today I don’t want to be or do a lot of things but I will and for a thousand different reasons. Why not today I do something that truly matters, something that will make me more of a hero, more of a father, more of a man my friend on A Dog Day Afternoon.