Coming to America

One of the funniest movies of the 80s is easily Coming To America.  If you haven't seen it for a while, I suggest you go straight to Netflix and add it immediately to your list!  If you haven't seen it ever... I don't understand you.  Maybe you're just really young, or maybe you don't like Eddie Murphy... or maybe you just hate yourself and don't want to be happy.  I don't know.  Like I said, I don't understand.  I'll let you go watch it now while we all WAIT FOR YOU!

Have you really not seen it?

Okay, you've just improved your life.  Let's discuss.  Basically, Eddie Murphy and Arseniooooooooooooooooooooo Hall played every character in the movie, so there's that.  No, that's not true but they did each have four or five roles.  It's also got Darth Vader and the dad from Good Times and Samuel L Jackson in one of his 70,000 credited roles and it's so HILARIOUS!  An actual African prince trying to find a pretty American woman and make her rich for real.  I keep checking my inbox but so far they all want my credit card number.  Oh, well. 

When I was deployed to Okinawa about a decade or so ago, I had this friend who would sing at the top of his lungs to get everyone laughing and it was one of my favorite things about our crew.  Imagine a bunch of construction workers basically digging ditches all day every day and out of nowhere, "She's your QUEEEEEEEEN to-oo BEEEEEEE" as loud and as high as he could sing.  Ray Boudreaux, you're the real MVP of that deployment.  That was definitely my favorite deployment.  One day my friend caught an octopus with a shovel.  Good times.

Anyway, if you didn't watch it when I told you to or if you need a refresher, take the time now to let your Soul Glow with Mufasa and Axel Foley.  Thank me in the comments or by subscribing to the email list.  It's only polite.

Saving Private Ryan (Buddy Checks)

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a veteran.  In America, an average of 22 veterans a day commit suicide, so because this is the first time my blog has had a post publish on the 22nd of a month, I'm using this opportunity to write about what I think is the most important and true-to-life military movie I've ever seen (if you disagree, please feel free to share your opinion in the comments section, but it should be noted that I don't watch many military movies).  When I was in high school, I worked in a movie theater and I'm actually SO OLD that this is when Saving Private Ryan came out.  It was released in the summer, so it's one of the movies that played during a weekday afternoon.  In smaller towns/cities they only do that when school is out which, I guess, is why summer blockbusters are a thing.  That's also why one day we had a movie that literally only one single person showed up for.  It was one of my teachers, Mr Stallons (remember the toilet seat, THS alumni?) and I stopped to chat with him for a few minutes.  He just really wanted to see it and couldn't wait for someone else to be available to come with him, so he sat there for three hours, all alone, watching one of the most emotionally draining movies of all time.  When it was done, I asked him if he'd liked it.  With his eyes still red, he assured me it was worth his time. 

http://savingprivateryan.wikia.com/wiki/File:Saving_Private_Ryan_by_Narusargent.jpg

When I watched it myself, I was so distraught that I decided never to see it again, but I did.  I bought it and I watched it over and over again, and it became one of my favorite movies.  I don't know the statistics on WWII veterans who took their own lives, but I know it happened.  And I know that today it's 22 veterans every single day.  So, if you know a veteran, whether he/she seems to be struggling or not, let the number 22 or this post serve as a reminder to give them a call or shoot them an email to check in and make sure things are going okay.  That's called a Buddy Check (particularly if you're a veteran yourself... in the Army they have a Battle Buddy system).  If they think they might need it, be ready with a number to a suicide hotline.  The veteran crisis line has a hotline that can be reached 24/7, 365 days a year.  It's completely anonymous and they're specially trained to deal with the many concerns that veterans face.  You can call and talk to someone at 1-800-273-8255 (veterans, press one when it picks up) or if you'd rather text, send a message to 838255.  I've checked it out and it's legit and still in order.  After your session ends, they even send you a message confirming that your entire conversation has been deleted, so they don't keep anything for their records. 

It's a pretty good deal.  Call if you need it, even if you're not a veteran.  They're there to help.

Me in my Seabee days.

 Pics by Matt Layton