Movie Review of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi recounts how a team of six CIA contractors attempted to rescue the American ambassador and his few American and Libyan defenders when terrorists attacked him in Benghazi in 2012. With terrorists overrunning the diplomatic compound and engaging them in firefights in the streets, the contractors realize they have to go defend their own CIA compound, which gets pounded by wave after wave of attacks.

Director Michael Bay has achieved a “you are there” feel, giving the uncanny impression of actually being there in Benghazi. One can imagine the smells and the oppressive heat in this chaotic north African city. The dangers of this failed state are all around these contractors, with different factions setting up roadblocks in ramshackle alleys and shooting people in seemingly random fashion. As they pass armed men in the street, it is not at all clear who are the bad guys and who are people just wanting to defend themselves.

Bay has achieved a mostly unbloody movie (until the end), taking advantage of the action occurring at night and showing the firefights from the view of the night vision devices the Americans use. So although we definitely see terrorists (or Tangos, as they are called) getting shot in the head or in the chest, the depictions are non-gory.

Standout moments are:

-A few kids setting off a bottle rocket near the CIA compound, then later on the terrorists heading for that exact point as they gather to attack.

-CIA diplomats and the station chief acting like fussy office workers while the contractors try to save their lives.

-The most terrifying car chase I’ve ever seen. Remember to yell “Go left” at a certain moment.

-In a surreal scene, a terrorist drives right up to the wall of the CIA compound between firefights. He gets out and prepares to throw a homemade bomb. One of the contractors calmly says, “Don’t do that.”

-More than once, Libyans armed with military rifles pass the Americans on the street. The Americans say, “Who are you?” The Libyans do not answer and keep walking.

I’ve never watched The Office much, but fans of John Krasinski will see he’s made the transition from TV comedy to action movie. And in a surprise, David Giuntoli, the star of GRIMM, shows up as the main bodyguard of the ambassador with important scenes.

13 Hours is based on the book of the same name, which in turn was based on detailed interviews with the survivors. Some people (including some who have not seen the movie) accuse it of being political, but President Obama and Hillary Clinton are never mentioned. This is an incredible true story that should be widely seen. 

NASA: Frequent travel may be required

NASA is now accepting applications for astronauts. You might fly in the International Space Station, two currently unnamed spacecraft being built, or the Orion deep-space exploration vehicle.

“Frequent travel may be required.”

NASA

Apply at https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/423817000

“Distant and near visual acuity must be correctable to 20/20, each eye. The use of glasses is acceptable.”

Hey what? An astronaut with glasses?

Alan Rickman, RIP

Well, what shall we say about Alan Rickman? I loved his deep, British voice that could intimidate so authoritatively. Ironically, he played his character in the science fiction movie Galaxy Quest in a different way. As a washed-up actor who is sick of the alien role he once played in a TV show, he mostly sounds like an ordinary person.

By Grabthar’s hammer, I could listen to his voice all day. 

Mao the Mighty Have Fallen

If you don’t live in inland China, you may not have heard of the mighty 37 meter-high statue of Mao Zedong, dictator of China from 1949 to 1976. This Brobdingnagian exercise in despot worship towered over the landscape, a veritable colossus in gold (well, gold paint).

Art by Zhang Zhenshi

All the photographs of the statue are copyright,

so here’s the real guy

It took nine months to build. And only a few days to tear down. The official reason had to do with permits, but do current dictators really like monuments to previous ones?

This reminds me of the poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Pitch Perfect Ruins Star Wars

More specifically, The Empire Strikes Back. This is for all of you who are amped up over Star Wars.

Without trying to spoil things, in that movie where the kid sees dead people, I realized what was going on way too soon, so the ending was not a surprise to me. Shrug. 

Twilight Bad Lip Reading

In celebration of the new Star Wars movie, I was going to post a bad lip reading of Episode IV. But it wasn’t funny. So instead, here’s the bad lip reading of Twilight.

“Dude. You slapped a fish.”

Heat Lamp

So the heat lamp in the overhead fan in one of my bathrooms burnt out. While waiting for a Barnes & Noble to open, I went into a large Fred Meyer’s and found one. Then when the bookstore opened, I bought two books:

Too High & Too Steep is the true account of the reshaping of Seattle’s hills. The hills in Seattle used to be steeper than the hills in San Francisco. Immense hoses were used to wash the earth from the tops of the hills into Elliott Bay. More earth was moved in these efforts than in the digging of the Panama Canal.

Inherit the Stars looked interesting enough to buy in paper form. The themes sound like fantasy, but it’s science fiction. Obviously, I’ll have to read it first to tell you what I think.

On my drive home, I could hear this soft, occasional jingling sound. It was definitely from the right and behind me, and outside the car. Oh no. It wasn’t constant, nor did it seem timed to a set revolution of the wheels. I pulled in to a McDonald’s to investigate.

A short inspection showed nothing unusual on that part of the car. Nothing was loose in the trunk. Then I had the oddest idea.

I tipped the heat lamp on the seat next to me on its side and put a plastic bag with something else inside against the top of it. I took off again.

Sure enough, I could hear the jingling sound again, but now it was muffled. It was the filament inside the bulb. In a heat lamp, the filament is so large, I could hear it making that jingling sound from the car’s motion. The sound must have been reflected off one of the car’s windows, so I thought it was coming from outside. 

So I stopped at another McDonald’s and had an ice cream cone to celebrate.

Book Review: Internal Dialogue

Internal Dialogue by Marcy Kennedy is a good primer on its title subject: Internal dialogue. This is not just about how to show it. I suspect most writers understand this. It also shows the basic techniques of when and how to use it.

An added bonus was a section titled “Alternating the Focus of Paragraphs.” This gave invaluable advice on a certain pacing or balancing of the paragraphs. I won’t repeat it here; you’ll have to get Kennedy’s book, as a kind of reward to her for this.

I understood the pacing of words within a sentence, and the pacing of sentences within a paragraph. I also understood the pacing of chapters and overall story structure. Internal Dialogue supplied an essential piece that was missing from the middle. 

The Jazz Misfits at Crossroads Mall

While I was writing recently at the Crossroads Mall, a group called The Jazz Misfits played on the center stage.

This was a pleasant background to the art of writing. Especially since I was practically killing myself trying to get a short story done for a contest. I thought the deadline was December 15. It turns out the deadline is January 15.

So I’m glad it helped relax me.