The HouChron ran an article about the various official state weapons, tied to Tennessee naming the Barrett M82 as the official state rifle.
Problem is, as part of the continuing creeping BuzzFeedification of the HouChron, it was a shallow slideshow. So instead I’ll link to Wikipedia’s list. Thoughts:
- Pennsylvania, Indiana, and West Virginia have all named historic firearms. Hard to argue with those, especially the long rifle.
- Arizona has the Colt Single Action Army revolver, which is a fine gun, but doesn’t seem to be uniquely Arizonan, so to speak. I guess there’s that whole Wild West association…
- I guess if you’re going to pick a gun to represent native son John Moses Browning, the 1911 is a fine choice. For a pistol. Now how about the Winchester Model 1894 as the official state rifle, guys?
- And speaking of Winchesters, yes, it does fill me with indescribable delight down to the very bottom of my shriveled coal-black heart that Alaska’s state rifle is the pre-64 Model 70.
- Hey, whatever happened to that movement to make the Walker Colt the Texas state gun, anyway?
In other news, Lawrence’s review of “Hail, Caeser!” is up. I think he liked it more that I did, but I also don’t think we’re all that far apart on it. Elaborating on a couple of Lawrence’s points (some spoilers):
- I like Hobie’s character arc, too. He seems to be underplaying how smart he really is for much of the movie, but there’s a scene between him and Eddie Mannix that made me think, “Wow, Eddie’s going to leave the studio for Lockheed…and Hobie’s going to become the new fixer.” He could pull that off. But what I liked even more was the scenes between Alden Ehrenreich’s Hobie and Veronica Osorio’s Carlotta Valdez (basically Carmen Miranda with the serial numbers filed off). Those two actors are totally convincing as a couple that’s surprisingly good together. Lawrence talked about wanting to see the imaginary movies within the movie more than the actual movie itself: I agree. And I’d also love to see a movie about Hobie and Carlotta, and their rise from cowboy actor/Latin singer-dancer to deeply in love Hollywood power couple over a period of, say, 50 years.
- The Thora Thacker / Thessaly Thacker thing is a clever gag that just didn’t quite work for me. But there’s the gem of another good movie in there: identical twins who are bitter childhood rivals and become bitter adult rivals, both working the Hollywoood gossip industry…I’d watch that movie, too, especially if the Coen brothers directed it.
- Where did the police raid on the Communist house come from? Did Hobie call the cops before pulling Baird Whitlock out? Did he call Eddie, who called the cops? Did somebody on shore spot the Russian submarine and call the Coast Guard? Was there something I missed, or did a scene perhaps get cut?