1. Judith Clark has been granted parole. Officer Waverly Brown and Sgt. Edward O’Grady of the Nyack Police Department were unavailable for comment, as was Brinks employee Peter Paige.
2. Thread:
at some point I'd like to write something in long-form about Magnum Force (the second Dirty Harry movie) vs A Few Good Men as different manifestations of what might be called the centurion pattern.
— QWRhbSBFbGt1cw== (@Aelkus) April 17, 2019
I haven’t seen “A Few Good Men” yet. (I feel like I should, but: Sorkin.) But I agree with his points on “Magnum Force”. I swear I’ve written about this before, but I think “Dirty Harry” and “Magnum Force” are both much more complicated movies than the people who call them “fascist” give them credit for. “Dirty Harry” is about a good man who is trying to do his job, while coming to terms with a world that’s changing around him. “Magnum Force” is about that same man, who, when given a chance to reject those changes, makes the moral choice not to.
3. Article about Father Fournier from the NYT. Mike the Musicologist sent over a Reddit thread as well.
It seems somehow inappropriate to refer to a priest as a bad a–, but I can’t think of a better word. Before rushing into a burning building, the Father had:
- served with French forces in Afghanistan, and survived an ambush that killed 10 men
- went into Bataclan while the shooting was going on to provide absolution for the victims
Clint Eastwood, call your people, please: Father Fournier would be a good subject for your next movie.
Tactical advice from a priest:
From a military base in Afghanistan to a revered cathedral torn by flames, the rule, he said, is the same: “Always be on the move, or else you die.”
Inside Notre-Dame, he said, he kept the safety of his fellow firefighters foremost in his mind. “Artworks can be reproduced, while a human life can’t,” he said.
“The one who tells you that he’s not afraid in that kind of situation is either very dangerous or foolish,” the chaplain said. “Even for a firefighter, to go inside a building in flames isn’t that natural.”
4. Should Roberto Clemente’s number 21 be retired across all of baseball? My feelings about baseball are well known, so I’m not the person to ask. But I do kind of like Clemente, who died nobly and far too young.
5. The Alliance of American Football has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.