Saturday, December 28, 2013

2014: The Launching of my Future

Sometimes it would appear that doing things the old way is better.

I say this because it is a two fold announcement, and indeed I have many announcements to make regarding the upcoming year.

First off, I am going to switch back to History as my major, with English as my minor. It was foolish of me to try to switch out of that to something that is the polar opposite of that field. I am rectifying that mistake. Secondly, I am switching back to cashiering, where the pay is better than sporting goods just by the increase in hours I will have.

Those are the plans for this new semester, if I can sort out the mess I have with KU right now. Now on to other plans.

I have decided on release dates for my last two books. So mark your calendars!

The Fight For Freedom: Rebellion Rising will be released on Friday, March 14th, 2014.

The Fight For Freedom: The Battle Hymn of the Republic will be released on Friday, July 4th, 2014.

Further concerning my book, I have decided to launch a website to raise interest in my book. I have recently completed it, and you can find it at http://authorrobertsullivan-com.webs.com/. Check it out!

This new year is going to be awesome.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Rebellion Rising Prologue

Note: This is not in the public domain and copying or reproducing it in anyway is not allowed without my permission. Enjoy!

Prologue

            It was pitch dark over the plains of Colorado, east of the Rocky Mountains. The Globalist convoy moved through the dark on an open highway, their leaders directing them to use the dark of night to move without trouble. It had been two years since the Globalists, using the American party as a façade, had been elected to power in the United States. Now that they had largely consolidated their rule, especially in the midterm elections the previous November, they were moving to install their domestic programs with impunity all over the country.
The convoy was carrying dissenters to the new regime into a camp in the Rocky Mountains. The Globalists had seemingly learned their lesson when two years before a militia of sorts had ransacked a camp they had set up in the open plains of Kansas. This camp was far more inaccessible and those the people that would be taken there would work in a quarry set up there. It was basic slave labor, just enough to work the dissenters largely to death, but not before getting some usefulness out of them.
As for the dissenters, they had been picked up from Kansas City, where resistance to the Globalist regime had been fiercest. This was stemming from heavy handed Federal control of the city ever since a devastating tornado that had occurred nearly three years prior. The Globalists had managed to capture some of the disorganized resistance and were transporting them to the new camp. It was also a warning to anyone else planning to stand up to the Globalists in the city.
The mountains were beginning to show up in the silhouette of the horizon to the west, something that pleased the Globalist captain commanding the convoy. He had wanted to reach the mountains by the morning so there would be harder to find by anyone who might come after them. While they did not expect this, he had wanted to air on the side of caution given what had happened at the camp near Great Bend, Kansas two years before. He began to relax a little as the mountains began to approach in earnest.
They passed through the foothills and began to approach the first line of mountains near Pueblo. The camp was in the valley in the shadow of the Crestone Needle, an isolated area sitting at 11,000 feet or higher. They would be just digging for rocks at various places in the valley, without regard for the environment they were in. When it was destroyed, the Globalists would just set up another camp elsewhere.
The convoy began to reach the first line of mountains separating them from the Sangre de Cristo Range. Across these smaller mountains was a vast flat plain that was sparsely populated. They would be able to cross it as the morning was breaking and would be able to force march their prisoners to the campsite by nightfall that evening.
The Globalist captain suddenly saw something in the road ahead and told the driver, “Slow down. What is that?”
The driver replied, “It looks like the road is blocked.”
“Shit,” the captain said. He grabbed the radio and barked into it, “Everyone stop. There is a blockage up ahead that we need to clear.”
His truck stopped and rest of the convoy obliged as well. The Globalists got out of their trucks and stepped forwards to examine the moderately sized rocks that were covering the road. One of the privates walked forward and peered up at the wall the rocks detached from and said, “What caused them to fall like this?”
“Don’t worry about that,” the Captain shouted at him. “Just get something to move them the hell out of the way. I have orders to have these prisoners delivered to the Needle by nightfall.”
The private nodded glumly and bent over to pick a rock up and take it out of the way. The Globalists worked steadily and soon the only rocks left were some bigger ones that could not be so easily moved out of the way. The sky behind them was beginning to lighten significantly as the Globalist Captain stared at the larger rocks and said, “Do we have anything to move these out of the way?”
One of his sergeants said, “We don’t. Not unless you wanted to just try to find a way to move them with the trucks. Or make the prisoners do it.”
 The Captain glowered and said, “No, I was told that they couldn’t be harmed and worked in any way until they got to the Needle. We will just try to move them with the trucks.”
The sergeant nodded and turned to walk back when he stopped and looked up at the cliff side again. With the sky rapidly lightening, the rock wall was thrown into sharp relief. It was obvious in the light that the rocks had not fallen naturally, but instead had been blasted off in some way.
Fear exploded inside him as he said, “Captain, this is a trap. We need to get out of here.”
The Captain turned to see the rock wall when suddenly he took a bullet to the chest. The force of the bullet knocked him to the ground and the sergeant desperately tried to get back to the trucks, shouting, “Ambush!”
He was cut down as well and the other Globalists that had been largely milling about in the past few minutes tried to make a run for it as well. They were shot down as well before they could get far, as their assailants suddenly exposed themselves from behind the convoy and from behind the rocks on the road. In a minute it was over and none of the Globalists were had escaped the fire of their attacks.
One of the attackers moved forward cautiously, followed closely by others. She pulled off a black stocking cap that had prevented her red hair from being seen by the Globalists. The young woman kicked the Captain over and saw he was dead and called back to her peers saying, “They are all dead, Zach.”
Zach Yost walked forward and clapped the young woman on the back and said, “That was good of you to knock out their commanding officer first, Rebecca.”
Rebecca nodded in acknowledgement and walked towards the truck, saying, “Let’s get their supplies and go.”
Zach replied simply, “Right.” He waved the soldiers behind him forward and they swarmed the trucks and pried them open. Zach saw that they were standing in astonishment instead of clambering into the trucks so he walked forward, saying, “What the hell are you waiting for?”
Zach walked around the corner of the truck and saw the men and women sitting in the back, staring at him fearfully. He was thunderstruck, but recovered quickly, saying, “I need all of you to go ahead and come out and stand on the side of the road here.”
The prisoners did not move at first, but one man got up and jumped out of the truck and did as Zach said. The other prisoners saw this and began to move as well until the truck was empty. There were other trucks with prisoners as well and they left their trucks as well at the urging of the other soldiers with Zach. There appeared to be about a hundred of them standing anxiously to side, waiting for something to do.
Zach turned to a tall black man and said, “What the hell are we supposed to do with them, Charles?”
“I don’t know,” Charles replied. “Have you seen Greg though? Maybe he would know.”
Zach looked around and said, “I don’t see him. I am going to ask one of them if they knew what the Globalists were doing.”
Zach strode purposefully to one of them, which happened to be the young man to have first left the truck. “Where were they taking you?”
The young man said, “Some camp. We all had been causing the Globalists too much trouble in Kansas City so they rounded us all up.”
Zach raised his eyebrows and asked, “Were any of you involved in an attack on the Globalists two years ago at Great Bend?”
There was a murmur of assent as one of the men exclaimed, “It’s Captain Zach Yost! I remember him from that attack in Great Bend! We’ve been rescued by the Continentals!”
There was a loud cheer from the prisoners as they knew for sure now that they were safe. Every one of the prisoners knew of that attack as many of them had been involved in it. The young man looked around wildly and suddenly saw who he was looking for. He rushed forwards and exclaimed, “Georgia!”
A young woman turned at the sound of her name and shouted in surprise, “Sam?!” She rushed forward and hugged Sam, saying, “Oh my God, Sam, I can’t believe you are here!”
Georgia let go and shouted, “Anne, get over here! Sam is here!”
Another young woman came forward and was ecstatic to see Sam there as she embraced him too. Sam broke off and said, “I think Evan is here somewhere. Is Rebecca with you?”
Georgia looked uncomfortable as she said, “Yeah…she’s somewhere.”
Sam saw Evan suddenly and shouted, “Evan, Georgia and Anne are here!”
Evan spotted them as well and walked forward, looking surprised, but grinning broadly. He gazed past them and saw Rebecca and shouted excitedly, “Rebecca!”
Rebecca saw the four of them and stared at them in shock, having momentarily been brought out of her hardened demeanor at the sight of Evan and Sam. She walked away from them, leaving Evan and Sam stunned. Sam turned to Georgia and asked, “What is the matter with her.”
Georgia still looked uncomfortable and said, “It is a long story.”
Sam noticed her discomfort and asked, “So this is the Continental Army, huh? Is Greg here? I have heard a lot about him.”
Georgia looked behind her towards the rocks in the road and pointed, saying, “That’s him.”
Greg Carlton was standing on one of the rocks, watching the scene unfold in front of him with indifference. He gazed past them and the rising Sun threw the long scar on the left side of his face into sharp relief. He glowered as he stared to the East, knowing that the enemy was ahead of him and wanting nothing more than to strike out of the mountains after them.

Zach finally spotted him and saw the look on his face and said to himself more than anyone, “Soon, Greg.”


Monday, December 16, 2013

Christmas Movie Marathon: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

If you have seen the Hangover 2, you already know the premise of the second Home Alone movie. Same situation; different city.

A year after the events of the first Home Alone film 10-year-old Kevin...who was 8 the year before...and his family are going to Miami for vacation this time. The night before, they attend a pageant that Kevin and his siblings are performing in. After Kevin's brother Buzz humiliates him on stage and Kevin retaliates, both are called before the family to apologize. Buzz does, but Kevin refuses, setting up a similar feud as in the previous film.

This time though, Kevin makes it to the airport, but gets separated there and ends up on a flight to New York. He realizes his mistake when he looks out of the airport and sees the New York skyline, including since this was 1992, the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. He goes to the Plaza hotel and fools the workers there into thinking he is there with his dad.

The next day is Christmas Eve, although you don't find that out until later in the film. Kevin goes off to Duncan's Toy Chest, the best toy shop in New York, while the Plaza clerk, played by Tim Curry, discovers that the credit card that Kevin used is not Kevin's. Kevin leaves the toy store and is discovered by the villains from the previous film; the Wet Bandits. They escaped jail and inexplicably plan to rob the toy store that Kevin went to.

The bandits chase Kevin to the hotel, where he is confronted by the hotel staff. After escaping them, he is ambushed by the bandits, but eventually escapes them too by running off into Central Park. There he meets a lady that tends to the pigeons there and they go have a conversation while listening to a symphony play Christmas music, including O Come All Ye Faithful. After this, Kevin decides to stop the bandits from robbing the toy store.

He sets up his uncle's house, which is being refurbished, in similar pitfalls as he had for his house the previous year. He goes to interrupt the robbery and gets the bandits to chase him into the house, who foolishly fall for the same traps as the previous year. He leads them to Central Park, where he is saved by the pigeon lady.

Meanwhile, Kevin's family is in New York and his mother Kate is frantically searching the city for him. She knows that Kevin likes Christmas trees, so she looks for him at Rockefeller Plaza. He is there and they are reunited. The Plaza gave the family a complimentary suite and during the early morning, Mr. Duncan, knowing what Kevin did for his store, delivers gifts to them. Kevin meets the pigeon lady one last time before his father discovers the bill from Kevin's stay in the hotel.

This movie is essentially the same as the previous, except in one area: the scene where the bandits are going through the house is longer and more like a cartoon. I did not like the bandits being in the first film at all and I didn't care for the fact that they were given more screen time in this one. The main element that I did like in the first film, which was Kate's attempts to get back to Kevin, were seriously downplayed to the point where they seemed like an afterthought.

There were nice moments, but on the whole, it is an okay movie and not as good as its predecessors. I have not seen the third, fourth, or *sigh* fifth Home Alone films, as they do not have any of the cast from the original two films...or John Hughes...or Christmas in general. The second film may have been pushing it as it was.

The other five films I will look at:
It's a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott
A Christmas Story
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
The Polar Express

Monday, December 9, 2013

Christmas Movie Marathon: Home Alone

I have recently come into a plethora of Christmas movies and I am going to take a look at them all. I have six or seven and I will look at them all between now and December 25th. I started off tonight with Home Alone, a film from John Hughes that was released in 1990 starring Macaulay Culkin and Catherine O'Hara.

As his family is about to leave for Paris for Christmas, Kevin McCallister (Culkin), is feeling the pains of being the smallest child in a huge family. Tempers flare in the hectic household and Kevin yells at his mother (O'Hara), saying he never wanted to see them again. The next morning, his wish comes true; he is mistakenly left behind as the rest of his family leaves for Paris.

Kevin soon takes advantage of the situation, doing what any 8-year-old would do in that situation: "Eating junk and watching rubbish." His neighborhood is being burglarized by two thieves nicknamed the Wet Bandits. On several occasions, they attempt to rob Kevin's house only to be fooled into thinking that there are people home. As they are held at bay, Kevin shoulders some responsibility and even does the laundry and goes grocery shopping.

In Paris, Kevin's mother, Kate, is frantically trying to get back to Chicago to make sure that her son is safe. She trades tickets with a couple and gets back to the United States before eventually ending up in Scranton. She cannot make it any further, but finds a ride with a polka band to Chicago. Meanwhile, the Wet Bandits find out that Kevin is alone and plan to move on the house on Christmas Eve.

Kevin seems at a loss and goes to the local Catholic Church to listen to a Christmas concert. There he speaks with and old man from his neighborhood that he had feared previously. Kevin gives him some advice about reuniting with his son for Christmas and takes fresh heart in this. Kevin returns home to attend to the defense and manages to rout the Wet Bandits and gets them arrested, along with some timely help from the old man.

Kate returns home the next morning and after apologizing, Kevin forgives as the rest of the family arrives in time to celebrate Christmas.

I actually like this movie a lot. It did not necessarily have to be set during Christmas, but this adds an extra dimension to the movie that gives it a lot of heart. I think namely of the scene in the Church with Kevin talking with the old man to the backdrop of 'O Holy Night'. It added much to the conversation, which entailed Kevin convincing the man to reunite with his son for Christmas. It did succeed, but this comes into play later.

I admire Catherine O'Hara in this movie as well. She plays the part of desperate mother perfectly, as her character is clearly desperate to get back to her son and see him safe. She gives $500 and some trinkets to a couple to get back to the United States in the first place and goes through three airports before hitchhiking with a polka band. Her devotion is astounding and it ends well for her; when she had last seen Kevin he has shouted at her and they made up when they were reunited on Christmas Day.

I remember that whole dilemma much more than I remember the fact that the Wet Bandits were involved at all. This movie did the desperate mother routine so well that that alone could have carried this movie. The thieves seemed like a distraction compared to that, as if they were just there to fill time. It did add a fair amount of slapstick to the movie though, which I guessed got it defined as a comedy, but I view it as a drama instead.

Also, I have been to the Catholic Church that was featured in the movie. When I was in Chicago for the National Scholar's Bowl Championship, on that Sunday we went to Mass there. I guess I haven't seen this movie all the way through since then, otherwise I would have recognized it sooner. It was a beautiful Church and that was reflected here as well.

Next up when I have time: Home Alone 2

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Whereupon Kansas City beat Washington by Five Touchdowns

Rarely have I watched a Chiefs game so entertaining. Sure it was against the 3-10 Redskins who will probably fire Mike Shanahan in the early morn tomorrow, but it was an awesome way to shatter a three game losing streak and return to the winning ways of the 9-0 start that they had. The defense was dominant, their offense, Chase Daniels aside, took care of business, and the special teams play was simply spectacular.

I will look at each of the scores here by both team and see which one I thought was the best.

Ryan Succop 33 Yard Field Goal
Kansas City 3, Washington 0, 11:30 1st

Kansas City got the ball to start the game and moved quickly down the field, but stalled in the red zone. Succop kicked a field goal that I never saw make it, due to the swirling snow going on at the time.

Jamaal Charles 2 Yard run
Kansas City 10, Washington 0, 5:52 1st

Going back to the incredible day that the Chiefs had on special teams, the drive started on the Washington 13 due to a 60 yard punt return my Dexter McCluster. It took 5 plays, but on 4th and Goal, the Chiefs busted into the end zone for the first time behind Jamaal Charles.

Dwayne Bowe 21 Yard pass from Alex Smith
Kansas City 17, Washington 0, 1:02 1st

Kendall Gammon and Mitch Holthus had been noticing that Robert Griffin III had been staring down his receivers and making it obvious where he was throwing. So Derrick Johnson noticed this too and picked off a pass and almost ran it in for a Touchdown. Instead Dwayne Bowe got a pass from Alex Smith and was hit several times, but still powered his way into the end zone.

Jamaal Charles 5 yard pass from Alex Smith
Kansas City 24, Washington 0, 11:27 2nd

After another great punt return that put the Chiefs on the Washington 41, Alex Smith and company only needed five plays to find the end zone on a wide receiver screen to Jamaal Charles.

Dexter McCluster 74 Yard Punt Return
Kansas City 31, Washington 0, 9:45 2nd

The play before the punt, it had briefly looked like RGIII had fumbled the football on 3rd down, and the Chiefs returned it for a touchdown. It was overturned, but that didn't matter; on the ensuing punt, Dexter McCluster set a Chiefs record for punt return yards and the rout was on.

Logan Paulsen 7 yard pass from Robert Griffin III
Kansas City 31, Washington 7, 1:07 2nd

After the Chiefs pooch punted it, the Redskins drove the length of the field and scored quickly. It looked like they might have a little momentum going into the 2nd half, where they would receive the ball first.

Quintin Demps 95 Yard Kickoff Return
Kansas City 38, Washington 7, 0:53 2nd

And there went all of the momentum as the Chiefs got a second special teams touchdown on the day. After Mitch Holthus had exclaimed , "TOUCHDOWN!! KANSAS CITY!!," for the fifth time in that first half, Kendall Gammon was right to say, "Are you serious?"

Kai Forbath 50 yard field goal
Kansas City 38, Washington 10, 0:00 2nd

I didn't think it would be possible to kick a field goal from that far. Good for them.

Knile Davis 17 yard run
Kansas City 45, Washington 10, 13:37 4th

It has slowed down significantly after the half and after this score, neither team's starters were in the game. This was another touchdown where they player broke several tackles to make it to the end zone.

The special teams play of the Chiefs set up several short field for the offense when they did not simply score themselves. As for the other major stats of the day, the Chiefs only outgained the Redskins by 90 yards on offense, but the Chiefs had over 300 return yards in the first half alone. It was basically a perfect game for the Chiefs and it could not have come at a better time, with three games remaining in the season.

NFL Week 14 Potential Playoff Clinching Teams

With this being the fourth to last week in the NFL regular season, we can take a look at some of the scenarios in which teams might be able to clinch a berth in the upcoming playoffs. Let's take a look at the NFC first.

1. Seattle Seahawks (11-1)
Seattle has already clinched a playoffs berth. They can win the NFC West outright today be winning at San Francisco

That is the only team in the NFC that can clinch anything today. Now for the AFC...

1. Denver Broncos (10-2)
Denver can clinch a playoff berth by winning OR a loss by Baltimore or Miami

2. New England Patriots (9-3)
New England can clinch a playoff berth by winning AND either Miami or Baltimore losing.

3. Indianapolis Colts (8-4)
Indy can win the AFC South with a win OR a Tennessee loss.

4. Kansas City Chiefs (9-3)
Kansas City can clinch a playoff berth by winning AND either Miami or Baltimore losing.