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I have returned!
Wednesday, 24 August 2011 01:02 amFor anyone interested in my weekend in Devon, jumping out of a plane, falling two miles in 60 seconds and getting tea for the cast of band of brothers, click on the picture below!
Well, I guess I can't back out now!
Monday, 18 April 2011 11:43 amForgot to post this, yesterday, but that skydive I'm doing to raise money for Jumping For Heroes got the girls who are doing it a mention from the real Bill Guarnere and Babe Heffron. Mind blown.
If you can't see my last post and are interested in knowing more or want to sponsor me, let me know.
If you can't see my last post and are interested in knowing more or want to sponsor me, let me know.
(no subject)
Thursday, 13 November 2008 09:12 pmOH MY GOD.
RICK WARDEN! HARRY WELSH! PLAYING SATAN!
*flails*
RICK WARDEN! HARRY WELSH! PLAYING SATAN!
*flails*
We Lucky Few
Thursday, 17 May 2007 08:38 pmOkay, so, my tattoo binge continues.
I will get at least one, if not both of the following in Chicago when we go.
Location: along the outside of my left arm, from my wristbone.
Reason: my left arm has basically one strip that is not heavily scarred by self-mutilation from my teens; however, I am not in any way ashamed of my scars - they remind me of the times in my life that made me who I am now. All of my tattoos are going to be symbolic or part of a story. In that strip I want these words. Yeah, they're from a line in a Fall Out Boy song, and yeah, one day, I might not be as huge a fan any more. But I am at this point in my life, and the line is from the first track on From Under the Cork Tree which I truly, truly loved. Even today, I had that song on repeat from 10.30am until I replaced my batteries at 4.45pm. I just fucking adore it. And that line makes so much sense in the context of the tattoo. It could have come from a book, or a film and it would still resonate. It will also be a reminder of our trip to Chicago - which in itself is part of the story. My opinions may change in the future, but the past just won't.
I am my own history book.
The other is this:
Location: either small on my left inner-wrist (the only other place with a small patch of unscarred skin) or this size between my shoulder blades.
This symbol is that of the 101st (and 82nd) Airborne Division. They were some of the men who jumped into Normandy on D-Day (6 June, 1944), and then Holland for Market Garden. It was the 101st, particularly the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, that comprised the Battered Bastards of Bastogne. The men who fought the Battle of the Bulge, and liberated Landsberg concentration camp. Easy Company of the 506th went on to take Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden, the Nazi-only town in the Alps.
They are the men immortalised in Band of Brothers, and they are my heroes. I want to record that.
I will get at least one, if not both of the following in Chicago when we go.
Location: along the outside of my left arm, from my wristbone.
Reason: my left arm has basically one strip that is not heavily scarred by self-mutilation from my teens; however, I am not in any way ashamed of my scars - they remind me of the times in my life that made me who I am now. All of my tattoos are going to be symbolic or part of a story. In that strip I want these words. Yeah, they're from a line in a Fall Out Boy song, and yeah, one day, I might not be as huge a fan any more. But I am at this point in my life, and the line is from the first track on From Under the Cork Tree which I truly, truly loved. Even today, I had that song on repeat from 10.30am until I replaced my batteries at 4.45pm. I just fucking adore it. And that line makes so much sense in the context of the tattoo. It could have come from a book, or a film and it would still resonate. It will also be a reminder of our trip to Chicago - which in itself is part of the story. My opinions may change in the future, but the past just won't.
I am my own history book.
The other is this:
Location: either small on my left inner-wrist (the only other place with a small patch of unscarred skin) or this size between my shoulder blades.
This symbol is that of the 101st (and 82nd) Airborne Division. They were some of the men who jumped into Normandy on D-Day (6 June, 1944), and then Holland for Market Garden. It was the 101st, particularly the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, that comprised the Battered Bastards of Bastogne. The men who fought the Battle of the Bulge, and liberated Landsberg concentration camp. Easy Company of the 506th went on to take Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden, the Nazi-only town in the Alps.
They are the men immortalised in Band of Brothers, and they are my heroes. I want to record that.
The Last of the True Heroes.
Friday, 19 May 2006 07:08 pmI just read the death toll of Easy boys who have died since the series was filmed. I cried on the tube.
Dick is the only Toccoa officer left.
I know we've been quibbling about dates, recently, so here is the list, according to Dick himself:
( The List: Officers and Non-Comms - not happy reading. )
The thing that made me cry, is that I took comfort from the fact that so many of these men - the last of the world's true heroes, as far as I am concerned - were still with us. And yet, it now seems that some of the characters we loved best in the series waited for their story to be told before they left us.
I can add to this list that Lester Hashey died in December 2002, which really affected me when I found out.
It is easy to forget that the interviews for the series were taken largely three-quarters of a decade ago. It's a long time. One by one they're going back to their buddies, and I'm sure they're glad of that, but the world won't be quite as honourable a place without them raising the tone.
Dick is the only Toccoa officer left.
I know we've been quibbling about dates, recently, so here is the list, according to Dick himself:
( The List: Officers and Non-Comms - not happy reading. )
The thing that made me cry, is that I took comfort from the fact that so many of these men - the last of the world's true heroes, as far as I am concerned - were still with us. And yet, it now seems that some of the characters we loved best in the series waited for their story to be told before they left us.
I can add to this list that Lester Hashey died in December 2002, which really affected me when I found out.
It is easy to forget that the interviews for the series were taken largely three-quarters of a decade ago. It's a long time. One by one they're going back to their buddies, and I'm sure they're glad of that, but the world won't be quite as honourable a place without them raising the tone.
Nothing upon nothing could express the love and admiration I feel for the men of Easy Company - or the actors who portrayed them - right now.
In all seriousness, people, you need to see Band of Brothers, and the DVD extras, and you will look at the world so very differently afterward.
For most people, the World Wars are a terrible fairytale of Good vs. Evil and the cock-sure modern knights in armour who fought them. It's almost impossible to identify or see it as a real event beyond our grandparents' tatty ration books and photos of Gran as a land girl or the black and white snaps of Uncle Bob looking young and swarthy in his uniform or the painted American bombers bombing Germany and getting back in time for the USO ball. The quaint Britishness of the 1940s and the confident pride of the movie portrayals of the Americans so easily clouds what was in fact a horrific, half-decade long massacre on all sides. Rows of perfect, unnamed headstones in Normandy are a sad and poignant reminder but they can't express what life was truly like for the men they commemorate.
Band of Brothers is just a little snapshot of the truth; tales of some of the people who suffered horribly and laid down their lives for their country and each other, and who allowed us to live in the world we do today. It's not perfect. We still have George W. Bush. But it could have been so much worse.
If we had lost the war, I would never have been born - and neither would many of you. Our families would never have survived to see the 1950s.
I grew up fascinated by the military and obsessed with WWII. My favourite plane is and always was the B17 'Flying Fortress' - one of the most important aircraft of the war and the bird that became famous as the Memphis Belle. In my teens I spent so many weekends and Air Training Corps cadet camps at RAF bases and museums; bunkers, airfields, ranges, airshows, four consecutive Remembrance Parades at Runnymede RAF Memorial in our best dress blues. I collected for the RAFA around Poppy Day, I met veterans and stood in the very room from which the operations of the RAF were controlled - now a monument to that immense feat. I held the altimeter of one of my beloved B17s at fourteen years old and almost cried with awe.
But for all I have seen and all the stories I have heard of the British fight, nothing has brought the humanity - the absolute truth of the courage and strength of these men and of the love they felt for their friends (in the words of Ron Livingston, who portrayed Lewis Nixon, they were 'more than brothers') - home to me as clearly as Band of Brothers has.
Yes, I am naturally sentimental; yes, there are large numbers of pretty young men to look at. But mostly it is a reminder to me that the freedom we are all growing increasingly incensed at the restriction of, came at a very high price.
When people ask me who my heroes are, I always say 'My Friends', because I have seen and known them to come through the greatest trials life can throw at them and still remain strong. They're awesome people and I love them for it.
But I never say 'The Men of Easy Company' or 'Those Who Fought In WWII', because honestly? I think it should go without saying for all of us.
In all seriousness, people, you need to see Band of Brothers, and the DVD extras, and you will look at the world so very differently afterward.
For most people, the World Wars are a terrible fairytale of Good vs. Evil and the cock-sure modern knights in armour who fought them. It's almost impossible to identify or see it as a real event beyond our grandparents' tatty ration books and photos of Gran as a land girl or the black and white snaps of Uncle Bob looking young and swarthy in his uniform or the painted American bombers bombing Germany and getting back in time for the USO ball. The quaint Britishness of the 1940s and the confident pride of the movie portrayals of the Americans so easily clouds what was in fact a horrific, half-decade long massacre on all sides. Rows of perfect, unnamed headstones in Normandy are a sad and poignant reminder but they can't express what life was truly like for the men they commemorate.
Band of Brothers is just a little snapshot of the truth; tales of some of the people who suffered horribly and laid down their lives for their country and each other, and who allowed us to live in the world we do today. It's not perfect. We still have George W. Bush. But it could have been so much worse.
If we had lost the war, I would never have been born - and neither would many of you. Our families would never have survived to see the 1950s.
I grew up fascinated by the military and obsessed with WWII. My favourite plane is and always was the B17 'Flying Fortress' - one of the most important aircraft of the war and the bird that became famous as the Memphis Belle. In my teens I spent so many weekends and Air Training Corps cadet camps at RAF bases and museums; bunkers, airfields, ranges, airshows, four consecutive Remembrance Parades at Runnymede RAF Memorial in our best dress blues. I collected for the RAFA around Poppy Day, I met veterans and stood in the very room from which the operations of the RAF were controlled - now a monument to that immense feat. I held the altimeter of one of my beloved B17s at fourteen years old and almost cried with awe.
But for all I have seen and all the stories I have heard of the British fight, nothing has brought the humanity - the absolute truth of the courage and strength of these men and of the love they felt for their friends (in the words of Ron Livingston, who portrayed Lewis Nixon, they were 'more than brothers') - home to me as clearly as Band of Brothers has.
Yes, I am naturally sentimental; yes, there are large numbers of pretty young men to look at. But mostly it is a reminder to me that the freedom we are all growing increasingly incensed at the restriction of, came at a very high price.
When people ask me who my heroes are, I always say 'My Friends', because I have seen and known them to come through the greatest trials life can throw at them and still remain strong. They're awesome people and I love them for it.
But I never say 'The Men of Easy Company' or 'Those Who Fought In WWII', because honestly? I think it should go without saying for all of us.
'A Company of Heroes'
Sunday, 13 November 2005 01:11 amI just finished watching my Band of Brothers DVDs. As you may suspect, knowing me, I have spent the last section bawling.
I think by the end I was just totally in love with Nix and Malarkey. The latter lost all of his closest friends in the space of a few days - it must have been devastating. And Bull was so sweet!
The most amazing thing about this series - beside its historical sensitivity and attention to detail - is the fact that they actually tried to cast guys as near as possible to the real boys who fought in Carentan, Bastogne and all the way through to Austria.
This is a really cool site. There are photos of the boys who really were in Easy Company. Photos of the ones who survived, as old men. But if spoilers bother you, don't go there. Because you really need to see this.
I think by the end I was just totally in love with Nix and Malarkey. The latter lost all of his closest friends in the space of a few days - it must have been devastating. And Bull was so sweet!
The most amazing thing about this series - beside its historical sensitivity and attention to detail - is the fact that they actually tried to cast guys as near as possible to the real boys who fought in Carentan, Bastogne and all the way through to Austria.
This is a really cool site. There are photos of the boys who really were in Easy Company. Photos of the ones who survived, as old men. But if spoilers bother you, don't go there. Because you really need to see this.
