The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly- Best Western of All Time?

In my multi-media, cross genre search for the perfect western I have not gotten around to giving serious thought to the Sergio Leone movies.  They are good, certainly, perhaps even great, but to me they do not add up to the perfect western.  When Blondie stares meaningfully into the desert he is not considering the infinite in the landscape, the purifying fires of the scorched plains, nor his potential to remake himself in the silence. No, he is thinking about booty, both the golden and fleshy kinds.  Fun to watch, awesome in execution, but it lacks that certain element that I am looking for in my perfect western.  

One writer clearly disagrees, and put together a list of 50 reasons why The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is the Best Western of All Time.  Check it out.

And Now, Cattle Rustling

It appears that cattle rustling is making a comeback in the west.  This time, the cattle rustlers use GPS and SUVs to get around.  Where is the Lone Ranger when you need him? 

Click here for the story.

Search Engine Oddities

I am constantly amazed at what kind of searches take people to my blog.  My post of Frank Frazetta is consistently what draws people in, though I don’t think those readers are here for the westerns as much as to see more muscular men in loincloths throwing babes in chainmail bikinis over their shoulder (there, I’ve done it again, that phrase will make search engines go crazy).  I took at look at my stats today to see what search terms were drawing people to my site.

There are the normal ones, Frank Frazetta, Tala & Darkwatch, Storyville.  Then there is #6 on the list- “sexy and mysterious cawgirl”.  I’ve tried searching that in Google and can’t imagine how it got to my site.

If you are here looking for nekkid cowgirls, please take a minute and check out any of the other posts on this site.  Really, the ones tagged Randy Cowpoke you may really enjoy. 

All Star Western #3- Hex Gone East

There is a line in All Star Western #3 where Hex walks through the streets of Gotham and says “Ah hate this city”.  You and me both, Hex.  Three issues in and there is still very little western about this series, despite its title and star character.  The main story is a 19^th century urban crime story, that in this issue featured a drive by shooting with a Gatling gun on a horse drawn wagon.  A fraking drive by!  I am so disappointed.

The backup story, featuring Lazarus Lane (aka El Diablo) has been quite good.  The artwork is done by Jordi Bernet, one of my favorites among the rotating artists from the Jonah Hex series.  The bloody zombie tale has an interesting exchange between El Diablo and Black River, the white-but-Sioux-raised shaman who has raises the dead to attack a small frontier town:

Black River: “You call yourself an embodiment of vengeance?  You should be bringing vengeance upon those who stole the land and slaughtered millions of people!  Countless tribes wiped away in swaths of blood and you do nothing!”

El Diablo: “Slaughtering the innocent is not the path to retribution, Black River!”

Black River: “More than two hundred tribes have become extinct since Columbus came ashore!  Where is their retribution?”

Let’s hope the backup stories keep remain in the West, because Hex has certainly gone East.

Heartwarming Thanksgiving Message

Happy Thanksgiving from Slap!  Thanks to our ancestors for setting the course for open dialog and multiculturalism across this country and the world.

Jesse James was the 99%

I’ve struggled to find a way to link this blog to the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Heck, I’ve struggled to find a way to join the Occupy Wall Street movement.  It’s hard to be part of a protest against unemployment and the greed of corporate America when you have a full time job with corporate America making more money than you ever though you could.  I know full well that it is not just innate talent, but a fair amount of luck as well that has put me in the comfortable position that I am in today- good pay, reasonable mortgage, excellent health insurance, and credit so good it’ll make you cry.  Of course I haven’t gone through a layoff, so who knows what the future holds?

Jesse James was the 99%.  He got his start as a pro-Confederate guerilla in Misouri and Kansas, and after the war kept up the same riding, shooting, and robbing, just without a flag to fly overhead.  The James Gang often picked targets that were connected to Northern banks, particularly going well out of their usual territory to hit the First Nation Bank of Northfield, MN.  Whether the James Gang were really anti-corporate is a matter of debate for historians, but he certainly was played up that way as Progressives swept through the Midwest in the early 20^th century. 

What about Billy the Kid?  The Lincoln County War that we read about now was all about a crazy 21 year old out for revenge.  The newspapers out of Santa Fe at the time talk about it as small ranchers opposed to a shadowy group called “The Santa Fe Ring”, Republican businessmen and politicians meeting in smoky rooms coming up with plans to screw the little guy.  Hmm… 

I really don’t hate the 1% (well, except maybe for those guys at Enron).  I just think that when you are up there it is easy to lose track of how minor transgressions can have massive effects on the world around you.  My friend the attorney didn’t think that he was contributing to the downfall of the global economy when he lived off of home closings in the middle of the real estate bubble, but he was part of it.  So was I, probably, as I professionally touch industries like banking, construction, and… oh yeah, the massive overcutting of the Maine woodlands.  I probably should have turned down that assignment.  From many small sins come great catastrophes. 

Well, that’s another depressing post.  I’ll throw some mindless content into the next post.  In the mean time, check out the fun over at Sexy Fawkes.  See, the 99% can have fun, too!

Return of the TV Western

If I am reading this article right, there are at least five western series in the hopper for 2012.  Of course that depends on what you call a western.  This article calls Justified a western- love that show, but is eastern Kentucky the west?  It is wild, but not quite west.  Regardless, it looks like 2012 is going to be a good year for television westerns.  Really have to get around to finishing the first episode of Hell on Wheels...