Historically Cinematic

The Cali-Ladies

The final pieces are coming together for my wife’s vision for the living room in the new house. I’ve written before that I realized early on (not early enough if you want her opinion) in our marriage that she possessed 99% of the artistic/style talent in our marriage. When you combine that with her resident 51% of the decision making power I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut when she decides changes must be made. The Panama themed print came back from the framers yesterday and the new couch is due in today so I was moving furniture and laying out a new carpet last night after our date. Our old couches (currently up for sale on Craigslist but engendering no interest outside of the scamming community) were moved into the garage and wrapped in plastic again.

The New Print

It was kind of sad to see them exiled. They’ve been with us since the early 1990s and moved around the world with us, shedding the occasional coat when needed (the latest courtesy of Buddy). I know they’re inanimate objects but it’s still depressing to see these formerly stalwart accessories banished to an uncertain future. Maybe I’m worried about the same thing happening to me.

The Couches in Exile

On an Up-Note - The Swimming Pools in the Panamanian Condo are Taking Shape

I owed the wife the post-date labor since I dragged her to a movie about World War 2 and the assassination of a Nazi dictator, Anthropoid, which she really disliked. I on the other hand have always had an interest in the operation to rid the world of one of the truly despicable beings to ever draw breath, Reinhard Heydrich. The operation involved two expatriate Czechs parachuting into occupied Czechoslovakia and killing Heydrich, literally one of Hitler’s fair haired boys. The movie didn’t delve into why Heydrich deserved to die (he did) and stayed with the two assassins. This made for a very boring first half which had them walking and biking around Prague trying to figure out what to do.

The actual assassination and aftermath were historically accurate which highlighted the consummate bravery of the Czech resistance fighters. I lost my wife when the torture scenes started (I think it was the severed head that did it) as she left the theater to find more sedate fare. I’m glad I stuck around because the concluding twenty minutes were worth the semi-interminable wait that comprised the rest of the movie. The final stand of the Czechs in a church was again accurate and epic. While the Czechs paid an immense price for their actions this movie points out the importance of good (and brave) men/women to stand up against oppression. I know it’s the historian in me speaking but this movie is a great monument to those brave men and women whose story gets lost in the overwhelming drama that was the second world war. It’s a story worth remembering.