Maginot Line? More like "Starting Line!" Amiright?? Hello...

First things first...

Take a look at this??!! I want one of these ASAP. Man, can you imagine if we'd had a few of these bad boys in WWII? Thing would have been over in 10 minutes. There would have two sounds... first, the sound of our quietly marching robot army; second, the sound of the Germans and Japanese pooping themselves. GAME OVER.

So, Iron Man II is pretty much a documentary now, huh? Was anyone else mad when the dude was screwing with the robot and knocking the stuff out of his hands? I felt bad for the non-sentient machine.

Back to the war
Hopefully you wrapped up the European war (or came close) in your classes today. Tomorrow we're going to look at the role that propaganda played in the war. Next week, the Pacific theater and the consequences of the war.

My daughters would be fine if I took spider extraction at our house to this level,

How about a movie?

You've probably heard your teachers mention about dozen different movies over the last few days. WWII has provided us with some true classics of cinema. So, I thought I'd dedicate today's blog to movies set in the European theater that you definitely need to add to your Netflix que. Not all of these are PG or such, so watch with care. Also, these are not ranked in any particular order.

1. The Dirty Dozen - one of my favorite movies of all time.

2. Saving Private Ryan - the gold standard for the realistic depiction of war and its consequences.

3. Enemy at the Gates - the battle of Stalingrad from the point of view of the Russians.

4. Victory - WWII + soccer = awesome

5. The Inglorious Bastards - Tarantino doing his thing on WWII. DO NOT watch until you are much, much older. 

6. Downfall - a German film looking at the last few days of Hitler. Brilliant acting and incredible tension.

7. The Pianist - the Jewish ghetto seen from the inside by a classical pianist hiding from the Nazis. Beautifully tragic filmmaking. 

8. The Great Escape - two words: Steve McQueen
9. Das Boot - German film set in a u-boat - the diving scene is almost too much to deal with.
10. The Big Red One - this one really covers the ENTIRE European theater; one of my dad's favorites.
11. Life is Beautiful - Italian winner of the best foreign film Academy award; to find humor and humanity in a concentration camp is beyond inspiring to watch.
12. Schindler's List - a transformative movie experience; poetic filmmaking
13. Casablanca - okay this one's a bit of a stretch... WWII is the backdrop and teh force that moves the characters through the story, but it isn't crucial to the overall plot. But, any excuse to watch what many believe to be one of the best movies ever made is a good one.
14. Valkyrie - a plot to assassinate Hitler goes awry.
15. Patton - the larger than life U.S. general is brought to life by George C. Scott in a role he won an Oscar for.

Historical playlist week rolls on...
Today. I think we'll stay in European history but move to the Iberian peninsula. Who would have ever thought that a bunch of British punk rockers would make such an amazing song about the Spanish Civil War? This is from The Clash's seminal album London Calling. If you don't own this album, don't ever speak to me. It is mandatory for anyone who claims to love music. Here's "Spanish Bombs":