Guns and Horses

On the last day of 2011, I went to the gym, ran some errands, read a book for a while (Stephen Hunter’s Dead Zero) on my main Christmas present, and then went shooting with a couple of pals from the Twin Cities political world. I won’t identify them except to say that the Northern Alliance is not only ideologically powerful, but heavily armed. We went to a local firing range, and had a lot of fun. I brought my new Sig Sauer Mosquito and ran 100 rounds through it. It was the first time I had used the gun, and I was impressed by its accuracy. For a pistol, of course.

Last night all four kids were at New Year’s Eve parties, so my wife and I enjoyed a date night. We went to see War Horse, Steven Speilberg’s new movie–our first trip to a theater in quite a while. War Horse has gotten some very good reviews, and we liked it pretty well. It was what my mother would have called a tear-jerker; when it was over, there was a girl or two in the ladies’ room, sobbing.

It is always good to be reminded how awful WWI was, but I thought the film had an air of unreality throughout, like when they film a stage production and call it a movie. I also thought that if you’ve seen Black Beauty, you’ve pretty much seen it all–and Black Beauty was shorter, too. Somehow, too, the film reminded me of E.T. I kept expecting someone to say: “Joey [the horse], phone home!” Still, it was fun.

All in all, it was a good way to end 2011. 2011 was a lousy year for the country, but a good one for us. We wish all of our readers a very Happy New Year.

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