269 Words, An Argument for Not Beating a Dead Horse

Picture this: a crowd of people have just finished hearing a lung-busting, long-winded two-hour oration from a well-known speaker. They wait for their president, the man they sent to the Washington to fix a nation that had literally fallen apart, to give the dedicatory remarks for the many men who died at Gettysburg. Perhaps some are figuring out how to stay awake through another overly long speech. Then, in less than two minutes, it's all over. The place is silent, and President Lincoln is not yet aware of how significant his words will be.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, of course, is now deemed immortal and regarded among the greatest examples of public oration. He wrote everything in his speech, and did not need the help of a speechwriter. In the end, the word count came out to only 269 words.

Just 269 words.

Depending on the size of your handwriting, or the font on your word processor, the length could not be more than a page or a page and a half. Yet that is all Lincoln needed to sum up the occasion and the grave task ahead for the United States.

His example should be brought up now that the country is preparing to face one of the most heated election seasons in a long time.

Politicians are an interesting breed. They constantly make compromises that undercut their own authority, while retaining an egotism that allows them to keep on speaking 'til the cows the come home. Both parties' leading men, in recent days, have made long speeches outlining their worldview or how they plan to address the nation's problems.

President Obama turned a memorial speech for the five slain Dallas Policemen into a credo on race relations and sprinkled in his political agendas from time to time. As a result, a speech that should have been about 20 minutes stretched out to 45 minutes and lost a much-needed tight focus.

Not long later, Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination with a harsh attack on the state of American and world affairs that lasted well over an hour. In that time slot, he repeated his points many times over and would have been better served by charging forward and stay focused on his platform's goals.

When Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic nomination, one can only expect her to deliver something of similar length. She will, undoubtedly, spend much of her time attacking her highly divisive opponent.

That will not be the last speech. The election is still three months off.

The candidates would do well to remember the man we, without qualification, now call the greatest president in American history and the 269 words he needed to grasp the heart of the occasion. Brevity will go much further than beating the proverbial dead horse.

Captain America: Civil War Review - More is Just Fine

Less is more - a phrase so often used to address a film's merits that it has become a cliche. In most cases, the designation holds true. Many products from Hollywood's dream factory could do with some trimming, especially ones involving costumed crusaders. Captain America: Civil War, however, breaks this rule in style.

If the future installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are as action-packed, entertaining, and well-conceived as this one, then the series' fans are in for a great deal of excitement and there should be no concern about a drop in quality.

Interestingly, the Hero vs. Hero concept is eerily similar to the failure that was Batman vs. Superman, but Marvel succeeds in every way that DC failed.

Civil War is an engrossing and engaging journey into the grandiose struggles faced by superheroes. When they slip-up, the consequences are large. For the Avengers, that means the public calling for oversight and accountability. In other words, turning them into soldiers rather than autonomous do-gooders with the best intentions.

The tension begins to build. As advertised, Captain America (Chris Evans) believes that no government, not even the United Nations, has the right to order the Avengers around. On the other hand, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is with the public. The ties that held the group together are ripped apart. Heroes align themselves according to their beliefs or even their personal motives at the time.

Spiderman gets into the game.

Now, this may seem like a set-up for an intensely personal drama about the limits of friendship and how far one is willing to go for brotherhood. Joe and Anthony Russo, the film's directors, and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the writers, have other ideas. While those aforementioned themes are prevalent, what sets Civil War apart from other superhero flicks is the comic timing. Just when the conflict and suspense-filled action is built-up enough, the gags are thrown in. At this point, Marvel and Disney seem to have mastered the comedy required to create a solid counterbalance to the action and drama in their movies.

Of course, Spider Man's introduction was always going to be a popular move, and Tom Holland does a solid job in this new take on the web-slinging character. The more impressive introduction, however, comes from Black Panther, as Chadwick Boseman gives the vengeful African prince-turned-king the right amount of emotion and energy. The other players, such as Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Scarlett Johannson, and Elizabeth Olsen, also play their parts satisfactorily.

Them cats are quick! Black Panther on the run.

With all of these elements in place, the filmmakers returned to a familiar Marvel premise - one grudge-bearing man (Daniel Bruhl) attempting to get the heroes to start fighting each other. The concept is the launching pad for what could very well be the best movie yet to come out of the Marvel franchise. The story, the conflict, and the execution could not get much better. Perhaps the only hero film to top it, though incomparable in many ways, is Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.

High praise, but earned. Here's hoping for more top-notch productions down the road.

The only thing to be said against this film is the first part of the title - Captain America. By no means is this a Captain America movie. It is, unquestionably, an Avengers movie.