War Eagle, Arkansas

A big storm came through on Friday afternoon and knocked our power out until late Monday night. Normally, I like living on our swampy lake, but it sucks without electricity. It was 95 degrees! Even our toothpaste was hot. I have a new understanding and compassion for folks in the 19th century. It's a wonder I didn't get malaria. For a full weather report see Sans' blog.

We did a bunch of stuff to avoid the heat--spent Sunday at our friend Tim's and we all went to the Gay Pride Parade. This is Arkansas so there were protesters. The signs read: Sodomy is a sin. Uh-oh. I'm in trouble.



And we went to see War Eagle, Arkansas, which was written by Graham Gordy, a local who attended UCA, where I teach. Gordy also co-wrote the critically-reviled Love Guru, but War Eagle doesn't have a single fart or penis joke...though it does have some horny teenage boy titty jokes, including a discussion over whether the love interest has sausage or pepperoni nipples. What is she, a pizza?

War Eagle is a character study, following the relationship between two high school misfits in a small town in the Ozarks. One's a stutterer and the other, Wheels, has cerebral palsy. It doesn't hurt that the stutterer looks like Edward from Twilight. Hunky!

The scenery is the real star of the movie and it's what I love best about this state. It's an undiscovered natural treasure--rivers and mountains and swamps and the ivory-billed woodpecker (maybe). Right outside my window, I've seen eagles, osprey, painted and indigo buntings, ducks galore, geese, turtles, snakes, coots, heron... Ark. looks gorgeous in the film, maybe even better than the Edward lookalike.

War Eagle is a quiet short story of a movie. At bottom, it's a coming-of-age story; the two boys are deciding what to do after high school. There's some true emotion in it and I'm happy that a hometown boy made this film.

There's only one thing it's missing: Zombies!