October 3, 1999 [Three Kings]

George Clooney notes that the green kid in Three Kingsis scared, and that it's backwards, that first you have to do the thing your scared of, then you get courage.  For his part, the kid notes, "That's a dumbass way to work"; but there's no getting around it.  Bush's war is also a dumbass thing--but the other way around: It's the thing you do before you realize you shouldn't.  Or at least not do it so off-handedly, half-assedly--a war so quick we barely knew it happened; but it sure did, and these new Kelly's Heroes out to get the gold run deep into the desert to see what surgical strikes look like when the surgeon's got one hand tied behind his back and the patient's still awake.

Still, the movie's funny--and bright; it almost hurt to look at the screen.  But deserts and jungles are worse than anything (except maybe trenches in winter, I'd guess)--and oil tastes terrible, pushed down the throat while that calm, determined voice explains how he's not no father no more, my main man, and wonders how the inside of Mark Wahlberg's heart would feel if his daughter got bombed, and they both agree it'd be worse than death.  That's one way to spot good soldiers: They know that death is not the worst.  Not even losing--it's the losses, the little bars of gold inside the heart melted and dripping out in all that bright light like liquid sand.