Movies to watch!

[Gen. Volkov]

Ahem, but I think Bush has amply demonstrated that the President has quite a bit of power. And a lot more influence beyond that. I wasn't a big Kerry fan either though.

[Alazar is Back]

How??? And he can only have alot of power and influence if the congress majority is republican, like now all the democrats are going against him all of his bills are not getting passed like his reform on border security, and the spending on the war in iraq two recent big bills that were killed.

[Gen. Volkov]

He can veto what Congress sends. The democratic majority is not big enough to override his vetoes. He himself killed a spending bill that had timetables.

He has no power? I think not, I mean, he is Commander in Chief of the armed forces for God's sake! He is the top leader of the most powerful military force the world has ever known. If that's not power, I don't know what is. His border security bill is still being debated, and even though they politicize it a lot when they do go against him, the President is still getting his way much of the time. His executive powers are probably bigger than any other president in history besides Roosevelt.

[Neobaron]

Hey Volky-poo, did you ever read the Herodotus version of the battle of Thermopylae?

Because if you go "by the book" and by the book, I mean Herodotus, thet movie was actually quite along those lines.

I also encourage you to remember that Herodotus is the only real historical reference we have for the way things went at Thermopylae, so for all we know, 300 the movie is /exactly/ how it happened. ;-)

---

The weapon work was just cinema.

But you gotta admit; it was pretty frikkin cool.

[Gen. Volkov]

Yeah, I read the Herodotus version, but I don't remember a giant in 1 v 1 combat with Leonidas, a fat guy with swords for hands, the Spartans breaking the phalanx after the first fight, or the Spartans wearing no armor, in fact they were mostly naked in the movie. In Herodotus, he says they were heavily armored. Also, the size of the army at Thermopylae is reported at 4000 at the beginning, this dwindles to 1000, (300 Spartans, 700 Thespians) after the Greeks are betrayed by a local. (This is not in the movie, or rather it is, but the army goes from 1000 to 300) One other thing, I don't remember Herodotus saying Xerxes was 7 feet tall. There is also great debate of the actual size of Xerxes army. Herodotus says something like a million, other sources say 500,000 -400,000. So basically, 300 got this right: There was a battle that lasted 3 days, the Persians lost a lot more troops than the Spartans, and the Spartans were killed to the last man after being betrayed by another Greek. Oh, and that the Immortals came in the second wave. Other than that, no there wasn't a lot of historical accuracy, even according to Herodotus. BTW, there are Persian sources for the battle. According to them, there was no group of soldiers call the "Immortals". Herodotus probably confused the Persian word for "Companions" with the Persian word for "Immortals".

Yes, it was a cool movie with great visuals. But there wasn't a great deal of historical accuracy, the storyline was lame, the characters shallow, and the dialogue utterly predictable.

[Alazar is Back]

He can veto what Congress sends. The democratic majority is not big enough to override his vetoes. He himself killed a spending bill that had timetables.

He has no power? I think not, I mean, he is Commander in Chief of the armed forces for God's sake! He is the top leader of the most powerful military force the world has ever known. If that's not power, I don't know what is. His border security bill is still being debated, and even though they politicize it a lot when they do go against him, the President is still getting his way much of the time. His executive powers are probably bigger than any other president in history besides Roosevelt.

He has limited powers, yes he has power, but that can be easily overridden in congress for some issues, i see your point but the President mostly just looks good and acts powerful!

[Gen. Volkov]

Mmk then.

[RazorClaw]

Federal government has too much power. If they really wanted to, they could pass a bill banning 300 for a lack of historical accuracy.

Then propagate films that are historically accurate and objective, like JFK.

[Gen. Volkov]

Uh no, they couldn't Razor, that would be way unconstitutional.

[Neobaron]

I think youre confusing Phalanx combat and Hoplite combat.

;-)

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As to Spartan armor in battle;

Very little, if any. Spartan dress was generally their red cloak... went to battle naked moer often than not, which is more scythian or gallic than anything. (As is their tradition of mourning dead kings who fell in battle, which was a one week weeping and wailing extravaganza.) They were seen to be oiling themselves at the beginning of the third day, which was pretty much the Spartan way of saying, to quote the movie, "this will not be quick, and you will not enjoy it."

Gynormous giant? Dunno.
Gynormous fat guy with creepy hands? Dunno bout that either.

Face to face meeting with Xerces in which the high king almost gets pwn'd? Yes. Not likely historical, but 100% herodotus.

=-P

[Gen. Volkov]

I think youre confusing Phalanx combat and Hoplite combat.

Uh no, at the time of Thermopylae, the Greek Phalanx was well developed, and furthermore, the individual people in the phalanx formation were called hoplites, so "Hoplite combat"and "Phalanx combat" are actually the exact same thing.

As to Spartan armor in battle;

Very little, if any. Spartan dress was generally their red cloak... went to battle naked moer often than not, which is more scythian or gallic than anything. (As is their tradition of mourning dead kings who fell in battle, which was a one week weeping and wailing extravaganza.) They were seen to be oiling themselves at the beginning of the third day, which was pretty much the Spartan way of saying, to quote the movie, "this will not be quick, and you will not enjoy it."

Say WHAT? Spartans were well known for there heavy armor. Herodotus himself mentions it in his histories of the Greek wars. Where are you getting this stuff from? The armor of the hoplites is an integral part of what made the phalanx so effective in combat. Gauls and Scythians were known to go into combat naked, but not Greeks. Remember, Thermopylae was about 140 years before Alexander the Great went out and conquered the known world, the culture, armor, weapons, strategies and tactics of the Greeks did not change appreciably between Thermopylae and their battles and eventual defeat at the hands of the Macedonians.

Gynormous giant? Dunno.
Gynormous fat guy with creepy hands? Dunno bout that either.

I'm gonna go with probably not for both of those.

Face to face meeting with Xerces in which the high king almost gets pwn'd? Yes. Not likely historical, but 100% herodotus.

I wasn't really questioning that. But I don't remember Herodotus saying Xerxes was 7 feet tall.

XD

[Neobaron]

http://www.amazon.com/Spartans-World-Warrior-Heroes-Ancient-Greece/dp/1400078857/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3516411-0331027?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182778527&sr=1-1

There. =-)

[RazorClaw]

Uh no, they couldn't Razor, that would be way unconstitutional.

a) it was a joke, but I'm too cool to use smileys.
b) nothing in the constitution gives the government power to create jobs, either. The Constitution has been torn to shreds. The excuse "it's unconstitutional" means about as much as "it's immoral" these days.

[Peace Alliance]

people should just use me as the moral standard...

[Alazar is Back]

people should just use me as the moral standard...

Then our world would be really screwed up!!!