THE NATIONAL PATRIOT
In life, there are many ways to know when you’ve “made it.”
Mostly it comes with success. Be it success in business or success in politics success is a measure of “making it.”
With success often comes the trappings of success. I nice home, a nice car or maybe the ability to travel at will without caring the cost.
Those are tangible examples of having “made it” but, there are other ways of knowing.
In the world of pop culture, one can also “make it” and not all examples are good.
For some unknown reason, many pop culture icons strive to “make it” through adverse behavior and there are a slew of really bad celebrity mug shots out there proving the point.
Still others “make it” by proving Darwin was right. Case in point:
Timothy Treadwell believe he was one with grizzly bears. A bear enthusiast for years, he went to live with the beasts in Katmai National Park, Alaska in 1990. After 13 years, the Grizzly Manand his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, who shared his belief that they, and the grizzlies, were on the same page, discovered they were, in fact…Not.
They were killed and mostly eaten by their neighbors gaining them both a Darwin Award.
Treadwell and Huguenard “made it” as urban legends.
Last week, a very unusual occurrence of “making it” occurred. It was not so unusual that this man “made it” but that he, “made it”…AGAIN.
As a young man, Clint Eastwood “made it” in television as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide. That would have been enough for most but, not for Eastwood.
He left Rawhide to make “Spaghetti Westerns,” low budget western movies filmed in Italy. It has been said that one could take the sum total of all of Eastwood’s Spaghetti Westerns and not have but 20 minutes of dialogue delivered by the star. True enough but, his mere presence on the screen was enough, combined with a squinty glare and a gravely voice that could open a walnut from 50 paces, to cement his “making it” in the genre.
Not good enough for Clint Eastwood. He went to star in a series of Dirty Harry movies delivering some of the most well-known movie lines in history.
Eastwood was just getting started “making it.”
As a director, and producer, Clint Eastwood “made it” again and again.
As a musician, Eastwood “made it” having his scores underscore many movies.
Eastwood “made it” in business too…not just in owning his own motion picture production office and making one great independent film after another but, drop by the Hog’s Breath Inn in Carmel California sometime for a Dirty Harry burger. That’s Eastwood’s place and maybe, just maybe, you’ll recognize the guy at the piano from time to time.
Naturally, that wasn’t enough “making it” for Clint who “made it” again when he became the Mayor of Carmel.
Well, you get the idea. Clint Eastwood has “made it” and “made it” and “made it again and again.
Last week, at the tender age of 82, Clint Eastwood “made it” again.
Most conservatives think Eastwood, in a somewhat rambling speech at the podium, stuck his thumb in Obama’s eye by delivering lines like:
CONTINUE READING ...
| By Craig Andresen on September 2, 2012 at 6:56 am |
In life, there are many ways to know when you’ve “made it.”Mostly it comes with success. Be it success in business or success in politics success is a measure of “making it.”
With success often comes the trappings of success. I nice home, a nice car or maybe the ability to travel at will without caring the cost.
Those are tangible examples of having “made it” but, there are other ways of knowing.
In the world of pop culture, one can also “make it” and not all examples are good.
For some unknown reason, many pop culture icons strive to “make it” through adverse behavior and there are a slew of really bad celebrity mug shots out there proving the point.
Still others “make it” by proving Darwin was right. Case in point:
Timothy Treadwell believe he was one with grizzly bears. A bear enthusiast for years, he went to live with the beasts in Katmai National Park, Alaska in 1990. After 13 years, the Grizzly Manand his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, who shared his belief that they, and the grizzlies, were on the same page, discovered they were, in fact…Not.
They were killed and mostly eaten by their neighbors gaining them both a Darwin Award.
Treadwell and Huguenard “made it” as urban legends.
Last week, a very unusual occurrence of “making it” occurred. It was not so unusual that this man “made it” but that he, “made it”…AGAIN.
As a young man, Clint Eastwood “made it” in television as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide. That would have been enough for most but, not for Eastwood.
He left Rawhide to make “Spaghetti Westerns,” low budget western movies filmed in Italy. It has been said that one could take the sum total of all of Eastwood’s Spaghetti Westerns and not have but 20 minutes of dialogue delivered by the star. True enough but, his mere presence on the screen was enough, combined with a squinty glare and a gravely voice that could open a walnut from 50 paces, to cement his “making it” in the genre.Not good enough for Clint Eastwood. He went to star in a series of Dirty Harry movies delivering some of the most well-known movie lines in history.
Eastwood was just getting started “making it.”
As a director, and producer, Clint Eastwood “made it” again and again.
As a musician, Eastwood “made it” having his scores underscore many movies.
Eastwood “made it” in business too…not just in owning his own motion picture production office and making one great independent film after another but, drop by the Hog’s Breath Inn in Carmel California sometime for a Dirty Harry burger. That’s Eastwood’s place and maybe, just maybe, you’ll recognize the guy at the piano from time to time.
Naturally, that wasn’t enough “making it” for Clint who “made it” again when he became the Mayor of Carmel.
Well, you get the idea. Clint Eastwood has “made it” and “made it” and “made it again and again.
Last week, at the tender age of 82, Clint Eastwood “made it” again.
Most conservatives think Eastwood, in a somewhat rambling speech at the podium, stuck his thumb in Obama’s eye by delivering lines like:
CONTINUE READING ...
