“A prophet is the one who, when everyone else despairs hopes. And when everyone else hopes, he despairs. You’ll ask me why. It’s because he has mastered the Great Secret: that the Wheel turns.”
— Nikos Kazantzakis
The Last Temptation of Christ
Mama said there'll be days like this,
There'll be days like this Mama said
(Mama said, mama said)
Mama said there'll be days like this,
There'll be days like this my Mama said
(Mama said, mama said)
— The Shirelles
Mama Said
And who can look back on the year taken as a whole and not mutter under his or her breath, "Good Riddance," the good subsumed by the bad. I propose we dub 2009 "The Year of the Half-Empty Cup."
The Wheel, thank heavens and a host of Lesser Deities, does indeed turn!
At least business-wise, it's been an extremely good year — the successful launch of THE BEST DEFENSE, one of the top shows on OUTDOOR CHANNEL, the creation and launch of TBD/SURVIVAL, filming the 10th season of SHOOTING GALLERY (which premiered last night). I shot a lot of great guns...memorable ones include the short-barreled full-auto FAL that nearly got away from me (you'll see that in a couple of weeks on SG), the Para Lt. Colonel 9mm 1911, the USFA Double Eagle .44 Special I've been carting around the last month, the little Ruger LCR polymer frame revolver, my .50 BMG Barrett...and lots and lots of black rifles...
I got to spend a lot of time with some very cool people...I've worked with Larry Potterfield at Midway USA for years, but this year we spent a bunch of time both filming and shooting; He's a great guy and a good friend. I also spent a lot of travel time with Wes Doss, a brilliant trainer and an all-around good guy. We're going to be covering his "1 Inch To 100 Yards" conference for both DRTV and SHOOTING GALLERY in 2010.
I finished watching LOTR last night, as is my habit every Christmas season. I believe it gets better with each viewing, and it's message of faith, sacrifice and, ultimately, hope is a message we can all use right right now.
8 comments:
amen brother.
The SG episode last night was one of my favorites. It was great to get to see many of the guns that you have talked about on the podcast. Very Well Done!!!!
Josh Bullock
Congrats on 10 years of SG and a new season of The Best Defense. I suscribed to the Outdoor Channel about eight months ago just for those two shows.
Happy New Year Michael.
Yes, 2009 has been a craptacular year. But we are 1/4 our way through the nightmare, God willing. 2010 will be interesting, if nothing else.
Thanks for all you've done for us bloggers, and also for the cause.
Michael, thanks for all your insightful posts, vids, and podcasts, which kept me sane during long periods of travel and separation from my family. It's been a tough year, but we've met all the challenges and hope for a better year to come.
Happy New Year!
"Last day of a miserable year" and only one more year to go in the first decade of the Twenty-First Century! I'm glad that the sane and educated people here are treating it that way.
It is amazing to me, but no surprise, that the lame-stream media and most of the idiots in our government, can't even get the correct accounting of time correct. Almost every liberal tv and radio station here in the once great state of Michigan, is calling 2010 "the first year of the new decade"! It isn't, just as the year 2000 wasn't the start of the new century. It was the last full year of the Twentieth Century. The liberal media has adopted the mis-counting as a sort of cause celebre. It is just one more idicator of the gross incompetence of the media and why their contribution toward getting this grossly incompetemnt administration elected is no surprise.
OK, I'm off my soap box now.
Life Member
anonymous 6:14...i guess it all depends on what calendar you use, i prefer the Mayan one.
I think we all are happy to see 2009 in the rear view mirror.
Thank you Michael for Shooting Gallery, Best Defense and your podcasts. They helped me get through a depressing scary year.
The new season was worth the wait.
Thank you for sharing your collection with us on SG.
Thank Pincus for making me rethink my practice routines.
Keep up the good work and let us know how the cloning process goes.
Happy New Year to you and your team.
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