Sage Lewis

As we left off from last week, Melissa has been fired and Kristi, 24, a top sales executive for Gold Creek Golf Club as made it to the second episode. This is my overview from last week:
Sage Lewis: The Apprentice 4 Episode 1 - Season Premiere

The men wanted Melissa to come back, from a strategy point of view. They feel Melissa is weaker… which she is. But I don’t feel like there is tremendous threat coming from Kristie. It’s all about marketing, and she’s not a great marketing.

They all meet at Trump Park Tower to talk about their task. The group is going to work with The Kaplan Thaler Group Ltd., an ad agency on Madison Avenue. They are going to put together a 30 second promotional and print ad campaign for Lamborghini.

Linda Kaplan Thaler, the CEO and chief creative officer of Kaplan Thaler and Erin Bragg, head of US operations of Lamborghini, are the executives who will judge the campaigns.

This is the Lamborghini Site.

In this season, the winning team has to vote whether or not the team captain is excluded from the vote this week. Marcus does not get excluded.

Chris from Excel is the team captain for this.

The show starts right out by putting Marcus in a bad light. He has a campaign slogan right out of the gate, “Smooth as silk” that the guy from Lamborghini immediately does not like.

My instinct is that Marcus is bad… mostly because he appears to not stop talking. But I also get the feeling that they are also editing him in a pretty bad way.

Marshawn is the project manager for the women. It appears that the women are going right into shooting the car.

Episode 2’s lesson is “Be flexible”. Donald says you must adapt otherwise you will never be able to make it in business. Absolutely a truism. You can’t fail if you adapt and persist.

The men are considering taking a vintage Lamborghini and morphing it into the new Lamborghini.

Marcus’ teammates are giving him a hard time saying he is the weakest link. Marcus is removed of all responsibility in apparently not being able to direct traffic.

Back at Capital Edge (the women), Marshawn is working with the photos. She sends three others to work on the video editing. Alla, Kristi and Jen are running the video. Marshawn not showing up in that editing makes them mad. You start to see some patterns in this show. Marshawn is nowhere to be found in the video editing. That could be some foreshadowing.

Excel Corp is in love with their idea, as Carolyn points out, which is an Achilles heal. The men feel like they can guarantee the victory. When you are in love with your idea, you are infatuated. When you have just fallen in love, you never see as clearly as you do when you are in calm state.

Both sides have some problems. My instinct is that both campaigns are going to have problems with the executives.

Randal is heading out to his grandmother’s funeral in the middle of the task. He choppers out to Philadelphia. It’s presented very well. He has not been focused on negatively or positively. He feels that he will be motivated and inspired by his grandmother as he moves forward. A little reality in my reality TV, that’s always refreshing.

The women make their presentation. The Lamborghini executive says their presentation was very good. It looked disjointed to me. The words that the women focused on didn’t seem to gel.

“Men say it, women feel it,” Linda Kaplan Thaler says. Linda says that the men use just words. Capital Edge wins clearly because the women made the executives feel it.

The women, all except Kristi, all exempt her from firing if their team loses next week. VERY interesting. The men use logic to maybe never exempt a leader. And the women exempt Marshawn, even though several of them had clear problems with her. They are building loyalty and commitment. Great strategy. Your team is your team… even if they ultimately are your competition. This is a great lesson. You must always be compassionate, kind and thoughtful. It makes your social unit strong. And that’s the only way you can win in anything. We’ll see if the women really understand this or if it’s just an early season fluke.

Rebecca sprains her ankle in the task reward of learning how to play hockey. Bummer.

Excel gets ready to head to the board room.

Markus, the inventor, is harping on the “Green with envy” campaign. He misses the point. It wasn’t the words that were used. It was that words were all that were used. Markus is annoying and should go.

Chris, the team leader, says they lost because of distractions. George points out that they were too sure of themselves. Carolyn points out that the men have to explain everything. The men focus on Markus. Trump says that Markus was the only person who didn’t like the campaign. Markus was right, Trump says.

Chris brings in Markus. Trump has made it very clear that he isn’t unhappy with Markus in this task. Again, this bringing back one person seems super risky. And in this case, versus last week where Kristi only brought in Melissa, I think Chris may be in trouble here. You are taking your odds of getting fired from 33% to 50%. Bad pot odds.

Chris loved this campaign and it was the campaign to the core, that get shot down. Chris is a bad strategist all the way around. He won’t be long for The Apprentice one way or the other.

Back to the show. Carolyn was behind Chris. Both George and Carolyn point out that only bringing Markus back was a critical mistake. Chris could have brought back Mark who made many errors. Chris admits that he marginalized Markus so Markus was not given a chance to perform. Chris says he believed in Mark’s decisions. So Mark’s decision was Chris’ decision. Chris is fired because he made a bad strategic decision at the board room. Trump told him what to do and he didn’t listen. Trump liked Chris. But he just brought it on himself.

“Stay flexible”. Chris decided he was going to bring Markus back alone and wasn’t able to change in mid board room.

OK, here’s a note on the end of the show. We are told to go to Yahoo and search for “apprentice dream car.” There are two pay per click ads above the Apprentice web site. It would have cost them very little to buy one of those ads. There is a Yahoo Shortcut to this listing. This site notice looks to be paid for by Yahoo. The link takes us to http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/sportscars.html
Also, it would have been very easy to create a page on The Apprentice web site that had the title, “Apprentice Dream Car”. They would have been able to come up in all of the engines for that phrase for free.

Maybe the search optimizer on Martha’s Apprentice can help these people out. It’s all so simple once you change your line of thinking.

Here are some other sites relating to The Apprentice:

The Apprentice > Season 4 in the Yahoo! Directory

The Apprentice Rules | Donald Trump + Martha Stewart NBC TV Shows

Open Directory - Arts: Television: Programs: Reality-Based: Apprentice, The

If you find this kind of thing interesting, I’ve put together the notes I took from “Build To Last”. These are the points that jumped out at me while I was reading.

If you are in business and haven’t read it yet, run right over here and get it:

When you go to a business meeting and people rattle off book names, this one is usually on the list. Now you can be in the know.

Built to Last

James C. Collins

Jerry I. Porras

These notes are from the 2002 BUILT TO LAST soft cover book put out by
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Pg 28

If you haven’t created your company because you haven’t come across your
“great idea”, you are encouraged not to obsess on finding a great idea
before launching a company. The great idea approach shifts your attention away
from seeing the company as your ultimate creation.

pg 30

See the company as the ultimate creation… not the product. Bill Hewlett and
Dave Packard’s ultimate creation wasn’t the audio oscilloscope or the pocket
calculator. It was the Hewlett-Packard Company and the HP Way.

Pg. 56

Dave Packard discusses the real reason for his existence. They provide
something that is unique. (It’s a good speech on why companies exist).
Packard: “Profit is not the proper end and aim of management – it is what
makes all of the proper ends and aims possible.”

Pg. 57

HP should be managed first and foremost to make a contribution to society.

Pg. 60

Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive, Jim Burke in the early ‘80s
estimated that he spent fully 40 percent of his time as CEO communicating the
credo throughout the company.

Pg. 61

Boeing has been about pioneering aviation – about building big, fast,
advanced, better-performing aircraft; about pushing the envelope of aviation
technology; about adventure, challenge, achievement, and contribution; about
having the Right Stuff. Boeing can’t pursue these purposes without profits;
but profit is not the “why” of it all.

Pg 62

Motorola founder Paul Galvin viewed profitability as a necessary means to
pursue the company’s objectives, but not the ultimate aim.

Pg 67

Companies such as HP and Marriot made concern for their employees central to
their ideologies; others such as Nordstrom and Disney did not.

We did not find any specific ideological content essential to being a
visionary company. Authenticity of the ideology counts more than the content of
the ideology.

Pg. 68

We concluded that the critical issue is not whether a company has the “right”
core ideology or a “likable” core ideology but rather whether is has
a core ideology – likeable or not – that gives guidance and inspiration to
people inside that company.

Pg. 68 This has the Core Ideologies in Each Visionary Company.

Pg 72

Numbers and values… People who make the numbers and share our values go
onward and upward. People who miss the numbers and share our values get a second
chance. People with no values and no numbers – easy call. The problem is with
people who make the numbers but don’t share the values. We agonize over these
people.

Pg 73

From Thomas J. Watson Jr., former IBM chief executive 1963 booklet “A
Business and Its Beliefs”:

“I believe the real difference between success and failure in a corporation
can very often be traced to the question of how well the organization brings out
the great energies and talents of its people. [I think the answer lies] in the
power of what we call beliefs and the appeal these beliefs have for its people.
Beliefs must always come before policies, practices, and goals. The latter must
always be altered if they are seen to violate fundamental beliefs.”

Pg. 74

“The HP Way basically means respect and concern for the individual”

Visionary companies tend to have only a few core values.

Pg 75

In a visionary company, the core values need no rational or external
justification. Nor do they sway with the trends and fads of the day. Nor even do
they shift in response to changing market conditions.

Pg 82

It is absolutely essential to not confuse core ideology with culture,
strategy, tactics, operations, policies, or other non core practices. Over time,
all of these things must change. Ultimately, the only thing a company should not
change over time is its core ideology – that is if it wants to be a visionary
company.

THE ESSENSE OF A VISIONARY COMPANY: PRESERVE THE CORE AND STIMULATE
PROGRESS

Pg 89

To become a visionary company requires translating these intangibles down
into the second layer of the framework, and this is where most companies just
fail to make the grade.

A visionary company is:

· Premier Institution

· Widely admired

· Indelible imprint on the world

· 50+ year track record

· Multiple generations of CEOs

· Multiple product/service cycles

Pg 90

Diagnosing the overall framework of your own organization:

· Has it shifted from time telling to clock building

· Does is reject the “Tyranny of the OR” and embrace the “Genius
of the AND”?

· Does it have a core ideology

· Does it have a drive for progress

· Does it preserve the core and stimulate progress

· Is the organization in alignment so that people receive a
consistent set of signals to reinforce behavior that supports the core
ideology and achieves desired progress?

Pg 94

A true BHAG is clear and compelling and serves as a unifying focal point of
the effort – often creating immense team spirit.

A BHAG engages people – it reaches out and grabs them in the gut. It is
tangible, energizing, highly focused. People “get it” right away; it takes
little to no explanation.

Pg 95

We encourage you to think beyond the traditional corporate statement and
consider the powerful mechanism of a BHAG.

Pg 111-112

Guidelines for CEOs, managers and entrepreneurs

· A BHAG should be so clear and compelling that it requires little
or no explanation. Remember, a BHAG is a goal – like climbing a
mountain or going to the moon – not a “statement.” If it doesn’t get
people’s juices going, then it’s just not a BHAG.

· A BHAG should fall well outside the comfort zone. People in the
organization should have reason to believe they can pull it off, yet it should
require heroic effort and perhaps even a little luck – as with IBM 360 and
Boeing 747.

· A BHAG should be so bold and exciting in its own right
that it would continue to stimulate progress even if the organization’s
leaders disappeared before it had been accomplished – as happened at
Citibank and Wal-Mart.

· A BHAG has the inherent danger that, once achieved, an
organization can stall and drift in the “we’ve arrived” syndrome, as
happened at Ford in the 1920s. A company should be prepared to prevent this by
having follow-on BHAGs. It should also compliment BHAGs with the other methods
of stimulating progress.

· Finally, and most importantly of all, a BHAG should be consistent
with a company’s core idealogy.

PRESERVE THE CORE AND STIMULATE PROGRESS

Pg 123

An analysis of the visionary versus the comparison companies revealed the
following:

· In eleven out of eighteen pairs, there was stronger
indoctrination into a core ideology through the history of the visionary
company. Visionary companies put more emphasis on employee sills and
professional development training.

· In 13/18 there was greater tightness of fit - people tend to
fit well with the company and the ideology or tend to not fit at all.

· in 13/18 there was greater elitism – a sense of belonging to
something special and superior.

· They showed a greater cultism.

Pg 131

Proctor and Gamble has preserved its core ideology through extensive use of

· indoctrination

· tightness of fit

· elitism

Pg 135-136

Rather than build an organization these companies preserves its core ideology
in specific, concrete ways:

· Orientation and ongoing training, teaching such things as
values, norms history, and tradition.

· Internal “universities” and training centers

· On-the-job socialization by peers and immediate supervisors.

· Rigorous up-through-the-ranks policies – hiring young,
promoting from within and shaping the employee’s mind-set from a young
age.

· Exposure to a pervasive mythology of “heroic deeds” and
corporate exemplars.

· Unique language and terminology the reinforce belonging to a
special, elite group.

· Corporate songs, cheers, affirmations that reinforce
psychological commitment.

· Tight screening process

· Incentive and advancement criteria explicitly linked to fit
with the corporate ideology.

· Awards, contests and public recognition that reward those who
display great effort consistent with the ideology.

· Tolerance for honest mistakes that do not breach the company’s
ideology (“non sins”); severe penalties or termination for breaching the
ideology (“sins”)

· “Buy-in” mechanisms (financial, time investment)

· Celebrations that reinforce successes, belonging and
specialness

· Plant and office layout that reinforces norms and ideals.

· Constant verbal and written emphasis on corporate values,
heritage, and the sense of being part of something special.

Page 145

The second type of progress is “evolutionary progress” compared with BHAG
progress. Evolutionary progress involves ambiguity (“By trying lots of
different approaches, we’re bound to stumble onto something that works; we
just don’t know ahead of time what it will be”). This usually starts with
small, incremental steps or mutations, often in the form of quickly seizing
unexpected opportunities that eventually grow into major – and often
unanticipated – strategic shifts.

Pg 184

The entrepreneurial model of building a company around a great idea, growing
quickly, cashing out, and passing the company off to outside professional
managers will probably not produce the next Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, General
Electric, or Merck.

Pg 185

Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.
Try to be better than yourself.

William Faulkner

Pg 198

The discipline of self-improvement stands out as one of the most clear
differences between the visionary and comparison companies… we found that the
visionary companies have driven themselves harder for self-improvement in 16/18
cases.

Pg 213

It would be a mistake to conclude that you could implement any single chapter
of this book in isolation and have a visionary company

· Core ideology alone cannot do it.

· The drive for progress alone cannot do it.

· A BHAG alone cannot do it.

· Evolution through autonomy and entrepreneurship alone cannot do
it.

· Home-grown management alone cannot do it.

· A cult-like culture alone cannot do it.

· Living the concept that good is never enough alone cannot do
it.

A visionary company is like a great work of art.

“God is in the details.” – Mies van der Rohe

Pg 215

The real question to ask is not “Is this practice good?” but “Is this
practice appropriate for us – does it fit with our ideology and
ambitions.

Pg 217

4 key concepts to guide your thinking for the rest of your managerial career:

1. Be a clock builder – an architect – not a time teller.

2. Embrace the “Genius of the AND.”

3. Preserve the core/stimulate progress.

4. Seek consistent alignment.

Pg 228

As Peter Drucker has pointed out, the best and most dedicated people are
ultimately volunteers, for they have the opportunity to do something else with
their lives. With an increasingly mobile society, cynicism about corporate life,
and an expanding entrepreneurial segment of the economy, companies need more
than ever to have a clear understanding of their purpose in order to make work
meaningful and thereby attract, retain, and motivate outstanding people.

Pg 232

Envisioned future… consists of two parts: a ten-to thirty-year “Big Hairy
Audacious Goal” and vivid descriptions of what it will be like when the
organization achieves the BHAG.

Pg 233

Vivid Descriptions

…recall how Henry Ford brought to life the BHAG to democratize the
automobile with the vivid description: “I will build a motor car for the great
multitude… It will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be
unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of
pleasure in God’s great open spaces… When I’m through everybody will be
able to afford one, and everyone will have one. The horse will have disappeared
from our highways, the automobile will be taken for granted… [and we will]
give a large number of men employment at good wages.”

Pg 235

The essential questions about the envisioned future involve such questions
as: “Does it get our juices flowing? Do we find it stimulating? Does it
stimulate forward momentum? Does it get people going?” The envisioned future
must be truly exciting to those inside the organization, otherwise it’s just
not a full-fledged BHAG.

I think I’m Japanese at heart. Check out this amazing vending machinges. They have a “Parking Garage Machine!” That’s awesome.

PhotoMann Travel Photgraphy - Images of Japanese Vending Machines

I can’t 100% guarantee that I’ll be able to write this every week. But I thought it might be fun to try. I’m interested in giving a recap of the episode and my thoughts on the topics.

While I’ve enjoyed this show since its beginning, I have a theory that it doesn’t bring out the best leadership qualities that seem more “win/win”. There is little empowerment, inspiration… just general good leadership. That being said, I do appreciate the business dilemmas in which these people find themselves. So let’s see what happens this year.

Here’s a quick rundown of all the people:

• Adam, 22, graduated at the age of 20 in the top of his class from Georgia State University
• Alla, 31, a self-made multi-millionaire
• Brian, 23, Director of Business Development for The True Type Printing Company
• Chris, 27, is a former NFL player for the New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Clay, 28, originally from the small town of Stephenville, Texas
• Felisha, 29, earned a B.S. in Aviation Human Factors and Systems from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
• James, 27, is in the top three percent of sales for Cingular Wireless and is a Cingular Summit award winner.
• Jennifer Murphy, 26, was Miss Oregon USA and a top ten finalist at Miss USA 2004
• Jennifer W, 31, received a B.A. in public relations and political science from Murray State University
• Josh, 30, a successful entrepreneur and self-made multi-millionaire by the age of 24
• Kristi, 24, top sales executive for Gold Creek Golf Club
• Mark, 35, graduated from the University of Louisville with a B.A. in finance and completed his M.B.A. from Bellarmine University
• Markus, 41, grew up splitting his time between Chicago and Sarasota, Fla.
• Marshawn, 26, is CEO of Communications Counts!, a national professional development and public speaking consulting agency
• Melissa, 30, was a star softball and soccer athlete for much of her youth.
• Randal, 34, is the founder, president and CEO of his fifth venture “BCT Partners,” a multi-million dollar management, technology and policy consulting firm
• Rebecca, 23, was named “One of 20 Teens Who Will Change the World” by Teen People magazine in February 2000
• Toral, 29, currently a Vice President in the Capital Markets group of a major investment bank in New York City

Here’s more details on the cast:
NBC.com > The Apprentice 4 > Candidates

They start by featuring Jennifer M. who has worked her way up in the corporate world.

Marshawn has been a criminal defense attorney at Georgetown.

Clay is openly gay.

Markus, an inventor, feels that he is a kindred spirit with Mr. Trump.

This episode starts at Trump International Golf Club, Bedminster: Trump Bedminster, New Jersey

George and Carolyn are back this year.

The teams are divided men versus women.

This time your team must vote for you, as project manager, in order to be exempt from getting voted out.

This week they are focus on Bally Total Fitness - Your Total Fitness Resource. The first task is to create a new total fitness class for Bally’s.

They are now adding a race to find Trump’s helicopter which is somewhere on the golf course. The first team to find the chopper will get to take it back to the city which will give them extra time.

This makes for fun TV but it makes for unrealistic team dynamics. The men, of course, won. I guess I don’t really know of how they could set up an interesting show that fostered teamwork and working together. I do wonder if this might really be how Trump’s company is run. Is he pitting all of his people against each other? It’s possible. I’m sure he’s not the only CEO to do that. It just seems limiting to me.

“Can’t we all just get along?” That’s interesting that he brings that up, being that is my concern about the show.

Markus becomes the project manager for the men.

Kristi volunteers to be the project manager.

The women look to be starting out pretty aggressively against each other. Melissa, who is Hispanic, is pretty intense.

Josh feels that Markus is confused and frazzled. Markus asks if there should be something he should be doing better. They spin it as being week. And really in this kind of sprint task, it might not be a good question. However, I like this idea of that. That kind of self-questioning can be amazing in the right scenario… Just not in the middle of a major battle. Your team wants confidence.

Randal’s grandmother died in what sounded like a terrible suffocating moment in an assisted living facility. Her breathing tube fell out and she couldn’t get it back in.

The women created a class called “Triple Threat”. They are targeting people in the street.

The men are marketing to people in Bally’s. “Rush 1/2 Hour Class,” is what they created.

Team Excel is the men’s team.

Capitol Edge is the women’s team.

Melissa is talking negatively to Carolyn about the team. Melissa says, “women always hate me.” That’s a terrible sign. You can just see her hanging around for several episodes so we can all hate her.

The women’s class is $20. Marshawn feels very confident on winning this one.

My guess is that the men “should” win this because of superior marketing.

The women won $516.

The men won $527. So they won the project by a hair. The winning team is going to the Friars Club.

Markus is not exempt next week. Randal stays behind to talk with Mr. Trump. Randal wants to stay on. Trump is going to fly Randal to Philadelphia for the funeral. That’s awesome.

The men had lunch with Trump. Markus is a big talker. Trump say, “People don’t really change.” That’s an interesting opinion.

The women feel they lost because of marketing. I agree. Carolyn feels that the marketing didn’t cater to women.

The women are targeting Melissa. She might be gone right now. They say Melissa does not listen, she caused a lot of drama and negativity. Kristi brings back one person instead of two. That’s a risk that Trump might not like. She has increased the odds of getting herself fired. They might keep Melissa on just for her drama. Kristi clearly messed up the marketing. And while she’s cute, she’s not exciting. Oh it’s a toss up. Let’s see what happens…

Carolyn feels that Melissa is disruptive but Kristi’s marketing is poor. George feels strongly about Melissa’s disruptiveness.

Melissa says she doesn’t work well with women. That’s a major flaw. She’s in trouble. She creates a hostile environment. Trump says that Melissa can’t get along with women so she’s fired. But Trump said that Kristi should not be proud of herself. It’s interesting that he didn’t bring up the fact that Kristi only brought one person back. That was bad strategy. Trump said he felt he had no choice because Melissa said she couldn’t work with women. I imagine they’re sorry to see her go. But what are you going to do. She’s a mess.

Melissa feels that “maybe she’s too independent for her own good.” At least she’s positive about herself.

I’m glad to see that they made a strong case for teamwork in this episode. The show, by its nature, does not make that particularly easy.

It looks like Markus might be the target next week. The show is spinning him poorly.

“Cash flow is the only game you are playing, whether you realize it or not.’”

I’m glad he said this. I feel this more than ever. Cash flow is the way, the light and the life of my business. It is truly the alfa and the omega.
Small Business CEO : Cash Flow is the Only Game…

This is fun and crazy.
LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD? __________________________________

I’ve been wanting to do a write up on Black Hawk Down for quite some time. It’s the movie I want to watch over and over again. Whenever I’m feeling down, this is the movie I go to. So I gues I would have to call it my “favorite movie”, right now.

Directed by Ridley Scott

Book by Mark Bowden

Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato

That’s the opening text of the movie. That seems to resonate so powerfully these days.
It takes place in East Africa 1992 - Somalia. This is based on true events.

The jist of the set up is that there is a massive famine that kills 300,000 civilians. Mohamed Farrah Aidid rules the capitoal Mogadishu. He controls all of the food shipments. 20,000 Marines go in and get the food delived to the people. In April 1993, Aidid waits for the Marines to leave and then once again seizes all of the food. In June Aidid kills 24 Pakistani soldiers and begins targeting Americans. In late August, America’s elite soldiers, Delta Force, Army Rangers and the 160th SOAR are sent to Mogadishu to remove Aidid. A 3 week missiion turns into 6 weeks and Washington is getting impatient.

I get so sucked into this movie because of the opening music. It is captivating:
If you are interested in the soundtrack, you can get it here:

The scene opens up at a Red Cross food drop where Aidid’s men come in and shoot up the place.
Josh Hartnett (SSgt. Matt Eversmann) is outrages and wants to engate.
Super 64 (their Black Hawk) cannot intervene.

Sam Shepard who plays Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison captures a gun dealer for Aidid’s malitia. The gun dealer explains that this is civil war. Garrison explains back that this is genocide. “This isn’t Iraq, ya know. It’s more complicated than that.” Oh those were the days.

CWO Cliff ‘Elvis’ Wolcott played by Jeremy Piven is a Black Hawk pilot for 61. Black Hawk 64, piloted by CWO Michael Durant played by Ron Eldard is convinced that ‘limo’ cannot be played in scrabble because it’s not in the dictionary. Wolcott and Durant are apparently in the middle of a heated scrabble game.

Here’s the official scrabble rule:
Scrabble, Scrabble Rules, Play Scrabble online, email scrabble, Correspondence Scrabble, interactive play, scrabble board, scrabble on-line, scrabble game with chat room, scrabble games, word games, word puzzles: “All words labeled as a part of speech (including those listed of foreign origin, and as archaic, obsolete, colloquial, slang, etc.) are permitted with the exception of the following: words always capitalized, abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes standing alone, words requiring a hyphen or an apostrophe.”
But that doesn’t really end the conversation. This scene has been discussed in a fair amount of detail here:
Limo - Off Topic

Enter: Orlando Bloom playing: Pfc. Todd Blackburn enters born: 2/27/75 “I’m here to kick some ass.” He becomes the cog in the wheel that comes off the axle.

Blackburn reports to Eversmann (Hartnett). Blackburn is as green as they come.

Now we start flying through the characters:
Capt. Mike Steele (Jason Isaacs) is the tough ass.
Danny Hoch playing Sgt. Dominick Pilla is caught by Steele who he’s making fun of.

Ioan Gruffudd playing Lt. John Beales is watching a scene from The Jerk (1979). He suddenly has a seizure and can no longer be in the army. He’s epeleptic. Eversmann takes his chalk. “Rangers are the way, sir. All the way.”

Steven Ford playing Lt. Col. Joe Cribbs is writing a scarey cartoon story for his daughter.

Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison sets up a plan to capture some top Aidid men at a meeting they know is happening. These are the specifics:
They are after two people.
15:45 Assault team Delta will infiltrate the target building and seize all suspects within.
15:46 4 Ranger Chalks will rope in under the command of Captain Steele and will hold a four corner parimeter around the target area.
Tom Sizemore playing Lt. Col. Danny McKnight is in charge of the extraction Humvee force. (He utlimately becomes my favorite character).
15:47 McKnight will drive in and wait for the green light. When Delta gives the word, McKnight will move to the target building and load the prisoners on flat bed trucks.
The four ranger chalks will colapse back to the target building load up on the Humvees and the entire ground force will go back the 3 miles to base. This should not take any longer than 30 minutes.
Garrison had requested light armor and AC 130 spectre gunships. But Washington decided against this because it was too high a profile.

Here’s a picture of what they should have had protecting them:


The C-130 Spectre Gunship is Armed with Miniguns, Cannons and an On-Board Howitzer.

They didn’t get that so Black Hawks and little birds will provide the air cover.

Mission Lauch code work is: Irene.

They are going into the Bakara market - an extremely hostile area.

Lt. Col. Danny McKnight is worried. “Down on the street it’s unforgiving.”

Charlie Hofheimer playing Cpl. James ‘Jamie’ Smith is friends with Eversmann. He’s assuring that everything will be ok.

Ewan McGregor playing Spec. John Grimes (did I tell you that already) is the coffee maker. “It’s all in the grind, Sizemore [Matthew Marsden plays pec. Dale Sizemore]. It can’t be too fine, can’t be too coarse. This, my friend, is a science.” He made coffee through Dessert Storm and Panama. Sizemore had a ping pong accident. Grimes is taking his place. Eversmann tells Grimes (nicknamed ‘Grimesy’) to stick with Pvt. John Waddell played by Ian Virgo. They tell Grimes not to worry about the Somoalis. “They can’t shoot for shit.”

This is Eversmann’s first time as chalk leader.

Incidentally, people in the military say a chalk is when an airplane is carrying a special load, especially a group of soldiers in a single airplane.

Eversmann is nervouse but seems up for the job.

They don’t take any water, or night vision goggles because they aren’t going to be out there long enough. Grimes takes out this armor, like everyone else.

Delta tapes their bood type to their boots.

Blackburn is pretty amped. He says he’s been training his whole life for this.

OK. I’m sorry to spend so much time on that few minutes of the movie. But it’s so important because ultimately it never happens. And it’s what everyone was counting on. We learn a ton of information in those few minutes. I’ve never really gotten it until now. I wrote that as much for me as for you.

“Y’know what I think? Don’t really matter what I think. Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that shit just goes right out the window,” says Eric Bana playing Sfc. Norm ‘Hoot’ Gibson in talking with Eversmann.

Abdibashir Mohamed Hersi playing Abdi. He is a Somali spy for us. He is who we are relying on to get our people to the correct target. He lifts the hood of his car to give the sign that is where the target is.

All units Irene.

Garrison comes by Eversmann’s chalk and wishes them luck. Eversmann says he’s never done that before.

A young Somali boy outside of town sees the Black Hawks coming. He phones the militia that they are coming. The militia is able to have a few minutes to arm themselves.

The first bird is down at 15:42… only 3 minutes a head of schedule.

The pinnacle moment is coming. This is why service businesses are so hard. And you really must think of the military as a service business. Ultimately, this is why this movie endlessly facinates me. As an owner of a service business I have have become so aware of the variables of service.

Blackburn falls out of his bird. He falls off his rope when a RPG goes past the copter and throws him off balance. Eversmann ropes down to him. He radios for Steele but can’t raise him. They need to get Blackburn out. Eversmann is freaked out and no one is giving him help. As they take care of Blackburn, the corner becomes weak.

Delta is secure. They have done their job and captured the people they wanted to capture.

A group is running Blackburn to the Humvees.

McKnight’s group gets the call to move out and get the prisoners.

Grimes is distracted by a prisoner brushing his shoulder and consequently almost gets hit by an RPG.

Brian Van Holt playing SSgt. Jeff Struecker is lead Humvee. He’s moving quickly throught the market trying to get everone out.. Pilla is hit. Danny Hoch played Sgt. Dominick Pilla who was on the 50mm gun. He is KIA.

An RPG hits Super 61 - Wolcott’s bird. “61 going down.” Wolcott is so calm. I don’t know how those pilots do it. But you hear this kind of

“We got a Black Hawk down, we got a Black Hawk down.” This becomes the defining moment of Somolia.

“We just lost the initiative,” Garrison says.

I remember watching an Oprah once where she said that there was a lot of value in seeing how celebrities and wealthy people decorated. Because these people have endless money, you can see what the hightest kind of decorating is. Once you see that, you can apply those decorating ideas to your own house for much cheaper. I love watching military movies because they are all cautionary tales of service businesses going wrong. They are people who are dying for their service, and on top of that, the military has endless money to perfect their systems. You can see how they make mistakes and potentially learn from those mistakes and apply the lessons you learn to your own service business.

Over and over again, when the military fails, it’s not because they were inferior, it’s because they miscommunicated. They had operational failure. That’s the story of 9/11 and that’s the story here.

Every minute of this mission was accounted for except for the minute where Blackburn fell out of that chopper. It changed everything.

The convoy finally makes it back to the base. And finally, Chalk 4 has made it to the crash site.

2 pilots are dead, 2 crew chiefs are wounded. One guy is hurt bad and is flown out.
Spec. Lance Twombly and Spec. Shawn Nelson are abandon and are trying to make it to the crash site. Nelson looses his hearing.

Super 68 has smoke coming out of his roter. He drops his last man.

Super 64 comes in to takes Wolcott’s position. Super 64 gets clipped. The tail roter is lost. 64 is going down. This is Durant’s bird.

Throughout the movie Delta and Army Rangers do not communicate. They simply are not working together.

Back at base, they start to put together a rescue force.
Sizemore goes along even with his cast. Thomas doesn’t feel like he can make it. Strueker says, “Thomas, everyone feels the same way you do. It’s what you do right now that makes the difference.”

Sgt. Scott Galentine tries to raise Twombly and Nelson on the radio but he can’t reach them.

Here’s the thing about war movies. If you want to use military equipment, everything has to be cleared by the military and you can’t put our military in a negative light. So, as you see nuances of communication failure in a movie like this you know that they are trying to tell you that it’s a major deal. They are trying to get it across to you without pissing off the military.

Apocalyse Now Redux is all about showing you scenes that the military intially didn’t approve of.

Walcott is alive in his Black Hawk. He is single handedly fighting off Somalis.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau playing MSgt. Gary Gordon and Johnny Strong playing Sfc. Randy Shughart have volunteered to be let off to secure crash site 2 until ground support can arrive. They have no confirmation as to when that might be.

They get to Walcot. His leg is broken and his back feels weird.

16:54 Convoy returning to base.

Crash site one is left isolated.

Garrison wants to get the Tenth Mountain in and move everyone back to the Pakistani stadium.

Gordon and then Shughart are killed defending crash site 2. Walcott is left stranded. This is the famous scene where the Somalis parade an American body through the streets. Walcott is hit in the head and taken prisoner by Aidid’s people.

Hoot arranges a Delta group to go to the crash site on foot.

17:50

Sanderson is coming to Eversmann’s group.

Twombly, Nelson and Yurek finally get to Eversmann’s position as well. Twombly is hit. Then Smith gets hit critically. Smith gets hit saving Twombly.

Hoot’s group makes it to the second crash site and secures it by blowing it up.

The Pakistain general says it’s going to take a couple hours to move 100 vehicles. The Safe Zone - Pakistani Stadium - 10th Mountain and U.N. Base

“That’s right. None of you Americans smoke anymore. You all live long, dull, uninteresting lives,” says Abdullah ‘Firimbi’ Hassan. He goes on to say: “You have the power to kill but not negotiate. In Somalia killing is negotiation. Without victory there can be no peace. There will always be killing. This is how things are in our world.”

Smith’s femoral artery has retracted into his leg. They try to clamp it but it tears and disappears into his leg.

Hoot is coming in with 3 friendlies.

23:23 the 10th Mountain moves out.

Smith knows he is dying. He can’t hold on. “It’s nothin’”

Hoot to Eversmann: “See you’re thinking. Don’t. Cause seargent you can’t control who gets hit and who doesn’t. Who falls out of a chopper and why. It ain’t up to you. It’s just war.” “Seargent you got your men this far. You did it right today. You need to start thinking about getting these men out of here.”

Eversmann marks the target with a strobe. He misses first. But he goes out and puts it up on the roof.

McKnight makes it to the crash site.

2:05 - the convoy arrives.

McKnight is calm and determined. He’s just a great leader.

5:45 they finally dismantle the cockpit and remove the dead soldiers. Crash site 2 is secured.

Not everyone can get into a vehicle. So several men have to run out.

A man carrying a dead young child crosses the street in front of the convoy.

A lady runs screaming. She turns and raises a gun. She is killed.

Eversmann, Hoot and their men make it to the safe zone - the stadium.

So, as the viewer you want to find some symbolism. You want a moral. What’s the message. Is it, “Communicate better.” “Is it, “Make better systems.”

“It ain’t up to you. It’s just war.” That’s a rough message. We want more than that. We want to be able to walk away and say, “This is what I learned from Black Hawk Down.” We want something actionable.

Hoot: “When I get home people ‘ll ask me, “Hey Hoot, why do ya do it man? Why? Just some war junkie?” Ya know what I’ll say? I won’t say a goddamn word. Why? They won’t understand. They won’t understand why we do it. They won’t understand that it’s about the men next to you, and that’s it. That’s all it is.”

Hoot is the philosopher.

His insight is unsatisfying. Truth, unfortunately, however, is unsatisfying. It’s just the truth.

War is really just about the men next to you. That’s why these men fight. That’s why they die. And that’s the lesson. Maybe the meaning you are looking for in life is just “the men next to you, and that’s it. That’s all it is.”

1000 Somalis and 19 Americans died in this incident.

Imdb: Black Hawk Down (2001)
Open Directory - Arts: Movies: Titles: B: Black Hawk Down

Movie Titles > Black Hawk Down in the Yahoo! Directory

soundtrack:

Black Hawk Down (3-Disc Deluxe Edition)

Black Hawk Down
by Mark Bowden
Journalist Mark Bowden delivers a strikingly detailed account of the 1993 nightmare operation in Mogadishu that left 18 American soldiers dead and many more wounded.

In a Democracy the people dictate the policy. Our government acts on what we demand of them.

Ten years ago we didn’t demand enough:

Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days.

The West allowed genocide to happen in Rwanda

It is happening again.

“The Crisis in Darfur
Violence and destruction are raging in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Since February 2003, government-sponsored militias known as the Janjaweed have conducted a calculated campaign of slaughter, rape, starvation and displacement in Darfur.

It is estimated that 400,000 people have died due to violence, starvation and disease. More than 2.5 million people have been displaced from their homes and over 200,000 have fled across the border to Chad. Many now live in camps lacking adequate food, shelter, sanitation, and health care.

The United States Congress and President George W. Bush recognized the situation in Darfur as ‘genocide.’ Darfur, ‘near Hell on Earth,’ has been declared the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.”

Save Darfur.org :: Violence and Suffering in Sudan’s Darfur Region

And it’s not being covered:

The report, released this week by the Genocide Intervention Fund (GIF) and the American Progress Action Fund, noted that the major network and cable television stations devoted 50 times more coverage to the child molestation trial against Michael Jackson last month than to events in Sudan, including both Darfur, where as many as 400,000 people have died over the past two years, and the outbreak of fighting in the eastern part of the country.

Why War? Darfur Genocide Easily Trumped by Michael Jackson on Nightly News

The reason it’s not being covered is that we don’t care. For some reason I don’t really care either. I think we as a country are becoming numb. We are being over stimulated with all the tragedy. There is so much tragedy that it’s over load. But just the same, this is bad. And more people need to know about it. So I’m asking for your help. If you would be open to doing something, would you consider putting a link to SaveDarfur.org in your email signature?

Just set up your email signature, if you don’t have one yet and make it look something like this:
Sage Lewis
Do you know what’s happening in Darfur?
Check it out here:
http://www.SaveDarfur.org

If you aren’t sure how to set up your email signature, you can find information about setting it up here:
Click here to learn how to set your email signature

That’s it. I don’t want you to do anything else. Just set it and forget it. That would mean a lot to me if you did this.

Thanks.
Sage

Here are some directions to The Blair Center run by Westfield Group Insurance:

Blair Center is located south of the circle about 1/8 of
a mile. At the circle turn right and travel halfway
around the circle to the second right. Turn right,
south, on Leroy Road. Blair Center is on the left side
of Leroy Road just past the elementary school, parking
is across the street from Blair Center.

The address is:
Blair Center One Park Circle, Westfield Ctr 44251
Or sometimes people don’t spell out the “1″:
Westfield Blair Center, 1 Park Circle, Westfield Center, 44251