Tony Rollo Blog
Wisdom from Lee Iacocca – Creator of the Ford Mustang
… “Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make it happen.” “The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.” “In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow […]
The Rising Modern American Honor
… “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it […]
Four Sociopolitical Mindsets Compared (satire)
… In my observance of today’s social and political climate, it is apparent that four basic types of mindsets are operating in our American Culture of today – 1) The True Conservative 2) The Pretend Conservative Fascist 3) The Modern Liberal 4) The Socialist Neo-Marxist I felt it would be interesting and fun to compare […]
Americans VS Professional Career Politicians
… I finally realized that everything relates to how Career politicians interpret the US Constitution. Here is the way an American reads the US Constitution Preamble: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, […]
Submariner Movie ~ Post-Production News
… The post production on “Submariner: The Men of the Silent Service” is coming along very well. As with any project, (especially a feature film) it has taken over our lives and dictates everything we do in an almost obsessive fashion. This is indeed a very special film. I cannot tell you what an honor […]
Hast Thou Sinneth Against Thy Hot Dog ?
I have an odd situation … I made a side dish from Hebrew National hot dogs. The thin ones that are just a ‘lil thicker than cocktail weenies. HN dogs are AWESOME ! A bit pricey – but worth it. And – they are kosher … Here is my dilemma … I first dried them […]
The Color of the New Red
“Youth is so easily fooled because it is so quick to embrace.” – Socrates “The threat of environmental crisis will be the ‘international disaster key’ that will unlock the New World Order.” – (Mikhail Gorbachev Quoted in ‘A Special Report: The Wildlands Project Unleashes Its War On Mankind’, by Marilyn Brannan, Associate Editor, Monetary & […]
In the Midst of Mind Numbing Post Production
… Hello friends – WOW !~ Mastering interview clips for a feature documentary is not unlike the tedious stress of studying for exams in engineering school … days blur together … sleep is only when passing out is the only option … shaving and baths take a back seat … meals are skipped … absolute […]
Doomsday always seems to be right around the corner …
… I lived through the Jupiter Effect in 1982 … I lived through Y2K … I lived through the end of the world as determined by Family Radio in 2011 … But now it’s REALLY going to get us in December 2012 !!! The Mayans said so ! . Put the fires out today that […]
Winston Churchill Speaks To Us Across Time
… Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. […]
Happy July 4th Independence Day 2011
… Have a great weekend celebrating our American Independence !!! In Celebration – Here is “Patriotic Popeye”
Reaganism
… I today find myself deep into editing the Submariner doc I have been gathering assets on for a couple of years now. I must say that I am very pleased how it is coming along. I find the editing stage to be the most enjoyable now days because of the technology. Before it was […]
Southern Refinement
“A person doesn’t have to live in the South to want to share good food with friends at the end of a warm day when the breeze is just right or to bask in the rewarding afterglow of a hard day’s work in the garden. Southerners didn’t invent these sorts of simple pleasures – we […]
The Mind of the Engineer – Wired for Reality
… An optimist will tell you – the glass is half full … the pessimist will tell you – the glass is half-empty … and the engineer will tell you – the glass is twice the size it needs to be.
Who can ever resist a thrilling, heroic story about a Great American?
— I have heard the saying that “history is written by the victors”. I hold that this saying is incorrect. History is written by the events that take place as a truth that cannot be altered by those who experienced events first person – THAT history is then RE-WRITTEN by the victors. So, it should […]
In A Race Of Time
We are in a race of time. To which I must ask you this question: How does it profit our nation to watch the lions eat the Christians while Nero sets fire to Rome?
Ideological Labeling and Common Sense
… People love to put things in categories. Maybe categorization provides some type of comfort to the mind to file and categorize things. Take music for example. There is not just plain “music” … it has to be Rock, Pop, Classical, Country and so on. Even under those categories there are sub categories. This may […]
Drawn Into the Art of John Singleton Copley
… Master artist J. S. Copley ( 1738 ~ 1815 ) is best known to those who study art as among the first American artists to utilize props in his portraits in order to better illustrate the subject’s personality. I am drawn into his painting by his use of light and shadow. I find myself […]
The Bureaucrat – according to Cicero (106 BC ~ 43 BC)
… “A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in […]
For Those Who Think They Know Everything – and for those who know they do not –
If you really need a nanny to take care of you and tell you what to do and change your diapers – that’s all fine and dandy. Go ahead with your bad self – but responsible adults should be left alone. Speaking of new discoveries – Cicero lived a long time ago. So did a […]
The Greatest Disney Short Ever Made
… When I entered middle school age, I had an opportunity to be an intern at the elementary school near my home during their summer school in the library. It was a lot of fun to be surrounded by books and media all day. I had a knack at being able to make the 16mm […]
Freedom as a State of Being
… ” Freedom is more a state of mind than a state of being. But without the condition of being free, the mind is burdened and fettered from thinking freely. If the mind cannot think freely, then it cannot achieve. Without achievement, there cannot be a free state of mind or being.” – Tony […]
Ayn Rand Interview with Tom Snyder
… Ayn Rand speaks on the individual, this life and beyond and that what Universities are ultimately destroying America and the prosperous civilization –
American Artist Henry Farny
Henry Farny (1847-1916) Born in Alsace, France in 1847, Henry Farny was a son of a political refugee to the United States who first emigrated to Pennsylvania when Henry was six years old. Young Henry became friends with a family group of Seneca Indians who lived near his home. This was the start of his […]
More Wisdom from Thomas Jefferson
… How is it that the words of Thomas Jefferson apply to us as if he had written them today? Was he a sorcerer? A soothsayer? A futurist? Did he posses a time machine? No. He stood on the shoulders of giants to see the past as well as the future. To quote Mr. Spock […]
The Serious, Sober Job of the Media Covering Elections
… (with a whiff of the sweet smell of satire) I love the people of the press. So very serious about their work. So industrious about their duty to inform the public. Especially when covering politics, government and the election process, While they hang out near the beer tent –
There Is Nothing New Under The Sun
~ Ezra Taft Benson ~ Born and raised on a farm U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for 8 years as appointed by President Eisenhower. Life long supporter of The Boy Scouts of America A very wise man …
Edward Curtis – Master American Photographer
… I have always been fascinated with Edward Curtis and his eye for light and composition. His work was a great influence on how I saw shadows and exposure. Monochromatic photography is very telling and unforgiving if exposure is not carefully considered. He did not have the choice of color in his day, but tinting […]
Those Who Appeal to the Baseness that Lies Deep
… From Marcus Tullius Cicero ( 106 BC ~ 43 BC ) A Roman Statesman, writer and Orator – “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the […]
What Was Really Cool Back Then
… There were a few times in a week when just about anyone knew where I could be found. They all involved a 19″ television. But the absolute coolest was FIREBALL XL5 !!! XL5 was all we talked about on the playground. That was before I had to start the first […]
An Essay about the Meaning of Words –
… “Revolution” An essay on circular motion by Tony Rollo “If you can sit by the river long enough, eventually the bodies of dead enemies will float by.” – Daoist Proverb Because I am a product of somewhere between a television screen and a government education, I’ve had to unlearn a few “facts” to […]
Another installment of my 1790 portrait study
… I finished another installment of my photographic study of the 1790 settlement in middle Tennessee known as “Mansker’s Station”. Here, one of the first settlers to come to the area just north of what is now Nashville. The man is enjoying a wilderness stew prepared in the fort’s kitchen as he listens to an […]
A Short History of Political Cartoons
… Illustrations are an important aspect of my work. One of the more fascinating aspects of illustration is the political cartoon. Benjamin Franklin made the very first political cartoon ever. He ran in his paper during the War of Independence (the “so called” American Revolution) against England: Since that first political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin, […]
Creation is infinitely huge and infinitely small
I first saw a monochrome test of this film at the Smithsonian Institute’s newly opened Air and Space Museum in 1976. Everyone who saw it had their mind blown. As I have always thought – Everything in this universe from the largest body to the smallest particle is but a part in the Creator’s pocket […]
History is sacred to those who lived it.
Very funny and a bit exaggerated. However, this is essentially true. We also suffer the consequences by stopping short of total victory. Korea is divided to this day because of a mistake made by the Commander In Chief of that era by not allowing the professionals to fully perform their duty. Micro-management from […]
Will the real Tony Rollo please stand up ?
… There has been some questions and confusion with some of the emails I have received recently. “I requested friends on Facebook – why didn’t you answer?” … “Did you get my TWEET?” … and so on … Let me clear a few things up … officially. As Popeye put it: “I yam wut I […]
Are we the Modern Roman Republic turning into the Modern Roman Empire ?
… I send out this plea to those gifted in sharing the truth of our Constitution and Liberty I first voiced my opinion that the United States was “the modern Roman Republic turning into a modern Roman Empire” in my high school days in a paper turned in for a creative writing assignment in […]