#36531
07/26/2001 11:20 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Today George Dubya (dubbed "Shrub" by political columnist Molly Ivens  ) is going to host a ceremony honoring these fine indigenous (yet not aboriginal) SW US folk who helped the US Marines on the Pacific front in WWII. There are four surviving code-talkers, and apparently a movie is in the works on this. I am fascinated by them, and in my informal, haphazard readings on Ænigma (the other one) I've run across some info on them. Can anyone point me to a web site or book or other source on the code-talkers, and does anyone know anything about this movie?
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#36532
07/26/2001 12:31 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I could look for a web site; I could try to track down the movie.
What I *do know:
A) They weren't talking just straight Diné Bizaad, which had no words for such things as P-38 or 100 pound bombs (e.g.) anyway. They used different kinds of birds to refer to different kinds of airplanes and bombs were eggs, for example. This doesn't sound to this miserable Fool like any sort of unbreakable code but.
2) The Germans, although they had studied American Indian languages extensively, had never studied Navajo or, apparently, the closely related Apache languages. Thus they had no information to share with the Japanese to help them understand what was going on.
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#36534
07/26/2001 4:25 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
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http://www.mgm.com/windtalkers/ is the movie's official site. I'm not sure Nicholas Cage is the first guy I think of when I think "Navajo," though.
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#36535
07/26/2001 5:05 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
WHAT IS IT WITH NICHOLAGE CAGE??????????????  Can't someone make a movie WITHOUT him for once???????????
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#36536
07/26/2001 5:51 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 328 |
WHAT IS IT WITH NICHOLAGE CAGE??????????????And why does everyone put a superfluous "h" in his first name?  (I sympathize, Bean: I'm a bit tired of ol' Nic too.)
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#36537
07/26/2001 6:07 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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NICHOLAGE CAGE -- superfluous "h"?
Besides which, it's Nicholage Case!
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#36538
07/26/2001 7:20 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
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But a movie's not a movie until you see William H Macy rolling by in the credits...
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#36539
07/26/2001 7:28 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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> William H Macy
oh, yeah! the latter day Wallace Shawn....
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#36540
07/26/2001 7:43 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
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He's playing Sgt. Joe Enders. Enders is not a common Navajo name. I suspect he's an Anglo.
Adam Beach is playing Ben Yazzie. Beach has played Native Americans before so I suspect he at least *looks the part.
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#36541
07/26/2001 10:20 PM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 387
enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 387 |
Who is Nicolas Cage? Is he in any movies I would actually think about allowing the thought of considering the chance that I would want to see it cross my mind?
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#36542
07/26/2001 10:42 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Faldage, Dr Bill and Flatlander,
Thank you very much for the info. I appreciate it.
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#36543
07/26/2001 10:59 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Moonstruck, costarring Cher -- and don't see it because of him.
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#36544
07/27/2001 4:29 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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other treatment of the code talkers
For this, AnnaS, the classic two-part X-Files episode The Blessing Way is a must-see! They are marketed together on one VCR (or maybe even DVD now) tape of the show.
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#36545
07/27/2001 10:23 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Adam Beach is playing Ben Yazzie. Beach has played Native Americans before so I suspect he at least *looks the part.Adam Beach is a real, live Native/Aboriginal/First Nations guy from my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada! So I should hope he looks the part... (Just thought I'd get a bit of local pride in there!)
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#36546
07/27/2001 12:11 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Adam Beach is a real, live Native/Aboriginal/First Nations guy
Thank you, Bean.
Navajo generally have distinctively Navajo family names. Yazzie would be one of these. [pointless digression]Among the most common of these are Begay and Benally, which mean, as I understand it, something like "his son" or "his father" and were bestowed upon them in a sort of reverse Ellis Island flurry of name assignment by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) or someone like that during some sort of census like thang (please forgive my waffling here, the details are hazy in my mind) When the People (Diné) were pressed for more than just a personal name they would point (with their lips, a gesture not immediately recognized by Anglos) and say, "his son" or "his father".[/pointless digression]
I realise* that this distinctive name thang is not universal among Native Americans. I also realize that Hollywood has not, in the past, been stellar in its policy of choosing from appropriate ethnic groups in casting of some roles.
*See what bad habits hanging out with all these Brits has polluted me with? Will I ever be forgiven?
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#36547
07/27/2001 5:14 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 218
enthusiast
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Hollywood has not, in the past, been stellar in its policy of choosing from appropriate ethnic groups in casting of some roles.
In addition to Hollywood failing to choose ethnically-based actors, they also typically fail to choose appropriately disabled actors. How rare is it to see a movie with a real blind, deaf, or mentally handicapped person? [aside] I don't mean this to be an introduction to the terminology used to describe these groups, for I'm only acquainted with the deaf, who do usually prefer the term deaf, and most often, capitalize it as a symbol of cultural pride[/aside]
Marlee Matlin aside, Mr. Holland's Opus was one of the few films that did employee deaf actors.
edit: Anyone remember the Saturn car company commerical several years ago where a woman faked her deafness in a national ad campaign until Saturn found out she was really hearing? Funny thing, in the commercial, she fingerspells S-A-T-E-R-N. Not very deaf if she can't even spell correctly in sign language.
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#36549
07/27/2001 6:40 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Brandon adds: Anyone remember the Saturn car company commerical several years ago where a woman faked her deafness in a national ad campaign until Saturn found out she was really hearing? Funny thing, in the commercial, she fingerspells S-A-T-E-R-N. Not very deaf if she can't even spell correctly in sign language.
Thanks again for another of your interesting insights, Brandon -- again, you've brought up something that's got my curiosity going. I know quite a few fluent, articulate non-deaf people who can't spell worth a darn in their "native" languages. Are you saying there's no such thing as a Deaf person who fingerspells poorly?
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#36550
07/27/2001 9:11 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 218
enthusiast
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AnnaS writes: Are you saying there's no such thing as a Deaf person who fingerspells poorly?Thanks for your encouragement, AnnaS. No, I'm not saying that the bell curve for lousy spelling has skipped the deaf community. I do, however, think both the faking-deafness woman and Saturn would have the sense to proofread a commercial that got good national air time. If I paid hundreds of thousands for air time, I'd make sure Saturn was spelled correctly. And by the way, when fingerspelling in ASL, I do misspell quite frequently. Guess that is why I can't get commercial bits (oh, and I'm not deaf, either ).
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#36551
07/29/2001 2:20 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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In 1976, at our hometown Bicentennial celebration, a Native American in full chiefly regalia turned up. As he stood, arms raised in prayerful blessing, our paper's photographer got the picture that went on Page One. His "American" name was Bob Simard and his "real" name is Littlefoot. I later interviewed him and learned he was with Gen. McAuliff at Bastogne and stood next to him when he uttered the famous response ("Nuts!") to the German order to surrender. He spoke a very obscure Native American sub-dialect of a Southwest Indian language and used it in the clear with another speaker for radio communication during the Battle of the Bulge, in the European Theater of Operations. YCLIU in one of the July issues of The Hampton Union at Lane Memorial Library! http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us The story was picked up by a couple of our sister daily newspapers and the facts of it were never contradicted.
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#36552
07/30/2001 11:39 AM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
addict
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Hollywood has not, in the past, been stellar in its policy of choosing from appropriate ethnic groups in casting of some roles.
there is an apocraphal story of the African messanger rushing in to deliver a message to the chief in Swahili, in one of the Tarzan advetures. It was not until the film was shown in Africa that it was discovered that the line he delivered was "I'm not being paid anywhere near enough to play in this godawful film" or words to that effect.
Rod
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