Guns and Movies

Work is still keeping me busy, plus I'm very sleepy today. Saturday evening, Bill and I went to a double feature at a nearby drive-in theater. The last movie ended at 2:00 am, so by the time we got home and to bed we were seeing 2:50 on the clock. We slept in until about 10:30, which meant that I could not sleep last night, leading to the inevitable head nods while the boss drones on.

In other words, you won't find a longish essay here today. Instead, I have a movie related question. Bill and I saw "Pirates of the Caribbean" (Part 2) and "Cars." Pirates included a scene in which our heroes have to shoot a cargo net containing six casks of gun powder and one or more barrels of rum. The shot is shown exiting the gun barrel about ten yards away from the casks. You guessed it, the whole thing went boom.

Why does Hollywood persist in thinking that a little lead pellet, without the benefit of incendiaries, will blow up gunpowder, gas tanks, ships, planes, and assorted stuff? It won't. Of course, it's entertainment and not the real world, but people start believing that bullets have these mythical powers and must be banned for all but a few.

That's the trouble with these scenes and now back to my nap work.