Ok, im not done yet. Here are the weights:

M2 BSFV 29.9 tons
M270 MLRS 53 tons
M1 Amrams MBT 60 tons
M60 Patton MBT 60 tons
M88 Hercules Recovery Vehicle 70 tons

Heres a nifty little chart you can all look at, so you can get an idea of how big some of these tanks out there are. Notice the Bradley, Abrams, and the aforementioned M113 on the left. All the rest are non-us.

>> ^Sarzy:
Wow, he's adorable and a crime-solver. He's Purrlock Holmes! Hercule Meowrot! Catlumbo! ... okay, I'll stop now.

Dont´t forget C.S.I Meowami!

That's hilarious, man.

In reply to this comment by Sarzy:
Wow, he's adorable and a crime-solver. He's Purrlock Holmes! Hercule Meowrot! Catlumbo! ... okay, I'll stop now.

Wow, he's adorable and a crime-solver. He's Purrlock Holmes! Hercule Meowrot! Catlumbo! ... okay, I'll stop now.

I saw some episodes (installments?) from these series several years ago... they play in Ann Arbor on one of the international channels that is part of the expanded cable package I no longer get. They air in Chinese, with English subtitles (sometimes), and are shown during the day like a soap opera.

As I am familiar with some of the historical novels this genre is based on, like Monkey King, and the Warrior Hero tales from the Warring States Period, I thought they were kind of fun, and not too terribly dissimilar from Sam Raimi's Hercules or Xenia Warrior Princess, although lacking in the self deprecating camp humor that popularized those two shows, the LOCH and ROCH episodes were kind of cool in the same way that they took old old old stories, and reinvented them in a serialized fashion for modern audiences. I can see getting addicted to them if I had the time.

>> ^dag:
>> ^my15minutes:

turn n' burn!
no. ummm.
smash n' grab?...
dammit. they didn't cover this at basic.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

>> ^my15minutes:
i think they call it a "chew n' screw".
no, wait. that's when i run out of the diner without paying.


When I ran track in high school- we always went to McDonalds after the meet. We called it the "Scarf and Barf"- and it really was.

I think this video raises excellent points and does a good job of questioning something that most people take for granted: the subtle messages contained within movies. You could say that this video itself is questioning popular culture.

I'll address each person, now that I have a moment. Forgive me for the previous tone, White. I was on my way out with kids and was feeling overwhelmed by the negative response to something I see as very worthwhile. I'm blessed to have a husband who shares childcare equally, so now I can sit and write, while he puts them to bed.

Kreegath: The video never tries to imply that masculinity equals sexism. It says that when movies show the male characters as being sexist, this sends the message that men are supposed to be sexist.

Now as adults, we can see that Gaston isn't doing too well, since 'he doesn't get the girl' (another problem with movie themes that I have, but that wasn't even raised in this video) but the scene they show, is a valid one, in that he's obviously a powerful person, since he has so many flunkies running after him and the women in the bar at least think he's pretty good.

So the message the video is objecting to, is that powerful men are dominant and violent and sexist. Where in Disney movies do they show effective or powerful men as quiet, meek and physically diminutive? Even the beast, who does manage to get the prize, is a big hulking, sometimes scary figure.

BillO: Man gets girl is not the only theme in real life, right? How about man conquers mountain, or man loves his neighbour, or man is humbled by his failings, or man learns about himself through adversity? Disney movies may explore some of these themes, but they are usually the means to the first end-that man through all of this, gets the prize of the babe. So, the video is saying that the message of most Disney movies, is that to be an effective man, he needs to impress/ win the heart of the main lady. Aside from this meaning that homosexual relationships continue to be seen as not the norm (I know you don't care about this idea) it also means that all other pursuits are less important. I also have a problem with this idea, because I feel that for children, learning what it means to be a fully fledged human being through the path of self-discovery and relationships with both men and women, is the most important thing to be exposed to.

fjnbk: You and I understand that Gaston isn't the hero and maybe that becomes evident to children by the end of the movie, depending on their age, but certainly throughout the movie, Gaston is shown to be a powerful man. He has girls keen on him, he has people running around doing his bidding and he has a powerful position in the village.

White: You're right, Hercules is meant to be the strongest man in the world, according to Greek mythology and isn't it interesting that he would be chosen as a hero, as opposed to say, a character like Charlie Chaplin or more diminutive figures that previous generations saw as heroes?

Jmzero: I also feel that especially small children may not grasp the overall theme, instead accepting behaviours modeled in certain scenes. I also think that the most important point that the movie makes, which you, nor anyone else in this thread acknowledges, is that boys in particular, are being given warped models of what it means to be a man and that this can only be harmful for future generations of men. Disney movies rarely show heroes as vulnerable or weak. They don't show men overcoming their weaknesses, or learning to compensate for them,or learning to accept them somehow. I see so many people, both men and women, struggling with vulnerability, feeling that they must be strong, must always show the tough exterior/attitude, etc, or they will be beaten,used or abused and this leads to so many relationship problems.

Kids movies could be so good. But in general, they are not. I do not think they are getting any better. So long as they reinforce stereotypes and show people as one-dimensional beings, they can only get worse.

How can men and women learn to accept each other, warts and all, when from when we are babies in diapers, we are told that to succeed, we must be the fittest, the strongest and the most stunning?

Hercules is depicted as being in peak physical condition BECAUSE HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD! Mulan is taught "that masculinity is primarily defined by strength and physical prowess" BECAUSE SHE'S JOINING THE ARMY! c'mon people. analyze a little further and most of these can be explained.

God friggin damn I loved watching these movies when growing up. I still remember the scenes from Hercules the movie when he flooded the river to clean out the stable.

"Maybe one of these days Hollywood will get it right and do their research and use the facts, which are even more interesting than the half truths they sell to get the average person to go and see this garbage."

As skrob says its best to think of 300 as a stylized story the Greeks would have told among themselves and in that respect the film is extremely accurate.

Much has been made of how the Spartans don't wear any armor in the film, which is of course completely ahistorical. In a stylized account of Thermopylae, the near-naked bodies of the Spartans is entirely Greek. Were it not for US homophobia I'm sure the film-makers would've filmed the Spartans without their loincloths. In Greek art there is something called heroic nudity. All Greek men worked out nude, daily, as a community in preparation for when they would have to fight shoulder-to-shoulder together in the phalanx. This obsession with physical fitness caused them to idealize masculine beauty. As a result, much of their more stylized art depicts heroic men as being nude and buff as hell. Hercules, for example, frequently shows up just wearing his lion skin cloak. Were the Greeks to have had access to film, and decided to make a movie about Thermopylae, I am certain that the Spartans and other Greeks would have been depicted naked, just like in 300.

Another issue that is often raised is the depiction of Xerxes. No, he probably wasn't 10 feet tall and probably didn't have the voice of god. That however isn't the point. Xerxes was treated as god-king by his subjects and he ruled the largest, wealthiest and most powerful empire in the world. The Greeks were well aware of how powerful and impressive a guy he was. In fact, they frequently referred to Xerxes, and his descendants, simply as the King, as if the Persian Emperors were the only rulers of all that wasn't Greece. Given all of this, it is entirely appropriate for Xerxes to have the appearance of a god in the movie.

Another interesting thing they did with Xerxes was gold imagery. This goes back to Aeschylus's Persians where the imagery of wealth permeates the entire play, shifting in meaning to symbolize Persian wealth and power in the beginning of the play, to symbolizing Persian weakness and downfall. Ancient Greece was not a wealthy land by any measure. The great public works projects of Classical Athens were payed for by imperial tribute, not some inherent money-making ability of the Athenians. The Greeks, therefore, viewed extreme wealth with suspicion. They felt that a man that doesn't work for his living isn't fully a man. Wealth and leisure was therefore associated with effeminacy. Going back to 300, note how Xerxes wears golden chains over his body and has both golden nail polish and eye shadow. The effect the filmmakers were clearly trying to acheive was the association of gold with makeup, and therefore the feminine. Xerxes, despite his god-like stature, strikes the audience, with his makeup, as being much less manly than Leonidas. This is of course exactly how the Greeks viewed it.

I could go on, there are plenty of interesting examples of "Greekness" in 300. The point is that while 300 is not completely historical, it is very, very Greek. The filmmakers clearly did their research and read their classical texts.

This show only recently aired here... oh my god... what a fucking pathetic waste of tv... worst piece of shit ever. only comparable to the likes of Xena and Hercules...

I don't know why it's always these guys getting the movies. I want to see a Champions movie; Iceman, Angel, Hercules, Black Widow and Ghost Rider - best superteam ever!

Shut up gorillaman you sasenach imperialist English morris dancing bowler hat wearing bufty bas!

To the most Holy Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord John, by divine providence Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman and Universal Church, his humble and devout sons Duncan, Earl of Fife, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Lord of Man and of Annandale, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, Malise, Earl of Strathearn, Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, William, Earl of Ross, Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney, and William, Earl of Sutherland; Walter, Steward of Scotland, William Soules, Butler of Scotland, James, Lord of Douglas, Roger Mowbray, David, Lord of Brechin, David Graham, Ingram Umfraville, John Menteith, guardian of the earldom of Menteith, Alexander Fraser, Gilbert Hay, Constable of Scotland, Robert Keith, Marischal of Scotland, Henry St Clair, John Graham, David Lindsay, William Oliphant, Patrick Graham, John Fenton, William Abernethy, David Wemyss, William Mushet, Fergus of Ardrossan, Eustace Maxwell, William Ramsay, William Mowat, Alan Murray, Donald Campbell, John Cameron, Reginald Cheyne, Alexander Seton, Andrew Leslie, and Alexander Straiton, and the other barons and freeholders and the whole community of the realm of Scotland send all manner of filial reverence, with devout kisses of his blessed feet.
Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today. The Britons they first drove out, the Picts they utterly destroyed, and, even though very often assailed by the Norwegians, the Danes and the English, they took possession of that home with many victories and untold efforts; and, as the historians of old time bear witness, they have held it free of all bondage ever since. In their kingdom there have reigned one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal stock, the line unbroken a single foreigner.

The high qualities and deserts of these people, were they not otherwise manifest, gain glory enough from this: that the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Passion and Resurrection, called them, even though settled in the uttermost parts of the earth, almost the first to His most holy faith. Nor would He have them confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of His Apostles -- by calling, though second or third in rank -- the most gentle Saint Andrew, the Blessed Peter's brother, and desired him to keep them under his protection as their patron forever.

The Most Holy Fathers your predecessors gave careful heed to these things and bestowed many favours and numerous privileges on this same kingdom and people, as being the special charge of the Blessed Peter's brother. Thus our nation under their protection did indeed live in freedom and peace up to the time when that mighty prince the King of the English, Edward, the father of the one who reigns today, when our kingdom had no head and our people harboured no malice or treachery and were then unused to wars or invasions, came in the guise of a friend and ally to harass them as an enemy. The deeds of cruelty, massacre, violence, pillage, arson, imprisoning prelates, burning down monasteries, robbing and killing monks and nuns, and yet other outrages without number which he committed against our people, sparing neither age nor sex, religion nor rank, no one could describe nor fully imagine unless he had seen them with his own eyes.

But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert. He, that his people and his heritage might be delivered out of the hands of our enemies, met toil and fatigue, hunger and peril, like another Macabaeus or Joshua and bore them cheerfully. Him, too, divine providence, his right of succession according to or laws and customs which we shall maintain to the death, and the due consent and assent of us all have made our Prince and King. To him, as to the man by whom salvation has been wrought unto our people, we are bound both by law and by his merits that our freedom may be still maintained, and by him, come what may, we mean to stand.

Yet if he should give up what he has begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; for, AS LONG AS BUT A HUNDRED OF US REMAIN ALIVE, NEVER WILL WE ON ANY CONDITIONS BE BROUGHT UNDER ENGLISH RULE. IT IS IN TRUTH NOT FOR GLORY, NOR RICHES, NOR HONOURS THAT WE ARE FIGHTING, BUT FOR FREEDOM -- FOR THAT ALONE, WHICH NO HONEST MAN GIVES UP BUT WITH LIFE ITSELF.

Therefore it is, Reverend Father and Lord, that we beseech your Holiness with our most earnest prayers and suppliant hearts, inasmuch as you will in your sincerity and goodness consider all this, that, since with Him Whose Vice-Regent on earth you are there is neither weighing nor distinction of Jew and Greek, Scotsman or Englishman, you will look with the eyes of a father on the troubles and privation brought by the English upon us and upon the Church of God. May it please you to admonish and exhort the King of the English, who ought to be satisfied with what belongs to him since England used once to be enough for seven kings or more, to leave us Scots in peace, who live in this poor little Scotland, beyond which there is no dwelling-place at all, and covet nothing but our own. We are sincerely willing to do anything for him, having regard to our condition, that we can, to win peace for ourselves.

This truly concerns you, Holy Father, since you see the savagery of the heathen raging against the Christians, as the sins of Christians have indeed deserved, and the frontiers of Christendom being pressed inward every day; and how much it will tarnish your Holiness's memory if (which God forbid) the Church suffers eclipse or scandal in any branch of it during your time, you must perceive. Then rouse the Christian princes who for false reasons pretend that they cannot go to help of the Holy Land because of wars they have on hand with their neighbours. The real reason that prevents them is that in making war on their smaller neighbours they find quicker profit and weaker resistance. But how cheerfully our Lord the King and we too would go there if the King of the English would leave us in peace, He from Whom nothing is hidden well knows; and we profess and declare it to you as the Vicar of Christ and to all Christendom.

But if your Holiness puts too much faith in the tales the English tell and will not give sincere belief to all this, nor refrain from favouring them to our prejudice, then the slaughter of bodies, the perdition of souls, and all the other misfortunes that will follow, inflicted by them on us and by us on them, will, we believe, be surely laid by the Most High to your charge.

To conclude, we are and shall ever be, as far as duty calls us, ready to do your will in all things, as obedient sons to you as His Vicar; and to Him as the Supreme King and Judge we commit the maintenance of our cause, csating our cares upon Him and firmly trusting that He will inspire us with courage and bring our enemies to nought.

May the Most High preserve you to his Holy Church in holiness and health and grant you length of days.

Given at the monastery of Arbroath in Scotland on the sixth day of the month of April in the year of grace thirteen hundred and twenty and the fifteenth year of the reign of our King aforesaid.

Besides, you can't deny that there was some serious ball-flexin' in Hercules.