Today is Remembrance Day.  A day where we mark the Armistice that ended World War One, and honour the soldiers that fell on the battlefields of various conflicts across time and the world.  People will be wearing poppies, and taking a moment to quietly reflect on the sacrifice made by the soldiers who have been lost to war. And a special poem will be read across the land- causing those that hear it to stop, and think, and offer a silent prayer for the souls still buried in the fields where they died.  That poem is "I n Flanders Fields " by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. LCol McCrae was a Canadian soldier that fought in the Second Battle of Ypres- in Flanders, Belgium, actually.  He survived one of the first chemical attacks at that time.  After the attack, when he performed the burial services for his friend Alexis Helmer, McCrae observed that poppies grew quickly around the graves of the slain.  This is what inspired him to set pen to paper, and wr...

  As October fades behind us, November looms ahead of us- and a day of Remembrance marches our way.  On November 11, people around the world will mark the end of World War One, and pay tribute to the soldiers that have given their lives so they can live in Freedom. But how did the world get plunged into a war that spanned the globe, and cost humanity more than 18 million soul?  School teaches us a fairly simplified version of the events that pushed us down the road to violence, while Margaret MacMillan shows us the web of events, cultures, personalities, fears, and ambitions that inevitably lead to the "War to End All Wars". " The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 " by Margaret MacMillan is a fascinating dig into everything that conspired, contributed, and combined to the initiation of the Great War.  She doesn't just investigate and describe the events- such as the "primary" trigger of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but also the personalities of the l...

A movie about Nazi zombies -- or Nazbies as I like to call them -- isn't what you'd expect Hollywood to release on the Remembrance Day weekend, but I'm glad they did. Why? The world needed a respectable Nazbie movie; one that takes place during the Second World War, on the eve of D-Day, which was called Operation: Overlord, hence this Nazbie movie's title. Longest run-on sentence in history. Doubtful. But I'll get there...

Posting news about horror, action and B-grade genre movies just doesn't seem right on a day when we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Shawn and I are rarely sentimental, but Remembrance Day is one that warrants it. Instead, we're going to play a piece of music that invokes all the emotion that should come with remembering those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. I can't help but think of my grandfather, who landed at Juno Beach in Normandy on D-Day , when I hear it. I hope it causes all Basementites to pause and reflect. Movie fans will know Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings from Platoon , one of the better war movies to be sure. It's a damn fine movement of classic music. Lest we forget. Related articles Remembrance Day Barber - Adagio For Strings The Old Lie and the Cult of Remembrance On This Remembrance Day Teaching Your Kids About Remembrance Day