The Gary Sinise Foundation is bringing the award-winning GI Film Festival to Los Angeles on November 5 for one day of great independent military films.  These films highlight current and former veterans in and out of the arena of war.  Beginning at noon at the Raleigh Studio Theater on 5300 Melrose  Ave in  Hollywood, fans from the west coast who missed this year’s DC festival will have an opportunity to view the best of the festival’s films.

vimeo Winner Best Feature Documentary

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“We are proud to partner with the Gary Sinise Foundation,” said GI Film Festival’s executive director and co-founder, former Army Major Laura Law-Millett. “They do amazing work.  It’s so important that people understand the important role film and the media play in the minds of every American when it comes to supporting our brave men and women in uniform.”

The one day event will screen 9 films and play host to an evening reception where you can meet and greet the filmmakers.  To see the line-up, view the trailers, and purchase tickets to attend the event, please click here.

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“They come from the bright light cities…They come from a one horse town…But if they’re coming for you boy…Ya better know they ain’t messin’ around” ~ Madison Rising

As we gather with loved ones this Labor Day weekend to officially bid farewell to another all-too short summer, we should take a moment to remember those who are serving overseas and unable to be with us to enjoy those BBQs, cold beers, pool parties, and such.   Here to remind us of their sacrifices, with a brand-spankin’ new rock tribute entitled Soldiers of America, is the very hot new conservative rock band, Madison Rising.

YouTube Madison Rising - "Soldiers of America"

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“Madison Rising, named in honor of James Madison, the fourth President of the United States and author of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Federalist Papers, is a new rock band best described as a conservative version of Rage Against The Machine” according to President and CEO of Purple Eagle Entertainment (and fellow BigDawg’er), Richard Mgrdechian, who formed the band.  He further states:

The band provides guitar-centric, pro-American rock music to a market completely devoid of anything similar.  The band expects to become the face of patriotic rock and roll.  Madison Rising is expected to perform at major campaign events, military bases, NASCAR events and other pro-American venues, establishing itself as a major political voice in this country during the 2012 election cycle and beyond.  The band’s first single, Soldiers of America, was released on September 1st, 2011 and the album itself will be available on September 30^th.

BigDawg Music Mafia is honored to introduce the very talented members of Madison Rising:

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“Just look at the Old Testament.  They didn’t go out with the army first.  They sent the musicians out.” ~ Michael W. Smith

One year ago my good friend & songmate, BigDawg, and I decided to launch BigDawg Music Mafia to showcase the many creative ways our fellow patriots are getting engaged in the pop culture revolution, speaking truth to power through their God-given talents (songs, art, blogs, books, photography, poems, radio shows, film, humor, acting, etc).

Today, with 565 members/artists attracting over half a million site hits from around the world in our first year, we have plenty to say and an increasing number of visitors dropping in every day to “hear” us out.  With such a diverse group of artists with a wide range of talent, it is only natural that some of us would find ourselves joining forces on some cool collaborations/projects.

vimeo Get Off The Stage (The BigDawg Patriots Featuring Jana Seantelle)

Our latest project, Get Off the Stage, written by one of our members who goes by the name “Mick”, is described in an electronic press kit he recently released and distributed.  Here are some excerpts:

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The first time I heard the song See, Hear, Pray, by Debbie K and The Freedom Band, which has been featured on Glenn Beck’s 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally website and the national Support Our Troops website as well as other conservative blogs and patriotic sites, I was very moved by the message, the music, and her beautiful voice.  When speaking about this song, Debbie said:

I wrote this song over a weekend with me and my guitar sitting at our cottage in Indiana.   I could feel it bubbling up inside of me.  We were just about to have our first Tea Party and wanted to share a song that inspired Americans to Pray for their country and to honor those that fought for our Freedom.   This was one of those songs that just happened – you knew that you were just being used to inspire others.  I remember finishing the last line and saying to myself ….’wow…. thanks Lord’!

Beautiful things happen when we allow our faith to lead us…like this song:

I am so glad Debbie found our site, BigDawg Music Mafia, through our mutual friend, Reese Ccup (one of our wonderful site volunteers on the “BigDawg Brigade”).  When I read her bio I knew I’d met a kindred spirit.  We both share a love of God, we both love music, we are both using it to promote our conservative messages, and most importantly, we are both “Mama Grizzlies” who love our families and are determined to do all we can to help fight the “transformation” taking place in our country.  We don’t let any grass grow under our feet and I don’t think either of us gets much sleep.

So many songs to write, so little time. (more…)

Liberal film critic, Roger Ebert, called Battle: Los Angeles “noisy, violent, ugly and stupid”.  BigHollywood.com Editor-In-Chief, John Nolte, called it “wildly entertaining and subversive”.  That was all I needed to read to know this was a “must see” movie.  And it most definitely is…in fact, movie goers overseas agree as this epic sci-fi film garnered a first place finish in its second weekend overseas bringing in $27.1 million…with Rango, the animated film about the chameloen sheriff (Johhny Depp) earning $17.5 million in its third weekend.  Now that’s American exceptionalism…on the big screen!

As a retired Air Force veteran, I viewed this movie from a slightly different vantage point than one who has never served in our armed forces. And I loved every minute of this fast-paced, heart-stopping, riveting movie…silently cheering on the small platoon of courageous Marines, led by 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez), sent out on what seemed like a suicide mission to rescue a few stranded civilians in Santa Monica before the Air Force was to completely level the entire city that had fallen to a devastating alien invasion.

What was originally reported to be meteors falling into the ocean along the Los Angeles coastline (as well as the coastlines of 20 other major cities around the world) was quickly determined to be a well-orchestrated invasion of a massive force of seemingly impossible-to-kill aliens… and they were everywhere… annhilating everything and everyone in their path.  As I watched the fast-paced, chaotic, and gripping action unfold, I often found myself holding my breath and sitting on the edge of my seat — myheart racing wildly, pulling for our heroes.  It has been a long time since I’ve been to a movie that left me exhausted like that, in a good way.

I appreciated how they introduced each member of the platoon and gave us a little insight into their frame of mind just prior to their embarking on this terrifying mission, setting the stage for some of the heart-wrenching actions and decisions that occurred throughout the movie.  It made them more real to me, as real as the stories and situations faced every day by our men and women deploying overseas into hostile combat zones.

The main hero of the movie, Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), was very convincing as a tough, no-nonsense, war-weary Marine.  In spite of having just gotten his retirement papers signed — a man who was struggling with some demons from his past (something not uncommon to our brothers and sisters who have served in a war zone) — SSgt Nantz displayed the kind of leadership, ingenuity, courage, selflessness, and compassion commonly found in the members of our military, most especially in our Marines, who are always on the front lines … and go where few dare to go.

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Though the highly anticipated “Iron Man 2” qualifies as a hilarious, entertaining, irreverent, and openly patriotic summer blockbuster well worth the price of admission (and then some), like most sequels, the continuing story of Tony Stark and company does falls short of its predecessor, especially in what I call the “lift department.” Superhero films that transcend their genre contain an unforgettable moment or two that lifts the hair on the back of your neck, pulls you out of your chair, and urges you to stand and cheer. The original “Iron Man” had a number of those moments. And while the follow-up has a whole lot going for it, this is where it most lacks.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has privatized world peace. Yes, all on his own as Iron Man, Stark has whipped the world into behaving itself and it’s completely gone to his already bloated head. Obviously this wasn’t accomplished through the changing of our enemies’ hearts, but rather through the superior firepower that comes with being Iron Man. This is the reason/excuse our government, led by the oily Senator Stern (a very funny Gary Shandling) uses to demand Stark turn over the suit to the Pentagon. During a hearing televised on CSPAN, Stark can’t bring himself to politely decline. With his ego red-lining, (he has saved the world, after all), he both insults the Senator and dares him to try and take the suit away from him.

Game on.

In this vacuum steps a rival arms dealer, Justin Hammer (a delightfully twitchy Sam Rockwell), who’s desperate to replicate the Iron Man technology and scoop up all that Pentagon money while at the same time fulfilling a desire to humiliate Stark by elbowing Iron Man into irrelevancy. Hope arrives in the form of Ivan Vanko (a quietly menacing Mickey Rourke), a Russian scientist burning with both a hate for Stark and the technical know-how to fulfill Hammer’s mercenary desires. (more…)