The Right Stuff

One of Hollywood’s greatest superpowers is the ability to revise history. It doesn’t matter what actually happened. All you need is the right screenplay, along with a halfway competent director, and you can make history whatever you want it to be.

Take The Right Stuff. This was a very good movie. It was, not, however, a completely accurate portrayal of what really happened. But that doesn’t really matter. It’s not a history lesson. It’s a movie. It was created to entertain.

I actually only have one personal issue with the film: it seems to be two stories in one. On the one hand, you have the main story following the Mercury crew. Then, off to the side, you get Chuck Yeager’s story. I’m not sure I would have adapted the book in that manner. Instead, it would have been better if it were three stories in one. Here’s how I would have written it:

On the one hand, you have the gripping story of the Mercury crew and their preparations to become the first US astronauts into space. Then, off to the side, we see how Chuck Yeager, in a feat only Harry Potter could truly appreciate, uses a broomstick to break the sound barrier. Thirdly, we have the triumphant story of how Charlie Hills breaks the second weight barrier and enters the “197 Zone.”

If that isn’t worthy of a ticker tape parade, I don’t know what is.

With three days in a row, I’m going to call that real. (Never mind that the first day I hit it, I also weighed 197.5 and 196.5 … so I just averaged all three weigh-in numbers.)

Last week, as I bemoaned flatlining, I wrote, “There’s no mystery surrounding this. My average caloric intake has crept back up.” So how about this week? As you can plainly see, I dropped two pounds. How does the caloric intake compare? No surprise whatsoever, peeps. While flatlining, my average daily caloric intake was 2084. This last week, it was 1743.

Apparently I’ve got the right stuff when it comes to losing weight. The challenge now is: how do we keep the Russians from obtaining this information?

Enjoy my writing? Then don't forget to come back! I just might post something good tomorrow, too. Subscribe via RSS , via email, or share it with a friend. If you really like it, put me on your blogroll. That'd be sweet.