I have a huge crush on Christian Bale. Not from his Batman Begins days, not even from his American Psycho days. Although, both of those movies make him absolutely the most beauitful human on the planet. Now, The Machinist? Not so much.

Anyways, I learned to truly love Christian Bale like really, really Christian Bale from his Newsies days. Oh I am so embarassed. No, not really. Newsies is a great movie. Well, it's a great musical. Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, Christian Bale, as Jack Kelly leader of the Newsie's strike, sings. A lot. Most of the movie in fact. He also talks with a bad New York accent because he sold his soul to Disney and that's what you do. But he sings and wasn't too bad either.

I like the movie for a lot of reasons. First, Disney does a musical like no one else. The songs are awesome and totally sing-a-long-able. In fact, I took my handy dandy tape recorder and taped the songs from directly from my television. That might actually be more embarassing than admitting that I like Newsies in the first place. So, let's just forget I said that. Ok? Ok.

Second reason I like it is because I like stories of the underdog being empowered to take on the establishment. There are days when I feel unstopable and no matter what big mogul I have to go up against, I am fearless. Then there are days when I need a swift kick in the pants to stand up to The Man. But stories of people being opressed who pull together to overcome all obstacles are exciting! I like the stories of empowered people.

Third, I like the historical significance of the newsies strike of 1899. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst in a big pissing contest power struggle over the control of New York news. And while the actual strike was unsuccessful, the idea that Disney gave it a typical disney happy ending is rewarding. I guess I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

Fourth, the boys in the film are hott!

Wow, that was so a paper from my high school days. Anyways the WGA strike reminded me that movie. It takes strength of character and conviction to stand up for what you believe in. When they first started to strike, I didn't really understand exactly what they wanted. All I knew was that the spring is going to suck. I mean I don't think I can take anymore reality TV shows. But I started reading about the strike and what they were asking for, and from where I sit, it doesn't seem like all that much. We throw gazillions of dollars at the studios every year. We go to their movies. We watch their TV shows and buy the Complete Third Season on DVD. We Netflix shows we don't want to buy. We download their stuff from iTunes. We watch streaming video of shows we can't seem to force ourselves to sit through on the actual night it airs. We shovel money at the studios. The writers just want their cut. I get that.

Jack Kelly: There's a lot of people out there, and they ain't just gonna go away. They got voices now and they're goin' to be listened to. Putting them in jail is not going to stop them.

Even after I read all I could and started to wrap my head around it, I still didn't "get" it. Then I found the most amazing video on YouTube that totally explains what they want. It fills in that last tiny gap that I didn't get. I get it now. I understand it now. I'm behind it now. If i had a red shirt and a picket sign, I'd be there right behind them. I get it now. And with that said, I wanted to share that video with you, so you can get it too.

Jack Kelly: Are we going to take what they give us? Or are we gonna strike?

Jack Kelly: So what do you say, Spot?
Spot Conlon: I say... that what you say... is what I say.