Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe ain't got nothin' on Bruno Kammerl and what has to be the biggest waterslide in the history of anything...
Props to Matt Mittan for finding this!
Thursday, August 06, 2009
John Hughes has passed away
John Hughes - who wrote or directed and quite often both some of the greatest comedy movies of the past few decades including Home Alone, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's Vacation, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and a bunch more, has passed away at the age of 59.
Thoughts and prayers going out to the family of this most talented filmmaker who made us laugh and think.
Get your geek going at Sci-Fi Genre!
Nestled away on a tree-lined side street in Durham, North Carolina is one of the most rollickin' fun discoveries that I have made in recent months. And if you didn't know that it was there or were searching it out already, you could easily overlook it. But that seems to be such with so many good things in life, like a hole-in-the-wall restaurant or small bookstore.I first heard about Sci-Fi Genre late this past fall, mostly by word-of-mouth over the Internet. At the time I was getting back into playing BattleTech and was looking for someplace nearby that sold more of the miniatures. And more than a few times, Sci-Fi Genre kept coming up as a place that I should check out. So one Saturday afternoon I headed out east on I-40 and started seeking out this joint.
I have to admit: my first glimpse of the place was a little underwhelming. Until the moment that I walked through the front door. In terms of geology, Sci-Fi Genre is like a geode: appearing like one stone among countless others on the outside... but within, a stunning myriad of color and wonder and delight for the eyes and mind!
For pure geekdom, I don't know of any place in the area that possesses it more than Sci-Fi Genre. This hub of the fantastic has EVERYTHING! A huge selection of comic books and graphic novels (both current and back issues) including trade paperbacks. And as you can see from this next photo, they stock an absolutely unconscionably massive supply of games: from children's games on up to practically every conceivable Dungeons & Dragons book and module and dice set, and enough miniature wargaming supplies to lay siege to North Africa a dozen times over. Of course, being a BattleTech player and now a newly-minted Warhammer 40,000 gamer, I've had loads of fun perusing Sci-Fi Genre for new cannon fodder and materiel :-)
The store also has a fairly good-sized gaming area where players can congregate and hash things out like men (and more than a few women... no chauvinists we!).
But personally, for me the biggest thrill of going to Sci-Fi Genre (whenever I get the chance to be around Durham and sometimes I'm determined to find a chance to be there :-P) is oggling the crazy amount of action figures, toys and other geeky memorabilia. The last time I was there I wound up buying a G.I. Joe Hall of Heroes edition Zartan action figure. Why? Mostly for old times sake since Zartan was my favorite figure of the G.I. Joe line back in the Eighties. And also 'cuz I wanted to remember Zartan for the way he used to be, before the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra movie comes out tomorrow and possibly trashes those good memories ('tis the dismal tide of our times, it seems...).
Of course, Sci-Fi Genre having so many Star Wars action figures couldn't possibly be a reason why I keep coming back to the place, right? ;-)
They also stock action figures related to comic books, video games, movies and TV shows like the new and old Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek (both old-school and the new 2009 relaunch stuff), and a wide assortment of the various Transformers lines.
And if by some cosmically incomprehensible reason they don't have what you're looking for on hand, Sci-Fi Genre's knowledgeable and extremely friendly management and sales staff will be glad to order it for you!
Sci-Fi Genre is located at 3215 Old Chapel Hill Road in Durham, North Carolina. If you're coming in from I-40, it's about ten minutes' drive time from Exit 270 (and sometimes less depending on traffic). Well worth checking out and if you go, you will most certainly be coming back plenty more!
And tell 'em that you read about them on The Knight Shift :-)
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Rupert Murdoch to demand pay for ALL News Corp online content
Rupert Murdoch - who I will always think of as "the billionaire tyrant" from that episode of The Simpsons he did a cameo on - has pledged to begin charging for access to ALL of the content on websites run by his News Corp. That includes the websites for the Fox Network, FoxNews.com and others (perhaps even MySpace?).
Apparently the move is to recoup from more than $200 million in lost revenue for News Corp during the previous quarter, including significantly less profit from The Wall Street Journal, which Murdoch now owns.
This might become the biggest blunder yet in the newspaper industry's series of attempts to regain the ground it's lost to online media. That horse departed the barn about fifteen years ago, and it ain't coming back. The New York Times has already tried charging for access to its site: a plan that promptly went down in flames. Murdoch's scheme will likely meet a similar fate.
Russia drilling for oil off Florida coast?
That's the speculation from Investor's Business Daily. In recent days it has come to light that two Russian submarines have been found patrolling off the American coast. And now Russia is signing contracts with Cuba to develop the oil and natural gas fields in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico... which have thus far gone untapped by United States-based industry because of legislation stifling such drilling.
It kinda boggles my mind that distant Russia would be going after petroleum reserves just a few hundred miles away from here. Anyway, it's an intriguing enough read to bring to y'all's attention.
THE BIRDS Barbie Doll
For $29.99 you too can own Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds Barbie Collector's Doll! Complete with Fifties-style attire and homicidal feathered fiends.Gotta wonder what's next. Psycho Barbie perhaps? It could come with no clothes and multiple stab wounds!
(Thanks to Lee Shelton for the great find.)
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
"This country deserves a better class of criminal..."
"...and I'm going to give it to them."
Right now the Intertubes are burning up with heated controversy about this poster appearing around Los Angeles depicting President Barack Obama in Joker-style makeup as Heath Ledger portrayed Batman's nemesis in last year's The Dark Knight.
What particularly makes me chuckle are remarks made by Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable (whatever the hell that is) president Earl Ofari Hutchinson: "Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery. It is mean-spirited and dangerous. We have issued a public challenge to the person or group that put up the poster to come forth and publicly tell why they have used this offensive depiction to ridicule President Obama."
So let me get this straight: it's now considered a dire offense, if not an outright sin, to criticize Obama?
I don't think this is "mean-spirited" at all. Most longtime readers of this blog know that I have used my own meager Photoshop skills to mock public officials - of all partisan stripes, mind ya - whenever I've felt they deserved such. Heck, for awhile this place was practically wall-to-wall Ron Price visual jabs. And it's safe to say that I did more than my share of slamming George W. Bush (Worst President Ever(tm), thus far anyway) when he was in the White House.
But "mean-spirited"? Honestly... and I don't care if people disagree with me on this one... not at all.
I like to think that the stuff I did, and what this "Obama as the Joker" obviously is, stems from a legitimate disagreement and even frustration with the official policies of these people. Sometimes that frustration is more than mere words are enough to convey. And when that happens, the time-honored tradition of protesting via imagery comes into play. So long as it's not completely tasteless - and I don't see how this particular image is that at all - then I don't see what the problem is. Obama wanted to be President of the United States. He and his supporters should have realized fully well what they were getting into, if he desired to be such a high public official.
And besides, it's not like Bush the Lesser received any different treatment from his detractors.
Or maybe the plain truth of the matter is, whether we want to admit it or not, that this really is a country run by a pack of jokers.
"Weird Al" Yankovic releases "CNR"... a song about Charles Nelson Reilly?!
If you're one of "Weird Al" Yankovic's many fans you're no doubt enjoying this summer and Al's "Internet Leaks" collection (one new song and video a month through September). So far we've had "Craigslist" aping Jim Morrison's style and then a number of weeks ago "Skipper Dan".
And a short while ago Al released his latest "Internet Leaks" single: "CNR", spoofing the signature sound of the White Stripes. And it's a song about Charles Nelson Reilly, of all people!
Mash here for the "CNR" video (created by JibJab) on YouTube. And on the video's page you can find links to purchase the song and video via iTunes and other online outlets.
Monday, August 03, 2009
JERICHO: THE PROMISE FULFILLED makes Chris run out of verbiage to describe its awesomeness!!!
Some things in life are just too wonderful for words to do justice. But I'll give it my best shot...
Take, f'rinstance, Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled, a 28-minute long film – done in stop-motion animation with LEGO bricks – about the fall of Jericho from the Book of Joshua in the Bible.
I first wrote about this movie a few weeks ago. And also about Anthony and Jessica Rondina: the brother/sister pair who have earned widespread praise and official acclaim for their work on the film. Well, after I posted that I got a really nice e-mail from Jessica Rondina letting me know that they would be hosting a free public screening of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled at StoneBridge Church, their home church, on the evening of July 31st.
Now, some people might think it's a bit crazy to drive two hours one-way just to see a short film starring little yellow LEGO minifigs. But this kind of thing cries out to me like the irresistible lure of the fabled Sirens. So on Friday afternoon I got in the car and set out to see, as I called it when asking if I was at the right place, "the little LEGO movie".
I spent the two hours driving back trying to think up enough adjectives to describe what I had just witnessed. And after watching the DVD of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled three more times over the weekend, I still can't produce adequate hyperbole to convey my delight about this film!
But first, a little setup about what went down that night. I was quickly greeted by director Anthony Rondina, who showed me the display of some of the sets and "actors"...
Mark and Wendy Rondina - the producers of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled and the co-producers of Anthony and Jessica (i.e. their parents) - went all-out to create a true cinematic experience for us, even getting a movie theater-style popcorn machine!
A little after 7 p.m. the show began, with the pastor of StoneBridge Church introducing the Rondina family. Wendy Rondina then briefly discussed how Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled has been making the rounds at film festivals.
Wendy Rondina also talked about how Christian filmmaking is starting to really come into its own, with many people now beginning to realize the talents that they have been given in this powerful medium. And I fully agree with her. In fact, in many ways the film we were about to see epitomizes something I've been saying for years on this blog and elsewhere: that the technology has finally become such that anyone can make an excellent film. The opportunity is definitely there. We just need to make the most of it with what God has given us.
And then the film started...
Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled is an unparalleled achievement not just in Christian filmmaking, but for the art of stop-motion animation. I have seen many LEGO-rendered films over the years but if any one of them has approached the technical complexity, the sheer ambition and all-out comedic genius of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled, my mind is drawing a blank. This was very much a labor of love on the part of the Rondinas and their colleagues at Gideon Production Group and it's only too obvious that they poured, if I might paraphrase from Mark 12:30, all their soul and all their mind and all their strength into this film. Its production took a year and a half: a testimony to the dedication and passion of the people who made it.
Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled is about the epic conquest of Jericho by the Hebrews following their four decades of wandering in the wilderness. Two things that I feel compelled to note about this film from the getgo. The first is the insane amount of research that Jessica Rondina did in writing the script. Like stuff about Rahab which isn't necessarily in the Bible itself, but is still ancient Jewish tradition. The second thing is that Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled never takes itself too seriously! It is a film all too aware of its nature of being done in LEGO, and that leads to some very clever visual gags inspired by the properties of LEGO bricks (but I ain't spillin' the beans, you'll just have to see for yourself :-). Between that and how Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled pays homage to such pop culture icons as The Matrix and Cops, this might be the most offbeat and fun example of Christian filmmaking that I've yet seen. Indeed: the thought crossed my mind more than once during the screening that if they keep this up, Anthony and Jessica and their crew might well become Christian movies' answer to Monty Python!
For its writing and comedic creativity alone, Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled would shine. But in terms of technical production, the film is utterly mind-blowing: a glorious orchestra of stop-motion, in-camera practical effects and cutting-edge computer imaging. Every frame of the film was stop-motion animated by hand, with no looping involved at all. So far as I know from watching the "behind the scenes" feature there is only one effect that was done in real time (watch for the water cooler). The battle scenes are of a scale and complexity that would make Cecil B. DeMille cringe with despair, but that didn't stop these North Carolina kids from pulling off shots guaranteed to drop jaws all over the place. The ultimate downfall of Jericho should be meticulously studied in film schools, it is that amazing. And then there is the Jordan River: easily the most beautiful stop-motion rendering of moving water that I have had the pleasure of seeing.
So, was Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled worth driving two hours to see? You bet it was! And I sincerely hope and pray that as many people as possible will be able to watch and appreciate this wonderful film. At the present time your best bet is to catch it at a film festival or a similar screening. Keep an eye on the Gideon Production Group's website for any that are scheduled.
And y'all also keep an eye on Anthony and Jessica Rondina and Gideon Production Group. This is a team of family and friends that has been gifted with an unbelievable amount of talent, and I have no doubt that God is going to continue to bless their hard work and enthusiasm.
Ohio town's traffic cameras send out 10,000 tickets in 1 month
If you can help it, I'd consider the town of Heath, Ohio to be a place to steer well clear of. That personal assessment comes after word that it's newly-installed traffic-enforcement cameras have sent out more than 10,000 tickets after just four weeks of operation. With the tickets being $100, after camera provider Redflex gets its cut that's $83,000 that the city government would put into its coffers.
As you can imagine (and you can see it in the comments of the above-linked article) quite a number of folks are honked-off about this. I would be too. Traffic cameras, be they for speed or at stop-light intersections, are not about enforcing laws for sake of safety. They are, first and foremost, a "revenue enhancing" scheme.
And these cameras are inherently not constitutional. We are supposed to have the right to face our accuser in a court of law, regardless of how small the offense.
How does one do that when the accuser is a robot?
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Want to launch your own satellite into orbit?
For $8,000 you can purchase the TubeSat Personal Satellite from Interorbital Systems. Then you outfit your satellite however you like, and send it back to Interorbital Systems where it will be scheduled for orbital insertion aboard a NEPTUNE 30 vehicle (set to begin launch next year). Your satellite and 31 others will be hurled into an orbit 192 miles above the surface of the Earth, where it will function for a few weeks before safely re-entering the atmosphere and burning up. I'm thinking this might be a groovy thing for schools to look at: imagine the students of a science class beaming with pride as a satellite they designed is flying overhead and sending back telemetry!Here's the page at Interorbital Systems' website for their TubeSat kit where you can order a satellite of your very own. And they even take PayPal!
About Barack Obama and his birth certificate...
I confess: this hasn't been the biggest thing on my radar screen for the past several months. There've been more pressing matters that have demanded my attention, and that's shown up in the relative dearth of politically-oriented posts on my blog lately.
And besides: Barack Obama has to be a natural-born citizen of the United States to have even thought about running for President, right?
Right?
Here's what finally caught my notice and began raising red flags in my mind about the issue: that Obama has not only not produced evidence that he was born in Hawaii and thus is a born citizen of the United States - as required to be eligible to be President - but that he adamantly refuses to provide it.
And I don't think that we should be taking the word of any "official" in government that such a thing truly exists. We must be able to see it for ourselves. Journalists should be allowed to examine the original document. It needs to be posted on the Internet (specifically the White House website) as a high-res Adobe Acrobat file.
It's not like there should be any nefarious or incriminating information on a birth certificate. It's already well established that Barack Obama was born. We just need to know where.
I'm not saying that I'm aligning with one side or another on this issue. I am saying though, that in regards to eligibility per the Constitution this matter obligates nothing short of absolute transparency.
That should be insisted upon regardless of who is President or running for the office.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Building does somersault during demolition attempt
From Turkey comes this awesome footage of a flour factory, built in 1928, being imploded. Or it was supposed to implode anyway. Instead the support on one side of the base was destroyed, causing the entire building to tumble over "like a toy house".
Watch it below folks. This simply must be seen to be believed...
Look on the bright side: those wacky Turks have brought a whole new unprecedented scale to the old game of dominoes! :-P
Toyota's running robot
Check this out: Toyota's new robot that briskly runs at 7 kilometers an hour:
The biggest problem so far is that it can only run on level terrain. Give it a little time though, and these 'bots will be jogging all over the place.
The Constitutional Calamity of Cash for Clunkers
It's awfully hard to disagree with the observation of car salesman Rob Bojaryn: "If they can't administer a program like this, I'd be a little concerned about my health insurance."
President Obama's "Cash for Clunkers" program has proven to be a disaster after just six days. Under the program a person can trade in an older/less fuel-efficient vehicle for as much as $4,500 credit toward a newer car. The money allocated for this thing has already been burned up and now Congress is allocating an addition $2 BILLION for it.
I have a question:
Where in the Constitution of the United States is there found authorization for the federal government to be in the used car business?
And then, why is our tax money being used to help someone else buy a new car? I've bought cars before, and I've never approached the government for any financial assistance toward some new wheels. Can't see how it should be any different for anyone else.
Startup sets sight on piston-powered nuclear fusion
General Fusion, a new company based out of Burnaby, British Columbia in Canada, has raised almost $14 million in funding to research what is being called an ambitious effort to create viable nuclear fusion. General Fusion believes it can engineer a reactor that uses 220 pneumatic pistons to generate acoustical waves that will be aimed at a plasma target, which will theoretically create a burst of fusion energy. Experts in the field believe that General Fusion might stand a chance of succeeding with their wild design, where countless others over the decades have failed.Looks interesting. It also looks like the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb had Henry Ford engineered it :-P
