Now...
..."Can't we all just get along?"
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Song's over: Activision cancels Guitar Hero series
The big news coming out of the video game industry today is Activision shutting down the Guitar Hero series: once one of the most insanely popular set of video games in recent history. The company cited declining sales as being the biggest factor in the decision to bring the "music 'n rhythm" series to a halt.
This reminds me a lot... a whole lot even... of the "video game crash" that took place between 1983 and 1985. This might come as a shock to the younger readers of this blog (ooh-boy am I dating myself here :-P) but once upon a time, video games were not "hip" at all. Ya see, in 1982 the Atari 2600 was the king of home video gaming. It seemed nigh-invulnerable. But within a year or two the home video game industry hit rock-bottom hard.
What happened? Mostly it was a market way over-saturated with games that were, well... crap. Turkeys like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (a title now infamous for how Atari paid the mob to bury millions of unsold E.T. cartridges in a New Mexico landfill) and Pac-Man (HOW did Atari mess that one up?!) did plenty enough damage, but so too did M*A*S*H and Porky's and Custer's Revenge (I refuse to even begin to describe what that game was like, it's so unbelievably... wrong).
Same thing has happened to the music game genre. Between Guitar Hero and Rock Band and seemingly "new" titles for those series every few months - not to mention the over-abundance of the gaming peripherals - there is simply too much music video gaming on the market right now.
I don't think the genre is ever going to disappear completely. But today's announcement from Activision is certainly gonna obligate the studios to re-assess where music gaming goes from here. Personally, I think it'll prove to be a good thing. It has mandated an obligation to be innovative. I've little doubt that music games will not only continue to be produced, but will also become better in the long run.
Congratulations to Denise and Nick...
...on the birth of their new son Olin!
What a beautiful little baby! God has certainly blessed them :-)
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
My prayer for this afternoon
My Heavenly Father,
This afternoon I ask for peace and comfort for those who need it most.
And for myself, I ask only for a peace of mind that I have been unable to know for so very long.
YOU GO GRANNY!! 75-year old woman stops SIX jewelry thieves with her handbag!
"I was not going to stand by and watch somebody take a beating or worse so I tried to intervene," said the sweet little lady in the red coat and white tights. The 75-year old retiree, who declined to give her name, witnessed a gang of six punks on motorbikes trying to smash their way into a jewelry store in Northampton, England with sledgehammers.
With store employees looking terrified from within as the droogs began pounding their way to the goods, "Super Granny" came running up the street and began beating the hoodlums with her handbag! She even knocked at least one of them off of his moped. Four of the six were arrested.
Witness heroism in action, dear readers!
Monday, February 07, 2011
BEING BIPOLAR: Video Log 2: Depressive Episode #1, "I Want To Live"
I was wondering over the weekend if this might happen. And unfortunately, it has now. I am writing and posting this video during a bipolar depressive episode.
I need to reiterate something: managing bipolar disorder doesn't mean that I'm going to be totally free of its effects. There will be times when I go through episodes of severe bipolar. But I am thankful that it doesn't have to ruin my life as it has before.
I said last week in the first Being Bipolar video supplement that I intended to document a bipolar episode if and when it happened. This is the first bipolar depressive episode that I have been able to record. I don't think there's anything in this clip that most people would at all consider "disturbing" but, I wanted to give a heads-up about all the same...
And Part 4 of Being Bipolar should be up later this week! :-)
Two upcoming new features on The Knight Shift
As if the Being Bipolar series wasn't enough: I'm about to put even more on this blog on a regular basis!
(Maybe it has something to do with the recent redesign of this place, that it's just demanding lots of new content...? :-)
The first is something that I've had in mind since Christmas, and is coming out of some necessity but also I think it'll be a lot of fun: Movies I've Never Seen! It's like this: my DVR is fast filling up with stuff that I've recorded from TCM and some other channels. And I haven't seen them yet. Like, not ever. Even though most of these are movies that I've heard of all my life! Well, I'm going to begin watching them, and posting reviews of them here. Expect that to start up sometime this week.
And then, there is something that... is going to be quite different.
It's like this: for awhile now I have been wondering if, well... I should perhaps consider going into ministry.
(Feel free to laugh at that. I don't mind. I find myself chuckling a little at it myself :-)
I could literally write thousands of words expounding upon that notion and why it is in my head and why I am entertaining both doubt and un-doubt about it.
Well, it occurred to me over the weekend that... maybe I should "try out" a bit what that would mean.
So beginning this coming Sunday... and I don't know what this will be about, 'cuz I really am just waiting for God to show me... there will be A Sermon A Week. And each Sunday for the next year, Lord willing, I will be posting a "sermon" (actually just a glorified essay) for anyone who might come across it.
To me anyway, that is gonna be much more interesting than Movies I've Never Seen. And hey, who knows: God might lead me to write a message based in some part on one of the films that I'm about to watch.
Well, like I said: Lord willing, this will be going on for the next year. And if I stumble and fall and fail to measure up to that goal well... I'll have tried. And I'll no doubt have learned something along the way (which itself will make this worth doing). But I really am going to aspire to go the whole way.
So then, expect the first chapter of Movies I've Never Seen in a few days and A Sermon A Week this coming Sunday! :-)
Sunday, February 06, 2011
GYPSY: Halfway through and more still coming!
One of the audience members was overheard today saying that this production of Gypsy by Theatre Guild of Rockingham County is one of the best musicals she has ever seen around here. And apparently she wasn't alone.
Last night's performance played to an almost solidly sold-out house! And normally there's a much smaller crowd for Sunday. Well, considering that this is a Super Bowl Sunday at that, I'd say it was about three-quarters full... which was impressive business.
It wouldn't surprise me if Gypsy sold out for this coming Friday and Saturday. And who knows: maybe even the final performance next Sunday. 'Twould be sweet!
So if this might be your first time enjoying the tale of the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee and her outrageous mother, or if you've seen the show many times (I met a lady today who saw the original Broadway run with Ethel Merman) you are in for a crazy good time! Gypsy runs for three more performances. Click here for more information.
(And I must say: I am exuberantly relishing the fact that I have the best line of the entire show :-P)
Today would have been the one hundredth birthday...
...of the last real President that the United States has had, and probably will have for a very long time to come (if ever again).
During the past week I've read a lot of "analysis" about the life and career of Ronald Reagan. Much of it done in the name of "demythologizing" the man: looking for the "true" Reagan, as it were. Most of it having to do with his actual record on taxes and the size of government (something that he was famously on record for wanting to dramatically reduce).
Ronald Reagan wasn't perfect. I don't know of any President that was (even George Washington gets demerits in my book for how he handled the Whiskey Rebellion). But, there is one thing, if nothing else, that will always make me consider Reagan to be the greatest President during my lifetime...
President Ronald Reagan destroyed the Soviet Union without firing a single shot or losing one life in combat on either side of the Cold War.
It didn't see fruition until the year after he left office. But it was the policies that Reagan began during his term that led to Russian communism bankrupting itself to the point that it could no longer be sustainable. Communism was going to fail regardless (it'll always look good on paper but in practice, well...). But its slow descent into ruin would have on its own most likely given the Soviet government enough desperation to conquer more territory... at terrible cost.
What happened to accelerate the Soviet Union's collapse? Three words: Strategic Defense Initiative. Yeah, the so-called "Star Wars" scheme. I'll never believe that Reagan seriously thought it was ever going to work. But the sheer idea of SDI was enough to drive the Soviet economy - already stretched thin 'cuz of its overwhelming military budget - to even worse levels of fiscal stress.
That might be the greatest stroke of statesmanship genius in any living memory. Certainly one of the finest in American history.
And if I need any more reason to think so highly of Reagan, it is this: sitting on a shelf just above my computer monitor, is a sizable chunk of the Berlin Wall. The wall that was going to last forever. The most tangible symbol of the Cold War. I'm looking at that stone-sized fragment of the wall even now: smeared in green and blue graffiti.
"Tear down this wall!", indeed.
So on this day, The Knight Shift raises a toast in memory of Ronald Reagan: All American.
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Opening Night of GYPSY was a riotous good time!
Just got back from Opening Night of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy and it was a scream! The house had a good crowd and everyone was laughing harder than I've seen in this county in a way long time!
Cigar (played by Yours Truly) and the talent of the Wichita House of Burlesque!
Left to Right: Tessie Tura (Ashley Pearson), Electra (Beverly Burke), and Mazeppa (Anne-Marie Castillo) 
I must admit: I wasn't sure about being in this show at first. But now I'm glad that I'm doing it. This has been some of the most fun that I've had in quite awhile.
Well, can ya blame me?
Left to Right: Tessie Tura (Ashley Pearson), Electra (Beverly Burke), and Mazeppa (Anne-Marie Castillo)
And here's me in my Cigar getup holding the real star of the show: Tebow Wasmund!
Now, I can't post any video from the show itself, 'cuz that would be some bigtime copyright violation (and in spite of my reputation that is something I have never approved of). But during rehearsal on Wednesday night we did make a few fun clips of myself in character as Cigar...
And here's the wildly talented Peggy Wasmund (yes, she's Tebow's owner) doing a completely surprise ad-libbed... performance.
I'm already looking forward to tomorrow night's show! Gypsy plays five more times between now and next Sunday. Click here for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's website for more information. Hope to see you there and... "let us entertain you!" :-)
Friday, February 04, 2011
My prayer for this day
I have to try. I can't not try.
I have only ever fought hardest for that which was worth fighting for.
I no longer know whether to expect anyone else to believe that. But my Lord and Savior knows.
Dear Father, please let all that I do be to Your glory, and not for my own sake.
I only ask that in Your own way, that You remember Your servant who has failed more times than not, but has ever sought to put You first.
Thursday, February 03, 2011
BEING BIPOLAR: Video Log 1
The idea hit a few days ago: as well as writing about having bipolar disorder as part of this blog's Being Bipolar series, that I could also do video entries as a supplement to the written material.
So today I went out and got a webcam and... well, here's the first one!
I intend to also record myself if/when a bipolar episode hits, and post the unedited footage of me talking about what it's like.
Expect more videos soon!
It's Batman! It's Scooby-Doo! It's... "Weird Al" Yankovic?!?
"It's the holy trinity of pop culture!"
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
For those following the BEING BIPOLAR series...
...and there are lots of you, apparently :-)
I am currently planning something of an experiment. If there are any questions - any at all, 'cuz there is very little that I have thought would be off-limits - that you have about bipolar disorder, e-mail them to me at theknightshift@gmail.com.
What I am particularly looking for are any questions that could be directed toward a person suffering bipolar, about what having bipolar is like.
Any question that you have about bipolar, shoot it to me. Y'all will be finding out sooner than later what this is for.
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Meet the proprietor of the Wichita House of Burlesque!
He's cheap! He's sleazy! He's loud!
He's... Cigar!
Just got back from another technical rehearsal for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy. This was my first in costume as Cigar: the owner of the burlesque joint that Louise and her crazy mother (and Herbie, can't forget poor Herbie) wind up at. And I am having a fantabulously great time in the role! Cigar is one of the most fun characters that I've played yet!
By the way, that entire costume is something that I put together. The fedora is one I've had for a few years now. And that bow-tie: I remembered that bow-tie very well 'cuz for this fourth grade program we did at Community Baptist School many years ago, Dad for whatever reason thought it would be classy if I wore a bow-tie. That thing was positively humungous when I was nine years old! Everyone in the sanctuary - students and teachers alike - were giggling at it. And that made me start giggling when it came time for me to speak my part! Ahhh, where do our fathers come up with such things...
Anyway, for some reason that tie just popped into mind and Dad found it sure 'nuff. And between that and the fedora and the cigar and all... yeah, that looks like a burlesque owner from the 1930s :-)
Gypsy opens this coming Friday night! Come if you can. This threatenspromises to be the most outrageous production in Rockingham County history!
