Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
A Tuesday evening reflection
The world tells us that we must be celebrity. God tells us that we can be legend.
The Knight Shift Seismic Forecast #2
Less than 24 hours following my most recent post regarding a theory I've been developing about seismic activity, Turkey was hit with a 7.2 earthquake.
In keeping with this blogger's goal of observation and collecting data, I will now state that if there is indeed validity to the theory, that there will be a significant possibility of severe seismic/geological activity within the next three to four weeks of this writing, with a chance of occurring much sooner. That seems to be the window of "opportunity" (for lack of a better word).
Harry Potter movies aparating away on December 29th
This has got to be the stoopidest marketing maneuver in the history of anything...
The folks at Warner Bros. are planning to remove all the Harry Potter movies from store shelves come December 29th. After that date, your only chance of getting Harry Potter on the shelves of your personal library (legally 'course) is to buy it secondary market a'la eBay.
Apparently Warners thinks that Disney's "Vault" model is the way to go with a film series that has already generated $12.1 billion. That should be enough money for anyone, right?
I haven't watched a Harry Potter movie since the fifth one, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, came out in theaters. Guess I could be honest and say that I've just been... waiting for the right time to revisit that film franchise (for a number of reasons). If that time comes in the near future, looks like I'm gonna have to buy the Blu-rays now and put 'em in the trunk for later. Not something I particularly care to do (also for a number of reasons).
Dumb, dumb, dumb business move. The one rationale that I've heard for Disney's treatment of the home market is that it allows for its movies to take advantage of whatever is the dominant technology at the time (VHS, then DVD, now Blu-ray etc.) I can't see how that possibly figures into Warner's strategy here. The only reason I can think of why the company is doing this, is to compel people to rush out and buy the Harry Potter movies as soon as they can for this holiday season.
Guess it'll be several more years before I or my children (Lord willing that I have any) will get to enjoy the Harry Potter series in the comfort of our own home...
Monday, October 24, 2011
I've had to watch last night's THE WALKING DEAD twice!
AMC's The Walking Dead has been firing on all cylinders from the first episode last year. This week's installment finally brought the story to Hershel's Farm: a place I'd been eager to see realized since I first began checking out the graphic novels.
Okay, watching it with the girlfriend last night, we had to shuffle the DVR back a couple o' times: when Daryl nonchalantly tells the walker to "Shut up" before coolly putting a crossbow arrow through its brain, and then the scene where Hershel tells Lori that he's a vet... as in, animal doctor and not a combat medic (the look in her eyes in that scene alone oughtta give Sarah Wayne Callies a best actress nomination at the Emmies).
Watching the episode again this afternoon, post the initial shock of yesterday evening's viewing, I gotta say: anyone else seeing a definite "faith versus hopelessness" vibe already in this season? Last week's season premiere had that full-bore already (even though that's the oddest Baptist church that I've ever seen: I mean, a crucifix in the sanctuary, no baptistery, and Orthodox-ish icons on the walls?!?). But it was Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene that really slammed it home last night. His quiet faith in God and his hope that things would get better in spite of how the entire world has seemingly gone down with no chance at all... well, I for one found it intensely refreshing, uplifting and encouraging.
This is why I love The Walking Dead so much. Yeah it's a show about a zombie apocalypse... but that's not what it's really about. It's about very realistic and sincere and frail human characters trying to keep going in the face of the very worst of circumstance. For my money, it's the best show on TV since Lost.
Can't wait for next week's episode! And for a certain friend of mine (name o' Michelle): are you sure that you still hate Shane after last night's chapter? :-P
Finally got my iPad 2 updated to iOS 5
The initial rush by everyone to update to iOS 5 along (has there ever been a file so large downloaded by so many at the same time?) with other factors kept me from upgrading my precious iPad to iOS 5 until this afternoon. But now that I've got it loaded... wowzers!!
The split keyboard alone is enough to compel me to tip my hat to the good folks at Apple. I'm also discovering that there are some new features on the camera (well, new to me anyway). Didn't have any problems updating: many people reported that stuff like contacts info etc. became lost during their own update procedures but happily, that time seems to have passed (something about how Apple's iTunes servers couldn't validate properly with all those folks attempting to install simultaneously).
Meanwhile I'm considering getting my first-ever smartphone, an iPhone 4S. Don't know if that means I'm officially "dumb" now or what... :-P
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Follow-up to previous post about seismic activity
On September 26th I wrote about a theory that I have been developing for some time now and in regard to that, there was a strong possibility of a moderate to severe earthquake happening in the near future. Well it's been almost a month since then and I thought it would be wise to revisit that prognostication...
There has been an increase in geological activity since I posted that, particularly around the Pacific Rim (the so-called "Ring of Fire"). In addition there have been numerous earthquakes in excess of 4.0 Richter throughout the American Southwest following the "forecast" (or whatever one wishes to call it) and now increasing volcanic activity in Iceland and a very interesting rise in earthquakes around El Hierro in the Canary Islands.
So what does this mean for my theory?
I suppose it could be some validation, but something like this still needs long-term data before I could comfortably say "Hey, this makes the possibility of earthquakes more likely to happen!" Although in the past month there has been one peer-reviewed and published journal study that kinda dovetails with this concept of mine.
So here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna keep watching this thing that I've been observing, and the next time the conditions are "favorable" (for lack of a better term), I'll make a note of it and we'll see what happens.
William Shatner sings "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Been quite busy behind the scenes here the past week or so folks, hence the sparsity of posts. Lots more coming soon, and that's a promise!
In the meantime, this oughtta tide y'all over for the weekend. It's Queen's classic song "Bohemian Rhapsody"... covered by William Shatner!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Libyan dictator is dead!
So sayeth various reports this morning...
I would spell out his name, but nobody seems to agree on HOW to spell it correctly in English! And my keyboard ain't so hot with Arabic. Me neither...
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Just saw the Season 2 premiere of THE WALKING DEAD
Ummmm...
WHAAAAAA...?!?!?!?!?
This was the best new television series last year. And after tonight's 90-minute season opener, this new one looks to be even better.
Just... wow!
Must. Watch. Again.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Oops... forgot I had a blog
Been busy this week. I'll try to post some over the weekend if the cats will let me.
Monday, October 10, 2011
It was a weird, WEIRD Saturday night!
So some friends and I went to "Weird Al" Yankovic's show in Charlotte on Saturday night, the latest stop during his new Alpocalypse concert tour.
And not for the first time (actually it's my third and I think Ed's ummm... fourth or fifth?), we got to meet Al :-)
Here's my filmmaking partner "Weird" Ed Woody with Al...
Here is good friend Marissa with Al! Okay, Marissa is, like, one of the most mature eighth graders that you will ever find. But on the trip to Charlotte yesterday she steadily began turning into this whole other person and when Al came out on stage Marissa went totally berzerko!! She is a bigtime Al fan and, well... you can imagine what happened when she got to meet her hero :-)
When we brought her back home at 2 a.m. I warned her father that he was going to see a Marissa that "I didn't know ever existed... but I mean that in a good way! She's just gonna be bouncing off the walls for the next few days" :-P
And finally, here is Yours Truly along with m'lady Kristen (proudly wearing her Nerd shirt which she ordered just for the occasion!) with Al...
Expect a write-up of the concert in the next few days (I'm still recovering/catching up on stuff), which was by far the most electrifying and fun concert that I've ever seen Al perform!
Friday, October 07, 2011
The streets are running red with Elmo
Plenty more photos - some not for the faint of heart - at Occupy Sesame Street.
TWILIGHT hair dryers and curlers?!?
Words fail...
Taken at the Best Buy in Burlington, North Carolina.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
And I'm thankful for it, too...
My own understanding of Christ will NEVER be YOUR standard for salvation!
(Just something that God put on my heart to write, at this very early morning hour.)
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Charles Napier has passed away
It is being reported tonight that mega-talented character actor Charles Napier has passed away at the age of 75.
Napier was in a wazoo of stuff over the many decades that he was active, including The Silence of the Lambs and The Blues Brothers. But to many (including myself) he'll forever most be remembered as Adam: the "space hippie" in "The Way to Eden" episode of Star Trek.
Here's a montage of some of his work...
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family tonight.
Steve Jobs has passed away
Breaking everywhere right now.
Dear Steve, thank you. During your time in this world, you really did leave it a far better place.
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family tonight.
Sent from my iPad
