"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.

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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.

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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?

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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!

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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7-year old boy doesn't want to go to church, heists car instead

A seven-year old lad in Plain City, Utah decided that it was too hot to go to church earlier this week.

So the kid sped off on a joyride in his dad's car.

911 calls soon flooded the Weber County Sheriff's Office about the pint-sized motorist. A dash-mounted video camera caught the following footage of the boy, who came to a stop and then dashed off (perhaps to find his mommy)...

Hey, that kid is driving better at 7 than I ever was at 16 :-P

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Rough-cut final scene of THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Flicking through channels this evening and happened upon There Will Be Blood. I watched this movie for the first time last month and personally I think it's one of the finest movies in many years. And right now I'm DVRing it in high-def. Boo-yah!

Anyway, when I first wrote about it my good friend Lee Shelton let me know that there was a rough version of There Will Be Blood's brutal ending floating around on YouTube. Here it is...

And by the way, CONGRATULATIONS to Lee and his wife on the new addition to their family: baby Olivia, who they adopted in China! Here's wishing them all the best :-)

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A "beer summit"?!

So in a little more than a hundred years we have gone from President Theodore Roosevelt negotiating peace between the Russians and the Japanese, to now President Barack Obama inviting Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley to the White House to drink some beer.

(Read my original thoughts last week about this whole inane situation.)

If this is what it now means to be President of the United States, then perhaps Jimmy Carter didn't fully employ the assets available to him. He should have turned his brother Billy Carter loose onto the international stage... and we could have had world peace within a few short months!

Can anyone honestly imagine Ronald Reagan or Harry Truman doing something like this? Not as President, anyway. The office carries with it a kind of dignified weight that, unfortunately, I'm not seeing honored very much at all lately. Then again, this sort of thing has been building/devolving for years anyway, so I guess it's only a natural progression.

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Coloring for blue M&Ms found to heal spinal injuries

In what has to be one of the more bizarre bits of medical news we've heard lately, the blue dye used to give blue M&Ms their color has been found to help mend severe spinal injuries.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York discovered that when tested on laboratory rats, Brilliant Blue G blocks the action of a chemical that causes more damage to neural tissue around an already injured area. Rats with damaged spines who received injections of BBG eventually regained the ability to walk, while those that did not receive the BBG treatment never recovered. The one side effect found so far: injections of BBG causes the skin to temporarily turn bright blue.

Research is still being conducted, but it's thought that human trials with BBG may begin within the next few years.

(I wonder if Brilliant Blue G can counteract all those effects of Yellow 5 in Mountain Dew that my old roomie used to tell me about...)

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Department of Homeland Security halts Monsterpocalypse strategy guide publication! "Radical ideas" espoused by board game a terrorist threat?!

Folks, please understand something: this is NOT a joke! That was my first thought when I read about this situation late last week. And then over the weekend I played Monsterpocalypse for the very first time (and very much enjoyed it) at HyperMind and this was the #1 topic of discussion among the faithful players meeting there.

So then I contacted the good people at Privateer Press, the producers of Monsterpocalypse, and received confirmation: the Department of Homeland Security has delayed the publication of the Monsterpocalypse Series 3: All Your Base Strategy Guide due to "national security concerns".

Throughout the day I have made attempts to contact the Department of Homeland Security, by both phone and e-mail. As of this writing no one in any official (or unofficial for that matter) capacity with the United States government has gotten back with me about why a collectible miniatures game focusing on giant monsters, aliens and robots wrecking havoc on tiny plastic cities is supposed to be a threat to national security.

But look! Press release!

Bellevue WA July 21, 2009—Privateer Press reports that the release of the Monsterpocalypse Series 3: All Your Base Strategy Guide for the Monsterpocalypse collectible miniatures game will be delayed due to national security concerns.

Homeland Security pulled the shipment for an intensive examination last week when it arrived in the United States. While no comment was made to the nature of the investigation, several crew members within Privateer Press believe the government became concerned over some of the more radical ideals espoused by several factions within the Monsterpocalypse game.

Privateer Press Chief Creative Officer Matt Wilson said of the investigation, "Privateer Press would like to extend its complete support to the men and women who defend our national security on a daily basis. However, I am confident that the investigation's outcome will reaffirm the rights of free speech and protest of the radical environmental group Green Fury at the perceived devastation man is having on our planet as well as the freedom of people to practice religion without governmental oversight—even those religions which may very well bring forth the minions of the ancient Lords of Cthul."

For more information and updates on this and other Monsterpocalypse news visit www.monsterpocalypse.com.

About the Monsterpocalypse Collectible Miniatures Game

The collectible miniatures game (CMG) Monsterpocalypse brings the giant-monster genre—a pop culture favorite—to the tabletop in the form of a fast-paced, action-packed game. Designed by Matt Wilson, the award-winning creator of WARMACHINE and HORDES, Monsterpocalypse leverages the critically acclaimed abilities of Privateer Press as a leading miniatures manufacturer to enter a new category of product with a property that appeals to a worldwide fan base of all ages. Players can visit www.monsterpocalypse.com for game previews and updates.


About Privateer Press, Inc.

Privateer Press, Inc. is a privately held producer of entertainment and hobby brands based in the Seattle area. Its products include the newly released Monsterpocalypse collectible miniatures game, the award-winning WARMACHINE and HORDES hobby miniatures games, the award-winning Iron Kingdoms property, Bodger Games, the full-color No Quarter Magazine, and the Formula P3 hobby line. To learn more about Privateer Press, visit www.privateerpress.com or contact the president, Sherry Yeary, at (425) 643-5900 or sherry@privateerpress.com.

July 21, 2009

Incidentally, something very similar was reported a month ago happening to comic book artist/writer Mark Sable, whose new graphic novel series Unthinkable deals with possible terrorist scenarios that begin coming true.

But so far as Monsterpocalypse goes: I suppose that this might well mark the very first time, ever, that the U.S. government has made an official position against giant dinosaurs, Martian invaders, and Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the realm of normal space and time.

Sleep soundly, folks! Whether it be protecting us from Taliban terrorists or Green Fury activists, the Department of Homeland Security is on the job!

I just wish that I could be anything but a nervous wreck. I mean, after making this video for HyperMind's entry for the Monsterpocapalooza event...

...does this mean that I'm now suspected by Homeland Security of colluding with "terrists" and using weapons of mass destruction?!?

In a different time and a saner age, that might be pretty funny. But when tiny plastic toys are considered a legitimate enough danger to American sovereignty as to warrant spending time and money stopping the publication of a game manual, something is seriously off-kilter in this country.

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PLEASE think of the children!!!

A great pic found by fellow blogger Ben Hwang...

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Review of WATCHMEN Director's Cut

A week ago Watchmen arrived on DVD and Blu-ray. You have a choice between getting the original theatrical edition (when the movie debuted back in March) or you can opt for the Director's Cut. There's also another version coming out later this fall that incorporates the "Tales of the Black Freighter" animated material into the movie itself. I'll most certainly be buying that when it comes out ('cuz I'm such a Watchmen nut)...

...but if you're wondering which version to get now, the Director's Cut stands as the definitive adaptation of the Watchmen graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Don't get me wrong: I loved Watchmen when it came out in theaters (read my original review here). But having watched the Director's Cut three times now, I cannot help but believe that had the studio execs let Zack Snyder release his original vision from the getgo, that Watchmen would have performed substantially better at the box office.

As a huge fan of the book, I had to applaud all the new additions that the Director's Cut brings to the Watchmen film. The flashback sequences, apart from Sally's, are each greatly extended. Jon's memory of the Comedian during the Vietnam War particularly stands out: I love the shot of the helicopter as it flies past Jon, with Eddie hanging on from the outside and opening fire on the Vietcong... and then landing and roasting one poor schmuck with a flamethrower (after igniting it with his cigar, how cool is that?). Rorschach gets much more dialogue - most of the new stuff being lifted straight from the book - and action. I don't recall the scene where he retrieves his equipment and his "face" as being in the theatrical version, but it's in the Director's Cut. The scene where Dr. Long is trying to talk with Rorschach in prison also has more to it. We see Jon teleport everyone out of the studio following the disastrous television interview. In his flashback on Mars we see Jon inscribing the hydrogen atom symbol on his forehead, and we also find out how the United States government determined that Jon was on Mars (via satellite telescope) when the theatrical edition never bothered to explain that.

But by far the biggest and most welcome - if also the most heartbreaking - new thing that Watchmen Director's Cut brings to the table is the death of Hollis Mason at the hands of the Knot-tops. Most of the scene is done from Hollis's point of view, as we see him fighting the costumed bad guys from his younger days as the original Nite Owl... and then the film juxtaposes the villains of that more innocent time with the unrestrained depravity of the modern day street gangs. All while the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana plays during the scene. That was a tragic but appropriate detail, if you've read the Under the Hood excerpts from the Watchmen graphic novel. It's not long after that when we see Dan, as the second Nite Owl, hear the news of Hollis's death while he and Rorschach are at the tavern and then vent his rage on an innocent Knot-top. Both scenes are brutal to an extreme that has never been witnessed in a comic book-inspired film before (incidentally, there's also far more gore during the assassination attempt on Adrian, and during Rorschach's killing of the child murderer).

To sum up: Watchmen Director's Cut feels like the complete and defining vision of Watchmen. There's a refinement and exposition here that was missing from the theatrical run, and I found myself "buying" the world of this alternative 1985 far more easily than I did when I first saw the movie in March. The film doesn't feel overwhelmingly lengthened, in fact I thought the new material made the time watching the movie go by even smoother. I'll give Watchmen Director's Cut a very high recommendation for your DVD or Blu-ray collection.

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National Novel Writing Month (like I need something ELSE to do...)

Inspired by my good friend Jenna St. Hilaire, I am taking part in this year's National Novel Writing Month.

So what the heck is National Novel Writing Month?

Between this coming November 1st and midnight on the night of November 30th, each participant will try to crank out a 50,000 word, 175-page novel from scratch. You can read more about it here.

As Jenna puts it, "...I smell challenge--the sort of challenge I cannot resist." So it is with me. And this is gonna be tough to do, not the least of which is because my life seems constantly besieged by all manner of general craziness (self-employed, more than occasional crises, trying to do what some will say is too much creative project already, community theatre, etc.).

But the biggest reason why I'm going to take a stab at "NaNoWriMo" is because I think this is going to be very therapeutic and cathartic for me as a writer.

It's like this: try though I have, writing fiction is very hard for me. I can write a fictional screenplay quite easily. But a long narrative novel? That is something that I have never been able to do. So I'm thinking that if compelled (by my own volition) to write a novel within the narrow span of one month, that it might break that stranglehold/bottleneck on my authoring skills. And maybe even free my mind and spirit to write more fiction.

It's gonna be hard. But in the end, I think it will be worth it.

So far as ideas for a novel go: I've had a few already since last night. There's one in particular that I'm inclined to go with at the moment, but we'll see what percolates in the ol' gray matter between now and October 31st.

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KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND to become a real movie!

Variety is reporting today that Spirit Pictures is setting out to adapt Kong: King of Skull Island as a feature film. The plan is to use motion-capture technology like what Robert Zemeckis used to make The Polar Express and Beowulf (i.e. very life-like computer modeling and animation).

The thought of that kind of filmmaking applied to Kong: King of Skull Island is enough to get me totally jazzed about this project...

Kong: King of Skull Island was a lavishly illustrated 2004 novel by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland. It serves as a sequel to the original 1933 movie King Kong (it even received the blessing from the family of King Kong creator Merian C. Cooper) as well as being a "prequel" of sorts in that it lays out the tale of what Skull Island was like before Carl Denham and the crew of the Venture arrived. I reviewed the book way back in late 2005 and had nothing but good to say about it. In fact, I recently wound up re-reading it and was just as overwhelmed by Kong: King of Skull Island as I had been the first time.

Trust me folks: if done right, this could be a seriously terrific movie. One that I would gladly pay to see several times at the theater (and even multiple times in IMAX). In the meantime, I'll be keeping an enthusiastic eye on this as it develops.

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Just a random thought for the day...

God does not work on our time. God works on His own time and it's more than a little silly to demand otherwise from Him.

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A most excellent quote to share this evening

"Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric."

-- Bertrand Russell

Found by my friend R. Lee Wrights (who keeps a terrific libertarian-minded blog that y'all should check out).

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Stating the obvious

Barack Obama's public approval ratings are plummeting through the floor.

His opponents are crowing about how Obama is now officially not as bad as George W. Bush was.

But let's call it for what this really means...

All this seriously demonstrates, unequivocally, is that twice in a row we have had Presidents of the United States who were/are so bad that they suck donkeys balls to no end.

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The demise of cursive handwriting

Among the unwitting casualties of our increasingly techno-mad society: good penmanship is becoming an endangered species. So notes Claire Suddath in the latest issue of Time...

I can't remember how to write a capital Z in cursive. The rest of my letters are shaky and stiff, my words slanted in all directions. It's not for lack of trying. In grade school I was one of those insufferable girls who used pink pencils and dotted their i's with little circles. I experimented with different scripts, and for a brief period I even took the time to make two-story a's, with the fancy overhang used in most fonts (including this magazine's). But everything I wrote, I wrote in print. I am a member of Gen Y, the generation that shunned cursive. And now there is a group coming after me, a boom of tech-savvy children who don't remember life before the Internet and who text-message nearly as much as they talk. They have even less need for good penmanship. We are witnessing the death of handwriting.

This takes me back to 1982, when Mrs. Casanega was teaching us in second grade how to write in cursive. By the end of the year, I felt like John Hancock himself. I'll always be grateful to her for giving us this skill (and I hold only myself accountable for that hideous beast of illegible scrawl that has arisen from my hands over the years... sigh).

Anyhoo, 'tis an intriguing commentary from Claire Suddath. Perhaps it's time to reinvest in teaching handwriting? Much like the samurai of old, I'm inclined to believe that it lends itself a certain self-discipline to the pupil and practitioner. A small detail to be sure... but a little refinement more often than not goes a long way in the scheme of things.

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WAY weird LOST video from Comic-Con

Every year since Lost began airing, its producers have let loose a teaser video for the upcoming seasons during Comic-Con. The one for Season 4 gave us our first glimpse of the Orchid station, and last year's hinted at the messed-up time/space stuff that this past season became notorious for.

So what did Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse unload for the sixth and final season of Lost?

Hurley as the CEO of Mr. Cluck's (what the...?!?!?):

Even for Lost, that is way out of left field.

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Something I've long wondered about...

I just saw a TV commercial for Lysol. And like usual it was boasting about how Lysol "kills 99% of household germs".

Okay so if that's true, then logically if I spray a can of Lysol twice on my furniture or toilet or whatever, then that should kill the remaining 1% of germs that survived the initial onslaught.

Right? Right?!?

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Are there any consistent politicians left?

As I write this, Drudge Report has a red-colored link to a story about Governor Rick Perry of Texas vowing that he would assert that state's Tenth Amendment rights if he had to in order to oppose President Obama's plans to nationalize health care.

Hey, I'm all for that. I think every state should consider using that Tenth Amendment. But does Governor Perry seriously oppose Obama's mad medical plot on account of principle?

Because as recently as two and a half years ago Perry was very much for government-mandated medicine! It was in February of 2007 that he issued an executive order mandating that all girls entering the sixth grade be vaccinated against cervical cancer. The only vaccine available, Gardasil, is manufactured by Merck & Co.

And it soon turned out that Perry was more or less in Merck & Co.'s pocket, having received $6000 from the corporation's political action committee and that his former chief of staff was one of three registered lobbyists for Merck.

Ultimately the executive order was defeated by act of legislation, after a tremendous uproar from doctors, parents and others. Had it been enforced, that would have been all of Texas's young ladies having to get a shot at $120 each... with the money going to one of Perry's campaign contributors.

Rick Perry wanted to take a vital health care decision out of the province of families and their private practitioners, and hand it over to bureaucrats and government flunkies.

Sounds like Rick Perry was "for it before he was against it" when it comes to government-managed health care.

I am so damned sick and tired of these partisan #&@$ers who apparently have no virtues or principles that they aren't willing and able to sell out for the right price. And I mean both of the major parties that are dominating this country's politics.

How many elected officials in high office can I say that I respect? I'll only remark that I can number them all on one hand. And maybe only one of those is from my own home state of North Carolina.

It's not just a parliament of whores. It's a system-wide corruption.

So when the hell are we the people gonna stop falling for the "shuck and jive" of these bastitches and whip them all out of where they should have never been allowed in the first place?

Or to paraphrase that Nazi agent from Raiders of the Lost Ark: "Shoot them. Shoot them all!"

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Concept footage/semi-teaser thingy for TRON LEGACY

This afternoon Disney finally made an official release of that concept footage for Tron Legacy, next year's sequel to the 1982 movie about a parallel reality that exists within the realm of computers. This is the same footage that Disney showed at Comic-Con last year, but with the new Tron Legacy logo...

Click here to zap back down onto the game grid.

And you might wanna also take a looksee at Flynn Lives, a Tron Legacy teaser website about what has happened to Kevin Flynn (the character that Jeff Bridges played in Tron and will reprise again in the sequel). It hints that in the years since Flynn took over ENCOM he has become a "Bill Gates meets Howard Hughes"-type of person.

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Wanna meet the proprietor of THE KNIGHT SHIFT in person?!

I'm planning on being at HyperMind in Burlington, North Carolina tomorrow for most of the day, doing videography for their big Monsterpocalypse store-wide event but also gonna finally play this game for the first time ever. Here's the promo video that I made for it (which is also in the Top Ten for the Monsterpocapalooza contest!)...

Anyhoo, the festivities start at 9 a.m. at HyperMind, located at 3396 South Church Street in Burlington, North Carolina. It's a family-run store with great atmosphere and good people always stopping by to play Monsterpocalypse, Magic: The Gathering, Star Wars Miniatures, Dungeons & Dragons and just about everything else :-)

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Gary Oldman sez: Third Batman movie shoots next year!

Awesome news coming out of Comic-Con in San Diego: Gary Oldman - who plays James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's Batman movies - was asked during a panel about his upcoming movie The Book of Eli about when the next Batman film would begin filming. Oldman's reply was surprisingly open (read that as: he was encouraged to let it slip by The Powers That Be): "We start shooting next year, so we are at least two years away. But you didn't hear it from me!"

So that potentially puts the next chapter of the definitive Batman film saga with a release date of 2011.

Until then, I guess we just keep watching The Dark Knight: a film so overwhelmingly good that I couldn't bring myself to write a review of it. But if that movie was any indication, I suspect that the next installment is going to ramp up the "escalation" and start bringing in a lot more freak villains to Gotham City... and ironically, Gotham will come to realize that it has no other choice but to turn to Batman for help.

However the story goes: We're getting more Batman movie people!! That's always a good thing (unless Joel Schumacher is making the movie...)

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Missing: Michael Jackson's nose

For the first time ever, it is not a joke.

Michael Jackson's prosthetic nose has disappeared. It was discovered gone as the late performer's body lay in a Los Angeles morgue. In its place was "a small, dark hole surrounded by bits of cartilage": what remained of Jackson's decades of plastic surgery.

But the good news is that a security camera at the morgue caught this image of two individuals who are suspected of heisting Jackson's nose...

(Okay, that's actually a still from Woody Allen's 1973 classic comedy film Sleeper, which was the first thing that came to mind after I read this story :-)

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Fifty years ago today: The "Kitchen Debate" between Nixon and Krushchev

On July 24th, 1959, one of the more unusual events of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union took place. At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, visiting U.S. Vice-President (and future President) Richard Nixon accompanied Russian Premier Nikia Krushchev on a tour of a model "typical" American house, complete with all the modern conveniences of the late Fifties. It was meant to be a goodwill gesture on the part of both countries... but soon devolved (or escalated) into a rambunctious argument between Nixon and Krushchev about the pros and cons of their respective countries' systems of capitalism and communism. The impromptu discussion reached its climax in the kitchen of the model house, where Nixon enthusiastically pointed out American household appliances such as an automatic dishwasher.

And so it was that the "Kitchen Debate" received its more-or-less formal moniker.

Here's a newsreel clip of the event...

Fifty years ago, our country's leadership was arguing against government-run industry. A half-century later, and our "leaders" seem hellbent on running as much industry as they possibly can.

Kinda makes you pine for a simpler time, don't it?

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The dumbest thing Obama has done as President thus far...

...and Obama is doing plenty of dumb things since taking office just six months ago.

I'm talking about how President Obama brought up the arrest of his friend and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. during his press conference last night, denouncing the police involved in the matter as acting "stupidly".

Here's what was wrong with that: in doing so, Obama has now compromised his moral authority as President of the United States... and particularly when it is seen that he did so on behalf of his own personal and private interests. Obama has also - and in a more egregious fashion than any President in perhaps living memory - used his public office to level an accusation beyond the scope afforded him by the Constitution. And in doing that, Obama has now involved the Presidency in what should have remained a matter for the local community.

(Incidentally, Bill Cosby has now weighed in and said Obama's remarks last night "shocked" him: "If I'm the president of the United States, I don't care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I'm keeping my mouth shut.")

I have thought for some time that Obama has been neither wise or inspiring. His comments last night only solidify that sentiment in my mind...

...but then, it's been twenty years or so since we did have a President that was wise and inspiring, so why should I be expecting any different?

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Latest stories of law enforcement gone bonkers

As I shouldn't have to state every time I post something about this: I do believe that most of those who choose to serve in law enforcement are doing so honorably. But I also must point out that a virtue like trust does not come automatically with a badge and a uniform. Trust must be earned and kept. And it is inherent to a free and peaceable society that all citizens be vigilant in the upholding of liberty.

So it is that The Knight Shift now presents more of the sadly seemingly-escalating chronicles of cops gone screwy.

The first comes from Philadelphia, where police officer Alberto Lopez Sr. publicly bullied civilian Agnes Lawless in a convenience store because Lawless was involved in a minor fender-bender with Lopez's son a short time earlier. At one point Lopez shoved his service pistol into Lawless's face. Here is the footage from the Lukoil's security camera...

The next story comes from Wyoming, where Franklin Joseph Ryle Jr., formerly of that state's Highway Patrol, plead guilty in federal court to charges of depriving a man of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizures by kidnapping him. Earlier this year and while on duty as a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, Ryle "stopped a Wal-Mart truck with the intent to murder its driver and stage an accident with the truck that would either injure Ryle or kill his wife, allowing him to seek a monetary settlement from Wal-Mart."

And rounding out this report, Washington D.C. chief of police Cathy Lanier is blasting iPhone users as "cowardly". What has Lanier so honked-off is Trapster: a new iPhone app that tells you when you are approaching a red-light camera, speed trap and other safe-driving revenue-enhancing schemes. I say: things like the red-light cameras are a cowardly tactic on the part of government agencies... and if citizens want to strike back at them, more power to them!

(I wonder how many iPhone users have bought Trapster all because of Cathy Lanier making such a fuss about it? Bet that app's creator is now enjoying some profit on account of the free publicity! :-)

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DNA not the same throughout body, study finds

For all these years it's been assumed that every cell of an organism shared the same DNA. The differentiation between cells only arising from the synthesis and properties of the associated proteins that were expressed by the DNA... but otherwise, a cell is the same as every other cell in the body.

Funny how quickly old assumptions can easily get tossed aside, ain't it?

Now comes word that DNA is NOT the same throughout all cells of an organism... or throughout a human organism anyway. That's the finding of a study in Montreal regarding the genetic causes of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

It's both a fascinating read and a rather scary one, when you begin to consider all the medicine that has been based on the notion that our genes are uniform throughout our cells. And then, you have to wonder what the implications are regarding something like DNA evidence in a court case. Technically, I don't think it will matter much... but just wait and see how long it takes before a legal challenge comes up in a paternity suit or murder trial on grounds that all genetic testing is now suspect.

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It's Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger!

Last night I started on the Watchmen Director's Cut DVD (review coming soon) and I was thinking then: Jackie Earle Haley might do all right as Freddy Krueger in the upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Now comes the first photo of Haley in the trademark hat, sweater and glove...

Can't see much of the face 'cuz it's swathed in shadow, but just going by this one pic it looks like Haley is channeling Freddy in all the right ways (though that may not necessarily be the healthiest of things to channel).

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HyperMind's video for the Monsterpocalypse contest makes the Top Ten!

Two weeks ago I let y'all know about a promotional video that I worked on for HyperMind, that groovy game store in Burlington. The video was for HyperMind's big Monsterpocalypse day this coming Saturday, and was also an entry in that game's Monsterpocapalooza mega-event going on this summer.

Well, the votes have been tallied and our lil' video has made it into the Top Ten! There wound up being about 22 entries altogether. We are very thankful to be in one of the top spots, and we wish to thank everyone who voted for us!

Here it is again if you haven't seen it yet...

Again, thank you to all who watched and rated our video. The final winner will be announced on July 31st... and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed 'til then! :-)

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BBC releases first look at Matt Smith in full DOCTOR WHO garb

Production has now begun on next year's season of Doctor Who (following the hiatus it took during 2009) and the BBC has published the first photo of Matt Smith in full costume. Smith will be the next actor to take on the iconic role of the Doctor (taking over from David Tennant).

So what does the Eleventh Doctor look like? Here he is (along with new companion Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan)...

Heck, that's darn near how I dress on a regular basis! I mean, nice shirt along with rugged pants and sturdy boots... except I don't usually wear a bow tie :-P

Next season's Doctor Who will be the first with new showrunner Steven Moffat at the helm. If that name doesn't ring a bell, I probably only have to mention that he wrote the previous episodes "The Girl in the Fireplace" and the "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" two-parter and that should be enough to make you swoon with eager anticipation.

Can't wait to see the Doctor's newest adventures in time and space when they begin again next spring!

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"That's one small step for a man..."

"...one giant leap for mankind."

(And before anybody gives me grief over it, in the past few years audio analysis has determined that Armstrong did indeed say "step for a man" :-)

Forty years ago today, on July 20th, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, with the assistance of a few hundred thousand of their good friends back on Earth, fulfilled an ages-old dream when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Armstrong was the first man to stretch his legs on the lunar surface, while Aldrin has the distinction of being the first person to "drain the main vein" on another world.

I didn't know until this past year that before they began their "extra-vehicular activity" (in layman's terms: they went outside the spaceship), that Aldrin also took communion on the Moon. At the time he was an elder of Webster Presbyterian Church and asked that a communion kit be prepared for his mission. The chalice he used on the lunar surface is now kept by the church.

Now, wanna see something really cool? Just in time for the fortieth anniversary, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken this image of the Apollo 11 landing site! You can clearly see the Eagle lunar module's descent stage, just as Armstrong and Aldrin left it forty years ago. The LRO has found four more Apollo landing sites thus far. Future photos will be even more detailed.

Forty years ago today came the greatest technological triumph of human history. It did not come cheap, and it was not without sacrifice. And it seems that somewhere along the way, we've lost that same spirit which once upon a time, did put a man on the moon.

But I like to believe that it's there still... and can be found again.

Here's a toast to the people of Apollo 11. May what they accomplished ever serve to inspire us all.

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Cultist Johnny Robertson reacts to this blog (Plus: Facebook is laughing!)

It started several months ago, when I began cryptically referring to what I called "Evil Incarnate(tm)" on my Facebook updates. It wasn't long before many friends started asking "Hey Chris, what are you talking about?!" (or words to that effect).

So that's how it came to be that quite a few people on Facebook are now watching - and laughing at - local cult leader Johnny Robertson. I'd dare say that quite a considerable amount of WGSR's bandwidth is now being used by people from Florida to New Hampshire to Oregon who are tuning in via streaming video just to giggle at this loon and his cronies. And now we've started doing a live "running commentary" over Facebook where we poke holes and point out the lies in Robertson's mad rantings, along with generally making fun of him and his followers.

So one friend further west pointed out something a few minutes ago: that Robertson is crowing this evening about how supposedly he got some ministry in this area to change their website... but Robertson "ain't said nothin'" about how this very blog has caused him to shut up about something!

And... it's true.

Since The Knight Shift first revealed a number of weeks ago that the "Church of Christ" cult has been run out of the town of Reidsville, Robertson has not once on his broadcasts mentioned any "Reidsville meeting"! And neither has Robertson spoken any further about any meeting of the group taking place in Ruffin... which Robertson claimed on the July 5th broadcast had been going on for "more than a year". All that the cult currently has going on is the "Martinsville Church of Christ" and the "Eden Church of Christ".

Some are beginning to wonder if it has that much left, but I'm gonna withhold comment on that for now.

(Actually, I'm on top of a bunch of stuff that I'm withholding for the time being...)

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ROCK BAND will allow indie artists to add own songs (and make $$$ from it!)

Are you an independent musician looking to promote your work? Might wanna check this out: you'll soon be able to add your own original music to the popular music game Rock Band! Indie artists and bands will use Microsoft's XNA Creator's Club to mesh the song's MIDI file to the format used by the game. The work will then be submitted to other Creator's Club programmers for critique and then must meet final approval by Harmonix and MTV Games. After they go live the songs will sell between 50 cents and 3 dollars, with the artists getting 30% of the cut! Not a bad business model at all, and there's the potential for some great publicity for indie musicians.

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Today's FOXTROT takes on Comic-Con

One of these days, Lord willing, I will go to Comic-Con. Just to say that I attended at least once. In the meantime, today's Foxtrot strip suggests what might be a way to simulate the experience...

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Walter Cronkite has passed away

As I got older I came to see how in some ways, he obviously did let the sense of power get the better of him. I'm not going to not acknowledge that.

But I'm choosing not to dwell on that tonight. None of us are perfect. And there were fewer people that more defined television news coverage or came to be an icon of modern America than did Walter Cronkite.

"The most trusted man in America" passed away at age 92 this evening. Ironically on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which even more solidified his reputation as both a calm newsman and a giddy spectator alongside history in the making... something that happened many times over his long career.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.

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Is God trying to tell me something?

"God doesn't give you the people you want, He gives you the people you NEED. To help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you and to make you into the person you were meant to be."

Twice in as many days, I have heard a friend or relative say those exact words.

Curious, that...

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Fridays always need a good (bad?) joke

What did Helen Keller say when she found the cheese grater?

"That was the most violent book I've ever read!"

(Never heard that one before. Thanks to Bob Ceres for telling it!)

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Vice-President Biden sez: We have to KEEP SPENDING to keep from going bankrupt

Read about it here.

I would say that this country is in the hands of madmen... but then I cannot but think that we have been that way for quite some time.

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Jessica Wanstall and the one that DIDN'T get away!

The big fish in the photo is a nearly 9-foot long catfish weighing 193 pounds.

And that grinning lil' girl holding it is Jessica Wanstall, 11 years old, 4-feet 10-inches tall and weighing 83 pounds. She's the young lady who caught the fish on the River Ebro in Spain.

Bet ya it won't be no ordinary fish tale Jessica tells her mates when she comes back from holiday...

Click here to reel-in the story of Jessica and her record catch!

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Canadian toddler in toy truck survives 13 kilometer river ride

Demetrius Jones, just turned all of three years old, was on a camping trip with his family in the British Columbian wilderness when he went out for a lil' spin on his battery-powered miniature Chevrolet Silverado.

And then young master Demetrius chose to attempt to turn his Chevy into an amphibious vehicle.

Demetrius drove his toy truck into the nearby river and was swept away by the current. His frantic family and Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an intensive search for the tyke, expecting the worse...

...but three hours later Demetrius Jones was found alive and laughing and 13 kilometers (a little over 8 miles) away by a group of fishermen. Demetrius had clung to the truck - what he called his "boat" - for the entire crazy ride. After being treated for mild hypothermia at the hospital, he was soon released.

Incidentally the toy truck was pulled from the river and still works fine.

(Bet I'm not the only one who thinks Chevy should work out a huge endorsement deal with Demetrius and his family: "Like a rock!" :-)

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The Rondina Family: Brother and sister Christian filmmakers racking up awards with LEGO animation!

They work with a medium found at any typical Toys R Us... but their vision is as grand as Cecil B. DeMille's.

Anthony and Jessica Rondina are a talented brother/sister pair out of Huntersville, North Carolina that got into animation with a high school project. A few more films under their belt and now their feature Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled is sweeping up film festival prizes and earning the duo widespread acclaim! Christian-Movie.com interviews the Rondinas about their Gideon Production Group, how they animate with LEGO minifigures, their future projects and how they dedicate it all to God. And if you wanna see more of the Rondina pair's awesome work, mash down here for their official website!

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When Star Wars meets classic art...

...it's quite often an entrancing spectacle. And sometimes even a pretty disgusting one: witness this rendition of Darth Sidious (left) as if it has been done by the great master Beougereau.

Worth1000.com is currently hosting Round 3 of their Star Wars/Classic Art mashup series, and it will have you both in stunned awe and sidesplitting laughter! And yet, Renaissance art ever seems to be the perfect motif for that saga of a galaxy far, far away.

And if you want to see some earlier Star Wars/classic renderings, here's Worth1000.com's first batch and here's the results of their second call for the same theme. And Something Awful has a similar thing going on too.

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Man charged $23,148,855,308,184,500.00 for pack of cigarettes

Josh Muszynski of Manchester, New Hampshire went to the local convenience store and bought a pack of Camel cigarettes. He put the purchase on his debit card. And then when he got home found out that he had been charged more than TWENTY THREE QUADRILLION DOLLARS for his smokes.

Turns out to have been a programming error on the part of Visa, and apparently it's hit a number of its cardholders. Visa and his bank quickly resolved the issue for Muszynski, and he was no longer stuck with a tab that was more than 2007 times the current national debt.

But hey, as bad as inflation is getting, it's just a matter of time before all our purchases are this astronomical! :-P

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I don't post "Beautiful" nearly enough on this blog...

...so here is a photo of my second cousin Lauryn, who is celebrating her 22nd birthday:

And here is a photo of Lauryn and her mother (and my cousin) Robin. They could be - and have been - mistaken for sisters!

And in case any of y'all are wondering: Yes, ALL the women in my family are this beautiful! :-) Not to mention very sweet and among the most Christian ladies I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Anyways... Happy Birthday Lauryn!

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