From the estate of Robert Knight...

This past day was a bittersweet one.

My sister and Dad's sister and her husband and I set to work on cleaning out the basement of my parents' house.  Just something that has to be done, sooner than later.  The entire house is being cleaned out, top to bottom.  Because in a few months the house that my family has called home for all these decades will be ours no more.

On a more personal note, I will be looking for an apartment soon, depending on where the Lord leads me.  Which, could be literally anywhere.  For the first time in my life I am truly on my own.  I did everything that I could for Mom and Dad.  Now is time at last to see what's out there.  I can go anywhere, do anything.  It's a very thrilling time in my life... and I'm feeling younger than I have felt in years.  Maybe I'll stay around here.  Or relocate to Florida.  Lately the notion of doing some overseas missionary work has crept into mind.  So many places where I could probably be happy.  Maybe at last the little bit of happiness that I've always wanted, even.

This is what Dad, and Mom, would have wanted of me, no matter where it is that I go.  And that could be any number of places.  There are only two absolutes: Tammy the Pup will be accompanying me (that little girl and I are attached at the hip) and there must be real bona-fide broadband Internet.  All this time I've been using a satellite connection and there's not only a monthly data quota, but also HORRIBLE latency.  Wherever the new digs are will certainly be a place where I can do online gaming with "Weird" Ed and all our other wacky pals.  Not to mention getting to use a Roku.

But that's yet to come.  Right now, there is the very difficult business of settling Dad's estate.  Something that I had no idea was so wrought with intricacies and hurdles.

So we spent most of the day cleaning the basement.  Going through everything.  So much of Mom and Dad's belongings and darn nearly all of it triggering memories for me.  I was literally telling Anita and my aunt and uncle the year and day that we got this item and that.  Such as the VCR that Dad bought three weeks before Christmas in 1984.  And the stereo that was a present to Mom in 1979, when I was almost six years old.  And "newer" things like the first satellite receiver, from 1997 when it was still Primestar.

All of those were so shiny and new once upon a time.  Now useless and collecting dust and forgotten about, as will be with most of the possessions around us eventually.

"Life is a vapor".  The materials which we accumulate, much more so.

So much of what we found brought back many, many cherished memories for all of us.  When we came across Dad's cap collection, that hit me hard.  He collected so many caps over the years.  We didn't know what to do except to put it with everything else going into the dumpster we've rented.  And for a while, doing that walloped me hard.  But there are other caps of his that I can hold onto, and so I can still honor his memory that way.

Some of what we've found will be sold at an estate auction later.  The rest is consigned to that dumpster.  And soon that will be the end of that.

Well, there is one other thing worth mentioning.  At long last I am looking at selling off most of my Star Wars collection.  First I have to get it cataloged... which could take weeks.  Then I have to figure out how exactly to sell it: eBay or Craigslist or somesuch.  It all needs to go to good homes.  But I'm going to keep the pieces that have especially great importance to me.  I'm still debating the Slave Leia cardboard stand-up that my sister gave me for Christmas when I was in college: she said that putting it in my apartment would make sure that I woke up to a woman every morning (her words).

It's finally sinking in.  This home will soon no longer be "home".

But I think that things will work out fine.  God has taken care of me this far along.  Maybe He will bring me a little further.

There is one thing from the estate of Robert Knight that I'm not sure how we are going to dispose of.  It's a cache of items which I discovered this afternoon, on a high shelf - untouched for decades - in the basement.  As I was pulling out dust-covered jars and bottles, some dating to the Fifties, my hand touched something round and metal.  And when I saw what it was, I could scarcely believe it.

Look!  Billy Beer!

Dad had told me years ago that he had some of this stuff, but until this past afternoon I had never laid eyes on it.  And next to the Billy Beer cans (which were still filled with beer) there were a few cans of J.R. Ewing's Private Stock, which I assume was from around 1980 and the "Who Shot J.R.?" hype.

Billy Beer.  Somehow, that made all the work and yes, heartbreak that we went through this past day worth it.  It's the kind of thing that Dad would have bought, as a novelty if nothing else.  I don't know what I'm going to do with those cans.  Maybe donate them to some strange museum for this kind of thing?

Hey, Billy Beer can't be all bad, can it?

"MMMMMMM... We elected the wrong Carter."

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The shortest scientific journal paper published... ever

"The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of 'Writer's Block'" is the title of one Dennis Upper's article, published in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in the fall of 1974.  In terms of structure and syntax it is in every way a well-researched, thoroughly annotated and concisely presented scientific paper.

It is also the shortest such paper ever published by a journal.

I don't dare excerpt it here.  You'll have to visit the article that Science Alert has about it.  Much thanks to great friend of this blog Dewana Hemric for passing it along!

EDIT:  Real Clear Science has compiled a few other brilliantly terse published science articles.  I like this one especially, a fairly recent article investigating neutrinos traveling faster than light...

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Big Bird almost flew on the doomed Challenger flight

Nearly thirty years after the Challenger disaster, it is now coming out that the first "regular citizen" to fly on a space shuttle mission was originally going to be an eight-foot tall yellow Muppet loved and adored by what has become generations of devoted fans.

Strange, but true: Big Bird almost had a seat on Challenger for its final flight.

In the new documentary I Am Big Bird, the most massive fowl on Sesame Street was in early talks to fly as he'd never flown before.  Muppeteer Caroll Spinney would have gone aboard Challenger for mission STS-51L.  It was meant to be something that would enthuse and excite children about the space program.

Can you imagine that?  Big Bird himself in orbit around the Earth, talking to children via live television.  To say nothing of what would have been some amazing footage for Sesame Street itself.

There was one, errr... "little" problem with the scheme.  NASA determined that the Big Bird costume would have been too big to really be practical aboard the orbiter.  And so it would be schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe who was scheduled for the mission instead.

"It made my scalp crawl to think I was supposed to be on that," Caroll Spinney has said.

Click here to read the Daily News's article about Spinney's... and Big Bird's... narrow escape from death.

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For the first time since late February...

...I am writing for my book.

Let's summarize for a moment.  Last May and up until late October, my book was going at a very good pace.  Oh sure, there were some fits here and there, and I made a few mistakes from which I learned a great deal (and made the book much better, I think) but as this sort of thing goes, it's my understanding that this was going along better than a lot of first-time authors.

Then Dad had his stroke.  And a little over two weeks later he passed away.

Things have been in turmoil since then.  And the past few weeks especially.  I am now looking at some very drastic life changes which I had not had to consider anytime during the course of my life.  And on top of all of that, work on my book practically ground to a halt.

Then in late January, I was able to write again.  And a little more work on it was accomplished.  But then around mid-February my progress was halted.  By a very hard obstacle which I could not get through or get around.  I had come to a place where I was having to confront things in my history as a bipolar person that were extremely difficult to revisit.

It was like hitting a concrete wall.  I could bang my fists against it as hard and as often as I could, but it would not budge.  Would not be marred.

But then came this past month.  Two things happened.  The first was the trip I took to Florida to visit my family there: what I'd been plotting to do for years and years.  It was time away from the things that had burdened my heart since this past fall.  More than that, it refreshed my spirit.  I learned anew what it is to be alive... and to be thankful for that.  Sitting here trying to write all this time, barely leaving the house because of indifference to the world beyond, an aching emptiness in my soul the only persistent feeling I knew... none of that is healthy.  Driving to Florida was the longest overland journey I've ever taken alone.  Being welcomed by my family filled my heart with joy.  The sights that I saw there, the laughter and the fellowship... all of it renewed my strength and resolve.  When I came home over a week later, it was with a sense of life that I had not known for too long.  And I was determined to make the most of that and to never stop appreciating it.

The second thing came a few days after returning from Florida.  Some of you are familiar with Forcery: the film we made ten years ago (has it really been that long?!).  One of the brightest highlights of that project was Melody Hallman Daniel.  Her portrayal of Frannie Filks - the obsessed Star Wars fan holding George Lucas hostage - was hilarious, hypnotic... and at times downright scary.  It has become legendary in many quarters.  It was heavily featured in the award-winning documentary The People vs. George Lucas.  It was touched upon in a Time article and several other publications.  From the first time that we all came together, Melody has been a very dear and precious friend.  Following Dad's funeral service, she and Chad Austin and Ed Woody and myself came together for the first time in more than a decade.  I was really overwhelmed by the bond that we shared, that had come about from our little project together.

Well, Melody had been wanting to visit Reidsville again for quite some time, and we wound up making that happen this past week.  Not just Melody but also her service dog, Sasha.  I knew all along during the month or so before she came that her visit would help me overcome the block that had been in my mind.  She was my counselor, my sounding board, someone who reassured and held me accountable when I needed it.  It was her suggestion: that I should not be alone while I was going over some very difficult material that had accumulated during the last several years.  It was a good idea.  I'm thankful that it was Melody herself who was here when it came time to do that.

And hey, Melody was working on a book project also: translating into English a well-respected book by a Croatian author.  So we had two writing endeavors going on under the same roof, sometimes in the same room.  All while Sasha and my mini dachshund Tammy were playing with each other.

Florida renewed my spirit.  Melody's visit renewed my strength of purpose.  More than enough than I needed to get past that excruciatingly painful block that I was slamming myself against to no avail.

Today I began writing again for the first time since the end of February.  What has been an obstacle, is now something to at last be surmounted.  Is it still painful to read that material?  I'd be lying if I denied that it was.  But it doesn't have to haunt me as it has been.

The book is back on course.  And I think that this months-long struggle will prove to in the end to have been a good thing.

Just some thoughts from the writing process.  A little insight into the mind of a first-time book author.

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Saw AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON last night!

Okay, it's not a "perfect" movie.  I for one would have appreciated more of Ultron's legendary Oedipus complex between himself and his "father" (who in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity is Tony Stark).  But those little problems aside, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a gob-smockingly powerhouse of a ride comin' at ya, and in this viewer's opinion it's more than the ideal movie to kick off a summer season.

So we caught it last night during its preview showings (it officially opens today).  "We" being longtime friend/artistic collaborator Melody Hallman Daniel who's been visiting here for the past week, her service dog Sasha, and Yours Truly.  After what seemed like a dozen trailers (alas! the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer was not one of them, and if it had been I was going to stand up wave my hands frantically while screaming "YES YES YES!!").  The film starts with our heroes taking out a Hydra installation in Eastern Europe, the prize possession of which is that pesky scepter that Loki has been using in previous entries of the franchise.  The team brings it back to Avengers headquarters, where Tony Stark asks for some time to examine it.  And so he begins to mess with things beyond even his understanding and which should not be tampered with.  Of course, this can't end well.

Avengers: Age of Ultron, I thought, was much like the story of Frankenstein.  About a new creature brought about either by design or accident that grows beyond the control of its creator.  In this case, said creature is determined to become God by wiping out all humanity, to say nothing of evolving itself.  And so it falls to the Avengers to stop him/it.

I thought that in some ways this was a stronger ensemble film than The Avengers was in 2012.  In this movie, everyone gets their chance to shine (especially Hawkeye, who has been holding out on some things from his teammates).  There is a greater sense of depth here among our heroes.  If only there had been more screen time to devote to that... but for a comic book film, it's still fine.

I enjoyed it immensely.  So did Melody.  And so did Sasha.  Yes, Sasha watched it and she communicated to Melody that she thought it was good, but also that she didn't like the bad guy.  Which from a dog's perspective means that she thought that Ultron (played with brilliant menace by James Spader) was a great bad guy.  Maybe Sasha should have her own blog reviewing movies: according to Melody she seems to have a great sense for this sort of thing.

Anyhoo, if you want a great popcorn flick to take your mind off of the even crazier stuff happening all around us, as well as a solid new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you'd be doing yourself a heaping disfavor if you didn't catch Avengers: Age of Ultron at least once during its theatrical run.  I give it two thumbs up.  Melody gives it two thumbs up.  Sasha gives it a high five and a tail wag.

By the way, it goes without saying with this sort of thing: don't leave the theater when the credits begin to roll.  There is one more surprise left that seems to be playing into the larger game that Marvel and Disney are taking this franchise.

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Iron Man by Cameron Hobbs

Tomorrow (or later tonight depending on how you gauge this sort of thing) is the premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron in cinema houses across the country.  And just in time for that, Cameron Hobbs has delivered another work of art: this time it's a frontal profile of Iron Man poised for action:

Worthy of hanging in the office of Tony Stark himself!

Find more of Cameron's work at his official Facebook page as well as the original Superhero Art page.

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One hundred years ago today: the Battle of Gallipoli

Yesterday on this blog we remembered the one hundredth anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide.  One day after that came another historic event of World War I, also happening to be associated with Turkey.

It was on April 25th, 1915, that Great Britain along with most of her Commonwealth nations (Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and India) as well as France launched what is arguably one of the most ambitious operations of twentieth century warfare: the Gallipoli Campaign.

British infantry land on Lemnos during the Battle of Gallipoli

The Gallipoli offensive had as its goal the securing of the Dardanelles between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, which would have given Russia a sea route to its allies.  But the British and French figured that they'd do better than that... by capturing the Ottoman capital of Istanbul.  The amphibious assault landed on two beaches of the Gallipoli Penninsula: Cape Helles and what has become known as Anzac Beach, on April 25th.  Four other landings followed, bringing five divisions onto Turkish soil.

A few days later the real fighting began.

Eight months later the Allied forces were forced to retreat.   They came nowhere close to taking Istanbul.  The Dardanelles were still in Ottoman hands.  And of the more than half a million personnel who had been committed to the battle, almost half were casualties.  Nearly 45,000 never came home.

Even so, the Battle of Gallipoli became, and remains today, a point of pride for the Allied nations who fought in it, especially Australia and New Zealand, for whom today is known as Anzac Day.

And all of this began one hundred years ago today.

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What a lousy day to be a Batman fan

First it was the news that Frank Miller is making ANOTHER sequel to his legendary graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns.

And now tonight it's this: the first look at Jared Leto as the Joker in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie:

Disney shareholders, be of good cheer.  Your Marvel Cinematic Universe need not fear any competition from DC.

Romero.  Nicholson.  Hamill.  Ledger.  Leto.  One of these is not like the others.  One of these just doesn't belong...

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One and a half million dead: the one hundredth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

They had been ridiculed and spat upon for hundreds of years.  The ultra-nationalists in power launched dehumanizing propaganda against them.  Their semblance of official protection had been stripped away and made them relegated to a class of life undeserving of life.  Their property was confiscated.  And in the end they were beaten and butchered and starved and raped and shot and crucified and whoever was left were herded onto railroad cars to be sent off to concentration camps stretching from border to border.

And it took place nearly thirty years before the Nazis implement their "final solution".  But it was not a Germany frenzied by the mad ravings of a failed artist, or any other European nation.  It was instead the Ottoman Empire.  The time was World War I.  And the target for extermination was Armenian Christians as well as many other minorities that did not fit the criteria of existence by the Muslim government.

It was one hundred years ago today, on April 24th, 1915, that the Armenian Genocide began, starting with the arrest and eventual murder of nearly three hundred ethnic Armenian leaders and intellectuals.  Very soon after, the government widened its scope to include all of the predominantly Christian minorities: peoples who had enjoyed some measure of toleration since the days of the fall of Constantinople.  But no more.

By the end of the war, one and a half million Christians, Jews, and racial minorities had been killed by the Ottomans.

Armenians being evicted by Ottoman soldiers

Nearly three-quarters of the Armenian people were wiped out.  To this day, the Armenian Christian community is still reeling from what can only be described as the first genocide of the Twentieth Century.  A genocide that  for one reason or another, the rest of the world for the large part seems entirely ignorant of or else consciously denies that it was nothing more than a "mass deportation", if there is any acknowledgement at all.

Naked Christian girls, crucified during the Armenian Genocide

Today, the modern nation of Turkey refuses to address the facts of the genocide.  I can't understand why.  Even Germany acknowledges that it was her own people... if not itself as a modern state... who perpetrated the Holocaust.  In Turkey there is outright disavowal of any responsibility altogether.  It would be wrong to lay the blame on the Turkish government for something that happened under Ottoman rule but even so: this is and will ever remain a very dark spot on Turkish history.  And it's past time that there be some owning-up to that.  By Turkey and by the rest of the world.  Including the United States.

The Armenian Genocide Museum has a vast amount of material about the genocide, including much photo documentation of the atrocities.  It is well worth reading, if for no other reason that because it is a vivid chronicle of the situation and events that led up to the slaughter.

May we learn from it.  May such a thing as this never happen again.

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So, Chris Hardwick featured me on Comedy Central last night...

Not for the first time, not for the last, I am smacked with the realization that the rest of my life is going to be dogged by my being the man who ran for school board by blowing up a little red schoolhouse with the Death Star...

Yes, it's true: Chris Hardwick used my school board commercial - the one with the Star Wars theme - on his Comedy Central show @Midnight late last night/the wee hours of this morning.  The clip came during a segment called "Smeared Campaigns" and was one of three political ads taken from YouTube.

I would have missed it had good friend Aaron not spotted it.  I was hopped-up on Dr. Pepper and Swiss cheese, wrestling between sleep and stuff about my book, when I happened to get on Facebook and Aaron was blasting my timeline with the news.  Needless to say, I had to check it out.  And you can too: here's the link that takes you straight to the episode's stream on the Comedy Central site.  It comes on shortly after the first commercial break.  And it's pretty hilarious!  But I'm still shaking my head in disbelief that more than eight and a half years later, this commercial is still getting all that attention.

But hey, how often do I get to see myself and Chris Hardwick in the same picture?  And on Comedy Central?  So I guess I shouldn't complain :-P

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Human embryos, genetically modified for the first time ever

Isn't this how Khan Noonien Singh came about?

"Superior ability breeds superior ambition."

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Photos from my Florida odyssey

I needed this trip, severely.  Looking in the mirror this morning, I barely recognize the guy who set off eleven days ago on what became over a week in Florida.  It's not the face of the Chris who's spent most of the past several months in grief over the passing of a parent, or in frustration of other things that have tested my perseverance.

Sometimes you need to step away from things and give God some elbow room to work His way on your life.  I have been so focused on writing my book and the hard wall of progress I've been hitting since late February, so trapped by the four walls of my living room and too many times bouts of depression, that those had become the only substantial elements of my life.  And that's not right at all.

For sake of myself, the book, everything... I had to get away from all of that.  And I think that the book project is going to be helped immensely by this.  I consider going to Florida to be the first part of a two-course "treatment" for my problems in writing the book.  The second part is going to be soon, when a friend is going to help me go through some material from over the years.

But this journey really was the thing that my life needed most right now.  I'm very thankful that I got to make this trip.  And I've got some photos to prove that I was there!

Very Beach, Florida's ummmm... beach?

Not a beach bum.  Just a bum.  On a beach.

Lauryn and her boyfriend Matt.  Yes, this is THAT Lauryn that I've posted pictures of
on this blog over the years.  The one that a LOT of guys have asked me about if she's single.
 Sorry to disappoint y'all :-P

Me and "Uncle Bob".
Okay, he's actually my cousin.  How he came to be "Uncle Bob" is one of those stories
that the family is always going to be laughing about :-)

On the streets of West Palm Beach.

Aunt Billie and Bob.
I used to own a pair of plaid blue shorts exactly like that.
They look better on Bob than on me.

City Place in West Palm Beach.
One of the nicest uses of real estate that I've ever seen by any town.
Hard to believe this beautiful promenade of shops and social areas
used to be brothels and crack houses until the city razed it all down.

Me with the car that I'm going to get when my book
becomes a multi-million copy bestseller (yah right!)

The most criminally CREEPY restroom in the history of anything.
This is at an ice cream shop in City Place in West Palm Beach.
The way it's SUPPOSED to work is that a person goes inside, hits a switch
and the window fogs up and becomes completely opaque.
But as Bob and I discovered when one unfortunate young woman was using
this restroom, that was NOT the case.  We saw everything.  Yes, that's Bob
inside the restroom on the other side of the window.  I'm standing where
a table and some chairs are situated.  Of course we notified the staff
but Lord only knows how long this thing had been broken.  WHY was
such a thing made like that anyway?

My cousin Cheryl and I in front of her brand new car:
the "Starship Indigo".
The Batmobile ain't got nuthin' on the technology this baby has.

My second cousin Angela and one of her two children.
Well, one of her two children at the moment: she and her husband are
expecting another soon!

Angela's other kid.
Doing what all boys should do sooner or later: handle a real live snake.

Of course, I had to get in on some of that action too :-)

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Dear people of Jacksonville, Florida...

Driving south down I-95, your stretch of which must be the most treacherous length of interstate in the continental United States.  The GPS blaring red alerts of "stay in the left lane" practically the entire time from the Georgia border until well past town.  Hopped-up on Dr. Pepper and Lindsey Stirling's "Shatter Me" playing over the car stereo.

It was one of the most crazy awesome experiences I've ever had as a driver.  But please... please... do something about that highway.  A lot of the time I could barely tell where one lane ended and the other began.  You guys are one confused motorist away from a collisional calamity of crippling proportions.

Looks like a pretty nice town though.  Maybe next time I'll stop for a bite to eat there.

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Well, here it is: the new trailer for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS!

"Chewie. We're home."

I've watched this at least ten times so far and I still can't believe that I'm looking at something this mind-droolingly epic...

It's happening. Good lord... this is really happening.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens gets unleashed this Christmas.

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Does this drug stop hay fever? You may not want it...

Please note: I am not a physician or a chemist or a pharmacological engineer or anything of that nature.  I'm only your friendly neighborhood blogger who comes across interesting things to share, and more importantly musings and observations from my own peculiar vantage point on the world.  So you know to take what I'm about to say for whatever that's worth.

That said, this is by now something worth putting out there.  Maybe others have had the same thing happen to them.  I'm very eager to find out if that's the case.

Hay fever is the bane of my existence.  Come every spring and the yellow residue of pollen collecting everywhere, those damnable grains infiltrate my nostrils, set off the chemical receptors and flood those inner tissues with histamine.  And so the cascading effect ends with me sneezing my head off, my eyes and forehead scrunched together in writhing unrelenting nuisance bordering on agony, my nasal breathing nigh impossible because of blood vessels so swollen that they cut off the passage of air.  All the while my nose trickles water that I have come to learn is actually plasma from my blood stream, seeping through the walls of my nasal capillaries.

This time of the year is the second worst for my allergies, after ragweed in August.  April, going on into May and early June, I am a ticking time bomb of histamine-laden mast cells set to explode if even a single point of pollen flits by.  A few years ago it was so bad that I had to miss several rehearsals of our community theater guild's production of The King and I.  Hay fever had reduced my vision to bare squints so, that I could barely see the stage, much less blocking with other actors.

To summarize: I am a textbook study in the deleterious effects of hay fever, also known as seasonal allergies.

But here's the thing: this year so far, in the midst of a pollen-heavy season, I haven't had hay fever at all.

Not one sneeze.  Not one runny nose.  No watery eyes.  No symptom of hay fever whatsoever.

And it's been like this for almost a year.  I went through most of last spring without pollen-induced allergies.  All throughout the summer and on into ragweed season and beyond, there was no indication at all that I'm severely susceptible to pollen particles... and seemingly any other airborne pollegen.

It has totally mystified me.  So of course I set about to understand it.

I've gone over everything related to my medical situation, what it's like now and everything I'm doing to maintain it, and its status more than a year ago.  And I keep coming to the same conclusion about my own case:

I think being on lithium carbonate for treatment of bipolar disorder has made me immune to pollen.

It was late last April when I was put on lithium carbonate - more often referred to as simply lithium - following a very suicidal bout with depression.  The lithium has been a tremendous boon in that regard.  Although the episodes of depression still come and go, I've no doubt that lithium has helped me focus my mind through it, and given me enough grasp over the situation to know that I can and will get through it.  Last April, my depression was so severe that it very nearly destroyed my freelance writing.  I'm still trying to make up for it.  Having a means of managing the worst symptoms of the depression is going a long way toward that.  As well as toward my goal of writing my book about life with manic depressive illness.

Lithium carbonate is a very simple drug.  So simple in fact that it barely qualifies as a "drug" at all.  It's an elemental salt: something that doesn't need a hunnerd-zillion dollar drug factory to churn out.  I don't know if that has any bearing on my case, but there it is.  I'm only putting what I know out for consideration.

I've been taking lithium for almost a year and in that time I have had no symptom of hay fever.  If there's anything at all, it's a very mild "scent" of pollen that my nasal receptors pick up and have a tiny recoil from, but that could be just a reflex action.

It beats the heck out of me.  But in my particular case, it really does seem as though I'm managing my bipolar disorder and completely staving off seasonal allergies, all in one shot.

I don't know if this is something that most people would want, though.  I mean, to be on lithium in the first place you have to be in some pretty dire straits mood-wise.  Definitely not something that I would want anybody to have to experience firsthand (or secondhand either for that matter).  And it's not a matter of simply popping a pill into your mouth once a day either.  Two days ago I went in for periodic blood work: putting my red vino on tap so that it could be analyzed for lithium concentrations which, if too high, could result in liver damage.

I don't know if there's any real correlation between the lithium carbonate and what is now a year-long lack of hay fever.   But, it certainly is a very intriguing coincidence.  And one that, until I know better, I am happy to abide.

So I'm wondering: anyone else out there on lithium and also allergy sufferers noticing this?

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Another work of art from Cameron Hobbs

Last month I was honored to introduce this blog's readers to Cameron Hobbs, a young artist who has come a long way already.  And I've no doubt he's going to go much, much further.

Well, Cameron has unleashed another creation upon the world and I'm again honored to publish it.  So without further ado...

Letting Go, by Cameron Hobbs, 2015

You can find more of Cameron's work on his official Facebook page as well as his original Superhero Art page.

And this is still just the beginning.  He's let me peek at some of his other projects and when they're ready, he is going to blow y'all's minds!

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It was a dance for the ages...

 Congratulations Duke
and especially
Coach K!

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David Lynch should direct a new Star Wars movie

Just a wild idea that popped into mind while thinking about yesterday's horrid news about the revival of Twin Peaks:

If David Lynch won't be returning to helm the new Twin Peaks, then he should be allowed to direct one of the new stand-alone Star Wars movies.

I'm serious.

It's been thirty years.  He's ready.

It almost happened anyway, with Return of the Jedi.  Apparently Lynch was George Lucas' top choice to direct the third Star Wars film.  But Lynch wanted to take the movie into... well, a different direction.  One that veered away from the vision of the saga's creator.  By all accounts the two filmmakers shook hands and each went their way: Lucas to pick Richard Marquand to direct Jedi.  And Lynch would soon after direct the sci-fi epic Dune, based on the novel by Frank Herbert.

That was more than thirty years ago.  And in light of how there will be new Star Wars films that will tell different stories apart from the Skywalker mythology, there is now room for practically every director to potentially bring his or her vision of Star Wars to the big screen.

Including David Lynch.

It would likely be the most disturbing and confusing Star Wars movie that could possibly be conceived by maddened man.  But I for one would trust Lynch to deliver.  Time and again he's proven himself to be one of the premiere filmmakers of our generation or any other.  And he does know how to realize a story that is approachable by any audience: witness 1999's The Straight Story for proof of that.

Disney should let David Lynch direct a Star Wars movie.  It's time.  If Lynch can't be given the resources to return to his own creation of Twin Peaks, then the Mouse House should seize the opportunity to put Lynch's brilliant mind to work in its favor.

But what would a David Lynch-directed Star Wars film look like?  This is after all the genius who made Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and so many other movies of dark atmosphere.  Personally, I think Lynch should shoot his Star Wars movie on grainy film, in black-and-white, with Seventies-style audio quality.  What if Lynch was directing The Force Awakens instead of J.J. Abrams?  It would probably look like this:

David Lynch, directing a new Star Wars movie.

It could happen.

It should happen.

Disney, make it so.

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UPDATE! Showtime cancels new TWIN PEAKS

Sorry Laura, but Showtime just made a liar out of you.

I guess it was too much to hope for.  Just as it seems that now, as then, this show really is too innovative for any network.

News coming out of WonderCon this afternoon, lighting up Twitter like a Christmas tree, is that the new episodes of Twin Peaks have been cancelled by premium cable network Showtime.

You may remember that it was six months ago when the announcement came that a third season was in the works, and would debut exactly twenty-five years after the last episode aired in June of 1991.

The anticipation for new Twin Peaks has been nothing less than extraordinary.  I think this show has built up an even more rabid following in the intervening years than it had in the early Nineties.  A quarter-century's worth of fanhood was primed and ready to have a real fitting closure to this trail-blazing series...

...and now, apparently, that closure will not be happening.

Can't express how disgusted I am by this.  I don't know what happened but it was pretty widely known that David Lynch and Mark Frost were looking forward to this.  So too were Kyle MacLachlan, Sherilyn Fenn and a bunch of others from the original cast.

Maybe some sanity will prevail yet.  I guess Netflix could pick it up still.  If given the opportunity they would be crazy not to.

UPDATE 7:47 p.m. EST:  Well, this gets stranger by the hour.  Now comes word that Showtime is probably still going to do Twin Peaks... but without Twin Peaks creator David Lynch at the helm.

Try to imagine this without David Lynch.  I dare you...

(There must be a lot of people hooked on this news because since this post was first published, Google Analytics has said that it's been read more than 200 times, mostly from search engine looksies.)

io9.com has the full story about what happened, which Lynch ascribes to not being given enough money to make it the way he wanted it to be.

So we likely going to get Twin Peaks.  But without David Lynch.

I still think Netflix should step up to bat.  THEY would provide Lynch all the cash he needs to do this and to do it right.  Otherwise, anything Twin Peaks without Lynch's involvement is going to be a tough, tough sell.

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I have never understood Easter

Seriously, I haven't.

This is the day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of their Lord.

If that cannot be celebrated every day of the year, what difference does it make if it's celebrated one day out of that year?

Even so, Happy Easter.  He is risen.

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Does this look like Lucille Ball to you?

The people of Celeron, New York are condemning... and that may be too nice a word... a bronze statue of hometown heroine Lucille Ball.

Here is said statue:

Ye gods, what a monster!!  It looks like something out of The Walking Dead.  Makes me wonder if this is what June Cleaver would be like envisioned by H.P. Lovecraft.  That is nothing like the stunning beauty, amazing actress, comedic legend and all-out wonderful person that Lucille Ball was.

To sum up: Celeron does not love this Lucy.

The statue has been up since 2009.  No real notion as to why only now is it getting the attention it is (maybe it's 'cuz in recent days a Facebook page about it has been created and racked up a zillion likes).  New York Daily News has more about this bronze monstrosity.

And I can't help but wonder if it works for Celeron, maybe going a similar route would deliver my own hometown of our pending atrocity.

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Got to see Neil deGrasse Tyson this afternoon at Elon

Dr. Tyson's badass jazz-hands

Astrophysicist, bestselling author, science education advocate, "some guy from a Fox show" (as we heard one passerby say while we waited in the standby line), advisor to multiple White Houses and general megaboffin Neil deGrasse Tyson came to my alma mater Elon University this afternoon to speak at the school's spring convocation.  This was a tough thing to get into.  Tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes when they went on sale a few weeks ago, with only a few allotted for the general public.  Not even being esteemed alumni as "Weird" Ed and myself are was any help.

But Ed was determined to see Tyson, and nothing was going to stop him.  He drove four hours to pick me up and then after some lunch on the way we got to Elon and became the third and fourth people in the standby line.  That was at half past noon.  Convocation was scheduled for 3:30.  Thirty minutes before it began they began handing out tickets for the standby people and we proceeded in to await the appearance of Dr. Tyson.

After the processional of the class of 2015 into the hall, Elon's chaplain delivered an opening prayer.  President Leo Lambert and a member of the science faculty extolled the virtues and accolades that Tyson has accumulated during his colorful career.  And then it was time for the man himself...

He spoke for at least an hour, in what he called a "stream of consciousness" speech as opposed to something really prepared.  He had multitudes of information and was nothing short of animated in presenting it.  Tyson totally took hold of the scene and captivated us with thought on objective and subjective realities, the guiding forces of exploration and scientific inquiry (I especially appreciated his remarks on the real reason why President Kennedy challenged the country to reach the Moon in less than a decade).  During his opening Tyson spoke of Aristotle and how experimentation had not been developed as a tool of investigation.  To demonstrate the point he took off his shoe and dropped it onto the stage: trust me, it was the coolest demonstration of the tenets of Newton's Principia that I've yet seen.

What I appreciated most of Tyson's lecture however had nothing really to do with science.  He made a point numerous times: that we can't be defined by the majority.  We certainly cannot be defined by political parties (which, he noted, are capricious in the extreme).  That was something which resounded especially strong with me.

I will be honest: I do not agree with Neil deGrasse Tyson on everything.  In my estimation, he is too focused on the objective means of understanding the universe around us, while showing considerable disregard and even some amount of disdain toward what he termed the "subjective": of which the spiritual is part.  Throughout my years I have come to understand... and Tyson would be the first to note that this is purely something that I cannot prove, as it lacks grounds for experimental proof... that science and faith are not counter to each other, but are instead two sides of the same coin.  Each is the pursuit of truth.  For the love of truth.  Truth for its own sake, without ourselves within its frame of reference.  More than we give them credit for, I do hold that those from the spheres of religion are, for the most part, seeking that truth... and not to draw from it any sense of power.

But I also came away from his lecture with a far deeper respect for Tyson's perspective as a scientist.  And during his lecture I came to understand something: that we may disagree on the methods, but our motives are the same.  Although, it must be said, he definitely has a classier presentation!

I enjoyed this.  I came away from this with a deeper appreciation of the human condition.  "Weird" Ed agreed.  And his four-hour drive wasn't for naught after all.  Mission accomplished!

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VA forces vet to get x-ray taken... to prove that his leg is missing

Has the caseload down at the VA ever included any paperwork for Captain Obvious?

So on the left we have one Chad Fleming, a former soldier who served in the Army Rangers.  And as you can see, he has a prosthetic left leg.  He sought aid from the Department of Veterans Affairs because... well, you know, that's what they do for men and women who have been in the armed forces.

But in order to determine if Chad was eligible for benefits, Veterans Affairs compelled him to get an x-ray taken of his left stump.  This is what the VA required so as to discover if Chad Fleming was truly an amputee.

From the story at TheBlaze...

Chad Fleming, a veteran who served in the 75th Ranger Regiment, says the VA took an X-ray of his artificial leg to prove he was actually an amputee. Though they could have referenced his extensive medical history or just used their eyes, he said, they wasted precious resources taking an X-ray of a leg that "doesn't exist."

"[The doctor] actually laughed," Fleming said. "And I told him, I said, 'You wonder why the country is in such a deficit? It's because you're wasting money taking X-rays of a leg that doesn't exist.' It's like, 'Dude I'm not a starfish. It isn't going to grow back.'"

Another veteran in the story went in for a dental appointment, only to be told that he needed to make an appointment to make an appointment to see the dentist.

I could make some snarky commentary about this and how it demonstrates how over-bureacratized and wasteful the government has become... but what would be the point of it?  What good could come of it?

Apologies to those I have come to know who work in the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Each of you are doing an admirable job in spite of the conditions of not just your department but government in general.  That being said: this kind of idiocy is irredeemable.  The pennies do add up and in time things like this are an enormous strain on precious resources.

I mean, really: how hard is it to look at a leg that isn't there?

(Thanks to good friend of this blog Dewana Hemric for finding this story and passing it along.)

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Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Pong, and Donkey Kong... all in one game

Using the paddles from Pong to shuttle Pac-Man back and forth through his maze while dodging the aliens of Space Invaders.  All while Donkey Kong showers the screen with barrels.  This wonderfully schizoid mash-up of four of the most classic video games of all time is called Pacapong and it comes courtesy of a clever lad named Dick Poelen as his contribution to the Ludum Dare 58 video game jam.

I look at this screen and visions of my childhood erupt across my inner retina.  This is the kind of thing that we used to dream up as kids: crossovers between video games.  I think one idea was to have Pac-Man gobbling dots as he moved up Donkey Kong's girders.  Kinda weird to see something like that actually come to pass.

Kotaku has more about Pacapong, including where you can play it (bear in mind that it's a two-player game just like Pong).

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Watch George Lucas photobomb documentary about nuclear waste!

Look!  A wild George Lucas sighting!

"Nuclear Waste: Fission Products & Transuranics from Thorium & Uranium" is sincerely fascinating in its own right.  A short documentary about the valuable materials often left in used-up fuel rods from nuclear reactors and how they might be extracted.  Very interesting if you're at all into nuclear engineering and chemistry in general.

But let's face it: most people are going to want to see the creator of Star Wars stumbling into view on a Chicago street as research scientist Bruce Hoglund explains pyroprocessing (using molten salt and electrochemistry to pull out the desired substances).

You can choose to watch it all, OR you can fast-forward (I recommend moving it to 13:00 to get the full effect):

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Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act: An affirmation of liberty, and other thoughts

Some musings on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act now on the books in Indiana and that so many are in a tizzy about...

The act does not discriminate.

The act is not "anti-gay, anti-lesbian, anti-bisexual, anti-transexual" or anti-anything at all. Nowhere in the text of the legislation is there found a clause stipulating that any one or any group in particular is to be given any less protection under the law.

The act simply reasserts something that Amendment One of the Bill of Rights has codified for well over two hundred years: that there is a right to assembly and association. This also means that there is just as much a right to NON-association.

The act simply does as its title indicates: it allows for individuals and businesses to not provide a service if doing so violates the religious beliefs of that individual or business.

There are many people who do not believe that such a valid concept exists as "gay marriage" or any other kind of marital relationship apart from one man and one woman. These people have a right to those beliefs even if they are not agreed to.

The act asserts the rights of such people to act in accordance to their religious beliefs.

The act applies across the board to every citizen of the state of Indiana. Thus, a Moslem photographer cannot be compelled to be hired for a Jewish bar mitzvah. A Jewish carpenter cannot be forced under penalty to build a creche for a church’s Nativity scene. A Christian-owned bakery will not be obligated to bake a cake meant for a homosexual marriage celebration. And a homosexual-owned catering service cannot be made against their will to provide food for the "God Hates Fags" nuts at Westboro Baptist Church.

Those who are against the act have every right in the world to look for another business with which to solicit service as a customer.

Why are two homosexuals who want a wedding cake going to a bakery that they know is against homosexual marriage, anyway? Are there no more bakeries around, or could it be that they desire to forcefully compel that bakery to provide against its owners beliefs?

If the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is going to legalize discrimination and if those against the act are concerned about it on such a vast scale, then logically they have accused most of the people of the state of Indiana of being pro-discrimination and that said discrimination is deeply entrenched in that state's society. I have to wonder what most citizens of Indiana would think of that.

Those who are in favor of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act are not consumed by hate toward anyone.
And if they were, I would not want to associate with those people. Christians are not to hate anyone. But that does not mean that Christians must give approval of behavior that according to their convictions is sinful.

The ones who are most preaching "tolerance" seem to be rabidly intolerant of those who hold to the beliefs of marriage being solely between man and woman.

The ones who are most preaching "tolerance" seem to be rabidly intolerant of, for the most part, Christians.

Businesses have the right to serve or turn away who they wish. If a business does not want me as a customer, it can do so. Just as I can choose not to solicit service from that business or any other. If a business so chooses to discriminate, I have the right to go to or not go to that business. If a business decides it will no longer serve celibate white males with bipolar disorder, then I will not try to force the issue and neither would I want to. Neither would I try to be a customer of a business that discriminates against women or other ethnic groups. I will gladly take my money elsewhere.

Those against the act are naturally welcome to boycott Indiana. However such boycotts in general are counter-productive.

I would even dare say that boycotting the entire state of Indiana is akin to cutting off one’s face in spite of his or her nose.

The people who disagree with those against the Religious Freedom Restoration Act are not "bigots". They do not hate anyone. They are not followers of an outdated religion. They are not pro-discrimination. I have been called all of these things and more in the past few days, by people who do not know what they are talking about.

If a church is truly discriminating against homosexuals, I would not want to be a part of that church. Jesus loved the prostitutes, the tax collectors, and every other sinner as much as He loved His disciples. So must I. But neither did Jesus affirm or approve of their sins. Neither can I. He told them to "go and sin no more." So they must. So must I, for that matter. No church should turn away any sinner. But no church must be compelled to give approval to any sin, either.

There are already laws such as Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act in place in 19 other states. That is almost 40 percent of the country. These states seem strangely bereft of any boycotting on the part of those who are anti-Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

It has been a very long time since I have seen any alleged discussion as has been about Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act with so much incivility and raw hatred. And the vast majority of it seems to be coming from those against the act.

I like to think that we can be better than that.

You are free to agree or disagree with me as you wish. Regardless, Jesus loves you and so do I.

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Video for Lindsey Stirling's "Take Flight"

It was this past July when I wrote about discovering Lindsey Stirling and her enchanting mastery of the violin. That and how she choreographs herself while performing. So taken in by her music have I been, that by a vast margin it's been her album Shatter Me that I've listened to the most while writing my book.  And her music videos have been no less arresting, even hypnotic.  In every way Stirling has astounded the senses in ways that very few examples of music nowadays have achieved.

A few days ago Stirling released the video for "Take Flight", also from Shatter Me.  I can't remember any video lately that has got me scratching my head wondering "how did they do that??"

Here it is.  Prepare yourself for a beautiful ride on a melodic journey through geometry as wild as it is beautiful...

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New sponsor: HyperMind, for all your gaming needs!

The Knight Shift is proud to welcome a new advertiser, and if you've been a longtime reader you'll already know something about HyperMind.

A positivalutely abundawonderful game store in Burlington, North Carolina, owners Nick and Denise Shepherd have established a place that draws loyal customers from as far away as Virginia, Raleigh/Durham and Winston-Salem.  And by "games" we're talking about the old-fashioned stuff that doesn't require batteries or a specialized console... but does require you to play with others and have fun.

Whether you're looking for time-honored pastimes like Monopoly and Risk, or new classics such as The Settlers of Catan, HyperMind has something for everyone.  They also stock a healthy amount of miniatures-based games (including my current drug of choice, X-Wing Miniatures).  One of the biggest sellers is perennial favorite Magic: The Gathering.  And HyperMind goes all-out to provide for its devoted players, with an ample stockpile of cards (just about every kind of current booster pack you can think of) and a huge room serving as a place of casual play and weekly tournaments.  Role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons are also a favorite.  If they don't have it on shelves, the folks at HyperMind will gladly order it for you.

Serving the Triad area since 2006, HyperMind is an experience that you will want to return to again and again.  Stop by today, and discover the fun!

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Deadpool entices you to come hither...

From Ryan Reynolds' Twitter feed...

That may be the best translation of a costume from comic book-to-big screen that I've ever seen.  Looks spot-on perfect.

How are they going to handle Deadpool's legendary mouth?  Lots of fans demanding a hard R rating, noting that PG-13 won't cut it.  One idea I heard a few weeks ago was that for almost the entire movie there could be a white word balloon with "&$*#" whenever Deadpool uses profanity.  That Deadpool would be aware of it just like in the comics.  And that they save the big "F-bomb" for a critical spot in the story.  I could accept that.

Deadpool arrives in theaters next February.

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Dean Smith left $200 in his will for each of his players

Now this fits the definition of "classy" to a tee...

Last month legendary basketball coach Dean Smith passed away.  He coached the Tar Heels of UNC-Chapel Hill from 1961 to 1997 and when he retired he was the coach with the most wins of any in collegiate basketball history.  He had two national titles to show for it.  Along the way he coached about 184 players.

And every one of them is getting $200 to enjoy a nice dinner out.

From the story at Fox 8:

 Each player who lettered under late North Carolina head men’s basketball coach Dean Smith is receiving a surprise gift from the coach himself: $200.

Smith, who died last month, willed the money to each former player in his trust. Tim Breedlove, who wrote the letters to the players, confirmed the gift to SI.com on Thursday. The letter from Miller McNeish & Breedlove, PA, reads, “enjoy a dinner out compliments of Coach Dean Smith.” The enclosed checks also included the notation, “Dinner out.”

My respect for this man continues to grow.  Again, very classy.

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Ten years ago today...

...Doctor Who returned.

"Run."

The first episode since 1989 was titled "Rose". London shop associate Rose Tyler stumbled across murderous store mannequins and then came to be rescued by The Doctor. Christopher Eccleston was the first actor of the revived series to portray the legendary Time Lord.

In those early days before Doctor Who became a true global phenomenon, its loyal base of die-hard fans were doing anything to watch the new episodes immediately, instead of waiting a year or so before they aired outside of England.  A lot of us learned how to download via torrent because of that first new season of the show, I'm telling ya.  We would not be denied our Doctor!

Ten years.  Wow.  Who would have thought that a full decade later, the Doctor Who mythos would be as world-renowned as it has become?  Being a fan since watching the Tom Baker episodes on PBS, I can still hardly believe it.

Happy anniversary Doctor Who.  Don't go on hiatus again, ever!

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The most interesting carpool passenger in the world

I did something like this coming through Atlanta alone several years ago.  Except instead of what this guy did or having a mannequin, I used a pillow wearing my leather jacket and I went the whole way through the high-occupancy lane with my left hand on the wheel and my right one holding the pillow up and in sight.

How I cleared Atlanta while doing that, I'll never know.

From the Associated Press via Q13Fox News in Seattle...

Most Interesting Man in World' fails as carpool lane ruse

FIFE, Wash. (AP) — A Washington State Patrol trooper says it’s by far the best carpool scam he’s seen, but it didn’t work.

A motorcycle trooper parked along Interstate 5 near Tacoma on Monday afternoon spotted a driver and a rather unusual “passenger” pass by him in the carpool lane.

When the trooper stopped the car, he discovered the “passenger” was a cardboard cutout of the actor who portrays “The Most Interesting Man in the World” in Dos Equis beer ads.

The driver’s response?

“He’s my best friend.”

The highway patrol didn't confiscate The Most Interesting Man in the World, but they did tell the driver to not use him again.

Later on the patrolman tweeted: "I don’t always violate the HOV lane law … but when I do, I get a $124 ticket."

I love stories like this.  You have to give this guy props for some ingenuity even if it didn't work.  And hey, from the photo above it looks like he's still having a good time despite the error of his ways.

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