Their The Christmas Attic CD was a gift to Lisa from my parents and I've been listening to it all day: this might be my all-time favorite Christmas album now. I couldn't help but think that they didn't sound all that Russian though. So I went to their website and got a lot more enlightened about who they are. A really unique mixture of musical style, these guys. After all the other Christmas music I've listened to this season, Trans-Siberian Orchestra was mighty refreshing. Highly recommended.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Christmas 2005 update #2, plus review of Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Yah it was two days ago but Christmas always "lingers" around on this side of the screen for a week or so. Which I like: it takes away from the hustle-bustle of what is otherwise too hectic a holiday. It doesn't wind down for our family until a day or so after New Years... guess you could say we have a Christmahannukah thing going on or something.
I'm probably gonna do a post on some of the goodies that arrived this year, but since there's a few things on the Christmas agenda that we haven't gotten to yet I'm gonna hold off on doing that for now. But that ain't what Christmas is about, not really, is it? This was by far the best Christmas I've had in a very long time. Maybe the best ever. This was a year that saw a lot of stuff going on in my life - most of it I never talked about here - and that it looks to be ending 2005 on a really positive note, I'm really thankful for that. I don't see why I can't keep this good vibe going on long after Christmas, and share it with others. Long story short: despite so many things that went wrong this past year, I feel like the happiest guy in the world right now... and I intend on staying that happy for a long time to come still.
Anyway, it was a good Christmas day and yesterday (which our Brittish brethren love to celebrate as Boxing Day) I went out for a little bit in the morning to make an exchange at Best Buy: I had the Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World game for my Gameboy, but I returned that in exchange for store credit that I used to buy the Peter Jackson's King Kong game for Xbox. Also got The Simpsons Season 7 DVD set, in the normal box not that hideous Marge-shaped container (my parents got me Season 6 in the Homer head and the whole family agrees: that is the ugliest DVD box ever). Then Lisa and I went out and did a little visiting to homes of family and friends, 'specially those from our church. After we got back from my parents' house we decided to have dinner at Pie Works here in Greensboro: definitely one of the best pizza places known to man (any joint that can give you rattlesnake meat on your pizza is gonna get props in my book). And after returning from that, we watched the newest movie to come in from Netflix: Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
I'd never seen anything by Tyler Perry until last night, but I'm definitely going to check out his other stuff now. This was one of the better movies I've seen in awhile. It was not what I was expecting from the title. Diary of a Mad Black Woman sounds like it could be a comedy - it's a very funny movie, don't get me wrong - but this was far and away the most profoundly Christian film I've seen in ever so long. Something I noticed early on: there's no profanity in this movie, apart from the occassional "hell", otherwise there's not even a "damn" that I could remember hearing. Nobody "gets laid", and in the end this is a beautiful story about forgiving not just others, but forgiving yourself. I'm glad I watched the extras on this disc: like I said, I'm going to have to check out Tyler Perry's other work after having seen this. He's an incredibly Christian man who is trying to use his gifts for writing and acting in a way that not only entertains others, but glorifies God. I've a lot of respect for someone who can do all that. He plays three characters in this movie including Madea: imagine a 68-year old woman waving a pistol around everywhere she goes. It was by far one of the most outrageously funny characters I've seen in awhile.
Anyway, we spent last night watching Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and considered it time well spent, and you might want to check it out too. Will chronicle more of what's been going on this holiday season later, including pics of what Lisa got me, which I haven't stopped thinking about once since Christmas morning :-)
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Christmas 2005 update #1
Just felt led to make a quick note here for future reference, that Christmas 2005 will go down in history as one of the wackiest to ever hit the Knight household and its extended family. Lot of good stuff happening this year: everyone is here, everyone is doing really well, and there've been some neat gifts for everybody. Can't wait to post the pic of what Lisa got me: without a doubt the most offbeat Christmas gift I ever received.
It's been a pretty messy Christmas despite the good cheer though: rain most of the morning and foggy throughout the day. How Santa navigated across all those chimneys around here last night in the denseness of it all I've no idea.
Okay, just wanted to file something to report that all is well. Now quit reading this and have a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hannukah :-)
Thursday, December 22, 2005
So long and have a Merry Christmas :-)
Barring something unprecedented, I'm stepping away from the blog for a few days. Time to enjoy all the good things that come with Christmas with family and friends. Blogging is a fun thing for me to do, don't get me wrong... but sometimes a guy needs to pause for awhile, and instead of commenting on life to just let it happen. I might post something come Monday, if I do it'll probably be pictures of any turkeys I may fry. Otherwise, go have some fun: I know I will :-)
Originally published in The Pendulum, Elon University, 12/03/1998
But before I go, I want to leave on a personal, upbeat note. Last year (a year ago today actually) I posted an op-ed piece that I wrote when I was a student at Elon University all the way back in 1998. Lot of people told me back then that they liked this. No other thing I've written has done as good a job as relaying how much I love the holiday season as this did. So for whoever may find this blog over the next several days or week or so, here again is "Celebrating the Christmas season means celebrating the memories".
Take care, God bless, and have a very Merry Christmas...
Originally published in The Pendulum, Elon University, 12/03/1998
Celebrating the Christmas season means celebrating the memories
Chris Knight
Columnist
Some of the best memories that we take through life are about the times we cherish the most. And sometimes, it doesn’t take much to bring back the joy. Arf arf arf, Ahh... you know how it goes. Dedicated to the memory of W.C. “Mutt” Burton, for whom Christmas was always “In My Bones.”
Last Friday as I was driving around Greensboro, the all-time coolest Christmas song ever came over the speakers.
Who knows what this genius recording artist’s name is? Does it really matter? Whoever he is, he’ll forever be remembered as giving us the immortal sound of “Dogs Singing Jingle Bells”:
Arf arf arf,
Arf Arf Whoof Whoof Whuf…
And there’s the ever-beuh-beuh-beauh-beautiful rendition of Porky Pig singing “Blue Christmas” and the Chipmunks and of course “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Christmas at Ground Zero,” but hearing those dogs singing “Jingle Bells...” ahhhhh.
It brought me back to the very first time I heard that: on the radio coming back from school just before Christmas in 1982. I was in third grade at the time. And it brought back memories of the Christmas we had.
It was cold and very cloudy. I remember that because Santa had brought me a telescope and I didn’t get to use it that night. Which wasn’t too big a worry, ‘cause me and my sister had our brand-new Atari 2600 to play with!
Another Christmas memory: To this day, I’ll never forgive Anita for the pounding she gave me in “Combat.” I don’t care how fancy Sega or the Playstation get... they’ll never touch the 4-bit pleasures of the Atari!
There have been many a Christmas since then, and I remember each one well, for all the little things they had with them.
I’ll never forget Mom and Dad taking me and my sister to see Santa Claus at the mall in ‘84. That morning Dad asked if I’d come with him to cut firewood, so we rode the tractor into the woods. There had been snow earlier in the week, which lay around us in the crisp, cold morning.
Dad also brought his 30-30 rifle, why I still don’t know. After we had the wood loaded, Dad asked if I wanted to try shootin’ the gun.
There I was, a ten-year old kid, holding what looked like an anti-aircraft cannon in my tiny hands. Well, I aimed at this tree like Dad told me to, and pulled the trigger.
To this day I cannot describe the colors that flashed before my eyes, or the sound in my ears. When my existence finally returned, I was flat on my back in the snow, and blood was gushing from between my eyes where the scope had hit my nose from the backfire.
That night Santa saw the bandages and said “Ho ho hoooo, and what happened to you, little fellow?”
“I got shot, Santa,” was the only thing I knew to say.
Hey, was I gonna lie to the Big Man? Uh-uh, no way was I gonna lose all that loot!
The following year’s Christmas I remember for many things, but especially feeding the young calves on our farm. It would be the last year our family would be running a dairy farm, and I had started helping with some of the work around the barn.
Dad set up a Christmas tree in the milking room, with wrapped-up boxes beneath it.
Tinsel hung from the front doors of the barn. And there was something about the feel of the place there, that has always held a special place in my heart, as if we knew that there would not be another Christmas like this one.
I wish there had been another Christmas on the farm, because there’s something I wish I could have seen. And as silly as some people might find this, I really believe that it happens.
You see, if you go out at midnight on Christmas Eve, you will see all the animals in the farmyard, and in the fields, and in the forests, and wherever else they may be, stop where they are.
And then they kneel.
They kneel in remembrance for another night, long ago. It was Christmas, but how many people could know it then?
Nothing remarkable, to be sure: Caesar had decreed a census through the land, and each man went with his family to his town.
One man in particular took his wife, a young woman quick with child. But there was no room for them at the inn. So that night, in a dirty and filthy stable and surrounded by animals, a child was born.
You see, it’s easy for us to forget. At this time of the year, we are too overwhelmed by the consumption and the material and the glitter /and all the customs that come with Christmas.
And it’s too easy for us to forget that Christmas is, before everything else, a birthday.
But the animals, who watched over Him as He lay as a newborn babe, two millenia ago... the animals have not forgotten.
And so they kneel every Christmas and give glory to the newborn king, and in awe that God would send His Son to live among us in the greatest act of love.
And to teach us many things, but especially to “love one another”. And to bridge the gap between man and God.
The birth of Jesus Christ: the greatest Christmas present there will ever be. His birth, which would give mankind the greatest present it could ever ask for.
Who in the world on that night could know the price that this present would someday have?
Heaven and Earth sang praises to His glory on that night. The animals have always remembered that night. And Heaven and Earth still praise and sing unto Him.
And if you only take a little time out from how busy things become at this part of the year, you can hear the singing, too. And it is a great temptation to join in that chorus.
And perhaps in hearing, we will not forget the real meaning of Christmas, either.
This Christmas Eve night I plan to be outside, with the same telescope that I got for Christmas all those years ago, and trying to envision a bright star over Bethlehem. Around midnight, I’m going to take a walk over to my aunt’s farm.
Merry Christmas. Peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
"The Attack of the Hacked Santa"
Maybe you've seen those "animatronic" singing/dancing Santa Claus dolls in Wal-Mart lately. Well one guy figured out a way to "hack" it so that Santa is doing and saying things he wasn't originally programmed to do. Some really clever (and quite funny) mayhem ensues! Here's an MPEG video of one bad Santa in action.Gorilla Warfare: Stalin tried to breed half-ape super soldiers
According to Scotsman.com, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of half-man/half-ape "super soldiers" in the mid-1920s. From the article:
THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents.Here's the part of the story that made me almost spew Dr. Pepper all over my screen:Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia's top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior.
According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: "I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat."
In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of Science with the order to build a "living war machine". The order came at a time when the Soviet Union was embarked on a crusade to turn the world upside down, with social engineering seen as a partner to industrialisation: new cities, architecture, and a new egalitarian society were being created.
Mr Ivanov's experiments, unsurprisingly from what we now know, were a total failure. He returned to the Soviet Union, only to see experiments in Georgia to use monkey sperm in human volunteers similarly fail.I don't even know how to begin to be curious about something like this.
Carl Schmitt, yesterday's Nazis and today's Bush sycophants
Those who are now claiming that "Bush broke no law" when he violated the Fourth Amendment - by letting the government spy on Americans without warrants - sound an awful lot like one particularly notorious Nazi apologist. Carl Schmitt was a German legal scholar who believed in having a strong dictatorship rather than democratically-elected government. He went on to write a lot of complimentary essays on what Adolf Hitler was doing. In 1934 he even published "Der Führer schützt das Recht" ("The Father protects what's right"), in which he argued that Hitler was being virtuous when he carried out his "Night of the Long Knives". Possibly as many as 400 "political enemies" were murdered on Hitler's orders, and Schmitt defended it by saying that Hitler was part of a higher moral law than that which abhors murder. Carl Schmitt did everything he could to justify Hitler being above the law... exactly as too many of Bush's supporters are now saying that "their man" can't be bothered by the Constitution of the United States.
It's been said that had it not been for Carl Schmitt, the Nazis would not have enjoyed as much legal authority as they did when they carried out their plans against their enemies and anyone deemed to be "inferior".
Lord only knows what today's Bush apologists are paving the way for with whatever else the future has in store for us.
