THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL aired 37 years ago tonight

It was on this night in 1978 that The Star Wars Holiday Special - arguably the WORST two-hours of television in history - aired on CBS. Y'all won't buh-LEEEVE what is going on here. So in honor of this misauspicious occasion and thanks to some poor tortured soul on YouTube, here it is (absent some music for copyright purposes): It's all here: Chewbacca's son Lumpy,...

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"When the skies of November turn gloomy..."

Forty years ago tonight. Here's the post that I composed on this evening in 2005.  But YouTube wasn't as pervasive as it is today. So here is Gordon Lightfoot's forever haunting ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The tradition will continue today.  The church bell at Mariner's Church will ring thirty times: one for each man on the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, and once more in memory of all who have perished on the Great Lakes. As...

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The state of things

Hello. It's been awhile.  Maybe the longest that I've gone between making posts.  I'm making this one because a lot of readers have asked if I was okay (alive, semi-comatose, joined the French Foreign Legion or what have you).  Neither have I been active on Facebook and that led to family insisting that I make some indication there that I was still among the living. So many of you are asking how things are.  And things have...

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    "Almost there." "Almost there..."   &nbs...

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Two weeks in Hell

I debated whether to make this post.  No wait, scratch that: I debated whether to make any post ever again on this blog. In the midst of the madness, a lot of thoughts raced through my mind.  One of them was to give up this blog.  Wondering what was the point of it.  Wondering what was the point of anything.  So faced with the stark meaninglessness of life in this pale shell.  All was vanity, with no redeeming grace. It's...

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Rest in peace James Horner

It was as many feared when the news came that the airplane he owned had crashed: James Horner, one of the most acclaimed composers in film history, died last night. Aliens.  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Braveheart.  Apollo 13.  Titanic.  Avatar.  Glory.  Field of Dreams... And so much other work too.  His score for Krull is...

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Here's a photo of a Dachshund family

My favorite breed... Maybe if Tammy the Pup will stand still long enough, I can get her to pose for a picture that sweet :-) Photo credit goes to @TheDoxieteers (Cindy, Pepsi and Misty) on Instagr...

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"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

Happy anniversary to Jaws.  The original blockbuster that set the scene for every big summer movie to come.  Released 40 years ago today. ...

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Reconsidering Hobbits

When he came to visit in early April, my longtime friend/collaborator/partner in crime "Weird" Ed Woody gave me a birthday present.  It was The Lord of the Rings, Extended Edition on Blu-ray.  It's been sitting unopened on my shelf ever since, 'cuz I haven't really availed myself of its beauty (I hadn't actually watched any of it by that point but having seen the...

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Why is it that too many Christians are bitter, hateful, resentful and generally mean to others… and especially other Christians? People shouldn’t be like that anyway, to each other.  But for those of us who are in Christ, our behavior is far more dire.  We aren’t supposed to be like the world.  It’s supposed to be different, among us.  We are meant to be a radiant, shining witness for Christ in this fallen world. Instead, I see...

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O Lord,how long will you forget me? Forever?      How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,      with sorrow in my heart every day?      How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!      Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I willdi...

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FALLOUT 4 gets a release date and a REAL Pip-Boy!

Game studio Bethesda unloaded the big guns last night at their first-ever E3 presentation.  Since its announcement months ago the hype had been stoked about Fallout 4.  Then two weeks ago Bethesda lifted the cover on that mega-anticipated title with this toad-strangling doozie of a trailer.  So what else could Bethesda bring before us at this point? By the...

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Pistol-packin' President: Reagan had a .38

The greatest president of the past half-century - at least - and he kept a sidearm during his time in the Oval Office. I don't care what your political persuasion, you gotta admit: that is severely hardcore. The New York Daily News has an eye-opening story revealing something that until now only members of the Secret Service were aware of: that Ronald Reagan not only believed...

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Magna Carta: 800 and counting!

Worth noting that we are currently in the midst of the eighth-hundred anniversary of Magna Carta: the founding document of English law and a cornerstone of liberty for many nations down through the ages.  Including the United States. "Sign HERE, Johnny-boy." Ahhh yes: John, King of England.  A monarch so disastrously bad that not once since and never again has...

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Book update... and it's a good one

YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Well, this section of the book is now finished.  The first draft of Chapter 25 was completed a short while ago.  It follows the one that had stumped me since February, up until a week and a half or so ago.  The one that took me so long to crack and I couldn't have done it without a dear friend being here to give support and encouragement. So the complete draft of Chapter 24 was done, but 25,...

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End of a journey

A journey that began in late 2001, finally ended a few minutes ago. Tomorrow my DirecTV account ends (I'm relocating soon) so this week I've been watching all the stuff on my DVR that I hadn't seen yet. Among those were the last three Harry Potter movies. Since yesterday afternoon I've been watching, as time allowed for it, Part 1 and Part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I just finished it. And watching Harry stand there, with...

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A true renaissance man

  Christopher Lee 1922 ~ 2015 ...

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Thief gets deck-ed by clever Magic: The Gathering player

Did you see what I did there?  Huh, did you?  That's all I got... Well anyway, a recidivist robber is cooling his heels in a jail in Fairfax, Virginia after stealing 300 cards from the insanely popular game Magic: The Gathering in the possession of a self-described "nerd".  Said nerd, one Kemper Pogue, proceeded to formulate and execute an elaborate trap...

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Chris gets astoundingly charmed by THE WEDNESDAY MORNING BREAKFAST CLUB!

The other week I was up late working on the book.  It was frustrating me to no end.  So I turned on the television, allegedly for background noise thinking maybe it would inspire me.  And it did, but not the way that I imagined.  Because for some reason I wound up on a local station that was less than a minute into something called The Wednesday Morning...

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More artwork from our friend Cameron Hobbs

Artist on the rise Cameron Hobbs has returned with another piece... "I Will Not Stop"Cameron Hobbs, 2015 Keep your eyes peeled y'all.  Cameron has promised another work of art sometime real soon.  'Course, I'll be posting that one on this blog too! If you want to see more of his work, check out his Facebook page as well as his original Superhero Art pa...

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"Goonies never say die!"

The Goonies, without a doubt one of the most defining movies of the Eighties generation, was released thirty years ago today on June 7th, 1985. Here's Chunk doing the "Truffle Shuffle" in wild celebration! Inquisitr.com has a neat list of 15 things about this movie that you may not have known.  F'rinstance, the pirate ship was kept a secret from the cast until...

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Check out this poster for THE PEANUTS MOVIE

Love the appearance of the CGI here. It's a spot-on merging of modern animation style with Charles Schulz's classic look. But the highlight of course is the characters.  Looks like most of the Peanuts gang all in one shot, including Snoopy's siblings (even Olaf made the cut!).  And ya gotta appreciate the Little Red Haired Girl's face hidden behind the bag of popcorn......

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Bitter Blood: Thirty years later

Law enforcement officials at the scene of the explosion, June 3rd 1985 Within minutes the skies turned a roiling black.  Rain, and then a vicious hail poured out like wrath across the fields.  Law enforcement and emergency personnel ran for cover.  Stones of ice pelted the vehicle, and those who had been within it.  Steam arose from the asphalt of the...

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Book: Breakthrough

Let's recap, shall we? Dad's passing in November threw everything out of kilter, particularly writing the book.  Not just out of being in grief and recovering from losing my last remaining parent, but also because of everything that comes with a death in regard to paperwork, his estate, and so forth.  So the project I've been working on since last May, my book about having bipolar disorder, had to be put on the back burner. In January...

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