"People should not be afraid of their governments..."

And yet there were some who thought that what I did with my first commercial was outrageous. Check this guy out...
A volunteer with the We The People Foundation dressed up like "V" - complete with plastic daggers - from the movie V for Vendetta and attempted to deliver petitions of grievance to the White House, the Justice Department and a few other places around Washington, D.C. It's pretty scary how this guy was confronted by the law enforcement types: in so many ways, they're shown in the video of the incident acting exactly like the jack-booted thugs in both the V for Vendetta graphic novel and movie. The issue of the petition has to do with whether the income tax is actually legal or not... and there's substantial evidence indicating that it wasn't even legally ratified like an amendment to the Constitution is supposed to be. Anyway, this appearance by "V" is being considered a "dry run" for November 14th, when supposedly a hundred "V"s will descend on Washington, much like what all those people did in one of the final scenes of the movie (which wasn't in the book by the way).

I think stuff like this is great! This is the same kind of thing that drove me to make my first commercial something of a "stunt": if it gets people thinking and in a good way, then there's no shame in doing it. Go read the Bible sometime: the prophet Jeremiah spent his entire life doing stuff like this to get people's attention to what God was trying to tell them. I think Jeremiah would heartily approve of using "V" like this, if it's addressing a real wrong. If you want to be part of We The People's mass "V" protest here's a page with info including where to find a complete "V" costume. This is all supposed to go down tomorrow: can't wait to see what happens.

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In Memoriam

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Behold... VENOM! Effects-unfinished SPIDER-MAN 3 trailer hits YouTube

"I'm here to ask you for one thing... I want you to kill Peter Parker."

So I guess Sam Raimi really doesn't like Venom, huh?

This should have been in the real official trailer for Spider-Man 3 that was released this past week.

There's no telling how long this effects-unfinished trailer is going to remain on YouTube. I'd give it another 3-5 hours if that long. If you want to hold on to it, remember: KeepVid is your friend!

EDIT 12:09 AM EST 11-14-2006: It lasted well over a day but I just checked and YouTube has since yanked the video at Sony's request. Which makes NO sense from a marketing point of view because... well, because people want Venom! If they had included that one very fleeting shot of him from this in the official trailer they put out last week, they would have jacked up the "wanna see" factor a dozen-fold. It's not like we don't know at this point whether Venom is in this... so why not tease us a bit with him?

Oh well... never underestimate the marketing genius that is Sony. Remember: this is the same outfit that took Star Wars Galaxies - which should have been a reliable moneymaker from now 'til the end of time - and thoroughly thrashed and gutted it into a pathetic shell of its former self. I'll trust Sam Raimi to do right by Spider-Man: Sony, not so much.

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Back to The Virginia Creeper

A little over a year ago in October 2006 I wrote about biking the Virginia Creeper trail. Well, today we did it again, once more with friends from our church. They had arrived yesterday afternoon and camped overnight last night not far from the bike rental place in Damascus, Virginia (in southwestern Virginia next to the North Carolina and Tennessee state lines). Lisa, her friend Tanya and her husband Jamie, and myself couldn't leave until this morning. So just after six Tanya and Jamie arrived in their minivan and we took off on the 3-some hour drive to Damascus.

About 20 minutes after we got there around 10 the group from church pulled into the driveway in the church van. After everyone got a bike, we shuttled to the top of Whitetop Mountain and started enjoying the steady ride downhill back to JC's Outdoors, the outfit that had provided the bikes. It took us about 3 hours this time to cover the 17 miles from mountaintop back to the "Ole Barn" where JC's is located at: a bit longer than it did last year. But this time Lisa and I really were enjoying the scenery a bit more, given the better weather than last time.

But anyway, we took a lot of pictures along the route. Here are just a few. I can't wait to see the ones that Lisa took after they get developed: there's some really beautiful stuff in there.

Okay, here's the pics from my digital camera...

Lisa and me from early on the trail.

Tanya and Jamie, also from early along the Virginia Creeper trail.

Lisa at the first waterfalls we came to.

The intersection of the Virginia Creeper and the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian trail runs all the way from northeast Georgia in the south, to the mountains of Maine way to the north. We know some girls from church who actually hiked the entire Appalachian Trail a while back.

A pic tha Lisa took of me at the second waterfalls we came to. Those things in my ears are the earbud speakers attached to my MP3 player.

Scott Baxley, the associate and youth pastor of our church, at yet another waterfall.

On the way down I started off listening to Straight Outta Lynwood by "Weird Al" Yankovic. After that had played completely I used my MP3 player to listen to the soundtrack from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and then some modern classical stuff during the final leg of the journey. The very last thing that was playing on it was the soundtrack for Peter Jackson's King Kong: no matter what the movie is that Jackson makes, the music for his movies are always excellent for listening to while being part of the landsape (last year I listened to most of the soundtrack from The Lord of the Rings during the trip).

Anyway, that's my report on where we were today. If/when Lisa gets her pics back I'll try to remember to post those here, too :-)

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Campaign website updated

The official campaign website just got an update, and probably the last one. It's a letter I've written to my supporters and to those who cast their ballot for me. I really hope that I didn't forget anyone in this: there were so many people who helped in one way or another. If I committed the grievous error of omitting anyone, I will add them to the "thank you" section of the letter as soon as possible.

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The official theme song of the Knight for School Board 2006 campaign

Now that the campaign is over, I can finally let my hair down about some of the things during the past three months that were for the most part shared solely among "the staff".

F'rinstance, it was decided in mid-September that we had found the perfect theme song for the Knight for School Board 2006 campaign.

So here it is, courtesy of YouTube: the music video of "White and Nerdy" from the Straight Outta Lynwood album by "Weird Al" Yankovic...

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Home again: My campaign yard signs

I've been busy the past few days going around the county and picking up my campaign's yard signs. It's been a lot of work but I feel compelled to do it for two reasons: one, as an Eagle Scout I hold to the Boy Scout camping maxim of "leave it as you found it". Secondly, and most important to me personally: I love my yard sign! It's my first ever political sign so there's that "firstborn" thing going for it. A lot of people - including me - thought the little knight chesspiece logo was really cute: I might just have to "adopt" it as my personal lil' emblem. And call me crazy, but I'm really proud of my signs: they stood in pouring rain and blazing sunlight for weeks on end and faithfully served their purpose. I feel like I owe them a debt of gratitude. And who knows: a couple years from now I might be recalling them back into service.

Well anyway, it's important to me that I try and collect every one that was deployed out there. Most of them are now back in my possession and accounted for. I'm going to be headed out later this weekend to get some more. Sadly, more than a few have disappeared: I might get lucky and find some at the county DOT headquarters. But I fear that most of the missing have vanished like so many Argentinian dissidents. I found one poor sign shredded to bits along the side of Highway 14 near the Caswell County line. Very curiously, a lot of my signs - especially in the Eden area - were nowhere to be found when I went for them, even though the signs of several other candidates were still in the nearby vicinity. Because of that and some other things, I'm now reasonably sure that many of the signs were deliberately stolen... and not for sake of having them for souvenirs either.

I'm going to give it a few more days and see how many more turn up. And then, I've something special planned in memory of those missing in action. Tune in Monday or so to see what it is :-)

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Jack Palance dies at age 87

Darn. First Basil Poledouris, then Ed Bradley. Now this. Guess bad news really does come in threes. Jack Palance definitely lived a full life: who'll ever forget his doing those push-ups at the 1992 Academy Awards?

"Believe it... or not."

Godspeed Mr. Palance: you were one of the greats.

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SPIDER-MAN 3 trailer is here!

'Nuff said...
This movie is gonna ROCK!!!

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I have an idea

That's all I can really say for now. It hit me about 10 this morning. I've talked it over with one other person, and the response was pretty enthusiastic about it.

This election may have yielded something truly remarkable. It would definitely be worth trying, at least...

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Basil Poledouris has died

Basil Poledouris - one of the greatest composers of this generation, especially of scores for film and television - has died of cancer. He was 61: way too young if you ask me.

Two things that this man did stand out in my mind right now: the score that he did for the mini-series Lonesome Dove, which was nothing short of magnificent. And the music for Conan the Barbarian: without question one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time. I think my favorite tracks from Lonesome Dove were the theme, and that one you hear when Gus and Lippy are riding away from the saloon with the two pigs following after the wagon... I loved that track! And as for Conan the Barbarian, well, everything about that score resonates on some kind of primal level. "Prologue/Anvil of Crom" is something that I've told Dad he needs to have playing in his knife shop whenever he's using the forge to heat up his blades. "Riders of Doom" and "Battle of the Mounds" I like for similar reasons, but that quieter part from "Battle..." when Conan is praying is especially good. Whenever I find myself locked in some kind of torturously slow task the "Wheel of Pain" track always winds up playing in my head. But my absolute favorite track from Conan the Barbarian has got to be "Atlantean Sword": the one that plays when Conan falls into the tomb of the ancient Atlantean general and finds the sword that he uses for the rest of the movie. The music in that scene evokes dreams of antiquity beyond reckoning. It's the kind of music that almost makes historians and archaeologists weak in the knees. Poledouris did the music for quite a few other films, including The Hunt for Red October and Robocop. And if Paul Verhoeven had ever been able to make Crusade with Ah-nuldt Schwarzenegger, I always thought that Poledouris would be the one to score that, too.

Well, it's sad that he's left us. I might have to put Conan the Barbarian in the DVD player sometime this weekend, and raise a toast to his memory.

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ELECTION - THE DAY AFTER: 11:11 PM EST

This is probably the last post I do with the "ELECTION..." format that's been used since early yesterday morning. There'll still be some thoughts posted here in the next couple of days, but now's a good time to wrap-up the "live commentary" that I've had going for the past almost-48 hours now. In the next little while I'm probably going to finally unwrap the Police Squad! DVD that I got today and watch it a little, before going to bed.

I still can't believe how good I'm feeling tonight. The news came a little over 24 hours ago that I hadn't won a seat... but I've still got the most wonderful sense of euphoria at how good I did do. By the way, I didn't realize it until earlier this evening but I came within 813 votes of landing a seat, and only 117 votes less than Jon Mason, who came in seventh place. Considering the intense voter turnout - despite the rain and cold we had all day yesterday - this was a very close race for the most part. You can view the final election results here.

Okay, time for me to go and unwind a little before hitting the sack. I've got to be at work tomorrow morning at 7, but Thursdays are usually pretty laid-back at the station. I'll have time to compose more thoughts during the day tomorrow.

This is your live Rockingham County Board of Education election day coverage from the perspective of candidate Christopher Knight, signing off... :-)

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ELECTION - THE DAY AFTER: 10:04 PM EST

Well, I guess he does have a tumor after all.

WOW!! Now that was a cliffhanger! Excellent episode... even if ABC did break in with that crap about the Virginia U.S. Senate race. Look, so far as I'm concerned Kate's story was a LOT more important than whether Allen or Webb won: they're both more fake than anything Lost has given us. Can't wait 'til February, when we see what happens next.

EDIT 10:13 PM EST: Let me rephrase something I wrote a little while ago: Lost is FAR more believable than ANYTHING regarding either the Democrats or the Republicans.

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ELECTION - THE DAY AFTER: 9:07 PM EST

Lisa and I both theorize that Ben is not dying of a spinal tumor. That he and the Others are playing mind games with Jack. Think about it: doesn't it seem too convenient that Ben's x-rays just happened to be where Jack - a neurosurgeon - would see them and be naturally interested in them? Yeah, I guess it could be argued that Ben wanted Jack to see it and naturally be sympathetic enough to do the surgery... but that still doesn't seem right somehow. Jack spotted the x-rays in the very same episode when Ben conned Sawyer with that whole "chest bomb" thing, so it's altogether possible that this tumor thing is all a big con too, to get Jack to cooperate with them willingly.

Okay, back to the show...

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ELECTION - THE DAY AFTER: 8:33 PM EST

Back in August, not long after I'd filed to run, I discovered the perfect way to celebrate my winning on November 7th... if I won at all. I'd told quite a few people that if I won, the first thing I would do to celebrate after kissing Lisa would be to run out and buy this. Well, even though I didn't win, I'm still riding high on euphoria at how well I did do. So today, to celebrate a good campaign - that got national attention even - and because it's been a long time since I've treated myself to anything, I followed through on my plan. And bought this around 3 o'clock at Wal-Mart. It just came out yesterday...
I've been waiting years for Police Squad! to come out on DVD. And now it's finally here! This was the short-lived TV series that years later spawned the Naked Gun movies. Haven't watched it yet though (spent the rest of the evening picking up signs and running an errand and some time visiting the TV station) but I'm looking forward to it.

I've also spent part of the evening calling supporters and well-wishers. The sentiment from everyone has been that they're proud of how well I did and that I ran a good campaign.

And you know something? This is the first time in a long, long time that I've allowed myself the luxury of feeling proud of myself. It's been so long since I've felt that, that... I don't even remember when was the last time, or what it felt like. But I'm letting myself feel it now.

To everyone who supported me and kept me in your thoughts and prayers: Don't feel disappointed about this election. Ever since last night, this has been a good thing! Given a lot of factors that were working against me, I had a remarkably great showing... especially for a first-timer. And like I said last night, maybe I didn't win this election... but this was the first time that I've felt that I'd finally taken a step on the road that God has planned for me. Even though (as my good friend Melody commented) I was always on that path... well, it really is quite astonishing to actually see your own feet walking on it.

There's more that I'm going to be writing about in the next day or so. One thing in particular, I haven't said anything about it openly yet. I think it needs to be said though. It's going to come when I discuss the results of last night. And those who I've talked to in the 24 hours or happen to live in Rockingham County will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Okay, off for now. Time to watch Lost with Lisa (this is the last new episode until February so it better be pretty fraggin' good :-).

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ELECTION - THE DAY AFTER: 2:34 PM EST

I'm just now catching up on everything else that happened in the elections yesterday. When I took Michael home his dad told me that the Republicans had lost both the House and Senate. That was the first and last time that I even thought about the national elections until the last little while.

It doesn't matter to me anymore which party is in control of Congress, or the White House even for that matter. It took me long enough but I've come to realize that both of the major parties... actually, just about any party for that matter... are preoccupied with only one thing: acquiring power. They keep telling us that if we only give them more power, that they will earnestly work to make things better. So we give them power, only to watch them abuse it time after time. I don't know if I could even trust the "third-party" groups, like the Constitution and Libertarian parties as much as I would like, because they are founded on the same basic principle: "please just give us a little bit of power".

I took a peek at a couple of the big political sites (I'm not going to name which ones: they're both all too well known for which party they shill for). It didn't take much to predict what their reactions would be to yesterday's election, and it was just as I was expecting: there is jubilation on one, and outrage on the other. One is deeply saddened that their party has lost power, while the other one is basking in euphoria.

And while I'm giving it this cursory glance I can't help but wonder: "What difference does it make?" I saw this same thing happen twelve years ago when the Republicans toppled the Democrats from power in Congress. Now the tables have turned... and for the life of me I can't understand how this is going to really change things at all. The Republicans have had both houses of Congress and the White House for six years now. They've had more than enough opportunity to make a long-lasting impression for the better on the American landscape. Instead I've watched them over the past twelve years as they've progressed from sweeping victory to utter stagnation. This Congress has been little more than a rubber-stamp on everything that President Bush has presented before them: No Child Left Behind, the PATRIOT Act, "campaign finance reform"... you name it, they've done it for him. The only thing that I can see happening any different is that the change in power in Congress will make it a little harder for Bush to get anything passed that he wants... but since so many things of his ideology matches those of many of the Democrats, I don't really expect him to be hampered all that much. One way or another, we are going to get amnesty for illegals rammed down our throats, no matter who's in power in Washington: it just got a little easier after last night, is all.

Other than these observations, the whole Congress situation doesn't really figure on my radar. There really isn't much more than I can say about it.

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ELECTION - THE DAY AFTER: 11:42 AM

I slept good! The best that I've had in awhile. And I got to sleep in a little late too. Lisa was the one who woke me up with a phone call from school: they're going to start throwing away all the signs later this afternoon, so I need to go get mine. There are a little over 200 signs of mine spread out across the county... and Lord only knows where I'm going to put them all :-P Then I called Mom and after that talked to Scott, the associate pastor of my church.

I'm still feeling what I felt last night when I hit the hay: upbeat and impressed and proud and... positively stunned. The thought of tattooing "4,584" on my chest - along with the knight chesspiece logo from my campaign - has crossed my mind at least once since last night. But I know Lisa wouldn't let me do that: a tattoo really is a permanent reminder of your temporary insanity, and it's good to have a wife there to defuse crazy notions like that :-)

There's a few things I need to do today, not the least of which is start getting signs up. There's also some things I'm feeling inclined to talk about so far as what did happen last night goes... but that might come a little later than I promised last night. Later on today though, I plan on doing the thing that I'd intended to do if I had won: even though I didn't win a seat, as proud as I am of my first-time campaign and how remarkably well I did, I think I deserve treating myself to this. You'll find out later on this evening what it is :-)

Okay, off to take down signs.

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