And we still don't have that glorious orchestral score on CD yet! The petition to get an an album of the movie's soundtrack by Steve Jablonsky currently has 3,730 signatures.
Here's something that's much better: the opening credits from 1980's big-screen movie Flash Gordon, with that amazing theme song by Queen!
Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a LookI will gladly support a draft. Provided that Jenna and Barbara and George P. Bush are the first to get inducted and put on armed patrol duty in Basra.Aug 10 06:25 PM US/Eastern
By RICHARD LARDNERWASHINGTON (AP) - Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.
"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June ...
Or better yet, George W. Bush should suit up and take up the rifle on his own and set an example for the rest of us to follow. If Leonidas could lead 300 Spartans against two million Persians, certainly our own Commander in Chief can take point in his "surge" against a few dozen militants ... right?
And then a few days ago China threatened to dump its holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds, which would severely drive down the value of the dollar.
Bear in mind that for all intents and purposes, the only thing really propping up the dollar right now is its value as currency on the oil market.
In the past day or so I've heard some say that this almost looks like 1929 all over again. I disagree: it's looking much more like the economy of the South toward the end of the Civil War. At that point inflation was so bad, and the Confederate dollar so worthless, that if you wanted to buy a piece of bread from the baker then you'd give him your round Confederate coin and he'd cut out a piece of bread exactly that size.
Nobody can base an economy on credit and debt and expect it to persist for very long. And there's not that many ways that this current situation can really turn out okay, from where I'm sitting.
Today is very much the hottest weather that I can remember around here in quite a long time.
You know what I'm talking about if you've read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's the five words that Molly Weasley screams out just before going full-tilt wacko in the final battle. The five words that are going to absolutely rock the house when the movie version comes out.
Well, if you're on Facebook and you're also a fan of that indomitable matriarch of the Weasley clan, check this out: the "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" Mrs. Weasley Appreciation Group ...
It already has over a hundred thousand members!
I will say it again: that is the single greatest line from a children's book ever. And you wanna know why? Because I don't know of anything else that's ever been said in a work of fiction that more perfectly reflects the virtue of parental love. In real life, a mother who loves her children seriously would do anything to protect them, just as Mrs. Weasley did. She would die for them and she would kill for them if it came to that. And she's not going to give a flying rat's butt about being polite about it, either.
When you think of it, Molly Weasley really is quite the avatar of Christian motherhood. I think it could even be said that Mrs. Weasley could be a symbol of the pro-life movement.
You can probably tell that I'm already looking forward to reading these books to our children someday :-)
An item has been placed on the agenda for the August 13th meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Education that, if approved, would limit remarks by private citizens to three minutes or less during public comments portions of the monthly meetings.The Knight Shift blog received this information from a highly trusted source earlier this evening.
I've spent the past good bit of evening trying to find out more about this and I'm going to be making further inquiries come tomorrow morning.
As I've come to understand it, here's what's going down: at least one and possibly two members of the Board of Education placed this item on the agenda for the next meeting, and it's quite likely that this is coming as a reaction to what happened at the July 9th meeting. That was when the Board voted to rescind it's decision in April to implement school uniforms at Reidsville Middle and Reidsville High schools beginning this fall. A group of citizens - and I was one of them - calling themselves P.O.T.S.M.O.D. (People Opposed To Standard Mode Of Dress) dominated the public comments time during every meeting from April to July in protest of the policy. The July 9th meeting received considerable news coverage from most of the area's major media outlets because members of P.O.T.S.M.O.D. announced that they were going to address the Board wearing costumes and black armbands as a visible sign of defiance to the policy (the vote for which had been based on dire faulty information).
It's already public knowledge that there are some on the board who have expressed disdain for citizens' right to free speech. One member of the Rockingham County Board of Education stated aloud during the July meeting that P.O.T.S.M.O.D. and others were "bad for the community" because they used "loud noise" which "changed public opinion" about the uniforms.
What kind of elected official, so entrusted to uphold the principles of the Constitution, would try to "shut up" the constituents that he or she is sworn to serve and represent on the board?
I'm working on finding out more about this, folks. If more info comes this way, I'll be sure to share it here. But I wanted to go ahead and get the word out: some people on the Rockingham County Board of Education are actively taking steps to drown-out the public's right to speak out and participate in government as concerned citizens.
I don't know of any better way of wrapping up this post, than to present one of my all-time favorite works of art: a painting by Norman Rockwell simply titled "Freedom of Speech" ...
This is a life-sized statue of Yoda, made of industrial-strength plastic resin. It is heavy and despite his realized stature it is positively huge! Without a doubt it's the biggest Yoda collectible that I've ever wound up having in my possession.
Here's the statue along with my vintage Yoda vinyl hand-puppet (circa 1981) and a "Star Wars Buddies" Yoda that Lisa gave me for Christmas a few years ago, to give you a sense of appreciating the scale of this thing (and that's an Artoo-Detoo cooler that Lisa got me for Christmas before last too, in the background)...
Not even these pictures can convey the full sense of how massive this statue is.
How did this thing come to be under our roof? Well, my good friend Brian Hodges AKA Darth Larry brought it over today. He's about to start a new job as a music professor at Mercer. A few weeks ago a friend of his from Orlando, Florida gave it to Brian, after her brother won it in a raffle. They didn't have anywhere to put Yoda so they let Brian have him. Well, Brian's original intent was to put Yoda in his office at the university and since the lightsaber blade pops out, Brian wanted Yoda to be wielding a cello bow instead. And that would have been terrific... except Yoda is so big that there wasn't room for him! So Brian asked me if I'd like to have it. I told him yes, on one condition: that it be understood that I am not taking permanent possession of this Yoda statue. Brian loves this way too much and I couldn't bear for him to relinquish total ownership of it. For the time being, Yoda is simply in our "foster care" until Brian can take him back for good.
In the meantime, life-sized Yoda is dominating our living room and I'm trying to figure out exactly how to give him bed and board. Brian's idea to give him a cello bow led me to come up with the idea of putting Yoda in Lisa's classroom (she teaches music at the nearby elementary school) with a conducing baton in his hand, and put up a little sign next to him reading "Music: The REAL Force". No doubt it would be a big hit with the kids!
So ummm... anyone else have other ideas about how to wisely use Yoda while he's here? :-)
That's what Dr. Chuck Baldwin is asking in his latest essay...
I believe one of the reasons, if not the main reason, that Christians are so gullible lies in a mistaken, and even dangerous, intrinsic trust of government. I hear and see this attitude expressed among my brethren constantly.There's much more to be found at the above link. And last week Dr. Baldwin also published "An Appeal To My Fellow Christians", which I also thought to be quite a good read.Part of this problem stems from an illogical and unscriptural interpretation of Romans Chapter Thirteen. Christians have been drilled (and dare I say, brainwashed?) into believing that government is endemically good and should be thoroughly trusted. Of course, this was not the belief of America's Founding Fathers, and neither was it the belief of Church Fathers.
In fact, our entire system of government is predicated upon a deep-rooted DISTRUST of government. Our three branches of government stem from the suspicion that no one branch could be thoroughly trusted and must have at least two other branches to help keep it in check. Yet, even that was not considered enough of a deterrent to combat the propensity of government to become tyrannical. What the separate branches of the federal government could not do to police each other, the states and people were to do. In other words, if Christians were really good Americans, they would distrust, not trust, their government.
Of all people, Christians should understand the fallen nature of man: that man in a sinful state is capable of anything (unless they attend a "Purpose Driven" church, of course). How is it, then, that they cannot seem to comprehend the evil machinations of people in high office? Are they totally taken in by the "I am a Christian" façade so many politicians use? Perhaps.
However, I believe that constant preaching from milquetoast preachers instructing their people to trust their government is the main culprit. The lack of discernment and courage of America's pulpits is frightening. They have produced a generation of Christians incapable of understanding, much less opposing, the manifestations of evil and oppression.
A chile's spiciness can be scientifically measured by calculating its content of capsaicin, the chemical that gives a pepper its bite, and counting its Scoville units.Over a million Scoville units?! Geeeeeez...And how hot is the bhut jolokia?
As a way of comparison: Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units. Your basic jalapeño pepper measures anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000. The previous record holder, the Red Savina habanero, was tested at up to 580,000 Scovilles.
The bhut jolokia crushed those contenders, testing at 1,001,304 Scoville units.
For a month now I've been trying Dave's Ultimate Insanity sauce on quite a few things, including mixing it with chili and salsa. It's so powerful that the most I've used at any one time is 3 drops of the stuff: any more than that and it's unbearably hot. Well, Dave's Ultimate Insanity has been measured to be, at most, about 250,000 Scoville units. I can't begin to imagine what a million would feel like. But I must admit, I am terribly curious as to how bhut jolokia tastes. Maybe someday I'll get to try it.
Among the biggest breakthroughs that have happened in this matter came about because of Marco van Bergen: an intrepid young film-maker (click here for the website for his movie Zero Hour) and journalist based in the Netherlands. Marco's been making some tremendous inroads in getting the word spread about the Transformers score petition. Well earlier today he received what may be the most substantive info yet straight from the sources at Sony Music. And that word is ... that Sony Music isn't in charge of the score at all, apparently! Here's what they sent Marco:
Hi Marco, unfortunately I don't have any information on this record as it is not a Sony BMG release. There might have been some confusion with the recent release of the Transformers Movie 20th Anniversary Edition soundtrack (the animated movie) since Sony BMG had put that record out.Okay so ... who is in charge of the score? Is it indeed, as some have said, Warner Records: the company that released the Transformers "soundtrack" (it's not a real soundtrack) album?SonyMusicStore Customer Service
www.SonyMusicStore.com
"Your Source For Music And More!"
I don't know, but I'm going to be spending part of the next few days trying to find out. In the meantime, it might be worth bearing in mind that Transformers should hit the $300 million dollar mark in box office earnings by the end of this week. It's now the #4 highest-grossing movie of 2007. The Transformers score petition also received it's 3,000th signature earlier this evening. It sure seems that whoever has the rights to release a good album of Jablonsky's score for Transformers, is sitting on a gold mine that's just waiting to be tapped into. Let's hope they do it soon! :-)
So last week 300 came out on DVD and I've had that playing a bunch of times now if nothing else than for background noise. And then tonight, courtesy of Netflix, I watched Sin City. So for the past few days there's sorta been a "film festival" of movies based on Frank Miller stories that's been running here.I'm going to say that I seriously liked this movie, even though I didn't really understand some of it. After watching Sin City I feel kind of the same way that I felt after first reading Miller's The Dark Knight Returns years ago: that I thought this was a really great piece of work in spite of the fact that parts of it confused the heck out of me. But then, even Bob Kane - Batman's creator - said that he never understood The Dark Knight Returns himself. Maybe I need to go track down the Sin City graphic novels and read them to really "get" this.
But what I could understand of Sin City the movie, I thought was pretty compelling. And I very much enjoyed the film-making technique that went into this movie. It's got much the same kind of "hyper-real" look to it that 300 has, which may be the neatest innovation that's come along so far as faithfully adapting the comic book medium to that of motion pictures. The stories were hard and gritty, and I got the sense that this was quite a believable setting, being so rife with vice and politics and corruption. Sin City also has quite a strong cast, the biggest standouts being Mickey Roarke (how da heck did he move like that?), Clive Owen and Bruce Willis.
All things considered, a groovy movie. I'll probably get it for my DVD collection at some point.
They're also planning a massive concert tour. Lisa, "Weird" Ed, my sister Anita, and I saw The Eagles when they came to the Greensboro Coliseum in 2003 for their Farewell I Tour. It was easily one of the finest shows that I've ever seen, and worth every penny of the cost of tickets. Hope they'll come back around the area again this next go-round.
Quite an interesting year this has been, for sure :-)
This is one write-up that I've been wanting the opportunity to do for quite awhile now. The very first time that I heard about Mildred Council AKA "Mama Dip" and her restaurant, it was when I spotted her cookbook Mama Dip's Cookbook eight years ago. Something about this woman's beaming smile on the book's cover screamed out to me that one way or another, I had to try her cooking sometime. And then I happened to notice that UNC-TV, the statewide PBS network, had her live in the studio every so often to demonstrate real southern-style cooking. I'm telling you here and now: I felt dire hunger pangs just from watching this lady make biscuits.Well yesterday evening after Lisa and I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in IMAX at Exploris in Raleigh, we made a stop in Chapel Hill. And at long last, I got to eat at Mama Dip's Country Cooking Restaurant. And this was, without a doubt, one of the best dining experiences that I've ever had! Everything about it was just darned perfect. Completely blew away my expectations. And even though it's an hour away from where we live in Reidsville, I can definitely see going back to Mama Dip's restaurant and bringing along more people who'll be new to the experience: as much to get a kick out of seeing them enjoy the place as much as I want to try more from Mama Dip's menu!
We got to Mama Dip's restaurant a little after 5 p.m. Here's the pic that Lisa took of me next to the sign outside the place...
Then we went inside. We found a wonderfully welcoming place with great country decor and a very friendly wait staff. And we had a terrific waitress named Persis who really did go all out to make our first time at Mama Dip's a memorable one...
Persis took our order for drink and I couldn't resist asking: "Is she here?" Persis said that "she's not here right now" but that Mama Dip would probably be in pretty soon.
So far as drinks go, they have a good variety at Mama Dip's and Persis recommended the peach/mango lemonade: a lil' home-grown concoction that she said was really good. So that's what Lisa and I ordered. The first sip of it was overwhelming. I can't think of anything else that I've ever drank, apart from a few alcoholic beverages, that has this kind of strong kick to it. Can't stress this enough people: the peach/mango lemonade is powerful stuff! We're talking tangy to the extreme. Here's a pic of Lisa after trying it...
I knew yesterday morning that if we went to Mama Dip's that evening, that I wanted to try the fried chicken and biscuits. I didn't know that this place had barbecue pork ribs also. I wound up ordering a combo plate of fried chicken, barbecue ribs, fried okra, and apple sauce...
And Lisa got the chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni. This pic also shows the biscuits...
Oh, and the biscuits? Heck, those alone would keep me coming back!
As we were winding down our main course, Persis came to the table and told me that Mama Dip had arrived a few minutes before. Persis led me to the foyer and there she was, Mama Dip herself: Mildred Council!
In case you're wondering why she's known as "Mama Dip", it came from when she was a child - the youngest of seven siblings - growing up in rural Chatham County, North Carolina. Mildred Council was called "Dip" by her brothers and sisters because she was tall and had long arms enough that she could dip all the way down to the bottom of the rain barrel to get a full scoop when the water level was low. We got to talk for a few minutes and I told Mrs. Council how much I had been looking forward to eating at her restaurant, and how much my Mom really enjoyed her cookbooks and how I couldn't wait to come again sometime. If I could describe Mrs. Council in just a few words, I would have to say that she is very "effervescent" and that her smile is as infectious as her personality and good cheer. Getting to meet Mama Dip, on top of the terrific food and service at her restaurant, is definitely one of the best experiences that I've been able to share on this blog.
After we finished talking, I went back to our table for dessert. Lisa and I had the pecan pie, which was warm and moist and extremely satisfying, coming on top of an already great meal. Then we left, after thanking Persis for the great job she did as our waitress and after Lisa got to tell Mama Dip as we were checking out that she really enjoyed eating there, too.
I will definitely be going back to Mama Dip's Country Cooking Restaurant, and hopefully sooner than later. And I'm going to recommend Mama Dip's to everyone that I possibly can, too. This is one place that not only deserves its terrific reputation, but that I think it could accurately be said that its reputation doesn't reflect on the place nearly well enough! It's very worth your while to visit the place, even if you have to drive a bit to get there (like we did).
Mama Dip's Country Cooking Restaurant is located at 408 W. Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. If you're coming in from I-40 it's a very easy place to get to: just get off at Exit 266 onto NC-86 going toward Chapel Hill. This quickly becomes Martin Luther King Boulevard and after about 3 miles becomes Columbia street. You'll want to turn right onto west Rosemary Street not long after this, and Mama Dip's will be a little less than a half-mile on your right. Just look for the sign that's in the above photos and you can't miss it :-)
The first installment has a lot of local interest because it originated with a professor at North Carolina State University. John Kessel's short story "A Clean Escape" will star Sam Waterston and Judy Davis in a post-Apocalyptic tale of the near future about a psychiatrist who's trying to help a man with curious lapses in memory.
I haven't read the original short story yet, but my friend Chad Austin - who works at N.C. State's press office and who wrote an article about John Kessel and his story being used for Masters of Science Fiction - has told me to expect quite an excellent tale! The News & Observer also has an article about Kessel's story. And Mr. Kessel has drawn up a list of what he considers to be among the best film adaptations of science-fiction work.
Masters of Science Fiction premieres with "A Clean Escape" at 10 p.m. EST on August 4th on the ABC Network.
