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I will confess that I still can't entirely believe this is happening. After a decade and a half of false starts, unfounded rumors and even a few fake scripts (Indiana Jones and the Sons of Darkness, anyone?), part of my mind is convinced that this is a colossal prank hatched by Messrs. Lucas and Spielberg. Only when I'm situated in a theater next month with Dad (we've seen every Indiana Jones movie together since 1981) will I be persuaded that they actually made this thing.
But the part of me that does believe is completely stoked about seeing a new Indiana Jones movie :-)
Things have been going so well lately (and Lord willing the trend will continue for awhile) that this afternoon I went out and splurged a bit, and got Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360. I got to play the original Grand Theft Auto for a while in 2001 but this is the first time I've bought a Grand Theft Auto game for my own collection.
Initial thoughts?
This is not a game that I would ever let children or even older teenagers play. It's definitely for a much more mature audience. But if you scratch away the mindless violence and sexual imagery, I'm finding that there's some powerful commentary about the state of culture in this game... and isn't it a sad indication that it takes a video game to try to enlighten the masses about such things? The Liberty City of Grand Theft Auto IV is at once a fictional burg and a stark mirror of modern America: a place where the so-called "American Dream" is seeking after cheap thrills and fleeting celebrity. And ironically, with its "sandbox" playing style it's a place where your virtual avatar - who in the story is a recent immigrant from eastern Europe - might have more freedom to roam and do what he will than American citizens do in real life. Now I'm not saying that it's a "cool" thing to run over pedestrians and blow crap up, but you know what I mean...
I'm going to play it some more, and maybe write a full review in the next few days, if I've time for it. I'm also working on a review of BioShock, which I've been playing like crazy since early March and have already beaten... but that's one game that's definitely taking awhile to wrap my brain around as much as I'd like.
Scott Kelly sends word that after three months of a lot of people wanting this, that "Roar!", the instrumental piece by Michael Giacchino that plays over the end credits of Cloverfield (and the only original musical score composed for that movie) is now available for purchase via iTunes as of today. If you have iTunes already loaded on your computer then aim here to go straight to "Roar!".
I just bought it and am listening to it now. "Roar!" is both monstrous and majestic. I thought that in addition to complementing Cloverfield, that it was a beautiful piece in its own right and a terrific homage to the classic Toho "giant monstah" movies that Cloverfield was inspired by.
Incidentally, the version of "Roar!" that you can download is five minutes longer than the one used in the movie. After listening to both - someone sent me a very clean (i.e. no theatrical noises) copy of the movie's version a few weeks ago - I must say that I prefer the edition from iTunes.
I also got the Cloverfield DVD yesterday. Haven't watched all of it yet but it's a beautiful transfer. I can't wait to put both it and "Roar!" on my iPod... and then I can take Cloverfield with me wherever I go :-)
I spent most of it working on stuff in my capacity as treasurer for my friend Eric Smith's campaign for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. This mostly entailed finishing up the First Quarter Campaign Finance Report. Also had a few errands around town.
When Lisa got home from school I gave her a birthday card and the new Mario Kart Wii (also got another Wii steering controller so that we can race each other :-). Then we went to dinner at the Olive Garden in Burlington, and afterward we got another Wii game at the Best Buy near there. Then came on home and I finished the report, and joined Lisa for some Mario Kart Wii. It was a little after 8 when Johnny called to tell me about the Star Wars-themed Deal or No Deal that was on NBC tonight.
And then about thirty minutes ago, the phone rang again.
I just received a callback. They offered me a part!
Which I honestly had to wonder (and I even asked the nice girl this) if they had called the wrong number because my singing was, admittedly... off (and that's being way more charitable than I deserve :-)
Anyways, after almost ten years of wanting to be in Children of Eden, my dream is about to come true! I'll be playing the part of Seth, and whether you've seen Children of Eden before or you just read the Bible a lot, you know that Seth is the son that Adam and Eve have after Abel is killed.
As has happened many other times on this blog whenever I've been involved in some kind of project (running for school board, the Transformers score petition, the Viacom/YouTube copyright fiasco, school uniforms etc.) I'll do my best to chronicle what it's like to do a theatrical production like this, especially in case anyone else ever thought about going for a role in a musical ('cuz I believe that everyone should follow their dreams). I'm just glad that for once it gets to be something thoroughly fun that I'll be getting to write about :-)
Okay, I'm off to celebrate. Starting with playing "Generations" from the Children of Eden soundtrack full-blast on our stereo system!
(And thanks to everyone who wished me luck and even kept me in their prayers when I said that I was going to take a stab at this :-)
Johnny Yow called about an hour ago to tell me to turn to NBC. There was Howie Mandell as usual, but the models with the cases were all Imperial Stormtroopers (probably members of the 501st, way to go guys :-) and Darth Vader was sitting up in the banker's chair.
I checked it out again a short while ago and the regular female models were back, all wearing "Slave Leia" metal bikinis from Return of the Jedi. Lisa quipped that "That must be every guy's dream right there!"
I don't know if I particularly like the idea of a Star Wars Deal or No Deal because as Lando Calrissian found out the hard way, the last person in the universe you want to have to be forced to make a deal with is Darth Vader :-P
I'm the treasurer for his campaign, but this is the first time that I'm getting to see this. In this video of his appearance at the Wake County Republican Convention a few weeks ago, Eric discusses why North Carolina parents should be fully liberated to send their children to the schools of their own choice - including private school and homeschooling - and he hits on one of the biggest problems facing this country and the one that politicians seem the least determined to address: illegal immigration.
For the past few weeks I've been working on an overhaul for this blog. I'm feeling like the time is right for a drastic new look: something that'll pop into a reader's retinas and stay burned in his gray matter. Longtime readers will remember a time when this was a pitch-black site with strange-colored fonts, back when I didn't really know what the heck I was doing with a blog. I gave it the white "newspapery" look a year ago but other than those minor cosmetics, it's basically been the same design for the past four years.
So I've been studying blog designs and what I'd like to do with my own, and I'm seeing what others do with theirs. Like Kevin Bussey's blog, for example. His is about as well-designed and downright slick a personal blog as I've ever seen. And I'd love to be able to do stuff like what he and others are doing with theirs...
...except that Kevin and lots of other folks are using WordPress for their blogging. Which compared to Google's Blogger - which is what my own blog uses - is like comparing an SR-71 Blackbird to a Sopwith Camel. Both will get ya there, but one is definitely more "boss" than the other.
Suddenly I'm feeling like Web 2.0's version of Oliver Twist, daring to approach Google's table to ask "Please sir, I want some more!"
I'm not the only one whose blogging capabilities are feeling abandoned by Google. Ian Lamont laments intensely about frustration with Blogger in a piece at The Industry Standard's website. He argues - and I'm compelled to agree with him - that Google has thoroughly neglected Blogger, which it acquired when it bought Pyra Labs in 2003. The reason? Lamont argues that Google is simply interested in "other things", like Google Maps.
Kinda makes you wonder if Google's possession of YouTube will eventually be revealed as nothing more than a casual flirtation, and whether service on that site will likewise stagnate.
I would like to see Google not just pick up the Blogger ball, but start treating it like a serious resource that should be developed, nurtured and made into a competitive asset. It needs to open the doors for users to implement new toys and widgets, like WordPress and other blogging platforms allow. And Google seriously needs to migrate away from the blogspot.com domain and fully embrace Blogger as not just the top-level domain for its users but a brand name as powerful as YouTube is. What do you think looks more potent: "theknightshift.blogspot.com" or "theknightshift.blogger.com"?
In the meantime, I'll keep working on my humble page here. But I'm already beginning to seriously consider moving my regular blogging business to WordPress. If you're thinking about getting started with a blog, and until Google starts getting serious about improving things with its own service, maybe you should too.
Anyone left who still believes that we have to "work within the system" to effect change in this country had better read this and think real hard about what they're advocating.
Because the undeniable truth is: the system no longer works. The system has not worked in a long time. The system is hopelessly broken. We're just now becoming able to see how bad the damage is.
And anyone who still believes we must abide by the status quo and stay within the confines of the system is... well, an idiot.
The status of the Republican Party of the United States isn't much different from that of the Communist Party of China, when you think about it. Both are controlled by hardliner old guards who won't bend and will crush like a bug any new blood that tries to bring fresh ideas to the scene. I'm not talking about Republicans as a whole mind you: I'm talking about the Republican National Committee and too many of the individual states' party leaders. Witness, f'rinstance, the lengths of chicanery they've gone to in order to shut out Ron Paul: the one sincere believer of Constitutional rule of law who's run as a candidate from that party.
At the statewide convention of the Republican Party in Nevada yesterday, the Ron Paul delegates were set to win control in a super-majority of votes. And then GOP officials actually SHUT DOWN their own convention to keep that from happening. As of this morning Nevada Republicans don't have delegates to send to the national convention. All because their party bosses insist on sending pro-John McCain delegates.
I'm especially disgusted at what one McCain shill is quoted as saying in that story...
"But at the end of the day, part of the job of being a national delegate is to do what is best for the party in November. And that means supporting the party’s nominee."
Just drag everyone kicking and screaming into the smoke-filled room and get it over with already, why don't ya?
Here's a delegate to the convention, who posted a YouTube video about what happened yesterday...
And then I received an e-mail from a friend who said that the same thing has been happening here in North Carolina as well...
The same thing happened at the NC 2nd District. Only they allowed counties to choose the Delegates and when the Ron Paul folks called for a point of order (40 of them) someone else made a motion to dismiss and the chair called it.
My friend further commented that "It amazes me that the GOP will eat their young just because they don't agree with them."
This is the "democracy" that we're trying to convince other countries is a good thing that they should adopt?
And how in the Hell does anyone even remotely like John McCain become the anointed candidate of the supposedly "conservative" Republican Party? More to the point: Why should anyone of good conscience feel obligated, in any way, to support McCain? Is personal conscience the price that must be paid for ultimate loyalty to a political machine?
Has America finally arrived at that terrible line where both rule of law and private character are made sacrifice for sake of power?
Because if so, then America is lost already.
Here's what I think: the Republican rank-and-file, the "grassroots", is finally waking up to what it's own leadership has been doing to it for going on decades now. And that's the last thing the GOP leadership wants. Their control is now more threatened than ever before. And it's become patently obvious that the Republican National Committee and other GOP elites actively despise the grassroots Republicans.
And now it's been laid bare before everyone.
It wouldn't surprise me if this election year is the final one for the Republican Party as a viable political force in this country. The rift between the sincere believers in limited government and the "blue blood" party management that's exploiting them threatens to become the greatest political divorce in this country's modern memory.
And I can't help but think that maybe that will be a good thing. Something as inherently corrupt as the two major parties should be let to collapse and fall into ruins. The Republican leadership should have been thankful for Ron Paul, and for the wisdom and fresh perspective he brought with him. Instead it conspired to shut him down at every conceivable turn.
Now it's going to have to pay the price. If Clinton or Obama win the White House, the GOP's honchos will have no one to blame but themselves.
A diabolical race of alien Mr. Potato Heads, inspired by Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, hires an evil clone of Google founder Sergey Brin to sabotage every car on Earth with homicidal wacko environmentalist computers and the only person who can stop them is a guy in a blue police box.
Can there be any doubt that this is a new episode of Doctor Who?
"This is your final destination."
"Getting a bit too close to the Nineteen-Eighties!"
"Doctor, it's Martha... and I'm bringing you back to Earth!"
"Technically speaking you're still on staff. You never resigned."
"We've got massive funding from the United Nations, all in the name of homeworld security."
"It's all right for you. You can just come and go but some of us have got to stay behind."
"You need to be careful, because you know the Doctor. He's wonderful, he's brilliant! But he's like fire. Stand too close and people get burned."
"I came to do my job."
"You can't say 'ATMOS System'! Because it stands for 'Atmospheric Emissions System' so it's like you're saying 'Atmospheric Emissions System System'! Do you see, Mister Conditional Clause?!"
"General Staal of the Tenth Sonaran Battle Fleet! Staal the Undefeated!"
"Fifty-three deaths in the same second, man! That is so cool!"
"Doctor!"
Season 4 of the classic British science-fiction series (although it's actually Season 30, which makes it even more classic) continues to unfold on two continents. While American audiences finally got to behold the season premiere episode "Partners in Crime" (mash here for my original review) over the weekend on the Sci-Fi Channel, our English/Scottish/Irish cousins were enjoying the new season's fourth episode. And as usual, many of them have been kind enough to "export" it via the Internet.
"The Sontaran Stratagem" hails the return of the Sontarans, who haven't been seen since "The Two Doctors" from the Colin Baker era in 1985. The squat, ugly alien soldiers have an, ummm... stratagem for taking over the planet Earth. It involves ATMOS, a company that has created a way to produce zero carbon emissions from vehicles (in addition to incorporating the Global Positioning System). When strange things start happening in connection to ATMOS - namely, dozens of people dying around the world at the same moment in ATMOS-equipped cars - former companion Martha Jones makes a phone call to the TARDIS. The Doctor and Donna are soon on their way.
Ohh-kaaaay, so... what to make of "The Sontaran Stratagem"? It might be the weakest of the new season so far, even though this was a very fun episode. My biggest beef was how the Sontarans were handled. These are supposed to be the Spartan warriors of the Doctor Who saga, and they were treated too much like parodies of their incarnation from the original show. But I suppose that in the context of a Doctor Who episode, they were plenty enough acceptable. I did not like that ridiculous "Sontar!" chant toward the end though. But I might be willing to forgive any shortcomings of the Sontarans themselves after next week's chapter, if it lives up to its ominous preview.
David Tennant is obviously enjoying his time as the Doctor, and that makes his performance all the more fun to watch. Catherine Tate as Donna continues to grow on me, and it's terrific to see Freema Agyeman again as Martha. "The Sontaran Stratagem" also sees the return of UNIT, which gladly welcomes the Doctor back into its ranks. But alas: Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart is not on the scene! But this is just the first-half of a two-part story: maybe Brigadier will come back next week and order "five rounds, rapid" on those nasty Sontarans.
I'll give "The Sontaran Stratagem" 3 Sonic Screwdrivers out of 5. Not as good an episode as "Partners in Crime" or "The Fires of Pompeii", but still a pleasant-enough romp involving a long-neglected adversary that deserves some respect. There's also plenty of fun to be had in this episode with lots of classic Doctor Who lore: I especially loved what the Doctor did with Staal's probic vent!
Next week: the Sontaran crusade against Earth continues in "The Poison Sky".
Several months back I learned that the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County was planning a production of Children of Eden. It's a musical by Stephen Schwartz based on the first six chapters of the Book of Genesis: from the Garden of Eden on through the story of Noah and the Ark. I've loved this show ever since first seeing it performed at Elon when I was a student there. I bought the 2-disc soundtrack CD some years ago, and I've tried to catch a performance of every production that's been done around here since.
From the first time that I've seen Children of Eden I've wanted to take part in a production. Auditions were last night and today for this one. So this afternoon I went out and tried out for it.
Now, please understand something: I know that I can't sing! Every time I play Karaoke Revolution, I get booed off the stage. Lisa will definitely be the first to tell you that I can't carry a tune. Whenever we're in the car and "Bohemian Rhapsody" comes on the radio, the poor girl must endure my attempt to imitate Freddie Mercury (in song anyway). My singing is so bad that whenever we're in a church I don't sing the hymns: I whistle 'em.
But I wanted to give Children of Eden a shot all the same. At least I would be able to say that I gave it my best. There's never any shame in that.
Auditions were at the Advanced Technologies Building at Rockingham Community College. I arrived at 1, filled out some release paperwork, was assigned a number and had my photo taken. When it was my turn to perform I got up on stage and sang the first part of "Let There Be", which is the first song from the show. The one that Father (AKA God) does as he's creating the world. Hey, you have to at least say that a guy admitting on stage that he had no voice training and then proceeds to try out for the part of God has guts, right?
I'm pretty sure that I was off a bit. One of the producers asked me to try to project my voice as if the auditorium was five times larger, and toward the back of the place. So I did that too. And I still probably bombed the tryout!
But even though I might never receive a singing part with that audition, right now I'm a very happy guy for having done this. I'll never have any regrets about having the opportunity and not taking it. As one of the people there told me, "You never know, you might get a callback." Even for someone who couldn't belt out a tune to save his life, there's always hope. And if I never go in front of an audience in this, Children of Eden is such a neat story that I told the producers that even if they just need someone to work backstage, that I'd love to do that much. It takes a lot of different people to put on a show, especially one with such a large cast and crew as Children of Eden. Believe me: having made a few films now, I can attest that it's just as fun being behind a camera as it is being in front of one.
So that was my little adventure for today. We'll see what happens next. Children of Eden is set to run on June 20-22 and then on June 27-29.
I'm absolutely planning to see this, whether it's on stage, behind the stage or as a paying audience member :-)
...and we still have five more episodes to see how this season ends!
"The Shape of Things to Come" might have been the greatest episode since Lost premiered almost four years ago. It was the perfect mixture of everything that makes Lost work: strong characters, heavy action, tense moments, moral choices that sometimes go wildly wrong, all the major bits of Lost mythology (DHARMA, Jacob, Smokey to name a few), a bit of humor... and the notorious Lost penchant for flipping the tables completely over on what we're expecting.
I think I accidentally muttered a mild profanity at least three times in this episode. Especially after Ben made his little "call".
Something I caught early in the episode: take a look at the name that's embroidered on the jumpsuit that Ben is wearing when we find him in the Sahara Desert. It's a familiar one to anyone who's watched the DHARMA Initiative's orientation film for the yet-to-be-seen Orchid station. Some theories pop into mind about why Ben was there, wearing what he had... but I'm going to withhold those for the time being ('cuz I got friends who might read this and they haven't seen this episode yet :-)
I think this might also be the Lost episode with the biggest body count since the pilot episode. Don't think I've seen that many people die one-by-one on camera since the final episode of Blake's 7 (a show which is being brought back, incidentally).
So... anyone else now have their feelings about Ben totally changed? Maybe even feel that he's a character to sympathize with (barring what he's now planning to do per the episode's final scene)?
Best show on television right now. And the way things are going, it might someday rate widely as the best show ever made. Can't wait for next week's episode.
By the way, Lisa had gone on to bed (curse this new timeslot!) but after the prologue and the title, when it went to its first commercial break I went into the bedroom and told her "I wish your piano stool was as cool as Ben's!" She won't know what I'm talking about until she watches it from the DVR tomorrow :-)
Lost resumes tonight on ABC (at 10 pm, an hour later than previously so remember to bear that in mind) with the first episode completed since work resumed following the writer's strike.
When we last looked in on the Island, Rousseau and Karl had been shot and Alex was pleading for her life with the unknown assailants. I'm pretty confident we can already figure out who these people are. Rumor is that tonight's episode at last brings the start of the full-blown war for control of the Island between Widmore and the Others.
I'm hearing that "The Shape of Things to Come" is going to be a Ben Linus-centric episode.
And in case you haven't heard already, Lost this season received an extra hour from the ABC execs, and the two episodes that would have been otherwise produced for this season will be passed along to the next two. So everything works out.
As often happens, I'll try to post some comments afterward :-)
By Primus, I never thought that we'd be going through this again. But, it looks like we will! :-)
If you've been reading this blog for awhile, then you're no doubt familiar with the hijinks (among numerous others) that happened this past year regarding the movie Transformers and it's amazing orchestral score by composer Steve Jablonsky. After seeing the movie I went looking for the score's CD in stores. It wasn't available. I made sure to write about it on this blog that I was looking forward to a release of Jablonsky's Transformers score. Lots of people were looking for it too and began coming to this blog, seeking any information for it. Almost on a lark, I set up an online petition requesting that the Powers That Be release the score. And it got slammed! Some drama ensued and I tried to chronicle it here. In the end, Warner Bros. Records published Transformers: The Score on October 9th, 2007. It sold very well on Amazon and became highly sought-after in stores. And for a time, everyone was happy...
Okay well...
It now looks like the victory was short-lived, because Transformers: The Score is no longer being published. At least in hard-copy CD. It's still available as a music download via Amazon and iTunes. But that's not good enough and the demand is still enormous for the Transformers score CD.
How enormous? Right now I'm looking on eBay: there are currently 20 bids for a copy of Transformers: The Score and it's now up to $83. During the past few months I've seen other copies of the CD that have likewise sold at astronomical prices.
So now, once again, there is... another online petition for the release of Transformers: The Score!
I've gladly signed this one, but otherwise I'm not involved in this petition. But I do wish them all the best, because this is a movie soundtrack that stands as tall as any other, and it deserves to have some more enduring space on the music rack in stores or wherever. Months later, and I'm still listening to Transformers: The Score quite a lot! And who knows: maybe Warner Bros. Records is still working on that 2-disc set that we've heard rumored about. If so, I can accept that. But if that's not in the works, then they should seriously consider re-issuing the original Transformers: The Score.
So... ya wanna sign? Because you know that you should. It's your choice, but not really.
This will be abused. The high court has just given "law enforcement officers" (God I hate that term) a blank check to stop, search and seize from everyone on even nonexistent grounds.
No doubt there are good cops out there who wouldn't abuse this... but that does not diminish the fact that this will be abused. And enormously so.
Hell, this would even open the way for corrupt police to plant evidence.
Folks, it's now patently obvious that this government is no longer of the people, by the people and for the people. It is now government protecting its own sorry ass. And that kind of government, friends and neighbors, is not a government worth our respect or support in the least bit.
Maybe it's time for good people still left in this land to instigate their own "Purge" (to borrow a euphemism from the TV show Lost). A good bloodletting might be the only way to restore sanity for ourselves and future generations.
So does anyone still believe that this court is going to rule in favor of the Second Amendment in another month or so?
