New THE DARK KNIGHT trailer strikes online and it is EPIC!

"This city deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm going to give it to them."

This may be the greatest trailer for a comic book movie ever. I've never seen two and a half minutes of live footage so perfectly capture the tone and essence of a graphic novel.

Not much more to say about it, other than click here for the new The Dark Knight trailer.

Thanks to Phillip Arthur for the heads-up!

EDIT 1:10 p.m. EST: I would never have believed it, but they actually put Harvey Dent after his transformation into Two-Face in this trailer. You see it at 2:03 into the thing. Here's a pic...

You can barely see some grisly scarring on the left side of his face, and looks like his suit is radically different on that side also.

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ATMOS-Fear: War beneath "The Poison Sky" in new DOCTOR WHO episode

I guess there's no point in denying that I'm a longtime fan of the British science-fiction series Doctor Who, what with these reviews that I do of the new episodes even before they broadcast here in the states. Just wish that I could have done last season as much as I'm doing this one or the 2006 season.

So this weekend most Yanks got to see "The Fires of Pompeii" via the Sci-Fi Channel. While the Brits were enjoying the premiere on BBC One of the conclusion of the two-part story that began last week with "The Sontaran Stratagem".

Cue the standard screengrab and select non-spoilerish quotes...

"It can't be stopped. It's everywhere. The whole planet."

"Look what happens every time that Doctor appears!"

"Good work for a female."

"I'm stuck. On Earth, like an ordinary person. Like a human! How rubbish is that?! Sorry no offense but COME ON!"

"My God, they're like trolls!"

"Its official designation is Castor 36. I like to think of it as Earth Point Two."

"It is being likened to a biblical plague. Some are calling this 'the end of days'."

"How can one man stop all that?"

"The planet is going nuclear!"

"He wasn't 'Greyhound 40', his name was Ross. Now listen to me, AND GET THEM OUT OF THERE!!!"

"This isn't war! This is sport!"

"Unfortunately he's stranded in Peru."

"For the billionth time YOU CAN'T FIGHT SONTARANS!"

"Wonderful."

"I've got to give them a choice."

"Sontar... HA!"

"The Poison Sky" picks up right where "The Sontaran Stratagem" left off, with the ATMOS devices spewing their toxic exhaust into Earth's air and the Doctor trying to rescue Donna's grandfather. UNIT's technicians have found that the gas is dangerous but not lethal: it must take up 80% of the air's density before it begins actively killing people. The Doctor realizes that simple mass extermination of humanity isn't the Sontarans' plan: they possess more than enough firepower aboard their ships to destroy all of Earth. So if the gas isn't designed for wholesale genocide, what is it for?

"The Poison Sky" is a wildly satisfying episode! The true purpose of the ATMOS devices is revealed to be absolutely diabolical, and it's a credit to Staal and the other Sontarans that they came up with such a plot. And speaking of Sontarans: this episode we finally get to see them in true fighting form. You can call them "poo in a spacesuit" if you like but after "The Poison Sky" there will be little doubt that the Sontarans are the definitive race of proud warriors in the Whoniverse. The action scenes with them might be some of the best choreographed from the entire forty-five year history of the series.

There's little else that I could say about "The Poison Sky" without it going too far into spoiler territory, and if you've already seen "The Sontaran Strategem" then you owe it to yourself to go into this one pretty unawares. I will say though that the producers of Doctor Who deserve major props for how they tie this episode into previous continuity... and especially for the reference to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart! No, we don't get to see the Brigadier in action again, but we do find some delightful news about him that (I hope) might lead into an eventual return of the character.

Oh yeah: I think "The Poison Sky" is a monumental episode in that it it firmly establishes that the Doctor Who saga is a component of the Marvel Universe, because UNIT has its own S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier! This is turning out to be quite the weekend for Marvel Comics, what with the Iron Man movie and now this :-)

The only thing that I thought was a bit weak about "The Poison Sky": when Rattigan - AKA the evil clone of Sergey Brin - goes into "Marshall Applewhite mode" and tries to get his students to make like Heaven's Gate. Was that supposed to be deliberate? I mean, they're even wearing sweat suits. Didn't really care for that part of the plot.

But otherwise, "The Poison Sky" is a solid Doctor Who episode. David Tennant is terrific as ever as the Doctor and companions Donna (Catherine Tate) and Martha (Freema Agyeman) both have some choice scenes for their characters. The Doctor saves the day in classic fashion, and there is one last scene in the TARDIS that without warning jolts the Doctor and his friends to... somewhere else.

"The Poison Sky" gets 4 and 1/2 Sonic Screwdrivers out of 5.

And the teaser for next week's episode promises the old-fashioned sort of trouble for the Doctor. Here are two words from it: "Hello Dad."

"The Doctor's Daughter" on BBC One next Saturday. And everywhere else via torrent download for those of us who are too impatient.

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Ron Paul endorses Eric Smith for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. Plus: I got to meet Dr. Paul!

Ron Paul, Republican candidate for President, spoke at Carmichael Auditorium at UNC Chapel Hill yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock. Also speaking on the program - having received Dr. Paul's endorsements - were Eric Smith, who is running for North Carolina's Superintendent of Public Instruction and B.J. Lawson, candidate for North Carolina's 4th Congressional District. Since I am the treasurer for Eric's campaign, and also 'cuz I've always wanted to meet Ron Paul, I absolutely had to attend! :-)

It was just as noon hit that I was leaving Reidsville, and on the way I stopped at the Barnes & Noble in Burlington to buy a copy of Dr. Paul's new book The Revolution: A Manifesto, currently ranked #1 on Amazon. It was the only copy on the shelves and one of the associates told me that it had been "selling hard". When I got to Chapel Hill I spoke to Eric via cellphone and he told me that he had stopped at that very store to get a copy and we figure we'd missed each other by less than 20 minutes!

Lots of people showed up to hear Dr. Paul. One guy told me that he'd driven all the way from Asheville (which would be around 4 hours drive time). The program for the event had a Photoshop image of Ron Paul as Iron Man from the new movie (complete with stylized "Ron Paul" done like the Iron Man font).

I must apologize for the quality of some of these pictures. The lighting in Carmichael Auditorium seemed to be strange: some pics turned out great and others taken from the same spot, I had to do some work with image levels etc. to make them better because they were so dark.

The first to speak was Paige Michael-Shetley, the Chairman of UNC Students for Ron Paul:

And then Eric Smith got up and spoke for a few minutes about the platform he was running on as candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction. It was much the same speech as he gave at the Wake County Republican Convention a few weeks ago:

Eric was followed by B.J. Lawson, who spoke much about how he ended up running for Congress after hearing about Ron Paul and what he stands for:

And then, following Lawson's remarks, Dr. Ron Paul himself took to the podium!

Ron Paul spoke for about 45 minutes on a number of subjects, but especially foreign policy and economic freedom. The kinds of things that - though I'm admittedly a Ron Paul supporter I have to candidly observe - I've never heard John McCain or Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or George W. Bush discuss. Certainly not with such eloquence and uncluttered presentation as Ron Paul did yesterday. It was like listening to one of the Founding Fathers, the way he spoke of individual liberty and why there needs to be less government as opposed to more.

Here are some shots of the crowd that came to listen to Ron Paul. This was a very enthused bunch but you know what? I don't know if it's because they were stoked about Ron Paul himself, or if it was more about his message of individual freedom that brought them here. Compare that to the footage we've seen of rallies for Obama and Hillary: those seem more like demonstrations of egotism. In contrast, Dr. Paul came across as probably the most humble candidate for high office that I've ever seen.

After Dr. Paul concluded his remarks, there was a "meet & greet" session where everyone could get their photo taken with him and he could autograph their books or yardsigns or whatever. While we were in line I couldn't help but take a picture of my feet standing on the floor at Carmichael Auditorium, 'cuz this is the same floor that Michael Jordan used to play on...

Here's Eric Smith along with Ron Paul:

And then finally, after wanting to meet him for a way long time (we're talking at least ten years now) I got to shake hands with Ron Paul! He also signed my copy of The Revolution:

On the way back home I couldn't help but think: more than seven years ago I almost met George W. Bush. That was the night that I saw first-hand how much an arrogant control freak Bush really is. Bush has since gone on to be the most wasteful and destructive President in American history. Yesterday I got to meet someone who couldn't be more a polar opposite: Ron Paul, who not only speaks of having less government and more individual opportunity, he believes it.

George W. Bush and Ron Paul. One is destroyer and the other is liberator. One is pro-war and the other is pro-life. One is a big-government socialist and the other is a classic capitalist. One believes in an American empire and the other believes as the Founders did that we don't go looking for fights. One preaches fear and the other preaches hope.

I certainly know which man I respect the more!

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Review of IRON MAN

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."

-- The apostle Paul,
1 Corinthians 13:11

And when you go see Iron Man at the cinema (and you really should) you'll understand why I chose to open this review with that bit of scripture.

Iron Man now ties with Spider-Man and Batman Begins as my all-time favorite comic book movie. I caught it yesterday evening during a stop in Burlington, on the way back from a political trip to Chapel Hill (I'm treasurer of a friend's statewide election campaign, if anyone's just now coming to this blog). Lisa was out having dinner and a movie with a friend from school. With things going especially well on several fronts in my life lately and since I can't remember the last time I did this, I opted to treat myself to a movie.

I went into Iron Man only knowing that Robert Downey Jr. was playing Tony Stark/Iron Man, but that's it. Search through this blog: you won't find any previous reference to this movie, it's been so far down my list of priorities... and I'm pretty familiar with the Iron Man saga, too. But the buzz has been too great for this movie and I had to see what it was about.

I hope that I can be blissfully ignorant about other movies in the future, if they can pack the same unexpected wallop as Iron Man did!

Iron Man is one of the most faithful adaptations of a comic book that I can recall ever being produced. Just about all of the classic elements of the Marvel comic are here and if they're not, they're subtly set-up for future installments (of which I hope there will be very many).

There are two ways to make a comic book movie: either make it as a geeky love-letter to comic book fans... and sometimes this goes too far and alienates the rest of an audience. Or make it for everyone, and run the risk of compromising on the source material. With Iron Man, director Jon Favreau has pulled off the nearly-impossible and done both, with no shortcomings at all. He and everyone else who produced this movie "get" that Iron Man, at its heart (was that a pun?) is far more about the human strengths and weaknesses of its characters more than it is about nonstop action.

But you'll still get plenty of both with Iron Man.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the owner of Stark Industries, a major weapons supplier for the United States military. During a trip to Afghanistan where he's demonstrating his company's latest bit of destructive technology, his convoy comes under attack and Stark is seriously wounded, then taken hostage. Shrapnel from the attack threatens his heart and only a powerful electro-magnet provided by a kind fellow prisoner keeps Stark alive. His captors then demand that Stark provide them with the weapon system he had been demonstrating.

But Stark, a born genius in the fields of engineering and computers, has other ideas.

I won't spoil what happens but you can probably figure it out. The fun then comes with seeing how this event changes the rest of Stark's life. And in that regard, Iron Man succeeds better than most comic book movies as a morality tale...

You see, Iron Man is a movie about "putting childish ways behind" and finally having to grow up. But it's also about realizing that to embrace that growth does not mean an end to life. Rather it's the true beginning of it. Tony Stark has it all: fathomless wealth, high society connection, government contracts, lots to drink, and a non-stop parade of women that he can be as fast and loose as he wants to be. He's like Howard Hughes magnified to the nth degree. Tony has everything that this carnal world could possibly provide... and yet he has nothing, as one character observes.

I think it could even possibly be said that Iron Man is, in some ways, a profoundly Christian movie. Just as Paul had a spiritual transformation and became a very different person, Tony Stark experiences his own "Damascus Road" and even a kind of "baptism of fire". It takes a tragedy to force him to confront both human frailty and his own moral shortcomings. He resolves to make the rest of his life count for something more than the money and the constant party. And so it is that in the end, Tony Stark stops being a child. But that doesn't mean that as a man he doesn't have some pretty cool toys, either.

I thought when I heard the news about casting that it was a brilliant choice to give the Tony Stark role to Robert Downey Jr., because in many ways he already knows what this character has to struggle with and Downey could bring that to the role. He does at that, and I seriously think he deserves Oscar consideration for how he uses his personal vulnerabilities to have such a convincing portrayal of Tony Stark. The rest of the cast is just as well-considered: Terrence Howard as James Rhodes and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts (and look for director Favreau as Stark's chauffeur Happy Hogan) do a beautiful job in establishing Stark's circle of friends and colleagues. And they contribute terrifically to another aspect of Iron Man that has translated well onto the big screen: the virtue of loyalty to those that one loves. Probably the biggest surprise in terms of Iron Man's acting is Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane: shaving his head and growing a goatee has brought something positively insidious out of Bridges that we never knew was there before. The result is that Bridges delivers one of the best villains of a comic book movie that I've seen in recent years.

The action sequences in Iron Man are nothing less than staggering. From the very beginning, this is a film about high-octane thrills and glorious eye candy as much as it is about human nature. And the producers and effects team obviously obviously had some fun with this movie. I thought it was especially hilarious to watch Stark's early attempts at fine-tuning his Mark II armor.

Anyone with small children will delight to know that Iron Man is a fantastically "clean" movie: I can't remember hearing a single profanity during the entire two hours of the film. There is one very brief romp in bed for Tony that we see, but it's handled with considerable taste and no suggestive innuendo. I wouldn't have any problem with a kid seeing it and in fact even that little bit works to establish the fast and loose morals that Tony has before his moral metamorphosis.

I'm already hoping to catch Iron Man once more before the weekend is out, if that's possible. Iron Man was the most absolutely perfect way to kick off the 2008 summer movie season. With a Batman movie, an Indiana Jones movie, a Hulk movie and even (after a fashion) a new Star Wars feature, this is shaping up to be the best year for solid blockbusters in a very long time. I can't think of a better way to get this party started than with Iron Man.

By the way, look for Stan Lee playing a Hugh Hefner-type at a glitzy party. And don't leave when the credits roll, because there is one more scene yet to watch, which figures into Marvel's scheme to tie all their comic movies together (it also features a very cool cameo appearance by both a longtime Marvel staple and a well-known actor :-).

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Very cool day today

And I'd love to write about it but I'm way tired at the moment. Going to recoup, and then will tell y'all all about what went down.

Including how I got to meet Ron Paul :-)

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Obama's disastrous fuel tax proposal

Barack Obama is suggesting a $15 billion tax on the profits of oil companies. That would allegedly be used to provide $1000 of tax relief for families and other "assistance".

This is a worse idea than George W. Bush's "stimulus" package... and that's already the most irresponsible and foolish bit of enacted legislation that I've seen in Lord knows how long.

Does Obama believe that his proposal is going to slash the cost of fuel, which is soaring well past the ability of most people to easily afford? If anything it's going to make those costs increase even more dramatically. The oil companies will simply pass along the expense to their customers.

Obama's only motivation in forwarding this idea is that he wants to tap into the seething rage that many people are now feeling toward the oil companies, which are enjoying record profits. It's just a gimmick he's pushing to further his chances at getting elected President. But I wonder how many of the people he's aiming this proposal toward would understand that much of that extra "profit" is only because of this government's reckless financial policies, which have resulted in an over-inflated dollar. I'm inclined to believe that there is very little here that could seriously be attributed to "greed" on the part of the companies, for which they must be "punished".

But if Obama were to see this policy enacted, it would be the consumers and not the oil companies that would suffer.

I've already written here about the diminishing value of the dollar. In addition to shoring-up our currency, a wise energy and economic policy should entail...

1. Dramatically reducing fuel taxes

2. Not just allowing but also actively encouraging domestic petroleum production

3. Building more refineries, especially those that can readily process "sour" (sulfur-rich) crude

4. Offering financial incentives to corporations to actively research new potential sources of petroleum, such as the promising work regarding oil shale and bacterial-produced synthetic crude

5. Recognizing that for the foreseeable future, that ethanol and other so-called "biofuels" are not commercially viable and in fact have a deleterious impact on available food supply

Those are some of the bigger things we could be doing to improve both our economy and our fuel resources. But they require some long-term vision and commitment. Not knee-jerk emotionalism and election year duplicity.

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"Something Nice Back Home" : Reaction to new LOST episode

Only thing that's bugging me about this episode: aren't appendectomies, even those done on remote tropical islands in less-than-ideal sanitary conditions, supposed to leave scars?

But then again, this is Lost and like Rose said at one point tonight, people don't get sick on this island, and even get better. So I'll let that one slide.

Last week's episode "The Shape of Things to Come" was one of the most intense that Lost has ever delivered. And it's usually the pattern of this show to follow-up the chapters that most further the mythos with one that feels a little lacking. And tonight's was a Jack-centric episode too... which many people will argue is a red flag for mediocre story (in spite of "Through the Looking Glass", which still stuns to think about almost a year later).

Instead, this week's installment, titled "Something Nice Back Home", was about as perfect a "come-down" episode as one could hope for after what we saw last week, while also providing a lot of development for several threads of this story. I've tried to like the character of Juliet ever since she was introduced: tonight's story finally convinced me that she's earned her spot in the Lost tapestry, and I think that I can appreciate her more from now on. I'm also convinced afresh that Daniel, Charlotte, Miles (yes even Miles) and Frank - and especially Frank - are not aligned with the rest of the freighter crew. I enjoyed seeing Bernard in action, given his background in medicine. The scenes with Sun and Jin were a pleasure to watch... which Lisa will no doubt enjoy when she gets to watch it tomorrow, 'cuz she's a huge fan of Sun and Jin :-) And is anyone else having fun watching Sawyer, who seems to be relishing his change from hopeless scoundrel to noble warrior?

But the heartmeat of this episode is about Jack and Kate and Hurley, and what we saw of them from Jack's flash-forward.

Ever since last year's season finale, we've known that at least some of the Flight 815 passengers made it off the island. This season has revealed who exactly got away. But after this episode, not for the first time I have to wonder: at what terrible price did salvation come? And what are they going to do to find peace with themselves for it?

Is there anyone who doubts that Lost is not only the best show on television right now, but is one of the finest fictional stories... ever? Because this show is consistently hitting on all the right cylinders and it doesn't look to be letting up at all.

Next week: rumor is that we're getting a Locke flashback and that Richard will be returning (because CBS canceled Cain and Nestor Carbonell needed the work :-P).

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White House gall: Why suggesting that Ramos and Compean should ask for clemency is wrong

WorldNetDaily is reporting that the Bush Administration has stated that if Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean want to go free, they should ask for clemency.

Ramos and Compean are the two former Border Patrol agents who were sent to prison by spineless George W. Bush lackey U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. Their "crime": opening fire on a Mexican drug lord, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who was later given immunity for prosecution in exchange for testifying against Ramos and Compean. Aldrete-Davila later admitted in court to smuggling marijuana.

The Bush Administration has been a pack of complete bastards in regard to its treatment of Ramos and Compean: two good men who were doing their job, in a time when too many others in this government don't give a damn. Although the Bush Administration is usually a pack of complete bastards on just about everything else, but on this issue they are particularly vile.

Here is what White House spokes(terminology for female dog) Dana Perino had to say during today's press briefing:

The two former U.S. Border Patrol agents who were sentenced to prison terms of more than a decade each for shooting at a drug smuggler who dumped a load in the United States, then fled on foot back into Mexico rather than be arrested, must ask if they want clemency in their cases, according to the White House.

"There is a process under which anyone can apply for a pardon or a commutation. And if they want to take advantage of that process, they're absolutely welcome to," Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, told WND today.

She was responding to a question from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, about the case involving Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. It has been a subject of dispute among border control advocates ever since the two were arrested.

(snip)

"Now that Mr. Aldrete-Davila, the drug smuggler in the Ramos-Compean case, has admitted running drugs and conspiracy, will the president review his decision against a pardon, commutation or other clemency for the two Border Patrol agents jailed for shooting at this drug smuggler as he fled back into Mexico after abandoning a load of drugs in the United States?" Kinsolving asked.

Perino said she would "encourage anyone to look at the facts in the case as laid out by the attorney general – by the county – district attorney – I'm sorry, the U.S. attorney in that area."

The U.S. attorney in question, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, has been described by President Bush as a "dear friend."

Here's why it's not only wrong, but a damned insult for Perino, as official White House spokesperson, to suggest that Ramos and Compean should apply for clemency: doing so would automatically and legally be understood that they are admitting guilt in this matter. When they in fact have nothing to be guilty of at all.

Dana Perino and the Bush Administration just flipped the middle finger to not only Ramos and Compean and their families, but to everyone for whom the negligence of our borders has been a major concern.

God help us. The bunch in the White House now actually makes Bill Clinton's gang look like an avatar of responsibility. Who ever thought that would be possible?

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Mario Kart Wii versus Grand Theft Auto IV

Mario Kart Wii just came out and I got it for Lisa for her birthday. And then Grand Theft Auto IV went on sale two days ago, and I picked up a copy from the local Wal-Mart that afternoon. Suffice it to say that in between the work we both do (and now my being involved with a production of Children of Eden) Lisa and I have been compensating for outrageous gas prices by doing a lot of virtual driving lately.

Right now on Amazon.com, Mario Kart Wii is the #2 top-selling game (after pre-orders for Wii Fit) followed by the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV.

So... which one is the better game?

Now that I've gotten used to the controls (although still struggling to maintain my convictions as I wrote about yesterday) I'm certainly enjoying the deep narrative - especially having to choose when faced with moral quandaries - that comes with Grand Theft Auto IV. However when it comes to sheer fun, Mario Kart Wii is the hands-down winner. This is also best-handling Mario Kart game to date: when using the Wii Remote with the Wii Wheel, driving a vehicle in this game feels very convincing and realistic (at least if driving through psychedelic landscapes filled with giant mushrooms is your idea of "realistic"). There's also the fun that comes with multi-player competition in Mario Kart Wii, in a way that I can't see a game like Grand Theft Auto IV ever providing.

So if you've somehow wound up with both a Wii and either an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, and have enough money for one game and don't know which one to get, I'd suggest going for Mario Kart Wii. Definitely a lot more sheer fun in this one, without the moral conflict... unless you genuinely feel bad about throwing turtle shells at your opponents :-P

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A "motivational poster" we can all appreciate

Although the depiction of Cobra Commander did not originate with him, Phillip Arthur spotted it and couldn't help but make it even better :-)

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Lee Spievack: The man who re-grew his severed finger

Lee Spievack, a 69-year old hobby store owner in Cincinnati, accidentally chopped off a huge chunk of his finger on the blade of a model airplane. He never found where the missing piece went to. Under any other circumstance it looked hopeless. And then Lee's brother Alan sent him some "pixie dust", which was an experimental extra-cellular matrix. Lee Spievack applied the powder to his wound.

In four weeks, he had re-grown the entire finger, complete with nail, fingerprint and nervous reaction. Here's the photo of him after his ordeal, along with the model airplane that started it all...

You can read more about it at the Daily Mail's website and BBC News hosts some considerably graphic video of the severed finger and various stages of its regrowth.

Just when you think you've seen it all. Amazing that we now seem capable of doing something like this. And on a lighter note maybe there is hope for Dr. Curt Connors after all :-P

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The Gremlins are back!

In a commercial now running in Great Britain for BT Business. In addition to the psychotic beasties from Gremlins (including what looks like Mohawk leading them) it also stars Peter Jones of Dragon's Den...

Man, I loved the Gremlins movies! Mom and Dad took my sister and I to see Gremlins in 1984, and it totally freaked Mom out! Around the holidays, I'll often joke that it's "my favorite Christmas movie!" especially if it happens to be on television. I also caught Gremlins 2: The New Batch when it ran in theaters. And some may disagree, but I thought in many ways that it was one of the few sequels that was actually better than the original.

Wouldn't it be great if Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg were to make a third Gremlins movie? Even if that never happens, it's good to see them in in fine form again in this BT Business commercial :-)

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Back from first meeting of the CHILDREN OF EDEN cast

We met for three hours tonight in the auditorium at Rockingham Community College. I got to know quite a few of my fellow cast members (Children of Eden demands a fairly large number of people for this show, which is one of the reasons why it hasn't been run on Broadway yet). As one of the principles I got to bring home a script, but it's not mine to keep and in order to have this copy I had to leave a security deposit. That gets returned to me at the end of the show, when I give the script back.

Then all the principles and some of the kids who'll be portraying animals listened to the 2-disc soundtrack of the Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Children of Eden, the one that gave this musical its final form. For a lot of the cast this was the first time they had ever listened to the music from the show. Since I've been listening to this same soundtrack for almost eight years now, I knew the songs by heart and couldn't help bopping along to the beat, especially when "Generations" started playing :-)

During the listening session, we were each called out of the auditorium to get measured for our costumes. I've no idea what mine is going to look like: all that happened in that regard tonight is that my height was measured along with my chest size and a few other dimensions taken. But since I'm playing Seth and he only shows up toward the end of Act I, I'm thinking it'll probably be something more than the "skins and rough fabric" that Adam and his family wear after the expulsion, but nothing like the colorful pageantry that we see a thousand years later at the beginning of Act II either.

Right now we're scheduled for six performances in June: one each for Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the final weekends of that month. It could go into another weekend, if there's enough demand (and I'm hoping there will be).

We meet again tomorrow night, when we go over the first and last songs for Act I.

Did I say that there are a lot of wonderful people in this production, and that it's a great honor to be working with them?

This is gonna absolutely rock!! :-)

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THE INCREDIBLE HULK trailer wrecks great havoc!

The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton is a movie that I really haven't cared too much about. Due in part no doubt to my being among the minority that thought there was nothing at all wrong with the 2003 Hulk film. Personally, I thought that Ang Lee's approach to the Hulk and his world was brilliant and engaging. And that scene toward the end where Bruce and his father have their "meeting", the one that plays out like some bad community theatre performance, is one of my favorites from any comic book-based movie. I also thought the casting in that one was perfect, especially Sam Elliott as General Ross.

Okay well, after watching this new trailer for 2008's The Incredible Hulk (due in theaters on June 13th) consider me not only sold but very excited about this redo/relaunch/revamp of the Hulk's cinematic incarnation!

Looks like it's going to be not only faithful to the original Marvel Comics material but also a great homage to the television series (including the haunting "The Lonely Man" theme).

Mash down here for The Incredible Hulk trailer in Quicktime format!

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"Ewoks" Star Wars gospel song

Ewoks, a United Methodist choir and Billy Dee Williams himself. Could this possibly be the greatest Star Wars-themed video ever hosted on YouTube?!

Thanks to Geoff Gentry for passing this along! :-)

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Remember that eBay auction we did for the signed copy of TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE?

The one that we did back in the fall of 2007? Transformers composer Steve Jablonsky gave us a signed copy of score CD and we put it up on eBay, with the understanding that 100% of the proceeds would go toward music education here in Rockingham County. When all was said and done the sale netted over $300!

So, wanna know what the money went toward?

The original plan was to assist the funding of a special concert for the elementary students because at the time we didn't know if we would be able to have it this year. Fortunately that was taken care of. But we were still able to put the proceeds to some good music use.

This is what's called an Orff Xylophone. Its specially made for use with the Orff Approach to music education. Most of the funds from the auction went to purchase this for Monroeton Elementary School in Reidsville.

In the end, just as we'd stated, 100% of the proceeds from the auction got a lot of nice materials for music education here in Rockingham County. I just wanted to make a note of it here, for disclosure's sake (because lately I seem to be doing nothing but disclosure of finances since I'm treasurer of a political campaign and I might as well be on a roll :-)

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Grand Theft Auto IV as a test of Christian conscience

No doubt I'm going to draw flack for suggesting this, but it needs to be said. Yesterday afternoon I bought Grand Theft Auto IV.

And having played it for a few hours, as a follower of Jesus Christ I would like to recommend that my mature brethren in the Christian faith (both spiritually and those who are not teenagers anymore, parse that as you will) play Grand Theft Auto IV as well. And not to gleefully look for reasons to condemn the game either.

Why?

Because I think that a lot of people who play Grand Theft Auto IV are going to end up condemning their own sense of self-righteousness instead. And I can't say that it would be a bad thing at all if they did.

Grand Theft Auto IV, whether by design or not, might be the closest thing there's been to an actual "Giant's Drink". In the classic science-fiction novel Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, the child Ender Wiggin is given a computer simulation called "the Giant's Drink" as part of his battle training. Nobody is supposed to beat the giant. The whole point of the exercise is to test a student's morality. After countless times of getting killed in the game Ender finally tears loose from the constraints of his scruples and murders the giant in grisly fashion. He becomes the first student to defeat the giant but instead of elation he feels disgusted with himself and abject shame. Ender doesn't like the fact that in order to save his own life he had to kill another... even if it was just a computer game. He "wins" the game, but he finds himself crushed for violating his own principles.

It only took a few hours of playing Grand Theft Auto IV to finally understand what Ender went through after beating the Giant's Drink. And I don't know if I would have fared as well as Ender did either. Because every time I accidentally hit a pedestrian in Grand Theft Auto IV, I have to stop and re-start from my last saved game, and attempt it all over again from there. Because you can do lots of things in Grand Theft Auto IV: Drive cars, shoot guns, make calls on a cellphone, change radio stations or watch television, even eat food... but saying "I'm sorry" is not one of them.

And I'm feeling so bad about the people that I inadvertently hurt in this game, that I feel compelled to go back and try it again, and try to do it right this time, without the wrongfulness of my actions being something that weighs on my mind. If only real life could afford that kind of opportunity...

The technology of Grand Theft Auto IV at last drives the nail into the coffin for the clean kill in video games. This isn't the "twinkle and they're gone" effects of bygone days. When you hit an innocent person in Grand Theft Auto IV, and you hear their realistic cries of pain and you see them grimace in agony and trying to nurse their injuries as they limp away, it becomes a very hard thing indeed to want to have to experience that again. It's even worse when you run over a person and they don't get up again. Ever.

I bought this game expecting something like Death Race 2000. You know: over-the-top cartoony pseudo-violence. Instead Grand Theft Auto IV's graphic ultra-realism completely horrified me. Intellectually, I know that Liberty City doesn't exist. But the depiction of this world and its denizens is so convincing, that it's almost impossible to completely disassociate myself from having empathy for these people.

I don't know if God will ever judge me for an action that I take in a video game. And that's why I think that Grand Theft Auto IV might do a lot more good than harm for many of my fellow Christians. Make no mistake: the world of Grand Theft Auto IV is a lawless one where malicious behavior runs rampant. But the real world is no less vulgar and cruel, and rife with temptation.

But it's not the temptation itself that is sinful. Even Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by no less than Lucifer himself. It's whether we choose to succumb to the temptation that makes a sinful act.

Here, with Grand Theft Auto IV, you can at last confront the evil world like never before... and be confronted by it in turn. Without fear of eternal consequence: the ultimate exponent of the lure of temptation.

In Liberty City, there is no "Christian counter-culture" to run and hide behind. Not that you should try to hide either. It's just you and whatever conscience you can claim to bring, set loose in a world that will destroy you if you're not strong enough in your convictions and your faith. In short, it's exactly the kind of bold life that the Bible instructs us as believers to live in the real world. It's just too bad that it takes a video game to demonstrate that. Maybe Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive should have been given the rights for what became the disastrous Left Behind: Eternal Forces game instead, but I digress...

So if you are someone who considers himself (or herself, no chauvinists we!) a righteous Christian, consider this a test of your character. Either buy Grand Theft Auto IV or rent it or borrow it from a friend. Don't just merely play Grand Theft Auto IV: immerse yourself completely in the character of Niko Bellic. Let your own raw morality become his own.

Just know this: here, in the game, there are no everlasting consequences. You can be as sinful as you wish, and you won't be condemned by your peers. You can steal cars, beat up defenseless people, commit vehicular homicide, and brutally murder your enemies without turning the other cheek. You can supposedly even pay prostitutes for sex. And then kill them in order to get your money back, if the fancy strikes you.

All of these things and more, you can do in Grand Theft Auto IV.

The question is: Will you choose to do them if given the chance, if you knew for certain that there would be no real-world ramifications of your actions?

I have to wonder also: there are a lot of people in America who cheer for the war in Iraq, or even war in general. Too many of those are professing Christians. They cheer for war, I've little doubt, because they themselves have never had to face meaningless death. Deaths in a foreign land are just a statistic to them, and if "one of our own" is hurt or killed then all too often I only hear something about "prayers for the family".

These people don't see past their own lives. They don't bother to realize that God has blessed others with life too, deserving of as much opportunity to seek Him out as anyone else. To such people, a reasonless war in a foreign land is like a video game. And they don't particularly care to understand that those killed in the real world are neither a high score or flickering sprites that quickly vanish when shot.

Could a game like Grand Theft Auto IV actually soften the hearts of people who have such callous disregard for the sanctity of human life?

If there's the slightest possibility of a game like Grand Theft Auto IV driving it into these people's heads that the lives of others are precious and worth fighting for, even at the cost of laying down our own if need be, then all I can say is that I hope that Rockstar Games has many more Grand Theft Autos on the drawing board... because this world sure as hell needs 'em.

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