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Comments and opinions expressed on THE KNIGHT SHIFT are those of Christopher Knight and not necessarily those of subjects discussed in this blog, of advertisers appearing on it or of any reasonable human being. Any correspondence/irate letters/lawsuit threats/Nigerian e-mail scams can be sent to theknightshift@gmail.com.
Some people are saying this is too long a time to wait for this game. But I remember the winter of 2000 when LucasArts told us that we'd be getting Star Wars Galaxies, and that didn't come until the summer of 2003. And we all know how that turned out to be (okay, to be fair it was a great game at first before Sony Online Entertainment messed it up with "New Game Enhancements"). But this is BioWare we're talking about: the company that gave us Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to begin with. If I have to wait a little longer to play this game, I can do that 'cuz I've got faith that it's just gonna make Star Wars: The Old Republic even better.
So be of good cheer y'all: soon we'll get to be play Jedi and Sith and smugglers (with - gasp - actual smuggling!) like never before :-)
The second bestselling nonfiction book of all time - surpassed only by the Bible - owes its publication to this fine lady...
Miep Gies and her husband Jan were the Dutch couple who hid Otto Frank and his family in an Amsterdam office building's secluded annex from 1942 to 1944. For more than two years, Miep and Jan Gies smuggled food and other provisions to the Franks and other Jews, protecting them as they could from the Nazi regime that was controlling the Netherlands.
In August of 1944 (not long after the invasion of Normandy) the Gestapo discovered the hiding place and captured everyone. Not long afterward Miep Gies was allowed to return and while there she gathered up numerous personal belongings in hopes of returning them. Scattered on the floor were pages of Anne Frank's diary. In 1947 it was published and became a worldwide sensation for all time.
For her heroism, Miep Gies was decorated by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and declared a "Righteous Gentile" by the Israeli government.
Old Order Mennonites - more popularly known as the Amish - will be exempted from being required to have health insurance if the so-called "health care reform" going through the House and Senate passes. According to the above-linked story in the Watertown Daily Times out of New York state, there's a "religious conscience" clause that allows Amish and other religious groups to opt-out of the mandated insurance.
How does this not run afoul of the First Amendment, which clearly dictates that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"?!?
If one group of people is allowed to get out of federal health care because of sincere convictions against such a thing, then all people who object to federalized health care have the moral right to reject it.
I am a follower of Christ who belongs to no particular denomination. And I say from the bottom of my heart that federal government-run health care sucks donkeys balls to no end.
I'm gonna be exempt too. And if Obama and Hillary want to fine me for not playing with them, then I'll kindly tell them that they can go to hell.
Michael Hyatt has written an intriguing essay on leadership over at his blog. As Hyatt puts it, we are wrong to seek leaders who are confident in their own abilities and knowledge, when instead we should find leaders who can and will admit that they don't have complete understanding and are far more humble because of it. Hyatt cites the example of Joseph Hooker during the American Civil War...
"Fighting Joe Hooker" was a major general in the Union army. He was exceedingly smart. He set up an elaborate spy network and knew more about the Confederate army than the Confederates did themselves.
Hooker found himself squared off against General Robert E. Lee in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Because of the detailed intelligence he was able to gather, he positioned his troops in such a way that he had Lee surrounded on three sides. In addition, his troops outnumbered Lee's two-to-one.
Hooker was absolutely confident that he would destroy Lee's army. Lee's only choice was to retreat to Richmond. The night before the battle, Hooker told his troops, "God Almighty could not prevent us from victory tomorrow." He was bold, audacious, and (as it turned out) overly confident.
According to Gladwell, more information does not guarantee better decisions. In fact, we tend to overestimate the value of additional information. He cited the work of Dr. Stuart Hopkins, who did extensive research on this topic. What he discovered is that when people are given more information, they grow more confident in their ability to solve the problem. However, their actual results are not better. Sometimes, they are worse.
Overconfidence is "the disease of experts." They think think they know more than they actually do know. In fact, they make mistakes precisely because they have knowledge. This is what happened on Wall Street. This is what also happened with Hooker.
When Lee realized he was surrounded on three sides, he began moving his troops south. Hooker assumed Lee was retreating to Richmond. His men relaxed. Some of them started celebrating. What they didn't realize was that Lee was flanking their position.
Hooker was arrogant and over-confident. He didn't prepare for this possibility. Even though Lee was surrounded on three sides and outnumbered two-to-one, he was able to defeat Hooker. It was a stunning and demoralizing defeat for the Union army.
The lesson is this: In times of crisis, we think we need leaders who are bold and confident. This is completely wrong-headed. What we really need are leaders who are humble and willing to listen.
I have been thinking much the same for quite some time now. It seems that every aspect of our culture, from government to business to even the realm of religious worship, is plagued with people demanding that we give them extra heed because "we know better". And far more often than not, we take them at their word.
All we get are "leaders" too proud to admit that they've made mistakes... and we keep giving them more power because we're too proud to admit that we were wrong to install them in leadership positions in the first place.
And just think: these are the same people who might soon be in charge of our health care!
"I'm not dead yet! I don't want to go on the cart!"
Terri Thompson of Maynardville, Tennessee has been classified as "dead" by the government, because she has successfully fought off a disease for most of her life in defiance of every prognosis by her physicians. Thompson had been told years ago that she wouldn't live to see age 25... and she's about to celebrate her 49th birthday.
An East Tennessee woman has spent her entire life fighting a disease, living more than 20 years longer than doctors told her she would.
But on Christmas Eve, she found out the government classified her as dead, cutting off all her coverage.
Leaving Terri Thompson to face one of her toughest battles.
She calls herself a fighter, finding out at 6 year sold that she has a rare and incurable blood disease.
Terri says, "It's called Hypogammaglobulin Anemia." "It affects my immune system, when I don't have enough white blood cells." "It's caused many of my organs to stop on me."
"I've been a fighter, and a fighter, and I've had 6 doctors give up on me," says Terry.
Laying in her Union County apartment, hiding from the germ-ridden world, she leaves every 3 weeks for treatment.
But, on Christmas Eve, she needed to go by the bank to take out money for dinner with her son.
"When I showed that lady my license, she turned white as a ghost." Terry says the bank employee, "said, I got a note that you died, that you're dead. So, I sent your Social Security back to the Social Security office."
Then when she got home, she found a letter in her mailbox saying her medical coverage ended.
"That letter stated to my family my condolences, and sympathy at the death of Terri Thompson, and I'm reading that myself."
Tearfully, she called the Social Security Administration in Knoxville. "They really couldn't tell me nothing. They told me I've got to come into the office and talk with somebody, and that they didn't have an opening until the 14th."
That's 3 weeks from the date of the call, and in between, Terri has a treatment, and several bills, that she can no longer pay for.
"I can't understand how they can make a mistake like this," as Terri chokes back her emotions.
Now she faces two fights: one to keep her life, and the other to prove she is still alive.
"I'm taking a chance at losing my life over somebody else's mistake."
So... anyone else feeling confident about health care "reform" now?
I gotta say something here: already I'm sold on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson playing B.A. Baracus for this movie. Judging by the trailer he's not trying to imitate Mr. T and that's a good thing! Mr. T is one of those unique people that, you just can't get away with trying to channel. I'm totally down with Jackson doing his own thing with the character.
With that noted, I'll also say that The A-Team is officially marked as my first "must-see" movie for 2010. Here's the first trailer for it...
The A-Team escapes to the big screen on June 11th.
...do what is needed of me, or pursue an opportunity for my own happiness.
...be here for my family and friends, or be another place and possibly do something greater with the very best of what my family and friends have given me in my life.
...wait for God to show me what He needs of me, or take a leap of faith and let Him make of it what He will.
Is there a right way or a wrong way to choose at all? One of my very best friends once told me that we can't mess up with God: that His will is so complete and sovereign, that we can't possibly do anything to make His plans go screwy.
I just want to know that what I am considering doing, is what He desires for me. We are told in scripture that God knows "...the plans I have for you... plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
I won't deny it: the past year or so has been, in many ways, the worst of my life. It has also brought me closer to God than ever before... and I say that having to admit that I am nowhere close to being the Chris Knight that He desires me to be. I've failed many more times than I have succeeded in measuring up to what He wants me to be. That's where the grace of God comes in... and I've never been more thankful for that than I have been lately.
I just want whatever I choose to do, to be for His glory and not my own. That, and to do right by the people that I care about most in this world.
It's playing in Greensboro at the Grande in Friendly Center. A few days ago fellow blogger Steven Glaspie and I caught it. He hasn't read the book. I read Cormac McArthy's novel twice this past summer and ever since have been dying to see the film adaptation starring Viggo Mortensen as the Man and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Boy.
What did I think?
Three days later and I'm still feeling haunted by this film. The Road stands out in my mind as the best movie that came out in 2009 (and the one most deserving all the Oscars it can possibly garner). As brutal and visceral and empathetic as the original book, The Road is ultimately a story about a father's unrelenting love for his child and having undying hope for tomorrow... even as one is in the midst of perishing. If you have read McArthy's No Country for Old Men or seen the movie of that book you will no doubt remember the theme of "carrying the fire". Well, in The Road McArthy expanded on that immensely and I'm pleased to note that it was also brought over into its own film.
I don't know whether to describe the cinematography in this movie as "beautiful" or "horrifying", but Javier Aguirresarobe and director John Hillcoat have certainly brought to stark life the post-apocalyptic wastes of The Road through America. Filmed in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oregon and Washington state, The Road is perhaps the most engaging and gripping glimpse of the day after yet committed to film. As in the book, we don't know what it was that caused the cataclysm. Was it man-made or natural disaster? It's not as much left to the viewer as it is that it simply isn't important to the story. The Man and his son are far too busy clinging to life and morality and their conservation of effort doesn't lend to exposition. I loved that about the book and I really appreciate that the filmmakers were well mindful of that.
I thought that The Road was one of the finest adaptations of a book that I've seen in much too long a time, and I'm looking forward to getting it on Blu-ray when it (probably) becomes available in a few months. But don't wait 'til then: check to see if The Road is playing in your area, and watch it during its theatrical run if you can.
Because a movie this good would have been well worth driving four hundred miles to see if I had to!
The picture on the left shows what used to be a piece of rattan wood. It's now almost exactly identical to human bone tissue, after a battery of treatments thunked-up by some brilliant Italian scientists. It's as strong as real bone material, and what's more it transplants much better than current bone replacement procedures and is porous enough for blood and nervous tissue to wind its way through.
Need another reason to hate Transportation Security Administration (or as I call 'em "Thousands Slacking Around")? No thanks to the new "backscatter" virtual strip search machines that Janet Napolitano wants to put into more airports, the United States government will soon be the world's largest producer of pornographic images.
Here's a pic that's up on Drudge Report right now, showing a woman in one of the scanning machines...
I say: let's see Janet Napolitano and everyone else associated with the Department of Homeland Security walk through these machines dozens of times on live television, as a good-faith demonstration that there's nothing for us to worry about. With all the resulting images being broadcast directly from the source in high-definition video.
Once again, your friend and humble narrator is deeply honored to have somehow played a part in inspiring others to enter the blogosphere. This time it's Simon, "a 30-something office worker from Hampshire, England... but that's not the real me!" Simon has just started up the very cleverly-named Si-Napses! And he's already hit the ground running with a review of Assassin's Creed II and a write-up about the weather in his part of Britain ("It only snow's maybe once every two years in England, maybe once a year if we're incredibly lucky, but the joy that I experienced as a child when seeing snow is replaced with irritatation as an adult. And all because of our local council and its Woeful inefficiency.")
Lookin' good Simon! I'll definitely be visiting yer site on a daily basis (and usually more than that :-)
And I found what I went off looking for anyway. Well, kinda. It's gonna require a leap of faith in a manner of speaking. But one that I'm pretty sure that I'm ready to take :-)
Good (Time) Lord... it's been ages since I've done a write-up about Doctor Who! The last time one appeared on this blog was when "The Next Doctor" Christmas special aired twelve months ago.
But no way was I gonna miss posting thoughts about the final adventure of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor...
Thankfully, BBC America aired "The End of Time" Part 1 last Saturday night: a day after its Christmas Day premiere for our Brittish brethren across the pond... meaning that for the first time ever I didn't have to download it off the Intertubes via BitTorrent. But I didn't want to share my thoughts on it until Part 2 aired stateside this evening. It just finished so here we go!
I've mixed feelings about "The End of Time" but in general, I found it to be a rollickin' and satisfying finale not just for the David Tennant era, but also for Russell T Davies' turn as first showrunner of the revived series. The two things that I didn't like so much were how the Master (who's been brought back to life and again portrayed by John Simm) was handled. I mean, The Master is the Doctor's equal and nemesis... and he's been reduced to cannibalizing homeless people?! Neither did I find his gimmick about turning all of humanity into "the Master race" all that becoming the character.
The other thing that bugged me is that "The End of Time" seemed too much a monument to Davies' turn as Doctor Who's head producer. I can understand a little "patting on the back" but the problem is that Davies is obviously focused more on "his" Doctor Who and ignoring the rest of the forty-some years of the show's mythology.
In spite of those two quibbles, "The End of Time" is a hell of a fun ride. It was wonderful to see Bernard Cribbins return as Wilfred Mott (I'd pay good money just to see a spinoff devoted to him) and I liked that Donna (again terrifically played by Catherine Tate) got to have a happy ending after all.
And I also loved it that Davies finally plays out all the cards that he's been hinting at since 2005. We finally learn about the true horror of the Time War as the Time Lords return at last, led by none other than Timothy Dalton in a brilliant bit of casting...
For all the wrapping-up of the Russell T Davies era in "The End of Time", I couldn't help but think that there were an awful lot of seeds for future stories sown. The mysterious woman (played by Claire Bloom) that only Wilfred seems capable of seeing has been said to be (POSSIBLY HUGE SPOILER, highlight with mouse to read) the Doctor's mother. And there's also the little matter of Timothy Dalton's character being none other than (SPOILER AGAIN so highlight once more) Rassilon, the very founder of the Time Lord society. Just two guns, among many, hanging on the walls waiting to be fired.
But more than anything else, this was David Tennant's swan song as the Doctor. Tennant has done a remarkable job with the role in the past four years, and "The End of Time" gives him perhaps the most bittersweet sendoff for a Doctor since Tom Baker's tenure came to a close. The final several minutes unspool in a series of vignettes as the Doctor visits most of the companions that he's traveled with during the past several years, before going back into the TARDIS for his most explosive - literally - regeneration scene ever.
"The End of Time" gets 4 and 1/2 Sonic Screwdrivers out of five from this reviewer!
And here's the trailer for the next season of Doctor Who...
What sayeth this blogger of Matt Smith as the Doctor?
Based on the few seconds that we see of him at "The End of Time", this is gonna be a helluva great ride! Let the word go forth boldly: the Eleventh Doctor has come, with none other than Steven Moffat (scribe behind "The Girl in the Fireplace", "Blink" and the stunning "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" two-part story) at the helm as new Doctor Who showrunner!
Whatever the heck that thing is you see on the right ('cuz I don't play World of Warcraft) that's the on-screen persona of one Alfred Hightower, an American citizen who's been wanted since 2007 for drug dealing. But when he heard the fuzz was onto him Hightower jumped across the border and set up shop in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Hightower didn't leave World of Warcraft however. And that's where a Howard County, Indiana deputy sheriff was able to find him and with assistance from the game's producer Blizzard, wound up tracking him down and having Hightower extradited back to the United States.
Fellow blogger, good friend and unique character Matthew Federico (who calls his site "A Sane Man of an Insane World") has vowed to watch one movie each day throughout 2010. So to chronicle his effort he has created another blog called, appropriately, The Year of the 365 Movies. The first one that Matthew has viewed and commented upon is 1941's Citizen Kane: considered by many to be the finest motion picture ever made.
(Personally, I would have started 2010 off with 1984's 2010, even though it's horribly dated now... and where the heck are our flights to Jupiter and pet dolphins?!)
Matthew says the probability of his finishing this project is "low". But I think he can do it :-)
