"...and a cat was thrown in the minister's face."

Yet another classic illustration from the archives of the National Police Gazette...That's from the February 8th, 1889 issue of the magazine. That's still not as wild as some revival meetings that I've witnessed...Props again to William A. Mays, the proprietor of The National Police Gazette, for keeping alive the spirit of this historic American publicati...

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"Weird Al" Yankovic's book WHEN I GROW UP now an awesome app for your iOS gadget!

This past winter master musical parody artist "Weird" Al Yankovic published his first-ever book, When I Grow Up. Yankovic's children's book resonated with audiences of all ages and fast found itself on the bestseller lists. If you've read it (and even if you haven't yet, you hooligan!) and you happen to have an iOS gizmo like an iPad or an iPhone, you'll be sure to want...

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Americans Elect: Worth some cautious consideration

A few days ago I heard about Americans Elect. And the notion of it intrigued me enough that I spent some time this afternoon visiting its website, signing up and doing the "political colors" app.So here's what Americans Elect is: an Internet-based political party, committed to nominating a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election. To that end Americans...

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Tomb of Philip, one of the Twelve Disciples, found in Turkey

A team of Italian archaeologists reported yesterday that the tomb of Philip the Apostle, one of the original Twelve Disciples that followed Jesus Christ, has been located in Turkey's southwestern province of Denizli.Philip is mentioned in all four Gospels as being among the disciples closest to Christ. He is often associated with that Philip who preached to the Ethiopian...

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DONKEY.BAS: Bill Gates tries to create Xbox twenty years too early...

Good friend and fellow blogger Scott Bradford pointed out that today is the 30th anniversary of Microsoft giving MS-DOS its name. That was the main operating system for the vast majority of personal computers for many years, until it came to be supplanted in the mid-Nineties by Microsoft's own DOS-less Windows software (even though every version of Windows since Win95 has had the original style DOS window available to open, just like the old days).Well,...

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Atlas is shrugging: Alabama mine owner goes Galt

Back in late February through early March I wound up reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time in my life. That revelation shocked many of those closest to me, who had assumed that bibliojunkie that I've always been, that I would have long ago devoured Ayn Rand's classic novel.Can't help but wonder what my life would have developed into had I read the book when I was in high school or college. Atlas Shrugged didn't add much substantially "new"...

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Twentieth anniversary of Pee-wee's big adventure

Awright, I'm gonna try to keep this as decent and family-friendly as I can. Meaning that I'm refraining from re-telling any of the corny jokes that we were all sharing with each other back when this happened.It was twenty years ago today that one of the most darkly comical incidents in pop culture history occurred...Ahhh yes, Pee-wee Herman. By the end of the Eighties Pee-wee...

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Trailer for the next batch of DOCTOR WHO episodes!

Last month this year's series of Doctor Who arrived at one hum-dinger of a mid-season cliffhanger.So you wanna see some of where the rest of the season is going? Check this out, courtesy of the BBC...Doctor Who returns on August 27th. And I can't wait!! Well, I guess I'll have to but, you know... :-PSpeaking of the Whoniverse, I haven't watched the rest of them yet but I did catch the first episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day. Am waiting for my...

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A "Super Congress"?! What the...?! Here come the Politburo, and Congress AIN'T suppose to establish a religion!

When the hell do the people of this country once again get representatives who know what "un-constitutional" means enough to not come up with bullsh-t like this?The Huffington Post was the first place where I found the "Super Congress" referenced. So in case (like me until late last night) you didn't know what the politicians in Washington are now up to: there is a proposal to create a 12-member body comprised of six members from both the House...

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"Hold still, dumb-ass!" It's the first new BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD since November 28th 1997!

I choose to take this as a sign that there is hope yet for our culture.At Comic-Con 2011 going on this weekend in San Diego, Mike Judge announced that Beavis and Butt-head - one of the most classic and beloved shows of the Nineties - is coming back with new episodes this fall!'Course, things have changed for MTV since the boys last graced (?) that network with their presence in the autumn of 1997. For one thing, MTV doesn't do the music videos thing...

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Photo of a ghost at Annie Penn Hospital?

Annie Penn Hospital is the main medical facility in my hometown of Reidsville, North Carolina. It was founded in 1930. There's the original building and then a few additions that have been constructed over the years. Today it is part of the Moses Cone Health System based in nearby Greensboro.And it was at Annie Penn Hospital where this photo was recently taken...The photo...

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CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER is darn nearly the Captain America movie that Chris always dreamed of seeing!

So being old enough to (very barely) remember those dopey Captain America TV movies from the late Seventies (starring Reb Brown, forever known best as Yor: Hunter From The Future) and then years later the 1990 film with J.D. Salinger's son Matt as the star-spangled Avenger, I have waited long enough for Cap to get the respect he rightfully deserves as a live-action adaptation...

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Review of BIOSHOCK: RAPTURE

2007's BioShock is on my short list of all time greatest video games ever. Okay, scratch that: BioShock is not a "video game" at all. It is an entirely new style of storytelling narrative. BioShock is high-brow literature all its own. And like the very best of books, you come away from it more enlightened and driven to ponder than you were before you encountered it. In...

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End of the Space Shuttle program

The orbiter Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning, at 5:57 a.m.And so, after 135 missions that began on April 12th 1981, the Space Shuttle program - a system that began to be engineered in the late Sixties - has come to an end. So too apparently has the United States' manned space endeavors: NASA has no crew-capable vehicles anywhere close to near-future...

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Have been busy lately

Not much time for blogging, 'cuz your friend and humble narrator has had his hands in all kinds of projects! And then again there's been so much nonsense happening in the news lately, it's been hard to pick and choose what to comment on.(Hey all you politicians in D.C., there's a really easy way to stop worrying about the debt ceiling: quit making more debt!! Sheeeeesh must...

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THE DARK KNIGHT RISES teaser trailer is online!

And that ain't even the best look at Bane that we get in the first trailer for The Dark Knight Rises! That comes at the end of the one and a half minute-long glimpse of next year's surefire megahit.Yes friends, Warner Bros. has officially released the trailer online (which you couldn't see until now unless you went to see the last Harry Potter movie over the weekend, which...

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Come to the 2nd Annual Popcorn Sutton Tribute Acoustic Jam!

He passed away more than two years ago, but Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton's legend is bigger than ever! The famous moonshiner's acclaimed likker is now being sold legally (yup, according to Popcorn's own secret recipe) and thanks to the Internet and documentaries on public television and the History Channel made while he was with us, Popcorn Sutton has become admired by more people...

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