Margaret Thatcher
October 13, 1925 - April 8, 2013
___________________
Prime Minister of Great Britain
1979 - 1990
Monday, April 08, 2013
Sunday, April 07, 2013
"The Rings of Akhaten": Chris gets moved to tears by the profound beauty and wonder of this season's best DOCTOR WHO yet!
"Come on then... Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big
appetite, because I've lived a long life and I've seen a few things. I walked away from the Last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the
Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran
out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time. No space. Just me! I've walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a MAD... MAN. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I have seen things you wouldn’t believe. I have lost things you'll never understand! And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods BLAZE! SO COME OOOOON THEN! TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL, BABY!! HAVE IT!! YOU HAVE IT ALL!!!"
And if you weren't moved to tears also by Murray Gold's majestic orchestral score and Matt Smith's epic stand of daring in the final moments of "The Rings of Akhaten", then... well, you're a pathetically jaded person who needs a hug in the worst way.
The reviews of "The Rings of Akhaten" seem to be all over the place, with most saying that they felt "underwhelmed" by this newest episode of Doctor Who.Me? I thought it ranks as the best of this season by far... and so help me, I had to choke back from full-blown crying during the final few scenes!
(Only twice has that ever happened to me from a Doctor Who story. David Tennant's final bow has always choked me up: a LOT of people consider it to have been the finest and most moving regeneration scene ever. That, and pretty much the entire episode of "The Girl in the Fireplace": an episode which never fails to break me down...)
For the first half or so of "The Rings of Akhaten" we aren't getting to see much that we haven't already, although the marketplace scenes are among the most visually thriving we've beheld since the show was revived in 2005 (if there's a British equivalent to 5-Hour Energy then this show's costume department must have pushed themselves to exhaustion coming up with all those aliens' designs). I think some strong comparisons could be made to "The Beast Below" during Matt Smith's first season (which was also Amy Pond's second episode as a companion, just as "The Rings of Akhaten" is for Clara). And yeah there are some things which could have been better in terms of pacing and plotting...
...but that first half is rife with more legendary Doctor Who mythos than any episode we've seen lately. C'mon: I couldn't have been the only one who noticed Matt Smith's Doctor take that defensive stance with the Venusian Aikido that the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) was known for.
The car which almost hits Clara's father is the same one that we saw crashing into Rose's dad in "Father's Day". Coincidence? Where Steven Moffat is concerned, there are no coincidences...
And then, there was The Doctor making an almost-glib reference to "my granddaughter".
There is setup going on here, people! What is being set up, only Steven Moffat and a few others in the BBC's Doctor Who production offices know. But in the name of all that's good and holy The Doctor just mentioned Susan!! Not by name but that HAD to be Susan!! When was the last time Susan got mentioned in anything Doctor Who-ish?!?
That very, very fleeting snippet of dialogue alone is going to make "The Rings of Akhaten" memorable. And I think it's going to become even more memorable as this season continues to unfold on the way to the fiftieth anniversary in November.
In terms of performance, Matt Smith has perhaps never looked so dark, so dangerous, so defiant as The Doctor as he is now. It's a trend that began with "The Snowmen" and I was hoping to see that grow in "The Bells of Saint John". Last week's episode in retrospect missed the mark more than it hit... but having seen "The Rings of Akhaten" I'm feeling that groove again and it's getting deeper. I'm also really digging his revamped costume: it's definitely more brooding and dashing (sorta like he's got a Sherlock motif going lately). His "in-your-face" to what can only be described as a star god should go down as one of the most powerful scenes in Doctor Who history. Nothing else comes to mind that has so conveyed the triumph and the tragedy that is the life of The Doctor.
Jenna-Louise Coleman is increasingly growing on me as new companion Clara, and I appreciated how her back-story was presented at the start of the episode. And for a role that came to have such import, I thought that Emilia Jones handled Merry quite well: a frightened child, without being especially "childlike" about it. And does that young lady have a lovely singing voice, or what??
But I thought the two biggest things that "The Rings of Akhaten" had going for it were its sense of scale and the episode's music. C'mon: when was the last time The Doctor had to take on an opponent like that?? We're talking cosmic scope the likes of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko here, folks! I have to tip my hat to freshman Doctor Who scribe Neil Cross (creator of Luther) for cutting his teeth on such high-concept storytelling. This was his first time out the gate... and I think he's going to only get better.
And so far as the music goes, Murray Gold was firing on all cylinders with "The Rings of Akhaten". The score went from setting the atmosphere to an integral part of the story... and I think he handled it magnificently. I want this season's soundtrack album right now, just to have the pieces he composed for this episode (along with Emilia Jones' choral accompaniment!).
It also must be said that "The Rings of Akhaten" is an absolute feast for the eyes. One well-respected friend with cinematography experience remarked that he had "never seen a more beautifully filmed episode". The camera work, the composition, the music... all orchestrated together in one epic harmony.
A very, very solid episode that gracefully overlooks whatever faults it may have. "The Rings of Akhaten" gets Four and 1/2 Sonic Screwdrivers from this Whovian blogger!
Next week: The Doctor and Clara aboard a nuclear submarine amid tensions between the American Navy and the Soviet Union. Six days from now brings us "Cold War"!
EDIT 11:20 p.m. EST: So what did it look like when The Doctor fought a god?
Somebody has kindly posted "the speech" scene.
Since writing this review I've watched "The Rings of Akhaten" once more. But I've watched this scene at least ten times now. This is what brought the tears. EVERYTHING about it is darn nearly too beautiful for words...
Hell hath no fury! Turkish TV station neglects special effects mid-show
Television station STV in Turkey - an outfit apparently specializing in religious programming - recently produced a movie or series episode or something about a father and son and the father dies and goes to Hell and the son gets to watch him burn in tortured agony.
Yeah, I'd probably be screaming too if I were locked in a deep blue chromakey room being chained-up by guys covered head to toe in Hulk-green nude suits!
To STV's credit, the first part of the clip does do a decent job of portraying Hell... or at least the Hell that we saw in Michael Jai White's Spawn movie back in 1997. Looks like the graphics were drawn with a Sega Saturn. Anyhoo after the clergy dude shows up, the After Effects guy apparently fell asleep at the switch...
That's either really bass-ackwards, or STV was counting on everyone to ignore the scene and focus instead on the soccer score at the upper-right.
Yeah, I'd probably be screaming too if I were locked in a deep blue chromakey room being chained-up by guys covered head to toe in Hulk-green nude suits!
To STV's credit, the first part of the clip does do a decent job of portraying Hell... or at least the Hell that we saw in Michael Jai White's Spawn movie back in 1997. Looks like the graphics were drawn with a Sega Saturn. Anyhoo after the clergy dude shows up, the After Effects guy apparently fell asleep at the switch...
That's either really bass-ackwards, or STV was counting on everyone to ignore the scene and focus instead on the soccer score at the upper-right.
Saturday, April 06, 2013
33 most beautiful abandoned places in the world
Nothing of man lasts forever. In the end, all crumbles to dust.
But some things sure do give us haunting beauty during the course of their long toil to entropy.
BuzzFeed has compiled photos of 33 places build by man throughout the world, left to ruin but gorgeous to behold. There is quite a poignancy in these images. I thought the one on the left - of the remains of the bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo (at the time in the now-disbanded country of Yugoslavia) - was especially moving.
That was one of the most well-remembered Olympiads of the past half-century. And now, look at what remains A long concrete chute, left to decay amid the foliage. A few years after those games, Yugoslavia disintegrated into ethnic warfare and religious strife which cost the lives of countless thousands.
"All is vanity", as the Preacher at Jerusalem cried.
There are plenty more photos at the link above. Some are of structures that will leave you wondering how the heck they were built at all and others... well, you'll be bugging your eyes out trying to figure out what the heck it is you're looking at (try staring at the one of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party without getting a migraine).
Tip o' the hat to Danny de Gracia for a great find!
But some things sure do give us haunting beauty during the course of their long toil to entropy.
BuzzFeed has compiled photos of 33 places build by man throughout the world, left to ruin but gorgeous to behold. There is quite a poignancy in these images. I thought the one on the left - of the remains of the bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo (at the time in the now-disbanded country of Yugoslavia) - was especially moving.That was one of the most well-remembered Olympiads of the past half-century. And now, look at what remains A long concrete chute, left to decay amid the foliage. A few years after those games, Yugoslavia disintegrated into ethnic warfare and religious strife which cost the lives of countless thousands.
"All is vanity", as the Preacher at Jerusalem cried.
There are plenty more photos at the link above. Some are of structures that will leave you wondering how the heck they were built at all and others... well, you'll be bugging your eyes out trying to figure out what the heck it is you're looking at (try staring at the one of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party without getting a migraine).
Tip o' the hat to Danny de Gracia for a great find!
"Senator" Feinstein wants violent video game control
Somebody educate me: how do people like Dianne Feinstein get elected to anything whatsoever? Feinstein shouldn't be trusted with city sanitation manager, much less United States Senator.
Having failed in her bid to ban "assault weapons" (there is no such thing, incidentally) Demented Dianne has now decided that violent video games must be controlled and regulated by act of Congress.
From the article at VentureBeat...
For levity's sake, here is that pic of Feinstein in place of Doom's Marine guy from that Photoshop job I made of Obama two months ago...
This is the same woman who last month claimed that all veterans of the United States military are "mentally ill" and thus should not be allowed to own firearms.
I would also be remiss in my duty as a blogger if it were not noted that earlier this year Feinstein expressed a desire to deprive the American citizenry of all their guns except for her own and those of other government officials (and yes, she owns a gun folks).
I am going to posit something: that the Founding Fathers had exceedingly prescient foresight when they wrote the Second Amendment. If nothing else it is a last resort deterrent against the machinations of the power mad and the direly insane. The latter of which is represented by Dianne Feinstein and too many others in the halls of Congress.
No, I'm not suggesting anything. Just stating that We The People are our own best scare tactic that should give pause to the truly evil.
EDIT 11:35 p.m. EST: It's not about Dianne Feinstein per se, but Kotaku has posted a terrific and timely piece by Christian Allen. Allen has worked on the Ghost Recon franchise as well as Halo: Reach and many other successful video game projects. Titled "I'm a Game Designer. I'm a Gun Owner. It's Time To End All This 'Us vs. Them'", his essay delves into his life-long experience with firearms and his involvement with producing many violent video games. There's some harsh language so be warned. Interestingly, much of it is aimed (no pun intended) at the National Rifle Association...
Having failed in her bid to ban "assault weapons" (there is no such thing, incidentally) Demented Dianne has now decided that violent video games must be controlled and regulated by act of Congress.
From the article at VentureBeat...
Speaking to an audience of 500 people in her hometown of San Francisco, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that game publishers need to make voluntary actions to avoid glorifying guns and violence following the Newtown elementary school massacre in December.
She noted that Congress would take action if the industry didn’t do something, according to the Associated Press.
“If Sandy Hook doesn’t [make game publishers change] … then maybe we have to proceed, but that is in the future,” said Feinstein.
She went on to claim that video games play “a very negative role for young people, and the industry ought to take note of that.”Uhhhhh... somebody should inform Senator Feinstein that ever since the introduction of first-person shooters and other violent video games in the early Nineties, mass killings HAVE BECOME MUCH LESS COMMON! There is no correlation at all... none... between the pervasiveness of violent games and increase in crime. If there is any relation between them at all, it could in fact be argued that such games have decreased crime, not intensified it.
For levity's sake, here is that pic of Feinstein in place of Doom's Marine guy from that Photoshop job I made of Obama two months ago...
 |
| DOOM 2013: Where the insanest place is behind a Senator from California. |
I would also be remiss in my duty as a blogger if it were not noted that earlier this year Feinstein expressed a desire to deprive the American citizenry of all their guns except for her own and those of other government officials (and yes, she owns a gun folks).
I am going to posit something: that the Founding Fathers had exceedingly prescient foresight when they wrote the Second Amendment. If nothing else it is a last resort deterrent against the machinations of the power mad and the direly insane. The latter of which is represented by Dianne Feinstein and too many others in the halls of Congress.
No, I'm not suggesting anything. Just stating that We The People are our own best scare tactic that should give pause to the truly evil.
EDIT 11:35 p.m. EST: It's not about Dianne Feinstein per se, but Kotaku has posted a terrific and timely piece by Christian Allen. Allen has worked on the Ghost Recon franchise as well as Halo: Reach and many other successful video game projects. Titled "I'm a Game Designer. I'm a Gun Owner. It's Time To End All This 'Us vs. Them'", his essay delves into his life-long experience with firearms and his involvement with producing many violent video games. There's some harsh language so be warned. Interestingly, much of it is aimed (no pun intended) at the National Rifle Association...
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Roger Ebert has passed away
Look, I didn't agree with all of his reviews and of his politics, far less. But Roger Ebert was instrumental in introducing a lot of people to movies that they otherwise might never have gone to a theater to see. Me included.
Roger Ebert passed away today after a long battle with cancer...
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.
Roger Ebert passed away today after a long battle with cancer...
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.
It is snowing and sleeting right now...
It's the fourth day of April. Spring has been here for over two weeks. And in as north-central North Carolina as you can get, it is currently snowing and sleeting...
And it's confusing Tammy something fierce. I let her out to do her "doggie business", she took one good look at the weather and promptly turned back to the doorsteps.
"Global warming"? My a$$ there is!
And it's confusing Tammy something fierce. I let her out to do her "doggie business", she took one good look at the weather and promptly turned back to the doorsteps."Global warming"? My a$$ there is!
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
End of an era: Disney closes LucasArts
Disney laid off the entire staff and shuttered the studio this morning. There had been speculation that LucasArts might be liquidated after Disney acquired Lucasfilm and the other companies beneath its umbrella five months ago. The video game studio had been flailing in recent years despite moderate successes like LEGO Star Wars. On the other hand there were turkeys like Kinect Star Wars. It had been hoped that games like the upcoming Star Wars: 1313 would have increased its fortunes.
But now it's official: LucasArts has been closed down. Disney has stated that future games will be licensed to other studios for development. Some like Star Wars: 1313 may never get released at all. The "LucasArts" name will continue to exist but the firm itself and its development staff has been disbanded.
I can see that as an appropriate measure. The Star Wars: The Old Republic massive-multiplayer online game was practically developed entirely by BioWare anyway. This is the way the wind had been blowing for some time...
Even so, a little bit of my youth died today. Star Wars: X-Wing was the very first computer game that I bought, way back in winter of 1994. The sequel TIE Fighter consumed most of my summer a few months later. When I played Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (still one of THE BEST computer role-playing games ever) I obsessively went through all three of the "paths" that Indy could take. To say nothing of the creatively offbeat games like Full Throttle and Sam and Max Hit the Road.
(I would be remiss if I didn't mention also Rescue on Fractalus: a game that some swear remains one of the most terrifying and fright-inducing more than a quarter century after its release.)
Well, the studio may be gone. But the memories it evoked will ever burn bright.
Farewell, LucasArts. And thank you for all the good times you gave us...
North Carolina lawmakers want statewide official religion
Earlier this morning I first read about this and ever since I've been trying to find a measure of absurd purpose or mad brilliance in this legislation... but if it's there I can't find it.
Two members of this state's House of Representatives have filed House Bill 494, which if passed would allow for an official religion to be imposed upon North Carolina.
It's not a late April Fools joke. Representatives Harry Warren and Carl Ford (each of Rowan County) want an official state religion which would circumvent judicial rulings on prayer at government functions within North Carolina. Presumably this would be in response to courts which have struck down prayers at county commissioner meetings, school board hearings and the like. Eleven other representatives so far have backed the proposal.
If this is about localities getting to choose on their own whether or not they will have prayers to open their meetings, then I understand that frustration: the courts have been interfering beyond the scope of their rational interests in regard to prayers which have had a ceremonial role with no bearing on official policy or writing of legislation.
But this is the wrong way to address that concern. In fact, it's incredibly, insanely irresponsible. Unethical. Immoral. And this is un-Constitutional: in spirit of the law if not in letter of the law.
Warren and Ford consider themselves to be "conservatives". But there is nothing conservative whatsoever about HB 494. And faith enforced is no faith at all.
Two members of this state's House of Representatives have filed House Bill 494, which if passed would allow for an official religion to be imposed upon North Carolina.
It's not a late April Fools joke. Representatives Harry Warren and Carl Ford (each of Rowan County) want an official state religion which would circumvent judicial rulings on prayer at government functions within North Carolina. Presumably this would be in response to courts which have struck down prayers at county commissioner meetings, school board hearings and the like. Eleven other representatives so far have backed the proposal.
"The Constitution of the United States does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional; therefore, by virtue of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the power to determine constitutionality and the proper interpretation and proper application of the Constitution is reserved to the states and to the people... Each state in the union is sovereign and may independently determine how that state may make laws respecting an establishment of religion."Here's the real meat of HB 494...
SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.To be fair, the bill does not specify any particular religion.
SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.
If this is about localities getting to choose on their own whether or not they will have prayers to open their meetings, then I understand that frustration: the courts have been interfering beyond the scope of their rational interests in regard to prayers which have had a ceremonial role with no bearing on official policy or writing of legislation.
But this is the wrong way to address that concern. In fact, it's incredibly, insanely irresponsible. Unethical. Immoral. And this is un-Constitutional: in spirit of the law if not in letter of the law.
Warren and Ford consider themselves to be "conservatives". But there is nothing conservative whatsoever about HB 494. And faith enforced is no faith at all.
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
The day the music dies: "American Pie" is final DLC for ROCK BAND
Today is a bittersweet occasion in the annals of video game history: Harmonix is releasing the final downloadable content for its Rock Band series.Since the first Rock Band came out in late 2007 the studio had promised new songs weekly for downloadable purchase and play. It kept that promise for 281 consecutive weeks: far, far longer than most players probably expected. Maybe even longer than it has been profitable. Hard to find that kind of reliability in any modern industry, much less the video game one.
Fittingly, the last tune that players can get for Rock Band is Don McLean's 1971 classic "American Pie". And were I the sort I'd be drinking whiskey and rye...
I only played Rock Band and Rock Band 2, and I have to agree with what Brett Makedonski has beautifully written on Destructoid: this series had an immense impact on my life. Not just for the fun I had playing it but also because it exposed me to a spectrum of music that until then, I had not experienced and might never have. Indeed, because of Rock Band my wallet dropped dollars not just for the DLC but for the songs themselves on iTunes. I am a far more musically educated and enlightened individual today for Rock Band... and that's something that'll never be forgotten or unappreciated.
Seeing as how this will be the final post that this blog is likely to see about Rock Band, let's have it go out in true style. Here once again is that amazing opening title cinematic from the first game: "Highway Star" by Deep Purple!
Looking up at this week's Tammy Tuesday
Whenever anyone goes down the basement stairs, Tammy has to come to the door and look down. I think it's in the hopes that we might bring something yummy up from the freezer (which she might or might not get a tasty morsel of)...
Monday, April 01, 2013
April Fools 'Fess-Up 2013 Edition!
Yes the rumors are true! They were absent for a few years but 2013 saw the return of the April Fools pranks to The Knight Shift. The story about CBS producing a pilot for a modern-era reboot of The Andy Griffith Show was my own humble entry in this year's festivities. It seems to have been moderately successful 'cuz a few friends were taken in by it (one of whom had some rather colorful remarks about it) and a few hours after I posted it some news site in France had picked it up! It's in some weird font though: apparently something like Iranian or Pakistani, so I don't know if they thought it was real or they were saying "look at what this American idiot is doing!"
As always, I gotta note what the "clincher" was. Every time I do a prank like this, I try to give some indication that it's just a gag. Also as a way of putting my "signature" upon the work. In this year's case there were two of them. The first is the TMZ reporter: "Istvan Teleky" was the name of the eighteenth-century European count whose spirit supposedly haunted those tarot cards in the "Three Wishes for Opie" episode of The Andy Griffith Show (one of my favorites, incidentally). The second was the child actor who would be playing Opie in the Mayberry reboot: "Ralf Paydosilo" is an anagram for "April Fools Day". Right clever, aye?
The joke went through a few iterations before I posted it. Originally it was going to be Charlie Sheen as Ernest T. Bass, but he's been doing too much other stuff lately, and he would have been way too obvious a choice to play Ernest T. anyway...
Special thanks to girlfriend Kristen who helped me brainstorm some ideas for this year's prank :-)
As always, I gotta note what the "clincher" was. Every time I do a prank like this, I try to give some indication that it's just a gag. Also as a way of putting my "signature" upon the work. In this year's case there were two of them. The first is the TMZ reporter: "Istvan Teleky" was the name of the eighteenth-century European count whose spirit supposedly haunted those tarot cards in the "Three Wishes for Opie" episode of The Andy Griffith Show (one of my favorites, incidentally). The second was the child actor who would be playing Opie in the Mayberry reboot: "Ralf Paydosilo" is an anagram for "April Fools Day". Right clever, aye?
The joke went through a few iterations before I posted it. Originally it was going to be Charlie Sheen as Ernest T. Bass, but he's been doing too much other stuff lately, and he would have been way too obvious a choice to play Ernest T. anyway...
Special thanks to girlfriend Kristen who helped me brainstorm some ideas for this year's prank :-)
CBS produces pilot for reboot of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW! Modern MAYBERRY to star Kevin Sorbo as Sheriff Taylor, Aunt Bea as closet lesbian!
Keep in mind that what you're about to read is as of right now a pilot episode and maybe not even that much. I thought it noteworthy that the CBS execs are describing this not as a pilot but as a "proof of concept". Meaning the idea is being explored but it may not go any further and I doubt it will. But hey, stranger things have happened in Hollyweird...
Entertainment and celebrity gossip website TMZ.com is reporting this morning that CBS Television head honchos have sanctioned and produced a pilot for Mayberry: a modern-age remake of the network's classic Sixties comedy The Andy Griffith Show. Seems that when star Andy Griffith passed away last summer his last will and testament stipulated that CBS would enjoy uncontested rights to do with the show - along with spinoff Mayberry RFD - as it saw fit. With CBS seeing success in its reboot of Hawaii Five-0, execs thought that the time was ripe for a return to Mayberry. The pilot itself was shot in early January.
So what's Mayberry like? From the article by TMZ reporter Istvan Teleky...
Steve Buscemi as Ernest T. Bass. Good Lord, I must see that someday! But with that said: this thing sounds horrible. It should be given a burial at sea courtesy of the bathroom toilet. Putting jokes about masturbation into The Andy Griffith Show? Whoever came up with that oughtta be burned at the stake for blasphemy...
 |
| MAYBERRY pilot episode title card. Copyright CBS Television |
So what's Mayberry like? From the article by TMZ reporter Istvan Teleky...
The 22-minute "proof of concept" has Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) as Andy Taylor: Sheriff of a Mayberry for the new millennium. Sorbo's Taylor served two years in Iraq before PTSD sent him back home. No longer willing to carry a gun, Taylor returns to find his wife tragically killed and left to be a single father to son Opie (child actor newcomer Ralf Paydosilo). Barney Fife - voted by Entertainment Weekly as the greatest sitcom character of all time - now has borderline personality disorder and is played by Dominic Monaghan. The "pilot" also sees Steve Buscemi in a brief appearance as Ernest T. Bass and lovable town drunk Otis Campbell portrayed by Dennis Franz. Mayberry's most startling departure is The Carol Burnett Show sweetheart Vicki Lawrence as Aunt Bea: a closet lesbian whose feelings for Clara Edwards provide much of the pilot's laugh fodder. Some CBS officials expressed concern in one scene where Opie asks "Pa, what does 'masturbate' mean?" However Sorbo is adamant about keeping Mayberry "clean and family friendly" and is demanding an executive producer role as well.TMZ reports that several scripts are already prepared should the pilot go to series. One is a retelling of the legendary "The Loaded Goat" episode, which true to "modern sensibilities" finds the Town of Mayberry sued by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals after dynamite-gorged Jimmy the Goat explodes outside the town's only Planned Parenthood clinic. But despite such liberties, CBS execs are determined that the time is ripe for "a return to cornpone hayseed humor the likes of which hasn't been seen since Fred Silverman's 1970 'Rural Purge'."
Steve Buscemi as Ernest T. Bass. Good Lord, I must see that someday! But with that said: this thing sounds horrible. It should be given a burial at sea courtesy of the bathroom toilet. Putting jokes about masturbation into The Andy Griffith Show? Whoever came up with that oughtta be burned at the stake for blasphemy...
Sunday, March 31, 2013
THE WALKING DEAD: Forty-five minutes after "Welcome to the Tombs"...
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Okay. Oh-kaaaaay...
That was NOT what I was anticipating. The first few minutes after tonight's season finale of The Walking Dead I was feeling... well, a bit let down.
But then I remembered that Season 3 didn't end any better or worse than the previous two have. In fact, with each passing moment I'm finding myself thinking that this season finale was as well as it could have been. Perhaps, even with the stakes raised for Rick and his group. Maybe higher than they have ever been before.
The all-out war with Woodbury? It didn't happen. But I'm unable to escape the feeling that it hasn't happened yet. Woodbury has been liberated... but The Governor is still alive. We don't know where the hell he has gone to. But I'll posit a guess:
The Governor will not, can not, give up his obsession with destroying Rick, with destroying Michonne, with destroying everyone at the prison. With being seen in any way at all as being a weak and helpless man. The Governor is soulless survival-at-all-costs personified. He is relentless. He is utterly incapable of bargaining or being reasoned with. He is also unfortunately bestowed with uncommon charisma.
So where has The Governor gone?
The Governor is the uber hardcase. And he is now set loose to gather all the other hardcases to him.
Somewhere in the post-apocalyptic Georgia wilderness and beyond, a one-eyed megalomaniac has gone out to seek the lonely, the lunatic, the desperate leaderless...
We haven't seen the war with Woodbury, because we haven't seen the REAL Army of Woodbury yet.
But it's coming. Chekov (the Russian playwright not the Star Trek character) had a rule of drama: if the gun is to be fired in Act III, it must be shown on the wall in Act I. If the gun is shown on the wall in Act I, it must be fired by Act III.
That is what The Governor is. Season 3 was us getting to look at him. Getting to watch his veneer peeled back and the madman within leering out of that one hateful eye. But for all that we saw in Season 3, we still haven't seen him fully unleashed. We haven't...
But in Season 4, we will.
Rick has saved more people than he has ever been able to do before now. He has also perhaps found redemption for his mistakes. Carl is on the verge of losing his own sense of humanity. A major character has died.
And The Governor is still out there somewhere...
No, this was not a letdown of a season finale. It ended as well as "Beside the Dying Fire" did last season. "Welcome to the Tombs" gave Rick and his ad hoc family a sense of accomplishment and a glimmer of hope that they haven't enjoyed in a long, long time.
But the powderkeg has been loaded. The charge has been set. They just don't know it yet.
And in Season 4, The Governor is going to light the fuse.
Congrats on another season of The Walking Dead well done, AMC! Looking forward to Season 4 this coming fall!
Okay. Oh-kaaaaay...
That was NOT what I was anticipating. The first few minutes after tonight's season finale of The Walking Dead I was feeling... well, a bit let down.
But then I remembered that Season 3 didn't end any better or worse than the previous two have. In fact, with each passing moment I'm finding myself thinking that this season finale was as well as it could have been. Perhaps, even with the stakes raised for Rick and his group. Maybe higher than they have ever been before.
The all-out war with Woodbury? It didn't happen. But I'm unable to escape the feeling that it hasn't happened yet. Woodbury has been liberated... but The Governor is still alive. We don't know where the hell he has gone to. But I'll posit a guess:
The Governor will not, can not, give up his obsession with destroying Rick, with destroying Michonne, with destroying everyone at the prison. With being seen in any way at all as being a weak and helpless man. The Governor is soulless survival-at-all-costs personified. He is relentless. He is utterly incapable of bargaining or being reasoned with. He is also unfortunately bestowed with uncommon charisma.
So where has The Governor gone?
The Governor is the uber hardcase. And he is now set loose to gather all the other hardcases to him.
Somewhere in the post-apocalyptic Georgia wilderness and beyond, a one-eyed megalomaniac has gone out to seek the lonely, the lunatic, the desperate leaderless...
We haven't seen the war with Woodbury, because we haven't seen the REAL Army of Woodbury yet.
But it's coming. Chekov (the Russian playwright not the Star Trek character) had a rule of drama: if the gun is to be fired in Act III, it must be shown on the wall in Act I. If the gun is shown on the wall in Act I, it must be fired by Act III.
That is what The Governor is. Season 3 was us getting to look at him. Getting to watch his veneer peeled back and the madman within leering out of that one hateful eye. But for all that we saw in Season 3, we still haven't seen him fully unleashed. We haven't...
But in Season 4, we will.
Rick has saved more people than he has ever been able to do before now. He has also perhaps found redemption for his mistakes. Carl is on the verge of losing his own sense of humanity. A major character has died.
And The Governor is still out there somewhere...
No, this was not a letdown of a season finale. It ended as well as "Beside the Dying Fire" did last season. "Welcome to the Tombs" gave Rick and his ad hoc family a sense of accomplishment and a glimmer of hope that they haven't enjoyed in a long, long time.
But the powderkeg has been loaded. The charge has been set. They just don't know it yet.
And in Season 4, The Governor is going to light the fuse.
Congrats on another season of The Walking Dead well done, AMC! Looking forward to Season 4 this coming fall!
"He's Alive" by singer/songwriter Bethany Myers
Hey gang, hope y'all are having a Happy Easter! It's also my
birthday, muhahahahaha!! So along with my girlfriend Kristen being here
to celebrate, we had the return of Doctor Who last night, and then tonight it's the season finale of The Walking Dead and the season premiere of Game of Thrones. Have the stars aligned for this geek, or what?! :-)
(And then there's the positvalutely ginormous hollow chocolate Easter bunny that she got from me this morning. Still can't compare to the Doctor Who Yahtzee she gave me: at last a TARDIS toy of my very own!!)
Anyhoo, this being Easter, the day which we remember the life of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made to set us free from the bondages of this fallen realm so that we may have the life abundant, I felt led to share something special with y'all...
I have been very thankful and blessed to have Bethany Myers as a dear friend and sister in Christ. Bethany is an amazingly gifted young woman who has been bestowed with remarkable talent as a choralist, instrumentalist and songwriter. A few days ago Bethany began uploading some of her performances on audio hosting site SoundCloud. The first of her songs that I was asked to check out is "He's Alive". I thought it was a very beautiful composition and well worth passing along on this blog! So I wanna invite my readers to click on over and enjoy "He's Alive" by Bethany Myers.
And if you want to listen to more of Bethany's work, here is her main page on SoundCloud. Discover her now... before she lands a major recording contract! :-)
(And then there's the positvalutely ginormous hollow chocolate Easter bunny that she got from me this morning. Still can't compare to the Doctor Who Yahtzee she gave me: at last a TARDIS toy of my very own!!)
Anyhoo, this being Easter, the day which we remember the life of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made to set us free from the bondages of this fallen realm so that we may have the life abundant, I felt led to share something special with y'all...
And if you want to listen to more of Bethany's work, here is her main page on SoundCloud. Discover her now... before she lands a major recording contract! :-)
Saturday, March 30, 2013
"The Bells of Saint John" chime the return of DOCTOR WHO!
It took me an hour and a half after the episode aired on BBC America before I could turn in a blog post about "The Bells of Saint John"...
So along with statues, shadows, clocks, gas masks, cracks in the walls and Lord knows what else, now we have to be afraid of our Wi-Fi networks. Damn you Steven Moffat! DAMN YOU!!
(But he sure knows how to run Doctor Who like nobody's business, doesn't he?)
Three months after we last saw The Doctor (Matt Smith) in the 2012 Christmas special "The Snowmen", our hero is again sulking in solitude: this time at a monastery in England circa 1207. Considered mad by his fellow monks (not the first no doubt), we find the last Time Lord contemplating, perhaps obsessing, with the newest enigma of his long life: Clara Oswin (Jenna Louise-Coleman, in her first regular Doctor Who episode as a companion). When the telephone on the TARDIS's exterior starts ringing - by itself something which should not be happening - it isn't long before The Doctor is flying off again into time and space.
I'm not going to say anything else about "The Bells of Saint John", except that I thought it was a fairly strong return of both Doctor Who as a series as well as the start of an entirely new period of The Doctor's life. Jenna Louise-Coleman came to the show in this season's premiere episode "Asylum of the Daleks". "The Snowmen" made it clear in no uncertain terms that her character... or characters... is going to become a significant part of the series' mythology for the foreseeable future. "The Bells of Saint John" begins that next era in earnest. And judging by the myriad of sly references to previous material (hint: look at the author of that book) this promises... or threatens... to be a hella wild and scary ride in the lead-up to the big fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who this fall.
A pretty solid episode, and one that continues the fine Moffat tradition of giving us something new to keep a watchful eye on. What's he gonna frighten us with next... vacuum cleaners? Fish and chips? Toilets?
(Hey, it'd still be better than "Love & Monsters" was... :-P)
So along with statues, shadows, clocks, gas masks, cracks in the walls and Lord knows what else, now we have to be afraid of our Wi-Fi networks. Damn you Steven Moffat! DAMN YOU!!
(But he sure knows how to run Doctor Who like nobody's business, doesn't he?)
Three months after we last saw The Doctor (Matt Smith) in the 2012 Christmas special "The Snowmen", our hero is again sulking in solitude: this time at a monastery in England circa 1207. Considered mad by his fellow monks (not the first no doubt), we find the last Time Lord contemplating, perhaps obsessing, with the newest enigma of his long life: Clara Oswin (Jenna Louise-Coleman, in her first regular Doctor Who episode as a companion). When the telephone on the TARDIS's exterior starts ringing - by itself something which should not be happening - it isn't long before The Doctor is flying off again into time and space.
I'm not going to say anything else about "The Bells of Saint John", except that I thought it was a fairly strong return of both Doctor Who as a series as well as the start of an entirely new period of The Doctor's life. Jenna Louise-Coleman came to the show in this season's premiere episode "Asylum of the Daleks". "The Snowmen" made it clear in no uncertain terms that her character... or characters... is going to become a significant part of the series' mythology for the foreseeable future. "The Bells of Saint John" begins that next era in earnest. And judging by the myriad of sly references to previous material (hint: look at the author of that book) this promises... or threatens... to be a hella wild and scary ride in the lead-up to the big fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who this fall.
A pretty solid episode, and one that continues the fine Moffat tradition of giving us something new to keep a watchful eye on. What's he gonna frighten us with next... vacuum cleaners? Fish and chips? Toilets?
(Hey, it'd still be better than "Love & Monsters" was... :-P)
Friday, March 29, 2013
Planned Parenthood official sez: there is a right to POST-BIRTH abortion
God have mercy on us.
Alisa LaPolt Snow, a lobbyist representing Planned Parenthood in Florida ("Planned Parenthood"? Now there's a contradiction in terms...) testified before that state's legislators this week that babies who are born after an attempted abortion should be killed at the discretion of the mother and her doctor.
Killing a baby. After it has been born.
Back in the old days, we used to call that "infanticide". Something that King Herod and certain pharaohs were fond of. Y'know: murdering infants.
The Weekly Standard has more of the story and here's the actual video of Snow advocating putting to death babies who have taken their first real breath of life...
Folks, this blog's longtime readers know something about me: I am really, really careful about the language I use. There is a certain word which has appeared on The Knight Shift but only as part of quotations from other sources. It has been used only ONE time by my own volition. It happened four years ago and it was the first time in my entire life that I had ever used it in publication. At the time it was about a man being driven to suicide by hostile agents of the government.
There were no words in polite language that could have possibly conveyed my rage, my frustration and my lust for justice in that situation. I'll never use that word unless it's absolutely, positively necessary. When all other linguistical tools have failed.
For only the second time in my life, it has come to that again.
I don't care if my language here offends people. At this point, I cannot find any other words that could telegraph my disbelief and horror at what we've come to:
We are fucked. We are literally God-damned, for letting things come to this. And damn if we don't deserve it.
One friend has noted that Mizz Snow's argument will never be allowed to pass into law or regulation. Perhaps so. But that it has even been seriously suggested at all screams volumes about how far we have fallen as a society.
We are on a very slippery slope down. This will not end well.
Alisa LaPolt Snow, a lobbyist representing Planned Parenthood in Florida ("Planned Parenthood"? Now there's a contradiction in terms...) testified before that state's legislators this week that babies who are born after an attempted abortion should be killed at the discretion of the mother and her doctor.
Killing a baby. After it has been born.
Back in the old days, we used to call that "infanticide". Something that King Herod and certain pharaohs were fond of. Y'know: murdering infants.
The Weekly Standard has more of the story and here's the actual video of Snow advocating putting to death babies who have taken their first real breath of life...
Folks, this blog's longtime readers know something about me: I am really, really careful about the language I use. There is a certain word which has appeared on The Knight Shift but only as part of quotations from other sources. It has been used only ONE time by my own volition. It happened four years ago and it was the first time in my entire life that I had ever used it in publication. At the time it was about a man being driven to suicide by hostile agents of the government.
There were no words in polite language that could have possibly conveyed my rage, my frustration and my lust for justice in that situation. I'll never use that word unless it's absolutely, positively necessary. When all other linguistical tools have failed.
For only the second time in my life, it has come to that again.
I don't care if my language here offends people. At this point, I cannot find any other words that could telegraph my disbelief and horror at what we've come to:
We are fucked. We are literally God-damned, for letting things come to this. And damn if we don't deserve it.
One friend has noted that Mizz Snow's argument will never be allowed to pass into law or regulation. Perhaps so. But that it has even been seriously suggested at all screams volumes about how far we have fallen as a society.
We are on a very slippery slope down. This will not end well.
