Strange and bizarre Russian ads from a century ago

It's stuff like this that reminds me of something: we're not all that different from people a century ago.  Far longer than that even.  We laugh at this sort of thing today, but a hundred years from now our great-grandchildren will be looking at our ads for vacuum cleaners and light beer and wonder: "What the hell were they thinking??"

I don't think geography has anything to do with it: humanity tends to do wacky things in the pursuit of profit no matter where it's at.  So it was with our Russian friends in the years leading up to the October Revolution and then the early Soviet era.  And now io9 has compiled a collection of "The Oddest Soviet Ads From The Late 19th And Early 20th Century".  There are many ads for cigarettes (see image) and other tobacco products,  but also for wine, gunpowder and soap.  One young lad brandishes a club as warning against taking his chocolate bar.  A babushka shows off her new galoshes.  An airplane threatens to bomb tsarist Moscow with beer.  And there's one tobacco ad that is a work of visual genius!  It's a great article to check out whether you're into Russian history or just want a good laugh :-)

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Thoughts about public prayer at the Rockingham County Board of Education

At last night's monthly work meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Education, the proposal was put forth that the board should begin each session with prayer.  It's been a longstanding custom to have a moment of silence.  If the board approves of it at the May 13th meeting, that would be replaced with a public prayer before an official function of government.

Here's the story from today's News & Record...

Board members spent nearly an hour talking through the finer points of whether they should open meetings with prayer. It was discussion that at times became tense but never contentious.

The school board currently opens its meetings with a moment of silence. Board member Ron Price asked the board to consider adding prayers during the last meeting.

The members will vote on the issue May 13

The possibility of a lawsuit was brought up Monday night by board member Amanda Bell. She said she doesn’t want to put the school board at risk

Fellow member Leonard Pryor also echoed those concerns.

“It’s my firm opinion we’ll be sued,” Pryor said

Earlier this month, legislators proposed a bill allowing for the establishment of an official state religion. The bill, which died in committee, was a reaction to a recent lawsuit against Rowan County, whose Board of Commissioners insist on having explicitly Christian prayers before meetings

Forsyth County lost a similar lawsuit in 2011, and the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case last year

Guilford County commissioners are currently reviewing their prayer policy

Price said there is a way to have an invocation without crossing the legal line

“We have to have a format before we can say, ‘OK, we can do this without violating the court’s decision,’ ” Price said.

I'm of a few opinions about this, and they're not necessarily contradictory.

Of immediate concern is that adopting a policy of prayer before the meetings will make the Board of Education wide-open bait for a lawsuit.  And don't think that there are already "civil rights" lawyers who've already gotten a whiff of blood about it, too.  Are the board members prepared for a long, drawn-out legal battle which will cost the taxpayers of Rockingham County money which, I hate to say, we are sorely lacking at the moment?

However, I'm also of the mind that this should not be fodder for a lawsuit at all... because it's not really a matter for outsiders to come and meddle with at all.

I've never understood how something like prayer at events like public meetings, high school football games and the like could ever be an infringement of the rights of any person, or group of people.  We are a constitutional republic, one purpose of which is to defend the minority from the depredations of a majority.  It's why as a whole we aren't a pure democracy.  But so far as public prayer goes: what is there to be defended, at all?

It's like this: so long as it is not a violation of the rights and privileges a person has as defined by the Constitution, there is a lot of leeway for a local unit of government on such matters as choosing whether or not to open a hearing with prayer.  Or a moment of silence.  Or nothing at all.

The way it should be is that the people of Rockingham County will let the board members know what they - the citizens - wish in this regard.  And then the Board of Education will discuss and vote from there.  If by and large the people of Rockingham County approve of it, then there can and should be prayer before the meetings (preferably with a rotating roster of local clergy).  If people disagree, then they should lobby to change the policy.  If they believe it is important enough then individuals should take it upon themselves to run for seats on the Board of Education in the next election.  In fact, I would even suggest that the current board members be made aware of that... and in no uncertain terms!  There is a lot to be said of accountability from your publick officials when they realize their actions can lead to possible unseat-ment.

Again, this is a local matter.  One that we ourselves, the citizens of Rockingham County, should define for ourselves.  If there was a public school district in, say, a predominantly Catholic area in New Jersey and the board chose to reflect and respect the population it serves, it should be free to ask a Catholic priest to offer a prayer of invocation at its meetings.  Our friends in Utah should be free to let a Mormon minister do likewise at their hearings.  The same holds true for a predominantly Jewish community, if it would like a rabbi to bless each meeting.  In Rockingham County's case, it's safe to say that we are quite a melting pot of various perspectives about God... but for all intents and purposes this is a community that does have a faith in God.  We may not agree with all the particulars about Him, and whoever is asked by the board should understand and appreciate that.  But if we as a locality desire to ask for His wisdom and guidance in our public hearings, then we should be afforded that liberty... and without the fear of lawsuit from external interests!

However, there is one last thing I wish to be considered: that asking God for that wisdom and guidance doesn't begin with any action or permission within the halls of any earthly government.

I have no reason to believe that a public prayer before a school board meeting, a county commissioners meeting or a session of the United States Senate is going to be any more sacred than a prayer each and every person offers to God in quiet solitude at home, or beneath a tree, or wherever a person happens to feel they need to be for that communion.  We can let a minister speak to God on our behalf at a public meeting, but we listen to God best when we are alone with Him.

In other words: a public prayer is of little or no good if the people sanctioning it can not and will not pray to Him on their own.

It was once said that America is great because her people are a virtuous people.  But we have come to expect, even demand a "virtue by proxy".  Many of us petition and scream for public prayer, or a display of the Ten Commandments in the courthouses and schoolhouses, or that a Christian cross be put up in a city-owned park.

I have no problem with any of those things whatsoever.  I do however have a lot of problem when such material symbols take upon greater importance than the meaning behind them.  We have more desire to see a thing with our eyes than to have a thing inscribed upon our hearts...

...and that is what I would ask the members of the Rockingham County Board of Education to consider, as well as any who are considering similar measures.

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This week's Tammy Tuesday is LIVE! IN COLOR!

It's the first ever video for Tammy Tuesday!  A coupl'a weeks ago my mini dachshund Tammy wound up at my cousin's house nearby for a play date with her sister and litter-mate Sassy.

So here are two miniature dachshunds running around and playing with an adorable little girl on a spring day.  If this blog had any more sweetness in one post, I'd have to offer free insulin!  By the way, Tammy is the dachshie with the red collar...


If Tammy can be still enough I'll try to post more videos of her soon :-)

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Love and monsters done right: "Hide" a rollickin' good DOCTOR WHO horror story

I think the overall problem with this half-season of Doctor Who has been how every story thus far has been a high-stakes mega-tale.  "The Bells of Saint John" had the whole heapin' world threatened by Wi-Fi and last week's "Cold War" set Earth poised on the brink of nuclear annihilation.  Only "The Rings of Akhaten" really worked: mostly by being set on a distant alien planet and assaulting us with senses-overdriven spectacle the likes of which we haven't seen since Jack Kirby was around.

But "Hide" - this week's new episode of Doctor Who - brings the series back to the fine form its fans expect, nay, demand.  And it does it with a genre that Doctor Who has excelled at over the years: gripping horror... with a twist.

It was a dark and stormy night when The Doctor and Clara arrive at the doors of Caliburn House, somewhere on the misty moors of Britain circa late autumn 1974.  Psychical researcher Professor Alec Palmer and his empathic assistant Emma Grayling are investigating the spectral "Woman of the Well".  A phantasm known and feared since the time of the Saxons (the Celtic tribe, no relation to... you know), the ghost was known to terrorize American soldiers stationed at the house during World War II.  But it's not a confrontation with so mundane an enigma as a phantom which has drawn The Doctor to visit Palmer and Grayling.  Rather it is his pursuit of "the only mystery worth solving".

I'm not going to divulge much more about "Hide", because this really is the kind of story that a person deserves to go into pretty cold.  Suffice it to say I was far, far more entertained by this episode than anything we've previously seen since "The Snowmen" special on Christmas Day.  "Hide" is a much more intimate and personal story, set amid the harrowing halls of a truly haunted house.  It reminded me greatly of "Horror of Fang Rock" from the Tom Baker era, with a touch of "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" (one of the most beloved of the revived series).  In addition to how the story resolves, I thought the most delightful part of "Hide" was how Palmer and Grayling are intricate analogies of The Doctor and Clara.  And through them we gain a considerable insight into the relationship between the last Time Lord and his newest companion.

But as a longtime Doctor Who fan, I can not write a review of "Hide" without making note of the references to stories from the classic series.  To be fair the revived show has had them before but ever since "The Snowmen" they have been coming faster and harder.  Well, "Hide" hits us with the biggest barrage of them yet!  For the first time since the 1996 television movie we get a mention of the Eye of Harmony.  The cloister bell sounds.  The Doctor uses a Metebelis Crystal (last seen in Jon Pertwee's final story, "Planet of the Spiders").  The TARDIS is missing a certain item of furniture which was well-used by the Seventh Doctor.  And then there is what can only be a shout-out to "The Celestial Toymaker" and the E-Space Trilogy.

(I just had a thought: maybe Steven Moffat could eventually bring back the Great Vampires.  Heh-heh... yeah let's see the Eleventh Doctor go up against one of those things...)

Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman are growing their chemistry as The Doctor and Clara.  But the real catalyst at work in "Hide" is Dougray Scott and Jessica Raine as Professor Palmer and Emma Grayling.  I found their relationship with each other as enjoyable to watch as the one between The Doctor and Clara.  Maybe more so, even.

"Hide" is a little capsule of everything that a good Doctor Who story should be.  It's a limited cast of characters and only two or three real set pieces, but it pulls off an amazing tale rife with fear, laughs, and in the end, love and triumph.

I'll give "Hide" Four Sonic Screwdrivers out of five.  This was Neil Cross's second outing as a scribe on Doctor Who (the first being "The Rings of Akhaten") and already he's getting substantially better.  That episode was a visual feast and had some epic speech... but "Hide" is a tale which it's far easier to relate to.  And it's an awful lot of fun!

Transmitting next week on BBC and broadcasting on BBC America (gotta love those nuances between British and American terminology): "The Heart of the TARDIS".

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Kristen dances a storm at Showcase Spring 2013!

Last week was the semi-annual Arthur Murray Showcase ballroom dance spectacular at the Hotel Roanoke, put on by the Arthur Murray Studio in Roanoke, Virginia. This was the fourth one I've been at to cheer on my girlfriend Kristen Bradford. And once again she was a thrill and a beauty to behold! Her routines garnered a wazoo of applause from the audience and some of them she kept as quite a surprise... even from me :-)

As usual I shot footage of her dancing, and just finished uploading it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure. So here is Kristen accompanied by her dance partner Jay Henderson pulling off some amazing performances...

Awright, I better share this as well: at Showcase Kristen asked me to wear the official Doctor Who/Eleventh Doctor bow tie that she gave me for Christmas a few months ago.  Kristen thought it was a great new look for me.  So did our family and friends, one of which said it made me look "powerful!"

Is this the start of a new fashion trend for Yours Truly?!  I might have to get more of these.  After all: "I like bow ties!  Bow ties are cool!" :-P

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Why the Boy Scouts can NEVER be compatible with homosexuality

The Boy Scouts of America has been a part of my life since I was eight years old, in the fall of 1982.  That was more than thirty years ago.

I started in the Cub Scouts.  I earned my Bobcat, Wolf and Bear ranks.  In fifth grade I graduated to the Webelos Scouts and earned the Arrow of Light.  A few months later I became a full-fledged Boy Scout.  And that was one of the happiest points of my childhood.

It was like choosing to be a part of something with high ideals that I would always be striving to understand and fulfill.  I guess you could say it was like being a medieval squire, doing his best and learning all he could and gaining skills and experience.  Until the day when he would be dubbed at last a knight and forever honored as an avatar of virtue, honor and courage.

And then, at long last... I earned the rank of Eagle Scout.  Something that less than 1% of all Boy Scouts earn.  And that became the supreme moment of achievement in my young life.  My Eagle Scout ceremony was in August of 1992 and every day... every day... since then, I have carried my Eagle Scout card in my wallet.

For the first time in my life, I am considering carrying that Eagle Scout Card no longer.  Because the Boy Scouts is ceasing before our eyes to be the organization of principles and steadfastness that have defined it since its founding by Lord Robert Baden-Powell.

The Boy Scouts of America has announced today that it's putting forth a proposal to change its policy toward homosexual membership.  If approved by voting members next month, the new policy would not deny membership to youths "on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone".  The current policy would still apply toward adult leaders and other members, however.  Here is the resolution which was issued today and here's the summary of the proposed change:

Youth membership in the Boy Scouts of America is open to all youth who meet the specific membership requirements to join the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, Sea Scout, and Venturing programs. Membership in any program of the Boy Scouts of America requires the youth member to (a) subscribe to and abide by the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law, (b) subscribe to and abide by the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle (duty to God), and (c) demonstrate behavior that exemplifies the highest level of good conduct and respect for others and is consistent at all times with the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law. No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.

As best I understand it the breakdown is this: a boy with homosexual desires could be a Boy Scout, so long as he does not behave in a manner which violates the Scout Oath and the Scout Law.  Homosexual adults would still be banned.

Homosexuality is not, has never been and can never be compatible with the principles of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law.  In more ways than I can readily tick off the concept of the two not being direly exclusive of each other is so wildly incredible that in all sincerity, I have to wonder if those supporting this measure have any understanding of the Oath and the Law at all.

Consider the Scout Oath.  The one that millions of young men and their leaders have taken since a time predating the first World War:

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
And to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
Mentally awake, and morally straight.

As a Scout, the first duty we vow to strive to fulfill is that to God.  The Boy Scouts of America has never been discriminatory against sects or denominations.  In my years of Scouting I have met fellow Scouts who have been from my own Protestant background, but also a great many Catholics.  And Jews.  And Mormons.  Boy Scouting is not a "pro-Christian" movement.  However it is one which affirms and holds to the belief that morality and virtuous principles come to us from God and not man.

And here already, homosexuality is not compatible with Scouting.  Because no monotheistic faith in the entire modern history of the world has ever preached sexual permissiveness.  Ever.  And that means any and all inappropriate sexual behavior.  The traditional and time-honored belief across all sincere faiths is that to dishonor and abuse the gift of sexuality which God has given us is to dishonor God.

I won't deny it: a young boy in the throes of adolescence often feels consumed by thoughts of the opposite gender which he has never known before.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I'm strongly of the belief that such thoughts and feelings are normal, healthy, and not sinful at all.  The Boy Scouts are not an order of celibate monks and I've never known any adult leaders who have thought we should be that way either.

However having those desires does not mean that we must succumb to them!  To the contrary: we believe that God requires of us that we learn to control those desires... so that they do not control us.  This demands an ongoing self-discipline and personal restraint which is fully at odds with the carnal world around us.  Our God is not anti-sex.  He has made it that sex is good, that sex is beautiful, that sex is a gift... and it is a gift which MUST be enjoyed solely between one man and one woman within the bounds of marriage.  No exceptions.

If we disregard that, if we can not commit to that kind of self-restraint and discipline which does not hurt us but instead strengthens us and builds us up, then we have already failed God.  If we are true to God as best we understand Him, regardless of which aspect of that faith we adhere to, then our sexuality is a sacred thing consecrated to Him and made holy.  And that is not possible with homosexuality.  Or with pre-marital and extra-marital sex of any kind.

It has nothing to do with homosexuality itself. It does have to do with being responsible with the bodies and minds that God entrusted us with. It is against the principles of the Boy Scouts to engage in ANY sexual activity outside the confines of marriage. To do otherwise is to violate the sacredness of our physical, mental and emotional well-being. There can no more be a homosexual Boy Scout or a bisexual Boy Scout than there can be a Boy Scout who has sex with his girlfriend, with multiple girlfriends or engage in necrophilia.

And if Scouting is to acquiesce to homosexuality then it must also be prepared to do likewise with cocaine, heroin and animal sacrifice.  If Scouting becomes tolerant of everything, then Scouting will stand for nothing!

The twelve points of the Scout Law are: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.  If the Boy Scouts of America proceeds with this proposal, then we will have failed that Law in so many ways that it will be rendered absolutely meaningless.

Do not take this to be a judgment on homosexuals, because it is not that. If gay, lesbians and bisexuals wish to continue their activities, not I or anybody else can stop them. But those activities are NOT compatible at all with the Boy Scouts as Lord Baden-Powell intended them to be.  If homosexual men and boys wish to have their own organization, then let them.  They can make their own oath and law and comply with them however they wish.  But they shouldn't ask the Boy Scouts of America to endorse their behavior by changing our own principles!

And that is what this is really about: people trying to extort or enforce approval and endorsement of their behavior by those who earnestly believe that said behavior is immortal, unhealthy, self-abasing and legitimately dangerous.  Scouting can not capitulate to this!  "On MY honor I will do MY BEST" is how the Scout Oath begins.  To do our duty to God and our country and its people.  To put others before ourselves.  To keep ourselves "physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight".  But there is NOTHING mentally awake or morally straight about this resolution.

If the Boy Scouts of America votes to approve this change, then what else will be changed in time?  Where does it end?  Where does it stop?  At what point do we have the conviction to say "To this point, and NO further..."?

Again I must make clear: this has nothing to do with disliking or hating homosexuals.  A real Scout or Scouter can not do that.  Scouting also instills the values of respecting and extending courteous and cheerful friendship toward others even if we do not approve of their behavior.  Ultimately, that is something which they alone must answer for.

What this is about is what WE as Scouts and Scouters must answer for in terms of the morals and the values which we have taken a solemn oath to demonstrate in our lives.

"Brave" isn't the sole province of rescuing someone from a burning house or a sinking boat.  It doesn't mean a denial of fear.  But true bravery and courage is knowing what you believe, why you believe it, and holding true to that.  It means, if need be, standing one's ground... and standing defiant... when the world tells you to move.  To change.  To do what it tells you to believe or disbelieve.

True courage is having the strength, the mind, and the morality to tell the world "No.  I will not be disloyal to God, to my country, and to myself.  I can do no other.  I will not move.  You move."

That is not the popular thing to do in this day.  But it is what we have sworn or affirmed to do in taking the Scout Oath.

And I choose to spend the rest of my life striving to do my best to live by the Scout Oath and the Scout Law.  Even if doing so means that I can never again be a member of the Boy Scouts of America.

I can do that.  Sometimes one must lose a thing in order to save it.

I took an oath.  I promised to keep the twelve points of the Scout Law.  I will continue to do those.  Even though it looks as though doing so will lead me and no doubt many others to sever our affiliations with the Boy Scouts of America.

Ironic?  Yes.  Regrettable?  Yes.  Honorable?

If we are true to the Oath and the Law, we have no choice but to be so.  We must be loyal to God and our virtues, regardless of how the organization espousing them chooses to be loyal.

There has been formed a group of concerned Scouters, Scouts and others who are gravely concerned about the direction the Boy Scouts of America is tilting toward, and if you are as well I would seriously recommend that you check out OnMyHonor.net.  It describes itself as "the official coalition of concerned parents, Scout Leaders, Scouting Donors, Eagle Scouts and others affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America who are united in their support of Scouting’s timeless values and their opposition to open homosexuality in the Scouts".  Earlier today OnMyHonor.net posted a response to today's resolution, and the entire website addresses these concerns far more succinctly and eloquently than I possibly could.

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The title of this season's finale of DOCTOR WHO is...

That has to be the most ominous title of a Doctor Who story in the entire history of the franchise. My spine shivered when I read that this morning.

"The Name of the Doctor"...



The question. The first question. The oldest question of all. The question that must never be answered. Hidden in plain sight. The question he has been running from all his life...

"Doctor who?"

"The Name of the Doctor" transmits on BBC and BBC America on May 18th. Steven Moffat should start making plans to go into hiding from fans for the next several weeks after its broadcast.

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Don't want to marry your sister? There's an app for that!

Incest is a terrible thing.  But when you're one person among a population of 300 thousand, your odds of contributing to genetic bottleneck go substantially up.  That's the problem in Iceland, where just about everyone is related to everyone else and some downright... creepy... marital relations have inadvertently come about.

(I'm assuming those were inadvertent anyway...)

Enter App of Icelanders, a new app for Android-based devices.  Utilizing a database called Book of Icelanders that has data on 95% of the country's native population going back 300 years, smartphone users can find information about their family with the touch of a finger.  But the real gimmick is what the developers have named the "Incest Prevention Alarm": by merely touching your Android smartphone with another also loaded with App of Icelanders, the software automatically determines if you and the other person are cousins.  Or brothers.  Or sisters.  Or parent and child...

(Hey, it happened to Oedipus didn't it?!)

The developers have come up with a catchy ad slogan for their product: "Bump in the app before you bump in the bed".  If you have an Android phone and you're Icelandic, you can find it here.

Bump here for more about this app, which is no doubt being coded-up even as we speak for segments of the population in certain quarters of Appalachia...

Apple should jump on this for iOS gadgets.  It could be called iNcest!

(I'll just leave by the back door...)

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Star Wars movies EVERY year beginning in 2015

Whoa!!  Looks like "Weird Al" Yankovic was a prophet when he wrote his song "Yoda" those many years ago...

"But I know that I'll be coming back some day
I'll be playing this part 'till I'm old and gray
The long-term contract I had to sign
Says I'll be making these movies till the end of time
Oh with my Yoda
Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda Yo-yo-yo-yo Yoda"

It was officially suggested the day the Disney/Lucasfilm deal was announced but now there's solid confirmation.  It was announced at CinemaCon in Las Vegas today that Disney and Lucasfilm will be releasing a new Star Wars movie EVERY year, beginning in 2015.  That's the summer we'll get Star Wars Episode VII.  The next year will see the first Star Wars "stand-alone" film, then Episode VIII and so on alternating.  Presumably after the Skywalker saga wraps up there will continue to be Star Wars movies from now 'til doomsday.

A new Star Wars movie every year?!  I'm more than perfectly fine with that! :-)

(Unfortunately this also means that Mickey Suttle AKA SuperShadow will never, EVER retire... but one must take the bad with the good :-P)

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MAN OF STEEL trailer, and the last one for STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

I've a theory: Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Khan Noonien Singh. In the post-Kelvin altered timeline the Botany Bay was found years earlier than it was in the original Star Trek series, and Khan wound up working for Starfleet's black ops. Then years later he comes back for revenge for something or 'nother and that's when he and Kirk will tangle for the "first" time.

But if he's an entirely new character, I'm down for that too. Either way from the looks of this final trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness, it's gonna be a toad-strangler of a movie!

Meanwhile the new trailer for Man of Steel swooped onto the Intertubes a short while ago...

I will believe this Superman can fly :-)

And this movie has had some of the most beautiful trailers that I have seen for a summer tentpole in a long, long time.

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Tammy Tuesday this week is love at first sight!

Last week my mini dachshund Tammy became one year old!  I don't care what her age is: she'll forever be my baby.  I'm always calling her "Tammy the pup" (okay, along with other nicknames like "Tammy the Troublemaker", "Tammy the Terror", "Tammy the Tripper" and too many others to count...)

But this week marks the one-year anniversary of the first time she and I met.  And the first time my eyes fell on her, I was madly in love with that fuzzy little ball of concentrated cuteness!

So I thought that for this installment of Tammy Tuesday, I'd post photos of that very first encounter between Tammy and I...

Tammy and her litter-mates

It was four weeks later that I got to bring her home. Y'all can't imagine how eager I was to have at long last a female miniature dachshund to run around the place :-)

I still can't get used to that mischievous little grin she's always had.  Even since that first meeting, Tammy has looked like she's smiling.  Or smirking.  Or something.  She certainly lives up to it!

Well, it's been one year with my girl.  Here's looking forward to many more to come ! :-)

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Richard LeParmentier - Admiral Motti in the first Star Wars movie - has passed away

Star Wars fans worldwide are saddened today to learn that Richard LeParmentier has passed away at the age of 66.

LeParmentier was an American residing in Great Britain, and making quite a career for himself as a television and film actor.  And then the fickle finger of the Force (along with a casting director and George Lucas) chose him to portray Admiral Motti in what became Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: the film that started it all.

It is Motti, you will remember, who is the first person we ever see getting on the business end of Darth Vader's "Force choke".  Motti had been boasting of the Death Star's destructive power while mocking Vader's "sorcerous ways" and his "sad devotion to that ancient religion" when the Dark Lord of the Sith chose to give Motti a first-hand demonstration.  Fortunately for Motti, Grand Moff Tarkin told Vader to cool it and let go of the arrogant admiral's throat.  LeParmentier was in only two scenes of the movie, but he made an immortal impression upon all who have enjoyed the Star Wars saga through the decades.

I got to meet Richard LeParmentier twice: at Dragon-Con in 2001 and then at Star Wars Celebration II.  He was a very nice guy, and exceptionally happy to make time to meet and greet his many fans.

Thoughts and prayers going up for his family.

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Les Misérables: Man arrested trading McDonald's meal for sex

From KOB.com comes this weird story of how the hard economy has hit even the prostitution trade...

Police: New Mexico man traded McDonalds for sex

This happy meal didn’t end with a treat.

A New Mexico man was arrested for allegedly trading a sex with a woman for a meal at McDonalds.

Albuquerque police found Donald Jones, 58, at Bullhead Park with a woman he picked up near Central and Virginia.

According to the criminal complaint, Jones picked up the woman in an area known for prostitution. Police watched Jones order food at a McDonald’s drive thru window and head to a nearby park.

On their way to the park Jones told police he purchased the woman food and asked how she would reimburse him, the criminal complaint states.

Police confronted the pair at the park and saw the woman pulling up her pants in the car.

I bet he could have scored an entire brothel if they had brought back the McRib!

Wendy's should pounce on this and bring back a classic ad campaign...

"Where's the Beef?"

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Bastards

'Nuff said.

Thoughts and prayers going out to the victims of yesterday's bombing at the Boston Marathon.

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"Cold War" was too lukewarm than a DOCTOR WHO episode should be

Last week's "The Rings of Akhetan" split the Doctor Who fan base like no other episode than I can remember in a great many years.  Many loved, many hated it and there was no middle ground. Personally, I loved it!  It was high-concept storytelling for the romantic soul.  A jaw-dropping gorgeous episode, the highlight of which was The Doctor staring down a worlds-sized dark god with a speech that shattered the mold of epic soliloquies.

But I thought that "Cold War" - this week's episode - was a stew of awesome elements which never coalesced into a story that lived up to its full potential.

It's 1983: the height of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Somewhere below the Arctic Ocean surface a Russian nuclear submarine glides beneath the frozen sea, carrying to Moscow an unidentified specimen - locked in a block of ice and vaguely humanoid - found by scientists.  One of the sailors gets more curious about the icy cargo than would be healthy for anyone.  That he decides to examine it with a cutting torch only amplifies his stupidity.  And then all hell breaks loose hundreds of meters down in the crushing depths...

Naturally, The Doctor (Matt Smith) and Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) arrive smack in the center of it all.  En route to Las Vegas the TARDIS steers them instead onto the sub's bridge.  As the boat settles precariously on the edge of an undersea abyss, The Doctor discovers that the Soviets have been transporting an Ice Warrior: one of a Martian race which The Doctor has not encountered in a very long time.

And this particular Ice Warrior is not happy.

When I first heard about "Cold War" my expectations were high.  I mean: the return of the Ice Warriors from the classic series?  An entire story set aboard a Soviet ballistic missile submarine?  David Warner in a guest starring role?!  Everything was in place for a kick-ass episode... but it only felt so-so.  Better than "The Bells of Saint John"?  Yes, certainly.  Not by much though.  I was particularly let down by how little David Warner's character - a Russian scientist - figured into the story.  David Warner is one of those actors with unbelievable talent and one of the craziest good resumes ever (The  Omen, TRON, hey I'll even mention Time Bandits) and in "Cold War" he gets frustratingly under-utilized.

I will say however that the upgraded appearance of the Ice Warriors is very very good.  And it was nice to see an alien race which is as nuanced about war and peace as humanity is.  They don't all have to be entire species of xenocidal psychos out to exterminate or assimilate every living thing in the cosmos, right?  The revived series has done this well with the Sontarans and I hope it will similarly explore the Ice Warriors again in seasons to come.

I'll give "Cold War" Two and One-Half Sonic Screwdrivers.  Not great, but not entirely bad either. But with three episodes so far into this half-season - one great and the other two hovering around average - let's hope that Steven Moffat and his crew can raise their game as Doctor Who builds toward the milestone fiftieth anniversary in November.

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My favorite scene with Jonathan Winters ever!

Jonathan Winters passed away earlier today. He was truly one of the greatest entertainers of the Twentieth Century and beyond. He was not only a comedy legend, but he possessed some serious drama skill as well. I'm thinking especially of the episode "A Game of Pool" - one of my favorite episodes incidentally - from The Twilight Zone. I guess he's up there now with Jack Klugman in a pool hall in Heaven.

But it was laughter which was Winters' true forte. And of all the work that he did, this is the one bit that always, always most comes to mind when I hear the words "Jonathan Winters"...

Here is Jonathan Winters destroying a brand-new gas station with his bare hands in the 1963 comedy classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!

Rest in peace, Mr. Winters. Say hello to Mrs. Fickert for us...

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"Weird Al" Yankovic concert in Raleigh was FRENETIC!

I'm writing this on Friday afternoon.  It was on Wednesday night that Kristen, Chad, Marissa and I saw "Weird Al" Yankovic and his band in concert as part of his Alpocalypse 2013 tour!  I'm still coming down from the high and I think everyone else is too (especially Marissa who was bouncing off the walls so hard during class at school yesterday that she reportedly had to be sedated with Valium).  And after seeing Al live for the seventh time I have to say: this was easily the best show I've seen him perform yet!  Weird Al and his band were positivalutely ablaze with energy and sheer fun.  They were electrified and enthused as I've never seen any performers in a live concert!  This is a man who obviously loves his work and that comes across very well.  I've also never seen an audience so "into it" as they were at this show :-)

So... wanna hear about it?  Of course ya do!!

Al stormed the stage at 8 on the dot with the "Polkaface" medley from the Alpocalypse album.  They did another number and then the stage went dark while Al and the band (John "Bermuda" Schwartz, Jim West, Ruben Valtierra, and Steven Jay) did the first of their many costume changes.  The intermittent periods are filled with various Al videos, such as his "interviews" with celebrities like Eminem and Umma Thurman, his recent "5-Second Films" series and the "Weird" trailer that FunnyOrDie.com released a few years ago.  There was even the "Dirt" documentary!

"A garage band from Seattle.
Well it sure beats raising cattle."

When the lights came up it was Al in his Kurt Cobain outfit as he and the band did "Smells Like Nirvana" from the Off the Deep End album.  Al gargled water from a red Solo cup during that part of the song then spat it upward and threw the cup into the audience.  The crowd sang along after the "...how do the words to it go" while Al feigned forgetfulness.  This song's video is one of the better ones that Al has produced and the live performance does a fabulous job conveying that same crazy spirit.

From there it was a series of many of Al's more recent works, such as "Skipper Dan", "Party at the CIA" (a parody of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA") and "Canadian Idiot" (Al's parody of "American Idiot" by Green Day).  Al and the band were dressed in their finest secret agent finery for "Party at the CIA" and Al was perfectly resplendent in a red-and-white maple-leaf motifed jacket for "Canadian Idiot" (the climax of which saw red and white streamers violently fired into the air above the audience).  My favorite of this set was when Al did "CNR": his White Stripes style parody about Charles Nelson Reilly.  I had a picture of Reilly loaded up on my iPad and was holding it aloft and waving it as Al sang!  Alas he didn't see me but later it turned out to be a good thing that I did that (find out why later).

"You're absolutely perfect. Don't speak now you might spoil it.
Your eyes are even blue-er than the water in my toilet."

Then Al hurried back for another costume change while we were treated to more video clips and when he came out it was with a song that truly has become one of the most anticipated of his live shows: "Wanna B Ur Lover".  It's a style parody of the kind of music that Prince/The Artist Formerly Known As Prince/whatever is known for.  This song is from 2003's Poodle Hat album and when he does it live Al comes out in a Prince-esque outfit while carousing among the crowd and serenading ladies in the audience (unfortunately we were close to the front but he didn't come down our side of the auditorium... and Marissa was seated right on the aisle!  Lord only knows what that girl would have done if Al had chosen to sing that to her :-P)

I'm just gonna post a couple more pictures of Al doing "Wanna B Ur Lover" even though they can't do the live performance any true justice :-)

Is Al channeling Gene Simmons??

"Anyone ever tell you you've got Yugoslavian hands?"

"Grab yourself an egg and beat it!"

Following another costume change/video intermission (one of these was "Wheel of Fish" from Weird Al's movie UHF and of course the whole audience had to scream "STOOPID!!  YOU SO STOOPID!!" along with Kuni), Al and his band did "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" then a medley of some of his other songs, like "Whatever You Like", "Ode to a Superhero" (Al's parody of Billy Joel's "Piano Man") and of course no "Weird Al" Yankovic concert would be complete without Al putting on the red Michael Jackson jacket and going into "Eat It"!  Hey, that's the song which not only fired his career into the outer stratosphere, it's what for many of us was the very first Weird Al song we ever heard... and we're still tuned into him almost thirty years later (but more about that in just a bit :-)

"As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain..."

 "Eat It" wrapped up the medley then it was another costume change... and when the lights came up there was Al "looking plain" in Old Order Mennonite garb.  Of course it was time for "Amish Paradise"!  Some consider this to have been Weird Al's best music video ever (from what many already believe is his best album, Bad Hair Day from 1996) and the first several seconds of it synced up perfectly with Al's on-stage persona.  This is one of his songs that the audience really "gets into": everything from waving the hands to some people even whipping out black hats.  Who'da thought that a song about Amish would be such a hit crowd pleaser?

HE is the Lizard King!

(Who would have also thought that a live concert would feature the word "uvula" not once but twice?!  Only at a Weird Al show... :-)

Another costume change and then it was Al looking like Jim Morrison and all the rest of the band as members of The Doors for "Craigslist".  This was originally part of Al's "Internet Leaks" series from the summer of 2009 and then appeared on Alpocalypse.  It has become one of my favorite songs of his for some reason or another.  Instead of "the Coffee Bean" Al changed the lyrics so that they were about a Raleigh-area cafe.  He did that at the Charlotte concert we attended in October 2011 as well.  Gotta love when an artist goes for the local flavor like that :-)

(As an aside, I finally understand what the Indians and car wreck scenes in the "Craigslist" video are about.  Chad told me about Morrison having seen a car crash on an Indian reservation when he was very young and how it affected him.  It's not a big thing but that level of detail is something that makes Al not only entertaining but educational as well!)

Donny Osmond and Minesweeper. Only at a Weird Al concert!

Another costume change: Al in a peacock getup while various members of the band wore likewise outrageous outfits (Ruben Valtierra with a beehive on his head, Jim West wearing cheese etc.) for "Perform This Way": Al's parody of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga.  It woulda been kinda cool if Al had wrapped his intestines around himself while being set on fire but I guess there's only so much that can be done without the CGI effects of a music video, huh?  Maybe someday he can wear raw meat and throw chunks of it at the audience!  Hey I'd fight for some of that :-)

After "Perform This Way" it was another brief intermission and several seconds later it was "White and Nerdy" time!  Al's rendition of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" is another of Al's recent songs that became an instant classic  Al arrived on stage riding a Segway while a crazy montage of clips played on the screen behind him.  We'd forgotten about how much Donny Osmond was in the music video... and there's even MORE of him in the concert edition!!  Another song that the audience can't help but get themselves involved in :-)

Al and the band had performed a hefty number of their tunes for our pleasure, but of course they weren't going to let the evening end without "Fat": Al's parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad".  I've heard that it took Al four hours to get into makeup and costume for the music video in 1988.  The live concert version takes him something like forty seconds!  Is this guy a show-business beast or what?

Considering that it's "Fat", here's Al in an extra-wide photo...

"You know I'm FAT, I'm FAT, you know it!"

Then Al introduced the band members and thanked the audience and said "Good night Raleigh!"

But as any veteran of a Weird Al concert knows: this is NOT the end of the show...

A few minutes later Ruben came on dressed as Darth Sidious from the Star Wars movies.  He played a spooky organ interlude as a Tusken Raider, several Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, Chewbacca and Darth Vader himself (all courtesy of the 501st Legion) paraded onto the stage.  They were followed by Al and the remaining band members dressed as Jedi Knights.  And so it was that Al did "The Saga Begins": a parody of "American Pie" so spot-on that Don McLean complained that for awhile he was singing Al's song instead of his own!

There was one final song to perform.  Not just a "song", but a transcendental experience unlike any other.  You see, "Yoda" is far more than a Star Wars-inspired parody of "Lola" by the Kinks.  It is several minutes' worth of communion with the inner geek we all share.  The culmination of which is the very, very strange, wildly surreal and unbelievably coordinated "Yoda Chat" that Al and his band go into.  How it began and how the guys practice it will likely always be a total mystery but the Alpocalypse 2013 version is certainly the longest Yoda Chant they have done in all my years of attending Weird Al concerts!

 Then Al and the band said their final goodbyes to the audience and we all got up from our seats happy and content and totally, totally exhilirated from an evening of pure undiluted WEIRDNESS.  And a few seconds later we got a surprise: our friend Eric and his two sons were in the audience behind us!  They had come all the way from Charlotte for the show and he'd wondered if he would see us there.  Turns out that my waving around Charles Nelson Reilly's pic on my iPad during "CNR" was spotted by Eric and he knew where to find us after that.  Gotta love how things turn out like that :-)

But of course, we were NOT going to go home without attempting to meet Weird Al.  Fortunately there was a small line waiting at his tour bus and he graciously spent several minutes greeting his fans and signing autographs!  He signed my copies of When I Grow Up and Weird Al: The Book (Kristen got that for me for Christmas).  Then he let us get photos with him.  Here is life-long best friend Chad and I with Al.  This really meant a lot to me, since Chad is the one who first introduced me to Weird Al's music all the way back in March of 1984!  This was his first Al concert.  Somehow, it seems like there's a sense of completion at long last...

Me, Weird Al, Chad

Is Weird Al putting the moves on MY girlfriend?!?

And there is Weird Al, Kristen and me.  We even got to tell Al about how his music was one of the things that we had in common with each other when we first met and how it has become one of the bigger parts of our relationship!  He seemed rather fond and appreciative of that :-)  Before the show we met a couple and the lady was extremely pregnant.  I told her that my girlfriend thought she looked so beautiful the way she was cradling her unborn child and how wonderful they were to be introducing the kid to Weird Al music already!  Lord willing, that will be Kristen someday and if they coincide we will CERTAINLY take him/her to an Al concert before the decanting takes place!

So the four of us and Eric and his two boys all got to meet Al and tell him and the band that it was a terrific show.  One that if you can, you really should try to see sometime during this tour!  It really was the best and craziest and funniest that I've ever seen Weird Al do in live performance.  It was also the best audience that I'd ever witnessed for an Al show.  Like Kristen and I were discussing yesterday afternoon: this world would have been far less interesting and much poorer if it weren't for "Weird Al" Yankovic running loose in it :-)

Mash here for the official WeirdAl.com website and see if he's coming to a town near you!  Buy tickets and then use them!  You won't regret it :-)

(Thanks to Kristen for taking so many awesome photos of the show!)

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