This week's Tammy Tuesday guest stars "Weird" Ed Woody!

Hey gang, been a mite busy on this end of things, but don't let that stop us from having our weekly does of mini dachshund hijinks!

This past weekend my longtime friend and filmmaking partner "Weird" Ed Woody came to visit.  And it so happened that this was the very first time that he and Tammy have had a chance to meet.  I was outside with her when he pulled into the driveway and had my camera with me, so I got to record their first-ever encounter...


It took Tammy awhile to get used to somebody so new...

 ...but it wasn't long before she really took on to Ed, as you can tell :-)

Incidentally, Ed and I discussed our next film project.  It's gonna be the first one we've done in quite some time.  Maybe we should give Tammy a cameo?

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Matt Smith leaving DOCTOR WHO in this year's Christmas special

On December 25th, time is up for the Eleventh Doctor...

Matt Smith, who the BBC announced four and a half years ago would be the one to play The Doctor after David Tennant left the role, is leaving Doctor Who at the end of this current season.  It will be during this year's Christmas special that the Eleventh Doctor will regenerate, and Smith will hand off to a new actor.

It was really bittersweet to hear that news tonight.  I do think that Matt Smith is taking his bow at the top of his game.  In no small part because of his portrayal of The Doctor, the show has never before been so wildly popular.  The past several years have seen Doctor Who truly become a global sensation, and in this blogger's opinion Smith has become one of the very, very few deserving to be recognized as a pop icon.  He will be the reigning Doctor for the massive fiftieth anniversary special coming on November 23rd.  After everything he has accomplished as the Eleventh Doctor, it would be really hard to find a way to top all of that and go out bigger than that.

But all the same, I think I'm going to miss Matt Smith's Doctor more than any other.  In too many ways than could readily be gone into, the era of the Eleventh really did wind up my favorite of the revived series.

Even so, he will not be soon forgotten.  Because of Matt Smith, "bow ties were never cooler", as showrunner Steven Moffat said earlier today.  Indeed, no other Doctor has made such an impact on modern fashion.

So here it is at last.  Matt Smith is about to leave one of the most legendary roles in the history of television.

And as Moffat put it, "Somewhere out there right now - all unknowing, just going about their business - is someone who's about to become the Doctor.  A life is going to change."

And so begins the craziest sweepstakes in modern culture's memory.  Who... Who... will be the next Doctor?!?  If y'all thought the madness over five golden tickets to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory was something, y'all ain't seen nothin' yet...

EDIT 12:10 a.m. EST:  In light of tonight's news, I'm feeling led to post the clip of Matt Smith's first true scene as The Doctor.  And by that I mean: that singular moment when he grasped the mantle of The Doctor and claimed it as his own, with no going back.  Yes, Matt Smith was the one playing the person who David Tennant's Tenth Doctor regenerated into... but this was the moment, in "The Eleventh Hour", when he became The Doctor:

To say nothing of the regeneration scene itself, considered by many to be the finest in the history of the show. It was certainly the most emotional.

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Kristen's Korner: A Beacon of Light

This afternoon the lovely and effervescent Kristen let me know that she had composed another of her articles for this blog. That's something I really appreciate about her: how much of a surprise she always is!  Her first entry, "My Bipolar Boyfriend", has turned out to be one of the more popular posts on The Knight Shift.  I know she has a few others in the works too.

So take it away Kristen! :-)

"A Beacon of Light"

On Memorial Day weekend of this year, Chris and I went to the Outer Banks.  I had been in the area 25 years ago, at the age of 3, and felt like this was a trip of nostalgia (although I barely remember the first trip).  We enjoyed the Elizabethan Gardens and aquarium in Manteo, but also ventured from Roanoke Island to see Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Kitty Hawk, and Jockey's Ridge.

When we were at Cape Hatteras, I wanted to climb to the top of the lighthouse.  Hey, I had done it numerous times in San Diego's (newer) Point Loma lighthouse when my family lived there in the early 1990s.  Surely this would be a fun experience, one with a great view of the Atlantic Ocean from the top and a great memory with the man in my life.

While I will say it was a memorable experience, I can't say it was a fun one.  You see, sometime during college, I started to get vertigo.  Being somewhere high, sometimes I'd get dizzy and anxious.   It was never really that bad, just annoying.  But for some reason, standing at the base of the lighthouse, looking up at its black and white striped glory... I started to panic.

When it was time for us to go up, I decided to let the other people in the group go ahead of us.  Then Chris and I started up, me at the front.  I have to say, I was thankful for the eight platforms along the way - because I probably stopped at every one, putting my hand on my chest in order to ease my breathing.  My legs started to feel shaky.

Yes, I was freaking out.  Scared.  I knew I wasn't going to fall - there were plenty of railings to prevent that, in case I slipped.  But the fear consumed me.  The rational part of my mind was saying there was nothing to fear - the steps weren't narrow or steep, they were actually very manageable compared to some other places I had been to (like Warwick Castle in England - THOSE stairs were fear-worthy).  But the irrational part of my mind was hysterical - especially if I heard people coming down the stairs.  To feel stable, I just HAD to hold on to the railing and put my other hand against the wall, and someone coming down prevented that.

When we finally made it to the top, I only took one picture... from the doorway to the outside.  I went outside, took a brief look around, and was desparate to go back inside and leave to head back down.  I couldn't really take the time to enjoy the view because of my anxiety.

But then we had to walk down.  All 200-some stairs.  That was even worse for my anxiety.  At least by going up, you could ignore the bottom.  You have to look down (in the general direction, not necessarily down to the bottom) to walk down.  Well, at least I do.  I couldn't walk down those steps without making sure my feet were positioned in a secure way on each step.

The whole experience took half an hour, probably.  Whereas other people surely took a lot shorter time, because they weren't succumbed by fear.  When I got down to the bottom, I was so thankful.  I had survived it.  And I told Chris that I never have to do it again.  If we have kids someday and we go back, HE can take them up and I'll be at the bottom, waving at them when they're at the top (just like my mother did when we were in San Diego... okay, I've heard some women say they start to become their mothers, but I never thought I'd have this fear-of-heights problem!).

This also made me really appreciate Chris.  Not just because he was supportive and encouraging me during my little freak-out, but it gave me insight into what Chris deals with on a regular basis.

I don't have bipolar.  I don't know what it's like to battle your mind everyday, trying to ignore the horrible thoughts or depression that likes to creep up.  But in a way, on a much smaller scale, I was battling my mind.  I WANTED to enjoy going up to the top of the lighthouse with my boyfriend.  I WANTED to be strong.  I WANTED to tell those irrational fears where to stick it.  But in the end, I did not win the battle.  I was a victim to my fears.  While I didn't give up on the climb, I let my fears take hold of me and was not able to resist them.  People with bipolar go through this.  They want to be happy and have a normal life, but sometimes their mind gets in the way.

Fear, bipolar, stress, emotions - whatever barrier you have to battle your mind for, it doesn't have to win.  It's not always easy, nor always a success.  But have hope that it will get better and you will get through it.  Just keep your focus on the goal: I WILL get through this depression.  I WILL survive this broken heart.  I WILL survive this lighthouse climb.

As I end this post, I think to what the lighthouse symbolizes.  It's a beacon of light that guides ships away from the cliffs, towards the right direction.  I'd like to think God is a lighthouse of sorts, who uses his light to direct us the way to go.  It reminds me of that popular hymn that comes from Psalm 119:105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."  Next time the fear rears its ugly head, maybe I can take comfort in those words, and give the fear to God.

You know, maybe I'll climb Cape Hatteras again after all.

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STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC comes to the iPad!

When I first heard about it this morning, it was only from a report and there had been no announced availability but my first reaction was already "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!"

Guess who just spent ten bucks on the App Store?

BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, deemed by many to be the greatest Star Wars video/computer game ever and one of THE best games of all time period, has been ported to the iPad and is on sale now!  Ten years after it was first released, Aspyr Media has taken this much-beloved classic and put the whole experience in the palm of your hands, to enjoy wherever you happen to be.  It requires at least an iPad 2 to run and it needs iOS 6.  As well as some hefty space for the install (1.9 gigs free but I'm hearing at least 2.5 is recommended).

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is available for $9.99 on the Apple App Store.  Go download it now, meatbags!

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Hey Hey Hey! It's the profanity-strewn prison rape episode of FAT ALBERT!

A few weeks ago I came across a religious broadcasting station that runs episodes of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids on weekday afternoons.  I'd forgotten how awesome this show was!  My DVR has been set accordingly, so I can once again watch the wacky adventures of Fat Albert and his gang during the evenings or whenever.

From the show's start, its creator/producer/narrator Bill Cosby intended for the series to teach and enlighten as much as it entertained (it eventually became the basis of Cosby's doctorate in education).  As the show progressed, Cosby and his staff began to take on bolder issues, such as racism and guns (interestingly, that particular episode did not condemn firearms entirely, it just cautioned young people to be extremely careful with them).

So it was 1984 and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was finally winding down after being on Saturday morning television for twelve years.  And the Cos' decided that at long last it was time to unload a "scared straight" story at the kiddies.  Many other shows enjoyed by children were also doing "very special episodes" (I still cringe whenever I think of "Gordon Jump as the pervert bike shop owner" on Diff'rent Strokes... come to think of it, most of the Diff'rent Strokes episodes were like that.  Being "very special", not Dudley and the pervert bike store owner I mean).  Anyway...

"Busted" would be unusual if it had been produced today, but in the mid-Eighties it was way more daring.  In a departure from the norm, Bill Cosby began the show warning viewers that this episode would have foul language (like "bastard", "damn" and "hell") but it had to be that way to be as accurate as possible.  What Bill didn't tell us about is that we would soon be witnessing Fat Albert and his friends being oggled with lustful eyes by hardened felons!  No other episode to the best of my recollection ever had Fat Albert jumping scared into Dumb Donald's arms.  Or had poor little Russell (my favorite character of the entire show) being asked if he wants "a candy bar".

The language has been toned down from its original airing, but everything else is as disturbing as ever.  From 1984 here are Fat Albert, Rudy, Bill, Russell, Bucky, Dumb Donald, Weird Harold and Mushmouth in "Busted"...



That would frighten anybody into doing whatever they possibly could to avoid going to the big house!

Unfortunately, twelve years later would see the publication of Alex Ross' and Mark Waid's classic graphic novel Kingdom Come.  And in its very first pages we find Fat Albert and his pals shooting down some civilians on the streets of Gotham City, just before getting arrested by Batman's patrol droids.

(Looks like "scared straight" didn't work, huh.  One can only assume that Rudy wound up learning the hard way to watch himself in the shower...)

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Is greed killing NASCAR?

Not long ago, stock car racing was the most-watched, most profitable professional sport in America and one of the biggest in the world (surpassed internationally only by soccer... or "football" or "futbol" or whatever).  Which isn't bad at all for a spectator sport which has humble beginnings in the manufacture and transport of illegal moonshine throughout the southeastern United States.  And that is where NASCAR's most faithful and stalwart fans have always been found, along with its most celebrated and capable drivers.

Lately however, NASCAR seems to have forgot "who brung them to the dance": those same longtime fans, most of whom have decades of loyalty notched on their belts.  Speedway Motorsports' owner and CEO Bruton Smith had this to say last week when it was announced that NASCAR was moving one of Charlotte's races to Las Vegas: "When the game is over, it'll be money, money, money... Money will move it."

NASCAR's big wigs are poised to lose it all if they keep going at this pace, so writes friend and colleague Doug Smith.  The owners and executives are selling out stock car racing's core fans by having events all over the map, taking them away from longstanding venues such as Rockingham and Darlington.  In other words: the pursuit of a higher profit is destroying what made NASCAR profitable to begin with...

I've written for several years that I wouldn't be surprised to see Nascar fold by 2020-2025. Or at the very least, there would be races that weren't televised live any more, if at all. Regrettably, there are enough sheep out there to keep the sport alive but I see no reason to change my prediction about Nascar on television because any sport depends on its traditional fanbase to support it in hard times. Nascar's attendance and ratings have been down for years and it can be traced right back to the unholy trinity's concentrated efforts to run off the traditional fans. MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, other auto racing bodies such as Indy and F1, and nearly every other sport I can think of tries at least to innovate but still remaining loyal to their core fanbase. In the case of MLB, I think they try too hard sometimes to do this since it hinders progress that could actually make the game better, but they are at least trying to keep their core fans.

Nascar on the other hand doesn't subscribe to this theory. They think that the fairweather fans are the group they need to go after. I'm not saying they shouldn't try to lure in new fans but I am saying that perhaps if they didn't mess with things that worked to draw in fans for over 50 years previously, perhaps they might actually draw in some new fans without running off millions of fans that Bill France Sr and Jr worked for a combined 55 years to draw in.

Crash here for more of Doug's thoughts.  It's well worth reading and pondering, whether you are a fan of NASCAR or are a student of corporate decision-making (if there really is such a thing...)

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This week's Tammy Tuesday is a warm fuzzy welcome home

Kristen and I spent the entire weekend at the Outer Banks.  We really enjoyed ourselves and already are planning what to do the next time we visit.  When we do I'm bound and determined to go hand-gliding on Jockey's Ridge. But even without that this time, the trip was a neat lil' adventure.

And when we got back home Tammy was waiting for us.  As much fun as we had, I really did miss my lil' mini dachshund. And I think Tammy was happy to see us too...

The next time y'all see Kristen and Tammy in a photo together, it might also include Kristen's cat Zoe. We're trying to figure out when would be a good time to introduce her and Tammy to each other.

And it was two years ago today that Kristen and I had our first date!  Hey, a sweet and beautiful girlfriend and a mischievous little wiener dog: what more could a guy ask for? :-)

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Thirty years of RETURN OF THE JEDI

Congratulations to George Lucas and all involved on this, the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

And the saga continues...

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Yeah women, know your place!

Found this graphic yesterday morning and I can't stop laughing at it!

"You read that Bible right woman!!  Now get yo butt to that kitchen and bake me that cake!!"

It's from a site called Biblical Proof, a blog about "Speaking where the bible speaks, and silent where the bible is silent".  And there are plenty more hilarious images like the one above on it!

If you think that pic is bad, check this one out.  I've a very good friend who is a devout Christian and also a home brewer.  He's a shoe-in for Hell for sure, huh?

That site is obviously a product of the ultra-conservative fringe of the Churches of Christ.  They're the ones who believe that unless you are baptized you are going to Hell, that unless you are baptized correctly you are going to Hell, that unless you are a member of the Church of Christ you are going to Hell, that anyone who is Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal etc. is going to Hell, that if you are divorced and remarried you are DEFINITELY going to Hell.  And if you have musical instruments in your worship services you are sooooo going to Hell for that.  Fortunately not all of the Churches of Christ are that loony.  Most of the ones I've known have been very humble, loving, sincere and kind but as with every denomination of Christianity, one must accept that along with the fruits there will be some nuts...

This image is pretty laughable too, but it's also very tragic.  In no uncertain terms the author of its accompanying post insists that there is no salvation without water baptism, but there can be no water baptism without repentance.  But that in the case of a divorced and remarried person, repentance is impossible without leaving that marriage too!

I'm divorced.  It's not something that I wanted to happen.  It's not something I ever intended to happen.  I know that it's wrong.  I know that I had my own part to play.  I know that God intended for marriage to be a covenant between one man and one woman that only ends at the death of one of them.  But I will never believe that divorce or anything else is beyond forgiveness from God.  Divorce may be a sin, but it's not a sin that can keep a person from having salvation.  If it is, then Christ went to the cross for nothing.

I don't mind finding stuff like this and pointing this blog's readers to it.  As a follower of Christ, I have to laugh at anything that presumes we can "score points" to get favor with God.  That, and because it's just not every day that working for salvation entails dressing up like a World of Warcraft character.

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Review of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

(One of the reasons why I haven't posted a review of this movie already - though it's been out for a week and I've seen it twice - is because I've wrestled with how to discuss Star Trek Into Darkness while being mindful of certain plot points.  Since most people know about "that" particular item by now anyway, I'm going to be openly sharing my thoughts about it.  But if you haven't seen Star Trek Into Darkness yet and you absolutely do not want to be spoiled, please stop reading now and come back after you've watched it.  Consider yourself warned! :-)


Star Trek Into Darkness is the best film of the entire Star Trek film series date and if it's not then it definitely rivals Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan for the honor.

Yeah.  I said it.  I went there.

In 2009 J.J. Abrams and his gang at Bad Robot delivered Star Trek and pulled off the impossible: they made the world care about Star Trek again.  They did it by yanking out of our minds the tired and tedious Star Trek we had grown inured to, then shattered it into a hundred pieces on the floor without seeming to give a damn about how those pieces would fit back together... if they weren't totally thrown out and forgotten about first.

Star Trek 2009 was easily one of the most beautiful and well-engineered pieces of blockbuster cinema of the past two decades.  Four years after writing my review and I still find myself overwhelmed by its beautifully orchestrated destruction of the familiar.  The classic Trek?  It's still out there and one of Star Trek '09's more genius tricks was using quantum theories to give us an alternate reality that is not a replacement for the classic Trek canon, but rather an extension of it.  A complement of it, even.

So... could J.J. Abrams and the writing team of Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof give us a solid follow-up?

Having seen it twice now, Star Trek Into Darkness is a sequel that not only stands well on its own, it actually makes the previous film better.  Abrams and his peeps could choose not to make another Star Trek movie after this one, and I would be happy, because Into Darkness ends on precisely the right note that it needs to be.

Star Trek Into Darkness opens some time following the events of 2009's Star Trek and hits the ground running with a cold open that makes a few sly winks at Raiders of the Lost Ark.  James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) has taken the Enterprise to an undeveloped planet whose aborigines have barely invented the wheel.  Unfortunately this lil' "observe and report" mission gets complicated by a supervolcano whose imminent eruption threatens to destroy the planet and wipe out the natives.  Kirk doesn't want that to happen so he has Spock (Zachary Quinto) whip up a gadget to save the world (this world, anyway).  In the course of events, Kirk winds up saving Spock's life.

But no good deed goes unpunished.  Particularly when it involves the Prime Directive.  Kirk gets called onto the carpet by Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood, who seems to be enjoying a lot of good work lately).  Pike asserts that Kirk doesn't understand what it means to be in the captain's chair: he's taking risks but not thinking about the consequences.  Playing games with people's lives, then patting himself on the back because nobody has been killed on his watch.  In short: Kirk may have an inkling of life but he hasn't faced up to the reality of death.

Witness here the real secret of Star Trek Into Darkness' success: how much it judiciously draws from the well of The Wrath of Khan.  This is the first time.  It won't be the last.

Pike yanks the Enterprise from Kirk.  Meanwhile in Great Britain, a Starfleet officer and desperate father (Noel Clarke, known to many as Mickey from Doctor Who) is approached by a sinister individual offering a cure for his daughter's illness.  The girl survives, and her father owns up to his end of the bargain by suicide bombing a secret Starfleet installation in the heart of London.

Thus it is that Starfleet finds itself engaged in a war against agent-turned-terrorist "John Harrison".  And at last we begin to see the ugly head of this alternate reality coming into true focus...

Because this is a timeline which is still reeling from the attack on the U.S.S. Kelvin  a quarter-century earlier.  When Nero and his ship came through time, that one incident triggered an entire cascade of events which altered history in ways both drastic and subtle.  As a result many in Starfleet such as Admiral Alexander Marcus (powerfully played by Peter Weller) have come to see the Federation as being too weak militarily.  Where Starfleet was supposed to be about peace and exploration, some now want it to be about war and conquest.  Nero's destruction of Vulcan in Star Trek moved Starfleet's more aggressive elements to take action.  And it is eventually discovered that at the heart of Marcus' covert buildup is a twentieth-century warlord found floating in deep space along with seventy-two of his followers: Khan Noonien Singh.

This is going to draw some flack, but I'm going to put it in writing: Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan is the best villain I've seen in a movie in years.  And I will go so far as to say that his Khan is more evil, more dangerous, and more fascinating to behold than was Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight.  Cumberbatch's Khan is also the most sympathetic villain we have seen in a very long time.  Yes, he's killing people left and right and he is capable of bringing the Federation to its knees.  But as the story progresses we find that for Khan, he really doesn't have much of a choice in the matter.  What he is doing is not from a lust for power, or territory, or even revenge and obsession.  He is only interested in protecting and taking care of his people.  I watched the "Space Seed" episode from the original television series after seeing Star Trek Into Darkness and... it's just impossible not to associate Cumberbatch's take on Khan with Ricardo Montalban's portrayal.  In this reviewer's mind they are 100% one and the same.  We are seeing the very same character, the exact same person... but we are seeing what that person is doing with his back against the wall and left to fend for himself.  The result: Khan Noonien Singh finally afforded the latitude to demonstrate his superior intellect and enhanced physical ability.  This is the Khan that could have been were it not for the disaster on Ceti Alpha V... and he is an astounding character to witness!

But as gripping and compelling as Cumberbatch is as Khan, I felt that he was but part of the larger drama at work in Star Trek Into Darkness: how we the viewers behold the Federation turning into a twisted version of the one we know from the original series.  It's not the "Mirror, Mirror" universe wracked with backstabbing and treachery, but it is one that is increasingly turning to faith in firepower as oppose to hope in the heart.  Some people have written that this movie has its title because J.J. Abrams wanted everything in it to be "dark dark dark".  But that's not really why at all.  It's called Star Trek Into Darkness for a very good reason: this is the Star Trek we've come to know and love... slipping into darkness.  For Kirk and his crew, this isn't about saving the Federation from Khan or the Klingons: this is about saving the Federation from becoming its own worst enemy.  The real baddie of Star Trek Into Darkness is Admiral Marcus, but the true conflict is the one against fear.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan became a classic parable about growing older and having to face death.  Star Trek Into Darkness is a morality tale about facing life, and being able to live with yourself.  I don't know if that was the intention of Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof when they wrote this script but I suspect it's not without reason why they chose to borrow so liberally from The Wrath of Khan.

I enjoyed once again watching Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock, respectively.  Zoe Saldana as Uhura impressed me much more in this film than she did in the previous entry (she gets some great screen time during the scene with the Klingons).  Simon Pegg continues to be a hoot to watch as Scotty!  However if I have one complaint it was that there wasn't enough of him in this movie, and shuffling him and Keenser (Deep Roy) off to get drunk in a bar in San Francisco - as fun as that was - doesn't nearly enough make up for it.  Ditto for John Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov: apart from Sulu taking the helm and Chekov's brief tenure as ship's engineer, I barely remember them for much else.  Karl Urban however continues to rock it as Dr. McCoy!  It was seriously spooky how much he seemed to be channeling DeForest Kelly's spirit in Star Trek, and Urban just amps it up more here (he gets the best line of the whole dang movie, in my opinion).  Again however, I wanted to see more of him.

Perhaps we'll get that in the next movie.  As I said before, Star Trek Into Darkness ends at precisely the right spot: with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise poised to begin their five-year mission.  We've had two feature films to re-introduce and acclimate us to this beloved cast of characters.  I think the next film should steer away from the "insane lunatic threatening Earth" trope.  As the captain of another Enterprise once said: "Let's see what's out there."  Khan and his people aboard the S.S. Botany Bay may not be floating around to be found, but there's always V'Ger.  And that weird whale probe thingy...

Michael Giacchino turned in another terrific score for this movie's soundtrack.  There's a lot of variety in the music for Star Trek Into Darkness.  Some of it is even considerably quieter than much of what one would have expected from any Star Trek production.  Khan's theme is an especially stirring composition: evoking the Khan we saw in "Space Seed", compounded by Khan's circumstances in the alternate reality... along with a healthy hint of James Horner's theme for the character from The Wrath of Khan.

I would be remiss in my duty as a movie reviewer if I did not mention how much of a delight it was to see Leonard Nimoy return as Spock from the original reality.  Some have thought that his cameo was not necessary.  I thought it was perfect to have the original Spock bring that kind of connection to this story.  It was not a long scene, but Nimoy's performance in it has stuck with me.  Especially that haunted look he acquires as he begins to tell his counterpart about Khan Noonien Singh.

Star Trek Into Darkness easily defied and exceeded the expectations I had about this film.  It gets my heartiest recommendation for your entertainment dollar!  I've seen it twice already and wouldn't mind seeing it again during its first run in theaters.  The 2009 Star Trek is already the most played Blu-ray in my collection.  As much as I love its sequel, it'll probably be a close second :-)

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This is my Eagle Scout card

I received it during my Eagle Scout ceremony at Fairview Baptist Church in Reidsville, North Carolina on August 16th, 1992.

It immediately went into my wallet.

I have carried my Eagle Scout card with me ever since.  It has been with me through college, across the ocean, through some very dark times and into some very wonderful times.

I've never been without it.  I had long planned to someday be buried with it.

Moments ago I removed my Eagle Scout card from my wallet.  I do not plan to carry it with me ever again.

Within the past hour it has been announced that the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America has passed a resolution to allow openly homosexual members.

This is incompatible with the spirit and the meaning of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law.  The principles of Scouting are about being the best that God intends for us to be.  Strength of mind, strength of body and strength of character are inherently essential toward this.  And part of that means developing personal restraint.  God intended for us to control our own bodies.  Not for our bodies to control us.

The National Council of the Boy Scouts of America has demonstrated that it does not understand the meaning of either the Scout Oath or the Scout Law.

And so it is, with great sadness and a grieving heart, that I choose to no longer be associated or affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America.

Maybe someday I'll be able to pick up the card and carry it with me again.  I pray that day does come.

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Lois Lerner of the IRS: Fifth Amendment for me but not for thee!

This is Lois Lerner, who headed the Internal Revenue Service's exempt organizations division during the time that the IRS was singling out "tea party"-affiliated groups and other politically conservative people with audits and intimidation...

Where do these people keep coming from?

Lois Lerner of the IRS invoked the Fifth Amendment so as not to potentially perjure herself during hearings in the House of Representatives investigating her agency's unethical and illegal activities.

Every year, you and I and millions of other Americans have to file 1040 forms with the IRS.  If we don't, we go to jail.  If we withhold information on the 1040 forms, we go to jail.  If we don't sign the forms, we go to jail.  At no time does the IRS afford us the right to invoke the Fifth Amendment so as not to incriminate ourselves. 

Lois Lerner in her capacity as a high-ranking official of the Internal Revenue Service is pleading the Fifth to a congressional committee and she expects to get away free and clear from this entire mess.

You and me and everyone else must answer the IRS under threat of perjury.  This IRS official doesn't want to answer to our elected representatives and is using the Fifth Amendment as an escape clause which her agency has not and never would afford the average citizen.

If Lerner gets away with this, then she has set a legal precedent and every tax-paying citizen in the United States should follow her example.  Come next April 15th, put "I PLEAD THE FIFTH JUST LIKE IRS OFFICIAL LOIS LERNER DID" in big bold red printed letters on your tax form and send that instead.

Remember folks: the Constitution applies to every citizen in this country, not just politicians and their cronies.

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"He's the one who broke the promise": Chris lost his mind watching "The Name Of The Doctor" and still hasn't fully recovered from the DOCTOR WHO season finale!

In hindsight it was for the best that I waited nearly two days to watch "The Name of the Doctor".  I didn't dare let this episode begin without my girlfriend/fellow geek Kristen.  And in the aftermath of those final three minutes she literally had to calm me down and keep me from staggering as I walked up the stairs.  If I had attempted to watch it while she was still out of town, Lord only knows what kind of injury would have ensued.  Heck, I went into a fit of spastic fanboygasm simply when Simeon mentioned The Valeyard.

"The Name of the Doctor" was season finale caliber, definitely.  But with 2013 being the fiftieth anniversary celebration of Doctor Who it's safe to say there was already an expectation for showrunner Steven Moffat to up the ante for the occasion.  The thing is: the stuff many if not most (or even all) the fans were expecting to be in the fiftieth anniversary special, Moffat pulled the trigger on in "The Name of the Doctor"!

So has Moffat shot his wad already?  Or has he something even more diabolical planned for November 23rd?

Advance warning is in order: make sure there's plenty of space behind that sofa to duck and cover with!

This was an episode of extremes.  No previous story has ever given us The Doctor from alpha to omega and everyone(?) in between.  Right off the bat "The Name of the Doctor" showed us something we had never seen before: the First Doctor committing grand theft TARDIS and making his run from Gallifrey.  Ten incarnations later the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) chooses to defy all caution and come at last to Trenzalore: the one place in the universe he is to never, ever go.  And now we know why: Trenzalore is where The Doctor's grave is.

And when you are a traveler through time and space, your own grave is never a place you want to visit.

I thought the big reveal about Clara (Jamie-Louise Coleman) was done well, particularly in light of how this half-season of Doctor Who has been very uneven since the show returned in late March.  With the hindsight of seeing how Clara fits into the bigger picture of The Doctor's story, that's left me more appreciative of how Moffat has handled her from her first appearance in "The Asylum of the Daleks" and then "The Snowmen" onward.  Going back to the fiftieth anniversary looming over everything: I figured we'd see all the Doctors but I also feared there would be no way to really "involve" them all without resorting to deus ex machina at its hokiest.  Clara proved to be an amazingly elegant solution and by the end of the episode, she left no doubt about earning her place as a companion of The Doctor.

All right, something I'm a bit fuzzy about: is this meant to be the last time... I mean, the really last time... that we'll be seeing River Song?  There was some grave finality (horrible pun intended) in her interactions with The Doctor.  If this is the last time well, one can't help but admire the irony.  River Song's first appearance was in a two-part story five years ago that ended with her dying to save her future husband.  "The Name of the Doctor" has River after the events in The Library, with everything about her and The Doctor laid bare at last.  Alex Kingston as River Song has been one of the purest delights in all of television these past few years and if this is "goodbye sweetie" indeed, that is a void which will not be easily filled.

I loved how Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax were brought back once again.  It wouldn't be a proper season finale without that wacky trio (again I insist: give them their own spinoff series!).  Strax's scenes were especially hilarious, particularly when he asks that drunken Scottish lout to knock him unconscious with the shovel.

The Whisper Men: ummmm... still trying to figure those guys out.  Are they intended to be the distant cousins of the Silence?  Simeon didn't really "do" it for me as a main villain... until he spoke of The Doctor's future and referenced The Valeyard (so we know that gun is still on the wall waiting to be fired).  I think what most impressed me about him is that whatever it is about The Doctor still to come, Simeon was perfectly able and willing to let himself be destroyed in order to undo The Doctor's entire existence.

"The Name of the Doctor" sets an all-time record: eleven Doctors in one episode!  There hasn't been a story with so large a cast of Doctors since 1983's "The Five Doctors".  And by the way: they are all in there somewhere.  It took me awhile to find Eight and Ten, but they appear also (Clara sees the Eighth Doctor very briefly on the same beach as the Second Doctor, and that's the Tenth Doctor's back that Clara is looking at in The Library).

In every way that I could have conceived, "The Name of the Doctor" was the epic that I had been stoked to see and much, much more.

But then it got to that final scene, and the figure turning to show his face and then those words on the screen...


I've watched Doctor Who for more than thirty years. And THIS was the scariest, the most unexpected and DARKEST turn of events in the whole history of the franchise.  The mythology got rocked and rocked HARD in those final 2 or 3 minutes.  It's absolutely the riskiest thing ever done in the entire history of the show and for good or ill Steven Moffat has crossed a terrible, terrible line with this.  There was stuff in this episode that I was certain we would only see in the fiftieth anniversary special... and already Moffat's not only fired all that off, he chased it down with a tactical nuke.

"The Name of the Doctor" is the most insane, most senses-shattering cliffhanger in television history.  Granted it needed almost fifty years of material to pull it off but still...  And my poor brain is still reeling from it.  Remember Lost and it's third-season finale "Through the Looking Glass"?  Yeah the one that sucker-punched us at the end with the reveal that those flashbacks of Jack's were really flash-forwards to a time after Jack escaped the Island?  Well "The Name of the Doctor" was a thousand times more gray-matter-melting than that.

"The Name of the Doctor" didn't just peg the needle and break it off, it sent it flying madly out the car window.  Desperate times call for desperate measures so I'm giving it TWELVE Sonic Screwdrivers out of a possible five.  One for each of them.  If you've seen the episode you know what I'm talking about.

"To be continued November 23rd"!  This is gonna be a looooong six months...

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Ray Manzarek of The Doors has passed away

It happened Monday but I'm just now hearing the sad word about the death of Ray Manzarek: founding member of The Doors and one of the greatest keyboardists ever.

There are going to be a lot of memorials to Manzarek and his talent, but I thought I'd share this one that "Weird Al" Yankovic posted on his YouTube channel.  It's from 2009, when Yankovic was producing his song "Craigslist" (a style parody homage to The Doors and Jim Morrison).  Manzarek himself played keyboard for the song, giving it an authenticity that he alone could deliver...


Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.

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Xbox done

Here's the Xbox One...

There is no backward compatibility: you can't play anything from your already-existing library of Xbox 360 games on it.  You can't play your original Xbox games on it either.  Ditto for any games from Xbox Live Arcade.  It has no power button (it stays on all the time) and it needs an Internet connection to really function optimally.  It has a hard drive, but it's non-removable.  To play your games you must install from the disc.  If there is no more room on the hard drive you'll have to wipe some games off (then re-install if you want to play them again later on).  It won't work at all without the Kinect sensor (something which unless you have ample enough space, could be a problem).  Once you play a new game it's tied into that Xbox One unit and you can't easily take it anywhere else or let a friend borrow it or be allowed to sell it... okay well you can but the next player using it will have to pay a fee to Microsoft.

But at least it will tie all your incoming cable TV, satellite TV, Internet, Blu-ray and whatever else into it so that you only need one remote control.  I guess that's something worth five hundred bucks, huh?

The big "reveal" yesterday spent way more time raving about the Xbox One's television and home entertainment capabilities than it did about actual video gaming.  Seems to kinda defeat the point of pouring the entire budget of a typical developing country into the design of something for... you know... playing video games.

The lack of backward compatibility alone turns me off completely from wanting an Xbox One.  But then Microsoft had to add insult to injury more ways than I care to count...

I'm gonna be way, way content with my Xbox 360 for a long time to come.  Based on commentary I've seen since yesterday's reveal, I won't be the only one apparently.  Heck, lots of people and private businesses are still using Windows XP nearly twelve years after it was released.  I'm expecting the Xbox 360 to enjoy similar longevity.  Along with anticipating Microsoft's entry into the next-gen console wars to slip to a hard second after the PlayStation 4, and perhaps even lagging significantly behind the Wii U.

And one last thing about the Xbox One: it's ugly too.  It's like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey as envisioned by George Orwell: a big black solid slab of freedom is slavery.

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This week's Tammy Tuesday(?) only wants to help!

Didn't get to post an installment of Tammy Tuesday yesterday 'cuz of too much stuff that came crashing down all at once.  Hey I enjoy blogging but it's not like this is my full-time career, right?

Forget I asked that.

It's a day late but no less cute: here's Tammy trying her best to assist Dad in the kitchen as he looks for cookware...

Truth be told, I think Tammy enjoys eating the food more than she does actually preparing it :-P

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I purposely stayed off the Internet for the past 48 hours

Why?

Because I wasn't able to watch the season finale of Doctor Who until just now. I had to wait for my girlfriend Kristen to arrive back home from a wedding out of state. We weren't going to see this one without each other.

So a few minutes ago we finally finished "The Name of the Doctor".

My immediate reaction? Unprintable. I can't even come up with words right now.

Gonna see Star Trek Into Darkness with her. Maybe by then I'll have calmed down enough.

The most senses-shattering ending of a Doctor Who story ever.

More coherent reaction later.

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