Teaching filmmaking for Cultural Arts Day at Monroeton Elementary School

Today has been one of the best, most fun-filled days that I've had in quite a long time. And most of that is because of how I got to talk about being a filmmaker and show some "tricks of the trade" for the students of Monroeton Elementary School in Reidsville, as part of the Cultural Arts Day that it held today.Cultural Arts Day had folks coming in to demonstrate arts like...

Read More

Tonight's LOST: "Ji Yeon"

Lost has come completely unhinged. I mean that in a good way.Two weeks ago we got "The Constant", which many regard as the finest episode of the entire series to date. One guy I know swears he watched that one at least 20 times already. Some people said that last week's "The Other Woman" wasn't quite up to snuff with how incredible the rest of Season 4 has been, but coming right on the heels of "The Constant" that was a forgivably tall bar to...

Read More

The state of things ...

Or to quote Scatman Crothers's character in The Shining: "Just between you and me, we got a very serious problem with the people taking care of the place. They turned out to be completely unreliable assholes."To wit:- Oil today hit $111 per barrel.- $200 per barrel is possible, says Goldman Sachs.- The value of the dollar is plummeting.- We are now in a recession, according...

Read More

Confirmed: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS will be a two-part movie

Confirming what was speculated two months ago, it's now being officially announced that the big-screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be a two-"volume" production, much like how Kill Bill was. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 will premiere in November of 2010, followed up six months later in May of 2011 with Part 2. David Yates, who directed the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is...

Read More

Fifteen years ago today came The Storm of the Century

Snowfall in Asheville, North Carolina from The Storm of the Century,March 12-14 1993The meteorologists saw it coming five days ahead. A high-pressure Arctic system was heading south across the Midwest states, brought down low by a jet stream from Canada. It was set to converge with intense low pressure over the Gulf of Mexico, and was then projected to head north and east......

Read More

BioShock 2 coming in 2009

I rented BioShock for the Xbox 360 from a nearby video store over the weekend to see if this game lived up to the good word that I've heard about it. There haven't been many spare moments lately 'cuz of various projects but I've got to say: no other video game that I've ever played has had me so looking forward to chances to playing it more as has BioShock. Right now I'm...

Read More

Fred Reed sez: American democracy is a sham

Democracy in America is not about government derived by the will of the people. Rather, democracy in America is about how deeply-entrenched political elites and the corporate press control the people. Such is the case articulated by Fred Reed in his latest essay, and it's hard to disagree with him...To disguise all of this, elections provide the excitement and intellectual content of a football game, without the importance. They allow a sense of...

Read More

Oil now a record $107 a barrel

Actually, as of the most recent report it's $107.44 to be accurate. And there's little doubt it will be up quite a bit again by the end of the week.Average gas price right now around here in north-central North Carolina is $3.19 per gallon.Why is the cost of gas and everything else skyrocketing? It's not that there's a dwindling supply as many people will argue. No, right now it's more because of the depleting value of the U.S. dollar. With diminished...

Read More

Final poster for INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Drew Struzan delivers as classic a poster as I've ever seen for the last (?) chapter of the Indiana Jones film saga...Is it just me, or does Karen Allen look even more beautiful in this poster than she did in Raiders of the Lost Ark all the way back in 1981? Her face is positively radiant!What I would give to have this poster on my own wall. Hope they make them available...

Read More

Jenna and Lou are GETTING MARRIED!!!

And now for the best news that this blog has reported in quite a long time...Word has reached me at this late hour that our dear friend and fellow blogger Jenna Olwin was asked by her boyfriend Lou if she would be his beautiful blushing bride.And... Jenna said "yes"!No word yet on when exactly the wedding will take place but Jenna says it will likely be before this coming...

Read More

Obama, Clinton, and McCain: Just Say NO!

Me calling into Star Talk on WGSR Star 39 a few nights ago...I've voted in every election for as long as I've ever been able to be a registered voter. And more than that, I've gone the extra mile and run for public office. Nobody can ever accuse me of being an apathetic citizen.But I mean it: as things stand now, I won't be casting a vote for either the Democrat or Republican nominee for President this year. Because none of these people have demonstrated...

Read More

California court rules most homeschooling is unlawful ... and what to do about it

In light of my current activities, which no doubt will soon become widespread public knowledge, I understand what it's going to look like to come out with an opinion on this. So for sake of clarification: the views and commentary that I express on this blog are my own, and not necessarily those of anyone else.(What I mean by that will be made clear in the very near future.)A California appeals court has ruled that most homeschooling is illegal....

Read More

God as defined by quantum physics

Here is my current proposal for a quantum mechanics definition of God:In reference to a system encompassing the totality of the physical universe, God is that outside observer which has the unique properties of comprehending the position and momentum of every particle and all energy within the system without violating the observer effect and simultaneously across all points throughout the spacetime of that system.I think that such a definition easily...

Read More

Are you ready to behold the WATCHMEN?

I was just about to turn in for the night after a long day when I went to the Ain't It Cool News website for ummm... cool news, and they've got these first officially released images of the Watchmen cast in costume.Words fail. And for once, it's in a good way.I am fast losing any doubts - and there were many - about the big-screen adaptation of Watchmen. They have nailed...

Read More

Something I have learned today

I do not need to ask God to give me some overwhelming mission in order to have a purpose in life.I only need to wait on Him, and trust that He will deliver in His own time, and know that He will give me exactly what He requires of me.I do not have to try to fight and win the entire war. I only have to fight the battles closest to me, as best I can with what strength is given me.This is all that He asks from each of us. If we follow through on that,...

Read More

Gary Gygax and Christianity: Dungeons & Dragons creator was a believer

Yesterday I posted about the death of Gary Gygax, who co-created Dungeons & Dragons and is regarded as the founder of the role-playing game genre. Lots of people who are around my age will probably remember that Dungeons & Dragons aroused considerable controversy in the early Eighties because a lot of Christians claimed that the game promoted witchcraft, demonic worship, suicide, and pretty much every other undesirable practice that you...

Read More

Gary Gygax has passed away

It's weird: I was just thinking of Gary Gygax last week, after reading a review of the new 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It was back in the early Seventies that Gygax, along with Dave Arneson, created the first Dungeons & Dragons game. Gygax has since been widely hailed as "the father of the role-playing game".Now comes the sad news that Gary Gygax has passed...

Read More