The Knight Shift

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As is the usual custom here at The Knight Shift blog, I am going to take the next few days off to celebrate Christmas. That’s not to say there won’t be blogging. If something obscenely crazy and dire comes up that demands writing about, I’ll get back behind the keyboard and do my best to report about it. And let’s not forget that there’s the annual Doctor Who Christmas special that I’ll no doubt be downloading, watching and then reviewing as soon as our Brittish brethren have it online 🙂

But for the most part, I’m taking a break. And this is one Christmas that it hasn’t been more needed.

The past few months have been one of the worst of my life. A lot of things have happened behind the scenes that I haven’t touched on here. In many ways this is already set to be a Christmas that ...

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A little over two weeks ago we started a contest on this blog. The spoils? Three copies of the Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack CD… personally signed to the winners by composer Steve Jablonsky (the creative force behind the musical scores for Transformers, Desperate Housewives and a wazoo-load of other movies and television shows and other stuff). But in order to be eligible to win one of ’em, entrants were asked to send in a picture of themselves doing their best impersonation of any character from established Gears of War canon. Not a “costume contest” so much as that this was about conveying character and heart.

So we were giving away three Steve Jablonsky-signed copies of Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack… and this was an easy contest to judge ‘cuz three is exactly the amount of entries that came in! So the following three ...

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Just a friendly reminder that there are now five days remaining to enter the contest to win one of three copies of Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack, signed by composer Steve Jablonsky (who has also composed the scores for Transformers, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and ABC’s Desperate Housewives in addition to a ton of other good stuff).

By the way, these copies will be personally signed by Steve Jablonsky to the winners! So if you’re name is “Barney Spepple” and you win one of ’em, your copy will be signed something like “To Barney…” etc.

How do you enter again? Well, here are the rules once more…

1. E-mail your entry to theknightshift@gmail.com with GEARS OF WAR 2 SOUNDTRACK CONTEST in the subject line. GEARS OF WAR 2 SOUNDTRACK CONTEST has to be in the subject line.

2. Include the following information in your entry:

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So I got back home tonight from our final rehearsal for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Oliver Twist (‘cuz opening night is tomorrow) and I’m goofing off online while I have a late dinner, and I check the stats on this blog…

…and sometime in the past few hours, this blog achieved its one millionth page view!

It’s a bit ways from having its one millionth visitor (which is what the meter displays publicly) but still, to have served up a million pages is quite an achievement. Lately I’ve noticed that more people who visit this blog seem to be looking around, instead of just coming to one page and then leaving. So it seems to be attracting a regular audience.

Thank you everyone, who has visited this blog over the past five years (except for those with nefarious purpose… and you know who you are) who ...

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There’s been resounding agreement across the board that Gears of War 2 is the must-play video game of 2008. The sequel to Epic Games’ 2006 smash hit original is impressing people all over the place with its groundbreaking combo of technical achievement, poignant storytelling, and the hope and heroism and humor that’s come to be expected from the Gears of War franchise.

And just as the game is being hailed as a mighty accomplishment, so too is the amazing orchestral score by Steve Jablonsky getting raves for being a profound work of art in and of itself! I’ve talked to several people who’ve bought Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack since it came out last week and without fail, each of ’em have told me that they have felt seriously moved by Jablonsky’s music. And if you’re a longtime reader of this blog then y’all know how I went a ...

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A review of a new movie that most people haven’t seen yet. A couple of book reviews. And an awesome contest… with some very neat prizes!

Keep an eye on this blog in the next few days for all kinds of kewl stuff.

In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!

EDIT 7:05 p.m. EST: And now for a true bit of Thanksgiving comedy. It’s the now-infamous “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!” scene from the classic sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati…

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Now’s a good time to let everyone know that for possibly the next several weeks, I’m going to be cutting back on writing for this blog. It’s not going to be a complete sabbatical: I’m certainly having too much fun posting reviews of new Doctor Who episodes to give that up, and there are a few other things that I’d love to work on for this blog too.

But there are also a few other projects beyond the scope of The Knight Shift that I need to focus on as well. Some cool stuff that I’d love to give a bit of effort toward. So if y’all see only two or three posts a week, don’t fret: I’m just here and yonder doing other things, and will be back to regular frequency as soon as possible 🙂...

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It was about a year ago that I re-did the design of this blog. And it’s one that I’ve grown rather fond of. But all the same, I’m feeling like changing some things with it.

So I’m going to be “tweaking” the look of it some during the next few days and weeks. The changes might be negligible. And then again this whole place might get a complete overhaul. Anyhoo, as always whenever this happens, if something seems out-of-whack or off-kilter around here, it’s probably just me playing around behind the scenes 🙂...

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Guess I couldn’t stop blogging after all 😛

Actually, I am still taking a break from “serious” blogging right now. It’s only when there’s been “cool” stuff to report on – like the Ron Paul and Ron Price Jack-o’-Lanterns – that I’ve broken in to post about, ‘cuz it wouldn’t make much sense to show you pictures of them in February, would it? And there’s nothing really wrong with doing that.

But the rest of my energies really are being focused on some other projects right now. That’s why you won’t be seeing any “heavy” essays from this end anytime soon. It’s all too easy to write about a pumpkin with Ron Price’s mug carved in it. Incidentally, last night we got a lot of trick-or-treaters who are in the Rockingham schools, and they both admired the work that went into the Ron Price Jack-o’-Lantern, and booed and hissed ...

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Sometime soon I’m going to take a break from blogging. Maybe a long one.

Yeah, I’ve walked away from the blog before (like when I gave up blogging for Lent last year). But this time it’s going to be different. I’ll no doubt do the Christmas post that’s become tradition for this site, but other than that – and unless something really serious happens – this is going to be a real sabbatical with no defined end, until I feel like I’m ready to return.

For over a year now I’ve been involved in one long continuous series of struggles. Some of those I’ve written about here, like the school board race. And giving hell to unscrupulous government officials and fighting schemes to impose school uniforms. There have also been a number of things that I haven’t written about here: situations that you can’t begin to imagine.

All this ...

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