Memorable Movie Moments

Star Wars: Episode III (2005) - Enter Darth Vader

After being seduced to the dark side, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) pledges himself to the teachings of his new master, Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid). The newly anointed Darth Vader is then given a simple mission by his master, to kill every Jedi in the temple, "do what must be done Lord Vader... do not hesitate, show no mercy." Vader and a legion of clone troops march on the Jedi Temple killing every living thing.

In the moments that follow we finally get an answer to the mystery that has lingered for 25 years, how did good Anakin Skywalker become evil Darth Vader? Very shortly we will have our answer. As the destruction of the Jedi Temple continues Vader enters the council chambers, it is full of frightened children. One of the young Jedi approaches and asks a question, "Master Skywalker, there are too many of them, what are we going to do?" The child receives no reply, except for the hiss of the light saber as it comes to life. Although not shown, we are left with no doubt of the answer the boy and his companions received. The film would go on to show the final climatic fight with Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and how Vader got his now iconic look. But forget all that, this is the true moment Darth Vader is born; you can't kill a whole room full of "younglings" and ever go back again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey day everybody! Have a good one and don't over do it, well not too much. Hopefully everybody has something in their life they can be thankful for, except of course the turkey!

Short stories

I have created a new page just for my short stories. It is in the same format as my novel page and should be easier on the eyes. I already added a newly edited version of my story Monument and more will be coming. Right now I'm concentrating on my book. When that's finished I have a few stories that will hopefully see the light of day starting in 2012.

People with guns collection # 42

"St. Petersburg Police staged a line-up Friday afternoon, but it wasn't the usual row of suspicious characters. In this case, it was 52 members of the police department trying out the new police pistol range. The range is to be used for training by area law enforcement agencies and is next to the Police Pistol Club on 47th Ave. N. The old circular bull's-eye targets have been replaced with human silhouettes, and policemen practice firing their service revolvers with either hand and from behind car fenders, walls and other obstacles. The officers are timed for efficiency and rated on their shooting skill. Photo credit - Fred Victorin" Dec 6 1968

Look at THIS. There is nearly 30 years between these photos but they're almost identical. Point shooting was espoused in law enforcement training for decades before finally being replaced with more practical and useful techniques. I'm not trying to get into a point shooting debate. It still has it supporters and I know that it does have some value in very limited situations. Even so you have to wonder why it remained so popular for so long, and what its proponents thought those sights were for anyway.

For readers of my book

If you've left a comment or emailed me with your thoughts about my novel please contact me. I have already contacted some of you but others I couldn't because you don't have a public email or have changed it since we first talked. Please get in touch with me again, I have something special for you.

Joshua update

News for readers of my novel!

First, I've been in the editing process for two weeks now and one thing has already become very clear, I need a proofreader. I have found numerous no brainer type mistakes and it makes me wonder what I'm not finding. I'm not sure anyone can proof read their own material. I can't.

So I've decided to spend some money having it proof read because I want Joshua to be as polished and professional as I can make it. This is a labor of love. The bad news - professional proofreaders, the really good ones, have a backlog of work. So my book's release will have to be pushed back to sometime around the New Year.

But the biggest news is that I have decided to go the self-publishing route. I was toying with the idea and now that I have decided to spend some money on this project I'm going ahead with it. I would like a chance to get my money back. Joshua will be a "real" book available at least on Kindle and as a trade paperback.

For those of you that have been following along with the story, don't worry I'm not cutting you off. I wouldn't like it if someone did that to me and I'm certainly not going to do that to my readers. Anyone that contacts me by December 1st will get a free copy that can be read on your Kindle or from a free app on your computer. Just send me an email and in the subject line please put "Joshua Free Book" so it doesn't get lost with the junk mail. I will take care of you when the time comes.

Veterans Day

A happy Veterans Day to all those that have served this nation. And THANK YOU!

Organized chaos

The toy box is almost at full capacity. These photos can't even show it all. Actually it's over capacity as there is a rifle I still can't fit inside. I could probably wedge a few more small items in there though.

Of course my gun safe wasn't that big to begin with, it's a "6 Gun" model. If you know about gun safes you know that when the manufacturer says "6 Gun" they mean six skinny bolt action rifles without any optics on them. I've got six rifles in mine but they're jammed in there like sardines.

When I bought this years ago I couldn't half way fill it. I didn't know if I ever would. But you know how it is, the stuff just keeps piling up. I also use my safe for all my valuables, cameras, binoculars, etc., which only exacerbates the problem.

I have few options right now. I could buy another safe, or a bigger one - Don't want to do that, don't have the room anyway.

I could continue to leave guns out so some meth head could find them one day when no one is home - Don't like that idea much either.

Or I could just stop buying toys since I have no more room for new ones - I hate that idea most of all!

Decisions, decisions...

Sad

Saddened to her about the recent loss of William The Coroner. I wasn't a regular reader of his blog but I did pop in every once in a while to check out his unique look on things. I also remember him from some gun forums we both belonged to. He obviously made many friends in the gun world, you can see them all over the net. RIP - Way too young to go.