Sinister Shadows Come to America’s Favorite Family Beach

Conspiracy theories can be very seductive. gerald_g_spy1

Given a few strange clues and some seemingly random bits of information, it is easy to raise the suspicion of something sinister going on just beyond eyesight of normal men and women.

Star Chamber, Free Masons, Rosicrucians, Skull and Bones, the Catholic Church, CIA, Military-Industrial Complex, SMERSH, Environmentalists, and Communists; They all have plots to dominate the world.

At best, these are the villains in a spellbinding tale of mystery and intrigue. Taken another way, it can lead one down a rabbit hole of paranoia and insanity. At worst, however, they can provide terrible insight into how the world really works.

Way back when, the survivalist bug bit me. With the Clinton administration burning down churches, enacting massive domestic spying programs, trying to steal the Second Amendment and annihilating the American steel industry, it was easy for a steel-town boy to buy some guns and make plans to head for the hills when everything went U.S.S.A.

However, I learned that you couldn’t live with that level of alertness for very long without going crazy. Every mysterious phone call is an attempt by the government to tap your phones. Your power goes out, and you wonder if the ATF is about to bust down your door. You either pack up and head to a cabin in the woods or go crazy and shoot somebody. Or, like I did, you find a different way to fight back. I got into journalism to fight the lies—and there are plenty of out-right lies in the news—of the mainstream media. I might not have been very successful in saving the world, but I didn’t try and blow up a federal building, either.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t see the conspiracies that are still out there. I learned long ago to look past the Republican/Democrat puppet show to suss out what the Powers-That-Be are really trying to do.

Interestingly, the Games-They-Play are not just on the national level. They can be seen happening right here on the Grand Strand.

Consider this: Myrtle Beach has been America’s beach for decades. People of all walks of live came here to play on the beach, shop in the stores, golf at the clubs and cruise the streets.

However, someone has decided they don’t like that.

They destroy the Pavilion. They raise taxes and pass laws to drive off millions of tourists and billions of tourist dollars. They drive off conventions and work at making Myrtle Beach the laughing stock of the vacation industry.

Consider the latest fiasco to hit Myrtle Beach—the cancelation of the marathon.

A few flurries at 10 p.m., and city officials can the race, spitting in the face of logic and common sense. They claim it was because of the weather and safety concerns, but that makes little sense. Even at 10 p.m., there was no snow sticking to the roads. At 4 a.m., when I walked to the beach to take pictures of the snow, the roads were wet, but still black. By morning, the idea of snowy, icy roads was a wet dream.

Come the morning, the thousands of runners that came into town proved it by running anyway and dominating the local headlines for the weekend. It seems that the city forgot that people come to the Myrtle Beach Marathon to practice for New York, Boston and other runs often held under worse conditions.

Or, did they?

By sabotaging the annual run, this could be just another step in the systematic destruction of America’s #1 Family Beach. Just like with the bike rallies, admittedly on a smaller scale, thousands of unhappy visitors are going home and telling all their friends about their disappointment and how stupid people in Myrtle Beach are. A 25-year-old tradition is probably as good as dead.

Now, I haven’t quite figured out the whys or whos yet. However, when there are PACs and mysterious corporations making questionable, if not illegal, machinations in favor of the elected puppets who enacted these attacks on our beach, our residents, our visitors and our livelihoods, its not hard to believe that something sinister is lurking in the shadows of Myrtle Beach.

Published in: on February 26, 2010 at 15:06  Comments (1)  
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Arrgh! Karate Kid learns Kung Fu!!!

When I heard that Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith (Will Smith’s son) were doing a remake of Karate Kid, I thought, “Cool, hopefully the kid won’t be as whiny as Ralph was” and thought that it was a little strange that a Chinese actor was playing a Japanese maintenance man/martial arts instructor.

But now that I have seen the trailers, I realize that it is all right, because Chan is playing a Chinese maintenance man/martial artists, who teaches the “Karate Kid” kung fu.

let it sink in.

The Karate Kid learns Kung Fu!!!!!!!!

It hurts my head. But the film still looks pretty cool. Check the trailers here.

Published in: on February 25, 2010 at 16:08  Comments (1)  
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Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

percy_jackson_and_the_olympians_the_lightning_thief_ver3_000

Harry Potter changed the world of books for the good. He got more children reading and revolutionized the children/teen/young adult markets. However, despite the success of his films, his effect on the movie world is not so good.

With over a half-dozen box office hits, the boy wizard has given birth to baby dragons, freaks, vampires and a slew of other supernatural box-office failures aimed at capturing Harry’s magical $orcerer’s Stone.

Now, the gods are angry and want their fair share of the tribute. After all, most of our stories come from the ancient Greek mythology, so why shouldn’t they get shot at some teenage magic?

Enter “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.”

Based on the successful series of novels by Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is your usual angst-filled teen who has a talent for holding his breath under water. He has a best-bud named Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), a hard working mom (Catherine Keener) and a crude, smelly step-father (Joe Pantoliano). He never met his father.

Then one day, his teacher turns into a fury, his school principle (Pierce Brosnan) gives him a pen that turns into a sword and he finds out that he is the son of Poseidon (Kevin McKidd). Oh, and everyone in Olympia thinks he stole Zeus’ lightning.

He is taken to a secret summer camp where all the young demigods live and train in ancient Greek martial arts. There, Percy finds that Grover’s crutches are a disguise to hide the fact he has goat legs (satyr) and that his wheelchair-bound principle is really a centaur named Chiron.

Turns out that children from the “Big Three”—Zeus, Poseidon, Hades—are a rarity and they have been paying close attention to Percy. And now that everyone thinks he has stolen the lightning, Percy, Grover and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), a daughter of Athena, must go on a modern day odyssey to find the real thief, rescue his mother and save the world from a war of the gods.

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Published in: on February 16, 2010 at 14:01  Comments (3)  
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Waxing Poetic about Paris Shoot-out

Sorry this is a little late, but I got shot-up pretty badly during last weekend’s gun battle.paris-with-love

Of course, my adventures in paintball were nowhere near as cool as John Travolta’s adventures as a wild, shoot first-ask later-shoot again, just in case government agent.

“From Paris with Love” introduces Charlie Wax (Travolta), a not-quite-legal operative for the U.S., to James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a wannabe special ops candidate currently serving the U.S. in a less-than-action-packed role at the Paris Embassy.

Reece has been doing some minor intelligence work—not-so-exciting things like changing license plates in dark garages and planting bugs in the offices of French officials. However, this minor spy work has only wetted his taste for becoming a spec-ops agent.

And then, Wax roles into town on a mission. Short of a driver, Reece is tapped for the job, thrusting him headlong into a mad race involving drugs, the Chinese, prostitution and terrorism.

This movie looked like a wild thrill-ride from the trailer, and it did not disappoint. While it follows the usual oil-and-water buddy movie idea, the story and the details bring back some of the excitement from when the original “Lethal Weapon” came out in theaters.

A long time ago, I remember Travolta as a lovesick high school punk singing about his shy summer love and his car. Admittedly, he has come a long way from “Grease,” but I can’t help but being amazed at his career now. Who would have thought to shave him bald, give him a freaking huge earring, a Royal with Cheese and a pair of submachine guns and send him rampaging through Paris would be make a great movie? Well, obviously, director Pierre Morel did, and he was right.

Travolta had to have had a blast with this movie, because he goes through the entire thing with this mad kid-let-loose-in-Disney-World gleam in his eye. And audiences will definitely cheer for the way Wax handles terrorists and drug dealers.

Meyers plays a completely different character than his popular role as King Henry on Showtime’s “The Tudors.” The role was so different that it took me a minute to put the two together, but I did end up liking him in the end. He worked well with Travolta, in a straight (-laced) man way.

Go give some box-office love to “From Paris with Love.” It won’t break your heart.

Published in: on February 12, 2010 at 21:54  Comments Off  
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South Carolina’s premier movie critic joins News.SC

Huff

Huff

Writing for Myrtle Beach publications for over 5 years, entertainment writer Christopher Huff is now teaming up with News.SC to bring his unique take on films, television and other entertainment media to South Carolina’s online news source.
“I wanted to be a movie critic since I was 7 years old,” Huff said. “That might sound young, but when I saw Siskel & Ebert give two thumbs down to ‘Star Wars,’ I knew there was something wrong with the ‘professionals.’”
Several years later, Huff finally got the chance. After dozens of years in the journalism industry, with press awards for both his business coverage and op/ed writing, he became the movie critic for the Myrtle Beach Herald.
“When I started this about 5 years ago, I was the only professional movie critic on the East Coast between New York and Orlando,” Huff said. “I was way on the outside. I am nowhere near any city that host early premiers or sneak previews. In addition, I am nowhere near popular enough to get any of the freebies or promo perks sent out to influence the big names. But that is a good thing.”
“Without the need to be buddy-buddy with the big-wigs, insiders and Hollywood culture, I can give an honest, real-person view on movies,” Huff explained. “Not every movie is a ‘Casablanca’ or ‘The Departed.’ That doesn’t mean they are not good. ‘Star Wars’ may not have been a deep, politically correct, artistic statement, but it was a great, fun movie that millions of people loved and changed the movie industry forever. It is that tempered view that I try to get out there.”
In addition to reviews of current movies, Huff also plans to broaden the scope of his writing for News.SC’s entertainment section to include DVD releases, television and other commentary on what entertains us.

Published in: on February 2, 2010 at 16:29  Comments (1)  
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Mel Gibson returns to big screen with Edge of Darkness

It has been a long time since we have seen Mel Gibson on the big screen.

Edge of Darkness, staring Mel Gibson

Edge of Darkness, staring Mel Gibson

Nevertheless, seeing the promos for “Edge of Darkness” didn’t inspire much excitement. From the trailers, the movie seemed to be a knock-off of last year’s “Taken,” where Liam Neeson tears up Europe looking for his daughter’s kidnappers. In “Edge of Darkness,” Gibson plays Boston Detective Thomas Craven, tearing up Massachusetts looking for his daughter’s killers. However, despite the vague similarities highlighted in the trailer, “Edge of Darkness” stands firmly on its own as a great thriller and gives Mel Gibson an excellent vehicle to drive back to the box office.

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Published in: on February 2, 2010 at 16:25  Comments Off  
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The worlds of fantasy and paintball collide as Adventure Beach Paintball presents the “Road to No Ends” on Feb. 5-7.

Paintball is usually played in one of two ways: in the speedball arena with inflated barricades or in the field with bunkers and simulated urban environments.

The latter is called scenario paintball, with events usually based on historic battles or action/adventure movie plots. Throughout the event, two sides square off in various military-style missions: search and rescue, recon, and other attack and defend operations.

“We wanted to do something different,” explained Kevin Shimwell, owner of Adventure Beach Paintball. “We sat down to write a unique storyline and came up with an epic fantasy battle between The Knowing and The Hidden.”

Shimwell credits his son, McCullin, age 14, for leading the creative process.

“McCullin was the brainchild of the concept,” Shimwell said. “He started all and we took it by the reigns and helped make it come alive.”

In the mysterious world that is home to the “Road to No Ends,” an ancient legend of the Oracle promises the power to rule the world. Lost for ages, the mysterious artifact has returned and two opposing sides must vie for this powerful magic.

The civilized people, The Knowing, led by Chris Nienow of the Port City Militia paintball team, must gather their forces and travel the Road to No Ends in search of the Oracle.

However, it is not a safe journey, for hidden in the surrounding wilderness are the Hidden. Led by Billy Ford of the ODX paintball team, the Hidden are a savage barbaric people, hunting any thing that enters their territory, often just for the pleasure of the hunt.

“While there will be a lot of the regular scenario missions in the game, we will be adding some different twists to the game,” Shimwell said. “To find the oracle, the players will have to gather clues and solve riddles that will eventually lead them to the location of the Oracle.”

Shimwell said the paintball community is responding very well to the idea.

“This is shaping up to be one of the most successful events we have run,” Shimwell said. “We have over 130 pre-registrations, and are expecting to top 200 players with the last minute registrations and walk-ons that show up on the day of the event.”

In addition to players, several big names in the paintball industry have signed on to sponsor the event, including Pro Caps Direct, Tippman, Planet Eclipse, Deadbox Paintball and Hammerhead Paintball. National publications, including Paintball Uprising, Action Pursuit Games and Paintball 3X magazines will be also covering the event.

The event begins on Friday night for a special night mission beginning at 9 p.m. The field will be open all day for early registration and camping arrivals. On Saturday, registration opens at 7:30 a.m. with the mandatory safety meeting at 9 a.m. Game-on is at 11 a.m. Sunday’s play runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with winners and awards presentation beginning at 1:30 p.m.

“Players of all skill levels are welcome,” Kevin said. “We will have players who have played for years, and new kids who are coming to their first event. That is one of the great things about paintball. Newcomers and experiences paint-slingers all have a chance to be the hero and have some fun. Skill level might have its benefits, but it really comes down to the willingness to get out there and get the job done.”

For more information, go to www.abpaintball.com or call 843-222-9081.

Published in: on February 2, 2010 at 15:45  Comments Off  
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