Call it a politician boldly going where no one has gone before.
On Thursday, David Waddell used the Klingon language to write his letter of resignation from the Indian Trail Town Council in North Carolina.
Waddell says he opted to use Klingon, the language of a warrior race on the "Star Trek" TV shows and movies, as an inside joke. Mayor Michael Alvarez is calling the letter unprofessional.
Waddell says he is resigning at the end of this month. His four-year term expires in December 2015.
Waddell says he also needs to devote time to mounting a write-in campaign on the Constitution Party's platform against U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan.
Ken's Opinion - What's the big deal? I always quite a job by exclaiming, "Beam me the hell outta here, Scotty!"
Above, Haruo Nakajima with actress Lea Thompson. Photo by Armand Vaquer.
Mad Monster Party 2013 is now history. I had a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people.
First, I have to commend Eben McGarr and Joe Moe for putting on a great show. I think they exceeded their attendance expectations by a few thousand.
Above, the Nakajima panel. Photo by Jeff Blanken.
Next, I have to thank the members of "Team Nakajima" (translator Yoko Connelly and our volunteer stiff (staff) Jeff Blanken) for their help in making everything involving the Nakajimas go smoothly.
Above, Haruo Nakajima with a fan-made Godzilla suit. Photo by Armand Vaquer.
As this was the second convention, there were a few bugs that need to be ironed out. But, learning from experience will greatly aid in making next year's convention even better.
The day began at about one o'clock in the morning with the sound of police vehicle units pulling up to the Blake Hotel or driving nearby. It was a bit hard to sleep with all the noise from the police sirens. I found out this morning that seven units of the Charlotte Police Department responded to a call involving two nude girls at the convention at that time. I'd bet the police fought over who was going to respond.
Above, Haruo and Sonoe Nakajima going over their flight schedule for tomorrow in the R.I.P. room.
Photo by Armand Vaquer.
After breakfast, I met with the Nakajimas and went over the questions for the panel discussion. Following this, we migrated over to the ballroom for the session. I received many words of praise for the session which included slides (when the projector decided to work properly) and roars and music from Godzilla (1954) while people were entering the ballroom.
After the panel, we migrated over to our tables. The line was already long of autograph seekers when we go to the tables. I sold more copies of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan today than I did with Friday and Saturday put together (which weren't bad either). Thanks to everyone!
Above, Haruo Nakajima and yours truly.
The Nakajimas did VERY well with their sales of autographs photos with fans. It will probably hit them when they convert the dollars into yen when they return home to Japan. I am very happy for them.
Above, Haruo Nakajima with our volunteer helper Jeff Blanken. Photo by Armand Vaquer.
Just before the convention ended, we had a photo session for group shots of everyone who comprised "Team Nakajima."
Above, Haruo Nakajima with translator Yoko Connolly. Photo by Armand Vaquer.
After the convention was over, we went over to the V.I.P. room (known as the R.I.P. room) to review everything and to make plans for other future activities. While there, actress Lea Thompson stopped by to be introduced to Haruo Nakajima.
Above, "Team Nakajima" at Mad Monster Party.
After we said our goodbyes, I took Jeff out to dinner at the Hickory Tavern. We relaxed over dinner and beer.
The trip to Charlotte, North Carolina was worth it and I enjoyed what I did manage to see of the city. Would I return to a future Mad Monster Party? The answer is a definite yes!
Armand Vaquer, author of "The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan," will be attending the Mad Monster Party convention March 22-24 at the Blake Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Vaquer will be selling "The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan" in the vendors room. He will also moderate panels featuring the original Godzilla suit-actor, Haruo Nakajima.
Nakajima played the "King of the Monsters" from the original movie in 1954 to 1972's "Godzilla vs. Gigan."
"Haruo Nakajima has been a great convention guest in past years. He began his career as an actor and stuntman in samurai and war movies and the producers of Godzilla movies took note of his stamina when they were looking for someone to don the heavy rubber monster suits," said Vaquer. "He and I will have adjoining tables in the vendors room where fans can obtain autographed photos from him and get "The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.""
"The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan" is the world's first and only Japan travel guide to monster movie locations and landmarks.
For additional information on the Mad Monster Party convention, go to the official website at TheMadMonsterParty.com.
Above, Haruo Nakajima in 2008. Photo by Armand Vaquer.
Haruo "Mr. Godzilla" will be turning 84 this coming January 1. He was born on January 1, 1929 in Yamagata, Japan.
As has been a tradition for the past several years, fans wanting to extend their birthday greetings to Mr. Nakajima can post them here in the comments. I will begin to forward them to his daughter Sonoe on January 1.
Mr. Nakajima will be a special guest at the Mad Monster Party convention this coming March 22-24, 2013 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
If you want to have your birthday greetings sent to Mr. Nakajima, post them here.
The Mad Monster Party Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina will be hosting Haruo "Mr. Godzilla" Nakajima at the March 22-24, 2013 event.
Above, Armand with David Hedison.
Other guests include David Hedison (The Fly, Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea, Live and Let Die, License To Kill), Linnea Quigley, David Naughton and more. I will also be on hand for the panel discussions with Mr. Nakajima.
The convention will be held at the Blake Hotel in downtown Charlotte.
It's been named "Squeaky Footage", about three minutes of film captured last April at an abandoned campsite in North Carolina, of what appears to be a rather inquisitive Bigfoot.
The footage, which was shot with a thermal imaging camera, is the work of Mike Greene, a 20 year Bigfoot investigator and former chief of the Welfare and Food Stamp Fraud Investigation Department.
The location that Greene chose for his stake-out is reportedly the haunt of a very curious creature who has been seen lurking at night near campsites, normally just out of fire light, for the past couple of years.
The veteran Bigfoot hunter knew that this may be a prime spot to investigate and his intuitiveness may have paid off.
Just after setting up his camp, Greene heard some of the same types of noises that he had heard during a 2007 expedition into the region, where he just missed capturing the elusive animal on film.
Not wanting to miss another chance to capture images of the elusive cryptid, the monster hunter set a trap. He placed some food on a tree stump next to his campsite, then moved to a safe distance and set up his thermal camera and turned it on.
Not wanting to scare off the creature, he left the area.
Two ours later he returned to discover that his camera had caught something large, and on two legs, rummaging through his campsite.
Is it Bigfoot?
Well, that certainly will be a topic of debate for sometime.
Now, as a Bigfoot eyewitness myself, I can tell you that the object in the film has the right shape and seems to move like the animal I saw.
But, that really doesn't mean anything.
Many fellow researchers in the field of cryptozoology have made comments to back up Greene's character and his long history as a fraud investigator for our government speaks for itself.
So, it would be safe to say that Greene wouldn't be the kind of guy to try and pull off a hoax, but did someone play a hoax on him? That's the tricky part.
Since he left the area while the alleged Bigfoot went trough his belongings, there is no eye-witness to the events captured in the video. So it could be Sasquatch or some really big homeless guy looking for a free meal.
Most of us are familiar with how a thermal imaging camera works, thanks to shows like "Ghost Hunters", "Destination Truth" and "Ghost Adventures." Basically it picks up generated by either a living entity, power source or....spirit...possibly.
Hot objects appear as oranges and reds and cold ones as blues.
Living creatures, like our Bigfoot friend in the above video, kinda appear a as blobs with a shape to them against the cooler background items, in this case trees.
Unfortunately, there are no distinguishable features in this type of image that could prove positive that it is either a man or a monster.
So it's all inconclusive.
There is one thing that could, if anything, shine a dim light on both Greene and his footage. The fact that at the present moment, he is charging people to view the whole thing.
That's right, the footage featured above is only a small sampling of the entire video, which is about three minutes long. To see all of that, you will have to pay Greene $3 through his website.
You can read into that what you may.
I would hope that someone who has dedicated 20 years of his life to hunting Bigfoot, wouldn't be trying to cash in. I would think that if he had a real video of the creature than he would be more than happy to submit it to the masses FOC.
But, I don't want to make a judgement call hear. Everyone needs money, and if people are willing to pay....well....I'll leave it at that.
Hopefully trap cameras, which take normal resolution images, could be used in the same area to capture more definitive proof that there is a curious Bigfoot in the North Carolina wild.
