I wanted to take a moment and deviate from the normal schedule of things here to reflect on the horrific and tragic events that transpired early Friday morning in Aurora, Colorado. There is a point to be made at the end of all this, so please bear with me.

Only 20 minutes in to what some people would consider their most anticipated movie of all time, Batman The Dark Knight Rises, an individual (I choose not to use his name) exitted and re-entered the theater and began opening fire. 71 people would be injured and 12 of them would die, others still in critical condition. This event hits hard at home for me. For those who don’t know more about me than just my screen name here, I have lived in Colorado for 22 years now. I was a junior in high school when the tragic events of the Columbine shootings happened. The Century 16 movie theater is a mere 15 minutes from where I call home. I even saw a movie in at that theater, in theater number nine where the shootings happened, earlier this year.

A dear close friend of mine (one of the hosts on the popular Reel Nerds podcast, a weekly podcast all about movies) lost a friend yesterday. He was celebrating his birthday with a midnight showing of his most anticipated movie. His wedding anniversary was soon to follow (one year). His last tweet before he died was how excited he was for this movie, and that it was going to be the best birthday ever.

What I’m trying to say is … for those of you who don’t live in Colorado, I can understand how distant this tragedy seems. But think about this – who goes to midnight showings of comic book super hero movies? You do. I do. Some of our best friends do. Our loved ones do. This tragedy could have happened any where, and any of us could have lost a loved one.

So please, at some point today, take a moment to pause. Maybe look up the list of the victims who have passed away and read their stories. Find out who they were. And pause to remember them.

Thank you for allowing me my soapbox moment. We now continue with all things Toku.