Silverdocs opened with Don't Stop Believin, Ramona Diaz's (second from the left) film about Arnel Pineda, a Phillipino singer who got discovered on YouTube by iconic American band Journey and is now their lead singer. It was great to have such a joyful film to kick off the festival, and it was cool seeing Neil Shohn (fourth from the left) in the flesh - I can't believe Arnel wasn't there himself, though. That was kind of a disappointment.
The story follows Arnel on his first tour with Journey, then when he goes back to the Phillipine's afterwards. They interweave this with Arnel's personal history as well as the band's history. Arnel really is a great singer and while he doesn't seem like an obvious choice for Journey, you sort of get used to seeing them together after a little while and he gives a little international flavor to the all-American classic rock group.
The film is so much fun! And for a high pressure, extensive national tour, there's not much drama. My main critique would be that the film could be about 15-20 minutes shorter (precisely because of the lack of drama). It starts to feel a bit repetitive after a while and some stuff could definitely be taken out without hurting the story. But the music is great, Arnel is a loveable character and it was a really nice look inside the band Journey. Overall an enjoyable film and an interesting story that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't a documentary.
We finished last in our race to be the congressman in Arizona's Fourth Congressional District as the candidate of the Americans Elect party, one of Arizona's five recognized political parties entitled to ballot access. 
At last count, we had almost 2,400 votes, giving us 0.98% of the vote. 
Here is the story as reported by Phoenix TV station KPHO (CBS5):
Just a few blocks from our current home in Bay Ridge, very early this morning, the amazing volunteers from Occupy Sandy, which has done such wonderful work during the last few weeks since the hurricane, were busy preparing what seemed like zillions of Thanksgiving dinners for people in hard-hit areas.
The kitchen began prep work at 8 a.m. yesterday, was open all night, and volunteers were here even at 2 a.m. 
We're really grateful for Occupy Sandy on this Thanksgiving.
The front page of The Wall Street Journal today, Friday, November 23, 2012, features an above the fold photo of yesterday's wonderful Occupy Sandy Thanksgiving dinner outside St. Camillus in Rockaway with the headline: "A Sunny Thanksgiving Feast for Storm's Victims." 
At least one person pictured was a volunteer taking a break to eat a delicious apple muffin. 
We're a little embarrassed (but not that much) to be pictured when so many of our fellow volunteers and the regular crew at Occupy Sandy in Rockaway aren't. But we are proud of being a tiny part of such a good effort. And we also like that at the extreme left of the photo you can just make out the Dayton Towers West building at 102-00 Shore Front Parkway.
For thirty years our beloved Aunt Tillie -- our grandfather's sister -- and Uncle Morris Metz, had an apartment there on the second floor, where we spent several holiday dinners (Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashona) with them and our Grandma Ethel back in the 1980s. That was the last time we were featured on the front page, albeit of the second section, of The Wall Street Journal. A story by Brooks Jackson about our presidential campaign was published on November 28, 1983, just about 29 years ago.
It ran with the headline "This Presidential Candidate Wants Jane Wyman as His Running Mate," It ended:
We took a picnic lunch from our apartment and walked over to Dyker Heights on this gorgeous afternoon to enjoy the greenery at the Dyker Beach Golf Course and Park.
It was about 60 degrees and sunny, rare for December in Brooklyn, but of course the climate is changing enough so that there's now this palm tree across from the golf course at 7th Avenue by Parrot Place.
But Dyker Beach isn't a real beach, with the only sand being in sand traps.
Still, we enjoyed the time we spent there, admiring the great views on this pretty day.
Dyker Beach Golf Course is one of the oldest golf courses in the United States
and in the 1950s and 1960s, when we were a kid, it was the busiest one in the country.
It was fun to walk around, but after a while we had to get back home to work.
But the beautiful weather made us dawdle and we walked down 7th Avenue past the Poly Prep campus with its Georgian buildings down to the entrance to Fort Hamilton, where we had our Vietnam War draft physical 43 years ago. There we caught the B70 bus for the quick ride home.