A concentrated labor of love for filmmaker Albert Birney, the low-budget indie bears the paranoid black-and-white sheen of such debuts as “Eraserhead” and “Pi.”
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UCLA has landed a transfer who could hasten Bob Chesney’s rebuilding efforts.
Wayne Knight verbally committed to following Chesney from James Madison to Westwood on Wednesday, giving the new Bruins coach a high-quality running back to pair with quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Showing what he could do on a national stage last month, Knight ran for 110 yards in 17 carries against Oregon in the College Football Playoff. It was the fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season for Knight on the way to being selected a first team All-Sun Belt Conference player.
Combining excellent speed with the toughness needed to break tackles, the 5-foot-6, 189-pound Knight led the conference with 1,357 rushing yards. He also made 40 catches for 397 yards and averaged 22.3 yards on kickoff returns and 9.5 yards on punt returns. His 2,039 all-purpose yards were a school record, helping him become an Associated Press second team All-American all-purpose player after ranking third nationally with 145.6 all-purpose yards per game.
Knight, who will be a redshirt senior next season in his final year of college eligibility, becomes the seventh player from James Madison to accompany Chesney to UCLA, joining wide receiver Landon Ellis, defensive back DJ Barksdale, tight end Josh Phifer, edge rusher Aiden Gobaira, right guard Riley Robell and offensive lineman JD Rayner.
UCLA also has received verbal commitments from Michigan wide receiver Semaj Morgan, Florida wide receiver Aidan Mizell, San Jose State wide receiver Leland Smith, Iowa State running back Dylan Lee, Boise State offensive tackle Hall Schmidt, Virginia Tech defensive back Dante Lovett, Iowa State defensive back Ta’Shawn James and California edge rusher Ryan McCulloch.
But no incoming player can match the production of Knight, whose highlights included a career-high 211 rushing yards — including a 73-yard touchdown — against Troy in the Sun Belt championship game, earning him most valuable player honors for the Dukes’ 31-14 victory.
Knight will join a group of running backs that includes senior Jaivian Thomas (294 yards rushing and one touchdown in 2025), redshirt senior Anthony Woods (294 yards rushing in 2025) and redshirt freshman Karson Cox (nine yards in two carries during his only appearance as a true freshman).
With Knight on board, the Bruins presumably have their starting running back in Year 1 under their new coach.
STROLLING the empty grounds of the “UK’s most beautiful castle”, I imagine myself as former resident Catherine of Aragon – minus the impractical clothing and messy divorce.
It was an autumnal Sunday morning after I had booked my family into one of the new Knights’ Retreat Lodges at Leeds Castle, near Maidstone in Kent, for the night.
The wooden lodges, named after mythical creatures such as Basilisk, Gryphon and Hippogriff, are built at the far end of the grounds, next to the children’s playground and falconry — an important detail for families when the grounds span 500 acres.
Our lodge slept five people, with a double bed in one room and three single beds decorated with cute shield pillows (available in the gift shop for a reasonable £14), plus a lounge area with a kitchenette and a bathroom. The lodges are a masterclass in small space management.
This allowed the adults to spend an enjoyable couple of hours chatting over a bottle of wine in the lounge, while the two boys battled it out in the bedroom with their shields.
But we weren’t there for chilling. Because a stay in the lodges gets you two-day access to Leeds Castle and its grounds, so we had to use our daylight hours wisely.
First stop, the Knights’ Stronghold Playground, an enormous medieval-themed play area that is potentially the best “climbing frame” in the country. The four-storey castle has enough bridges, turrets, walkways, ziplines and slides to keep your child entertained for hours.
But we gave ourselves a strict two-hour time limit so we didn’t miss out on the rest of the action.
In the kids’ corner of the grounds, there is a huge sandpit almost as big as a small beach, an obstacle course and the birds-of-prey centre, which holds falconry shows featuring the resident hawks, falcons and owls.
The impressive show saw the handlers weaving through the crowd so that the birds were encouraged to whizz among us. They were so close that I had to duck on more than one occasion.
But the attraction that has been discussed most since our return to the commoner life is the maze, which was built in 1988 from 2,400 yew trees.
We were so bad in there that we had to ask for help to reach the middle. At that point, we were rewarded (for our cheating) with entrance to the magical underground grotto.
Thanks to back-to-back activities we’d worked up quite the appetite, so we took the woodland path over to the Castle View Restaurant for dinner.
We dined on classic dishes including ham hock terrine, rib-eye steak, chargrilled cauliflower and glazed pork chops, with a fantastic view of the castle all lit up at night.
Another brilliant thing about a stay in the Knights’ Retreat Lodges is you get access to the castle grounds before they open to the public. We took advantage of that with a magical hour’s stroll.
For the price of a night’s stay in a lodge that works out from £69 per person, it was quite something to have such a famous location to ourselves.
On the whole walk, we bumped into just two members of staff and got plenty of fantastic crowd-free pictures of ourselves outside the castle.
It also meant we were among the first inside the castle itself, so the four and six-year-olds in our company were able to exclaim loudly at obscure details in the lavish property, last decorated by Lady Baillie in the early 20th century.
As a rule, heritage properties don’t hold much interest for young boys, but Leeds Castle allows you to walk in among the items in many of the rooms instead of being roped off. You’re even encouraged to play a game of chess in the games room.
And at Christmas, they decorate the entire place, making it the perfect time to visit.
If you’re looking for some extra festive magic, they also have a Christmas Lights Trail, which runs until December 31, and features a small food market and fairground.
Even the great Catherine of Aragon would have been impressed.
STAYING THERE: One night’s self-catering in a Knights’ Retreat Lodge is from £69pp, based on up to four or five sharing and including two days’ access to the castle and grounds.
See leeds-castle.com/stay/knights-retreat, call 01622 765 400 or email enquiries@leeds-castle.co.uk.
