And yet they still can't penetrate those nasty Daleks.Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
New Blogger Interface [Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid]
"The old Blogger Interface will be removed in the coming days. We've made many improvements to the new Blogger interface. Learn more. You can upgrade to the new interface at any time." I'll hold off until I'm forced to move at gun point.
Hi, I'm Milla Jovovich and I'm here to highlight Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic's friday post! It's funny, but Blogger has been threatening their new interface for some time now. Anyone out there who uses Blogger knows the last time you tried that exciting and NEW interface it pretty much bombed. There were plenty of bugs and it was incredibly slow. I should think one of its improvements would be speed, but I'm not counting on it. The navigation speed was tantamount to moving from being in the ocean up to your shoulders and wading through the salt water to get to that shore line. We're talking slow!
Well, needless to say the option was open to us to leap back to the old interface the first time and I've been there ever since. I'm not above such things and immediately jumped back in time to the old interface like the Doctor in the TARDIS to the happy days of 1975. In fact, I'm all about old. I'm all about classic. Models. Rubber masks. Make-up. So the idea of computer technology while certainly wonderful beyond words is still annoying at times and change can be difficult. Working out the kinks can be a right pain in the ass quite frankly.
The absolutely scorching hot NEW Interface, Krysten Alyce Ritter. So I've been happily riding the OLD Blogger interface wave like Peter Fonda surfing in John Carpenter's Escape From L.A.. In other words, it's cheesy, but it works.
The always stunning original interface, Milla Resident Evil Jovovich. Maybe this is why I stick with all of my science fiction classics like Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who from the 1970s. They are always dependably good and I won't be throwing away those DVDs in the event the classics never get the NEW treatment, but really would it matter? The old is still fine by me. Heck, at least it's not the 8-track [ker-klunk] tape or the VHS. Anyway, the NEW Blogger Interface is coming people. I'm not bovered. I'm not intimidated, but yet I can't help but think - Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Hi, I'm Milla Jovovich and I'm here to highlight Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic's friday post! It's funny, but Blogger has been threatening their new interface for some time now. Anyone out there who uses Blogger knows the last time you tried that exciting and NEW interface it pretty much bombed. There were plenty of bugs and it was incredibly slow. I should think one of its improvements would be speed, but I'm not counting on it. The navigation speed was tantamount to moving from being in the ocean up to your shoulders and wading through the salt water to get to that shore line. We're talking slow! 
Well, needless to say the option was open to us to leap back to the old interface the first time and I've been there ever since. I'm not above such things and immediately jumped back in time to the old interface like the Doctor in the TARDIS to the happy days of 1975. In fact, I'm all about old. I'm all about classic. Models. Rubber masks. Make-up. So the idea of computer technology while certainly wonderful beyond words is still annoying at times and change can be difficult. Working out the kinks can be a right pain in the ass quite frankly. 
The absolutely scorching hot NEW Interface, Krysten Alyce Ritter. So I've been happily riding the OLD Blogger interface wave like Peter Fonda surfing in John Carpenter's Escape From L.A.. In other words, it's cheesy, but it works. But here we are at the threshhold of doom and the eve of destruction as Blogger once again threatens to close down the OLD interface in just a matter of days. I've heard that before. And I don't mean to sound ungrateful, because I enjoy Blogger and I like it's curmudgeon-like OLD interface. It's like the old uncle you love.
I can only hope when that NEW day comes my posts are still there and things are still accessible. I'm fine with a slick, pretty, new interface. Heck, who doesn't like Krysten Alyce Ritter [I mean that is hot!], but it damn well can't be SLOWER than the classic OLD interface otherwise what's the point? Give me old cougar Milla Jovovich any day if I'm going to make my way through the adventures of Blogger land. Flashy weapons are fine, but we have to be able to move quickly with them.
The always stunning original interface, Milla Resident Evil Jovovich. Maybe this is why I stick with all of my science fiction classics like Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who from the 1970s. They are always dependably good and I won't be throwing away those DVDs in the event the classics never get the NEW treatment, but really would it matter? The old is still fine by me. Heck, at least it's not the 8-track [ker-klunk] tape or the VHS. Anyway, the NEW Blogger Interface is coming people. I'm not bovered. I'm not intimidated, but yet I can't help but think - Be afraid. Be very afraid. Nothing like a few absolutely scorching hot babes to help sell today's post.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Lance Henriksen: Androids, Aliens & Gunslingers: Profile Of A Serial Actor
In honor and anticipation of the upcoming book Back To Frank Black: A Return To Chris Carter's Millennium, and the folks over at Fourth Horseman Press, to be released soon this post is in dedication and support of the effort over at Back To Frank Black. It is also a tribute to the work of a prolific character actor, an actor whose journey culminated in one of the finest performances of his career and in one of television's great characters - the road to Frank Black. The book's focus is on the character Frank Black and the series Millennium and thus the actor who embodied the spirit of that series, Lance Henriksen.
In the run up to that exciting Millennium publication, we look at the journey of character actor Lance Henriksen through images.
This entry has been a work in progress and finally it is ready and not a moment too soon, because the time is near. This is a look at Henriksen's career and the many wonderful highlights along that road to Frank Black and beyond. Some are true standouts for me personally.
Watching those early seasons of The X-Files again recently, it was clear to me that Millennium had the benefit of a learning curve by Chris Carter as a production. Millennium had the benefit of roughly three years of The X-Files to its credit before moseying out into an unsuspecting world with a series that seemed to be perfect in execution and tone. Creators, producers and writers were able to get their feet wet on The X-Files and establish and finesse the rhythm for that series before climbing into the world of Millennium. Millennium was the recipient of those growing pains because it is nearly flawless on almost every level as a production, a heady, atmospheric mix of crime drama, horror with just the right touch of science fiction possibilities.
Further, Chris Carter and his team did a remarkable job casting each series. The young aesthetic of The X-Files cast plays into its raw power. The casting of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, as Special Agent Fox Mulder and Special Agent Dana Scully respectively, is inspired. They were young and clearly still learning on the job. The two demonstrated themselves as outsiders within the FBI. This energy and dynamic really plays out beautifully over the course of nine seasons. The young cast is given the chance to learn and grow and we, the viewers, mature with them.
Conversely, Millennium had the benefit of a veteran presence in Lance Henriksen. This was a seasoned actor who clearly had seen a thing or two. There was a confidence and experience to his grizzled character and Henriksen channeled that vibe naturally, effectively and via an appropriately mature calm for the Millennium series.
Duchovny and virtual unknown Anderson work wonders with the material on The X-Files and the length of that series allowed its strengths to truly shine. The shorter length of the Millennium production was a truly fortunate recipient to find the strength of a professional out of the gate like the shoulders of Lance Henriksen. The risky Millennium couldn't afford to get it wrong. It was the immense talent of Henriksen that was the core of the series grounding it through the transitions to each season as showrunners took Millennium into different, sometimes controversial, but exciting directions.
The strengths of Millennium's storytelling craft can be traced or drawn from some of the procedural exercises of The X-Files. Chris Carter's Fire and Glen Morgan & James Wong's Beyond The Sea certainly reflect the roots and seeds from which these creators would draw upon and take much deeper with Lance Henriksen at the Millennium helm.
Lance Henriksen Selected Filmography:
Dog Day Afternoon [1975]
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind [1977]
The Visitor [1979]
The Right Stuff [1983]
Aliens [1986] "Right before we shot it, I went up to Jim and I said, 'Rather than just a casual demonstration, what if I put my hand over Bill's hand as I do this?' Jim said, 'That's a good idea.' So we did it... That one act tells you everything you need to know about Bishop. I put my hand on top of Bill's, because I was protecting him. Bishop wouldn't hurt a fly. He wouldn't hurt anything that's alive." "Aliens was a figurative rebirth into the world of acting, as well as a game-changer in his off-screen life."
Choke Canyon [1986]
Near Dark [1987] Jesse Hooker, "Held [the family] together like my alcoholic grandfather held the family together."
Deadly Intent [1988]
House III [1989]
Johnny Handsome [1989] "His strength as an actor is that there's such clarity in his emotions. He's got a wonderful ability to tap into his emotions, and to transmit everything he's going through - the anxieties, the anger, the happiness - so clearly. So you don't feel like you're watching a guy act; you're watching real emotions." [Walter Hill]
The Pit And The Pendulum [1990]
Jennifer 8 [1992]
Alien 3 [1992] "The actor was was... disappointed with the film's nihilistic ending, which seemed to him like an insult to the mythology created by the first two films."
Delta Heat [1992]
Hard Target [1993]
No Escape [1994]
Felony [1994]
Gunfighter's Moon [1995]
Aurora: Operation Intercept [1995]
The Quick And The Dead [1995]
Dead Man [1995]
Dusting Cliff Seven [1996]
The Day Lincoln Was Shot [1998]
Mimic 3: Sentinel [2003]
AVP Aliens Vs. Predator [2004]
Bone Dry [2007]
Appaloosa [2008]
The Witches Of Oz [2011]
Quotes extracted from the book Not Bad For A Human by Lance Henriksen and Joseph Maddrey.
In the run up to that exciting Millennium publication, we look at the journey of character actor Lance Henriksen through images. 
This entry has been a work in progress and finally it is ready and not a moment too soon, because the time is near. This is a look at Henriksen's career and the many wonderful highlights along that road to Frank Black and beyond. Some are true standouts for me personally. 
Watching those early seasons of The X-Files again recently, it was clear to me that Millennium had the benefit of a learning curve by Chris Carter as a production. Millennium had the benefit of roughly three years of The X-Files to its credit before moseying out into an unsuspecting world with a series that seemed to be perfect in execution and tone. Creators, producers and writers were able to get their feet wet on The X-Files and establish and finesse the rhythm for that series before climbing into the world of Millennium. Millennium was the recipient of those growing pains because it is nearly flawless on almost every level as a production, a heady, atmospheric mix of crime drama, horror with just the right touch of science fiction possibilities. 
Further, Chris Carter and his team did a remarkable job casting each series. The young aesthetic of The X-Files cast plays into its raw power. The casting of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, as Special Agent Fox Mulder and Special Agent Dana Scully respectively, is inspired. They were young and clearly still learning on the job. The two demonstrated themselves as outsiders within the FBI. This energy and dynamic really plays out beautifully over the course of nine seasons. The young cast is given the chance to learn and grow and we, the viewers, mature with them. 
Conversely, Millennium had the benefit of a veteran presence in Lance Henriksen. This was a seasoned actor who clearly had seen a thing or two. There was a confidence and experience to his grizzled character and Henriksen channeled that vibe naturally, effectively and via an appropriately mature calm for the Millennium series. 
Duchovny and virtual unknown Anderson work wonders with the material on The X-Files and the length of that series allowed its strengths to truly shine. The shorter length of the Millennium production was a truly fortunate recipient to find the strength of a professional out of the gate like the shoulders of Lance Henriksen. The risky Millennium couldn't afford to get it wrong. It was the immense talent of Henriksen that was the core of the series grounding it through the transitions to each season as showrunners took Millennium into different, sometimes controversial, but exciting directions. 
The strengths of Millennium's storytelling craft can be traced or drawn from some of the procedural exercises of The X-Files. Chris Carter's Fire and Glen Morgan & James Wong's Beyond The Sea certainly reflect the roots and seeds from which these creators would draw upon and take much deeper with Lance Henriksen at the Millennium helm. But beyond the fantastic work provided by Lance Henriksen for the unforgettable Millennium series he has played key characters in a number of film roles before and after. These are Henriksen's highlights over the course of a varied career. This is by no means a complete filmography as his career has been vast and varied and, sadly, rather easy to miss at times. The title is meant to be fun. Lance Henriksen: Androids, Aliens & Gunslingers: Profile Of A Serial Actor.
Lance Henriksen Selected Filmography: 
Dog Day Afternoon [1975] 
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind [1977] Damien: Omen II [1978]
The Visitor [1979] 
Nightmares [1983]
The Right Stuff [1983] 
Jagged Edge [1985]
Aliens [1986] "Right before we shot it, I went up to Jim and I said, 'Rather than just a casual demonstration, what if I put my hand over Bill's hand as I do this?' Jim said, 'That's a good idea.' So we did it... That one act tells you everything you need to know about Bishop. I put my hand on top of Bill's, because I was protecting him. Bishop wouldn't hurt a fly. He wouldn't hurt anything that's alive." "Aliens was a figurative rebirth into the world of acting, as well as a game-changer in his off-screen life." 
Choke Canyon [1986] 
Near Dark [1987] Jesse Hooker, "Held [the family] together like my alcoholic grandfather held the family together." 
Deadly Intent [1988] 
House III [1989] Survival Quest [1989]
Johnny Handsome [1989] "His strength as an actor is that there's such clarity in his emotions. He's got a wonderful ability to tap into his emotions, and to transmit everything he's going through - the anxieties, the anger, the happiness - so clearly. So you don't feel like you're watching a guy act; you're watching real emotions." [Walter Hill]
The Pit And The Pendulum [1990] Stone Cold [1991]
Jennifer 8 [1992] 
Alien 3 [1992] "The actor was was... disappointed with the film's nihilistic ending, which seemed to him like an insult to the mythology created by the first two films." 
Delta Heat [1992] 
Hard Target [1993] 
No Escape [1994]
Felony [1994] 
Gunfighter's Moon [1995] 
Aurora: Operation Intercept [1995] 
The Quick And The Dead [1995] 
Dead Man [1995] 
The Hills Have Eyes III [1995]
Dusting Cliff Seven [1996] Millennium [1996-1999]
The Day Lincoln Was Shot [1998] The Mangler 2 [2001]
The Untold [Sasquatch] [2002]
Mimic 3: Sentinel [2003] 
AVP Aliens Vs. Predator [2004] Into The West [2005]/ Supernova [2005]/ Hellraiser: Hellworld [2005]/ When A Stranger Calls [2006]/ Abominable [2006]/ Pumpkinhead 3: Ashes To Ashes [2006]/ Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud [2007]
Bone Dry [2007] 
Appaloosa [2008] Pistol Whipped [2008]/ Alone In The Dark II [2008]/ Screamers: The Hunting [2009]/ Slammin' Salmon [2009]/ The Penitent Man [2010]/ The Genesis Code [2010]/ Scream Of The Banshee [2010]/ Good Day For It [2011]
The Witches Of Oz [2011] Beautiful Wave [2012]/ The Arcadian [2012]/ Monster Brawl [2012]/ It's In The Blood [2012]
Quotes extracted from the book Not Bad For A Human by Lance Henriksen and Joseph Maddrey.
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