Gratuitous Buck Blogging - June 11, 2007

Gary has the latest installment of Gratuitous Buck Blogging over at Llamabutchers. This episode: Ep. 1.20 “A Dream Of Jennifer” (2/14/80), with special guest star Anne Lockhart.

Gary goes into detail praising Ms. Lockhart by stating, "Cast as Jennifer/Leila is Anne Lockhart, who most of the young male audience (yours truly included) had already formed an attachment to from her role as Lt. Sheba on "Battlestar Galactica" the year before."

Yeah yeah, whatever. Where the Galactica is concerned, Lieutenant Sheba can finish no better than tied for third with Laurette Spang's Cassiopeia. Locked in an eternal battle for first place are Jane Seymour's Serina and Maren Jensen's Athena, both from the early days of the first season.

Anyways. I can finally keep up with Gary now, 'cause I got my own copy of BR25C recently, and woo hoo---Wilma's even better in DVD clarity. I also found the second season of Airwolf, so my backlog of television programs I spent hours of my youth on is being whittled down. Next up? CHiPs. Y'know, 'cause cars always explode when they roll down an embankment.

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Art or Poison

The "little bit sexy" Paula Zahn has a CNN special tonight asking, "Hip-Hop: Art or Poison?

They're running a poll on her program's website; "poison" was winning around 2:1 when I cast my vote. I said "poison", natch.

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MPAA Chief Wants More Bad

A quick visit to the IMDB yields this gem:

MPAA chief Dan Glickman is encouraging independent filmmakers to make more films that would earn them an NC-17 rating. According to Daily Variety, Glickman acknowledged that producers often face a stone wall erected by exhibitors to keep out NC-17 films. He said he plans to meet with theater owners to persuade them to drop the barrier. "It's one of our ratings, and I'd like to see it used more," he said.

The story, which came as mentioned from Daily Variety, is a troublesome one. Apparently, Mr. Glickman believes that there should be more of a place in (ostensibly) mainstream cinema for "edgier" fare, which would be typified by motion pictures that earn the NC-17 rating.

I am uncertain as to how the entertainment industry is improved by placing more NC-17 pictures in mainstream cinema. Likewise, I don't see any major problem in the apparent decision by distributors etc. to limit their commercial exposure by exhibiting few NC-17 pictures. I am of the opinion that fewer NC-17 pictures ought to be created; I don't see that they serve any purpose. That is, unless you posit that one of the objectives of the Hollywood entertainment industry is to coarsen the culture.

Here's a hint, Mr. Glickman: The entertainment industry is doing an excellent job of that with the tools that they have now; no additional tools are necessary.

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Dear Lord, Colonel Deering!

Ack! I've been spending too many hours at the controls of a train or a plane (but no automobiles, mind you) and thus I've missed this.

Happy Birthday (belatedly) to Erin Gray, whose role as Colonel Wilma Deering, United Earth Directorate, was a splendid high point in 1970s television sci-fi. Born 07 January 1950 in Hawaii, she's probably one of the better things to come to us from our Pacific lands.

I of course am embarrassed that I made the mistake of missing this monumentous occasion, especially given my somewhat obnoxious cheering for her a while back. I think I wound up calling Pamela Hensley's Princess Ardala a space whore, although that may or may not have ever been posted.

Anyways, in tribute to Colonel Deering, a brief selection of images I recovered from an old backup tape that I made when the Internet was new. I quite obviously favor the Defense Directorate dress blues worn in the pilot. Check below the fold for 'em. more...

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The Devil Wastes My Time

I want approximately 109 minutes of my life back. Last night, I made the mistake of assenting to watch a movie that was brought over, and that movie was The Devil Wears Prada. This movie is a waste of celluloid, but I could have figured that out from simply knowing its subject matter.

Honestly, fashion? Does anyone outside of Milan, New York, Paris, or the like actually care? Yes, I know it creates employment for lots of people, but so does the illegal narcotics trade. Come to think of it, there's probably a bit of overlap between the two. Disposing of both would be, I think, a cultural benefit.

Suffice it to say that I didn't like any of the characters in the picture. Emily Blunt's character was annoying and unlikable; my only regret is that she was struck by a car and not a locomotive. She reminded me of the girl who's so desperate to be on the cutting edge and embraced by haute couture that she winds up being nothing but a reactive shell. For crying out loud, have some backbone!

Andrea Sachs is yet another one of those people I can't stand, the type of folks who have such a poor sense of self that they get swept up in enabling other people's dreams at the costs of their own, et cetera. I can't figure out if I have more sympathy for her or Emily, because although I frown upon Sachs' stomping of Emily, I'm sure the latter has done that herself. In other words, the Zhukovsky Principle: "They were ruthless people. They got what they deserved." I can state with considerable certainty that I wouldn't maintain a relationship interest with Miss Sachs for long, especially when her life is focused upon pleasing Miranda Priestly.

And here we come to the center of our discontent. I'm not a Meryl Streep fan, but I don't loathe her as I do Julia Roberts, either. So, enough about her. Miranda Priestly is the kind of individual that I don't like, the one who despite being at a pinnacle in their industry, is a miserable person. Granted, I'm certain that she has to keep a pack of wolves (represented by Jacqueline Follet?) at bay. Granted, she has made choices and sacrifices that have shaped her (despicable) character. That does not, however, justify her attitude and behavior in my opinion.

Miranda Priestly is at some level a failure if she doesn't have strength of character or sufficient courage, intelligence, what have you to impose a manageable order on her workplace. I don't get the sense that she knows this, because she is apparently happy with the way things are---who wouldn't be, with fawning sycophants in the industry worshipping you---and the only apparent costs are that she's gone through husbands only slightly slower than Elizabeth Taylor. This might be more understandable if she was Dr. Miranda Priestly, National Security Advisor par excellence, the wily bureaucrat who advances America's interests at home and abroad.¹ But, she's not.

It's not like fashion is foreign policy.

The closing sequences are similarly unsatisfying. From what I understand about the novel, the written Andrea Sachs delivers a profane tirade to Priestly over a telephone, instead of chucking said cellular telephone in a fountain. Either action is inherently unprofessional, but it may be the best that can be expected from someone who thinks New York City is something to aspire to.

I suppose the only joy that can come from this misbegotten project is that a) Andrea Sachs turns her back on the world that Miranda Priestly offers and b) Lauren Weisberger's second novel was, reportedly, a commercial flop. Perhaps we shall hear no more from this whiny, self-absorbed woman. (On the other hand, Anna Wintour maintains her place, so perhaps we will continue to hear from an imperious loser such as her.)²

I'm sure someone will ask---I hope---"If you hated the movie so, why did you write this extended piece?" The answer is "Because I thought it valuable to openly and decisively reject the values of the Priestly world, and heap scorn upon her ilk while I was at it."

Chick lit/chick cinema and I don't mix. Bring on Transformers: The Movie.

---
¹ Er, Jeane Kirkpatrick, anyone?

² Of course, it could be that Wintour's great sin was failing to validate Lauren Weisberger's own life or whatever; you never can tell with these annoying Northeastern types.

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Another TBG Poll

Sayeth JohnL: [L]et's have us a "Girls Aloud" poll. I concur.

A bit of brave research farmed out to a friend in the United Kingdom was first necessary, in order to establish the identities of these young women, all of whom seem to have been born after me. Based upon the gallant sacrifice of my British contact, I can confirm the following data:

Sarah Harding - white dress
Nicola Roberts - blue dress
Kimberley Walsh - pink dress
Nadine Coyle - yellow dress
Cheryl Tweedy - green dress

John wants us to express a preference, and that can be done. Sarah Harding fails for looking like Kate Hudson's less intelligent---if that's possible---younger sister who's acting in pornography, despite the fact that blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin generally place one on the fast track to my approval. (See Blanchett, Cate.) Nicola Roberts never registers, except when I think she's drunk. Sorry, luv. Miss Walsh looks unwashed, and that's a fatal minus. This leaves our last two, Miss Coyle and Miss Tweedy.

Miss Coyle reminds me of Sandra Bullock, which really doesn't score her any points. She's obviously the focal point of the video, but I'm not really sure that she deserves it.

Miss Tweedy, on the other hand, is hard to catch a glimpse of. Perhaps I betray my age by stating that I'm simply not fast enough in the eyes to cope with the quick cuts that the director of the video relies upon. Shades of blipverts, ladies and gentlemen. That being said, I can't help but be reminded of the Tweedy farm from Chicken Run whenever this girl is mentioned. "Nobody escapes from Tweedy's farm!"

---

I was all set to award my vote to Miss Tweedy for a variety of reasons, but in the course of personal research, I found something that irrevocably tipped the vote in Miss Coyle's direction. Miss Tweedy has made the poor choice of being photographed while wearing a hat emblazoned with the seal of the hated New York Yankees. She is therefore by definition consorting with the enemy, and is permanently disqualified from any favorable consideration.

Nadine Coyle, ye of the yellow dress, you win.

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Nice Guy Eddie Is Dead

Well, bother: Chris Penn, who played Nice Guy Eddie Cabot in Reservoir Dogs, died yesterday at age 43 40.

Police found his body in an apartment in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death was noted, but foul play was not suspected. Mr. Penn was the younger brother of Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, and related by marriage (by way of his musician brother, Michael) to singer-songwriter Aimee Mann.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to the European news service, Reuters.

EDIT: Mr. Penn's age was previously reported to be 43. Your correspondent regrets the error, which stemmed from believed-to-be-accurate recounting of IMDB information. The IMDB now reflects an age of 40 for Mr. Penn.

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What's Two Weeks Among Friends?

Here's what happens when you go on a binge of playing NCAA Football on the PlayStation 2: You miss things such as JohnL's tagging of you to participate in a meme. JohnL's the guy who was nice enough to get me aboard at mu.nu, so I more than owe it to him to participate, even if I'm horribly behind schedule. Here goes:

Here's what you do:

1. Go to your Netflix (or Blockbuster online) queue.
2. List ALL of the movies in the queue (at the very least, try to list at least the first ten).
3. Italicize (or bold) the ones you've seen before.
3a. (OPTIONAL) include snarky commentary or thumbnail reviews where desired.
4. Tag 3 people.

Er, wait. I don't have a Blockbuster Online or Netflix queue. I don't rent things anymore; I just buy them.

Well, this pretty much shoots that meme in the head. Now I'm in a pickle because I don't know how to proceed. If you flunk step 1, do you have to go to steps 2-4? Tagging people would be...really hard.

Blast it, Biggs.

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The Lion, the Witch, and the Let-Down

I saw The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe earlier today. For a variety of reasons, some of which will be detailed hopefully tomorrow, I was rather let down by it.

Bloody well put a damper on the whole day, it did.

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New Portishead Album Still in the Works

Previously, I related to you that there was another Portishead album in the works. That was 25 February 2005. Nearly nine months have gone by, and now I've got a spot of egg on my face. Or do I?

I drifted back over to pheadweb and saw the entry for 02 September 2005, which said the following:

"As you already know, the good new is the upcoming Portishead release. Be sure to know that the site will have all the updates about the new album when it's ready or if there's anything else fans need to know."

There's no further information immediately available from their news page, but hope springs eternal. Perhaps I'll have the eerie intonations of Beth Gibbons floating through my headphones again before too long. Yee haw.

Originally saved at 00:03:44, 14th November 2005.

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2005 CMA, NYC

The last three letters in this post's title sum the whole bloody thing up. I was suspicious of this entire awards show going in, and it appears that my pre-suspicion was warranted.

A preface: I don't listen to a lot of country music, for whatever reason. I like Johnny Cash and Charlie Daniels, having seen the latter in concert a couple of times. Martina McBride, Lee Ann Womack, and Deana Carter fill the front ranks in the women, and there you have it. It helps that I grew up in the rural South and went to a lot of county fairs as a child. On the other hand, Gretchen Wilson's schtick tends to send me scrambling for the frequency knob on my car's radio.

With that being said, I may have taken myself out of any authoritative position to write this entry, but enh. If authoritative positions were a requisite for blog posting, then there'd be a lot less bloggin' goin' on. Take my words for what you will, but I will defiantly maintain that, having been to both of them, Nashville is not New York. (And thank God that it isn't!) I knew there was trouble when NASCAR seemed to care more about New York than North Wilkesboro (if you'll pardon the phraseology) but for the CMAs to be held in the capital of the culture that hates country music, well, er, fire off a few railroad torpedoes and have the red lanterns flapping.

To make this entry short, Aaron Keith Harris got an NRO Comment wherein he let the country music industry have it for their errant ways. The only thing I'd quibble with is his swipe at Martina McBride, but then again, the woman does seem to be fond of her ballads.¹

I didn't watch the whole thing, seeing as how I was preparing the post about the N&W's 500-car coal train and watching snippets of the Akron-Ohio game, but I did manage to catch some of the low points. I had to watch in disbelief for a few seconds to see that stupid Bon Jovi smiley face to really drive home that yes, Bon Jovi was performing at the CMAs. Great googly moogly! Jon, the er, "Blaze of Glory" was quite some time ago. In more ways than one.

While I'm at it, isn't the deliberate use of Dolly Parton and Elton John in a duet grounds for some sort of felony indictment? I mean, come on, folks...

---

¹ She's good-looking enough to get away with it, too. Yee haw.

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Signal the Fearless: Best Speed to Basilisk Station

Back when I was in college, I read a lot of David Weber's space opera novels centering on the adventures of one H.S. Harrington, a commander in the "Royal Manticoran Navy". Put very simply, the RMN is defending its political sponsor, the Star Kingdom of Manticore, against the People's Republic of Haven, in a world that (very) roughly approximates the world of the early nineteenth century, only shifted forward a few dozen centuries or so. Horatio Hornblower in deep space, if you will.

The novels got overly formulaic as they went on---right up there with Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe novels---and I grew tired of the attitude Weber took towards the lead character.¹ However, I greatly enjoyed the early novels---usually the ones with the golden covers in paperback, except for the one about dueling---and often wondered if anyone would ever make a game for the kinds of starship combat seen there.

The short answer is, "Yes, Virginia; there is a Weber-based wargame."

Ad Astra Games have produced The Saganami Island Tactical Simulator, and it's been on the market for a few months. I was really hoping that the thing was for a Windows-based platform, until I read it closely and saw that it was, horrors of horrors, a tabletop game. Don't get me wrong: Tabletop gaming is something that has a long pedigree, with good games from the likes of Avalon Hill, Steve Jackson Games, and the odd TSR release. Heck, even the United Federation of Planets got in on the tabletop wargaming action with the Star Fleet Battles product line. Lots of fun with friends for hours as you move little metal things around on a board, yar.

Herein lies the rub: I've never managed to talk any of my friends into anything like this. One batch of friends I had was close, but they wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons. I managed to sit through one session of that, all the while wanting to scream something on the order of "SAVE VERSUS THIS, YOU SOB!"² Every other pack of friends has been more interested in the football game on the TV, drinking themselves into oblivion, conspicuous consumption, or political power. Meanwhile, your friendly neighborhood frustrated Reinhard Scheer never got to refight Jutland, save the Bismarck, or annihilate a Yamato-class battleship with a Montana-class battleship. Bother!

All that aside, I wish I could con someone around here into playing this with me, 'cause this game sure looks fun. Buckets o'dice and a bloodbath in deep space; what more can you ask for? (Well, other than a "Harrington Eyepatch +5 and Telepathic Hexapedal Cat which make one's rolls virtually invincible...) Maybe someone'll put it to pixels someday, like the Harpoon series of games. (And maybe I'll again cringe like I used to when I'd hear the call of "Vampire! Vampire!")

My route to discover all this information was long and circuitous, kinda like the route of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway. However, here it goes in order to give proper credit:

JohnL of TexasBestGrok had a post on a new pipe organ in France. I readily admit being a sucker for pipe organs, despite the fact that I'm hideously untrained in anything like their use or a sophisticated appreciation of their music. It goes without saying that Pipedreams is one of the reasons I like the public radio genre.

From there, it was off to A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance. I scanned down from the article on the organ to read this, which caught my eye for the same reason that the mentioned site caught hers. (This was before I knew it referred to something by Joss Whedon...)

Anyways, I wind up at last at The Eternal Golden Braid, and a read down the page gives me notice of a new Harrington book. Not that I'll buy it, but I must say that it's sparked an interest in going back and reading about the Horrible Hemphill---who I always figured must've been a bit of a babe---and the other goings on out Manticore way.

Oddly enough, I wound up being more interested in a bunch of PRH officers, namely Thomas Theisman, Lester Tourville, and probably the only literary crush I've ever had, Citizen Commander Shannon Foraker. "Oops", indeed.

---

¹ See here for earlier remarks by me regarding Mr. Cornwell's formula. With regards to Mr. Weber's handling of the character, it started to sound like a John McCain press release: "Those who agree with me on the correct war action march with the titans of history as the greatest warriors ever to take to space. Those who oppose me, regardless of the merits of their case, are craven pigs who are obviously out to destroy H.S. Harrington..."

² This was, of course, long before I knew that "Jesus saves; all others take damage".

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Essential SF Movie Canon Meme

Stolen from TexasBestGrok is the topic of the latest post. Read his post for further details, and keep him in your bookmarks. FYI: The movies that I've seen are in bold.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
Akira

Alien
Aliens
Alphaville
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
Brazil
Bride of Frankenstein
Brother From Another Planet
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact
The Damned
Destination Moon
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Delicatessen
Escape From New York
ET: The Extraterrestrial
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)

The Fly
Forbidden Planet
Ghost in the Shell
Gojira/Godzilla
The Incredibles
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
Jurassic Park
Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
The Matrix
Metropolis
On the Beach
Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
Robocop
Sleeper
Solaris (1972 version)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
The Stepford Wives
Superman
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Thing From Another World
Things to Come
Tron
12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

2001: A Space Odyssey
La Voyage Dans la Lune
War of the Worlds (1953 version)

Hmm. That's not too good a percentage. I suppose there's no room in the list for the cinematic iterations of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Battlestar Galactica, or some of the other stuff I've seen. For my money, 2010 surpasses 2001 in watchability and interesting quality.

Contact seems to be one of these films that you either like or you don't, depending upon your attitude towards Jodie Foster. I read the book before I saw the movie, and it helped a lot, despite Carl Sagan's preachiness and self-righteous attitude against anyone who dared voice dissenting opinions.

RoboCop is one of my all-time favorite movies---Dick Jones 2008!---and Aliens is probably one of the most quotable flicks I've ever seen. Hudson's one of the best cinema soldiers around. "Game over, man!"

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Yet Another Death in the Hundred Acre Wood

Well, blast. The IMDB is reporting, confirmed by Kathryn Jean Lopez, that the voice actor for Tigger has died.

Mr. Paul Winchell was 82.

Last month, the voice of Eeyore, Mr. Thurl Ravenscroft, died at the age of 81.

As Winnie-the-Pooh himself would put it, "Bother!"

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The Morning Report

The delivery of the morning report for the Pennsylvania Railroad, at its headquarters in Philadelphia, was always an Important Thing. Well, I'm not the PRR, this ain't Philadelphia, and what I'm about to say ain't important, but here goes:

-Sheila O'Malley provides advance notice that Bewitched is not a good film.

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. Accentuate the positive---Nicole Kidman---and eliminate the negative, i.e. Will Ferrell. It can't be as bad as The Stepford Wives.

Sheila's also got a nice article on Harriet the Spy, another one of those "books from your youth" that probably would stand up to reading as an adult. Careful when you read Ms. O'Malley's description of Rosie O'Donnell; I nearly choked on Corn Pops when I read it.

-Does anyone play Star Wars Galaxies? I've been debating upon whether to take the plunge into that, and had a few questions that I can't seem to get answered.

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Curse You, Glen A. Larson!

It now appears that perhaps I watched too much Battlestar Galactica when I was in my more impressionable years. All blame, of course, is to be heaped upon the local UHF broadcaster that made such a bespoiling event possible. Y'all do remember UHF, don't you?

The Llamabutchers and John of TexasBestGrok have been taking a bunch of religious selectors and posting their results.

Anyways, here's what I've gotten from the two noted tests:

From SelectSmart:

1: Congregational/United Church of Christ (100%)
2: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene (100%)
3: Presbyterian/Reformed (96%)
4: Lutheran (90%)
5: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England (85%)
6: Eastern Orthodox (85%)
7: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic) (77%)
8: Church of Christ/Campbellite (74%)
9: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God (73%)
10: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.) (66%)
11: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist (66%)
12: Roman Catholic (63%)
13: Seventh-Day Adventist (49%)

I don't know a blessed thing about Congregationalists or the UCC (be it religious or legal, as my grades in contracts, sales, and secured transactions would suggest) but I am a United Methodist, so that's nifty that I scored 100% there. I suppose Theodore Roosevelt's quote about Woodrow Wilson---"[D]amned Presbyterian hypocrite!"---must be applicable. After all, Wilson was a Virginian, born in Staunton. I keep meaning to stop there when I'm traveling Interstate 81, but I never do.

Up next is BeliefNet:
1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (97%)
3. Jehovah's Witness (88%)
4. Eastern Orthodox (84%)
5. Roman Catholic (84%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (74%)
7. Seventh Day Adventist (73%)
8. Orthodox Judaism (73%)
9. Orthodox Quaker (71%)
10. Baha'i Faith (69%)
11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (63%)
12. Sikhism (61%)
13. Islam (60%)
14. Hinduism (48%)
15. Liberal Quakers (48%)
16. Reform Judaism (44%)
17. New Thought (37%)
18. Mahayana Buddhism (35%)
19. Unitarian Universalism (35%)
20. Jainism (33%)
21. Scientology (33%)
22. Theravada Buddhism (33%)
23. Neo-Pagan (29%)
24. New Age (19%)
25. Nontheist (17%)
26. Secular Humanism (15%)
27. Taoism (10%)

I've never even heard of some of these (Jainism? Is that the worship of English TV actress par excellence Jane Seymour?) and it's nice to know that I'd be like Khan Noonien Singh---Sikhism---before I'd be akin to Osama bin Laden.

Similarly, I take great pride in finding that I'd be a Roman Catholic or an Orthodox before I'd subscribe to limp-wristed liberal Protestantism. I am, however, dumbfounded at the appearance of both the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. I knew a Mormon or so in high school, but the last time I was in close proximity to one of Joseph Smith's disciples, the experience did not go well. To put it delicately, there was no ecumenical accord reached, and it wasn't due to lack of pleasant effort on my part.¹

I do suppose that an entire lifetime within the confines of the UMC has paid off, because I manage to score rather highly with their doctrines on these quizzes. As for the rest of it, I blame Glen A. Larson. Thank God for small miracles; it's a good thing that I waited until the last couple of years to read Battlefield Earth or else I might've wound up in Uncle Elron's Money-Making Machine.²

Yee haw.

----

¹ If I'm not a Mormon, then in the current Galactica reality, I must be one of the Cylons. Well, if that means I get my very own copy of Number Six for fun and profit, I could learn the whole "By...your...command" shtick. Gaius Baltar, you've got nothing on me. Except more hair, an insatiable blond in your mind, Lieutenant Kara Thrace in the sack, and a hot reporter in a bathroom stall. You greasy-looking Eurotrash loser. Blast it, Biggs!

As for the Mormon guys, there may have been a cultural clash there. I was dressed in my usual faded polo shirt, unshaven with a baseball hat---looking something like this---covering an unruly mop of hair, whereas these guys looked like they'd just stepped out of Cape Canaveral, circa 1960. Short hair, white short-sleeve shirts, black ties, black pants, black shoes, and embossed tags detailing their name and rank, or something. They not only knew a lot about my home, they knew who I'd gone to high school with, and spoke in eerie turn. It took conscious mental effort for me not to ask if Agent Smith had finished with Morpheus yet.

² On the other hand, if it meant I could pinch Kelly Preston off from John Travolta, then perhaps a bit of auditing wouldn't be such a bad thing. "If you don't give me your wife, then Xenu will win. Ain't it cool?"

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Interview with John Milius

In the course of hunting through some articles on the death of Lane Smith, I came across this 2003 interview with John Milius.

I recommend reading it, even though it's a little strange and certainly long for IGN's style. I recommend taking a fair dose of 'tongue-in-cheek' with you when/if you read it, or else you'll close the browser tab and swear off of Milius forever.

A brief recap of Mr. Milius' work that's caught my attention:

The Wind and the Lion
Apocalypse Now
1941
Red Dawn
Flight of the Intruder

Mr. Milius' current project has as its subject the Son Tay raid of 1970. Put briefly, the United States decided to go and rescue some of our POWs from those bestial savages, the North Vietnamese. If Milius can get this made, then it'll be an excellent film, because the story is compelling. Jen Martinez has an anniversary post on the raid; check that out for further details. An additional site that liked was here.

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RIP Lane Smith

Blast it.

One of my more favorite Hollywood character actors, Lane Smith, is dead. People in my demographic generally remember him as Perry White on the ABC program Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. As for my own part, Mr. Smith won permanent recognition as President Richard M. Nixon in the television version of The Final Days. I think it was the scene where Leonid Brezhnev was barrelling around in a Lincoln at Camp David that sealed the deal.¹ Sublime humor, if you will.

Additional roles by Mr. Smith that scored points with the judge from the Western District of Virginia:
-"Nathan Bates" in V: The Series

-"Mayor Bates" of Calumet in Red Dawn

Red Dawn is a fundamentally disturbing movie overall, but Mr. Smith's character manages to be more memorable than not. It isn't every day that you get to see an actor have to react to the simulated slaughter of the residents of his town, and he does a pretty unforgettable job in one of the most wrenching sequences from Mr. Milius' picture. At the same time, Mr. Smith manages to provide some comic relief as he stammers around about the nature of the Boy Scouts in order to protect his son from arrest.

Mr. Smith's gravelly voice and expressive face often served him well, in my opinion. He will be missed. He was sixty-nine years old.

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¹ Mea culpa, Mr. President; I understand from the IMDB that you didn't like this movie.

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14 June 2005 - TBG Sci-Fi Babe Voter Guide

You've got to love TexasBestGrok. Here I was sitting next to an empty bowl of stroganoff, watching Greg the Bunny on DVD, with a fan puttering overhead whilst trying to beat that famous Virginia heat. I'd just dropped to 1-3 on the election recommendations, and life looked miserable.

That is, until I checked TexasBestGrok. Y'see, JohnL had been posting his infamous sci-fi babe quizzes throughout the earlier part of the year, and despite his patent refusal to support women in uniform---neener, neener, Wilma still won---I enjoyed taking part in 'em. But, as is the way of such things, the polls went on hiatus for perfectly understandable reasons.

It's back. And so is the ever-so-annoying voter guide, wherein your correspondent makes half-baked observations on the candidates, in a feeble attempt to sway the voting. Here goes, on The Women of The Incredibles

A. I recommend a vote for Mirage.
If this were Starship Troopers, the instructor would demand that I prove this in symbolic logic over the course of 150 pages due next morning. Luckily for me, since I don't know what symbolic logic is, this isn't a Robert A. Heinlein novel. This recommendation, much like many of my other ones, is based solely upon what I've been able to gather off a quick search of the World Wide Web.¹

Positive factors:
-She's ambitious. This can be used to one's benefit.
-She's blond. Your correspondent is easily distracted by blonds. Go figure.
-She's got green eyes. Er, right.
-She's evil. Someone's got to er, show her the error of her ways, and steer her back to the Light Side. Ahem.
-She's repetitively described as "Syndrome's girl Friday". Inasmuch as this sort of description is probably guaranteed to drive perenially indignant feminists stark raving mad (as if they weren't already) I wholeheartedly approve. The only problem is that her name's Mirage, not Friday. Never actually figured that out.

Negative factors:
-None known.

B. I do not recommend a vote for Elastigirl.
What little bit of this picture that I caught at K-Mart one day involved Elastigirl's flight to the Evil Island of Doom, and her desperate attempts to talk a SAM emplacement into not firing upon her. Now, far be it from me to correct anyone on proper radio procedure for civil aviation, but her dialogue didn't impress. Moreover, she sounds suspiciously like Holly Hunter. Now, I don't begrudge (most) actors & actresses their political views, so it's not about what Holly Hunter thinks. It's about what her voice sounds like, and I'm still trying to figure out how that whole "I've said my piece and I've counted to three" bit was supposed to be conclusive in O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Giving the thumbs down to Holly Hunter's alter ego is somewhat painful because she did star in Always, which had the Douglas A-26 Invader and the Consolidated PBY Catalina in starring roles. Nevertheless, I've said my piece, and I've counted to three.

Sayeth Mirage, "I'm attracted to power."

Aren't we all honey, aren't we all. Thumbs up to the platinum blond with the French name and the luscious green eyes. Who says we can't reach across the Atlantic for some friendship? See here and here for a few more illustrations of this week's recommended candidate.

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¹ I've never actually seen this picture. The one time I had a chance to do so was either "Watch Underworld or The Incredibles". An accurate reproduction of my thought process: "Copious gunplay, Kate Beckinsale, black leather, and vampires or a Pixar movie. Pause. Goth is good."

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Weekend Sci-Fi

If you're like me and care to delve into the production details of some of your favorite entertainment franchises, you've probably run across various names that may or may not stick out. This weekend's installment of random sci-fi goes to a man who's worked on several of my more favorite memories from the late 1970s forward: Andrew Probert

His first contribution of note to my eyes was the final design for the Cylon centurions in Battlestar Galactica. He's also responsible for the second-best looking vessel ever designed for Star Trek, the overhauled Enterprise first seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.¹

Probert also contributed to the design of the modified Bell 222B helicopter seen as the star component of the CBS television series Airwolf. This of course recommends him as well; suffice to say that a lot of his work meandered across my personal viewing habits from 1979 forward. Hats off to Mr. Probert!

I'll start saving for the book he's promising to release some time in 2006; should be good.

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¹ The most beautiful class ever established for Star Trek was first seen in 1984, namely the Excelsior. It's kind of like Elle McPherson: Long-legged (er, nacelled, but whatever), exotic, and big enough to be a drop-dead knockout whether on the silver screen or the cover of Sports Illustrated. Yee haw.

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