Blood Drips on Newsies Square

You're a young actor in a supporting role in a movie called Newsies. You've got a lot of time on your hands. What do you do? Well, if you're Michael Goorjian, you make a film of your own, called Blood Drips Heavily On Newsies Square.

In it, "washed up" actor Don Knotts (Mark David) comes to the movie lot in hopes of getting cast in the movie Newsies, but director Danny Ortega (himself, in a cameo) has him tossed off the lot. So Knotts proceeds to start killing all the Newsies actors...ending finally with Michael Goorjian, who gets run over, hung, and finally burned to death.

It's a lot of fun, but I confess Michael did miss a chance at the end with his extended death scenes. He should be in pain and trying to escape, sort of like Will Farrell's Mustafa in the Austin Powers movies, but instead he's asking his would-be killer for bandaids, etc. Still, a minor detail in what is an amusing little film (and I suspect people who have actually seen Newsies will find it even more amusing.)



What I find most impressive about this little film is the amount of "names" Goorjian got to work with him on it - albeit in cameos, from his fellow castmates to the director of Newsies, Michael Ortega, various crew members, and even Bill Pullman. He must have been quite a well-liked guy on the set to pull this off...and of course it was the first in what has become a long line of his independent film projects.

There's an official website for this independent, 25-minute production, at http://www.blooddripsonnewsiessquare.com/Blood_drips.html, where you can purchase a DVD of this for $25, including postage.

Newsies fans have made independent websites of the movie, as for example here:

http://mushsgoil.tripod.com/id41.html
and here:

http://www.geocities.com/newsiesquiz/bloodrips-script.html

and

http://newsiesfreak.com/newsiesnow.html

And here's Michael at the end of the movie, showing off his dance moves.

Blood Drips on the Seattle Post Awful

I do some freelance writing for a company out in Coure d'Aline, Idaho. (How long I continue to do it is problematical, as they are really, really starting to vex me.) I used to get paid via paypal, now for various reasons known only to my boss, I get paid via check. The mail goes from Cour d'Aline to the main post office in Seattle, where it then is supposed to come to me.

So the first check took 18 days to get here (Virginia) although the cancel stamp on it was such that it seemed like whoever had been supposed to mail it hadn't actually sent it out until a week later than what they said, otherwise, if they did mail it when they said, it sat in the Seattle Post Awful for a week before they did anything with it.

So the next check goes out, Priority Mail... and gets here in eight days. There wasn't a cancel stamp on it this time, so I wasn't able to see if the secretary had actually mailed it in a timely manner or what.

So, do I have a right to feel skeptical that it takes a letter, sent priority mail, 8 days to get from Seattle to YOrktown, VA?

Well, a few days ago I ordered Blood Drips on Newsies Square from a place in Los Angeles, CA. He sent it First Class. On Friday. And I received it today, Monday. That's 3 days that it took to get here. 3 bloody days!

If it takes 3 days for a First Class packet to get here from Los Angeles, you can't tell me it takes 8 days for a Priority letter to get here from Seattle. Even if the letter has to go from Cour D'ALine to Seattle first, that should add only one extra day to the transit...not 3 or more. So I'm more than ever convinced that the boss of this joint is having his secretary yank my chain. Seems a weird and childish thing for him to do (as well as her!)..but he does seem to be that kind of guy.

(Because, see, I'd been promised that I'd start getting paid via Direct Deposit. And I've been in email contact with this secretary on a regular basis throughout all this, and she never once told me that the whole company out there has yet to have direct deposit, (though it's supposedly been in the works for at least a month and probably more). So I'd spent all this time stressing out because I thought I was the only one not on Direct Deposit, and wondering why it could take all this time to get it going. If she'd just made it clear that the whole company didn't have it, I at least would have not been expecting to have it, either.

I'd emailed her last week asking for a status on the Direct Deposit thing, and she didn't bother to reply. So I emailed her on "payday" (5 Sept - why a company pays its employees on the 5th and the 20th I do not know) asking if there was an HR rep I could talk to about why it was taking so long to get me on direct deposit. So today I get an email from the HR rep, who pointed out, rather sarcastically towards me, the info that no one there had Direct Deposit, ya da ya da, and it will now take probably 2 months more to get it in gear. Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. The whole company, from its boss downwards, seem to be incompetent and amateurish in what they do (and considering what they do, that is not a good thing!)

So...anyway... Blood Drips on Newsies Square.

I'll give that it's separate entry, just in case my loyal readers know better than to read me when I'm in full rant mode.

The Chicken Heart that Ate New York City

I'm not really a fan of horror - in any medium, but occasionally I listen to it if it has a certain actor I like for example. (Although this is verrrrrrrrrry rare, as I learned that it's not worth it a long time ago -- when I actually went to see the movie The Devil's Rain because it had William Shatner in it. NEVER AGAIN.)

Anyway, long story short, I've got Chicken Heart, a Lights Out episode by Arch Oboler. I don't know which version I've got - it was on the Best of Radio compilation tape, and is certainly not the entire episode...but it's pretty fun.

And the monologue in which Bill Crosby talks about it (on his album Wonderfulness) is absolutely hilarious.

I've taken the 5 minutes specifically about CHicken Heart and put them here.



If you like it, you have to hear the full monologue of Bill Cosby's to enjoy the experience totally, and you can get it from Amazon (and I'd appreciate it if you'd use the link below!)

Enjoy.

Friday on BBC 7

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/friday/

The Gibson
It's the day of the festival and Saul and the Guardians prepare to fight the 2Cs. Conclusion of Bruce Bedford's thriller. Episode 6 of 6.

Blood Lines
A Lasting Impression: The new writing series continues. Following a terrible row with her boyfriend, a woman receives a chilling supernatural message.

Blood Lines
Father's Day: A reunion between an estranged father and daughter is threatened by sinister state forces.

Sci Fi Movies

Getting back to the business of science fiction...what movies are on the horizon...

Babylon AD: with Vin Diesel... probably will be good if you like those kinds of movies... I'm not into apocalypitic fare and will probably give it a miss.

Death Race: oh puhlease! If we don't have enough mindless violence in the real world without glorifying it in crap like this.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Animated. Not something I'll go to see... I haven't seen a Star Wars movie since the original trilogy... although I do enjoy the screenclips of Yoda fighting duels with Christopher Lee. That guy rocks!

Indeed, here's Yoda vs Dooku:



Yoda vs Palpatine was just too ridiculous...

SCI FI on BBC Radio 7

Wednesday

The Gibson
Saul learns the truth about the fear instilling Gibson room, and cavers push too deep. Time-hop thriller with Robert Glenister. Episode 4 of 6.

Horror:
Blood Lines
Expecting: The new writing series continues. Alone in a house, a pregnant young woman grows distressed when she keeps hearing a baby cry.

Blood Lines
Cthul-You: A dark horror story featuring demonic goings-on in internet chat rooms.

Sci Fi on BBC Radio 7

Tuesday, September 2

The Gibson
Haensel warns Elise, Saul is summoned by Selwyn - and what is going on in Roman Bath? Time-hop thriller with Robert Glenister. Episode 3 of 6.

(You can still catch episode 1, which aired Friday, for one more day. Episode 2 is on Monday.)

The Gibson
An aspiring poet gets drawn into a web of dark and mysterious forces. A time-hopping thriller with Robert Glenister. Episode 1 of 6.

The Gibson
After Saul and his family win a competition, strange events happen. A time-hopping thriller with Robert Glenister. Episode 2 of 6.

Actors in repertory

I've been having a lot of fun with Michael Goorjian in the last couple of days... in a purely electronic sense of the word, of course!

I first saw him as the high-functioning autistic Aaron Pratt in the "Caged" episode of CSI (from 2001) which aired a couple of days ago (Thank heaven for reruns). And I liked his character, and his performance, and whenever I see an actor do that kind of role, I want to see what they're "really" like.

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to download his episodes from Monk and House via Amazon Unbox, and I've watched those. Never watched House before - although I like Hugh Laurie I can't stand medical dramas (I have too many chronic illnesses of my own that are killing me to want to watch doctors pluck a miracle cure out of a 45-minute time segment.)



Anyway.. impossible to enjoy House as the subject matter was so sad, Michael's character's pregnant wife refuses treatment to save her life so as not to harm her baby, and Michael goes from all happy and in love at the beginning of the episode to a teary-eyed widower with a baby at the end of it. Lots of emotion, very affecting, but not fun!

The Monk, episode, however, is a keeper. Michael has only 3 short scenes, but he steals the scenes in them all. The plot is that a severed pinkie finger is found in a park. Because of the position of a callous on the finger and the presence of rosin, Monk deduces it must come from a violist. So he and his assistant Natalie search through the city for missing 25-year old violinists and come up with Daniel Carlyle.



The visit Carlyle's house. His mother says there's nothing wrong, and "Daniel" (Michael) comes down the stairs carrying violin and bow and asks them to leave as he's rehearsing for a concert that night. He's holding one hand behind his back, Monk asks to see it, Michael displays it.

Then there's a couple of scenes of Michael - or rather his character Jacob - standing with his mother outside a phone box. Michael gets to pace around and act really nervous.

Next scene is a good one....it's all Michael. He and his mother are sitting on one side of the room, Monk and Natalie on the other. Long shot of them all for several seconds, and we're able to see Michael sitting there, clearly hyperventilating and stressed out. Then the camera closes in and everyone gets their closeups, etc., and Michael's character is soooo terrified...he's a rather wimpy character and Michael plays him to perfection.

There's a phone call from the kidnappers, we get reaction shots from Michael as he hears his mother tell the kidnapper (someone who would sever the finger from a violinist!) that her son will deliver the ransom, then she approaches him and he backs up and says, he can't do it, he'll mess it up.

This scene was disappointing in one sense, in that his mother has no reaction to this except to say, "I'll do it," instead of telling the guy to buck up... but she must know her son and how wimpy he is.

Then, Natalie points out that Mrs. Carlyle can't go. The kidnappers are expecting a man. And Monk says, "Yes, we'll have to find a man."


This is another point where the camera work lets Michael down. It's all in semi-long shot, one take -- He gets no reaction shot. He looks at Monk, starts to look at his mother as Monk says, "Yes, we'll have to find a man," and then looks back at Monk and just for a second his eyes squint as if he's wondering if Monk has just insulted his manhood, but then Monk immediately says, "Or I can do it." and the scene ends. He's in profile the whole time.

The final scene is a curious one. The kidnapped brother has been saved. Mrs. Carlyle and Michael are shown getting out of their car, then the mother arrives and hugs the son, then Michael arrives, and before he hugs his brother, he turns to look behind him.

And I'm wondering... why does he do that? Is it an extension of his cowardly persona, that he wants to make sure the kidnappers are definitely gone before he hugs his brother? Or are we to think... did he have anything to do with this kidnapping, and he doesn't want the kidnappers to see him to realize that he's the one who put them up to it (because, how did these particular kidnappers get the idea of kidnapping a violinist?). Or was it just Michael letting the camera get a shot of his face one last time?




Anyway, as I say, I've been having fun watching these episodes. Also, fortunately, Michael's CSI: Miami episode aired a couple of days ago to, and I recorded it on DVD. He's only got a two-minute long scene, if that, where he's being interrogated by a cop. He's a photographer, kind of scruffy looking, arrogant, quite cute. And accused of murder. He has a few lines of dialog which he delivers well...then the scene ends and that's it. Still, a completely different character from all the others I'd seen.

(As an aside, just now I put that CSI: Miami episode back in my DVD player and tried to watch it from the beginning instead of just skipping to Michael's scene. I had been chastised in a Blog Comment for my comments about David Caruso, and I gotta tell you... I stand by every one. After watching his opening scene on the show I just couldnt' stand it and had to turn it off. It's just too weird of a characterization for me....and his vocal delivery...

I enjoy watching the same actor give several different performances. (Indeed, it might be interesting to see David Caruso in something else, just to see if he can play a normal character, but I don't care enough about him as an actor to even look up his old stuff...)

One of the greatest years of my life, from an entertainment standpoint, was in the early 1990s in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Garland Wright was the director of the Guthrie Theater, and he put together a season of repertory that was absolutely fantastic. There were three plays, and each one would run a couple of days a week. And the same company played all the roles. So one day I'd see actor Charles Janasz as wimpy Richard II, the next day as a more macho character, the next day as a hilarious comedic actor. Same for Steve Yoakam, a couple of other actors also...

And it was just a joy to be able to see them demonstrate their "acting chops" on a day to day basis.

The tragedy about the Guthrie, and indeed, any live theater, is that it is live. An actor can give a fantastic performance, give three curtain calls at the end of it... and then its gone. No one will ever be able to see it again. I really wish each of those Guthrie plays that season had been perserved for posterity, even as a "photographed stage play" I'd love to relive those memories again...

Ah, well.

And all this has been a long build-up to share my new Michael Goorjian screencap page.
http://volcanoseven.com/TheFaceandtheVoice/MichaelGoorjianindex.html
which I typically do for all actors I like.

So, next entry I'll get back on topic with science fiction!

The Face and the Voice

Spoilers for Monsters Inc and Monk and the Kid ahead


I've been thinking about actors and acting today...

When people speak, they put inflection into their voice. (Otherwise they just talk in a robotic monotone, like Bebe Neuwirth as Lilith - loved her cameo as herself in Will and Grace where she talks normally, then segues into her Lilith voice in an attempt to convince Jack and Karen that she is an actress and not the character of Lilth.)

(Or, they sound like David Caruso!)

What importance does inflection play in lines? Well, take Monsters, Inc., on of my top 5 animated films. Steve Buscemi plays the villainous Randall. In one scene - after it has already been shown that he's the villain - he has a dialog with Sully and Mike in which he's asking about the kid who escaped and is in the factory.

Randall/Buscemi's line is, "You haven't seen anything, have you?"

But the way he delivers the line (not to mention the way the character's animated while he says the line) makes it clear that he's trying oh so desperately to sound casual and not succeeding. (And as an actor, you know Buscemi could have sounded casual if he'd wanted to.)

He delivers the line with an inflection and a pause... "You haven't seen anything...have you?" If you didn't know he was a villain you'd know it at that moment.

Then, later on in the movie, Mr. Waternoose aka James Coburn, says, "Does anyone else know about this?"

But it's the way he says it that is the key.

"Does....anybody else... know about this?"

Right until that exact second I had no idea that Mr Waternoose was going to turn into a villain, but as soon as he said that line in that way, I knew it.

It's all about inflection.

So now we come to my mini-obsession with Michael Goorjian. Through the magic of Unbox, I downloaded his episode, Mr. Monk and the Kid. Of course he only had 3 brief scenes (so annoying) but he got to display a wide range of emotions in that time.




So, first scene, Monk and his assistant are in the house of Mrs. Carlyle and her son who plays the violin. They're in the living room talking to the mother, who exudes just a slight bit of nervousness. Then Michael comes down the stairs a little way, carrying violin and bow, and says, "Mother."

"Daniel." says the mother, in a rather emphasized way, as she's signalling to the son that he's to pretend he's Daniel, not Jacob.

"Is something...wrong." says Michael, in an unconvincing tone...just the way someone who is not used to playing a role would say it (as in one brother pretending for some reason.)

He says his next line, kind of all in a rush and uninflected. Bad acting, yes, but not the bad acting of a bad actor, but the good acting of an actor playing someone who's not used to lying.

"Can you ask them to come back I'm rehearsing right now."

but he says it

"Canyouaskthemtocomeback I'mrehearsingrightnow."

In his subsequent two lines, he gets in a bit more inflection, as he cements himself int he role of his brother...

Next scene, mother and son have been found out, and they're sitting in the living room. Mike has a glass of liquor in his hand, and he's obviously very nervous and very frightened, and he plays the scene wonderfully. He's a bit of a wimp, chickening out of delivering the ransom money - but then he has to be so that Monk can do it, and thus we get a very funny scene of Monk throwig the ransom money to the wrong person...



Anyway, final scene, no dialog, Mrs Carlyle and Mike run up to the just-released brother, complete with bloodily bandaged hand, and Mike looks back before he embraces his brother (which I gotta tell you, made me wonder if he actually didn't have something to do with it. Did he look around, as if nervous that all the crooks might not have been captured, continuing his cowardly role, or did he look around just to make sure they were gone and hadn't seen him, because he's the one who told the crooks about his brother and the fact that his mother could come up with $500,000 at short notice?

Anyay, contrast his normal speaking voice (not to mention his facial expressions) with his role as the highly-functional autistic Aaron Pratt in the CSI episode "Caged." His inflection is all on the wrong words, or he speaks too loudly... he seems to inhabit the character and does it very very well...

Set Me Free by the Pointer Sisters

First heard this decades ago, the theme song from the Whoopi Goldberg film Jumpin' Jack Flash... another one of the themesongs of my life.



It's a remixed version, which I don't really care for... but those voices...the lyrics...

Corny one-liners?

Blame the writers, or blame this guy's delivery?

Sorry, Mr. David Caruso, but this schtick is soooo .... ick



And here's Jim Carrey imitating him...

CSI and Sex Appeal

Okay, first off, talking about CSI on a science fiction blog isn't as Off topic as you'd think. There's a lot of science fiction in all the CSIs... in the sense that the scientific tests used to find the criminals are all "accelerated" (it takes 3 months to do a DNA test, not 3 minutes) etc. Indeed, the CSI shows may have even done a bit of harm in real life trials because jurors expect all the evidence to be as clear and definitive as it is in the CSI shows, when in actual fact it's not. (Similar, many years ago, to those echo-soundings that took place in the first Jurassic Park movie. On the big-screen, when demonstrating this technology, the skeleton showed up bright and clear, but in real life, the same technology was all fuzzy and indistinct.

Anyway, back to my rant yesterday about CSI: Miami, whch, I gotta tell ya, stank on ice. I can't believe that show has run for 7 years! Perhaps it's because of all the beautiful girls in skimpy bikinis that are shown (if this episode is any indication).

But the episode was poorly written, poorly acted by all of the principles, badly photographed...just a mess.

And Michael Goorjian got on screen for less than 5 minutes!

That was one of the problems with this episode, each of the "suspects" had 5 minutes face time and that was it. Of course that might have been driven by the exigencies of the plot - a woman passenger in a car going through a toll booth gives a bloody bill to the attendant, on which she has written "He's going to kill me" and this starts up a woman hunt. (Never mind the fact that in every toll booth I've been in, it's the driver that is on the side that pays.)

I read up on Wikipedia about CSI: Miami, and found some of the explanation of David Caruso's "schtick" of not looking into people's eyes and always wearing sunglasses. (I'm sure Caruso does it because he thinks it looks cool!) Apparenlty his character (Horatio Kane) was abused as a child. Well..I think someone who can't look someone else in the eyes is not going to rise far in the law enforcement profession.

And I must admit that the voices of all the characters just grated on me. Caruso's with his low, growling type of voice, the two women (black medical examiner and the blond chief CSI) with their high-pitched voices. No comic-relief guys like Hodges or Greg (although I admit I don't think either Hodges or Greg are funny!)

Also, I suppose from a personal aspect, I just don't go for guys with red hair. On the other hand I think William Petersen is very handsome (kind of like George Peppard) and Michael Goorjian is also cute. Totally wasted in this episode, but it was fun to hear his real voice -- in which one could hear the traces of the voice he'd used as the autistic Aaron Pratt in CSI - and his facial expressions.

I never watched Party of Five, in which Goorjian starred in an ensemble cast for several years, and probably won't as those types of shows have never appealed to me... but anytime he's in a police drama or something similar I'll check out the role...

It's interesting to try to decide why you find people attractive... I see young women today going crazy over weedy-looking men - the various rock stars with their long hair, etc, and I just go, ick. Give me a well-set up man any day of the week! (Okay, I'll be honest...that's probably why I won't be checking out Michael in Party of Five. Though he's 100% cuter than David Caruso, he's not as muscular as I like 'em...Think William Shatner is his prime...George Peppard as Banacek...William Petersen in the early years of CSI...)

And every time I watch baseball - which is everyday, I admit I just cringe at all their facial hair.... you think women follow trends, you should look at the guys and the weird thigs they do to stand out... "soul patches" , "soul stripes", imperials....so affected and so silly looking. But they must think they look cool or they wouldn't do it...

Snap judgement..but ich

First time I've ever watched CSI: Miami...and after 10 minutes or however long its been... I can't stand it. The guy playing Horatio Kane is such a.... actor...ich.

The coroner's voice is so high...gets on my nerves...

The camera angles and crap are stupid...

It sure doesn't have the gloss of the original, CSI...

I wouldn't even be watching it if Michael Goorjian wasn't supposed to be in it somewhere...

...

Continuing to watch it... finally saw Michael who plays a photographer...completely different from his role as the autistic character in CSI (Caged). For one thing he wasnt' autistic! Very cute, very good...

But I gotta say, the acting of the principles of this show...the voices of the women...and of Horatio Kane... they just grate on my nerves... Can't believe this show is popular..it doesn't hold a candle to the original!

...

And now it's over and it was so incredibly stupid...

Why does he kill the girls? does he kill the girls? One girl was left on a rocky beach still alive, to be drowned. What's up iwth that?

And the actor who plays Horatio Kane...he is just sooooo bad...he enters a building all by himself apparently, and catches the killer...meanwhile the girl the killer has could have sunk her teeth in the man's arm but of course never did anything of the kind...

Badly written, badly photographed, badly acted by everyone except Michael! And he was only in it for 5 minutes!

The terrible thing about football season

I'm not too enamored of college football... I like to watch Notre Dame lose, but that's about it. Professional football I'm much more interested in, the Minnesota Vikings of course, and the Greenbay Packers I want to do well now, just so the naysayers can't say anything about them having dumped Brett Favre, and I hope Favre stinks it up, just on principle...

But the terrible thing about football games is that they always run long. Which means that you can be looking forward to some TV show that's supposed to start after the game...and by the time it comes on you've missed 15 minutes of it already!

So tonight I'm on CBS, and I've been waiting a week for CSI Miami episode "Darkroom" which has an actor guest-starring in it whom I like... and it looks like the college game Alabama v Clemson will run at least 10 minutes long (despite the fact that Alabama has a 24 point lead - only 3 minutes to go, why bother to even show the rest of it????

But they will, and then there'll be the news, and so my show that I've been waiting a whole week for will start and I'll miss 15 minutes of it, and chances are the actor I'm waiting to see will only appear in the first 15 minutes. That's my luck.

So I'm really annoyed right now!

Breakaway - Sherine Abetreyne and Big Pig

One of my favorite songs, and a good video to boot..

This song, "Breakaway" by Big Pig, is from the movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure from 1989. It spoke to me then and it speaks to me now.

The singer is Sherine Abeyratne. I haven't been able to find out what she's done since the band disbanded just a couple of years after it formed, around 1991, she's got such a great voice I'm surprised she didn't make it big with someone else.



Stay, by Shakespeare's Sister



Situation, by Yazoo

Several reasons to stop committing crimes

A 52-second commercial from William Petersen (CSI) on ways to help with global warming...

Hilarious...but I wish he didn't have those glasses on!

Science fiction at BBC on Monday

The shows will be available for 6 more days...


Down and Safe
A Celebration of Blake's 7: The BBC 7 bank holiday rebellion starts with the history and rebirth of a sci-fi classic, with episodes including Liberator.

Voices from the Grave
50 Berkeley Square: The setting is Victorian England and a house, rumoured to be the most haunted in London, is about to give up its dark secret.

Understand
Treatment for a horrific accident has unexpected benefits in this sci-fi thriller by award-winning US writer Ted Chiang. Episode 1 of 4.

Tropic Thunder

I went to see Tropic Thunder today...

It was okay...not really my kind of humor, indeed some of it was ick-inducing...

But I really don't understand some people's protests of it.

It's rated R, so nobody under 17 should be able to see it. So the fact that the word "retard" is thrown around continuously during the latter half of the movie shouldn't matter... because nobody over the age of 17 calls other people "retard," right? For the over 17s, when they want to dis' something, they say, "That's so gay."

Yes, I did have my hand over my eyes for each scene with the Simple Jack character. I also had my hand over my eyes for the Fatties trailer at the beginning.

But most people seem to be upset over Robert Downey's character, which I just don't get, as they're complaining about it as if he were legitimately cast in the role of a great white actor in a black role, so that with his "name" he could bring audiences to theaters - which is typically what producers liked to do, although more usually with Asian roles, such as Jonathan Pryce being cast as the Asian role in Madam Butterfly, that got Asian groups all upset. (Of course they don't mind if an Asian plays the Danish character Hamlet.)

Frankly, I thought Downey's character had a lot of good things to say, for all that it was difficult to understand him at time.

But the most important scene in the movie was the one where Ben Stiller heads into the water, and his unit refuses to come with him. "What's wrong with you people?" he demands. He's clearly using "you people" to refer to everyone, because they don't believe him that the movie is still being filmed. Yet Downey's black character has the typical knee-jerk reaction, "What do you mean, "you people?" Similar to the fact that nowadays, the word "articulate" has become as anethema as the "n-word", because of the fuss that one moron made when a black politician was described as "articulate."

Here's a tip. Most teenagers are "inarticulate" - like, ya know...like, whatev-er, dude, so whenever you listen to a teenager who can actually like, you know, put a whole sentence together without putting a swear word in between every word, or inserting a "like" or a "you know" or an "uh," is articulate! And people shouldn't be terrified to say so!

Science Fiction on BBC Radio 7

BBC Radio 7 digital radio streams audio, with each program available for seven days before it drops off the radio.

Since I've been remiss in telling you what's on BBC Radio 7, I'll start with what's about to drop off today, and continue on from there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/

Monday, 18 August
Ghost Zone
A Highland village appears to survive the huge impact of a meteor. A sci-fi thriller by Marty Ross. Episode 1 of 5.

Fantastic Tales
Hell Screen: A chilling horror set in medieval Japan. A powerful Lord clashes with an arrogant painter leading to tragedy. Episode 1 of 2.

Tuesday, 19 August
Ghost Zone
Jill finds her daughter alive after a meteor has crashed on a Highland village. A sci-fi thriller by Marty Ross. Episode 2 of 5.

Fantastic Tales
Hell Screen: The chilling horror set in medieval Japan continues. The painter, Yoshihide, puts his daughter's life in terrible danger. Episode 2 of 2.

Wednesday, 20 August
Ghost Zone
Sci-fi thriller by Marty Ross. A soldier comes back from the dead. Episode 3 of 5.

Fantastic Tales
Alarm Clock on the Night Table: A salutary tale about living for the moment. A chain of events forces an elderly woman to confront a tragedy from her past.

Thursday, 21 August
Married
Serenity: As he finally adjusts to his parallel life, has Robin convinced his 'ex-wife' of the truth? Stars Hugh Bonneville. Episode 5 of 6.

Ghost Zone
Sci-fi thriller by Marty Ross. Something lies buried beneath the village. Episode 4 of 5.

Fantastic Tales
The White People: The nature of good and evil and the origins of sin are explored in this intriguing tale.

Friday, 22 August
Ghost Zone
Marty Ross' sci-fi thriller concludes. As the army closes in the village begins to disappear. Episode 5 of 5.

Fantastic Tales
Delhi: A man living in present-day Delhi is haunted by visions of the city as it was in the past and how it will be in the future.

Saturday, 23 August

Around the World in Eighty Days
An Over-Hurried Departure: Phileas Fogg's new valet, Passepartout, is hoping for a quiet life. Jules Verne's classic adventure, starring Leslie Phillips. Episode 1 of 4. (Not really SF, but it is Jules Verne)

Operation Luna
Classic 1950s science fiction. Pursued by spaceships on the dark side of the moon, the crew drift dangerously off course. Episode 7 of 13.

The Brightonomicon
The Incredible Encounter With Hugo Rune: A young man is saved from drowning by a mysterious gentleman in 1960s Brighton. The adventures of Rune and Rizla begin! Episode 1 of 13.


Sunday, 24 August

Blake's 7
Traitor: Can Blake and his rebel crew make a stand against the power of the Liberator? Only Avon has the answer, but whose side is he on? Episode 2 of 3.

The Brightonomicon

BBC Radio 7, as of Saturday, is airing the 13-part Brightonomicon. Part 1 is on Saturday, and will be available online for 7 more days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/

Here's the description of the story from the copyright free Wikipedia:

The Brightonomicon is a novel by British Fantasy author Robert Rankin, the title parodying that of the fictional grimoire the Necronomicon from the Cthulhu Mythos.

The novel is set in Brighton, and concerns the grand high magus Hugo Rune (AKA The Reinventor of the Ocarina, the Mumbo Gumshoe, the Hokus Bloke, the Cosmic Dick, the Guru's Guru, the Perfect Master, the Lad Himself) and his quest to solve the mystery of the Brighton zodiac, with the aid of his amnesia struck assistant, Rizla (Revealed at the conclusion of the novel to be Jim Pooley of The Brentford Trilogy).

The author lives in Brighton and the book is set in an accurate depiction of the city. The book is based on The Brighton Zodiac, a map consisting of carriageway constellations found in the city of Brighton and Hove, conceived, designed and created by Sally Hurst (under her artist name Bo:K in 2004). The cases featured are as follows;

The Hound of the Hangletons: The amnesic Rizla and Hugo Rune are hired to investigate a strage lost dog, and Rune reveals to Rizla the secret of the Chronovision, a television that allows the user to witness any event in history

The Curious Case of the Centenary Centaur: While attending a lecture on the size of the universe with Hugo Rune, Rizla is captured by a group of demented doctors seeking to dissect him for organ transplants, and a centaur is unleashed

The Monstrous Mystery of the Moulescomb Crab: A conversation with a bog troll about his dead brother leads to Rizla and Rune learning of a terrible plot by the Secret Government to bring down the Royal Family with the aid of a group of space crabs

The Lark of the Lansdowne Lioness: When a statue of Queen Victoria begins to cry tears of real Earl Grey Tea, Rune alone knows that a nightmare from the past is about to be unleashed

The Curious Case of the Woodingdean Chameleon: With Rune away on business, it is up to Rizla to avert an assassination attempt at a game of croquet, while posing as fictional private detective Lazlo Woodbine

The Scintillating Story of the Sackville Scavenger: Attending the opening of a nudist theme restaurant with Rune (All other Brighton restaurants no longer accepting Rune's presence), Rizla is shocked to witness a group of dead rock stars dining with them

The Fantastic Adventure of the Foredown Man: While attending a garden party, Rizla witnesses the apparent murder of the Lord Jeffrey- despite the fact that the man in question vanished over a hundred years ago-, and his various relatives subsequently begin to die in various horrible manners

The Baffling Business of the Bevendean Bat: Reports of lost cats in the Bevendean area, coupled with radioactive doves,, multiple roaring animals at regular intervals, and an encounter with an exploding uniped in the bar The Really Small Atlantean, lead to a confrontation between Rune and the evil Count Otto Black about a modern-day version of Noah's Ark

The Sensational Sage of the Saltdean Stallion: While at a party in Lewes, Rune is apparently killed as a sacrifice to reveal the location of the Chronovision, leaving Rizla to escape Count Otto Black’s followers with the aid of an urban legend

The Birdman of Whitehawk: The Chronovision now recovered after a trip into the Forbidden Zones, Rune and Rizla must tackle the mysterious apparitions that plague their current host

The Wiseman of Withdean: Rizla is forced to disguise himself as a woman as he and Rune search for the last descendent of Jesus Christ at a Heavy Metal concert

The Concluding Chaotic Conundrum of the Coldean Cat: Their forces gathered, Rune and Rizla prepare for the final confrontation with Count Otto Black and for their final parting after a long year of adventures


[edit] Audio & Radio
The book was adapted into a 13 part full-cast audio drama in 2008 by Hokus Bloke Productions and BBC Audiobooks, starring the likes of David Warner, Andy Serkis, Jason Isaacs, Rupert Degas, Martin Jarvis, Mark Wing-Davey, Sarah Douglas, Ben Miller and Michael Fenton-Stevens.

The audio series has been re-edited into 28min 30second episodes to air on the BBC digital and online radio station BBC7. The 13 half-hour episodes air at 18:30 British Summer Time (with a 00:30 repeat) on Saturdays from 23rd August 2008 to 15th November 2008 and each episode will be available on the BBC iPlayer for six days after broadcast.

Isaac Asimov's Science Essay Books

I've never really cared for Asimov's science fiction. (I hear the gasps!) His "voice" is simply too stilted for me.... although I read his early Black Widowers stories with enjoyment they too began to get on my nerves... every single character sounds alike and they all talk in ways that no real human being would use ...the kind of pretentious way Spock or 7 of 9 or Tuvok would speak...

On the other hand, I like reading his science essays, because even though he does get in a bit of archaic sentence construction, his essays are fascinating, with history and education in certain measures. I don't pretend to understand him when he's talking about complex stuff such as higher math or chemistry, but they're still fun to read.

The Thunder Child has an Asimove quote book, at http://thethunderchild.com/Books/IsaacAsimov/Quotes/QuoteBook.html

It's been hanging fire for about a year as I've had to concentrate on other aspects of science fiction, but I'm getting back into it now, so much so that I'm compiling my own collection of his books via Amazon.com. The sad bit about that is that 9 times out of 10 the books I get are dis.... can't remember the technical term.... anyway, they used to be library books, but libraries are getting rid of them, which I think is a pity.

Anyway, I've just started amassing my collection (the quote book to date was compiled using library copies from a library in an AFB in Germany...) The titles in bold are books I own to date.

1. Only A Trillion (1957)
2. Fact and Fancy (1962)
3. View from a Height (1963)
4. Adding a Dimension (1964)
5. Of Time, Space & Other Things (1965)
6. From Earth to Heaven (1966)
7. Is Anybody There? (1967)
8. Science, Numbers and I (1968)
9. The Solar System and Back (1970)
10. The Stars in Their Course (1971)
11. Left Hand of the Electron (1972)
12. The Tragedy of the Moon (1973)
13. Of Matters Great & Small (1975)
14. The Planet That Wasn't (1976)
15. Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright (1977)
16. The Road to Infinity (1979)
17. The Sun Shines Bright (1981)
18. Asimov on Science Fiction (1982)
19. Counting the Eons (1983)
20. X Stands for Unknown (1984)
21. The Subatomic Monster (1985)
22. Far as Human Eye Could See (1987)
23. The Relativity of Wrong (1988)
24. Out of Everywhere (1990)
25. The Secret of The Universe (1990)
26. Robot Visions (1990)

Words to the Star Trek theme

They were pubilshed in Steve E. Whitfield's book THe Making of Star Trek... I used to know it by heart.. can I remember it?

Beyond
The rim of the starlight
My love
Is wandering in starflight
I know
His journey ends never
His star flight
Will go on forever
But tell him
While he wanders his starry sea,
Remember, remember me.

Yeah, baby!

I hadn't thought of that poem (for it was never actually sung, I don't think) for at least a decade, and yet my memory managed to dredge it out!

THe sad thing about this poem is apparently Gene Roddenberry wrote it, so that he could claim part credit on the whole song, so he'd get residuals whenever it played! - Taking half the residuls away from the composer, Alexander Courage. Which is why he left the show after the first year.

Great Minds Think Alike..or Arch Oboler at YouTube

I went to YouTube to see if The Chicken Heart was there, or any of Arch Oboler's work from Lights Out, and someone has indeed animated one of the radio shows, The Visitor From Hades.

Totally cool.

It's in 3 parts.

Chicken Heart...or Why Read 40-year-old science essays?

One of my favorite science fiction radio pieces is "The Chicken Heart", from the radio show Lights Out. It was produced in the 1950s. (I've never been able to figure out if the version I've listened to is just half of it, and if more exists, or if it deliberately started in media res.

Anyway, you can read a transcription of "The Chicken Heart" here. http://thethunderchild.com/RadioDrama/LightsOut/TheChickenHeart.html

[And, having just gone to Wikipedia to see if its entry on Lights Out told what year "The Chicken Heart" was first made, I see that whoever wrote that entry *also* knew what I today have just discovered.

Here's the Wikipedia excerpt:

...Oboler made effective use of atmospheric sound effects, perhaps most memorably in his legendary "Chicken Heart", a script that debuted in 1937 and was rebroadcast in 1938 and 1942. It features the simple but effective "thump-thump" of an ever-growing, ever-beating chicken heart which, thanks to a scientific experiment gone wrong, threatens to engulf the entire world. Although the story bears similarities to an earlier Cooper episode (about an ever-growing amoeba that makes an ominous "Slurp! Slurp!" sound), Oboler's unique choice of monster was inspired by a Chicago Tribune article announcing that scientists had succeeded in keeping a chicken heart alive for a considerable period of time after its having been removed from the chicken. Whatever the inspiration, the script's climax is pure Oboler and it was fortunate that he recreated it for a 1962 record album because recordings of the original radio broadcasts are lost or unavailable. Part of the episode's notoriety stems from a popular stand-up routine by comedian Bill Cosby (on his 1966 album Wonderfulness), an account of his staying up late as a child to listen to scary radio shows against his parents' wishes and being terrified by the chicken heart.]

Anyway, what brought this to my mind was that I'm in the middle of reading Isaac Asimov's book of essays, Is Anyone There?, published in 1967 and comprising essays from various sources from 1956, 1957, and 1960-1967.

And in the article called "Constructing a Man" first published as "Conceived in the Love Bed of Science" in True, Feb 1966, Asimov says:

"Biologists can keep isolated organs, and even scraps of tissue, alive for considerable lengths of time. Before World War II the well-known surgeon, Alexis Carrell, managed to keep a scrap of embryonic chicken heart alive and growing (it had to be periodically trimmed) for over 32 years."

It's also in this article that Asimov talks about cloning (he calls it ectogenetics), genetic manipulation, and growing organs specifically to use as donor organs. All in 1966.

That's why it's fun, not to mention educational, to read science essays written decades ago. To see the beginnings of ideas that led to what's going on today...to see that problems were discussed but ignored (or not even thought of as problems).. it's fascinating.

The Grey Horse

Many years ago I was able to visit England once a year, thanks to the fact that my sister, in the Air Force, was stationed at Bicester for about a decade. (Then the Air Force inconsiderately transferred her to Japan. Not that I have a problem with Japan, but they don't have a London or a West End!).

Anyway, in late 1980s, I saw steeple chasing for the first and actually, only time, on TV. I enjoyed it. It's always more fun to see horses jumping over obstacles then just running as fast as they can down a track.

I'm pretty sure I saw Desert Orchid's final race on the telly...because he fell, lost his rider, then got to his feet and finished the race, jumping each fence until he came to the end, which I thought was pretty cool.

I picked up the book, The Grey Horse, The True Story of Desert Orchid, by Richard Burridge, in 1992. And 16 years later, I decided to finally read it!

It's extremely interesting, for all that there's lots of British usage that I only vaguely grasp, talking about the types of jumps and stuff...

I looked on YouTube and was disappointed to see that there aren't any videos of him in his various races - only a few collections of stills, which while nice to look at don't really convey the power and beauty that he must have had jumping over all those fences.

Anyway, now that I've read it, I'm ready to give it away. I see that Amazon is selling a copy for $66.... I'm willing to give up my copy - a paperback, Signet, published in 1992, for much less. (Perhaps the $66 version is a hardback, but the Amazon page doesn't say.)

Anyway, if you'd like to have it, drop me a line.

Books I'm reading

I'll be writing reviews of the following books:

Contained within a book called The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham, by Norvell Page, are 3 pulp novels:

Satan's Murder Machines - 1939. Featurs gigantic robots destroying the city
Death Reign of the Vampire King - 1935
The Octopus - 1939

Here's the first page of each book:

Satan's Muerder Machines:
The man was a watchman, wearing the uniform of a private police agency, and he walked with his head bowed into the bitter winter wind that whimpered through Sutton Place. He moved swiftly, yet it was not the cold that he fled. Ever and again, he looked back the dark way he had come.
He was looking the wrong wy, for, half a block ahead of him, the shadows of a doorway concealed a curious figure. There was nothing furtive about the broad shoulders, superbly set off by the tailoring of a Chesterfield coat that covered evening dress; nor about the arogant carriage of the head beneath the gleaming silk hat. He seemed a gentleman of leisure about to take a bed-time stroll, except for two things. The upper hslf of his face was hidden by a silk mask, and in his white-gloved hand there lay an automatic pistol, ir's snub nose brutal as a rattlesnake's head!

Death Reign of the Vampire King
Twenty men with shotguns patrolled the wide lawns of Robert Latham's mansion, crouching in the black shadows of the night. Their hands were tightly clamped on their weapons and they cringed close against the walls of the house. They watched the moon-drenched sky fearfully.
From the dense shadow of a shrub a score of yards away, another man spied upon them. He was a hunched, grotesque figure and his long black cape made his body blend with the darkness. Heheld no weapon, but beside him was a large bird cage. On his lis was a thin, tight smile...
Those guards feared different terror,but if they could have seen this lurking man, they would have fled screaming in panic behind the protecting walls of the house. Not even their rady shotguns would have reassured them. For they were men of the Underworld and he who watched preyed upon their kind. He slew and left a mocking vermilion seal upon their foreheads to show that full vengeance had been exacted by the champion of oppressed humanity -- nemesis of all criminals -- the Spider!

The Octopus
The young nurse nnodded downward at the mummy-like thing on the cot in Ward 7. "She's been trying to move, SDoctor." she said. "Are you sure you need the stimulants?" Dr. Skull nodded absently. His keen brown eyes, the liveliest thing in his gentle old face, were appraising the swathed figure of Mrs Purvins, and there was an ancient satisfaction in them, ancient as medicine itself. He remembered the day, almost a month ago, when a frightened woman stripped herself in his office, and whispered, "Is it cancer, Doctor? Will I die soon?"
She had been ghastly, that woman, with the hard black growth ridging her body like the tentacles of a deep sea monster. Ghastly even to the case-hardened eye of the surgeon.

Music from Delia Derbyshire found

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7512072.stm


Dr Who theme


Delia speaks

Lost tapes of the Dr Who composer

By Nigel Wrench
PM programme, Radio 4

A hidden hoard of recordings made by the electronic music pioneer behind the Doctor Who theme has been revealed - including a dance track 20 years ahead of its time.

Delia Derbyshire was working in the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop in 1963 when she was given the score for a theme tune to a new science fiction series. She turned those dots on a page into the swirling, shimmering Doctor Who title music - although it is the score's author, Ron Grainer, who is credited as the composer.

Now David Butler, of Manchester University's School of Arts, Histories and Cultures has revealed for the first time the existence of 267 tapes found in Ms Derbyshire's attic when she died in 2001. They were, until last March, in the safekeeping of Mark Ayres, archivist for the Radiophonic Workshop - and have lain unheard for more than 30 years.

Amongst the recordings is some ethereal whooshing from a 1969 production of Hamlet at the Roundhouse in London; an extraordinary kit of parts for one of her most-admired pieces; and the theme for a documentary set in the Sahara which shows how she used her voice as an instrument.

'Timeless'

Most unexpected of all, however, is a piece of music that sounds like a contemporary dance track which was recorded, it is believed, in the late sixties.

Paul Hartnoll, formerly of the dance group Orbital and a great admirer of Ms Derbyshire's work, said the track was, "quite amazing".

"That could be coming out next week on [left-field dance label] Warp Records," he noted. "It's incredible when you think when it comes from. Timeless, really. It could be now as much as then."

Delia Derbyshire's voice can be heard introducing it. "Forget about this," she says, "it's for interest only." David Butler says: "She was a sculptor of sound, often recording found sounds."

The next extract from the archives is a recording of her own voice, played forwards and backwards. It is the raw material for Blue Veils and Golden Sands - the documentary about the Tuareg people in the Sahara. The final version (right) contains cut up elements of her voice (which she jokingly referred to as a "castrated oboe"), and the sound of several electronic oscillators.

The third recording from the archives features actor Nicol Williamson's legendary portrayal of Hamlet. Performed at London's Roundhouse, this excerpt captures a soliloquy set to Derbyshire's backdrop of eerie science fiction swooshes. "I find it spell-binding," says Hartnoll. "I've got a shedload of synthesizers and equipment, whereas Delia Derbyshire got out of the Radiophonic Workshop when synthesizers came along.

"I think she got a bit disheartened and a bit bored with it all when the synthesizer came along and it all became a little too easy."

Ms Derbyshire was well-known for favouring the use of a green metal lampshade as a musical instrument and said she took some of her inspiration from the sound of air raid sirens, which she heard growing up in Coventry in the Second World War.

So what next for the 267 tapes she left behind? "The next thing that we want to do is make the archive available to everyone who wants to hear it," says David Butler. "But also this has to be a living, breathing archive so we are going to commission new works as well. We hope to be able to commission works from contemporary electronic musicians and also those who worked with her - surviving members of the Radiophonic Workshop."


How to redo the Doctor Who theme

Watch the Sprayman at work

A year or so ago I interviewed a Slovenian artist who creates space paintings using spray paint. He's got lots of videos at Goodle videos, and they are a treat to watch.

Now he's got a webcam at his website, and streaming video, and you can see it at:

http://www.sprej.com/sticko10.htm

Every day from 19:00 to 21:0 GMT (right now)

So now you can order a painting from him (he speaks several language including English!) and watch him paint it before your very eyes, on his website!

Here's the link to the interview at The Thunder Child:

http://thethunderchild.com/Art/Sprayman.html

Viewmaster, and Pirates of the Caribbean electronics!

I went into a Toys R Us yesterday. I like doing that, checking out all the toys that are available to kids these days... some of which I'd buy if I only had room to put them!

And I came across a very small section devoted to the Viewmaster, and picked up Wall-E, Dinosaurs and Atomic Betty.

Wall-E was okay - except the adventure on the rocketship with the tubby humans was not shown at all, it was just the robots.

Dinosaurs - drawings in 3D, rather than what they've used in the past, actual models

Haven't looked at Atomic Betty yet - I bought it because it's based on a cartoon in which the girl is the hero, something you verrrrrrrrrrrry rarely see in cartoons for children. It's always the boy that's the hero and the girl that's the sidekick. (Yeah, there's Kim Possible, dressed in the latest fashion with her belly-button showing, and she's got a male sidekick, but that's the exception that proves the rule.... well, her and the Powerpuff Girls.)

Anyway, I can remember 20 years ago when I used to buy Viewmaster reels. (And unfortunately my collection is long gone...). You bought a package and each disc would be in its own folder, and all three folders fit into a larger folder with a picture of the movie on it...

Today all you get are the discs, and that's it. OF course, they do make Holders for the discs, and you can get quite a few of them in there... but still..

I did some research on Viewmaster at Wikipedia, and learned that the Viewmaster has been around since 1919, albeit in a slightly different form, and it was even used during WWII to teach soldiers how to recognize different kinds of planes.

On the other side of the store, I came across some stuff that I'd really like to have if I hadn't already recently bought a new TV and CD walkman.

The Pirates of the Caribbean has a TV out, and a portable DVD player, and a CD player. The CD player case looks like the compass that Captain Jack is always using. I really coveted that, but I just couldn't justify spending the $30 on it.

But on the off-chance that my readers here would like these items, and they are sold out of your local Toys R Us - you can pick a few of them up from Amazon. (The TV doesn't seem to be available - too heavy to ship, I suppose.)

You have one year to live. What would you do?

Randy Pausch has died....

Here is the video of his speech:



Here's his story:

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose last lecture became an Internet sensation and bestselling book, has died of pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

Dr. Pausch, whose proudest professional achievement was creating a free computer programming tool for children called Alice, was an improbable celebrity. A self-professed nerd, he pushed his students to create virtual reality projects, celebrated the joy of amusement parks and even spent a brief stint as a Disney “Imagineer.'’
Last September, Dr. Pausch unexpectedly stepped on an international stage when he addressed a crowd of about 400 faculty and students at Carnegie Mellon as part of the school’s “Last Lecture” series. In the talks, professors typically talk about issues that matter most to them. Dr. Pausch opened his talk with the news that he had terminal cancer and proceeded to deliver an uplifting, funny talk about his own childhood dreams and how to help his children and others achieve their own goals in life. He learned he had pancreatic cancer in September, 2006.
See the complete article at: 'Last Lecture’ Professor Randy Pausch, 47, Dies

OT - a bald cardinal

In my back yard for the last two weeks there's been a bald cardinal.... which apparently is not uncommon.

Avengers screencap gallery

The Avengers is a classic TV show from the 1960s.

Although male and female characters as equal partners are rather commonplace today (Mulder and Scully in the X Files, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Remington Steele, Bones, etc.) it was The Avengers that paved the way with that groundbreaking partnership.

Cathy Gale (the original Avengers "girl") and Emma Peel remain excellent role models to this day.

To that end, The Thunder Child is now the host to the Avengers Screencap Gallery.

http://thethund.ipower.com//Avengerous/MurderMarket.html

and for kicks, check out:

Emma Keeps Her Kools

and a Quiz Pic (identify the scene):

http://thethund.ipower.com//Avengerous/QuizPic.html

Boris Karloff

In honor of just uploading Steve Vertlieb's retrospective on Boris Karloff to The Thunder Child, I thought I'd share here some clips from YouTube of the TV shows Steve mentions in his article:

Carol Burnett and Boris Karloff




You'll Find Out


Karloff on Rosemary Clooney Show


The Raven - Karloff, Price, Lorre

SF & Fantasy events July 13

Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1945... and Frank Maher (stuntman, The Prisoner and Blakes 7) died on July 13, 2007.

I'd like to introduce a new feature at The Thunder Child, called The Book of Days.

Births, deaths, movie debuts, book publications, etc. will be listed there from now on.

There's only one page so far...:
http://thethunderchild.com/BookofDays/July13.html

Atom Vision 6

I just got a delivery of some sf and fantasy magazines from someone who was getting rid of their collection (always sad when that happens), and I will share them and their table of contents here. I'll be using these as reference works for articles for my Thunder Child webzine.

First, here's the table of contents from a French Science Fiction magazine, Atom Vision, number 6. (1997)

"Le zine qui fait revivre le fantastique du passe"
The magazine that revives the classic fantasies - that's as good as my French gets!



Here's the table of contents:

1. Courrier des lecteurs (letter page)
2. Voyage dans la Prehistoire (1954) Journey to the Beginning of Time
3. La Main Rampante vous Parle: un entretien avec le producteur Joseph Robertson - interview with Joseph Robertson
4. Destination Altair IV: Planete Interdite (Forbidden Planet)
5. George Wallace: Commando Cody vous Parle (Interview with Commando Cody)
6. Cody et les hommes-fusee de la "Republic"
7. Prehistoric Hammer
8. Les roles fantastiques de Joseph Cotten: (The Portrait of Jennie, From the Earth to the Moon, The Abominable Dr. Phibes), Soylent Green
9. Zinoscope
10. Kiss Meets the Phantom
11. Annonces (Announcements - Ads)
12. Doctor X - with Lionel Atwill
13. A la recerche de las cassette perdue (Les nuits de L'epouvante), aka La Lama Nel Corpo (1966)

SF & Fantasy July 8

Births

Jeffrey Tambor was born on 8 July 1944, in San Francisco, California.

Appeared in both Hellboy and Hellboy II, as well as Superhero Movie - 2008, Slipstream - 2007 (with Anthony Hopkins), Muppets from Space (1999) - K. Edgar Singer,

TV
The New Twilight Zone (Australia)
- The World Next Door (1986) TV episode - Milton
- Dead Woman's Shoes/Wong's Lost and Found Emporium (1985)

Deaths

Ben Chapman was born on December 25, 1908, in Oak Park, Illinois, USA and died on July 8, 1991, in Orange, California.

He is most famous for playing the Creature from the Black Lagoon - on land - in the movie of the same name. (In the water, it was Ricou Browning.)

Gene L. Coon was born on January 7, 1924 and died of lung cancer at the age of 49 on July 8, 1973, in Los Angeles, California. He produced 34 episodes of Star Trek and came up with the idea for the Klingons.

SF & Fantasy Events July 7, 2008

Births

Adam Byrne was born on July 7, 1977, Orange County, California. He is an illustrator on World of Warcraft and Spellbound.

Bill Campbell was born on July 7, 1959, Charlottesville, Virginia. He has not done a great of science fiction. He starred as Cliff Secord in The Rocketeer.

TV
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" - Capt. Thadiun Okona (1 episode, 1988)in The Outrageous Okona.

Movies
Call from Space (1989) - Young Man
The Rocketeer (1991) - Cliff Secord
The Cold Equations (1996) (TV movie) - Lt. John Barton
Menno's Mind (1997) - Menno
Max Q (1998) (TV Movie) - Clay Jarvis


Robert Heinlein was born on July 7, 1907, in Butler, Missouri, USA and died on May 8, 1988 in Carmel, California.

He was one of the Big Three of science fiction writers.

Jon Pertwee was born on July 7, 1919, in Chelsea, London, England, and died
on May 20, 1996, in Timber Lake, Connecticut of a heart attack.

He was the third Doctor Who.

Deaths

None known at this time.

SF&Fantasy events July 6

Born

Geoffrey Rush was born on July 6, 1951, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.

No science fiction, but has created the iconic character Captain Barbosa in the fantasy films Pirates of the Caribbean I, last bit of II, and III.
He also played Casanova Frankenstein in Mystery Men (1999).

John Byrne is a comic book artist who was born on July 6, 1950, Walsall, England, UK. Wrote and drew the X-Men.

Deaths

Buddy Ebsen was born on April 2, 1908, in Belleville, Illinois,and died on July 6, 2003, in Torrance, California. Most famous as Jed from The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones, he was the first choice for The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, but the aluminum paint that was used on him made him so ill he almost died, and he was replaced while in hospital by Ray Bolger.

He was also the telekinetic cook in the Twilight Zone episode, Prime Mover.

Cameron Mitchell was born on November 4, 1918, in Dallastown, Pennsylvania,and died on July 6, 1994.

In a long career, he made only a handful of SF appearances:

Movies
Space Mutiny (1988) - Cmdr. Alex Jansen
Frankenstein Island (1981) - Clay Jayson
Flight to Mars (1951) - Steve Abbott

TV
Project U.F.O." - Donald Worth in The Pipeline Incident (1978)
(aka Project Blue Book)
Death in Space (1974) (TV)

Malcolm Hulke (Doctor Who and Avengers scriptwriter), born in 1924, died on July 6, 1979.

From Wikipedia:
His first major television work was a series of 1950s children's science fiction serials - Target Luna, Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars, and Pathfinders to Venus - which he co-wrote with Eric Paice for the British ABC network. The producer of the series was Sydney Newman, who was later responsible for the creation of Doctor Who as Head of Drama at BBC Television.

In addition to the Pathfinders series and Doctor Who (which he started writing for in 1967) Hulke contributed scripts to The Avengers, The Protectors, Danger Man, Crossroads, football soap United! and Gideon's Way.

His scripts for Doctor Who were noted for avoiding black-and-white characterisation and simplistic plotting. Military figures are usually presented unfavourably - Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Ambassadors of Death both have a general as the ultimate villain. One of his best-known contributions to the series is Doctor Who and the Silurians, which depicts an encounter between the human race and the remnants of a technological reptilian race that ruled Earth in prehistoric times in a way that avoids casting either side as heroes or monsters. Hulke's "Silurians" are the first non-human creatures to be presented as having individual personalities in Doctor Who since the un-named antagonists of his own The Faceless Ones more than three years before. Outside of Hulke's work they are the first since the Menoptra in 1965's The Web Planet.

He also contributed to Target Books' range of Doctor Who novelisations, adapting all but one of his scripts before his death, as well as 1973's The Green Death. Unlike many Target novelisations, which tended to offer little that wasn't in the camera script apart from the words "he said" and "she said" in the appropriate places, Hulke's novelisations were noted for providing a wealth of additional background detail and character depth.

He was a friend and mentor to Terrance Dicks, with whom he collaborated in 1962 on The Avengers episode "The Mauritius Penny", which was Dicks' first television credit; The War Games, Dicks' first Doctor Who script, and on the non-fiction book The Making of Doctor Who.

Twilight Zone episode checklist

FREE DOWNLOAD

volcanoseven.com/TheThunderChild/Downloads/TwilightZonesEpisodes.html

A 9-page PDF featuring the 156 episodes, original air dates, main actors, and a column to check off which episodes you've seen/taped/own.

SF & Fantasy Events, July 5

Births

Jean Cocteau was born on July 5, 1889, in Maisons-Lafitte, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France and died on October 11, 1963, Milly-la-Forêt, Essonne, France.

Director and producer of Beauty and the Beast starring Jean Marais.

Philson Ahn, the brother of Philip Ahnn, was born on July 5, 1912, in the USA and died on May 23, 2001, Los Angeles, California. Of Korean/American ancestry.

Only made a handful of films before retiring from the screen. Played Prince Tallen in Buck Rogers (1939), starring Buster Crabbe.


Deaths

Kerwin Matthews was born on January 8, 1926, in Seattle, Washington, and died on July 5, 2007, in San Francisco, California.

Starred in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and The 3 Worlds of Gulliver.

Also played Major Caldwell in one episode of Space Patrol, "The Escape of Mr. Proteus." in 1954.

July 4 Events

Births

Carlton E. Morse, radio scriptwriter. Creator of I Love A Mystery.
Born on July 4 1901, in Jennings, Louisiana, USA and died on May 24, 1993

Deaths
Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland and died ob July 4, 1934, in Sallanches, France of leukaemia. One of the iscoveriers of radioactivity.

July 3 SF and Fantasy Events

Births

George Sanders was born on July 3, 1906, in St. Petersburg, Russia and died by suicide on April 25, 1972.

He is more famous for his detective movies (The Saint, The Falcon) than anything else, but he was in a bit of science fiction:

Movies
Doomwatch (1972) - The Admiral
Village of the Damned (1960) - Gordon Zellaby
From the Earth to the Moon (1958) - Stuyvesant Nicholl
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) - Miles Fairley (fantasy)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) - Lord Henry Wotton (fantasy)

TV
1) Mr. Freeze in Batman, "Instant Freeze " and "Rats Like Cheese" (1966)
2) Fenton in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, "The Traitor" (1965)

Deaths

Ross Martin
Born in Poland on March 22, 1920, in Grodek, Poland, died on July 3, 1981, in Ramona, California of a heart attack.
Most famous as Artemus West in Wild, Wild West.

Guest-starred in various sf shows including Mork and Mindy, The Invisible Man,
Sealab 2020 (1972) TV series (voice of Dr. Paul Williams ), two eps of The TWilight Zone: Death Ship (1963)as Lt. Ted Mason, and The Four of Us Are Dying (1960) as Johnny Foster, a musician.
Johnny Jupiter played Dexter Spiegelmacher in one episode in 1953: Duckweather and the Professor

Movies
The Colossus of New York (1958) as Dr. Jeremy 'Jerry' Spensser
Conquest of Space (1955) as Andre Fodor

The one thing cable has over satellite

I've been DVD-R-ing the Twilight Zone marathon all day yesterday and today... except now at 11:37 pm I can no longer do it because it is raining here in torrents...

And the rain is preventing the satellite signal from reaching my satellite receiver...

So all I have on my delightful TV is the blue box of the DirectTV logo bouncing up and down and around!

And some of my favorite episodes were coming up, too!

Not that it's a complete loss.

These programs, being shown on the Sci Fi Channel, have had bits and pieces cut out of them, in order to make room for all the extra commercials that are being shown.

If you've never seen the originals, you might not know what you're missing, except there'd be a little bit of a disappointment in each episode, a little resonance that is lost... but if you have seen the originals then you know you've been cheated!

ANother thing that annoys me about the Twilight Zone marathon is that, although it's done every year for the 4th of July, they never, ever show them in chronological order. And I'd love to see them in chronological order, with the progression in the types of stories done and in the sophisticatedness of the plots, which you miss when they jump all around like this.

Which is why if you've got the moolah, you should buy the complete set, from Amazon.com



28 discs, ....

Oh, it just came back... halfway through The Lonely, in which convicted murderer Jack Warden is presented with an android, played by Jean Marsh, with human feelings and emotions... whom they leave behind when he's picked up at the end of the episode...

The Rocket Man Returns

I received a demo DVD a few months ago, called Thirty Second Doom, which for various and sundry reasons, I haven't had a chance to do anything with until now.

So, let me do something with it - such as suggest that you all check it out!

Their website is: www.rocketmania.com

A bit of the first chapter (of a four part serial) is available on Youtube right now:



The sci-fi serial, Thirty Second Doom, is scheduled to be screened at Wonderfest 2008. Wonderfest takes place on July 19th and 20th in Louisville, Kentucky. The 2008 Wonderfest Convention



Stay tuned for another chapter of this review tomorrow

Ancient City Convention

I just received the info for a new convention, and thought I'd share it here:

Ancient City Convention
A Northeast Florida convention for fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy. Anime, Comics, Collectibles, & Gaming.
The 2008 convention will take place on August 2nd & 3rd at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront in downtown Jacksonville, FL.
Please direct all correspondence to the Convention Coordinator

Their website is www.ancientcitycon.com/

Their deadline for pre-registration is July 19, 2008.