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Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

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  • Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed
• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  august > November 13th, 2007, 10:09 AM

  Bailey 1729 Wrote:Time for ... Thanksgiving reunion! Yay! (ok I'm a little early but maybe by the time it rolls around a few people might have taken a look). Time for all lurkers to join the reunion and let your presence be known :coffee:.

  
  
  [COLOR="Blue"]The Thanksgiving reunion continues here!
  
  (The earlier discussion is still here.)
  
  On Laurie in Blackadder - he was in all but the first one. He was, needless to say, the tall, young, gangly one. :laugh: In the 2nd series he played Prince Ludwig and Simon Partridge, in the third he played George the Prince of Wales, and in the fourth he played "Lt. the Honorable George Colhurst St. Barleigh." I have only seen a few episodes of any of these though - that's all courtesy of the IMDB.
  
  
  [/COLOR]

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Boomstick > November 13th, 2007, 11:55 AM

  I've never watched Blackadder, though I've always heard plenty of good things about it.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 13th, 2007, 02:17 PM

  So we were also talking about BG on the previous incarnation of our chit chat thread (as Stripe put it - I prefer to think of it as a deep continuing discussion on popular culture and the insight that provides on the human condition and humanity's place and destiny in the universe ... and what genre addresses that most directly? fantasy and science fiction of course!) - and by chance just now that blurb at the top right of every sf-fandom page was a link to Matt Tinaglia's essay on BG and the X-Files, found here:
  http://www.xenite.org/features/x-star/
  
  At the moment I've only quickly skimmed the essay, but a brief summary appears to be as follows:
  BG = X-Files.
  My first impression is that he's really stretching to make the claimed equivalencies (well he does say that he's stretching; I'm saying that he's really stretching).
  
  I haven't been watching BG regularly, but can usually more or less pick up on what's happening when I do watch. I did watch X-Files regularly, for 2 or 3 seasons at least, until it reached the point where I couldn't remember or figure out how many times Mulder had encountered some version or incarnation or clone or whatever of his lost sister (among other things - the continuing story line - and in the early seasons it really did seem as if there would be one - became incoherent, at least to me). A possible fate for the BG story line? (I think there may already be signs.)
  
  It would be amusing to do a BG=Cleo2525 comparison. There are some obvious equivalencies (even more direct than to the X-Files!).
  
  Seeing this essay reminded me: August, how about another Rational Man essay for the site? You write extremely well, but so far only have ... one? But no pressure! :laugh:

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  august > November 13th, 2007, 06:40 PM

  [COLOR="Navy"]Well, if I ever had the time I'd just finish the last few paragraphs on that Cleopatra essay that I posted here last year, that was intended to be the second entry for that.
  
  I actually do have various drafts, in many cases just things I've written off the top of my head and posted here and/or the the Yahoo list - reviews of Bubba Ho-Tep, Whale Rider, the last ep of the Sopranos - but I just never seem to find the time to polish them up.
  
  Here's something to tide you over in the meantime - did you ever check out my interview with Jonas Talkington, aka the man most likely to get chomped bya cgi-creature in Bulgaria?
  
  Hey Boomstick - I take it back - you may get lost if you watch "Razor" - apparently the Adm. Cain stuff is a secondary storyline. See here for details.
  [/COLOR]

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Boomstick > November 14th, 2007, 12:58 AM

  august Wrote:Hey Boomstick - I take it back - you may get lost if you watch "Razor" - apparently the Adm. Cain stuff is a secondary storyline. See here for details.

  
  Ok, cool. I was thinking about catching up, but I won't have time to watch the mini-series and three seasons between now and then. They're releasing Razor on DVD December 4, just over a week after it airs. So I figure I'll take my time and catch up at a reasonable pace, since Razor will be there waiting for me. I'm surprised they're releasing it so soon, no doubt hoping to profit on the Christmas season. Viva capitalism!

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 14th, 2007, 12:43 PM

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 16th, 2007, 10:04 PM

  (above I said "not for August" because he's already read those old articles of mine I think - just to clarify)
  
  Great interview August. I'm curious whether it was by phone or in person and if the latter where etc. (ignore this question if it's too personal please - just wondering if you might have been in Bulgaria).
  
  What an amazing person! So he got his start because he looks like a nice guy who could rip someone's arm off if necessary? (Great line.) Fascinating how in Bulgaria there are no agents, no actor's guild, etc. etc., instead everybody just sort of seems to know everybody and they call you if they need you. As the interview progresses it seems he is basically doing everything: working on another movie on his days off, translator, dialog coach, dubbing ... I'm probably forgetting something, he was (and I assume still is) doing so many different things.
  
  I see from imdb his career is still going well.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  august > November 17th, 2007, 07:01 PM

  Yep, Jonas has worked his way up to casting director now, and casts most of the local roles for most of the creature features done in and around Bulgaria (including ROC's movie "The Genesis Code" that she just finished shooting.) And he also is picking up work as a director's assistant - unsure if that's just doing translation, or if he's involved more creatively. And he's still doing plenty of acting - check out some pics of him as a big shaven-headed goon in Josh Becker's recent "Harpies" here.
  
  While you're at it, it occurs to me you might have missed my interviews with Bruce and Michael Cory Davis.
  
  And no, sadly I wasn't in Bulgaria. Those were all done via e-mail.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 18th, 2007, 06:22 PM

  E-mail, really? You manage to capture a sense of spontaneity, as if it were live. It seems that published interviews often start with the interviewer setting the scene, you know, something like "At noon, I met (famous celebrity name) in the lobby of the glamorous (overly expensive hotel name) in beautiful downtown (name of city favored by celebrities). They were dressed in ... (and so on)." Or, in the case of a celebrity who has not seen good times recently, perhaps "At noon, I met Joe Hasbeen in the city's underground parking garage, only a ten minute walk from the homeless shelter where he currently resides. He was wearing three pairs of old pants, four old shirts, and two tattered old jackets, all of indeterminate colors due to multiple layers of dirt and grime. Joe explained right away - probably realizing why I was staring - that he dressed in layers not for warmth - it was in fact quite warm in the garage, which is why he and other homeless shelter residents came here after being kicked out every morning - but as a backup system in the case of spontaneous disintegration of random articles of clothing. Strangely, he was not wearing shoes - I filed this away as a question to ask later, after we had agreed to the terms of the interview ... (and so on)."
  
  I guess scene setting would be difficult for an e-mail interview ... but not impossible! Let's see, something like ... "At noon, in the parking lot of the not-so-glamorous A1 Grub and Gas, I opened up my three-year-old Acme laptop, and after waiting five minutes for it to boot, to my great surprise found I had a strong signal! Opening up my webmail page, I composed my first question ... (and so on)."
  
  Thanks for the links. I'm pretty sure I've read the one with Bruce (but I just read it again anyway). I don't remember reading the one with Michael Cory Davis (which I just read, also), but the pictures all look very familiar.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  august > November 18th, 2007, 06:40 PM

  [COLOR="Blue"]BTW, I have just e-mailed (or attempted to, anyway, using the most up-to-date contact info I have, which isn't up-todate at all!) the following folks and urged them to stop by:
  
  Aida, swirly_master, Kea, Gloriosus, Moonchain, Darkamber, Strife, Hathor, maggiemay aka Venifice, VickyPrattFan (aka Jessiy) Alanna_Trebond, NYR2525, davesnothome, renegadegirl, RainaRose, Melody, Hathor, C.L.E.O.P.A.T.R.A , ve3sab, and Tblue!
  
  Now there are some blasts from your past!!! :clap: :bg:
  [/COLOR]

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 19th, 2007, 10:24 PM

  Blasts from the past: yes ... several of those names are
  
  here
  
  (last of the old SUSA Cleo board, frozen in time, courtesy of web.archive.org).
  
  The very last posts were April 16-17 2001.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Xenarose > November 20th, 2007, 12:04 AM

  Ahh, the memories...*sigh*

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 20th, 2007, 03:43 PM

  RainaRose! ... been a while ... welcome to the Thanksgiving reunion .
  
  The topic seems to be "who's watching what on tv these days?" - let's see, so far August has tricked me into watching two episodes of Virus Buster Serge (the only two episodes I'll ever see I think - only watched the second one to see if by some strange twist it started to make some kind of sense).

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  august > November 20th, 2007, 05:08 PM

  Yep, but that trick was just reminding you that Sci-Fi was running anime on Monday nights, after Enterprise reruns.
  
  Bailey had mentioned watching but getting a little bored by House, MD, and I had said that I'm very into the Sopranos these days. Boomstick mainly watches sports, and reruns of vintage shows like Miami Vice or Magnum P.I. and is considering checking out the new BSG Razor. I do enjoy the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, but both will on hiatus for a long time until the strike is over. I am looking forward though to the new Tin Man (a variation on the Wizard of Oz in a sci-fi setting) in a few weeks on Sci-Fi, and generally enjoy the creature features they have regularly now. (See the interviews with Jonas and Michael above for details on those.)
  
  OK, who else?

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Boomstick > November 21st, 2007, 02:18 AM

  august Wrote:but both will on hiatus for a long time until the strike is over.

  
  Does anyone else see this writers strike, and the coverage it's getting, as a sign of what a crazy, absurd age we live in?
  
  If I understand correctly, the issue is that their contracts are outdated and the writer's current compensation doesn't figure in DVD sales. I understand the issue from the writers point of view, and I agree that they should get paid more since DVDs have become a huge source of income for studios.
  
  But they're out there striking. Picketing. Television show writers. Honestly. This couldn't be resolved while they were working? It's Hollywood, for crying out loud, these people are supposed to be pros at wheeling-and-dealing.
  
  And the media coverage it's getting, you'd think that it was something of consequence. "We're into day four of the writers strike..."
  
  What is it, a slow news day?
  
  Go read a book, people! :bounce:

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  august > November 21st, 2007, 09:24 AM

  Welll, I think that's the whole issue. They've known since whenever they signed the last contract what the expiration date on it was (which I guess was Nov. 1st.) So the wheelers and dealers could have inked a deal the very next day, 2 years ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, whenever it was that they signed the last deal. That's what they wanted to do - OK, guys, we'll work it out. Next week. Just keep working. The contract's in the mail. Have your people call my people. No, not next week - it'll have to be week after next week. Next week, I'll be in the Bahamas spending the money I made off your script that got a million dollars worth of downloads' on people's PC's, but you didn't get a dime from. Just keep writing. We'll pay you next year. Gotta go, babe - bigger name on the other line. Love ya, mean it.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 21st, 2007, 01:35 PM

  You know, all of this seemed somehow very familiar to me ... so I just looked, and sure enough according to an AP article I just read
  
  "The strike is the first walkout by writers since 1988. That work stoppage lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million."
  
  (I assume that means 500 million in 88 dollars, which would be equivalent to ... something a lot more today! - I was in my 30s in 88 by the way, so in the funny sort of way memory works it doesn't seem all that long ago - on the other hand it is true I had forgotten all other details)
  
  The primary motivating factor for executives in industries today (all industries as far as I can tell, not just entertainment) seems to be greed ... I just don't get it, really, after accumulating a certain amount of wealth (and associated power), additional accumulation seems pointless. At a certain point one might think that other motivating factors might kick in - like taking pride in the work and the products for example! This is all just my long-winded way of saying I am 100% behind the WGA.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  august > November 21st, 2007, 03:48 PM

  Yep, I think just about every writer - except for the .01 % that become successful producers like, oh, Aaron Spelling - would agree that they don't get rich. They might make a few hundred thousand dollars off of a script or a show they work on... but then that show might be cancelled, and they might unexpectedly have to live off that for the next two years. And send 4 kids through college.
  
  It's like Bruce Campbell, describing a "hypothetical" movie an actor who got a credit as producer might have done c. 1992, and been paid half a million dollars for. When you factor in the two years that shooting plus post-production plus publicizing the film took... then factor out Uncle Sam's share... his manager...his agent... his lawyer... and then the fact that he got divorced and his wife got half of everything else... and he made something like $43,000 a year. Just like a few years earlier, when he made $200,000 for "Evil Dead 2," and the next year he was moonlighting as a security guard while going on auditions. The guy at personnel looked at his application and exclaimed "What are you doing here? You made $200 grand last year!" Bruce replied "Well.... that was last year." :laugh:
  
  Josh Becker, the Xena/Herc/Jack of All Trades/Alien Apocalypse director, co-wrote two Xena episodes - he's a director primarily, not a writer. But when I asked him recently, he said "those two oddball WGA co-story credits on Xena generate checks of $2-5 quarterly."
  
  Basically the studio heads assume that writers will be happy to keep working, and make decent livings, and so they can stall them with years of negotiations and not have to do anything. That really is the whole idea behind dealing with a union - a union never will have the nerve to strike, because they members need the work, and the money. So basically the writerslet them know months in advance "Hey - we're going to call your bluff if you don't work out a deal." Which is why they're now out on the picket lines. That has been the whole idea for the last century or more - the picket lines do nothing to the CEO's. It's for PR. If the public sees it, the public will feel sympathetic, and put pressure on the execs to make a deal.
  
  Joss Whedon, as a 3rd generation Hollywood writer, described it eloquently, because he was a young whippersnapper just out of college when his dad and the WGA struck in 1988. At the time he admired his dad, but he said he REALLY admired his dad now, in retrospect.
  
  Another wonderful take on this came from Steven L. Sears the Xena/Sheena writer/producer:
  
  

  Quote:So I arrived at my picketing site at Disney studios. And, 'lo and behold, I ran into Katherine Fugate. For those who don't know, Katherine is an extremely talented writer who wrote an amazing episode of Xena and now has her own series on the air, "Army Wives". We've known each other for years, so we walked along, happily picketing together, discussing business and romance, when one of the strike leaders came up to us and asked us if we had anything to do with the items that were delivered to them. We looked a bit bewildered and he asked our names. When we told him, he said "Yeah, the Xena fans dropped it off in your names to support the Writers." Well, well. How about that? So we copped to it. And that began a lively discussion about how incredible the fans have been during the strike. The strike leader was amazed; he had not experienced such a thing. Not just the Xena fans, but fans for other shows having also been showing their support, having pizzas or cookies delivered to the various strike locations. This is a source of support that has been unknown in the past.
  
  It was funny to see the other Writers grazing the food and drinks, finding out that fans of certain shows had sent the food. Their reactions were amazement. "Really? The fans?"
  
  But, as I pointed out, this was more amazing because Xena ISN'T EVEN ON THE AIR. In fact, it's been off the air for six years! The other fans, bless their hearts, want to see their Writers back on the job and to see their shows. The Xena fans have no other reason than to support us and the cause. They (you) truly appreciate us. And I can't tell you how much that means to me. To all of us.
  
  .......
  
  I'm picketing on a strike line for the rights of series I don't work on and a future that will benefit new Writers… and fans of a CANCELED series send supplies for us, not because of a particular show, but because of their love of WRITERS.
  
  I don't think I can express to you how moving that is for me. I love my career. I just didn't always know the audience did.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Bailey 1729 > November 22nd, 2007, 11:20 PM

  Inspiring stories, August. The writers are sort of obviously the foundation of the whole business, and they deserve to be fairly compensated - or at least, not to be ... can't think of appropriately polite wording. Good luck to them.
  
  Writer's strike of 88: 22 weeks - wow. Funny thing is, I have no memory whatsoever of suffering from any kind of entertainment withdrawal. I was pretty busy, though, and what little TV I saw at the time was mostly cartoons that I watched with my daughter. I'm going to guess that this was around her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phase (the tv network series version of course) - I have a distinct memory of coming home early as often as possible in order to watch it with her (I have a vague memory of 4:30). Actually, I should say our phase, since I enjoyed it too (but I liked the comics, which I had been into earlier, better). Now, 19 years later, it turns out that most of the TV I watch is still cartoons (see previous anime discussion) - the difference is, now she makes fun of me for watching cartoons (she's currently living at home after graduating from college getting ready - probably, who knows? - to move somewhere else).
  
  Well so far not many have showed up for the Thanksgiving reunion! Maybe they are just waiting a bit, in order to be fashionably late.

• Mutant Bar Blues 3.0 - The New Breed

  Boomstick > November 23rd, 2007, 11:35 AM

  Good story, August.
  
  Everyone survive Thanksgiving? We had a good 2-3 inches of snow here. It's pretty to look at, but also a reminder of what a pain in the butt winter is.
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