200702.28

HOT DAMN! Where and when can I get one of these?
Star Trek-like ‘Tricorder’ becomes science fact


Sorry for the lack of post here since Farpoint but things have been even crazier than usual. Look for more news and updates to the entire site next month.

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200702.17

Quick update from Farpoint

Gina and I just had drinks and a nice long talk with actor Richard Hatch.
Here's a quick picture.
Mr. Hatch is a really nice, down to earth guy who gave us some great advice and insight into the whole entertainment industry. We won the chance to have a drink with him in the charity auction (for an undisclosed amount) but rather than just spend the usual fifteen minutes with us, we chatted it up for over an hour.

Since we've been here Gina and I have landed roles in at least three upcoming projects including New Voyages with the promise of SAG membership for BOTH of us before the end of 2007.

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200702.12

"Revelations" in the NEWS!
(Yes! Again.)

New York Press has a really excellent article on Fan Films and some really nice things to say about "Star Wars: Revelations"
(Click the link above for the whole article but here's a taste.)

"Fan films reached a new plateau in 2005 with “Star Wars: Revelations,” a 40-minute, straight-faced dramatic film directed by Shane Felux. At the time a graphic designer and part-time actor, Felux says that he’d never made a film before and that doing a fan film made it easier to enlist volunteers than if he’d done an unknown, original project. “If I say Star Wars, people volunteer their time, energy and equipment, because it’s their dream, too.”

“Star Wars: Revelations,” a tale of fugitive Jedi knights, took three years and cost Felux $20,000, which he raised through credit cards and a home equity loan, plus another $15,000 he spent on the premiere party. “After three years of busting ass and a lot of hard work, I decided to spend money to thank everyone, since I couldn’t pay them.” Millions of curiosity-seekers downloaded “Revelations,” and its popularity flabbergasted Felux, who admits that he has trouble seeing anything but the film’s flaws. “I look at it and see every ugly aspect about it. Compared to a $200 million film, it’s a terrible film. But it is my first film.” Plus, it has a surprisingly large scope, a spiffy space battle scene and more well-rounded female characters in 40 minutes than the real Star Wars offered in six films.

“I like to think that ‘Revelations’ sets a bar. We did it, you can, too. Hopefully, you can do it better,” says Felux."

Well . . . Okay then, GO Shane!

Shane has a new project in the works and although I am, as always, sworn to secrecy, I am hoping for a chance at a legitimate audition with the casting director and at least a shot at one of the better roles. It's a complex situation, having worked together on "Revelations" an outsider might assume that Shane would be looking to use the same people, but this is not the case. You see, in many circles the acting in "Revelations" was panned quite horribly and unfortunately there was an unfair tendency to lump all the acting together. Keep in mind too that, although Gina and I had been acting for years, this was also our first film. So even though Gina and I still get fan mail to this day, even though some professional reviewers said we were good and even though Gina and I have gone on to more professional projects, expanding and refining our skills over the last three years, the scars of some of that old criticism still run pretty deep. Not just for Shane and crew, but for us as well. As a result Shane is dedicated to not making the same mistakes twice and wants to make sure he gets the best talent that he can. This speaks well for him, and I agree, I just want as fair a shot as the next guy. Just as I would not seek any special favoritism, I would not want to be locked out of the more significant roles.

In any case, it's very rewarding to see that with a little hind sight "Revelations" still holds up so well.

In other tangentially related news Gina and I have noticed that "Red Legged Devils" has been added to our IMDB resumes and we're quite pleased about that. Thanks out to Cricket and Charlie.

Also at Farpoint this coming weekend I will be meeting up with the guys of the Farragut who have asked me tentatively to play the father of one of their characters in an upcoming episode.
Also we are looking forward to seeing crew from "Dark Operations" who we haven't seen in a while.

Exciting stuff all around.

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200702.09

A few points of interest

Quantum Computer:
"This quantum computer employs the resources of 65,536 parallel universes to compute answers in a fundamentally new way." - Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Brain Scan: (fixed thank's Tim)
Professor Colin Blakemore, director of the Medical Research Council, said: "We shouldn't go overboard about the power of these technologies at the moment. But what you can be absolutely sure of is that these will continue to roll out and we will have more and more ability to probe people's intentions, minds, background thoughts, hopes and emotions."

Robo-builder:
"Scheduled to erect its first house in California within the next few months. The two-story house will built in less than 24 hours out of only concrete and gypsum — and without the help of a single human hand."

A peek ahead into Nanotechnology:
Nanorex and the Foresight Institute established a challenge grant to fund the production of a new computer-generated animated short film called "Productive Nanosystems: from Molecules to Superproducts".

As I read, watch and come to understand the above stories and I quietly reflect on them - I find myself reminded of these lines from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy":
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the most popular known reference work in the Milky Way, for two reasons: it is inexpensive, and it has the words Don't Panic written on it in large, friendly letters on its cover."

Don't Panic - Good advice that.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.

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200702.06

Shane “On the Lot”.

Our old buddy Shane has submitted the "Liberty" video to the television show “On the Lot”.

I knew this was in the works, and I was waiting for it, and I check Shane’s site, first thing, almost every morning.

Despite all that I just found out and when I go to check it out the film is already rated quite high. Nonetheless, I ask all of you to lend your support by reviewing the various submissions and then voting for your favorite. (*Sigh* Unfortunately, registration is required so I will understand if some of you can’t be bothered. I really hate that too. Often I will use a Mailinator addy to get around it but whatever as I say Shane is already doing pretty well.) Of course we all hope that Shane’s will be your favorite but I only ask that everyone take an honest look, vote fairly, and I have confidence that things will shake out as they should.

Here are the links: http://films.thelot.com/films/4565

Also check this out: http://panicstruckpro.com/onthelot/shane_felux_onthelot.mov

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200702.01

Wha . . ! Wasn’t it just 1998 about  . . . twenty minutes ago?

February 1, 2007.

There it is, right there on the calendar, and yet somehow it does not seem completely real to me.
I open my Google news channel this morning and the top story is: “Warming 'very likely' due to man, report to say” . . . also today “Water ‘very likely’ wet”.
It’s like living in a goddamn kindergarten.

Another thing that is getting under my skin is a certain faction’s response to the new cancer vaccine for women. You see, just a couple of years back some researchers discovered that a particular form of cervical cancer is, in fact, caused by a virus. This was a major breakthrough since before that no one knew that viruses could even cause cancer. So faster that than you can say “antivirus” they went to work on a vaccine. The vaccine is now available and all is well because women everywhere have one less thing to worry about. Right? Well, no, not really, because you see some parents groups are concerned that their little girls might get the vaccine and that as a result they might become more promiscuous and, well, they hate that. They hate that more than their daughters possibly getting cancer. These idiots are parents, they get to be parents, but you need a license to fish. (As an aside if you’re one of those people who think that they rushed the research and that we need more time, that’s another thing. I understand that and I’m not talking about you.)

All of this, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. In my opinion these and other issues like them are the result of the rapid changes that are coming and of some people’s flat out refusal to face them. I believe that as changes begin to come faster and faster (as they are) that many people will become more and more uncomfortable with what they see. I believe that like minded individuals will then start to band together and segregate themselves with explicit intention of picking a specific historic time they are comfortable with and just living as if it is that time as much as they can.

Imagine for instance a renaissance festival that never closes. The people of the town live there year round, day in day out. They still have access to modern food, hygienic facilities and current first aid services but in town, it’s medieval Europe - all the time. The people of the town create crafts which they export to the outside world and although I would not choose to live there, I would certainly consider such a place a very keen vacation spot. The rule for vacationers would be you have to blend in. Live in one of the many local inns, dress like everyone else dresses, and leave your cell phone, PDA and notebook computer at the front gate please. The people of the town would know of such things, but would have chosen to not use them.

This is an extreme example, of course, but one could easily see people doing the same thing with say the year 1980 or 1969. As we begin to see more and more merging of man and machine, nanotechnology, robots, designer genetic engineering, engineered human animal chimeras, and on, and on, and on, more and more people I believe are going to just want to not deal with all of it. I believe that what people will want is to live on a kind of movie set reality. A safe familiar place where, when there is a problem the technicians, medical personnel or police come in and fix it, but when there are no problems, there is just the set.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but at the current rate, I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long.

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200701.27

New Video featuring Gina and I.

Shane has a new video out.
It's not my favorite style of music, but what the hell, it looks cool. Gina plays the embodyment of freedom who has been forced underground by a corrupt Government. While I play the angry leader of the special ops team sent to take her out, plus I get to shoot her.
You may also see some other familiar faces from "Revelations" (wink, wink).

Check it out here: http://panicstruckpro.com/margot/liberty_QTweb_large.mov