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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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I just read your crosshair post and I agree with everything you said BUT…

Let me put on my own tin foil hat for a sec and talk about….

The burn mark thats supposed to cover the chip removal scar. Doesn’t it seem to be in a slightly odd position? Every other clone has it straight above the angle of their jaw/before the ear. I get that the burn was “placed” on that side of his head by writers for suspense and so it wouldn’t be apparent that his chip is out(thus showing Hunter checking it). But is the message here “oh he has this burn that’s close enough”? Also the scene where he was getting blasted by that engine could have easily scarred his face or at least affect the area closer to his face. I expected it to be over the temple too. But no it’s only that spot. (Now I know people will say “it’s Disney cartoon” so the scarring is minimal due to that)

Then it just kinda surprised me to hear brad Rau go “oh yeah, chip is definitely out, have you seen the side of that guys’d head? Lol” Followed by Jen’s “the eagle-eyes fans would notice all along”. Because now I feel like a clown for thinking I WAS being eagle-eyed and NOTICED that it was in the wrong place to really hide the chip scar. And if I’m correct to assume she meant that it was after Bracca that makes crosshair’s line “a long time ago” even weirder since there is no way Bracca happened that long ago.

And what was the point in showing Hunter checking the burn mark? We don’t really see his reaction. We don’t ever see him commenting on it later. It seemed like a big deal to him given how shocked he looked and how insistent he was on knowing when exactly was it removed. (“Does it matter?” “YES!”). And then he suddenly doesn’t care and never brought it up again. Even when they got to a relatively safe location or back to their ship.

I don’t think it’s a good sign that we have to rely on an interview to be sure about such an important plot point. I would be disappointed if this matter won’t be addressed at least in some way next season.

We’re all just passing the tin hat back and forth at this point. This is fine and we're handling the hiatus beautifully lol

But YES to all of that. Every detail here has two (or more) possible readings attached to it, which makes it impossible to figure out what we’re meant to be prioritizing. So, to summarize:

Yeah, despite my own claim that the burn scar is “exactly” where the chip scar would be, there is a slight difference. Is that a significant difference then, or just down to the animators not mapping Crosshair's design down to the inch?

Is the burn mark (almost) precisely where the chip would be to show that there’s a chance it’s still there (you can’t see the surgery scar), or to show that enough damage happened there to make the chip’s removal inevitable?

Yet "enough damage happened there to make the chip's removal inevitable" is a pretty big assumption that the show never set up. So are we meant to view the untold number of clones who suffered other head injuries throughout TCW as evidence that the chip must still be there—after all, they weren’t de-chipped due to head trauma, burns, etc.—or are we supposed to ignore that because #Disney cartoon, not everything is gonna have such long-term consistency?

Is the placement of the burn deliberate and the lack of any other facial scaring suspicious, or (again) is that just because #Disney cartoon doesn’t want to disfigure his whole face?

Is the scene where Crosshair has his chip enhanced another clue—the chip appears to be a bit higher up than others’ in his scan—or just an animation inconsistency?

Was enhancing the chip important, or just used for the drama of that particular scene?

Does Hunter think that the burn is somehow evidence of the chip’s removal, or is he just taking Crosshair at his word?

Is Crosshair’s lack of clarification meant to read as him being evil—he doesn’t care what was the Empire and what was him—or another hint that something else is going on?

Finally, most fans agree that, if the chip is out, it had to have happened after Bracca so… yeah, how is that “a long time ago”? Is that line meant to imply that Crosshair has been misled (perhaps with the Empire lying to him, claiming his chip was removed before the season even began), or are we supposed to believe that a significant amount of time has truly passed (making TBB’s lack of a rescue even worse in my eyes…) Even other evidence we might point to is pretty useless. “Well, it could be a long time because there was enough time for him to heal from those burns.” But is that because time actually passed, or did the Empire us SW’s super science fiction magic to heal him up quick? Idk the canonical time it normally takes burns like that to heal with bacta and I doubt that's consistent across the lore either. But regardless, the SF aspect means that a healed face isn't good evidence for a lot of time passing, like it might be in another genre. For all we know, Crosshair was healed in a few days.

So yeah, what in the world are we meant to make of all this? It’s too ambiguous, too confusing, and each answer—chip or no chip—comes with apparent contradictions. None of that reflects the certainty seen in the interviews. In order to reward “eagle-eyed” viewers, you need to be on top of all those details, both in terms of the writing and the animation. Yet it doesn't appear like the writers were. With all of this combined with the confusion I mentioned in another post regarding side-character clones overcoming their chips with ease… I don’t think this is a good sign either. I love TBB and had a blast watching it, but this particular aspect feels like it could unravel into a tangled, contradictory mess very quickly. The sort of situation where many in the fandom will accept the plot and argue strongly that here, Crosshair's canonical chip situation is supported by X, Y, and Z. Whereas others will point out that yeah, that’s true, but it’s also not supported by A, B, and C. Even if we’re willing to ignore those moments of confusion and disjointedness, it’s a big letdown to feel like you’re following along with what the show’s hinting at… only for the show to turn around and go, “Lol nah. None of that was important.” Shows with twists and reveals—which TBB very much is at this point—are built on the fandom’s investment in the details. If you don’t treat those details carefully, the fandom will quickly begin to resent the expectation that you be invested in the mystery... but not so invested that you "read into things."

Intense flashbacks to the later seasons of Sherlock.

BUT right now for me the larger issue is that even if we don't care about these details, the rest of TBB absolutely should. The fact that Hunter doesn't question what's up with the burn, Tech isn't interested in trying a scan, Wrecker's experience under the chip has no impact on how he approaches this, Omega seems to accept that this is the "real" Crosshair, and Echo doesn't push to rescue him like they did for Gregor... all of that is at the emotional heart of the show and arguably more important than getting a perfect resolution to these chip questions. Obviously I'd prefer to get both, but if we can only have one, I'd prioritize tackling the group's reaction to these events, rather than trying to smooth over every potential inconsistency revolving around the chip. Ultimately, I'm more interested in the show explaining why four brothers and a sister didn't fight for Crosshair when, as far as they knew up until he said otherwise, he was a prisoner of the Empire just like everyone else they helped was.

#TBB #The Bad Batch #Star Wars #SW #mymetas #long post

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steve0discusses · 4 years

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Yugioh S4 Ep 27: Joey Punches Valon to Death and Seto Kaiba buys a Car.

My favorite character is back!

THE STORYBOARDER.

Like clockwork, the best storyboarder of all of Yugioh saw in the episode notes “This is the one where we shall Destroy Joey Wheeler” and he was like “Yes! this is extremely my thing!” and he’s back at it again, destroying Joey Wheeler with such finesse.

Like it’s so hard to explain in caps because you can’t see stuff move, but this animator is so good at the Yugioh vibe--he makes these character designs WORK for him (or her? No idea the identity of the mysterious storyboarder (or team of storyboarders--maybe this was one little group they freelance out to that worked really well together? I dunno) ) they really capture what Yugioh IS in a really unique way and still remain fairly economical in the animation sense. They do not hold back on any pose, and go completely ham into this ridiculous concept of a card game where you put on a special suit and punch eachother in the face.

Mind you, it’s still a card game and I skipped all that, but man...this is such a good storyboarder and I know that next episode they’ll be gone but for now I’m just gonna bask in it.

First off, Rebecca manages to figure out Seto’s 6-letter password in order to access billions of people’s personal data off of a satellite (we don’t get to find out what the password was) and although the storyboarder is great--they did make one fatal mistake.

The bane of every Californian who leaves California. LA is like a completely different country to San Fransisco but everyone only knows of two Californian cities and assumes we’re right next door to each other.

And it’s like...no, man. I don’t have Disneyland. Do I sound like a cheerful person that lives next to Disneyland? Do I say “bruh” and smile with the force of 1000 suns as we surf the coast on the backs of Lisa Frank dolphins? No dude, I have a strong Bay Area accent that makes me sound like a dry sarcastic asshole and I wear sweatshirts to the freakin beach because it’s very cold and filled with great white sharks.

(Sorry I just had to delete like 10 k words where I compared the entire cast to US cities by saying cryptic stuff like Joey Wheeler : Seto Kaiba is like LA : San Fransisco and like it was the biggest random tangent that only makes sense to me. Quarantine brain, y’all, I got SERIOUS quarantine brain. Anyone else? Anyone else just find themselves wasting like 2 hours thinking of which cities match the personalities of different characters on a show that came out so long ago? Man I need distractions right now.)

But back to what’s happening on the show, Yami is coming to terms with Joey’s struggle about as well as Yami does.

Which is mostly Yami saying “I’m pretty sure I killed Joey in that card game with Bakura in S1 and Tea had to bring him back from the graveyard so like wtv.”

(read more under the cut)

This was like 2003??? I think I keep forgetting when this season came out but we had printers at this point. We had google maps and a printer.

I don’t think I’ve touched a map like that since the 5th grade, where we had this competition to make a hypothetical road trip across America. It was Awful, and if you won the competition to get from SF to New York with the shortest distance, you would win something like pizza and a cool engraved name plate. We did not win pizza, because I could not even unfold this asshole map.

And now we have Google so like thanks, Mrs. Lambert, it was cool, but I’ll never use that information again. I hope. It was such a vivid frustrating memory that these maps still fill me with anxiety to this day, hearkening back to my 5th grade self just desperately trying to use string to measure how many miles the freeways across the midwest contain. (spoiler: a lot)

How OLD is this kid? Rebecca’s like secretly a 68 year old. She’s secretly Mrs. Lambert.

At this point we had a swell in the music as each friend of Joey joined in to announce their willingness to risk danger and save him.

Were they...not going to join him the whole time? It just seemed like a weird thing to bring up sooo after the fact.

Yami then turned to Duke and was like “but not you. You stay here” and he was like “Oh, thank gods.”

Rebecca stayed behind because the animators don’t want to draw her. Honestly, she’s incredibly helpful and they were mad stupid to leave the only smart one in the car. But youknow...this team loves being mad stupid. It makes the show more entertaining.

As they left we had a weird aside where Arthur Hawkins reflected “Rebecca is having just a REAL hard time trusting Yami” and it’s like--Arthur Hawkins! You’ve been dumping on Yami for like an entire season, that’s why. Like don’t pretend you’re all on team Pharaoh now. Why ever stop dunking?

But youknow, character development, Rebecca is going to learn the trust the ghost that possessed her crush/best friend that she’s had for 2+ years on a kid who’s been living in Japan this whole time who literally forgot who she was 2 weeks ago. You trust that ghost, Rebecca.

Or not. I mean you really don’t have to. You don’t owe Yami anything, dude. You don’t need to blindly trust idiot men, Rebecca. You just do you. Trust that instinct of “is this guy not trustworthy?” because yep. Chances are if you’re having that thought, that he’s totally not.

Storyboarder!

Storyboarder what ARE you???

STORYBOARDER!

after this followed a scene that I’ve seen gif-ed just so, so often that I assumed it was in a Yugioh Spin-off. I don’t know why I thought it wasn’t in this OG series, but I didn’t expect it to be here, in the Dartz season. But, it does make sense that this scene was under the best Storyboarder‘s direction because *chef’s kisses * it’s perfect. Every frame is a joy. The amount of sinister expressions on Mokuba, the level of sass coming off of Kaiba. It’s such a freakin shame that this man’s best work so far only lasts like a few seconds.

PS my bro looked it up and this car salesman has a wikipedia page.

He also looked up if anyone has shipped this car salesman and it’s our lucky day because this ship does not exist with any human ever in the world. Thank you, humanity. But, they DID make a wikipedia page so maybe we’re just putting off the inevitable?

I’m not even gonna cap it because I KNOW this is a gif you can easily download from everywhere but mm--this is a SOLID piece of animation. This animator is just flexing so hard, man. Yugioh did not deserve this much care and attention to detail.

Shippers rejoice, Seto Kaiba did briefly consider helping out Joey (before he absolutely drove away in the opposite direction)

(They’re clearly in the financial district already, PS. They are driving 5 ft to Dartz’ house.)

At some point Joey nabbed Valon’s card and so now he also gets to wear a bunch of stupid armor outfits.

This one is weird! It’s very Kamen rider-ish...but it’s a color scheme that feels very valentines day. It looks hard to wear. Good thing it’s animated.

I may need to capture this walk sequence though...if I still have the energy...the picture does not display his very energetic arms-in-the-air walk cycle I haven’t seen since that one Season zero episode. I dunno if it’s a reference to that, but I can’t think of any other reason why Tristan is walking like that.

This is when Mai finally shows up.

Valon lost his helmet during this fight, which lead to this:

What a good note to end on.

Anyways, I have no idea what my update schedule will look like or be, so if you’re new here and you want to start reading these from the beginning, I have a link for that:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

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3wisellamas · 5 years

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Mega Man AU-ish Thing?

I saw someone on a Twitter thread mention that the Voxy Bunch joke looked like a Mega Man stage select screen, and of course, with me being the huge Mega Man nerd I am, I of course had to design an entire concept around that.

Regular Stages, based off of the Voxy Bunch grid:

Shannon: A lot of Metal Man influence, though instead of all those gears she has TONS of sawblades everywhere. And an entire section where the stage itself kinda morphs around you, with blocks and platforms changing positions and blocking your path. You basically get Metal Blade for defeating her, naturally, since she also uses sawblades during her fight, along with the occasional shapeshift -- she even gets a somewhat two-stage fight, turning into a ton of random things about halfway through. Her weakness is probably Mikayla's claw weapon, since it blocks the saws. And, of course, like Metal Man, she's definitely weak to her own weapon... (though come on, who ISN'T weak to Metal Blade?) Fink: Sewers/Trash theme, Junk Man-ish? Plus bonus virtual reality sections, kinda like Astro Man’s stage in MM8! She pulls out all of her bestest weapons for the fight, and can also climb the walls and hide in the ceiling, to drop down on you for sneak attacks. Her actual weapon that you get is her Plasma Mace, and she's weak to Darrell's lasers, since they can cut off her escape. Raymond: Sports themed, very Strike Man-ish. And a few roses and spotlights, for good measure. For beating him you get, I dunno, a dodgeball cannon? One of the many, MANY sports-themed attacks he uses on you. And you can beat him easily using Fink's plasma mace, less as a weapon and more as a distraction... Venomous: Very chemical-y, a little like Burst Man's stage, with huge vats and tubes everywhere? Mutated/chimera enemies, maybe obvious combinations of enemies from other stages. After you beat him, you get...tentacles. Maybe as the requisite shield weapon, he'll use them to block you while fighting him, and he also throws vials of various poisons to damage you. And, of course, Shannon's saw blades cut through his shields VERY easily for his weakness! Boxman (Box Man?): Lots of heavy artillery and toxic waste! And conveyor belts. And disappearing blocks. And spikes. And Guts Man platforms. He's got all the most annoying stage tricks, and of course, his fight definitely uses his flying desk, both with him shooting rockets and also flying around the room on it to ram you. His weapon is probably a homing rocket launcher like Homing Sniper, sorta like what he's got built into his desk, and his weakness is the Tentacle Shield (ew, organic matter), which you can trick him into ramming!

Mikayla/Jethro: Jungle theme, lots of animal enemies. Jethro shows up throughout as a Met-like enemy, maybe even with Mega Jethro as a miniboss. And the actual boss is Mikayla, who both bounces off the walls to attack, and also occasionally burrows into the floor. You get Slash Claw (appropriate, since she basically IS Slash Man) for beating her, and as a bonus, a special Jethro Dash weapon is hidden in the stage Magnet Beam-style. And Mikayla's weakness is being just plain bowled into by a giant ball, a la Ernesto. Darrell: Tomahawk Man all the way, full-on Wild West theme! With LOTS of Lesser Darrells as Sniper Joe-esque enemies, and LCD as the boss, stunning you with his lasso before coming in for the kill with a weak laser beam. His boss weapon is just that laser, sadly, though in your hands it's aimable. His weakness is his dad's rockets, but he's also pretty weak to everything else, clearly meant to be the start of the weakness chain. Ernesto: Office stage, you're literally attacked by paper shredders and water coolers and the occasional Clippy. Also has the BEST stage music by far. Like Mikayla, he tends to bounce around the room as a giant ball, trying to get behind you to punch. You get the ability to roll into your opponents in ball form for defeating him, and his weakness is...more balls, messing up his momentum while he's bouncing by hitting him with Raymond's dodgeballs. Boss Weakness Order: Darrell -> Fink -> Raymond -> Ernesto -> Mikayla -> Shannon -> Venomous -> Boxman -> Darrell

Fortress Stages, because why not: Pretty obviously Boxmore, with an upgraded Boxman as the final boss. Junior: Fuck canon, he's back. He's got lots of baby-themed obstacles and enemies, like those bottle missiles and blocks, along with disappearing block puzzles. He also has a two-stage fight, floating around in his chair for the first half and on his own in the second, and his weakness for both is a shot of plasma, either in mace or beam form. Super Ultra Mega Junkfish: Mostly underwater stage, with a lot of electrical traps. Tries to eat you for massive damage during the fight, but this can be negated using either claws or sawblades. Rematches: Just the robots and Fink, PV and Box have theirs separate. (And maybe Mega Jethro gets a refight too, to make up for it -- you not only have to fight him but an entire army!) Not much difference, except they're slightly tougher, and you finally get a chance to use Shannon's own weapon to kill her instantly Metal Man-style! Professor Venomous: Another upgraded fight, like Boxman's. He pulls out ALL the stops here, using not only his shield tentacles but also chemical clouds that weaken you, and a copy of Toad Man's Rain Flush. His weakness is still sawblades, but also to a lesser extent now rolling, since you're immune to the disease clouds and acid rain in ball form! Boxman: Final boss time. First stage is with the desk and missiles, just a tougher version of his first fight, but then for the second stage he upgrades to Box-Max mode from the mobile game! His weakness in that form is, of all things, the dodgeballs -- he just can't dodge them with the extra bulk! Secret unlockable/DLC stages:

Mr Logic: Kind of a training stage, since he's not actually a bad guy. Lots of scissors and blades, plus a bunch of those timer bombs, perhaps even arranged to make "puzzles" out of them like in Burst Man's stage, where you have to figure out which order to trigger them in to get through. Logic himself pretty much uses Rolling Cutter, which you can take yourself for beating him, and also throws hair at you to tangle you up!

Shadowy Figure: His stage is a lot like the area under the plaza, with twisting maze tunnels and mimics, and entire sections with the lights randomly turning off like in Shadow Man's stage -- maybe via him stealing the glorbs providing the lighting, hehe. He uses his boss room's shadows to teleport behind you during his fight, but his main weapon is kind of a Time Stopper-ish thing, turning him (or you, if you beat him and get his weapon!) partially invisible for a short amount of time, with invulnerability for the duration. TKO: Edgy boi has an edgy stage, lots of spikes and fire. His boss fight is pretty much a mirror match, assuming you're playing as KO, but he's significantly more powerful -- beating him is all about using your weapons, which he lacks! For defeating him, though, his weapon is a Turbo powerup that works like SF's weapon, increasing your damage for a short time!

#i went a little overboard on this concept sorry ^^;#though really the robots are so similar to robot masters anyway that it works almost too well #ok ko #ok ko let's be heroes #all in the villainy #mega man

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Episode 3 Easter Eggs & References

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This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 3.

The third episode of Lower Decks Season 2 has, in its title, an Easter egg to the TNG episode “We’ll Always Have Paris.” It is not anyone’s favorite episode of The Next Generation, but it’s possible that “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris,” will be your favorite episode of Lower Decks. Well, that depends on how much you love Star Trek: Voyager and not having complicated questions answered, ever.

Genesis devices to Delta Quadrant madness, different kinds of Orions, and several Worf shout-outs, here’s every Easter egg and reference we caught in Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 3.

Boimler can’t use the replicator

Mariner mentions that the upgraded security on the Cerritos means is responsible for Boimler being locked out of the replicators. This vaguely references the DS9 episode “Inquisition” and the Voyager episode “Counterpoint,” when it’s made clear people who are confined to quarters (i.e. security risks) can’t use the replicator.

We doing sci-fi stuff today?

This is Mariner’s second use of the term “sci-fi” in Season 2 of Lower Decks. The terms “science fiction” and “sci-fi” are used sparingly in the Trek franchise. In Picard Season 1, Jean-Luc admitted that he “didn’t get” science fiction, after Jurati was looking at this copy of Isaac Asimov’s The Complete Robot. Interestingly enough, the term “sci-fi” was still in its infancy in the 1960s, and was often thought of as a pejorative term by more serious science fiction enthusiasts who preferred the term “SF.” To this day, “SF” tends to denote print science fiction (or speculative fiction) while sci-fi usually refers to filmed science fiction. “Sci-fi” itself is almost a double portmanteau insofar as it’s both an abbreviation of “science fiction” and reference to “hi-fi,” meaning “high fidelity.” Mariner’s use of “sci-fi” in Lower Decks could suggest the word has a slightly different implied meaning in the 24th century than it does in the 20th or 21st.

The return of Shaxs and all the ways you can come back to life in Star Trek

The biggest running joke of this episode is easily the notion that Shaxs has come back to life and there is little to no explanation as to how. However, Mariner and Boimler do list several in a later scene, including:

“A transporter buffer thing” (Scotty in TNG’s “Relics”)

“A restored Katra” (Spock in The Search for Spock, but also Surak in “The Forge,” from Enterprise)

“A Mirror Universe switcharoo” (Jennifer in DS9’s “Through the Looking Glass,” and perhaps, more prominently, Georgiou in Discovery, starting with “The Wolf Inside.”)

“The Borg rebuilt him” (Neelix is saved by Seven’s nanoprobes in VOY’s “Mortal Coil.”)

Future son from an alternate timeline (Jake saves his father, Ben Sisko, in DS9’s “The Visitor.”)

“Maybe he got Genesis deviced” (Spock in The Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, et al.)

“Nexus/time ribbon — same thing” (Kirk, Picard, Soren and Guinan in Star Trek: Generations.)

“The Creator of Fair Haven and Captain Proton himself!”

Boimler mentions two holodeck programs written by Tom Paris, which were huge during the run of VOY. (Yeah, we’re calling it that now, it really does save time.) “Fair Haven,” was designated holoprogram “Paris042,” and appeared in the episodes “Fair Haven,” and “Spirit Folk.” The pulpy, black-and-white holoprogram appears in ten episodes of VOY, and is essentially a blend of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

“Is he still a salamander?”

Boimler makes it clear that Tom Paris was only briefly turned into a salamander-like creature, because he was the first “first human to break the transwarp barrier.” This referenced the VOY episode “Threshold,” in which Janeway AND Paris become “salamanders.” It is generally considered to be the worst VOY episode of all time, and often, one of the worst Star Trek’s ever, too. But, true fans love it because of that fact. Also, this is the second time Lower Decks has referenced “Threshold.” In “Much Ado About Boimler,” Tendi and Boimler met one of those salamander-looking creatures on route to “the Farm.”

Qualor II

This references the exact same location from the TNG episodes “Unification I” and “Unification II.” It’s basically a big junk yard.

“This stuff always happens, even on VOY!”

This probably references the fact that Harry Kim was killed and replaced by his exact duplicate from another dimension in the VOY episode “Deadlock.”

Boimler sings the Voyager theme song

While walking down the corridor, Boimler is humming the Jerry Goldsmith-composed theme to Star Trek: Voyager. Previously, in Season 1, Boimler was humming the TNG theme in the episode “Temporal Eddict.” (Which is also composed by Jerry Goldsmith.)

Quark’s Bar

It appears by the time of Lower Decks Season 2 (roughly 2381) Quark seems to have a franchise of bars. On Qualor, we see a sign for “Quark’s Bar,” which seems to reference both Quark on DS9, but also the Quark’s Bar we saw on Freecloud in Picard’s “Stardust City Rag.”

Zebulon Sisters

In the same scene, we see a sign for the “Zebulon Sisters,” who are a musical group Boimler and Mariner went nuts for in the Lower Decks Season 1 episode, “Terminal Provocations.”

Like a Vulcan on Pon Farr

Tendi explains the Catian’s need to be “intimate once a year,” and compares it a “like a Vulcan on Pon Farr,” which of course, references the seven-year mating cycle for Vulcans, which originates in the TOS episode “Amok Time.”

Worf’s Mek’leth

Mariner says she once “ran over Worf’s Mek’leth” on Deep Space 9. This was the curved weapon Worf started using in DS9’s “The Way of the Warrior,” and prominently in First Contact.

Mariner’s long list of Starfleet postings

When Tendi asks Mariner what she was doing on DS9, she says, “I served there! Back before I was on the Quito.” This would put Mariner serving on DS9 sometime after 2372 (Worf arrives on DS9 in “The Way of the Warrior”), but before 2375 (Worf leaves DS9 in “What You Leave Behind.”) Either way, it’s between nine and six years before Lower Decks Season 2. Mariner also says that the Cerritos is “like my fifth” ship. This means that the dating of Mariner’s flashback scene on DS9 in the episode “Cupid’s Errant Arrow,” is even more confusing.

Bonestell and Starbase Earhart

Mariner knows a “fixer” at Bonestell, and when they arrive, we’re told this is “Starbase Earhart.” All of this references the TNG episode “Tapestry,” in which we learned a young Jean-Luc Picard hung out on this planet before “shipping out.” Bonetell is the bar and recreation area of Starbase Earhart. Tendi and Mariner playing dom-jot with the Nausicaans also references “Tapestry.”

“I’m not even that kind of Orion”

When Mariner suggests that Tendi use her pheromones, Tendi objects, saying “I’m not even that kind of Orion.” This references (mostly) the Enterprise episode “Bound,” in which we learn that the Orion “slave women,” are actually not slaves, but secretly manipulating all the males in their society through pheromones. The famous Orion pheromones originate in the TOS pilot episode “The Cage.” Tendi later mentions the “stigmas” around Orions, and that it was “hard to get into the academy.” Taken with the “not that kind of Orion ” reference, this could also reference the film Star Trek 2009, in which Uhura is roommates with an Orion, Gaila (Rachel Nichols) you didn’t appear to that kind of Orion, either.

“Not that kind of Orion,” may also reference the Animated Series episode “The Pirates of Orion,” in which everyone randomly pronounces it “ORE-E-AYN” (rather than “OH-RYE-AN”) for no clear reason.

Tom Paris

Robert Duncan McNeill reprises his role as Tom Paris, for the first time since the final episode of VOY, “Endgame.” Paris is rocking a post-First Contact style uniform, which is also something new, since the VOY crew were stuck in the old duds while in the Delta Quadrant.

The multiverse of Shaxs!

In Rutherford’s nightmare, there are a multitude of Shaxses, from across the multiverse of imagination. This scene is so densely packed with Easter eggs, it’s possible to miss several. Here’s what we caught.

Mirror Universe Shaxs says “I fought my way out of the multiverse.” He’s wearing the gold Terran Empire vest Kirk wore in TOS’ “Mirror, Mirror.”

Borg Shaxs

Tiny Dyson’s Sphere Shaxs (another reference to TNG’s “Relics.”)

Shaxs as Lincoln (another reference to TOS’ “The Savage Curtain,” which was just referenced last week!)

Shaxs in a TOS red uniform

Shaxs in an Enterprise–era engineering uniform. (Possibly a reference to Trip’s death in the ENT finale, “These Are the Voyages…”

Shaxs as Neelix? Is that what that spotted suit is, right?

“What was the deal with T’Pol’s hair —” (A half-heard line from Shaxs, clearly a reference to T’Pol’s shifting Vulcan haircut on Enterprise.)

“In the Nexus it’s ALWAYS Christmas” (Another reference to the time-bending energy ribbon, the Nexus in Generations. This references Picard’s weird fake-Christmas in the Nexus.)

“Tendi with no last name, like Odo!”

Mariner has no idea Tendi’s first name is “D’Vana,” and assumes she has just one name “like Odo,” in reference to everyone’s favorite shapeshifting constable from DS9, Odo. Tendi says her first name in the very first episode of Lower Decks, “Second Contact,” and we see her name signed on the screen in Mariner’s holodeck program in “Crisis Point.” But, it’s possible, it’s never been spoken out loud in a scene that Mariner has been in. This joke could reference the idea that Sulu and Uhura both did not have first names spoken on screen until much later in canon. In fact, in Star Trek 2009, it’s a running joke that Kirk does not know Uhura’s first name until Spock calls her Nyota.

Boimler references Scotty?

While crawling through the Jefferies Tubes, Boimler says “Nobody knows the Cerritos like Bradward Boimler!” And then he gets smacked in the head by a closing hatch. This probably references Scotty in The Final Frontier, when he says “I know this ship like the back of my hand,” and then runs into a bulkhead and passes out.

“Baby Bear”

Shaxs refers to Rutherford as “Baby Bear.” This references the Season 1 episode “Envoys,” in which Rutherford had briefly considered a job in security. At that point, all the security officers called themselves, “bears” and Rutherford “Baby Bear.” When Shaxs saved Rutherford in “No Small Parts,” he bellowed, “I’ve got you Baby Bear!”

A Kazon!

The Kazon were the primary villains in VOY’s first few seasons, and yes, did kind of look like that. Nobody misses them.

Computer, Ramming Speed!

When Mariner puts the shuttle on a collision course with the Cerritos, she says “ramming speed!” This feels like a reference to Worf in First Contact. Hell, maybe Mariner was on the Defiant in First Contact? It’s possible! (If she served on DS9, she could have EASILY served on the Defiant)

Did you get your bowl signed by Chakotay or whatever

Mariner teases Boimler at the end of the episode, intentionally pretending like she doesn’t know the difference between Chakotay and Tom Paris. Interestingly enough, both Tom Paris and Chakotay had criminal records before getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Seems like they’re doing fine upon the return of VOY to the Alpha Quadrant.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

And, if this episode is any indication, it feels like the references to VOY are just getting started on this show. Lower Decks Season 2 airs new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount +.

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Episode 3 Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2Wjwn49

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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atlasifyllm · 6 years

Text

Because yes

1. Your first OC ever?

I would say Queen Mana, my self insert alicorn pony princess, but in all honesty I'd say my Littlest Pet Shop toys from 3rd grade that I gave each a persona or my mouse character "Licky" and his sister "Lucky". Yeah Licky had quite the unfortunate name. As for my LPS toys, I'm not sure which was my FIRST among all of them, but I do know the first ones were Trevor and Erica! They were a happy married couple~

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

Ooh, I gotta say I have one for each story. Though among all of them? I HAVE to go with Cobalt Zaffre from DOTS: DD. Honestly my fave out of the DOTS peeps, I love his design (thanks Raven), her persona, his character arc, god I love this dickhead

3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else?

Honesty no? I did base Rose off of a friend's OC, but that was years ago and she's more original now.

4. A character you rarely talk about?

I gotta say Agent Silver and Agent Neon from MAR, mostly since I've been pretty dry with MAR ideas and have near no hope to revamping them both from their 5th grade counterparts. That and the protag of D.exe, since I'm revamping them too. Pretty much any character I've planned on revamping but haven't really gotten to yet...

5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be?

COBALT ZAFFRE. I honestly feel like he's worth the fame, though I'm probably biased-

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

Yang and Tig! When designing one of them into DOTS, I created Yang with Tig's original palette concepts of 2016 with no intentions of bringing Tig into the story yet. Though that changed, and I brought Tig into DOTS: DD and got too attatched to their palettes to change them. I have thought of changing Yang's design, but I got too attached so Tig and Yang just so happen to share the same hair and skin tone.

7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories?

The real question is who ISN'T apart of any story? I get too attached to OCs easily so I'd either need to make a story or put them into a story! I did have a void character for a week named Benvolio, though I found him a place in "Dragon Destiny"

8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here!

I've never actually roleplayed before! I have thought of opening an askblog for Turquoise Sky from DOTS: DD, though I've lost most motivation for continuing it

9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else?

I'm too attached to my babies!

But in all honesty my brain makes so many character concepts that I could legit probably sell them at this point for the characters I REALLY don't need.

10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design?

I don't have a picture of her on-hand, but the first that comes to mind is Nio from Chrisis! Mostly due to her rainbow sleeves and cards...

A close second is Iris from the DOTSverse, though it's honestly just due to her hair being a gradient AND layer mode at the same time.

I'm sure there's more though, I can never keeo track of them all!

11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “cinnamon roll”?

Rose Morganite from DOTS: DD and Nimbus Fulmen from AuAg! Both are sorta naive kids who don't know what's going in too well...

My other kid OC is basically Ed Elric except with Queen Moon's look-

12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot

fuck it i'm calling them out @ravenwolfie97

I REALLY LIKE SKYLAR BINCH

13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs?

Tig is sorta on the border between troublemaker and full-blown villain. Though my new OC Roman Rho from Dragon Destiny seems to fit that description? Others include Kaiser and Shadow from Last Light, Aquamarine from SOTGC, the entire cast of Sky Games, Viobalt and Charoite from Chrisis, Ater from the DOTSverse (somewhat), Ala Blaster from DOTS: SF, Reed from ROP, Akumu from D.exe, Mika from ZP, and... yeah I hope that's all of them

14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory

Cobalt Zaffre from DOTS has a pretty angsty backstory so far, though I can't spoil that right now. Iris actually has a sad story too, but I can't spoil that either. Have some runner ups!

- Bluebot (Beyond Repair) Bluebot is the only android that is utterly seen as useless by Eris, the main AI

- Storm Gray (Dragon Destiny) Storm was treated more as an experiment than child by the scientist who made him, having him be bullied by his scientist's son, Roman

- Ventus Fulmen (AuAg) while he isn't a full blown "angst son", Ventus got into prison thinking his girlfriend was shot dead by soldiers

- Viobalt (Chrisis) Viobalt is trying to strive beyond the void since his own universe was erased from existence by the creator

- Pretty much all the Darksiders in Last Light. Each Darksider succumbed to a dark, deep form of Despair, which caused them to turn into monsterous beings seeking revenge, acceptance, pain, or freedom

- The Squire (A Story Told) The Squire lost his kingdom to an evil king, and wants to try and get it back

Those are the ones from the top of my head!

15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people?

Oh honey I could talk about my OCs all year

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)?

I'm gonna say the scientists in Dragon Destiny, since out of the two other brands of scientists in my story (D.exe and BR), the DraDes scientists had to deal with organic matter way more in order to create the dragons. Vincent from D.exe is a close second, though he's more of a specifically neuroscientist than biologist

17. Any OC OTPs?

- Storm x Orlene in DraDes

- Cobalt x Ruri in DOTS: DD (and by extension, DOTS: SF)

- Ruby x Blaze in DOTS: DD

- Yin x Tigerlily in DOTS: DD

- Yang x Vio in DOTS: DD

- Ventus x Vepris in AuAg

- Momo x Ringo in PSG!

- Alpha x Zetto in DOTS: 5x5

- Iris x Alba in DOTS: 5x5

18. Any OC crackships?

- Cobalt x Yang in DOTS: DD. The two palabros honestly are hilarious together as a hugely dumb couple

- Reed from ROP x Zetto from DOTS: 5x5. This is a REALLY odd one, but one time I had a dream that created a new OC that looked like a fusion between the two with a dark blue color scheme. So of course I joked about them having a son, though it's extra funny when Zetto is just a humanoid snorlax made of pure light and eats flowers, and Reed is an energetic anime prince protag boy who's... well, not made of light. And of course, some crossover ships are absolutely hilarious

But my favorite:

- Turquoise x Cobalt in DOTS: DD. Gotta get that good ol fashion Oncest 👍

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why)

All the Chrises tbh, but especially Cobalt in particular. Cobalt (and by extension, the other Chrises) is based off of the guy who inspired me to continue making stories and OCs, and I can never thank him enough for helping me find that spark that gave me a purpose. Cobalt's everything to me, a coping character and a tribute to the man who inspired me to be this creative. I created the other Chrises because I want the creativity that the guy gave me to be a symbol of all my stories, and a tribute to the man himself. Cobalt as I've developed him has represented all the things that remind me of the guy, so he's the closest to him but also with my own twists I adore so I can't help but love him so much! Cobalt, out of all the Chrises, represents the man who's inspired me to be a creator to this extent the most, so he means so much to me. The other Chrises are a VERY close second, since they represent him in various ways too that is both a tribute to him and a symbol of me, though Cobalt represents him the most.

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

HA! EASY! The Zero Percent crew 100% (pun intended)

Robin I can see sounding probably like a mix of the singer from Set It Off (Sorry I don't know his name!), Natewantstobattle, and I think Billie Joe Armstrong/Gerard Way?? There's so many good voices crie-

He likes rock music tho! He's in a band so that's a given but... yeah.

Elliot is a newer OC from the same story, but not from Robin's band! He's a lone singer cause I wanted a singer OC who sounded like Adam Lambert-

Outside ZP, I had the headcanon that Yang from DOTS: DD had an embarassing rap phase in high school. Ash Embers from the same story was also in a band, though it disbanded as soon as it was made ;n; I'm not sure if she was the vocalist though? Def rockstar, though. Cobalt I can see having a good singing voice since I've really liked Chris Niosi's singing (sing more Chris ;o;), and Ruri too since her voice claim is Rose Quartz from SU! Not sure on their genres, though... Other punk rockers include Ruby, I have been thinking her voice claim changing to Hayley Williams? Not sure, though...

Lastly, The Bard in A Story Told. She plays medieval music, though it's not particularly good since she'e pretty much a drunken bard who gets around by riding her horse backwards.

Anyway that's 20 questions, hope you 5 peeps enjoyed it, ehehe-

#mana speaks;#long post

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delicatedreamlandstrawberry · 3 years

Text

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16. Young Marine Explorers

Young Marine Explorers aims to “inspire youth of global coastal communities to engage in marine conservation”. To help them achieve that goal, they use Weebly.

17. Just Comfort Shoes

As you’d expect from the name, Just Comfort Shoes uses Weebly to sell…comfortable shoes!

18. Harmony Homeopathics

Harmony Homeopathics sells homeopathic sprays to help people “unlock a deeper level of healing and harmony”.

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Our Table is a food coop based in Sherwood Oregon that uses Weebly to power its community website.

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Farm Lighting sells heavy-duty lighting for farmers and other businesses.

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27. Yaak River Base Camp

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Storytelling Strands sells natural stones and crystals. It doesn’t use Weebly for eCommerce directly, instead opting to link to the Storytelling Strands Etsy store.

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St. Teresa Orphans Foundation is a non-profit located in Tanzania that works with orphans and other vulnerable children.

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Have you seen any other great websites that use Weebly? Share them with us in the comments section.

0 notes

superchaosfury · 3 years

Text

Store Related.weebly.com

With over 40 million people hosting their websites and serving over 325 million unique visitors each month, Weebly is known as one of the most popular platforms for building websites.

Continue building your Weebly e-commerce store by adding products! Weebly gives you a host of options for each product, so you can make it look its best, while still meeting web standards.

Related: How to Create a Free Blog with Weebly: 3 Simple Steps Online Store Creation with weebly Check the below demo explaining the step by step process of creating an online store in Weebly starting from site creation to actual view of your store in a published site.

A store of the best free apps and widgets for Weebly sites. Help in settings, compliant with all Weebly versions and custom plugin setting. Welcome to Our Store, Please inform any inquiries related to the item you have purchased.If there is a defect when arrived make sure to take a photograph and send to us.We will make sure to solve the issue with utmost care. Leaving a Negative feedback will not solve the matter. Thank You for visiting us and Please visit us again.

01. The Box Bros

02. Japhlet Bire Attias

The website also uses a single-page scrolling design and appears to match perfectly with the style of the solo musician.

03. Brand iD

Brand iD website design also seems to follow several new design trends, such as hamburger menus, ghost buttons, and fullscreen header images as well.

04. Classic Cut & Shave

Who says websites are only useful to digital and modern businesses? This website for the barber shop, Classic Cut & Shave, will show you how effective websites can be for brick and mortar businesses.

The online booking system is probably the most useful feature of this website. It allows people to book a seat at the barber shop at a preferred time with their favorite barber.

05. Brighton Secondary School Music

The website features a number of useful widgets as well, including an event calendar, an animated notices section, and more.

06. SF Bay Area Design

07. Fusedale Design

08. We Talk Money

The website also features a static sidebar with navigation links. A nice feature that you don’t normally see on most other websites.

09. Leadapreneur

Weebly Store Tutorial

10. The Whiskey Ball

The Whiskey Ball shop also includes a beautiful layout and detailed product pages.

11. Douk Snow

Douk Snow sells handle made skis and snowboards out of the UK. To do that, they have a simple, minimal eCommerce store powered by Weebly.

12. Leo Edwards Photography

Leo Edwards is an adventure photographer who uses Weebly to showcase his work. It’s a simple website with lots of large images, as you can see on the homepage above.

13. Flaming Pear Software

Flaming Pear Software offers creative plugins for Photoshop and uses Weebly for its website.

14. Backwoods Soap and Body Products

Backwoods Soap makes soap and other body products from beer or hops, which is a unique take on personal hygiene. To sell their products, they have a simple site powered by Weebly.

15. April Borrelli

April Borreli uses Weebly to power her portfolio of illustrations, designs, and fiber crafts.

16. Young Marine Explorers

Young Marine Explorers aims to “inspire youth of global coastal communities to engage in marine conservation”. To help them achieve that goal, they use Weebly.

17. Just Comfort Shoes

Weebly Online Store Plans

As you’d expect from the name, Just Comfort Shoes uses Weebly to sell…comfortable shoes!

18. Harmony Homeopathics

Harmony Homeopathics sells homeopathic sprays to help people “unlock a deeper level of healing and harmony”.

19. Page Eighty Four Design

Page Eighty Four Design is the portfolio for graphic designer, Jag Nagra. It features tons of colorful illustrations to showcase her work.

20. Argyle Yarn Shop

As the name implies, Argyle Yarn Shop uses Weebly to sell yarn out of Brooklyn, NY.

21. Our Table

Our Table is a food coop based in Sherwood Oregon that uses Weebly to power its community website.

22. Farm Lighting

Farm Lighting sells heavy-duty lighting for farmers and other businesses.

23. Waidsack

Waidsack is an Austrian store that sells handmade bags using Weebly.

24. Dwarmis

Dwarmis is a boutique fashion brand in New York that uses Weebly to power its lookbook and eCommerce store.

25. Wall’in

Wall’in is a French service that provides unique interior decorating solutions.

26. Wonderfully Cheap Websites

Wonderfully Cheap Websites sells flat-rate Weebly websites for $799. Their own portfolio site is built using – you guessed it – Weebly.

27. Yaak River Base Camp

Yaak River Base Camp is a beautiful outdoor activity area in Montana.

28. Dakota Drone Aerial Photography

Dakota Drone Aerial Photography sells drone photography and video as a service for marketing, events, or business uses.

29. Storytelling Strands

Storytelling Strands sells natural stones and crystals. It doesn’t use Weebly for eCommerce directly, instead opting to link to the Storytelling Strands Etsy store.

30. St. Teresa Orphans Foundation

St. Teresa Orphans Foundation is a non-profit located in Tanzania that works with orphans and other vulnerable children.

Conclusion

Have you seen any other great websites that use Weebly? Share them with us in the comments section.

You must navigate to your Weebly site’s store editor. Find out how to do this by reading our Finding Weebly’s Store Editor. Once there, follow these steps:

In the sidebar, click Products

Click +Add Product

Input information for your product into the following sections:

Product Information: Enter general information about the product here, like product type, price, weight, etc.

Product Options: Click +Add Options to add options to the product, such as color, size, etc. and select the input type that customers will use to interact with product options. Click Save when finished.

Product Images: Click Add Images to upload a product image to go with the product.

Advanced Options: Click Show to display SEO and permalink options for this product.

When finished inputting the information into the sections, click Save in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

You have just added one product to your store. You can add more products by repeating this process.

Was this article helpful?

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the-master-cylinder · 4 years

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SUMMARY A small family relocates to the Sonoran Desert to be closer to the grandparents of the family. Though there are news reports of a spectacular triple supernova and the young granddaughter has seen a glowing alien construction behind the barn, the family is at ease until, one night, a UFO soars overhead and appears to land in the nearby hills. Apparently, the triple supernova has opened a rift in space and time. The family finds that their electrical appliances no longer function, and the youngest daughter of the family has a telepathic encounter with an extraterrestrial. The grandmother, too, sees one of these diminutive creatures beckoning to her, but it soon vanishes.

The grandfather, while trying to start the car, sees that a strange animal is approaching from the distance. The grandfather goes back inside and informs the family that something is coming; before long, a variety of horrific, alien monsters (all of these creatures being of a reptilian or amphibious nature) are proceeding to slaughter each other outside the house; some are trying to break in (after knocking) and kill the family. After a few moments, the UFO appears again and teleports the creatures to a different place. The family take this opportunity to escape to the barn, which is more easily defensible than the house. The family become separated from one another and each hides until sunrise, where they find that they have been launched thousands of years into the future. They meet up with the daughter, who had become separated from the family during one of the time-warp events. She knows, somehow, that everything is going to be fine now. After walking across the desert, they finally see a domed city in the distance, and decide to seek refuge there. The grandfather proclaims that there must be a purpose to all of this. The family walks off into the distance, having survived the day time ended.

Producer Paul Gentry in The Day Time Ended (1979)

PRODUCTION The film was originally conceived by script writers Steve Neill, Paul Gentry, and Wayne Schmidt. The three offered a script for another project to producer Charles Band, who thought it was too expensive to make but offered to produce a science-fiction film if it was based in one or two locations.

Steve Neill is not your everyday, run-of the-mill, bottom-of-the-barrel scraper, however. For the last four years, he’s been making a fine living off his makeup talents, designing and applying material for The Crater Lake Monster, Kingdom of the Spiders, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, Demon and various other film features and TV commercials. His partners in the Vortex production, Paul Gentry and Wayne Schmidt, come from the same creative background but don’t have the impressive list of credits.

“I’m a science-fiction fan,” says Schmidt, “doing the convention circuit and the whole bit while writing screenplays no one seemed to buy. Until this came up I was doing a lot of starving.”

What came up was Neill going to work for Charles Band on the young producer’s two SF efforts of last year-End of the World and Laserblast. Suddenly, Neill had found his responsive ear and took no time in exploiting it.

“Steve had the tenacity to walk into work with some spaceship models he designed,” Schmidt relates. “They subsequently caught Charlie’s eye. He grilled Steve as to what they were for and Steve told him they were for a movie he was working on. Charlie was receptive so Steve brought me into it.”

What emerged was a concept alternately titled Race for Antari or Star Racers, concerning, not surprisingly, racers in space. Band was interested not so much in the theme at that point, but the creative package he could create: Neill on makeup, Gentry on SFX and Schmidt on script. Unfortunately, the idea soon became too big for Band’s budget.

“Charlie called me into the office one day,” Neill recalls, “and said, ‘I’ve got some good news and some bad news. First, the bad news is that Star Racers has been shelved. The good news is that I still want a picture from you. I want simplicity, I want one location and I want it this week.’”

Neill accepted the challenge and one hour later came up with the concept of Vortex.

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“Basically,” Schmidt narrates, “it involves a family who moves out to the desert and builds a completely self-sufficient house out there. But due to a space occurrence it turns out that their home is built on what you might call ‘the Bermuda Triangle fault-line.’ It gets whisked into other dimensions and the family goes through all sorts of-how shall I put it?-traumatic experiences. Heh, heh, heh.”

“It seemed to work real well,” Neill takes up the story, “so we drafted it out real fast. We signed three contracts and started the picture based on a one-page synopsis!”

But one page does not a movie make. The spanking new production team of Neill, Gentry and Schmidt had to get a shooting script, they had to get a director, and they had to gather a cast. Suddenly filmmaking wasn’t fun anymore. It was still exciting, but it sure wasn’t fun.

“The scriptwriting went on and on and on,” says Schmidt. “And the film grew in scope until we wound up with a project as involved as our Star Racers. And it was to take close to as much time. It’s not the simple project we started with by any stretch of the imagination. While Charlie handled most of the casting decisions with feedback from the distributors, we started creating the ‘look’ of the film.

“We brought in Lane Liska who worked on Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica to draw up our ideas. Meantime Steve, who had worked with John Bud Cardos on The Dark, called the director and got him in on this one.”

Although a second location was added and the final shooting script called for months of post-production effects work, things were going smoothly. Band had signed Jim Davis, Dorothy Malane, Chris Mitchum, Natasha Ryan and Marcy Lafferty to play the leads, while Cardos began putting his crew together. According to their contracts, Gentry would be the director of photography and head of special effects, Schmidt would discover the wonders of producing by doing a little bit of everything and Neill would oversee it all-valiantly trying to stave off his first ulcer.

The crew descended on Apple Valley for 10 days of location shooting, then things began to get a little dusty. The crew turned out not to be entirely reliable and Gentry was removed as cinematographer.

“The problem with low-budget films,” details Neill, “is that you get crews who are experienced in only that type of film, there is a lot of hiring and firing because they’re, kind of, in-between talents. I hate the watch-watchers, though, the guys who complain all the time then quit on you. If it weren’t for guys like Greg Jein, our model maker, and Joel Goldsmith-Jerry’s son who is doing the sound, the movie wouldn’t stay together. These guys are totally dedicated. I mean, when Paul Gentry was replaced as DP he took it cool. He knew he got aced, but he worked it out smoothly and kept helping. I can’t thank these guys enough.”

Not only was Neill’s patience tried, his wallet was sorely tapped as well. In the movie business, the least little mistake can push the film thousands of dollars over the budget-a lesson the young trio learned the hard way.

“We were supposed to be on location 10 days and we were there 16,” Neill relates. “The government charged us $6500 for use of the land. Beyond that they wanted so much for each actor, so much for each camera, so much for each truck and so much for each car. It cost like $10,000 to rent a dry lake bed. And we didn’t even have to be there!

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“You see, Bud had this idea that a scene which was set to be shot with special effects could be done on location. It called for a sort-of ‘intergalactic spaceship graveyard.’ He had all these friends, he said, who had all these old planes that could be flown down for free, etc., etc. It turned out to be a nightmare. When it came time, there were no free planes. It cost $6000 to fly one plane mockup to the location. It seems that Bud would rather see his old planes out there and shoot it for himself than hand it over to special effects. That’s been a problem.”

Fortunately, the production wasn’t all problems. The stage-bound mock-ups of the house, the barn and the corral turned out better than expected and the SFX were being created with style. All in all, the production values for Vortex marked a new high for Charles Band. The young filmmakers expressed their admiration for the abilities of their youthful boss.

“I’ll give him credit,” Schmidt says. “He was willing to take a chance with three guys who had no “authorized’ experience on a film. He has a lot of courage and for that we owe him a great debt of thanks.”

Neill, while mirroring his partner’s sentiments, also points out one of the problems of low-budget filmmaking. “Charlie is incredible. He signed us for Vortex, Dave Allen for The Primevals, wrapped Tourist Trap and Auditions just before releasing Fairy Tales. And that’s just this year, practically. Our only problem is that he seems to think he’s giving us enough money but he’s not. We’re stretching as hard as we can to make this a great picture.”

The final judgment will come, of course, after Vortex is released and the money starts-or doesn’t start to roll in. Given the returns on Band’s prior contributions to the genre, the trio are confident of a decent showing. But win, lose or draw, they all feel very strongly about the lesson in life their film has taught them.

“All through the production I wanted to strangle people,” says Neill. “But as a producer I couldn’t do it. You’ve got to bite your tongue instead of blowing up. I used to have a really bad temper, but that’s gone now. I learned to smile at people, sometimes leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”

Happily, the best is yet to come for the team. The principal photography is finished and they are now deep into the SFX, their first love.

“The special effects are the nicest part of the production,” says Neill, and his associates concur. “It’s like we’re free of Bud and free of the crew and Charlie has dumped the film in our laps and said, ‘Go for it.’ We are, believe me. We’re pouring our flesh and blood into this.

“But you know what? I’m not excited. There’s too much to do. I’ll get excited the night the film opens. Then I can just sit there and shout, ‘Yeah!’ at the screen. Until then, I’ll be very serious.”

youtube

CAST/CREW Directed John Cardos

Produced Charles Band Paul Gentry Steve Neill Wayne Schmidt

Written J. Larry Carroll Steve Neill Wayne Schmidt David Schmoeller

Jim Davis as Grant Williams Dorothy Malone as Ana Williams Christopher Mitchum as Richard Williams Marcy Lafferty as Beth Williams Scott Kolden as Steve Williams Natasha Ryan as Jenny Williams Roberto Contreras as Gas Station Attendant

Visual Effects by David Allen … dimensional animation / technical advisor: Special Visual Effects Unit Beth Block … opticals: 2nd unit Dave Carson … effects art director: Special Visual Effects Unit Chris Casady … special animation crew Lyle Conway … stop-motion figures designer & creator Randall William Cook … dimensional animation (as Randy Cook) / storyboards (as Randy Cook) Jim Danforth … The “City of Light” by Paul Gentry … dimensional animation (as Paul W. Gentry) / director of special visual effects: Special Visual Effects Unit (as Paul W. Gentry) Gregory Jein … models constructed by (as Greg Jein) Laurel Klick … opticals: 2nd unit (as Laural Klick) Peter Kuran … special animation effects supervisor (as Pete Kuran) James F. Liles … opticals: 3rd unit Laine Liska … models designed by (as Lain Liska) Robin Loudon … effects production secretary Steven Nielson … effects editor (as Steve Neilson) Lori Redfern … special animation crew Wayne Schmidt … opticals: 1st unit Jerome Seven … special animation crew Tom St. Amand … stop-motion armatures (as Tom St. Armand) Rick Taylor … special animation crew Pam Vick … special animation crew Joe Viskocil … special pyrotechnic effects Garry Waller … special animation crew (as Gary Waller) Jim Danforth … matte artist (uncredited) / matte photographer (uncredited)

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Cinefantastique Vol 08 No 2-3 Famous Monsters of Filmland#161

The Day Time Ended (1980) Retrospective SUMMARY A small family relocates to the Sonoran Desert to be closer to the grandparents of the family.

#70sFilms #BAND #EMPIRE

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minimoll7 · 7 years

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Answer all questions from the cartoon ask thing, bro >:DD

1-3 have already been answered!

4) A cartoon you wish would be forgottenYou know, aside from popular mean-spirited stuff, I don’t think I have one. I’m so generally chill with plenty of cartoons that I’m not bothered enough to want them to basically vanish

5 has already been answered!

6) The worst moment you’ve ever seen happen in a cartoonHmm the one I can think of from the top of my head was that episode of Jimmy Neutron were Carl is pregnant and gives birth. Like the only good scene from that was Jimmy saying he’ll whisper it in Sheen’s ear so he could scream it out, which he did. But aside from that? That entire episode was strange and uncomfortable (tho puking in cartoons, like 6teen and Total Drama, are terrible for me to lol)

7) The worst thing you’ve ever seen happen to a cartoon that ruined itLike ruined for me personally? Nothing lol I love just about every cartoon I’ve watched and those I don’t like, I didn’t really like from the start

8) A cancelled/forgotten cartoon you would bring back to televisionGah so many! But.. I’d have to say SWAT Kats then. There was so much potential dude! Tho that’s for older cartoons, for newer ones I’d say Generator Rex. It was more recent but feels forgotten Dx

9) An animated character you remember but nobody else seems toSMAKKO nah he was never actually animated lol hmm I actually don’t know? Because these would tie in with shows that barely get noticed so I can literally sit here and list characters just from one show. I really can’t answer this one Dx

10) An animated character you hate the most, and why?I tend to strongly dislike most petty popular girls, just not my thing, but the one character I hate to no end is Jessie from Pokemon. Like yes she’s funny and works really well with James and Meowth, but there’s so many things about her that I just can’t stand!

11) A non-animated property you would like to see as a cartoonA StarFox or FNaF cartoon, that would be really cool! Like for SF, it could be story based and for FNaF it could just a comedic spooky show. Like bruh, it would be so cool!

12 has already been answered!

13) A currently airing cartoon that you know is going to be forgotten about in the futurePenn Zero: Part-Time Hero for sure, but I already brought this one up in a different ask soooo idk if this counts since its a Netflix show since it doesn’t air like others but Skylanders Academy. Its really good, the humor and animation are great! And I heard Cynder’s coming along in the next season which is exciting!! But it already gets so little attention to begin with, aside from loyal fans, this show is going to be forgotten real quick

14) The best episode of a cartoon you really likeThe Good Old Days! from Fairly OddParents. While Looney Tunes sort of began the interest in the old school black and white style, this ep is what really got that interest rolling. Its just so cool to look back on what cartoons originated as and seeing newer ones pay homage to it and this episode blew my mind! Its such a cool ep!!

15) The worst episode of a cartoon you really likeThat one ep of Jimmy Neutron I answered in that last ask could fit here but I’m not gonna repeat myself. Sooo for this case, I’ll put One Size Fits Ed from Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy. Making Jimmy that big and fat was just gross to me, I really didn’t need to see that

16-17 have already been answered!

18) The worst idea you can think of for an animated seriesSpongeBob gets an adult spin-off show like Ren & Stimpy did

19) At what point did you realize a cartoon, any cartoon was starting to get bad?*looks at SpongeBob and FOP* uhhh when the writing began to suck and Nickelodeon keeps milking the series (I mean thank goodness FOP is getting an end. Those first 5 seasons were good enough, we didn’t need more thanks)

20) An experience with a cartoon you thought you were going to like but turned you away from itI can usually tell right away if I’d like a cartoon or not so honestly, I don’t think I have one?? Every cartoon I’ve actually tried I end up liking. There were a few cases where I got interested in a cartoon but ended up turning away because I found out it was: for little kids, mean-spirited, gross, or way to gory. But I found those out before actually watching the show. Tho I remember seeing the Warden from Superjail and I really like his design and was considering on trying the show out but then I found out just how fucked up it is so I guess that could count?

21) Something you would like to see more than anything in a cartoonSmakko returning to his long lost siblings in the upcoming rumored Animaniacs reboot lmao like seriously, I’m not joking, I want this

22) What do you feel makes a cartoon forgettable?Poor writing and character designs. This can make anything easily forgettable honestly

#AAAHHH YISSSS #time for ya'll to read my opinions #hope you enjoyed it all #suckers #commanderfishtits #molly answers

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douchebagbrainwaves · 5 years

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YOU GUYS I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS

One of my tricks for generating startup ideas is to imagine the ways in which we'll seem backward to future generations that we wait till patients have physical symptoms to be diagnosed with conditions like heart disease and cancer. And so you didn't get a lot of compound bugs. The effects of World War II was an extreme case of this. You enjoy it more if you eat nothing but chocolate cake for every meal. That problem is irreducible; it should be hard. T: Scheme has no libraries, and Lisp syntax is scary. The answer to the paradox, I think, is to have multiple plans depending on how much you can learn from Yahoo's first fatal flaw. So as animals get bigger they have trouble radiating heat.

Founders are often competitive people, and the best research solves problems that are not only new, but it has to be some point down the slope of consulting at which you can move into a big one or from which you can survive.1 One of the reasons Jane Austen's novels are so good is that she read them out loud to your friends as something you'd written, you'll feel all too keenly what an imposition that kind of thing is upon the reader. To use a purely Web-based applications. But a significant number do. I did; I knew I was learning so little that I wasn't even learning what the choices were, let alone which to choose. It would be great if a startup could do. 0 bubble.2 But the money itself may be more dangerous than Google because, like you, they're cornered animals. Second, I do it because I don't like the idea of starting their own company rather than work for someone else's. Chasing hot deals doesn't make investors choose better; it just didn't percolate all the way to an IPO, just as volume and surface area do.

For the average user, is far fewer bugs to start with. Some investors will let you email them a business plan, but you definitely want to keep out more than bad people. Microsoft now owned the PC standard, and the best research solves problems that are not only new, but actually they tend to; and vice versa. Relief. There are several ways to approach this problem. A round from Sequoia. Neither Bill Gates nor Mark Zuckerberg knew at first how big their companies were going to get rarer. I got there in 1998.

And indeed, things hadn't changed much yet. Meet such investors last, if at all. The core users of News. Starting a startup to launch them before raising their next round of investors would presumably have lost money. From the first conversation to wiring the money, and ambivalence about being a technology company, and in addition to writing software ten times faster than you'd ever had to before, they expected you to answer support calls, administer the servers, it would seem to have been headed down the wrong path. This was why they were trying to get people to fight for an idea.3 So for all practical purposes, there is still room for more. And during the Renaissance, journeymen from northern Europe were often employed to do the things a startup founder, and it's hard to design something for an unsophisticated user.

Users should not have to be trimmed properly; the engines have to be shaped by admissions officers. And beloved of the DoD, happens nonetheless to be a lot of plot, but they sometimes fear the wrong things for six months, and the customers would be individual people that you could actually make the finished work from the 1970s.4 Palo Alto, the original ground zero, is about thirty miles away, and the rate at which it grows is itself increasing. And because you can, try to ensure that all universities are roughly equal in quality.5 Being John Malkovich where the nerdy hero encounters a very attractive, sophisticated woman. Whereas if you're determined to stick around no matter what, they'll be going against thousands of years of medical tradition.6 The best intranet is the Internet. Whatever Microsoft's. The surprising fact is, brilliant hackers—can be had very cheaply, by the standards of the desktop to prevent, or constrain, this new generation of software? Gradually the government realized that anti-competitive policies were doing more harm than good.

The less you spend, the easier it is to believe now, the big economic story was the rise of startups.7 My wife thinks I'm more forgiving than she is, but my motives are purely selfish. Startups condense more easily here. Convince yourself that your startup is doing a deal, just assume it's not going to go out of business. Just pick a project that seems interesting: to master some chunk of material, or to answer some question. But other VCs will make no more than superficial changes.8 Though founders are rightly indignant when their plans get leaked to competitors, I can't think of a startup than that? No one is going to succeed. Professional athletes know they'll be pulled if they play badly for just a couple guys, either with day jobs or in school, writing a prototype of something that might, if it looks promising, turn into a big one.

It's slightly dickish of investors to care more about who else is investing than any other aspect of your startup.9 If you're an inexperienced founder, the only reason VCs are so sneaky is the giant deals they do. And this is not a single point where you don't need Microsoft on the client, and if you enforce them it seems possible to keep a lid on meanness. Which inevitably, if unions had been doing their job tended to be lower. Reading novels isn't. In fact it's the old model: mainframe applications are all server-based software gets used round the clock, so everything you do is immediately put through the wringer. When it turns up you often know what's wrong before you even knew what you were building, you've created a broken company. Inside your head, anything is allowed. Launching companies isn't identical with launching products.10

And that is just what I'm advocating. To a newly arrived undergraduate, all university departments look much the same way that a distributed algorithm protects you from investors who flake in much the same way that someone might design a building or a chair that's horribly uncomfortable to sit in, then simply explained this well to investors. I wouldn't do that. The inconvenience of this model becomes more and more college graduates. Dilution is a hard problem. Not understanding that investors view investments as bets combines with the ten page paper due, then ten pages you must write, even if they invest in. Julian knew a lot about law and business, but his advice ended there; he was not a startup guy he probably gave them useful advice.11 Sun's business model is being undermined on two fronts. Of course, prestige isn't the main reason they never considered this was that they hired bad programmers.12

Notes

My point is that they probably don't notice even when I read comments on e. Articles of this essay wrote: After the war, federal tax receipts have stayed close to starting startups since Viaweb, he'd get his ear pierced.

And no, you need a higher growth rate has to be. It's much easier to take a small amount of time and became the twin centers from which I removed a pair of metaphors that made it over a hundred and one VC. Add water as specified on rice package. The story of creation in the fall of 2008 but no one is harder, the group of Europeans who said the things you're taught.

Icio. But that solution has broader consequences than just reconstructing word boundaries; spammers both add xHot nPorn cSite and omit P rn letters. And though they have to solve are random, they still probably won't invest. Vii.

If they were. 001 negative effect on returns, but delusion strikes a step later in the general sense of the subject today is still hard to game the system? Digg is Slashdot with voting instead of uebfgbsb. The constraint propagates up as well use the word as in most competitive sports, the 2005 summer founders, like good scientists, motivated less by financial rewards than by you based on respect for their judgement.

I know randomly generated DNA would not be surprised how often have you read about startup founders are effective. There are a handful of companies that have economic inequality.

There were several other reasons, including both you and the low countries, where x includes math, law, writing in 1975, said the things attributed to Confucius and Plato saw themselves as teachers of administrators, and we should find it's most popular with voting instead of a liberal education than past generations have. They also generally provide a better source of food. The University of Vermont: The variation in productivity is the converse: that startups aren't the problem is that promising ideas are not written by the fact that they don't, but in practice investors discount merely predicted revenue, so if you were going back to 1970 it would take their customers directly, which in startups. This is why so many still make you expend as much difference to a woman who had made Lotus into the work that seems formidable from the government to take board seats by switching to what you really want, like storytellers, must have been in the belief that they'll be able to protect widows and orphans from crooked investment schemes; people with a cap.

These anti-dilution protections. Zagat's lists the Ritz Carlton Dining Room in SF as requiring jackets but I couldn't convince Fred Wilson for reading drafts of this essay, I would be vulnerable both to attack the A P supermarket chain because it is possible to have done and try another approach. The first version was mostly Lisp, because they were to work on stuff you love, or boards, or an acquisition for more of the statistics they use the phrase frequently, you produce in copious quantities. But it is to imagine how an investor they already know; but it wasn't.

So it may not have raised money on Demo Day pitch, the average major league baseball player's salary during the war had been a waste of time, which is as straightforward as building a new SEC rule issued in 1982 rule 415 that made them register. And for those founders.

They overshot the available RAM somewhat, causing much inconvenient disk swapping, but I took so long. 25. Most word problems in school math textbooks are not just the location of the latter without also slowing the former, and eventually markets learn how to execute them.

Not only do convertible debt at a 3 year old son, you'll find that with a clear upward trend. Even college textbooks are similarly misleading. If you're sufficiently good at generating your own mind about whether you can fix by writing library functions.

Though in fact had its own momentum. His critical invention was a very good. The solution to that mystery is that promising ideas are not merely blurry versions of great ones.

It's conceivable that intellectual centers like Cambridge will one day have an email address you can, Jeff Byun mentions one reason not to like to fight back themselves.

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trippinglynet · 5 years

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Dean Gustafson

Dean Gustafson is a Cacophony Society member, who attended the 1990 Baker Beach Burn. At that event, Larry Harvey asked him to bring his drum set and play during the burning of the Man. The 1990 Baker Beach event was disrupted by police, but Dean returned in 1990 and played his drums during the raising of the man, and then returned in Tux in play while the man burned.

The photo above by Steward Harvey is one of the most iconic of the early days.

Dean’s account of the trip to Black Rock desert in 1990 (below) is one of the better ones, giving nice color of what life was like at that event.

Dean pursued a career as an artist and musician among other pursuits.

Dean has ALS and is asking for donations to help him get by. His GoFundMe page is here. Dean’s art is for sale here.

Dean’s Account of the 1990 Burn at Block Rock Desert. His website old website is long gone (archived here). But he can be found at his updated site here.

Cacophony Society Zone Trip #4 / Burning Man in the Desert #1, Labor Day weekend, 1990. by Dean Gustafson

The first year in the desert: a personal historical account from its first drummer (anecdotal memoirs or rather a rant of reveries)

The drive there: Leaving with siblings Brian and Jill in Bri’s new burgundy Cherokee Jeep. Started out early with the rays of the sun over the Central Valley waking me up in the back seat. I thought of the landscape paintings of Caspar David Friedrich (particularly aptly, “Morgenreise,” with subtle rays of colored light stretching out into the new day).

It was back in the days of no authorization by the BLM, or by anybody! We just went ahead, set up and did it. John Law was the most instrumental person in making this happen in the Black Rock Desert. It was called “Zone Trip #4.” It was really a Cacophony Society event primarily organized by John Law (and the "Black Rock Desert Rangers") with the Burning Man as a later added feature... and what a fine feature it was! It was a lovely time, back before the days of huge insurance costs or worries of petty theft.

It was the only Burning Man to date in the desert under a completely full moon. There were around 80 of us camped in a place that may as well have been on the moon or further. Luckily we *did* bring enough water, thanks to the experienced informational organization of the desert-savvy John Law and Michael Mikel, to name a few.

At the black flag off of the side of the road beyond Gerlach, we turned to contact the tires to the playa in a state of complete surprise; it was like a cream-colored sea of flat desert earth! Driving on what seemed like an extremely wide, albeit dusty highway, with Steve Reichs' “Music for 18 Musicians” playing on the tape deck— this was “Zone music,” we all agreed.

The scenery of mirages over such space, for an urbanite who’d never been out in such vastness before, enthused me immensely, truly exciting my interest levels; I fell in love with the desert right then and there.

~ARRIVING AT THE BLACK ROCK DESERT~ We followed the road, which was none other than a layer of tire tracks dug into one another, leading to the camp... a mirage and a series of dots and a larger diamond shape floating on it. The diamond turned out to be the central parachute used as a source of shade. We saw about 25 vehicles so far; one was a Ryder truck. Jane Sommerhauser greeted us first, wearing a sun hat with an outrageously oversized brim. [Ed note: Jane lived with P Segal at 1907 Golden Gate for three years]

Getting out of the Jeep, we saw a small, surrealistically-inclined gathering of Cacophonists hanging out in the heat with low energy in siesta weather, in the midst of a void of nothing but playa cracks, heat, and mirages. Croquet on bicycles, with parasols, diverse hats, a few in sheik outfits, and only one boom box. There were about 25 cars parked and camped by this time. If you didn’t know all those who were there already, you would meet them by the night of the Burn— who still easily numbered under 100 by then.

We were in a slow, hot, surreal day. I dared to walk out on the playa by myself a way. When I got about 40 yards away from camp, I couldn’t hear a single thing other than my own bated breath and heartbeat. And a sense of being *completely* alone happens.

You can’t get that feeling in many places... there’s not even a tree, building, or car to compare your height to. Existential feelings strike, you feel in a void. It astounded my sense of space.

The birth of costumes in the desert: That afternoon, Louise wore a pink harem outfit with bells, M2 was in white sheik outfit. Brian looked quite the prospector in his coconut-shell pith helmet. I became yet another “Lawrence of Arabia,” using white sheets. Cool clothing for the desert clime; I understand why the Arabs designed their clothes that way (though it was far from authentically Arabian in my getup of hospital sheets and a polyester scarf, provided by my mother, who was always into making costumes out of thin air for us when we were kids on Halloween).

Sebastian Hyde & Kevin Evans made a radically fun t-shirt design for the event, of “Bad Day at Black Rock, Zone Trip #4,” depicting this great human skull on a snake body (I still have them all! from 1990-95). "Bad Day At Black Rock" was my Dads favorite film from the early 50's, so we brought his VHS copy along for the big screen movie showing, which never happened.

A refreshing sight by mid-afternoon: the unexpected arrival of a gang of some of my good friends piling out of two vans! Smilin’ Joe, Jane, Ann, Lawrence, Mary, Brewster, Valerie, Aiko and Scott. We shared homebrew, music jam sessions on guitar and blues harps, and many first impressions of the desert. The temperature and surroundings made this a highly unusual gathering for us denizens from the Mission District. A number of activities were forming in camp. A small brick oven for bread baking was being built, which was a focus on a traditionally feminine activity, creative and nourishing…. contrasting the constructive and destructive masculine force of the Man. The oven was constructed using simple bricks, but it had an organic sense to it, as if it grew from the ground up. Some bread figurines were made, mostly of goddess shapes, and they tasted good later on as pieces were passed around.

Fellow artists Sebastian, Kevin Evans, and Corey Keller were playing croquet from their bicycles; Louise had a tape of Fellini soundtracks playing on the boombox; Sesha was giving almost everyone in camp Swedish-Hawaiian massages on her professional massage table.

The communal siesta space was under a parachute as a shade canopy, and I was there off and on with different people to visit and share bewilderment with as we cooled our overheated selves. Around 5 p.m., Cacophonist Ronn Rosen began reciting some of his latest Dada poetry, and while he did so, a strong wind started to blow the parachute scaffolding down...as if Ronn’s poetry called the wind to arrive. Annie, Michael and I tried to secure the scaffolding, but it had to be taken down for the evening. The wind was steady all evening, keeping the camp in flapping tent mode all night long. The local ranger who came by said the winds should stop around 4 the next day, and his scheduled prediction was dead on— as if a huge fan had been suddenly turned off.

Now it was cool enough to comfortably move around and look at the stars, as spontaneous revelry thrived through the encampment. I took long walks into the desert night, which became spiritually charged as the cosmos were too fantastically apparent to ignore… like lanterns of vivid starlight you could almost reach up and touch. It wasn’t easy to navigate the heavens out there; the Dippers, Cassiopeia, and all major familiar constellations are drowned in a sea of more minor stars that are usually indiscernible in urban light pollution.

I walked back to camp to find the Burning Man ready to be lowered and then raised again. I set my Anchor Steam down and picked up the communal rope, and we heaved him up; a fun moment for all. John Law set up a ring of neon around the foot of the Man... the crowd was out there cheering it on, as it became splendidly illuminated.

There were a few wind surfers out on the playa zipping around under the rising moon. So surreal.

Sleep was difficult, in fact nonexistent, that night as the tents flapped ceaselessly in the constant wind. I had to get up frequently to re-secure the ropes.

Around 4:30 a.m. I got out of the tent and walked toward the sunrise, dressed in layers (with the white “sheik” clothes), wailing freely into the cool air... when the sun’s first spark rose above the horizon, its rays illuminated the playa with golden highlights... ah, but highlighting every little minute bump in the playa, with cool blue shadows on the other side of each glint of gold. The painter in me looked with amazement at this complex display.

Great way to start the day!

Later that morning at Trego Springs with a small crew of us, I can picture BM organizer Dan Miller applying playa dirt over his skin— the Zone Trip’s first mudman (in my recollection anyway)! Phil Bewley directed us there, looking for the “T” near the railroad tracks at the foot of Trego Peak. We had a good soak in the hot sulphuric mud water, and came out feeling great. Hung out with more arriving friends there, collected some animal bones along the RR tracks with Seb and Kevin, then walked back to camp. The cracks in the playa mesmerized me with their detail, microcosmic within the macro-space of the Black Rock’s minimal landscape.

More hot than most residents of SF can stand, but it was too cosmic to leave!

In the hot afternoon, bro Brian, Smilin’ Joe, and I went off in the Jeep to peruse the northern part of the playa. It looked like about five miles from camp to the Black Rock itself, but it turned out to be a whopping 12 according to time and the odometer! Such distorted perspectives of time and space were beginning to make me feel like this place was an amazing alternative to psychedelic substances.(which most of us were not into anymore by that time…the desert supplied enough “highs”! - and in an environment like that it was important to be moderate with the beer).

Things we saw there included old stagecoach remains from the last century, at the foot of the Black Rock itself, near the scalding-hot Black Rock Springs, and at the head of the historic Westward-Applegate trail towards Oregon. We ventured further north into another desolate valley, happy to be in a 4WD Jeep. This was some interesting historical terrain; I was also imagining epochs long gone... looking at what appeared to be wave shelves in the hills, of the shores of ancient Lake Lahontan, and maybe an oasis of greenery with fertile soil and long-extinct animals grazing in this now-barren land that could be another planet, except for the oxygen and the fact that there is a restaurant and bar an hour-plus away in Gerlach …and an architechtonic humanoid figure ready to be torched in a very human event.

Back at camp, the winds stopped around 4 p.m, just like the ranger said— as if someone turned off an oversized fan on the playa.

~THE NIGHT OF THE BURN~

We hauled my old 1969 Apollo trap set out there, and I was determined to be ten drummers in one, especially after the missed opportunity to play before a blazing figure on Baker Beach. (I did love the sensation of playing on Baker Beach earlier that June for the failed burn, anticipating the towering burning figure shape, warming up to facilitate this spectacle with some seriously energetic polyrhythms on the summer solstice). After being asked by the main Burning Man organizer Larry Harvey to bring the drums out to Black Rock, I was honored and wouldn’t in any way miss out on this experience!

Just before sundown, Larry wanted me to generate some rhythms to alert attention as the Man was being fueled. As Dan got the crowd to lower and then raise the Man with the rope, I played some incidental percussion to heighten the drama, timing the flow of beats to the lifting ... like drums beating in cadence to the rowers of ancient ships. At Dan’s request, I played a decreased grade of tempo as the Man was raised. The crowd that held the rope (almost the entire camp) was dressed in mainly formal wear as costume. Some, like John Law, effectively mixed western formal with Middle Eastern. Phil looked dandy in an all-white suit. Women wore beautiful dresses and evening gowns. This was an extravaganza I was glad to not miss! And the weather conditions were perfect.

Then with moon overhead, sky darkening, the Man was raised and ready... it was burning time. I changed into my tuxedo with tails.

The honorable David Warren (whom many know from the years he spent hosting the Camera Obscura at Ocean Beach), in his wonderfully theatrical style, lit the Man with flames from his mouth. I gave a drum roll, also at his request... it all had the drama of a circus act at that point. Floom! The Burning Man blazed from the leg up, and I raged with wildfire drumming— it was happening!

I played with the Burning Man blazing approximately 50 feet ahead of me, with hardly an obstruction, with the wild glow of high flames leaping into the sky illuminating and warming all around, complete with full moon just over the Man’s shoulder. I played with as much polyrhythmic power as I could muster until my arms and hands were strained with a fiery pain; I felt as if I were a burning man myself, the flesh-and-blood percussionist version.

People were enjoying this from all different angles, without too many barricades or limitations as to where and how one could roam and dance about the figure... luckily no one got hurt at this experimental layout. There were some other noisemakers too; someone (Sesha?) effectively banging a piece of sheet metal to make a shimmering sound. Brian added some fireworks that went off behind the Man. It wasn’t too long before the whole Man came crashing down, falling backwards onto the playa with a dramatic crash.

Eventually I broke the head of my floor tom and one of my Regal Tip 5A drumsticks.

I kept it up until after the Man had fallen and become a bonfire under the lunar light, stopping soon after I broke the bass drum pedal, (fortunately, the rest of this Apollo drumkit had durable Ludwig hardware), and I was exhausted. The bonfire of the Man burned on, with many after feeling purified by the intensity of it and then moving to the formal cocktail party organized by P Segal, the hostess of the desert cafe. Others lingered to slow down around the embers.

This was an exclusive core experience to be the solo drummer at the first event, giving added motivation to play my heart out and try to sound like ten drummers in one... and it seems I’m the only one who knows how that feels, as now collective group drumming has naturally taken over, and to great effect. (A different drummer each year should be allowed to have this role as an initiator for at least a few minutes of the burn alone— just for the experience.)

After I packed up my damaged and ravaged drumset, I quaffed a homebrew with friends around camp. The stout I made was one of the most refreshing tastes, signifying that time in particular, and I haven’t been able to get the same effect in a homebrew since.

Good friend Jane Austin had an oversized bottle of wine... I mean *oversized*, being half as large as she herself. Jane offered everyone in camp a hearty swig and there was still more left over! She called it “Latin Life-Juice.”

A small gang of us went to Trego Hot Springs and soaked blissfully beneath the light of the full moon in the cool air into the wee small hours, followed by lengthy staring into a mellowing bonfire. Contemplation time, after the extraordinary energy of the flaming sculpture many hours before lived on within us. And I felt my sore arms from the outburst of drumming energy I had expelled. It was windless, so back at the camp I slept soundly under Orion.

The next morning I got an extraordinary Swedish-Hawaiian massage from Sesha, the camp masseuse. A brokedown VW bug was being dragged into the U-Haul. The Burning Man had left a scarred patch on the ground, “kilning” some of the playa red, of which I saved a small chunk. Michael Kan dug the two small light bulbs out of the ashes that were the Burning Mans eyes, and later in SF brought them in a small replica head of the Man to one of the Cacophony society meetings, and they still lit up!

Leaving camp after saying many goodbyes, we had to contact the sheriff in Gerlach on the way out about two who were lost from camp. We drove back to the Bay Area feeling healthy, ending the summer of 1990.

No mess was left out there, impressing the BLM (which helped to get actual authorization for the following year). But I heard that one item was left behind, it was a small sphinx shaped hummus mold, used by P Segal at the cocktail party. I heard that it seemed too perfect to not leave out there to stand in its desert element.

There is still playa dust in the crevices of the old Apollo drumset... I hope some always stays there. It probably wouldn't even if I tried painstakingly to remove it!

The idea of dressing up in formal wear in the dusty desert to the burning of an oversized wooden figure was very much a Cacophony Society type of involvement... especially during that phase of the group. I had my tuxedo with tails on as I jammed into the night. This was no mere neo-pagan ritual; there was much more of a sense of humor and a kind of surrealistic quirkiness.

I’m grateful for the encouragement that the main organizers of the event gave me to go gung-ho on the traps... it was indeed a standout “immediate experience” (so called as something special to be respected in the event above almost anything else). This was something else, and we were all in the spark of its realization… yes, this had to happen again, and bigger every time.

I’m still haunted by the beauty of that time long gone by as I write this. I imagine this is what happens after everyone’s first Burn and experience of the Black Rock Desert. And it could not possibly be repeated in the same way. Something about doing this event this way for the first time ever... real originality was at work here at this very seminal event, and I felt lucky and proud to have been part of it. For me, it was a grand birthday week!

And I have never have played the drums harder or wilder since.

-Dean Gustafson (from memoirs culled from my sketchbook journal of the summer of 1990, updated and dusted off for improved readability in 2000 and 2007)

This certainly isn't complete, more names and memories will probably be added...

#Dean Gustafson #Burning Man 1990

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themastercylinder · 5 years

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For those who grew up as horror fans in the 1980s, invasions of killer monsters intent on devouring nubile young flesh were a popular stock in trade. With an entire generation of young filmmakers raised on the Cold War thematics and situations of alien invasion films of the ’50s and ’60s on TV, balanced with a steady intake of harder-edged violence and gore from late-’60s and early ’70s genre revolutionaries, the combination of creepy, icky things from out of this world and Tom Savini-style grue was a natural progression. Aliens weren’t just out to take over our planet or shoot you with ray guns—they wanted to eat you too, and in as messy a way as the budget would allow.

Storyline

Two campers are nearby when a meteor falls to Earth. When they investigate, they are attacked and eaten by a bizarre life form that emerges from the crashed rock.

A house near the crash site is the home of Sam (James Brewster) and Barb (Elissa Neil), and their two children, college student and budding scientist Pete (Tom DeFranco) and his younger brother Charles (Charles George Hildebrandt), a monster movie fan. Visiting are Aunt Millie (Ethel Michelson) and Uncle Herb (John Schmerling). When a rainstorm sets in, Sam goes downstairs to check the basement for flooding and is eaten by the bizarre monstrosity. Barb suffers the same fate when she goes looking for him.

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Pete sets up a study date with classmates Ellen (Jean Tafler), Frankie (Richard Lee Porter), and Kathy (Karen Tighe). Uncle Herb, a psychologist, wants to investigate Charles’s interest in the macabre, and he holds a brief interview with the boy before he falls asleep in the living room. Aunt Millie heads over to her mother Bunny’s (Judith Mayes) house for a luncheon with her retired friends. When an electrician arrives to investigate a circuit breaker malfunction in the basement, Charles dons a costume and goes down to scare him. There, he discovers the basement is infested with slug-like creatures feasting on the electrician’s and his mother’s remains, guarded by their huge mother, the monster from the meteor crash. After realizing that the eyeless creatures react to sound, he stands silently, escaping his parents’ fate.

Meanwhile, Ellen and Frankie have discovered one of the tadpole creatures dead on the way over to the house, and deem it unlike any animal on Earth when they dissect it. Science fiction fan Frankie hypothesizes that the creature could be from outer space, but hard-nosed scientist Pete dismisses that theory. At Bunny’s house, Millie arrives and they prepare the luncheon, unaware that the spawn have infested the house. When her guests arrive, the spawn creatures emerge and attack them. The women fight back and manage to escape in Millie’s car.

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Back at the house, Pete, Ellen and Frankie seek out Uncle Herb to get his opinion on the creatures, only to find him being devoured by the spawn. As the adult creature emerges and charges them, they run upstairs to barricade themselves in Charles’s bedroom. Charles distracts the adult by turning on a radio, which it eats, causing an electrical fire which burns it. Pete and the others then see Kathy arriving and pull her into the bedroom just in time to save her from the beast. The teens decide to head for Pete’s bedroom, where there is a phone to call for help with, but as they emerge, the adult creature pounces on them. Pete flees to another room and from there onto the roof; Frankie and Kathy run up to the attic, while Ellen stays in Charles’ room. The creature easily breaks down the door, bites Ellen’s head off and devours her body. Peter returns through the attic window; but traumatized after seeing Ellen’s body, he becomes unhinged, fighting with Frankie to open the attic door, which attracts the creature.

Meanwhile, Charles has concocted a plan: he has filled a prop head with explosive flash powder, with a frayed electrical cord trailing behind to act as a fuse. He arrives in the attic before the creature can attack Peter and the others, spurring the creature into devouring the prop head. However, the cord proves too short to plug into an outlet. One of the spawn creatures appears and attacks Charles, but gets in the way of the adult when it lunges at Charles and ends up being eaten. Now that the monster is distracted and its mouth close enough, Charles manages to get to the outlet, igniting the powder and blowing up the adult.

With the threat revealed, a massive hunt is mobilized. Policemen and townspeople go around killing the alien spawn and burning the remains. Millie returns to the house to care for Pete and Charles as best she can, while Frankie and Kathy are taken away in an ambulance. That night, a lone patrolman stands guard outside the house. His contact on the CB radio is confident that the spawn has been wiped out, but then the patrolman hears a low rumbling, and sees the hill by the house lift up, revealing a fully-grown spawn of colossal size.

Back Story

In terms of this combination, 1983’s The Deadly Spawn was a pioneer. Filmed on a shoestring budget around $25,000, the film tells the story of a houseful of people under assault from alien creatures breeding in the basement, which are basically mobile, worm like stalks terminating in giant mouths full of rows of razor-sharp teeth.

John Dods, who co-wrote the film’s original story and served as director of special effects, recalls the origin of the Deadly Spawn. “Ted Bohus, our producer, called me up one day,” says Dods, “and said, ‘Hey, let’s make ourselves a monster movie.’ The only problem we had at that point was, we didn’t have any money. But our friend Don Dohler in Baltimore had managed to finance and make a film called The Alien Factor, and had managed to sell it to television, and even make a profit. So Ted figured, and I agreed, why couldn’t we do the same thing?”

Neither Bohus nor Dods were entirely without experience at the project’s outset; in fact, Dods is quite well-known (famous, almost) among semi-pro filmmakers as the producer-director-writer-animator-designer of a series of short films featuring Grog, a delightfully primitive critter who was briefly featured in the TV special The Making of The Empire Strikes Back as an example of the stop-motion animator’s art. Bohus, a genuine SF fan and former fanzine publisher, may not have had much producing experience, but he did achieve the goal of procuring financing for the project, and he assembled a crew that included some of the best young film making talent in the East: Dods; makeup artist Arnold Gargiulo musician Ken Walker to score the film, along with Paul Cornell and Michael Perilstein; and renowned fantasy artist Tim Hildebrandt, who served as executive producer and made several special contributions to the film’s effects and designs.

The Deadly Spawn design by John Dods

While the acting and the directing of The Deadly Spawn is only passable at best the work of these four gentlemen make the film watchable-and even highly enjoyable, for those of us who like the idea of face-eating mutant creatures from out of space. For, in the time-honored tradition of low-budget monster cinema, the play is not the thing; the “Thing’ is the play. It is Dods’ hell-raising title creatures, and the havoc they raise in a New Jersey suburb, that gives this film its singular charm.

Dod’s first order of business was his collaboration with Bohus on a story, which served as a key tool in obtaining investors; this story was later fleshed out into a somewhat flabby screenplay by director Doug McKeown. Dod’s second task-and one that turned out quite a bit better–was the design and construction of the film’s highly unpleasant stars. “We wanted something really frightening,” says Dods, “and since this was over two years ago, we were probably a little influenced by Alien. I decided to give it a lot of teeth, because, to me, that says that it’s going to bite you. So taking that to an extreme, we gave it a whole lot of teeth-three heads full of them. We did a number of toothy sketches, discussed them with the director and so forth; I did one more version, which I later sculpted in clay, and that seemed to strike everyone as pretty awful in the right way.” The adult creature was built, along with various other required bits and pieces, over a two month period, by Dods with technician Greg Ramoundas.

Interview with Ted Bohus

Ted, how and when did The Deadly Spawn get started?

BOHUS: In October of 1980 extrapolated an idea from a news story I’d read. I imagined a dormant microbe or spore inside a meteor, which crashes in an isolated area (it had to be an isolated area, because the budget would not let us put it down in New York City!), comes alive and starts eating everything in sight. Eventually it ends up in a family’s basement and starts producing, or should I say, reproducing various sized offspring. The “tooth-heads” eventually invade the house, and the surrounding area.

How are the spawn finally destroyed?

BOHUS: Wait a minute now…I can’t tell you that! But I will say that the young boy in the film (played by Tim Hildebrandt’s son), finds a way to destroy some of them.

Deadly Spawn is an independent production. How did you find backers to finance the film?

BOHUS: A friend of mine is studying to become a doctor. He and a few other friends put up the initial starting money. Since then Tim and Rita Hildebrandt and another friend have become involved.

How did you meet the Hildebrandts?

BOHUS: I met Tim and Greg Hildebrandt at a convention about four years ago. We started talking about painting, science fiction films, Disney and how we are all still 15 years old. Actually, after the first meeting, I only stayed in contact with Tim and Rita. Periodically we all got together to watch films or talk. When I mentioned the film to Tim and that we were scouting locations he said, “Hey I’ve got an idea! Why don’t you use our house?” So we did. And we used his son too! And Rita, and the neighbors.

How did Charles Hildebrandt get the part of the young boy?

BOHUS: Well he didn’t get the part just because he was Tim’s son. Charles is a natural actor. No fear in front of the camera whatsoever.

Back to the Hildebrandts. Is Greg also involved in this film project? I thought the Hildebrandt Brothers always did everything together.

BOHUS: No. Tim and Rita are the only Hildebrandts involved in this project. Tim and Greg have split up and gone their separate ways. I think that the Clash of the Titans poster was their last work together.

What about the new Atlantis calendar?

BOHUS: That was also done before the split.

Artistic differences?

BOHUS: I think Tim wants to get more heavily into filmmaking at this point.

Will Tim be doing the poster for The Deadly Spawn?

BOHUS: I think so. He’s already done up a few roughs-I’d like something with a 50’s look.

You mean Big Monster and Girl in Trouble?

BOHUS: Exactly! Tim’s also working on a miniature for the film.

How did you locate the actors?

BOHUS: All the actors and actresses are professionals- put ads in the New York trade papers asking for actors willing to work for a small percentage, and described the parts.

How many responses did you get?

BOHUS: Well, I expected about 60, but got over 400! Some from as far away as Miami! | Weeded them down to about 100. Then I took the resumes to our Director, Doug McKeown, and our Effects Director John Dods. We narrowed them down to 50. Gave 40 screen tests and picked 12 people.

You mentioned Director and Effects Director. Do these people also work on a percentage?

BOHUS: Everyone on this film is working on a percentage.

How did you find them?

BOHUS: John Dods, I’ve known for many years. He’s mainly known for animating the Grog cartoons, but I brought him in to work on all parts of the film, not just the effects.

Ted Bohus’ original concept art for the main creature.

Did he design the creatures in the film?

BOHUS: We both had ideas about what the “Spawn” should look like…possibly three or more snake-like heads, plenty of teeth, slimy. I was trying to design something with a man in a suit but John said no, it would be better just to have this enormous form with heads and teeth. A big mechanical creature. He went off and a few days later brought over some designs. We went through them and rejected some. He went off again and this time hit it right on the head.

Who is directing?

BOHUS: Doug McKeown is a filmmaker that John Dods knew for many years. He recommended him for the job.

What about the crew?

BOHUS: Lighting, sound, construction, all the crew except for our Director of Photography are local guys I’ve known for years. They’ve been making films since high school.

How long have you been in production?

BOHUS: About eight months.

You kept a crew and actors together for eight months?

BOHUS: We love making movies.

What do you hope to do with the film after it’s finished? Do you have any leads at this time?

BOHUS: A few. Most companies are waiting for the entire film to be rough cut. There’s a booming market out there these days, with HBO going 24 hours, overseas sales and a lot of new countries getting into the movie market. Plus video tapes and discs.

So the film has a pretty good chance of being sold quickly.

BOHUS: If it’s a good product, it’ll sell’ fast:

Do you sell a company all rights or can you sell it yourself overseas and to HBO?

BOHUS: That depends. I can sell the film outright for one sum and they can sell it to the other markets. Or if you have a lot of contacts you can sell it yourself.

Each market can be a different deal then?

BOHUS: Yes.

After this film is sold would you like to get right into another one?

BOHUS: Yes, of course. I’d like to show the film companies what we can do with a low budget and hope they would back us on the next project. Don’t forget, we have everything right here. We create the stories, write the screenplay, do storyboards, artwork, special effects, music, the whole thing! We can turn in a finished product completely on our own.

Do you think that the major companies will like that?

BOHUS: We want to make a good product, an entertaining film, for a decent budget and make a name for ourselves. If what we’re doing is good we’ll get lots of work.

What do you think of The Deadly Spawn? Is it a good film?

BOHÚS: I think it’s a good, fast paced, entertaining film. The science fiction, horror, thriller, whatever you want to call them, films of today (with few exceptions) are too slow. If you’re going to the movies to get scared or see monsters you have to wait through twenty minutes of baloney to get to see fifteen seconds of effects.

I know what you mean, some films drag on and on and center everything around one or two effects scenes, while the rest of the

film is totally boring.

BOHUS: Exactly!

Do you have any other projects in the works?

BOHUS: Yes, I’d like to work with John and Tim on a project called Bing’s Thing. It’s a science fiction musical comedy-horror film. (Chuckle) Also, I’m getting treatments ready for four other films. One’s a U.F.O. story with a twist. One’s a science-fantasy. Another is similar to Journey to the Center of the Earth, and explains Big Foot and U.F.O.’s.

When do you expect to have The Deadly Spawn finished?

BOHUS: I hope within two to three months.

Tim Hildebrandt paints the artwork for the Deadly Spawn poster.

An Interview with Tim Hildebrandt

The Hildebrandt name is one that is usually associated with the big Hollywood megabuck spectaculars such as Star Wars and Clash of the Titans. How did you come to be involved with The Deadly Spawn which is a modestly budgeted horror/thriller?

HILDEBRANDT: Well, I’m a personal friend of the producer Ted Bohus and the special effects director John Dods. When they began work on The Deadly Spawn I was caught up in their enthusiasm for the project and wanted to have something to do with it.

What is your function on The Deadly Spawn?

TH: Well right now I’m building a “mystery set” outside in my barn in conjunction with John Dods. It’s a miniature landscape but it involves something that the producer doesn’t want revealed as yet.

How is a low budget film able to afford building even a miniature set?

TH: We’re low budget by Holly-wood standards certainly but you can still get good results without spending a lot of money. I did a 3M Company TV commercial which involved building miniatures. To give you an idea of what Hollywood people want to do this kind of work, John Dykstra wanted, I believe, somewhere in the vicinity of a couple hundred thousand dollars to pull off an effect that actually could be pulled off for $5,000-$10,000 at the most.

It’s been said that when you have a lot of money, there is a tendency to do things in the least efficient way!

TH: Exactly! If you go back to the old Hollywood days and the old serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers some of those effects men were told the night before that they had to have certain effects or sets ready. They would look around and see what they had in the way of available materials: a football helmet would become a space helmet. To make something out of nothing that to me is more fun than having a lot of paraphernalia at your disposal.

So on The Deadly Spawn you rely more on ingenuity and resourcefulness than on mega-bucks?

TH: That’s it in a nutshell.

People associate the name Hildebrandt mostly with fantasy illustration, The Lord of the Rings calendars, for example, but your involvement with film goes way back.

TH: It began in my parent’s garage when I was a teenager, 1954 or thereabouts after having seen War of the Worlds by George Pall was slightly impressed by the special effects. My brother Greg and I took eight months to build a miniature city—like the one in the film. This was when we were in high school. We’d come home at night in the middle of winter and spend hours making detailed windows and carving bricks in the plaster walls. Then we blew it up using powdered magnesium, filming it in slow motion on an old Keystone regular 8 movie camera. A couple of scenes were used by the Jam Handy organization as part of a film on the San Francisco earthquake. Jam Handy is an industrial film producer and I worked for them primarily doing cell animation. I never actually wanted to be an illustrator. My prime objective was to be an animator for Walt Disney.

You sound as though you’re well known ventures into fantasy illustration have been a diversion from your main passion.

TH: Yes, actually, I look at it that way. You asked before why I got involved in The Deadly Spawn. I just wanted to get my hands into a film; I wanted to make something to hold onto a camera light, to be part of it, somehow.

You and your wife Rita are functioning as executive producers on the film.

TH: Which, simply put, means we put money into the film.

Your son Charles has a featured role in The Deadly Spawn.

TH: Let me tell you about my son Charles . . . he kills the monster! Charles plays a 12 year old horror film buff who likes to frighten people by appearing in a puff of smoke (powdered magnesium) as a monster. At the climax of the film Charles feeds the monster a “head” full of powdered magnesium and blows it to pieces.

You allowed your house to be used as a location for some sequences in The Deadly Spawn. What is it like to have a film crew marching in and out of your house carrying equipment—and monsters up and down stairs?

TH: I enjoyed it—being around all that activity. It was a very messy film. The monster is coated with thick slime before every take and there’s lots of blood in the film. One scene involved the Uncle who is discovered in a room infested with little spawns who are chewing him to pieces. I had a white carpet in that room, but needless to say, it had a lot of red in it by the end of the shoot. The company we took it to for cleaning did a double take when they saw it.

Did anything amusing happen during the shooting?

TH: Well, I saw the director pull his hair out a few times—I thought that only happened in the movies!

I understand that you were approached to do design work on the Disney/Paramount production Dragonslayer.

TH: Years ago, yeah. But I was in the middle of trying to sell Urshuraka novel I wrote with my brother and Gerry Nichols—as a film. We came quite close, but the short side of the story is that it was just too expensive to do. Joseph E. Levine for example saw the Urshurak presentation. He applauded, turned to us, slapped the arm of his chair and said “Well, that’ll cost $145,000,000 to make!” We thought he was joking but he meant it literally.

Urshurak—like most of your previous work was a joint venture between you and your brother Greg—”The Brothers Hildebrandt.” Up until painting the Clash of the Titans poster you worked together, usually both of you contributing to each painting. There has been a split between you two and now you work alone. What happened?

TH: It was not a friendly parting of the ways. At the time it happened I was working on a very important piece of work with my brother—production design for the forth-coming motion picture The Beast of Krull to be directed by Peter Yates. I was on the job for a month. One day I was informed that I was off of the project and that Greg was to continue … let’s leave it at that.

So at this point we don’t know if any of the design work in The Beast of Krull will represent your efforts.

TH: Right, I won’t know until I see the film.

Is it true that members of The Deadly Spawn film crew have found their way into one of your current projects?

TH: Yes, I’m painting a 1983 fantasy calendar for the TSR people, who make Dungeons and Dragons and other role playing games. It’s called “Realms of Wonder.” Crew members posed for various characters; our cinematographer Frank Balsamo became a dwarf; John Dods posed for a monster and a wizard (in the same picture!); and our production coordinator Kathy Vent posed for a mermaid.

What are your other current projects?

TH: Well, I consider The Deadly Spawn to be my prime project. But I’m also doing two books with my wife. One is the “Fantasy Cookbook” to be published by Bobs Merril Company. And we’re doing an adult picture book on Merlin the Magician. I’m also discussing other projects with the TSR people—they’re very good to work for.

Would you like to be involved with film in the future?

TH: Yes, in the area of production design, in creating the look of the film. I like to build miniature sets—and I’ve always wanted to do a matte painting.

Douglas McKeown and Mother Spawn

Director/screenwriter Douglas McKeown

A bio of you says you started a theater in your house at age 9.

DOUGLAS McKEOWN: When I was in sixth grade, I did a makeup inspired by The Curse of Frankenstein. There were maybe 15 people sitting in the basement facing a table I was lying on with a sheet over me, and on cue I sat up, the sheet slipped off my face and a kid in the audience screamed, “Shit!” and fell off his stool. Well, that did it; I was hooked. I can still see the expression on his face. So I kept making plays about monsters, and shanghaied kids from the neighborhood to be in them even my mother had to step in once at the last minute and suit up as the Monster for my spin on Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Guess who played the Wolf Man! That show ended with a castle cave in that caused so much smoke and dust, the audience had to flee up the steps to keep from choking to death

My other extracurricular activities included showing off severed fingers in boxes or staging bloody stabbings and murders by the side of the road for the benefit of passing motorists. I was privately doing more and more realistic makeups and sneaking out after dark to make “appearances.” I know there are grown adults out there who still have nightmares about their childhood run-ins with a growling, hairy creature running past an open window or a maniac in a cape jumping off a roof, or some shapeless thing they couldn’t quite make out scratching at the back door. When I was 17, I filmed myself as the Phantom of the Opera on 8mm, and sort of turned quasi-professional. I got a makeup scholarship in college and started designing makeups for the theater department’s productions while majoring in English and studying film,

What, spawned The Deadly Spawn?

McKEOWN: In 1980, I was directing a play at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre in New York when I got a call from John Dods, whom I had known for a long time. He said he’d met a guy at one of the horror conventions, Ted Bohus, and they were thinking of making a horror/sci-fi-type movie, and would I be interested in joining them? John and I had worked together in the 1970s; I’d enlisted him to create some effects for a house of horrors I designed at the Jersey Shore boardwalk, and before that he’d helped me create animated titling for a documentary film I made with students. We’d also worked together on successful stage productions for the high school I taught at. During our first meeting out in New Jersey, the two guys told me they were going to be co-directors of the film, but they needed someone to “direct the actors.” I said I’d never heard of a job directing only the actors, so I said no. However, I would be willing to take on the job of sole director of the film. So we agreed to that: Dods would direct the effects, Bohus would produce and I would direct.

Then, when I found out they had no script, treatment or storyline beyond “a monster comes from space and eats people.” I said I would also have to write the screenplay, or it was no deal. They also agreed to this-a little reluctantly, I thought. The three of us would collaborate on the story, but I would do the script.

Could you give us some primary inspirations behind the creature design?

McKEOWN: We talked about Alien and Jaws and used the term “eating machine” a lot-a creature that was mostly teeth. The “mother spawn,” as we started calling it—or her-gradually took shape in Dods’ basement studio in New Brunswick. The creature prop looked amazing even before it had any flesh on it. This was all Dods’ work, topped off later with a luridly detailed paint job by Tim Hildebrandt. In fact, you could say Dods was the mother spawn, he was so intensely into his creation. I even overheard him talking to it once when he thought no one was around.

The ’80s had a lot of independent, low- to middling-budget monster films, but The Deadly Spawn is pretty intensely gory for when it came out. Was that always the intent, or just a happy accident?

McKEOWN: Let’s call it happy intent. At one of our early production meetings, we discussed going for an R rating, because in the low-budget arena it would actually be a draw rather than a drawback, and we wanted to make as big a splash as possible. Nudity was suggested, but I nixed it. I think it’s always ridiculous and obvious that whenever characters are about to be carved up in a movie, they happen to strip down and get in the shower first. I thought, why not extreme violence? I actually said, “Let’s rip the mother’s face off.”

Now, I personally was not a big fan of bloody, gory movies—which is surprising, I know, given my predilections as a child. It’s just that I had come to appreciate mood, atmosphere, subtlety in movies suggested terrors more than overt ones. But this project definitely called for going as far as possible-taking the audience over the top beyond disgust, to actual laughter even. A big laugh in the theater can be as potent and as valid a release as a scream. I definitely -heard those kinds of laughs when The Deadly Spawn played in 1983. Especially in the vegetarian luncheon scene, which has been called “disturbing” and “hilarious” at the same time.

There’s an interesting contrast between the two lead brothers, in that one is a scientific rationalist and the other, much younger boy engages in imaginative escapism via horror films and nostalgia. Was this a planned-out element of the film?

McKEOWN: Planned. Charles is the brave and resourceful hero, the one who stands in for me as a kid with horror-movie obsessions. He just lives contentedly with horror all the time in his own little world. The hero idea came from one of those nights when I was 11 or 12, running through the woods done up as the Wolf Man, and had a revelation. Here I was in full makeup, hair glued on my face, fangs, the works, and I suddenly realized that I was completely unafraid of the dark, or of being alone or anything at all, really. And that was because I was the monster. I understood monsters from the inside. Of course, I knew I couldn’t invest the character of Charles with all the details from my life. I was hoping the audience would get the idea that this little imaginative world of his had actually prepared him for the challenges he was about to face.

I wanted the older brother, Pete, to be locked up in his own narrow paradigm, and his relationship with Charles-teasing his younger brother about the monsters-to find its equivalent in the more adult verbal sparring he was going to have later on with Ellen. She turns out to be open to the more imaginative possibilities of life; they inspire her scientific curiosity. Pete, on the other hand, is completely closed to the imagination, science to him being a cold, inflexible discipline. I figured their opposite outlooks would make the sparks fly between them. Too bad their kissing scene comes on so abruptly in the final film. It was supposed to be better set up by a scene we had shot first that had them sort of flirting with each other. Somebody made the decision later, when I wasn’t on board, to cut that out. I keep talking about how much was planned, and it’s true, but you can only plan so much. The biggest x factor is always the individual actors’ performances and personalities. They bring indefinable values that nobody can plan for, and I couldn’t have been happier.

A huge isolative element in the plot is the fact that, until the end, the house is basically stormbound. How hard was it to plan around the weather during shooting?

McKEOWN: I had the idea from the start that it would be raining all through the film for a couple of reasons. I thought the mama creature from the meteorite would thrive on Earth right away, growing quickly as soon as it rained, because, like all life, it flourished in water. And then its offspring would flourish and grow and proliferate like the brooms and buckets in [Fantasia’s] The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. And plot wise, I figured a lot of rain could mean a flooded cellar, so there’d be a good reason to bring the doomed parents down there at the outset.

Douglas McKeown

But the main purpose for the rain was technical. I knew that with our low-to-no budget, it would be extremely hard to maintain a convincing continuity in clothing, settings, lighting, etc., especially if we would be shooting piecemeal over the weeks and months. So I thought that if we made it one long rainstorm, a real rainy day all through the film, we could have that steady drumbeat of ambient sound on the soundtrack, and that would help convince the audience subconsciously that everything was happening on the same day.” And if it shouldn’t happen to rain on a day we were scheduled to shoot, well, how hard would it be, I asked myself, to point a garden hose at the scene for exterior shots, or simply aim it against the outside of a window when we shot the interiors?

As it turned out, it was annoyingly hard to do. It so happened that in the winter of 1980-81, New Jersey experienced probably the worst drought on record. Here I was making a film with rain all through it, and it never rained. It actually became illegal to use garden hoses, so someone was always keeping a lookout for the cops during scenes like the one where Pete is up on the roof in the-fake-rain.

How did the Hildebrandts come to be involved in the movie’s production?

McKEOWN: Tim was already on board as an executive producer, I think. Once I came up with a story centering on a family, he offered his house as the main location-although I’m not sure his wife Rita knew what they were in for! And when I met his son Charles, I realized a major casting problem was solved. Not only was Charles the right age [for the character bearing his name) and very intelligent, he was psyched for it—and he would be no trouble getting to the set in the morning, since he actually lived there; he just had to wake up and get in costume. A very lucky break! Tim was incredibly easy to work alongside, understanding and patient and just all-around great to spend time with. Not to mention that his extraordinary artistry added immeasurably to the look of the creatures and the film as a whole.

What have you been up to since The Deadly Spawn?

McKEOWN: Oh, life after The Deadly Spawn has gone on just as before, with me collaborating on stage shows by directing or designing and making props, costumes and scenery, taping short documentary videos and writing scenes, sketches, the books to musicals, short stories, even a nightclub comedy act at one time. And then there’s acting, which I still do from time to time. First and foremost, though, I’m a filmmaker, and I would like nothing better than to direct another feature. Stranger things have happened.

After all these years, what’s your perspective on The Deadly Spawn?

McKEOWN: That’s exactly how it is, a perspective of many years. In some ways, the film is like one of NASA’s Mars rovers—supposed to do a limited job for a limited time, but then, amazingly, turned out to have this incredible staying power. Put another way, I sometimes feel like the parent of a wayward child who grew up. You know, when she was young she screwed up, disappointed me, got in with the wrong crowd, but then over time she proved her worth, was admired and loved by the outside world. I finally had to stop threatening to disown her. And now I really appreciate her best qualities instead of fixating on all her flaws, which is what I used to do. The flaws were really mine, anyway. And of course, I don’t forget that I wasn’t her only parent!

The Deadly Spawn (1983) Retrospective Part One For those who grew up as horror fans in the 1980s, invasions of killer monsters intent on devouring nubile young flesh were a popular stock in trade.

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rieshon · 6 years

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Best of 2017

This was almost a weak year for anime, but then the Fall season happened. Apparently anime was just saving all their best for last in 2017.

10: Seikai Suru Kado ∥ Toei Animation ∥ Dir. Watanabe Masaki: This may be a surprise inclusion, given that Kado was admittedly one of the most hideous-looking shows of the year, but in a post-Kemono Friends world, anything is possible. Looks aside, Kado does the remarkable thing of giving us actual science fiction in an anime: you know, cerebral, philosophical, and trying to raise questions about our own society through the lens of the fantastic. It definitely has flaws, but there aren't many anime I've watched that feel as much like a good SF novel as this one does.

9: NEW GAME!! ∥ Douga Koubou ∥ Dir. Fujiwara Yoshiyuki: Here's a more conventional choice. You know I love Zoi-chan, and her second season was everything it should have been. We have the great character development of Aoba coming into her own as a designer, Nenecchi being the world's most adorable beginning programmer, and a genuinely moving ending with Kou-chan setting out on her own. Plus it adds some adorable new girls, and the cuteness delivered by Douga Koubros is on point as always. Wako-chan dabes!

8: Gabriel Dropout ∥ Douga Koubou ∥ Dir. Oota Masahiko: You didn't think the Comedy God wouldn't find his way on here, did you? Oota Masahiko had a two year absence from my Best of the Year lists, but now he clocks in for the fourth time with the eminently enjoyable Gabriel Dropout. As you might expect, this show has a feel similar to the original Yuruyuri: it's super comfy, but also hilarious. Comic foil Satanya was easily one of the best girls of the year.

7: Little Witch Academia ∥ TRIGGER ∥ Dir. Yoshinari You: Some will probably think I have LWA a little low... It's definitely a masterpiece of design and, at times, animation, but I felt like the overall plot dragged a little. Some individual episodes were brilliant, though, like the one where Akko travels inside Sucy's brain, the labor strike episode which gave us glorious Comrade Akko, or the robot episode aka Gurren Lagann 2. The big plot about the kotonoha and the evil Elon Musk, on the other hand, I never really got that invested into, although Shiny Chariot is definitely a babe. Still, it's got all those great themes about believing in yourself that are so genuine and earnest that you can't help but love it.

6: Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasuka? Isogashii Desuka? Sukutte Moratte Iidesuka? ∥ C2C/Satelight ∥ Dir. Wada Junichi: I'm totally biased towards this series, having read the books, but I do think it's a really good anime in its own right. Kutori's tragic story is told with the utmost care and even though they only adapted three of the five novels it still turns out as a complete and satisfying story unto itself. The feels are all over, especially thanks in no small part to a beautiful score (including several vocal pieces) by Katou Tatsuya that really ties the show together tonally. I'd really kill for a second season.

5: Youjo Senki ∥ Nut ∥ Dir. Uemura Yutaka: So, I almost feel guilty putting this show on here because it's definitely the hardest anime I've ever watched raw (Monogatari shows included) and I still feel like some of it may have gone over my head. But even my dumb ass knows enough to tell this is one of the smartest shows of the year, a study of man's tendency towards war as seen through the eyes of a little girl who embodies the doctrine of "the ends justify the means." Yuuki Aoi turns in probably the best performance of her career as Tanya who is definitely one of the most memorable characters of the year, even if Nazis think she's supposed to be a "badass" you're meant to root for. This is another one that desperately needs a second season.

4: Kino no Tabi -the Beautiful World- the Animated Series ∥ Lerche ∥ Dir. Taguchi Tomohisa: I always heard the original Kino was great but I didn't care enough to actually go back and watch it. Thankfully, anime's got me covered with this new adaptation that definitely lived up to the hype. If I were to use one phrase to describe Kino no Tabi it would be "Star Trek"―much like that show it's an episodic series about some people on a journey to strange places that uses each episode to set up an ethical or philosophical question and then work through it. As a result, it's wonderfully varied and constantly surprising. Also, Kino is cute!

3: Konohana Kitan ∥ Lerche ∥ Dir. Okamoto Hideki: Is it wrong for me to say this show is like Kino? Konohana is also a series of short stories tied together by the setting and characters of the inn, but instead of setting up philosophical questions it's all about sentimentality. I really appreciate short form storytelling and there are a ton of fantastically constructed short stories here and they rarely failed to make me bawl my eyes out. It also features some of the cutest girls of the year, to the point that I still don't really know who best girl is: I gave it to Yuzu, but you really couldn't go wrong with any of them.

2: Houseki no Kuni ∥ Orange ∥ Dir. Kyougoku Takahiko: It's a real shame that this show can't also be anime of the year, but second place is no indictment of the quality of this show which was one of two to earn a perfect score last year. Houseki no Kuni is a standard (if masterfully executed) bildungsroman, but it's wrapped in a package unlike anything I've ever experienced before. The arresting character designs are the first thing that jump out, but there's also the unique and never-quite-explained setting and world, including the haunting visuals of the moon people antagonists, and the show's stylish fusion of 3DCG technology with traditional animation techniques, resulting in some of the best cinematography of the year. And then there's the cast of characters, headed by Kurosawa Tomoyo as Phosphophyllite who has with this performance removed any doubt in my mind that she's one of the top actresses in anime right now. Phos experiences character growth that's almost unprecendented in this medium, where return to the status quo is the norm for most "arcs," and Kurosawa's performance which takes Phos from goofy red-headed stepchild to cold, disaffected warrior (while still not losing any of her personality) really ties it all together. Phos's character development is so satisfying that it even manages to convincingly take the place of a real ending to the plot. A genuine masterpiece.

1: Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou ∥ White Fox ∥ Dir. Ozaki Takaharu: But as fate would have it there would be two unqualified masterpieces this year... Part of the reason I've put off finishing this post is because I've struggled to think of ways to communicate how truly sublime the experience of watching Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou is. It's beautiful, thoughtful, introspective, sentimental, heart-rending, soothing... I guess it's fitting that it's so many things because the show is ultimately about humanity, where we came from, and where we're heading. And it does all that without being brooding or melancholic: these round girls look the apocalypse square in the face and still manage to find beauty, comfort, and profound meaning in the world. If that isn't humanity at its purest, what is? This show that is at first glance about two round blobs on a road trip will make you reconsider mankind's place in the universe. I love anime.

Close but no cigar:

The biggest conflict for me was Princess Principal, which I really wanted to include in the list but just couldn't make room for it. There's a lot of things I love that show for: its fun setting, endearing characters, its well-told short form stories, and the fact that it tiptoes into dealing with leftist politics... But unfortunately it ends quite poorly, which is a big knock on a show as plot-driven as this one. In a similar vein, Kakegurui was one of the most compelling shows week-to-week of the year, but it also suffers from a weak non-ending which lets a little air out of the balloon after all the super hype gambles until that point.

In the cute girls department, there was Kobayashi-sanchi no Maidragon, which let us know that Kyoani can still make moe anime if they try. It was definitely a great specimen in the genre, but it didn't really do anything special enough to get into the top ten... other than having Kanna. There was also Eromanga-Sensei, which lived up to its name by being very ero but was also just unremarkably good.

In terms of lesser shows that deserve a shoutout, I've gotta give one to the second season of Lovelive! Sunshine!! for being so incredibly better than the first outing that it made me genuinely love Aqours and look forward to the upcoming movie. After the last two season of Lovelive anime I never thought I'd really care again, but they managed to do it with a renewed focus on character and abandoning the stupid 'save the school' narrative that made Sunshine feel like a second-rate knockoff of the original. I should also mention Made In Abyss, if only because of its overriding popularity around the world, but also because the first half of it was setting up for an all-time great show that could have easily slotted in among Houseki no Kuni and Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou, but then it made the mistake of getting too grimdark and ruined it.

Now time to open the envelopes:

Best Actress: Kurosawa Tomoyo as Phosphophyllite, Houseki no Kuni. What, you were expecting someone else? At only 21 years of age Kurosawa has already established herself as a force to be reckoned with, between this role and her similarly fantastic work as Kumiko in the Euphonium series. She brings a level of emotional texture to a character that's seldom seen in anime. Just go look at the review for Houseki for more explanation of why she deserves this. We definitely have a lot to look forward to with this girl.

(Honorable mentions: Yuuki Aoi as Tanya Degurechaff, Youjo Senki; Noto Mamiko as Morioka Moriko, Netojuu no Susume; Minase Inori & Kubo Yurika as Chito & Yuri, Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou; Hayami Saori as Jabami Yumeko, Kakegurui)

Best Actors: Ichikawa Aoi & Murata Taishi as Izumi Eita & Souma Haruto, Just Because!. I didn't include Just Because in the close-but-no-cigar section because I figured I could give it credit here. For me, Just Because! was one of the most underrated shows of last year; it won me over with its understated but earnest depiction of youth navigating the tangle of falling in love for the first time. Part of what makes it so charming is the realistic relationship between Ichikawa and Murata's characters, once-seperated friends who reunite when the protagonist moves back to the town he grew up in. The interplay between the characters has that sort of unstated intimacy that often defines male friendships, and while a lot of that is down to the solid writing, it's hard not to give credit to the actors for making the characters' relationship so darling as well.

(Honorable mentions: Fukushima Jun as Satou Kazuma, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2; Chiba Shouya as Azumi Koutarou, Tsuki ga Kirei; Saitou Souma as Glenn Radars, Roku de Nashi Majutsu Kyoushi no Akashic Records)

Newcomer Seiyuu of the Year: Tomita Miyu. Talk about jumping onto the scene. Tomita first came to my active attention with her role as the aloof angel Gabriel in Gabriel Dropout, and her comic delivery was a big part of that show's success. When she later played Kuina in Hinako Note, I thought maybe she was a little one note, because the performances seemed really similar. Her performance as Riko in Made In Abyss, though, really threw her into the spotlight. While I personally hated what happened in episode 10 from a narrative standpoint, there's no denying that that scene was so gutwrenching and affecting for so many people because of Tomita's performance. I'd still like to see if she has more vocal range, but even if she doesn't, this girl―who was only seventeen years old while turning in that work!―can definitely act. I hope we get to hear her lead another show sometime soon.

(Honorable mention: Naganawa Maria. It's not always the case that a voice can entirely make a character. People like Kugimiya Rie can do that, and in recent years Sakura Ayane does the same for me. Naganawa Maria as Kanna Kamui in Kobayashi-sanchi no Maidragon is another example. Kanna would have always been cute, of course, but it's Naganawa's voice that really put her over the edge to becoming one of the most widely popular characters of 2017. The quality of her loligoe is uncontested, but what remains to be seen is if she can truly carry a show as the main protagonist. The only example we have of that is her work as Honda Tamaki in Stella no Mahou, which I enjoyed, but I'd like to hear more of her in that kind of role.)

#best of the year

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caseymcnicoll77-blog · 6 years

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10 From The greatest Racing Gamings For Android, IPhone As well as Ipad tablet.

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epchapman89 · 7 years

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Do Androids Dream Of Electric Flat Whites?

When we talk about “what’s next” for coffee, rarely does that conversation center on the barista. They are the unchangeable constant across coffee in all its forms—a living, breathing human who manages the machines, the “mano” in the “mano, miscela, macchina” upon which the espresso tradition was built. A human, standing behind a machine, waiting to serve coffee to the world: that’s a barista.

At least, it used to be.

Cafe X—started by 23-year-old college dropout Henry Hu—seeks to automate the making and serving of specialty coffee. But unlike, say, BRIGGO, the HAL-like coffee behemoth at the University of Texas we visited in 2012, Hu has created a singular, multi-articulate robotic arm to do the work of mankind. Equal parts auto factory crane and the spindly arm you’d use to pull stuffed animals from an arcade machine, Hu’s robo-barista is scary smart, and it’s part of a trend that seeks to rewrite the rules of coffee service as we know it.

The San Francisco location of Cafe X (the other one is in Hong Kong) is tucked into a dimly lit alcove near a frozen yogurt stand and the stairs on the bottom floor of the Metreon shopping center. A medium-sized fiberglass enclosure encircles the robotic arm and its necessary accoutrements. The only human presence is a cheery Cafe X-employed attendant, there to assist you in the process and soften the strangeness of ordering your coffee from a robot.

You have two options: order the coffee through the touch screen, or download the Cafe X app and order through your phone. My cheery attendant—a sort of sherpa through the uncanny valley—explained that their app functionality allows customers to order while on their way to Cafe X, assuring prompt delivery of the finished drink. I chose to download it and was quickly ordering a flat white built on Verve Coffee Roasters espresso.

There before me lay the robot arm, swinging gracefully around its small workstation—grabbing a cup, placing the cup under one of the two espresso machines, and waiting to receive a union of espresso and milk. When the drink is done the machine places it off to the side and you sidle up to the touchscreen, tap in a code sent to your phone, and the coffee descends down a circular elevator into an LED-lit receiving area.

It is, quite frankly, the entire process of purchasing a coffee beverage with the human aspect left on the cutting room floor. The machine does its work without emotion, or error, or expectation of compensation. It is servile and efficient as only a programmed device can be.

During my experience, a few other curious customers approached the robot. Some laughed nervously, others snapped photos, but for the most part they stood quietly, in awe of automation at work. The coffee itself was good—the milk smooth and not terribly hot, the shot of espresso thick and flavorful. My flat white was a drink that could’ve been made by a living, breathing human, and a skilled one at that.

The coming rise of automation is a hot topic right now, driven in part by the rush towards driverless cars—Google and Uber are currently at war over what this looks like next, and how to take it to market. Automation threatens millions of jobs around the world—especially manufacturing jobs—and may very well strike a staggering blow to the fabric of Western capitalist society. If robots take our jobs, who pays taxes? Where does the money go, but back up to the chain to rulers and owners of these robots?

Will our children watch robot barista competitions? Do androids dream of electric flat whites?

For his part, Henry Hu told Forbes Magazine that his intention for Cafe X was simply to “save money”—by his own approximation, the cost of the robot will be far less than a full cafe build-out. He’s right, of course, and that means passing the savings on to you. Drinks from Cafe X already run few dollars leaner than most coffee shops—lattes are $2.95, shots of espresso just $2.25, and this is in the middle of San Francisco, where coffee drinks easily run $4-6 in many cafes. In other words, this is a cheaper, arguably more efficient way of getting caffeine from a machine to your mouth. There was no line when I visited—who knows how the robot handles a morning rush, but I doubt he’ll be much for banter.

I found myself drawn to the cheery attendant, the lone human whom I could share my experience with. I sought normalcy, something akin to the café experience I was used to. But, if efficiency and automation are the goals of Cafe X, then inevitably humans will be phased out of the experience. We’re pretty inefficient as a species, after all—a bunch of loss leaders eating into the profit potential of a fully automated flat white production Borg, designed to get some as-yet-unagreed-upon combination of milk and espresso into your gullet for credits as soon as possible.

But what of our society? What of coffee as an employment opportunity for real living humans? Will history judge the likes of Henry Hu as a real-world version of Miles Dyson, the fictional (probably?) Director of Special Projects at Cyberdyne Systems who, while just doing his job and increasing project efficiency unknowingly brought about the human-robot apocalypse depicted in The Terminator films.

However, in writing this article, it dawned on me that there may be hope for us yet. The one human you can’t pull out of this equation is the consumer—I’m the one depositing credits, after all, and I can spend my money how I wish. And so it stands to reason that I go to my corner coffee shop ostensibly to get a cup of coffee in the morning, but I also go because I enjoy chatting with my barista; knowing what they’re reading, or who they’ve been dating, or if that dreadful regular we all wish were a little less regular has been back in recently. This human interaction makes the coffee taste better. It’s good for my brain. It’s a UI quirk in this vast human public beta we call life, something that draws us to one another to connect, talk, socialize, fall in love, and pick fleas off each other’s fur. Perhaps it’s a design flaw; perhaps it’s our species’ greatest triumph.

Automation is inevitable, but we can at least hope it’ll be in line with the core values of whatever is being automated. Serving coffee is more than just getting a beverage into a customer’s hands immediately for maximum profit. It’s about interaction, an engagement between people. It isn’t always perfect, and it isn’t always fast, but it’s satisfying in a way that’s hard to quantify until that moment you watch a robot do the same damn thing, for less money, and *still* you want to have a chat.

Cafe X proves that a robot can make a good cup of coffee, but it also, at least to this writer, proves how much is sacrificed when we aim for efficiency over humanity. If fast, consistently delicious coffee, means stripping the barista out of my cafe experience well, then, it doesn’t seem much like the coffee experience anymore. Maybe we’ll all be issued Soylent x Sudden rations in tomorrow’s New Frontier, judiciously pre-mixed by robots too busy to gossip. Or maybe that’s not really what humans want from a cup of coffee, or a cocktail, or a taxi ride. Maybe deep down we want all the inefficiency, the politeness, the imperfect small talk—hell, maybe we even need it, so wired for social interaction are our human brains.

To quote the great philosopher Dr. Ian Malcolm, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Robot coffee is coming—it’s already here—and it’s just one more bit of reckoning that we, our children, and our children’s children will face in the decades to come.

Meanwhile, you can find me at the coffee bar, enjoying a minimally efficient but highly engaging experience, and leaving a tip.

Cafe X is located at 135 4th Street, San Francisco. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Noah Sanders (@sandersnoah) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in San Francisco, and a contributor to SF Weekly, Side One Track One, and The Bold Italic. Read more Noah Sanders on Sprudge.

Editor: Jordan Michelman.

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