Karol Traven ... Fan Fiction Writer?

 Karol Traven ... Fan Fiction Writer?


I don't watch TV. My set (It has a CRT ... A cathode ray tube!) is used for my video collection. As the banner at the top of this blog states, it's not hooked to cable or antenna. Nothing on worth watching.

I have no idea what The Good Wife is about and don't really care to know.

I did however read an article on Mr. Travens' blog about the series conclusion to this shows' season run and linking it to Star Trek. I found it entertaining.

Now being a non-viewer, I couldn't tell if Mr. Traven was putting the reader on by pulling a "Bob Newhart" or not. If he was, then I see some potential for him as a writer of fan fiction. He should rewrite it in story form, make up an account on fanfiction.net and post it.

I'd certainly read it.


Mr. Travens' Ex-Army blog here. Quibcags everywhere!

Fan Fiction dot net website here.


Go to Jay's Tee Vee blog main page here. Beam me there Scotty! No need to use the transporter if there's articles already under this 'un. Yer already there.

Thank GOD It's (Joe) Friday!

"Just the facts, Ma'am ... Just the facts."

Thank GOD It's (Joe) Friday!


Just thought I'd post this.

DUM da DUM DUM! DUM da DUM DUM daaaa ...

The story you are about to see is true ...


Wikipedia article on Dragnet here.

Wikipedia bio of Jack Webb here.

Ex-Army blog article where I got the photo idea here. Don't necessarily agree with the last few sentences but the article is other-wise sound.

Clean Copper Clappers! here.


Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page here.

Some Walking Dead Humor

From my admittedly limited viewing, this is what I get out of it.

Some Walking Dead Humor


Having nothing better to do and presently suffering from creative bankruptcy, I decided to look up and share some stuff I found on a show I pretty much dislike. Reasons for which I will give later this week. For now ... Enjoy ...

This pre-dated Night of the Living Dead by a couple years.

Hmmm ... If it was like this I might watch it. Then again ... maybe not.

I like late '30s/early '40s period pieces with late '40s/early '50s cars. I also have
fun spotting vapor trails in westerns too. Then there's the one where one of the
three kings is seen wearing a wrist watch!

I always liked Christopher Walken. Even as Max Schreck.

I also like those films where the "last man on earth" keeps running into people.

That's it for the moment. Stay tuned Friday when I actually vent a little on the show itself.

Sees ya' ...


An "Honest Trailer" advertisement on You Tube for The Walking Dead here. Check these out! Better than Siskel and Ebert ever could have been. You'll laugh your keester off!

A Screen Junkies idiots' guide on You Tube to The Walking Dead, seasons' 1-3 here. More info than I cared but certainly saved a lot of time for me!

The Zombie Apocalypse That Never Was by C V Ford (Me!) here.

Fanfiction dot net link to C V Fords' (Me! Darn it!) profile page and stories list here.


Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page here. If there's a buncha' articles under this one then you're already there.

Starbuck: Lost in Castration

Dirk Benedict as Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica wields a couple of phallic symbols of male
domination. Ladies should always remember that to defend ones self with a gun is to give in
to male domination thus, the criminal/rapist has won. Yeah ... RIGHT!

The following is an excerpt from an article by Dirk Benedict decrying the sad PC state of affairs in mass media science fiction and (I feel.) the way things are in the entertainment industry in general. The article, written in the early years of the last decade, is to me, even more topical now than then.

The whole article can be read here.

xxxxx


Starbuck: Lost in Castration (excerpt)

by

Dirk Benedict


There was a time – I know I was there – when men were men, women were women and sometimes a cigar was just a good smoke. But 40 years of feminism have taken their toll. The war against masculinity has been won. Everything has turned into its opposite, so that what was once flirting and smoking is now sexual harassment and criminal. And everyone is more lonely and miserable as a result.

Witness the "re-imagined" Battlestar Galactica. It's bleak, miserable, despairing, angry and confused. Which is to say, it reflects, in microcosm, the complete change in the politics and mores of today's world as opposed to the world of yesterday. The world of Lorne Greene (Adama) and Fred Astaire (Starbuck's Poppa), and Dirk Benedict (Starbuck). I would guess Lorne is glad he's in that Big Bonanza in the sky and well out of it. Starbuck, alas, has not been so lucky. He's not been left to pass quietly into that trivial world of cancelled TV characters.

"Re-imagining", they call it. "un-imagining" is more accurate. To take what once was and twist it into what never was intended. So that a television show based on hope, spiritual faith, and family is unimagined and regurgitated as a show of despair, sexual violence and family dysfunction. To better reflect the times of ambiguous morality in which we live, one would assume. A show in which the aliens (Cylons) are justified in their desire to destroy our civilisation. One would assume. Indeed, let us not say who are the good guys and who are the bad. That is being "judgemental". And that kind of (simplistic) thinking went out with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and Katharine Hepburn and John Wayne and, well the original Battlestar Galactica.

In the bleak and miserable, "re-imagined" world of Battlestar Galactica, things are never that simple. Maybe the Cylons are not evil and alien but in fact enlightened and evolved? Let us not judge them so harshly. Maybe it is they who deserve to live and Adama, and his human ilk who deserves to die? And what a way to go! For the re- imagined terrorists (Cylons) are not mechanical robots void of soul, of sexuality, but rather humanoid six-foot-tall former lingerie models who f**k you to death. (Poor old Starbuck, you were imagined too early. Think of the fun you could have had `fighting' with these thong-clad aliens! In the spirit of such soft-core sci-fi porn I think a more re-imaginative title would have been F**cked by A Cylon. (Apologies to Touched by An Angel.)

One thing is certain. In the new un-imagined, re-imagined world of Battlestar Galactica everything is female driven. The male characters, from Adama on down, are confused, weak, and wracked with indecision while the female characters are decisive, bold, angry as hell, puffing cigars (gasp) and not about to take it any more.

One can quickly surmise what a problem the original Starbuck created for the re-imaginators. Starbuck was all charm and humour and flirting without an angry bone in his womanising body. Yes, he was definitely `female driven', but not in the politically correct ways of Re-imagined Television. What to do, wondered the Re-imaginators? Keep him as he was, with a twinkle in his eye, a stogie in his mouth, a girl in every galaxy? This could not be. He would stick out like, well like a jock strap in a drawer of thongs. Starbuck refused to be re-imagined. It became the Great Dilemma. How to have your Starbuck and delete him too?

The best minds in the world of un-imagination doubled their intake of Double Soy Lattes as they gathered in their smoke-free offices to curse the day this chauvinistic Viper Pilot was allowed to be. But never under estimate the power of the un-imaginative mind when it encounters an obstacle (character) it subconsciously loathes. "Re- inspiration" struck. Starbuck would go the way of most men in today's society. Starbuck would become "Stardoe". What the Suits of yesteryear had been incapable of doing to Starbuck 25 years ago was accomplished quicker than you can say orchiectomy. Much quicker. As in, "Frak! Gonads Gone!" And the word went out to all the Suits in all the smoke-free offices throughout the land of Un- imagination, "Starbuck is dead. Long live Stardoe!"

I'm not sure if a cigar in the mouth of Stardoe resonates in the same way it did in the mouth of Starbuck. Perhaps. Perhaps it "resonates" more. Perhaps that's the point. I'm not sure. What I am sure of is this…

Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars. Hamlet does not scan as Hamletta. Nor does Han Solo as Han Sally. Faceman is not the same as Facewoman. Nor does a Stardoe a Starbuck make. Men hand out cigars. Women `hand out' babies. And thus the world, for thousands of years, has gone round.


Whole article here.

Mr. Benedicts' web site here.

Wikipedia article on Dirk Benedict here.

Wikipedia article on Battlestar Galactica here. The real one. Not that abortion from 2004.


Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page here.

Spirited Away: Giving It Another Shot

An Alice In Wonderland-like scene from Spirited Away. L-R No-Face,
Chihiro Ogino, Zeniba, & (on table) Boh with friend.

Spirited Away: Giving It Another Shot


A few years back I saw Hayao Miyazakis' anime-ted film Spirited Away ... on Cartoon Network ... AND HATED IT.

It was too darn long. Too darn weird even for a fantasy. And Puke-Faces' ... er ... uh ... No-Faces' puke fest didn't help at all. I don't know why I wasted over three hours viewing that mess. And it was a mess. Though at the time I knew why ... commercials ... stretching  a 2 hr, 5 min. film into three long agonizing hours.

I was a 'victim' of one of TV programmings' not so subtle little tricks: Show the first 20+ minutes of a flick to get you hooked then slog through commercial breaks every 10 minutes or less. Unless it's commercial free, the vast majority of films are unsuited for TV. Spirited Away is no exception.

I knew eventually I would have to give this movie another chance. Cartoon Networks' handling of it left such a bad taste, I kept putting it off for several years. Finally the taste went away & I got to thinking seriously of another try. So it was with some reluctance I scored a copy at Half Price Books & popped it in the disc machine.

BIG DIFFERENCE! The film didn't drag this time. The weirdness was more enjoyable without the latest must-have piece of junk being shoved at me. No-Faces' vomit party was only a few minutes long (I'm sure there were TWO{!} commercial breaks during that sequence when it aired!). I STILL think it's a bit on the long side (I'm a 90 minute man.) but it being a Miyazaki flick & all that goes with it, more than makes up for it.

I think I'll keep this one.


Wikipedia article on Spirited Away here.

Wikipedia article on Hayao Miyazaki here.


Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page here.

Goodbye Sheriff Andy

Nothing else need be said.

Go to Main Page here.

Third Impact On The Way October 21!



Sorry Evangelion fans. THE END ain't gonna happen this way!


                                Third Impact On The Way October 21

                                                            by

                                                                Jay Agan

      OK. So Harold Camping didn't get it quite right for May 21. Nobody vanished "in the twinkling of an eye" & nothing more than the usual chaos, murder, & mayhem has ocurred since. Mr. Camping says a "spiritual" judgement has been made by God & the actual rapture's gonna take place October 21 along with the destruction of the world. More than likely, nothing's gonna happen then either, & as it will be October, yours truely is probably gonna be watching old black 'n white horror flicks then, howsomever .....

      When 10-21 or therabouts rolls around & you start to hear Komm Susser Tod (Come Sweet Death) playing in the background. ..... Run!

      Run! Run like you've never run before in your entire life. Run til your heart stops. Run til you can run no more & ..... Keep running.

      While it may be true that no one gets away from Lillith-Rei, it doesn't hurt to try. Yes, she may "know" the desires of everyones' heart making resistance futile (In my case she'd appear as a girlfriend from LONG ago who I should NOT have broken up with.). Give it a go anyway.

      Don't say I didn't warn you. You're on your own.

      Well, no one can accuse me of not tipping 'em off. It's every man for himself & I've got a new pair of track shoes. Yessir! No "liquid nirvanna" for me! I'm ready to ..... Huh? ..... Well hi hon! I haven't seen you in ..... Wait a minute! You're not her! YOU'RE NOT HER! No way you're gonna get me! It'll be a cold day in ..... What the!? .....How'd you get ahead a' me! ..... YIKE! .....Splat! ..... burble ..... burble .....

      LCL. Wotta you got that sticks or squeaks?

Article copyright © 9-20-2011 Jay Agan

Neon Genesis Evangelion: OOOOO! Goodies In The Mail! here.

End of Evangelion: This Is (Really) Disturbing here.

Pastor Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Apocalypse here.

On the Rapture, Third Impact, Armageddon & All That here.

Expert Predicts Third Impact to Hit May 21! here.

Evangelion 2.0: I Can (Not) Get Into This here.

Go to Main Page here.

DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

This article (only) may be copied in whole or in part. Please cite proper credit & backlink.

Evangelion: Keel Lorenz And The Face Of Evil

Keel Lorenz, he's from (is) the government, & wants to help you. But!
Would you buy a used car from this man? Credit: Gainax

     
      A disclaimer of sorts: Keel Lorenz is a fictional character in the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime franchise. Feel free however, to subsititute the name of your "favorite" politician, do-gooder/altruist, cause, or organisation of your choice, fictional or otherwise.
                                  
                              
                                  Evangelion: Keel Lorenz And The Face Of Evil

                                                                   by

                                                                        Jay Agan

      Keel Lorenz is an imposing personality of great power and influence but don't let that put you off. Beneath that remote, lofty exterior beats a heart of purest gold. He is a very good, very caring person. A paragon of empathy. His care so vast. His concern so great. His compassion ..... beyond boundless.

      He intends to do you and everyone else a BIG favor.

      Mr. Lorenz has a grand vision. And an even grander plan to go with it. A vision/plan so vast, it encompasses the entire world. And YOU and every living soul are a part of it. When one is out to save all of humanity it can't be anything else.

      Mr. Lorenz & the SEELE organisation feel your pain. As a fellow human being he knows of the emptiness in the soul of each & every person and of the fear, conflict and lonliness resulting from that emptiness. And he has the remedy. However .....

      Much sacrifice is needed. On the part of each and every living creature on the face of the planet.

      To implement the FINAL SOLUTION to the weary struggle of living, drastic measures, or at least one drastic measure is to be done.

      No sacrifice too dear. No ideal too sacred. No individual life too precious to be offered upon the alter of the ultimate in altruism: The Human Instrumentality Project.

      Think long and hard. It takes more than a lot to bring about a vision of Heaven on earth. It takes all.

Article copyright © 9-14-2011 Jay Agan

Go to Main Page here.

DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

This article (only) may be reprouduced in whole or in part. Please cite proper credit & back link.

Dang! Part 5, Son Of Blob: THE BLOB ATE THE KITTY!

Happy little scene just before fluffy gets it.

                      Dang! Part 5, Son Of Blob: THE BLOB ATE THE KITTY!

                                                                  by

                                                                      Jay Agan

      So I'm staying with the parents in Jersey while getting an education. Time off, I'm taking in New York City area TV of the 1980s (Dismal!). It's a Saturday afternoon & the set's tuned to either WNEW or WWOR when Son of Blob is broadcast. I had no intention of seeing this Larry Hagman directed turkey again. Howsomever ..... I have two sisters, both LOVE cats as do I. So .....

      The beginning of Son of Blob (SOB) has Godfrey Cambridge thawing out a sample of the creature (How he got it & why he's doing it is not clear.). While waiting he's off somewhere else. A little orange kitten wanders in & is "assimilated" by the mass of glop.

      My sister's in the other room & being the caring brotherly type (Not!) I wanted her to take this in. So I call out:

      "Hey sis! Here's something ya gotta see! A really cute little kitty!"

      Instantly conned, she rushes in.

      "Huh?"

      "Blob's gonna eat the kitty!"

      "What?"

      "Blob's gonna eat the kitty!"

      "No way, not in ..... Ohhh! Noooooooooo!"

      "Fluffy" gets caught by the first tendril & it's curtains for the cat.

      "AAAAAAUUUGH!!!"

     A total mix of emotions! She's laughing, smiling, blubbering & in "shock" all at the same time. She knows it's not real & the special effects are laughably phoney but ..... THE BLOB'S EATING THE KITTY!
    
      "Ruthie!?" Mom calls from the kitchen. "What's going on!?"

      "Noooooooo!"

      As the monstrosity (In this shot, a rubber glove covered in gelatin.) carries off the little fuzzy darling who's letting out a piteous mewing sound, I give it my best faux sympathetic, semi-falsetto, "good ..... bye ..... kitty!"

      Sister totally "breaks down", half laughing, half blubbering runs to the kitchen .....

      "The blob ate the kitty!"

     "What?"

      "THE BLOB ATE THE KITTY!"

      "Jay! What's going on!? Get in here!"

      "Aw, Mom ....."

      "Now what happened?"

      "Oh ..... the blob ate the kitty," in my best matter of fact manner.

      "You ..... and ..... your ..... STUPID ..... movies!"

      Sister's still laughing/"crying" while Mom lectures me on brain rot, the "boob tube", & stupid movies.

      Meanwhile, our orange cat Sydney, is snoozing peacefully in the magazine basket under the TV stand.

Article copyright © 9-2-2011 Jay Agan

You Tube link to original Blob movie theme here.

Go to Main Page here.

DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

This article may be copied in whole or in part. Please cite proper credit & backlink.

My 100th Post

      It's been eight months now & I have enjoyed every minute. I find it hard to believe I've gotten this far. I didn't think I had so much to say about my favorite topics & am happy to say I have a lot more.

      There has been some "opposition". When starting a blog, don't expect your family, "friends", & co-workers to look at it. The reactions have ranged from indifference to derision. One "friend" said "I'm not gonna look at that s--t!" Another couldn't understand why anyone would look at anything I'd write. In his "heads he wins, tails I lose" game (He's under the delusion I'm a participant.) he thinks the blog is a failure as it's not making a ton of money (I toyed with the idea of putting ads on it if thousands upon thousands of readers showed up, but that wasn't my goal in doing this blog. So no ads.). He would like me to quit, then the blog would be sure to be a failure  justifying his views.

      Well I don't need any of their "support". What I do have is the support of not only you "repeat" readers (Of whom I am grateful more than you think.) but also of  the casual net surfer who drops in now & then. Though my main reason is to put my thoughts & ruminations up for the world to see no mattter how many take a look, it certainly gives me a kick to know there are several hundred a month who "stop by". To one & all, a big THANK YOU!

      I'll try to continue to put up at least three articles a week. Though my forte is older movies, at least one will be anime connected. In an attempt to get more exposure, I'm now a guest writer at JanaiBlog, where I post one of my older anime related articles per week.

      Again, THANK YOU everyone! You make it all worthwhile. Stay tuned.

"Expert" Predicts Third Impact To Hit May 21!



Now if LCL was made out of THIS .....

                 Late Breaking News: "Expert" Predicts Third Impact To Hit May 21

                                                              by

                                                                 Jay Agan

      Well not quite. Harold Camping of Family Radio claims to have calculated the exact time & date of the end of the world. His calculations indicate May 21, 2011 to be exactly 7000 years after the Great Flood. Since 2nd Peter, chapt. 3, verse 8 states “one day with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day,”  and as God gave the world a seven day warning period before the Great Flood, he figures "Judgement Day", will fall on that date.

      While I think Mr. Camping is full of blueberry whack muffins (He's been wrong several times before.), I feel a warning to be in order: When May 21 rolls around, be sure to steer clear of any blue haired, red eyed, female adolescents who may be "hovering" about. The individuality you save may be your own! Evangelion fans know whereof whom I speak.

      To coin a phrase uttered by Charlton Heston in Soylent Green: "LCL ..... is ..... people!"

      You have been warned. That is all.

      Whew! Well, I've done my bit. When it comes time for the implementation of the Human Instrumentality Pro-ject, they better keep that wierd Ayanami kid away from me. I have no want or desire to be converted into so many ounces of Log Cabin. I really don't need ..... What the ..... ! Hey kid! You really got some NERV comin' here! Why I oughta ..... Whoa! Wait a sec! Your'e ..... No way! Get back! No! ..... Go away! ..... No! ..... No! ..... Aaaiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee! ..... SPLASH! ..... burble ..... burble .....

                                               L ..... C ..... L
                                               That's the name,
                                               Flush your cares 'n troubles,
                                               Down the drain.
                                               L ..... C .....Llllllll .....

                            This dire warning copyright © 5-5-2011 Jay Agan

Link to later article on same subject here.

Evangelion non-review here.

Go to main page here.

DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

This article (only) may be copied in whole or in part. Please cite proper credit & backlink.

"Trials" of a Voice Actor, Part II

                                        
                                          "Trials" of a Voice Actor, Part II

                                                                 by

                                                                    Jay Agan

     It was March '09. The end year/new year "slump" is over & activity in the voice over field was going to pick up. Already had three "gigs" under my belt & was confident things would "look up". Little was I to know the polititians on both sides of the aisle, had the recession "cemented in" for a good long while to come (My agency later informed me the economy was the reason why things slowed down. It was also the reason they dropped me over a year later.). A conversation with my voice teacher (She also owns a studio.) revealed that this field is "a leading economic indicator" and is one of the first hit. I guess a lot of peoples' dreams have been put on hold.

     So I get this call from the agency. I was to "get ready" as someone from a nationwide car insurance company heard my demo & liked it. Nothing definite but I was on the list of choices for a radio spot or two. All right!

     Two days later, another call. They settled on someone else. Those are the breaks. You can imagine my disappointment.

     It wouldn't have been so bad had they settled on someone with a better voice .....

     Yeah. Ego plays a part.
                                           
                                          Article copyright © 3-27-2011 Jay Agan

"Trials" of a Voice Actor, Pt I here.

Go to Main Page here.

Two Ring Circus

Nanako Matsushima finds out that movies are still your best
entertainment. Ringu (Toho Co. Ltd & Kadokawa Shoten 1998)

                                                      Two Ring Circus

                                                                 by

                                                                    Jay Agan

     So, what is it with "Hollywood"? (I'm referring to the mentality. I know a lot of films are not "made" there.) Just what is it that makes these folks take a property & mess with it? We've all seen it before: A best selling book. A great foriegn film/classic film. Something that was wonderful, inspirational, or just dang kool. They take it & make/remake it into a piece of on-screen garbage. Look at what they did to Lord of the Rings, Godzilla, or any original & see the mess they made of it. Krap! Whole & total.

     I can only imagine how these "products" came to be. The book, concept, script, original work goes in one end of the "mill" & out the other. Passed from one to the other, everyone along the line has to put his mark, his stamp on it in order to make it "his". Each one wants to take his/her respective "significant other", point to the screen at a certain part & say, "see baby? This is why this film is 'mine'." It may be his/theirs but it's not one I'd want.

     What are they thinking when they "communicate" with one another? What goes on in these meetings of theirs? What kind of sick demons are rattling inside their skulls as they sodomize a property beyond the point of undeath?

     "Hey! Let's take out/add/change characters!"

     "Let's change the setting & plot!"

     "Why don't we jazz up the concept? See how much of an event we can make of this!"

     "Moderize it! More action & zip!"

     "Y'know? A nude scene or two definitely wouldn't hurt. Yeah! Let's go with that!"

     "We can get (Insert name of latest actor/whore du jour.) for the part. I know he/she's not right for it but audiences love him/her!"

     "Let's ....."

     "Let's appeal to the lowest common denominator!"

     If they were at all honest with themselves, their meetings would start off with:

     "How do we (With a capital F.) this?"

     Take Ringu for instance. I picked it up as a three buck special at Big Lots. I had seen The Ring a few years before & did not like it. Thanks to this Japanese original I like it even less.

     Ringu is a nice little "subdued" supernatural thriller about an urban legend where viewers of an off beat short film are killed off by a curse within a week unless they "pass" the tape on. The U.S. ("Hollywood"!) remake covers the same ground though execrably so.

     Ringu has only about two "vague" death scenes (I guess the babe coming out of the TV induces heart attacks or something.) Most of the film is devoted to tracking down & stopping the curse.

     The Ring? Well ..... The only thing I can write in its favor is they didn't add or take away much in the way of plot but what they did was more than enough to ruin it.

     I can see it now: "Hey guys! I gotta great idea! Let's add a some more deaths & kill a horse!"

     The extra deaths did nothing at all for the story & "broke up" the investigations' progression. As for the horse ..... that was just mean.

     If they wanted to "improve" on RIngu all they had to do IMHO was release it here with an English voice track. As it is, Ringu is the superior film even if I have to "struggle" with subtitles.

     "Hollywood" .....

     By the way ..... If you re-view the tape on the sixth day, do you get a seven day extension?

                                            Article copyright © 2-1-2011 Jay Agan

Go to Main Page here.

DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

This article (only) may be copied (with permission) in whole or in part. Please include credit reference & backlink.                                              

Boris n' Broadcasting

                                                                
                                                             Boris n' Broadcasting

                                                                           by

                                                                              Jay Agan

      I had been involved in AM & Shortwave DX (Recieving & logging what, how far, & how many stations I could get.) for a couple years. I had heard/read of TV DXing but had not given it much thought. I did end up dabbling in it (27 states & Cuba.) & the following is what got me started.

      Not having cable, we had "over the air" chs 4 (WCLT later WCMH), 6 (WTVN later WSYX), 10 (WBNS), & 34 (WOSU), with a lot of "dead" spectrum space between. Every so often chs 8 (WJW, Cleveland), or 2 (WDTN, Dayton) would come in with a lot of "snow" (One Sunday I got a perfect viewing of The CBS Late Night Movies' airing The Black Scorpion on 8.). Never gave TV DX much thought in spite of the articles I read on it until I was bit by the bug in an interesting way.

      Flipping through the channels one late August afternoon in the early 70s, I saw ch 2 coming in semi snowy. I was about to continue when I recognized the voice & face of Boris Karloff, one of my favorite boogey men. Seems I came in on the tail end of an old Thriller episode from the early 60s. As the reception was almost viewable, I twiddled the fine tune & got it in slightly better.

      The show wound down & as it was the top of the hour, I thought I'd wait for WDTN to ID for the heck of it. Imagine my surprise when it IDed as ch2 KTWO from Casper, Wyoming. Here? In Ohio? WOW!

      It was from that I caught a mild case of the TV DX bug & had quite a bit of fun with it when I wasn't messing with AM or shortwave. (One of the high points was getting chs 2 & 3 out of Cuba within minutes of each other.)

      I always had fun with my radio hobbies but not until that day did I ever think Boris Karloff would have a hand in it. Thank you Mr. Monster.

                                                    Article copyright © Jay Agan

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Darn Tribbles, Darn Troubles

Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Darn Tribbles, Darn Troubles

by

Jay Agan

    
School days. Ah memories. I'll treasure them always. Not! Only the overachievers, jocks, and social butterflies will ever be fond of the high school pressure cooker. Any good memories of that time was from not being there.

One set of good times involved Star Trek (tos). I'd become aquainted with it during its initial network run in the late 60s. In military school, the nuns would (grudgingly) let us watch it ("Cadets don't whistle, chew gum, read comic books, watch cool stuff on tv, have fun, etc.").

I recall the "ruckus" that came up when it got cancelled. Not having been a full bore Trek weenie, I didn't experience the crippling depression afflicting believers. Some disappointment, yes, as it was (then) novel and different. There was so little intelligent sci-fi on tv, (still that way), and if the nuns didn't like it, it had to be good.

Thanks to the zeal and enthusiasm of the fans, stations across the country aired it a lot through syndication in the 70s. WLWC (now WCMH) ch. 4 was the central Ohio Trek pioneer. The time slot was (I think.) 5-6 PM. It didn't matter if it was a school night, (We weren't allowed to watch tv mon-thur.), I'd sneak down the celler and tune in on our older set. I'll always be grateful to the staff of 4 for including Trek in their programming (well into the 80s). A good daily dose of Trek helped in recovery from the indoctrination of several hours before. Usually but not always.

There was, however, an annoying glitch in 4s' Trek scheduling. A glaring defect, sharply curtailing my enjoyment of the show. A nuisance, so vexing, it drove me to obsessive distraction: The Trouble With Tribbles.

On first seeing it in the late 60s, I sorta' liked it. Cutsey, funny, not all that great though. Little was I to know TWT would later become the very fuel powering the ch. 4 Star Trek machine. I understand the station showing the more popular eps more often. Ad revenue and all. But ..... The Trouble with Tribbles? Every other day? Yeah, I exaggerate. It only seemed that way. It could have been once a week, or at least twice a month. Aw what the heck! It was on too dang often!

There I'd be on the bus home. Mixed feelings at conflict in my brain."Star Trek! Oh boy! Oh boy! Yeah! Trek! Please no TWT! Oh golly! Oh yeah! No TWT! Please! Please! PLEASE!"

And seemingly, more often than not. After a particularly depressing day of scholastic brainwashing, there it was, in all its fuzzy non-glory, The Trouble With Tribbles. (Aghh! That's it! I'm doing my homework!)

Why? Why this one? "All the time?" They played the other "top 20" to death too, but not seemingly every time I turned around. Arena, The Changeling, The Doomsday Machine, etc. These I could understand. They were great. But TWT? What a nauseatingly, sickeningly saccharine, piece of crud! It got to the point where I'd be ecstatic to see Miri, Turnabout Intruder, The Empath, or any of the other of the least popular ones.

I've no proof but I suspect there was a group of 5 or 6 Trek weenies in Columbus, constantly calling the station & urging them on (Ooo! Ooo! Can we see TWT again?! Huh? Please?! TWT! Ooo! Ooo!"). I recall a particularly annoying one (who shall remain nameless) showing up at wargame gatherings bugging the crap out of everyone over Trek. (Claimed he was a rear admiral in Starfleet in charge of research.) He had to have been the ringleader.

At a place I worked at in the 90s, we had a tv. 4 had a Trek marathon one Sunday, 8AM-8PM. The top 12 of all time. Naturally, we enjoyed ourselves as we went about our tasks. An older fellow I worked with (left the scene due to cancer) was a sci-fi fan as well. I was pretty much down on Trek weenies and he would kid me a lot about me being a "trekkie" as I knew more about the show than I cared to. (I like the show a lot. It's not my reason for being, however.) I found his word for word co-recital of Celia Lovskys' lines from the duel in the Amok Time episode to be quite amusing.

Things got a little tense as the marathon wore on. We knew TWT was in there somewhere. (He hated it too.) We KNEW an hour long bout of hypoglycemic, pseudo-cuteness was approaching .There were a few tense moments during the "A Piece of the Action" ep. (He didn't like that one either. I always did. Criminals as politicians? Never happen!)

As it turned out, TWT was the last one, thus the best "voted". As we were prepping to close that hour, we didn't care. Still don't.

I'll always have a place in my heart for Star Trek (tos), but not for "The Trouble With Tribbles". Those in love with TWT are TWiTs!

                                                 
Article copyright © Jay Agan


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A Twilight Zone Moment

Photo credit: Cayuga Prod., CBS Television

                                

A Twilight Zone Moment
                                                                 
by
                                                                 
Jay Agan

    
Twilight Zone. Man, who can forget that classic tv show. Rod Serling scared the bejabbers out of millions of kids & warped their little minds forever. Bent mine for sure ... And someone elses'.

"It'll scare you & you'll have nightmares." Mom was rather adamant about stuff like this. We weren't allowed to watch TZ, Outer Limits, or any other cool stuff. According to her, Lassie was the stuff of darkness. I think she was being overly protective.

"Don't play with that beach ball. You'll put your eye out!" You get the idea.

Maybe it was a lapse in judgement. Maybe at Dad's urging, Halloween coming up, or some kind of cosmic disconnect. But one Friday in October of 63, we got to see The Twilight Zone. Gilligans' Island (Good grief!) ended & Zone started up. Cool!

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", starring some obscure scene chewer who was to become a lot more familiar a few years later. (We all love ya, Bill!)

"Twas a dark & stormy night, etc." Twin engine Convair plowing through the gloom. Dramatic buildup as the poor slob becomes cognizant of the fuzzy gremlin tampering with the port engine, no one believing him. We kids, glued to the tube, not once taking our eyes off the screen. Watching.....watching.

I think we held up pretty good. That is, until.....

Tension at its peak. Window curtains closed. Shatners' character, fresh out of the loony bin, trying in vain to convince himself that what he's seeing couldn't possibly be real. There's no plushy critter out on the wing messing with the engine. No demon bringing passengers & crew to their doom. An illusion, an hallucination. That's what the docs back at the booby hatch would say.

Finally, he can't take it any longer. Hands slowly reach for the curtains & he whips them open.

And peering ... right back in at him ... it's ... "Mr. Weird"!

A very high pitched keening sound came from behind, then a thump! splat!, vibrations ran through the floor & up my back.

I turned to the left, finding Mom trying to peel youngest brother off the wall. She almost needed a spatula! He wasn't going to let some formidable barrier get in the way of getting away! If this was a 'toon, he would have left a kid shaped hole.

Fast forward. Christmas of 95. We draw names out of a hat to economize on gifts. I drew youngest brothers' & get him a couple of vhs tapes. Zone episodes. One of which was his "favorite".

He looks at them. Then at me with that toothy smile of his:

"Gee ... thanks ... PRICK!"


Article copyright © Jay Agan


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DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

Sonny Gave It Strait

                                                         Sonny Gave It Strait

                                                                        by

                                                                           Jay Agan

     Sometime in Autumn, 2003. I'm out on the lot bringing in shopping carts at a place that shall remain nameless. Unlike most of my fellow employees, I actually liked getting karts all day. I'm outside, getting some exercise, & best of all, am away from the public (God bless 'em. Grrrrr!). Wheeling another load in, I noticed a Hummer pulling in. The earlier, discontinued, large model, glossy black, with Dragonball Z characters painted on. Huh? Some otaku with more money than brains? Had to check this out.

     Though I recognized the images (Goku, Krillin, etc.) on the vehicle, I'm no fan of that particular anime. I'd seen bits & pieces of that loud, garish, repetitive show while channel surfing. I actually had seen a few whole episodes of the original Dragonball & found them quite funny. But DBZ? Ugh! I recollect one fellow commenting there were 350+ episodes & taking out the flashbacks/repeats you'd have about 75. Simple intros/faceoffs would take more than one ep before a fight would start. Shoot! Even Pokemon's more involved plotwise.

     As two guys pile out, I notice some kids gathering round. Turns out to be a promotional for the shows' trading card game & one of the guys is Sonny Strait, voice of Krillin & other characters in the English dubs. Feeling snarky, I try to needle him.

     "Hate the show, it hurts my eyes."

     He patiently explains the effect the creators wanted was the basic five color scheme used in comics and funny papers.

     "What's the show about? All I see are a bunch of costumed goons beating each other up."

     "That's exactly what the show is about!" Pointing in the air with a flourish, smile on his face, not rattled at all.

     Not getting the reaction I wanted, (No snobbery or pretentiousness. Dang!), I turned back to retrieving karts. "Well, it could be worse. It could be Sailor Moon."

     Only a chuckle in reply. Years down the road, someone commented he probably got a lot of crap from "fans" and knew how to handle it. I guess so!

     A half hour later, I spot Mr. Strait in the stores' cafeteria. Feeling more civilized, I question him on the voice acting field & he graciously answered my inquiries. The guy has class.

     This was one of several instances that led me to pursue a career in the field myself, (A story{s} for maybe later.) & I won't forget it.

                                                   Article copyright © Jay Agan

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The Night Stalker: A Laugh Out Loud Moment



Ace reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) "crosses" paths with
vampire Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater). Credit: ABC/MGM

                                                          
                                              
                                 The Night Stalker: A Laugh Out Loud Moment

                                                                 by

                                                                    Jay Agan

     
      Back in the early 70s, when dinosaurs ruled the earth, Maneschevitz ran a series of tv ads. Little comic asides on Jewish tradition in extolling their line of table wines. The ads always started with someone saying, "whatever happened to tradition?".

      The ads had absolutly nothing to do with Dan Curtis' "The Night Stalker", but for one crazy little moment.

      It was 1972, I'm in my last year of high school at the JVS. One night, we're all in front of the set watching the ABC Movie of the Week (ch6, WTVN). It's the second time they ran "The Night Stalker". We missed out the first time as the set was busted.

      The flick itself is a not bad little made for tv thriller about vampire, Janos Skorzeny, loose in Vegas. Based on Richard Mathesons' "The Kolchak Tapes", it follows the book well. Darren McGavin as newspaperman Carl Kolchak, & Barry Atwater as the title character, give excellent performances as does a supporting cast of familiar faces. One part was made quite hilarious due to the insertion of a commercial break.

      Skorzeny's ransacking a hospital blood storage facility, stuffing a valise with IV bottles full of you know what, when he is rudely interrupted by several of the staff. Being the supernatural fiend he is, he proceeds to mop the floor with them. In a "two shot", he grabs one aide & hurls him through a second story window. Right after the aide "exits" the building, audience POV from the outside, a commercial abruptly cuts in.

      "Whatever happened to tradition?"

      I double up, laughing quite loudly. So much so, Mom expressed vigorous disapproval.

      You had to have been there.

Article copyright © 10-20-10 Jay Agan

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DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

An Early "Preview" Of Colorization

                                        

                                                    Poster credit: Warner Bros. Studios                                        

                                         

                                           An Early "Preview" Of Colorization                             

                                                                                by
                                                                                 
                                                                                  Jay Agan
   
      Some time after the discovery of fire, a media mogul named Ted Turner promoted film restoration on a scale never before dreamed of. As part of his plans to reintroduce classic films to the world, he promoted colorization technology. I take it this was in an effort to instill an appreciation of older black & white films to the superficial, shallow, thrill seeking youth of this age. (Who know the price of everything & the value of nothing.) Youth is wasted on the young. They don't Know what to do with it. A co-worker used that statement in reference to young women being wasted on young men for the same reason. However, I digress.
   
      Before Mr. Turner crashed onto the national scene, two friends & I were heavily into the wargaming hobby. In the summer of '75 we attended a small regional convention at a college in Cinncinatti. It was there I experienced a most singular phenomenon.

      After a long Saturday of Afrika Korps, Stalingrad, & Angrief, we repaired to one of the dorms common rooms wherin resided a color TV set. They Died With Their Boots On, a late 30s black & white western with Errol Flynn, was being aired & we settled in to watch. Something slowly registered as we watched. It gradually dawned on me something about this movie wasn't quite the same as previous viewings. Then it hit, literally between the eyes.
     
      The film was in color! Sort of.
     
      TV reception wasn't as good as it should have, being from a local station & all. Maybe the antenna was slighty "off" or its connections were defective in some way (picture slightly fuzzy though still very watchable). Maybe the signal was interacting with the set in an odd way. What I do know is the film came across as color. Moderatly faint & fluctuating at times, but color nonetheless.
   
      And the colors were in the right places. Fleshtones nonexistant, but every thing else was there. Right down to the reds & blues on the feathers of the Indians war bonnets. Highlights in the actors eyes in some shots had a bizarre multicolor effect but this only added to the experience. Suffice to say, I enjoyed this new dimension for as long as this lucky accident lasted. Wich was right to THE END.
   
      Of course it doesn't compare to todays processes, but this odd set of circumstances had me enthralled that night in 1975. Until I heard about colorization a year or so after, I had often wondered if such a thing was possible to be done deliberatly. As it was, I felt fortunate to have experienced something that (at the time) I thought I would never see again.

                                                       Article copyright © Jay Agan

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DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

Transylvania Noctourne

                                                                by

                                                                   Jay Agan

              Photo credit: Universal Studios.

          One AM, an early July or August morning 1983.

     

          I was a bit tired & had just quit DXing (station hunting) on AM & shortwave. Not wanting to do any reading either (it was my heavy Lovecraft period) I thought I'd turn on the tv in the hope something watchable was airing. Had no idea what could be on. The Mt. Vernon News had this annoying habit of putting only "movie" in the listings spaces. Sure, you knew a flick was on the way but.....what?

           Saturday Night Live wound down & ch 4 (WCMH) proceeded with the All Nite Theater (Jerry Beck long since left that gig by then. Sad.) Oh. The 1931 Lugosi Dracula. Hadn't seen that one in a while (Had an old audio tape I recorded of it back in the 70s.) What the hey! I settled in to enjoy myself.

           What the hey, indeed. From the moment the opening credits ended I noticed something different right off. Not only was the picture sharp & clear, but the sound (except for a slight background hiss) was as well. To say I was astounded would be an understatement. Never before had I seen such a clean, viewable example of an old film of any kind let alone this one. No scratches, burn marks, "hair", jumpcuts/splices either. I never thought beutiful prints like this ever existed. By far, worlds better than the worn examples I'd seen on other stations.

           This was a time before Ted Turner et al. grabbed the bull by the horns & got the film restoration movement of today rolling. What's routinely commonplace today was certainly a treat back then, I'm here to tell ya. You younger film buffs have no idea how good you have it now. Cheers.

                                                 Article copyright © Jay Agan

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DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.