Friday, October 29, 2004

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

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Schwarzenegger Says Pro-Bush Speech Cost Him Sex

MONTEREY, Calif. (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that his speech backing President Bush at the Republican Convention in August resulted in a dramatic cold shoulder from his wife Maria Shriver, a member of the very Democratic Kennedy family.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Election determines fate of nation.

In that this will be my last column before the presidential election there will be no sarcasm, no attempts at witty repartee. The topic is too serious, and the stakes are too high. This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime that will truly matter. Because America is at a once-in-a-generation crossroads, more than an election hangs in the balance. Down one path lies retreat, abdication and a reign of ambivalence. Down the other lies a nation that is aware of its past and accepts the daunting obligation its future demands. If we choose poorly, the consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history.

If we, in a spasm of frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the message to the world and ourselves will be twofold. First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things. Once a nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis and stood upon the moon, we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the Middle East is too big of a task for us. But more significantly, we will signal to future presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle difficult challenges, preferring caution to boldness, embracing the mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations.

The defeat of President Bush will send a chilling message to future presidents who may need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions. America has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history regardless of the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn away from who we are.

Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson of Somalia was well learned. In Somalia we showed terrorists that you don't need to defeat America on the battlefield when you can defeat them in the newsroom. They learned that a wounded America can become a defeated America. Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracing polls will do the heavy lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia times 10.

The election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist in every cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of American voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grizzly photos for CNN is all you need to break the will of the American people. Our own self-doubt will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that he can topple any American administration without setting foot on the homeland.

It is said that America's W.W.II generation is its "greatest generation. " But my greatest fear is that it will become known as America's "last generation. " Born in the bleakness of the Great Depression and hardened in the fire of WW II, they may be the last American generation that understands the meaning of duty, honor and sacrifice. It is difficult to admit, but I know these terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by many (but not all) in my generation. Too many citizens today mistake "living in America" as "being an American ."

But America has always been more of an idea than a place. When you sign on, you do more than buy real estate. You accept a set of values and responsibilities.

This November, my generation, which has been absent too long, must grasp the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion they may deserve. I believe that 100 years from now historians will look back at the election of 2004 and see it as the decisive election of our century. Depending on the outcome, they will describe it as the moment America joined the ranks of ordinary nations; or they will describe it as the moment the prodigal sons and daughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers of the "City on the Hill."


This was allegedly written in the Daily Record (Ellensburg, Washington's (State) paper) on Wed. Oct. 6, 2004 by Mathew Manweller who is a Central Washington University political science professor.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Kolchak Stalks Again?

Frank Spotnitz, one of the creative forces behind The X-Files, is developing a fresh take on the classic supernatural TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker for ABC, the original home of the spooky series, Variety reported. X-Files creator Chris Carter often cited Kolchak as one of the inspirations for his own show.

Kolchak debuted as a pair of 90-minute telefilms in 1972 and 1973 and became a short-lived weekly ABC series in September 1974, with The Sopranos creator David Chase and film director Robert Zemeckis among its writers. Darren McGavin played a reporter named Carl Kolchak who had a tendency to uncover mysteries involving vampires, serial killers and other freakish occurrences, the trade paper reported.

It's unclear how closely the new Night Stalker will mirror the format and mood of the original, which was based on a novel by Jeff Rice, the trade paper reported.
Sci Fi Wire -- The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel
Tru's Fate In Doubt

Jon Harmon Feldman, producer of Fox's up-in-the-air supernatural series Tru Calling, told Zap2it that he's not hopeful the show will ever return to the airwaves. Renewed for a second season, Tru Calling was scaled back before its season premiere, to six episodes from 13, and its Nov. 4 premiere date was handed over to North Shore. Tru still has no berth in Fox's schedule, though six new episodes are now in post-production.

"The network has not said they won't air these six," Feldman told the site, "but obviously you don't know what will happen. I am not planning a viewing party at this point."

The first season of Tru Calling, which stars Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumna Eliza Dushku as a morgue assistant who can rewind time, is set to be released by Fox Home Video on DVD on Nov. 30, the site reported. "There has been talk of releasing season two, the six episodes, to DVD as well," Feldman said. "I hope that happens. It won't allow us to complete the arc that we were starting, but perhaps if we do release season two to DVD, at least it will give some of the creative people an opportunity to not only show those six episodes, but also tell the fans what was going to happen. Those are stories worth hearing, worth telling."

As for the likelihood of Tru Calling finding another home on TV? "There have been rumors flying about [Tru's going to] The WB," Feldman said. "Although, at this point, I believe them to be only rumors, nothing more. [Fox] picked us up, as I was told, because they were excited about the direction of the show. They know what a tough timeslot we were in, and they really believed that, based on the growth of the show, where we were heading, what we had planned for next season, that they wanted to see more of us."
Sci Fi Wire -- The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel
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Saturday, October 16, 2004

'Farscape' wraps up galactic travels

By CHAUNCEY MABE
Copyright 2004 SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

Two years ago, the Sci Fi Channel announced the cancellation of its critically acclaimed series Farscape and reaped the greatest whirlwind of outraged fan reaction since NBC pulled the plug on Star Trek in 1969.

Now Sci Fi wraps up the story of Farscape with a two-night miniseries that once again spotlights the cable network's aptitude for satisfying long-form programming and an inability to produce a decent regular series. Apart from Farscape, Sci Fi has never come up with an exceptional weekly show, yet its miniseries -- Dune, Taken, last year's remake of Battlestar Galactica and now this -- have been sterling.

As a series, Farscape was by far the best Sci Fi has ever come up with. Filmed in Australia with a largely Australian cast, the show starred American actor Ben Browder as the brash earthling astronaut John Crichton, who fell into a wormhole while testing a new spacecraft and came out in the middle of an interplanetary war on the other side of the galaxy.

Distrusted by both the fascist Peacekeepers and the saurian Scarrans, Crichton hooked up with other outcasts, including leonine warrior Ka D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), deposed alien emperor Rygel (voice of Jonathan Hardy), gray-skinned pixie thief Chiana (Gigi Edgley), and the hardened, bitter soldier-babe Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). Together they evaded their pursuers aboard a living transport ship called Moya, with its symbiotic Pilot (voiced by Lani John Tupu).

Crichton and his motley, sometimes unreliable crew endured weekly tribulations while foiling the mutant Peacekeeper warlord Scorpius (Wayne Pygram, exhibiting a capacity for mixing menace with comedy not seen since the departure of Buffy). Scorpius was desperate for the wormhole technology hidden somewhere in Crichton's brain during a brief encounter with the Ancients, a primordial and godlike race of aliens.

Happy to say, The Peacekeeper Wars finds the show's actors, directors, producers and writers in tip-top shape.

Crichton and Aeryn are now engaged to be married and preparing for their first child. Weary of saving the universe, all Crichton wants to do is find a nice little out-of-the-way planet where he can settle down and raise a family. But his friends call on him one last time. It seems the Scarrans are preparing to overrun the Peacekeepers and enslave the known galaxy.

You need not be a fanatical follower of the show in order to relish this miniseries. All you need is a taste for science fiction.

Production values and special effects are near big-screen in quality. The script, by David Kemper and series creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, is full of wit, irony and sexy jokes.

Not least among the marks of quality is the way Peacekeeper Wars has succeeded, after the usual long flirtation, in linking its male and female leads romantically without blowing the tension between them.

The Peacekeeper Wars takes Farscape out in a blaze of glory. It will long be remembered as one of the finest science-fiction productions to grace the small screen.
HoustonChronicle.com - 'Farscape' wraps up galactic travels

Monday, October 11, 2004

From: "Message from Tom Chapin"
To: "Chapin Fans and Friends"
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2004 12:06 PM
Subject: [chapin1] Oct. 17th Chapin Family Concert: Tribute to Harry Near New York City

We received this email from Tom Chapin and wanted to pass it along to all Harry Chapin fans.

Friends, this is Tom Chapin. It's my happy task to tell you about one of my favorite concerts. On October 17th, we are creating a benefit concert for World Hunger Year and The Harry Chapin Memorial Run Against Hunger called, Harry Chapin: A Celebration In Song.

Yessir, The Chapin Family is getting together, descending on the Tarrytown Music hall from all parts of the USA, to celebrate the music of my late brother, the great singer-songwriter and humanitarian Harry Chapin.

This is the kind of evening Harry would have loved, with music and stories shared and sung by close friends and family, with the proceeds going to help those in need. We'll be revisiting those classic story songs, Harry's greatest hits and more: including Taxi, Cats In The Cradle, W.O.L.D.,Bananas and Circle.

Brother Steve Chapin will be there, along with other members of the original Harry Chapin Band: Howard Fields and, yes, Big John Wallace (the high voice in Taxi and the low voice in Mr. Tanner.)

Jen Chapin will be there with Stephan Crump, fresh from their first national tour in support of her critically acclaimed new CD, 'Linger.' She's Harry's daughter, she's Chair of the Board of World Hunger Year, and she's carving out her own distinctive niche as a NYC songwriter on the rise, who's been called a 'first-rate storyteller.'

You'll meet more of the next generation: Abigail Chapin, Lily Chapin and
as a trio called, (surprise) The Chapin Sisters. After hearing them, someone told me, "They sing like angels and harmonize like the devil!"

And, depending on his health, Papa Jim Chapin should be there, too. 85 years young, a legendary drummer and jazz drum teacher, and the first songwriter in the family, he is a delight and inspiration to behold.

I'll be there as well, guitar in hand, along with my wonderful band, Michael Mark & Jon Cobert and other special family members and guests, David Chapin, Jonathan Chapin & Clark Wallace.

I hope you'll make it a point to come. This doesn't happen very often and it's an evening you don't want to miss.

Visit www.harrychapin.com to purchase and print your own tickets to this very special one-night concert on Sunday, October 17th, 7 p.m., at Tarrytown Music Hall, less than 30 minutes north of New York City.
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Thursday, October 07, 2004

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Check out "This Land" and "Good to be in DC!"
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Wednesday, October 06, 2004

As written under this blog's title -The Vampire's Daughter is an ongoing story about a girl that is taken in by the vampire that killed her mother. To see earlier "chapters," go to the Table of Contents page or, for easier reading, go to the PDF version of the story. While you're here, check out the great reviews The Vampire's Daughter has recieved. Don't be shy, leave one of your own!
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