Hope you guys are surviving out there. This historic snow has shut most of us in for the longest time. Thank God we had a brand new episode of LOST last night to take our minds off the weather.
I have to be honest, I have never been a big fan of Kate on LOST, I always thought the performance from Evangeline Lilly was sort of one dimensional, but boy did she change my thinking about her acting. I thought this was a fantastic Kate-centric episode. Some very interesting developments with Kate and Sayiid. What was all that about Jack's sister? Hmm...read on my LOSTIES!
- Miss the small little clues from last night's episode. Don't fear, check out the easter eggs from What Kate Does. Easter eggs
- Entertainment Weekly's Doc Jensen recap (fantastic and lenghty) Doc Jensen recap
- LOST parody episode 11 ( I love these) Episode 11
- LOST Untangled video recap of What Kate Does Video review
Every so often, a television show is produced that just changes the way you think what real television is all about. For me, that show was Brimstone. Created by the talented duo Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, Brimstone aired on the FOX network from October 1998 to February of 1999. As you can see, the show didn't last long, 13 episodes to be exact, but what a tremendous 13 episodes they were.
After the cancellation, I joined a campaign to bring the show back to network television. Although the campaign didn't get new episodes produced, we did get the SyFy Channel to show the already aired 13 episodes of the show. During the campaign, I never actually had the chance to speak with Ethan or Cyrus, but that has all changed. They were kind enough to sit down with me for a chat about Brimstone. I think this is the first time in years they have sat down to talk about Brimstone. I can't thank them enough for talking with me about Brimstone and what impact the show had on my life. The sad thing is that television shows such as Brimstone, never got the opportunity to grow and shine on network TV, but the show still lives on with thousands of fans who would love nothing more for Brimstone to come back. Brimstone was, in my opinion, is one of the top 10 shows of all time. If you haven't seen the show, I suggest you find a way to get it and watch it. You also will become and instant fan. Sit back and enjoy my conversation with Ethan & Cyrus.
**P.S. For some reason, the recording on my end wasn't cooperating with me and the sound is a bit distorted in parts, but I think it's a small price to pay to hear these outstanding gentlemen speak about Brimstone.
I sit here writing this blog absolutely stunned. In fact, I don't even know what to say. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, is dead at age 50. Dead...Michael Jackson. I can't believe my fingers are typing those words. What can you say about Michael Jackson, a tremendous entertainer and at the same time a troubled man. There have been many things that have been said about Michael, some good, some bad, but one thing that can be said is that Michael Jackson was a legend. Wow, it seems so surreal that I sad he was a legend.
During his illustrious music career, Michael Jackson had entertained and thrilled millions and millions of people all over the world. He was the consummate performer. No one could touch him when it came to performing on stage. When the Jackson 5 first auditioned for Berry Gordy and Motown representatives..
Right there Berry Gordy knew he had something special in Michael Jackson. A bit of Little Richard, a bit of James Brown all rolled up into one small 8 year old package. Now, I don't know all the truth about what happened with Michael during his childhood, we have all heard the stories, but I am sure it had to be a hard and stressful time to be such a shy kid and thrust into the spotlight like he was. One thing he always had was his music.
I am not here to pass judgement on Michael when it comes to the charges and allegations levied against him over the years. I am not here to decide guilt or innocence, I am simply hear to say the we have lost probably the greatest entertainer in our history. It is a very, very sad day. What do you say when you get blindsided by something like this? All I can say is we all have our memories of Michael and his music. Many of his songs remind me of specific times in my life. Anytime I heard a Michael song, you can bet your ass I would be on the dance floor dancing like there was no tomorrow.
I am sure all of us at one time or another in our lives have tried to dance like Michael Jackson. The moonwalk, the leg kick, the scream We have all probably dressed like Michael Jackson, the glitter glove, the red thriller jacket. That shows you what kind of impact this man had on pop culture and what he meant to the world. Once the man took the stage at the Motown 25 special in the early 80's and first showed off the moonwalk, he had the world in the palms of his hands. Can you think of anyone else who has come close? It is just astonishing to me that the man who created the masterpiece Thriller 25 years ago is now dead. An album that is still the best selling album of all time, 50 million copies at last count.
I don't know what else to say. My thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Jackson family. The world has lost a great entertainer...simple as that. Rest in peace Michael Jackson.
The new podcast for the BacktoFrankBlack webisite, The Millennium Group sessions is now available for your listening pleasure! Co-hosted by myself and James McLean, we spend an hour talking about everything and anything Millennium! Please click the link below to be sent to the BacktoFrankBlack website. We have several ways for you to get the podcast:
1) You can download a high quality mp3
2) You can download an enhnaced podcast which includes rare images
This is a very special episode of Tha Darkside Vibe. I have an exclusive interview with one of the people behind the campaign to bring Millennium back to life. James McLean was kind enough to take time out and talk with me about all things Millennium. We discuss, the show itself, the fandom, thoughts about favorite episodes and seasons and where he thinks this campaign is going. Sit back an enjoy 45 minutes of nothing but Millennium!
Click the above picture to go directly to information about the book signing with Frank Spotniz and Chris Carter in LA next week!
A great place to meet and talk with Millennium fans. Get the latest scoops, fan fiction and downloads. If your new to Millennium, this should be one of your first stops.
Remember, we are the ones who can make enough noise to bring back Millennium. Please do your part and help support the campaign. Thank you.
It is with deep regret that I pass on the information that I found out just today. Singer Lamya has passed away from a heart attack on January 9th 2009. Here is the statement from her official myspace page:
It is with deepest regret to have to inform you all that Lamya has passed away on the 8th of January 2009 in her home town Oman. She died of a heart attack. This has come as a great shock to all of her family and dear friends as I am sure it is to YOU her fans. We will dearly miss her and may God rest her soul.
The reason I am writing this blog is that I had the distinct honor of meeting her and seeing her perform live. I first became aware of Lamya when watching MTV and they were doing a segment on artists to watch. Lamya was one of the artists that was spotlighted and I instantly fell in love with her voice. After going to her website and listening to her album, I went out and purchased it. Needless to say, it was an amazing album. Her voice was a true instrument and anyone who listened knew it.
I found out that she was going to be performing in Arlington, Virginia at a spot called Iota. It's a local venue that has all kinds of live acts perform there. I was able to get to the club after work with some friend of mine for happy hour. During which Lamya and her band began to do a sound check for the show. I went inside to listen to the sound check. There were about 20 people in the bar at the time and none were really paying attention, except for me and another female. During the sound check, I was able to talk with her road manager who introduced me to her. She was so nice. Talked to me for about 10 minutes and signed my cd for me. I then stayed for her show and was blown away. Hearing her sing live was absolutely amazing. Her set lasted for about an hour and 20 minutes. After it was over, the road manager came over to me and asked did I want to come over and talk with them. He went to their tour bus and gave me a promotional video and some other items. Lamya continued to talk with me and also signed a poster for me. I was actually invited to hangout with the band. The all were very personable and were happy to converse with their fans.
If you have not picked up the only album she released, I suggest you do and listen to a true artist. The name of the album is Learning to Fall.
So, it comes as a complete shock to me to find out that she has passed away. My sympathies go out to her family and friends. You will be missed Lamya.
Sometimes you just never know what is going to happen to you on any given day. I remember on one particular Friday night, I was at home, didn't feel like going out with my friends. Just wanted to sit home and relax. Now, I have known in the past that Fridays are not a good night for television, so when I sat on my couch with the remote, I didn't expect much. But then something happened, without any real knowledge of the show, I saw this:
I was instantly hooked on the show by the opening itself. Then I find out that it stars one of my favorite actors on the planet, Lance Henriksen. Here is an actor that has been in dozens of movies and yet had not received the recognition I thought he deserved. So, I was extremely happy to see Lance with his own television series.
What can I say about Millennium? It is without a doubt one of the greatest shows ever to air on television. It's rare that I get involved and taken in by a show, but Millennium turned out to be one of those shows. It was such a dark show, nothing like this had ever been on television before. Right out of the gate, I knew this would be a problem for the show in the long run, but I kept my fingers crossed and hoped for the best. Although it was cancelled, we were lucky enough to get 3 amazing seasons from the show. Thanks to the Internet, I was able to find other passionate fans and talk with them about the show, our favorite moments, episodes and characters.
The with the release of the dvds, we were able to relive the magic of this great show. It reminds me of another show I was involved with that use to air with Millennium...Brimstone. Here was another show that I became very involved with and after only 13 episodes, FOX cancelled the show. Again, finding fans on the Internet that loved the show as much as I did, we banded together and started a campaign that eventually caught the eye of the President of the SciFi Channel, Bonnie Hammer. They agreed to pick up the original episodes that aired, but after a long battle with Warner Brothers., no new episodes were produced because Warner Brothers would not release the rights to do so. What we proved is that when you get together and focus on a goal, you can make it happen.
While searching for some information on Millennium, I came across the website for BacktoFrankBlack.com. I was blown away by the campaign, the organization and the amount of passion the people behind the site had as well as the fans who visit the site. Although the fire for Millennium had never gone out completely, this reignited the fire for the show and made me want to get back on the campaign trail for this show. Rarely do shows on television get a second chance, but I think that Millennium will get a second chance. Whether it be a tv movie or a straight to dvd release, the fans deserve some sort of closure with Frank Black. I know personally, I would like a couple more seasons of the show, but one can hope right? I am a fan of Millennium and will always be a fan of the show. I have turned several people onto the show as well. They all ask me the same thing, why was the show cancelled? I can give several reasons:
1) A horrible time slot. Friday is the kiss of death for tv shows. Ask the X-Files. It was almost cancelled when it was on Friday nights.
2) Low ratings. Although they were consistent and solid, they were still low for what FOX wanted.
3) The show didn't grab the all to important 18-49 demographic because the show was too dark.
I am sure there are others, but to me those are the main ones. Those added together meant Millennium was on borrowed time.
Here is what this boils down to. I want to thank the people at BacktoFrankBlack.com for igniting that fire in my again for the show Millennium. I want to thank all loyal fans who have stuck with the show throughout the years and have still continued to talk about and spread the word about Millennium. I want to thank the amazing actors, crew, writers and anyone who was involved with the making of the show Millennium. You have all done a masterful job. And finally, I want to thank Lance Henriksen, for creating one of the most amazing characters that has graced the television screen. You sir, are a true genius and I hope that we can again see you on the screen soon. Here's to you Frank Black.
Usually when I talk about a television show, it's about the show in general and an overall opinion of why I like the show and why you the reader should watch it. This time is going to be a bit different, I am going to talk about a particular episode of a television show.
First let me say that I am not going to give the episode away and will include a link to where you can go watch the episode. Obviously, the television show is Cold Case. An amazing show I just recently started to watch this season. So, in order to get caught up with the show from the beginning, I started watching the episodes from Season 1. Right now it's in it's sixth season, so some of the back stories I am not familiar with which is why I am going back to the beginning. Well today, I watched an amazing episode called Fly Away. The basic plot of the show is this:
The case of a young woman who was thrown from a second story window. Putting her in a coma and killing her daughter is reopened.
Let's just say that I am not a big emotional person when it comes to watching television, but this episode just tugged at my heart. The acting was amazing and the story just tore me up inside. I ask you to watch the episode and leave a comment. Let me know what you think and if you had the same reaction as I did.
I remember when I was 10 years old sitting with my mom on a Saturday afternoon drinking lemonade and listening to Fleetwood Mac. My mother had adopted me and was already in her late 50's but decided to take a strange kid into her home to give him a better chance at life. While we were listening to the music, she turns down the volume and out of the blue asks me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I thought about it for a minute and said several things, an astronaut, a baseball player, a doctor and maybe even President of the United States. She looked at me with the comforting smile and told me I could be anything I wanted to be.
Years later I was home on leave from the Army and was sitting in the living room talking with my mom and we were watching a documentary on civil rights. We had never really talked about the civil rights movement at any length, but started up a conversation about it. What I learned from her that day is that she was involved with the movement and had actually marched on Washington when Martin Luther King gave his famous speech. There was no doubt that I had nothing but love and respect for her, but it grew even more once she told me what she and some friends had gone through during those years. I asked her did she still think a black person could become President...she hesitated for a minute and basically said although she hopes that it would happen, she doesn't see it happening in her lifetime or mine.
My mother passed away several years ago and I wish she was here today to see this historic event. Barack Obama is now President Elect of the United States. The first black person in history to have that distinction. This is truly an historic moment and I can't lie to you....as I type this blog, I have tears in my eyes. Not just tears of pride at this accomplishment, but tears that my mother, who fought through prejudice and was part of the civil rights movement, isn't here to see this with me. I know there are plenty of other people who have similar stories of family members, friends who they wish were here to see this moment.
Watching the coverage and seeing Representative John Lewis, Oprah Winfrey and Reverend Jesse Jackson crying while Obama was giving his speech, said everything to me. I am sure there was a sense of relief in the black community when it was official that Obama won the election, too many times things have been pulled out right from beneath us in the last minute, but not this time. This was our time and by our time, I mean American....everyone. Even though he is a black man, he ran this race strictly as a man, a Democrat and not on race.
I am sure there are McCain supporters and others who are disappointed that Obama won the election, but for just one moment, let that go and realize that you have just witnessed history. We need to come together as a country and let everyone know that we are a united nation and no one will hold us down....this campaign is a testament to that fact.
I think we all will look at ourselves and this country a little differently from now on. This whole situation makes me think of a line from a 2pac song called I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto:
"Although it seems Heaven sent, we ain't ready to have a black President"
Since Halloween has just passed, I thought I would take time out to write about a show that dealt with the Devil and paying for your sins. That show is Brimstone.
Every once and a while, a show comes along that resonates with a core group of people. In this crazy world of TV ratings, demographics and core viewing groups, some shows although excellent, fall through the cracks because they don't post the big ratings that the networks would like. Unfortunately for us, Brimstone was one of those shows.
The basic premise of Brimstone is this....Ezekiel Stone was a highly decorated New York police officer. His wife was raped and when the case went to trial, the rapist was let go due to a technicality. Several weeks later, Detective Stone tracked down his wife's rapist and killed him in cold blood. Months later while on a routine drug bust, Detective Stone was shot and killed in the line of duty. Since he killed someone in cold blood, he was sent to Hell. The show starred Peter Horton as Ezekiel Stone and the brilliant John Glover as the Devil.
Fast forward 15 years and we find out that 113 souls have escaped from Hell and have gone back to Earth. Since Stone was a cop, the Devil makes a deal with him. Send back all 113 souls to Hell and you will get a second chance at life on Earth. I thought this was an excellent concept. The show was created by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, who now have the show Eleventh Hour on CBS. Like I said before, great concept, but it doesn't mean the show will work with the general public. The show was to debut on a Tuesday night for FOX. Then president of the network had high hopes for the show and began promoting the show in the 9pm time slot. 2 weeks before the show was to air, he stepped down as President of FOX network to take another job and a replacement took over. This person did not like the dark nature of the show and wanted more programming that was upbeat and light, but decided to give the show a chance anyway. Brimstone was moved to the death time slot of 8pm on Friday nights, paired with another great show Millennium. Without any big promotion or support from FOX, the show aired it's first thirteen episodes with decent numbers. FOX had ordered 6 more scripts of the show, but during post production on episode 14, FOX cancelled Brimstone. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper!
The final episode of Brimstone entitled Mourning After, aired on February 12, 1999. There was no announcement publicly that the show was cancelled, it just stopped airing. After a couple of months, I decided to go on the internet and find any information that I could about the fate of the show. Nothing was on the FOX website, although the Brimstone link was still there. While digging for information, I came across a save Brimstone website. There I found out that the show had indeed been cancelled and that I was not the only fan of the show. After weeks of talking with other people on the site, we decided to start the usual steps to try and save the show. Start writing to FOX, Warner Bros and other stations to see if we could save Brimstone. After 4 months with little head way, we gathered money from people who could contribute and placed and ad in Variety magazine, yes, Variety! It garnered our little campaign some national attention...so much so that the head of the SciFi channel wrote to the head of our campaign to state that they were interested in Brimstone. Almost a year later, the SciFi channel picked up the rights to air the original 13 episodes, which was great. We were actually seeing results due to our hard work. We later found out that Warner Bros. would not give the SciFi channel the rights to produce new episodes. So after 6 months of showing the original episodes, Brimstone was taken of the schedule. The campaign was obviously disappointed that the show stopped airing on SciFi, but was happy that we were able to get the show back on the air. I was proud to be part of that campaign.
In February of 2009, will be the 10 year anniversary of Brimstone being cancelled. Over the years I have tried to find copies of the 13 episodes with varying success. Most of the complete sets I found were on VHS and not in great quality. Recently I came across a great site that actually put a DVD set together of the show and I got my copy a couple of days ago. It is by far the best fan made set of the show and the picture quality is a solid A. I watched the episodes from the beginning and it made me remember why I was so into this show. You may be thinking to yourselves, why is this guy so wrapped up in a TV show. Hasn't there been anything that you were passionate about? That you wanted to make sure that people knew about? Well, one of my passions is the show Brimstone. Excellent acting, writing and top notch storytelling that just pulls you into the world of Ezekiel Stone from moment one. It gave you a mixture of humor, drama and fantasy all rolled into one. It made you ask questions about faith, religion and what is truly good and evil. If you haven't seen the show, find it and watch it. If you have seen the show, watch it again.
Unlike many people in the press, bloggers and other political entities, I do not think that Governor Sarah Palin is a stupid person. It would be foolish of anyone to think such a thing. You do not become Governor of a state by being a stupid person. Also, I do not care that she is a female running for the Vice Presidency. There will be no woman bashing in this blog. I could care less that a woman is running for Vice President, President, or any other political office. I just want someone who is informed and can make good decisions. Watch the following Sarah Palin clip and you tell me if she is an informed candidate:
I still to this day have no idea what her point was in that clip. This is the problem that Palin has, no clue as to what is going on. Could it be she was placed in the limelight not being ready to handle it? Could it be that McCain chose her just for political reasons? Or is it just that she doesn't know what is going on in the world. Here is Palin defending her foreign policy experience:
It is very simple people...we are living in serious times right now and need someone who can attack these issues with the calmness, knowledge and the respect of the American people. This again is not a blog to knock down Sarah Palin. She should be proud of her accomplishments as a woman and as a politician, but no more of the nice hometown stories. No more dodging questions when you don't truly have an answer. Let's be real for a minute, no politician knows everything, but I have never seen a candidate as unprepared as Palin.
Maybe the expectations are so low that no matter what happens, she will come out of the debate no different than she was when she went it. Joe Biden seems to have a problem. Not too look like he is attacking her, but at the same time point out her weaknesses and push the Obama policies. Can he walk this tightrope?
I just don't think she is ready to be one heartbeat away from the most powerful job in the world.
We all know that the world of politics is dog eat dog and isn't for the faint of heart. Constant character attacks, personal attacks, highs, lows and everything in between...but what the Republican party has done in the past 10 years is a downright disgrace.
This is not to say that the Democratic party is not without it's faults, but the way the Republican party has used personal and character attacks in recent campaigns can not go overlooked. BarackObama was at a town hall a couple of days ago and while talking about John McCain and President Bush, he made the comment that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. He was not referring to Governor Palin, but Bush and McCain. No more than an hour after he made this statement, McCain's camp fired back and wanted Obama to apologize for the so called sexist remark against Governor Palin. Almost as fast, they had an attack ad on the web called Lipstick.
It just cracks me up how they just splice a couple of clips together to make it seem one way when it actually isn't. This has Karl Rove written all over it. How can you support a party who looks to Karl Rove as an inspiration and leader. He should be in jail along with several other prominent Republicans, but guess who is helping them out, Bush.
I have to give it up to BarackObama for trying to turn the other cheek when it comes to gutter politics. But he has to remember what those gutter politics did to John Kerry and his bid for President in 2004. Questioning his military service just to cast doubt. John McCain is a hypocrite, a true hypocrite. I seem to remember a certain politician saying the exact same thing:
See what I am talking about? The Republican party seems to have forgotten about Senator McCain saying the same thing about Hillary Clinton's health care policy. He wasn't called a sexist or asked to apologize. The reason is because it's NOT a sexist or derogatory statement against women.
This has been a theme throughout the primaries and now the Presidential campaign. Sexism and racism have reared their ugly heads and certain parties have chosen to play on these fears in order to gain support. Obama wants to keep racism and sexism out of this race, make it about the issues, but not the Republicans. You want to know why? When you don't have an answer for 8 years of this country losing all respect and the economy in the tank, you play on people's fears and try to divert their attention away from the real issues. The Republicans have even used these character and personal attacks against each other. Remember when McCain and Bush were going head to head for the Republican nomination years back and the Bush camp put out a story that McCain had fathered a black child? Are you serious? What the hell does that have to do with any of the important issues? Nothing. It's a diversion tactic. Get the news media and people around the water coolers talking about salacious gossip and not what is important.
John McCain likes to play a cool game. He says he is against negative campaigning and he seems genuine when he says it, yea right. Here is what McCain does. He will have his sheep float out an attack to the media and hours later, McCain will come back and say something like that has no place in politics... trying to make himself look like the good guy. Give me a break.
So, John McCain is the one who is going to defend women against sexism? Remember, this is the same person who made several disgusting jokes and cracks towards women.
Here is the bottom line people. I have no problem with anyone running for office. My thought is that McCain has chosen Governor Palin to try and sway some of the Hillary Clinton vote. We need to stop listening to the crap that Republican party is trying to hammer us with and pay attention to the issues. That is what the Republican party does not want. Ask yourself this question..
Which 8 years were better, the Clinton years or the Bush years? If you answer Bush, then you deserve 4 more years of what we have endured with George Bush. I feel sorry for you.
Here it is folks! Episode #50! This episode is a best of that last 50 episodes of the show. From some of my favorite moments, to some of the moments you told me you really enjoyed. So sit back, download the show and enjoy some of my comic genius. Of course, comments are always welcome! So, click the link above and listen to a synopsis of some of my best work.
This is an absolutely amazing thing. Senator Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. This is huge folks, huge! I never in my lifetime thought I would see a black person with a legitimate chance to win the White House. Take a minute, sit back and reflect on what this country has gone through when it comes to race. Slavery, lynchings, race riots of the 60's, the killing of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X and the KKK. We as a race have gone through many trials and tribulations but are here still standing tall. Barack is a shining moment for us and should be noted as a major story in the history of this country.
Not since JFK has a candidate fueled such excitement and enthusiasm when it comes to a political campaign. With both Hillary and Barack, more people have signed up and voted than any other time in history, truly amazing. Now, I am one of the Obama supporters that does not hate Hillary Clinton. You have to give her her due on what she has accomplished in this Democratic primary. One of the problems that I have with the Clintons is that they seem like sore losers, especially Bill. She did not even acknowledge his winning of the nomination tonight, which I think was in poor taste. But I will not let Hillary take our thunder away, not this historic night.
Now Obama faces off with Senator John McCain, a candidate who couldn't be futher from the ideals that Obama believes. I think the fall campaign hinges on 2 important topics, the economy and the Iraq war. McCain wants to continue the war in Iraq, Barack does not. I think this war was a mistake from the beginning and 4000 Americans have had to die during the war. The economy is in complete shambles due to Republican policies. We are in the midst of a recession and McCain does not have a solid idea on what to do to get our economy back on track.
I remember when I was a little boy and asked my mother would there ever be a black president? She basically me that in her lifetime and my lifetime. She would have a tremendous smile on her face now if she was still here.
I salute you Barack Obama for proving that anyone who works hard and believes in their dream, can accomplish anything. If Martin Luther King Jr could only see this now.
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