Friday, May 13, 2005

Tanorexic.

At age 14 she's got a 25 year old's skin...

Stupid British hos.
Xbox 360 Specs Announced! (And it sounds like everything you want it to be)

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/608/608394p1.html

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000617043196/

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/xbox-2/the-xbox-360-103338.php

I know I promised myself I wouldn't get caught up in the "Console Wars" but it's too late. I'm excited for Xbox 360. If they pull off backwards compatibility with the OG Xbox I'm sold.

-wireless rechargeable controllers out of the box
-wireless G connectivity out of the box
-512 RAM, 3 seperate CPU cores...
-Full DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound
-Water cooled CPU
-Xbox Live 4.0-video chat, messages, mp3 custom soundtracks....

"Make Xbox 360 Yours" Total customizability.

I'll just stop now. This definitely is the year of movies and technology.

Also just for fun, what color eyes would your children have?

Looks like mine will have green eyes most likely.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Live chat in March with Carnivale creator Daniel Knauf:

fboffo_DKnauf: Tiberius, this story is NOT done. I have four more seasons arced out. You might call the end of this season the end of the first "book."
fboffo_DKnauf: A trilogy, 2 seasons each.
fboffo_DKnauf: And you can quote me on that.
fboffo_DKnauf: And I bet you do.

So even though HBO has cancelled further seasons of Carnivale I'm involved in a huge campaign to keep it going. All of the actors and production crew involved with the show very much want to continue it, so we are going to fight for them. If Carnivale ever makes a return I can't express the joy it would bring.
Dan Knauf Speaks About Carnivale's Cancellation (As Posted on the Carnivale Yahoo Group)
Ahh, so it's now official and I can finally speak.

First of all, I haven't commented to the press yet, so these are my first thoughts on this matter, and I can't think of a better group of people to share them with. Lots of you guys have been there since the beginning, and I've enjoyed your analysis, arguments, cheers and occasional gentle (but well thought-out) jeers.

I've read all the posts since Beth announced the cancellation (Could somebody please tell me where this woman gets her information? Talk about jacked-in!), have taken heart and encouragement from your kind words, have shared your outrage and sense of loss.

If you're hoping I'll slam HBO, I'm afraid you're in for a bit of a disappointment.

The fact is, nobody—-and I mean *nobody*-—would have even considered financing and broadcasting a show this expensive, this different, this technically challenging, even if the creator was a seasoned television writer-producer. The fact that I was an untested talent makes their courage all the more extraordinary. I will always appreciate Carolyn's dedication and passion to this project, Chris's support, and
Miranda's steady, guiding hand.

True, like many of you, I am ambivalent: HBO giveth, and HBO taketh away.

I feel like a father whose baby was doomed in vitro, somehow delivered, treated and kept alive by a brilliant team of surgeons, only to see that same team yank the child off life-support just as she began to show improvement.

Do I think their decision was boneheaded? Yes, absolutely.

Do I understand why they made it? Again, yes, absolutely.

Carnivale was an expensive show. Costs-per-episode have been guessed at on this board, and in every case those estimations have been low. Way low. Carnivale, in fact, represented one of the most costly—-if not *the* most costly—-pattern-budget ever invested in a weekly series in television history. If anybody has any resentment toward HBO executives, consider this:

• They have a fiduciary responsibility toward their stock-holders;
• The show was hugely expensive;
• The reviews were mixed.
• The audience was not large enough to support it.

Game. Set. Match.

Was Carnivale thrown into a hopeless time-slot? Definitely. Could we have done better with more promotion and support? Probably. Were marketing opportunities missed? Undoubtedly. Would we have broken out had we gotten a third season? I'm absolutely sure of it.

Would I bet my career, my reputation and--more importantly--tens of millions of stockholder dollars on it?

I sincerely do not know.

Would you?

I'm not here to play apologist for the network. Far from it. But in fairness, these things need saying, so there they are.

HBO taketh away, but, damnit...

... HBO giveth.

I was fortunate enough, for a too-brief, shining moment, to be part of a project in which every last contributor believed with all their hearts—-from the production assistants to the network executives.

Everybody on the show knew we were doing something special. Nobody delivered less than their best work. This is an exceedingly rare thing in the television world, where talented cast and crew are, quite frankly, wasted on pabulum. When asked what they're working on, the all-too-routine answer is "Some piece-of-s—-t cop show (or doctor show, or lawyer show)."

Meanwhile, we all got to work on Carnivale.

Now *that* is cool.

And you guys watched it. And got it. And appreciated it.

You guys counted down to Sunday nights.

You reveled in the show's mysteries, its characters, its world. You taped it, you TIVOed it, you played and replayed it. You caught every blooper and anachronism, every real and imagined flaw in our internal logic. You praised its authenticity and historocity. You researched our mythology. Unlike many of our critics, you not only welcomed the show's intellectual and narrative challenges, but embraced them!

Not one teeny, tiny shred of our time, trouble and work was wasted on you.

And that is very, *very* cool.

Folks have been asking what I want them to do in the face of this, Okay, then. If there's one thing I want from you guys, it's to simply know this:

Carnivale is not dead

Raymond Chandler was once asked by a reporter how he felt about Hollywood ruining all his books. He simply pointed at a shelf behind him and said, "Hollywood hasn't ruined my books. They're all right there."

Similarly, I might point at my boxed set of Season 1 (and soon-to-be-issued Season 2) and say, "The network didn't kill my show. It's right there. Wanna watch a few episodes?"

Carnivale, and this wonderful community that's joined to celebrate it, will continue to live as long as the work is viewed and enjoyed. It's pretty clear now that, for whatever reasons, we never found our audience.

But it's not too late.

Lend your DVDs to friends. Get them out there into the world. Capture eyeballs, collect converts. Donate sets to your local libraries. Throw viewing parties. Start discussion groups.

For God's sake, organize a Live CarnyCon!

And maybe—-just maybe—-in the (hopefully) not so distant future, some bright young executive will say, "Hey, remember that show Carnivale? You know, people are still talking about that! There's a monster fan base out there!" Maybe they'll order a season. Maybe a series of films...

Who knows? Stranger things have (and do) happen.

You can bet I, as well as many in our cast and crew, will be ready to support you in any way we can. As for me, I'll be weighing in on the lists, participating in chats like always. I'm not going anywhere. You guys are stuck with me.

Granted, it'll take some effort, but as a very wise friend of mine named Samson once said, "When it comes to livin, dyin's the easy part." And everything's impossible, til it ain't.

Fans, the ball's in your court, now. Take it and run with it.

Dazzle me.

I love you guys.

D.
I laughed so hard at this.

Darth Vader Made Me Cry

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

If you've never seen Carnivale before watch the opening credits. Along with Six Feet Under I think it is the best show introduction I've ever seen in my life. The art direction is inspired and the symbolism basically sets up the entire show in a mere minute.

Carnivale Credits

As a tribute to my recently cancelled show, here's a little analysis.

The intro starts off with a bunch of tarot cards scattered in a pile.. The first card you zoom in on is "The World" which is supposed to be a representation of the time period, 1930s America, during the Great Depression. It's based on Michelangelo's "Last Judgement." We fly through the card from the skies of heaven to the hell of standing in a bread line. The still picture becomes moving footage of the breadline. We see marvels of technology, a futuristic dirigible and a suspension bridge. This represents the age of science, the anti-religion. The ground is dry, and what should be dirt slips through the fingers like dust. We see a family walking away...the scene turns to a card and we zoom out.

We zoom out to see an angel fighting a dragon, Leviathan, (from Isaiah 27 I believe), and the card is the Ace Of Swords. The artwork is from Gustave Dore. We scroll over to another card, Death.

Entering the Death card the camera takes you through a hellish red background and into darkness. Deep inside the card is footage of people living in old smelting ovens, and on a weird hillside-the only place they could find to live. This image begins a sequence of dark things from the early 20th century. Next we see footage of of faschism represented by Mussolini, totalitarianism by Stalin, and blad-faced racism by a KKK member jostling his baby in a mini clan uniform. All of these things took rise during this time period.

The scene shifts to children. The family grounds these abstract notions. That is what the show is about-big ideas, emobodied in people. The little girl's face turns into another angel, an angel vanquishing a devil in turn turning into the the King of Swords card. Raphael's St. Michael Victorious is the basis.

The next card, Temperance, signifies balance with a painting by Piete Bruegel. In the picture peasants are dancing. Their lives are hard, but they are having a good moment amid the strife. After viewing things that were horrendous in the 20th century we begin a sequence of things that are good. Jesse Owens the runner. Babe Ruth the baseball player. People swing-dancing. The dancers dissolve into two angels dancing in heaven. Across this card, The Magician, you see the devil being tossed out of Heaven. The battle for mens' souls begins-thus the thesis for the show.

Suddenly the story takes a twist...The card is turned upside down. In Tarot apparently an inverted card takes on another meaning. Wasted talent, or lack of will. Things are not what they seem in good vs. evil.

Next comes the Tower card, illustated with an image of the great battle between the Romans and the Carthaginians, as imagine by 15th century engraver Fouquet. We see men piled onto trucks in a hurry going somewhere; something is going to happen. Among the images of conflict and urgency is an image that sums up the desperation of the era: people are lining up for free food, literally in the shadow of the Capitol.

We see the father figure of the era, FDR. He represents a timeless figure of judgement. He transitionos to the Judgement tarot card, illustrated by the archangel Michael. We zoom out to see the Sun and Moon cards on the shoulders of the Judgement card. Sun = God, Moon = Devil. Then a wind blows these items away and reveal where these cards have been laying-literally on Carnivale. The emblem of Carnivale remains, and notice it contains both the Sun and Moon signs within its emblem.
I'm very sad today. One of my favorite shows has been cancelled and will not return for a third season. HBO announced today that it has cancelled Carnivale, not citing any reasons. They've also said that the shows story was fully carried out, which is absolute bullshit. At the end of season 2 Justin is not dead after "the big confrontation" and there is more evil to unbalance things against Ben. This show could have gone maximum 6 seasons like every other big hitter on HBO-Six Feet Under, Sopranos, Oz. I hope maybe another network will pick it up or a big cult following will convince HBO to bring the show back. I was really looking forward to settling into a few more years with Carnivale...

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Monday, May 09, 2005

I Believe The Children Are The Future.

But there is no way in hell I'm letting this kid lead the way.
Crispin Glover on Letterman (On Acid)

American Psycho not Idol You have a lot of voices LOL. Wow...this scares me. Holy shit I can';t imagine her becoming a hairstylist...Giving her scissors gives me nightmares. Do some of these contestants REALLY think they have a shot? Denial is a bitch man...
Strawberry Pancake

Don't make me wait for it.