Just more updates...

Had a bit of a hectic weekend with the website. My host changed something in the way it handles PHP scripting on their servers and I was getting bugging errors all over the site. Ugh! very annoying. Anyway got the bugs fixed. On the bright side it forced me to clean up some of my code. It's way more tidy now.

Been working on more interviews. Considering it's the holidays probably won't see much along those line until the next year.

Made little tweak to the title formatting. Placed all of the page titles on a black banner. Surprisingly this really makes the page pop better.

I'm finally getting around to adding all of the "OLD" content I've just been sitting on for months now. I got new DVD player software for my PC and it is super easy to get screen grabs now. I've been fighting with my last software and was just too discouraged to make screen caps of the props I needed. The software is by AVS media. Not only is it free, the software is compact and allows for frame-by-frame advancement. Gone are the days of "almost" getting the perfect screen grab.

More to come after the new year!

Support the WGA strike!

The Writers Guild of America strike is going into week two. I'm doing my part by spreading the word to other fan communities and posting a link to www.fans4writers.com on the homepage.

This is such a worthy cause. It's our time to show support for the men and women who work behind-the-scenes of our favorite TV shows.

To get more info on Fans 4 Writers please visit their website and show your support.

An exciting couple of weeks

Wow, what a whirl wind couple of weeks I've had. Finally got my interviews with "Kat" Myers and Troy Rudolph posted to the website. You can read their exclusive interviews here. Two very cool guys. Very down to earth and the nicest people you could have the pleasure of meeting. I am truly honored to get to know them.

Oh I forgot, to mention where I meet Troy. We happen to post on a forum together. He's been providing some info on what the costumes are like and the such. He's an avid costumer in his spare time so he is into the details of how the wardrobe department created the uniforms and such. Well, long story short. I just asked if he'd like to be interviewed, simple enough, and it goes from there.

So I've finally got the home page dialed in. This part of the website has been haunting me from the start. I had such tremendous success with the look of the clipboard on the interior pages I just decided to carry it to the home page. Um... Duh... should have done that from the beginning. Oh well, you live and learn. Not only did I do that but I also fixed the "cut corners" look of the clipboard. After reviewing photos of some actual clipboards from the set, I realized I had cut too much off the corners. I was an easy fix to get it into proportion.

Oh, I've got a few more interviews in the works. They are dependent on the interviewees schedules. So, keep an eye out for those in the near future.

So, much more work in the near future. Getting a secret stash of behind-the-scenes photos soon, so I'll be pretty busy deciphering them and writing content for the site.

Ron Moore Joins the WGA Strike Picket Line.

Good for him! It's fantastic to see a former writer standing with his fellow union members. I have even more respect for Mr. Moore! Not sure how this will effect the last 10 episodes of BSG, but hopefully they will get made.

Here is the story on IGN
Battlestar Galactica Producer Talks Strike

This is a great photo of Ron!



I got to get me one of those signs...

The Galactica Information Junkie

The site is finally panning out. I'm getting relevant content onto the site and I actually have a super juicy interview to post soon.

My varied interests bring me to some obscure and fascinating web sites. I've been lurking at the Scifi Meshes 3D graphics website and ran across a footnote article on how to build a VFX shot. Basically the VFX Consultant for BSG seasons two and three wrote a "how-to" article about the 3D program LightWave 9. I read through his article and was instantly intrigued. He gave tiny hints that he had buckets of info to share. Naturally you develop this instinct from trying to sell cars to people. (my day job is working at a car dealership) Anyway, there are certain phrases and inflection in sentence structure that can give you clues into a persons approachability to share info. For example: I learned that the studio publicist that I was conversing with deemed me unwelcome. I could read between the lines from her well chosen very short responses. Shot responses mean "I'm busy leave me alone." We are all guilty of that in email to our friends and such. So you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway I send a really nice hello letter to Kelly Myers (he goes by Kat) and ask him if he would mind doing an interview. To my surprise he agreed. up to this point I've got the email equivalent of a "blank stare" from the crew I've asked. Oh, on a side note, Kelly is distantly related to famous Canadian actor Mike Myers, Groovy Baby, Groovy!

Kat has a lot of great behind-the-scenes info. Most of it really cool and some of it truly juicy. Too bad for you that the juicy bits will be kept for his book. I share no secrets -- *wink, wink*.

My interview with Kelly "Kat" Myers will be published on my site in the next few days. And, I might... read that... "might" share some of the juicy bits after the show is over.

So, it pays to be an Information Junkie. My head is about to explode from all of the cool stuff I just learned in the last 15 minutes.

Workity-work and being shot down.

Ok, so not much has been going on with either site for a while. Mostly cos I've been busy with other things. Like the family business and trying to line up interviews. Sheesh, it's like pulling teeth to get the crew to talk to you for an interview. I do know that the entire crew is on overdrive at the moment, and most of them are overworked. So, taking time to answer annoying fan questions might not be a priority on their list. I'm guessing rest would be numero uno!

Oh, bit of bad news. I've been informed that the BSG set is officially closed to the press for visits until they quit filming. Makes sense, don't want season 4 spoilers leaking out. Maybe I can visit after they finish filming. Shoot, I don't want to know even one spoiler for season 4.

Do have some good news... Got some great hi-res digital photos of the set to pluck info from.

Times they are a changin'

I finally got fed up with the rather bland intro page for the site. It was neat but really had nothing to do with what the site is about.

The new layout is a screen cap of a Camera Sync Slate aka Clapper Board from one of the BSG episodes. I embellished the text on the slate a bit. :)

Moved the graphical navigation from the bottom to the left hand side. Moved the text to the very bottom of the image and removed the cream footer bar. Oh, I also changed all of the navigation titles to make navigating less confusing.

Gettin' my ducks in row, starting Battlestar Galactica interviews

What a lucky break. I got in touch with the founder of Galactica.tv, his name is Marcel. (Galacatica.tv is an online magazine dedicated to interviewing the cast and crew of the original and new BSG series.) He's been helping me with getting up to speed to conduct interviews. I have conducted interviews in the past, but that was like twelve years ago when I was going to college to become a Radio DJ or news reporter. huh, how my career path has changed. Anyhow, I dug out a lot of my old sound equipment I still had and was pleasantly surprised it all still worked. It's nothing fancy, mind you, cos it's an old tape recorder. Not a mini-cassette but a genuine cassette tape. Why shell out $80 on a digital recorder that will probably confuse the heck out of me -- I have trouble enough using an ipod -- when the ol' cassette recorder works brilliant. Not only that, but I can plug it into my computer and rip it straight to my hard disc. The only drawback I have found with the tape recorder is that the mic is so sensitive it picks up the sound of the cassette tape motor. Never noticed that motor noise back in the day. I guess I just put up with it. It's not a big deal anyhow as my sound editing software can cut out the background hiss.

So, where was I going with this. Oh yeah, interviewing... recording device, check!
list of people to interview, check! Just working down my list...

You never realize how much preparation goes into conducting a proper interview. When I did it back in college for the news and radio you just kind of got as many sound bites as you could about whatever was going on at the time. It was all very contrived and shallow. Conducting a genuine sit down interview where you really want to get into someone's head is a whole different color duck. You need to take their feelings into account, you are talking with a person not just fishing for 30 second sound bites. You need to arrange your questions so that you don't confuse the interviewee or yourself. There is a real purpose in the thought process of coming up with questions.

Quack...

Getting content up

Ok, so I've finally got some time to start adding content to the site. For now I am just adding the basic foundation of each page as a starting point. I have about 30+ pages worth of content to add, along with editing and formatting all of the associated photos. I've got my work cut out for me, that's for sure.

Check the Progress...

Temporarily Stalled

Humf, I'm stalled on the website right now. I had my son visiting for the summer and that really zapped the energy and time away from me to get anything posted to the site.

Also, I've decided to get a little more professional with the organization of the website. Make it less fan-boy and more like an archive. The changes are subtle but for me it's going to a quantum undertaking cos of the way the content will be presented. Well, it's quantum in my head anyway.

I'm considering dropping the direct links to the costume sites. My goal is for people to use this site as a resource. Honestly, I didn't want to duplicate content but if I'm changing my site objective it's not such a bad thing. Ugh, my lazy ass will have to do more coding. Oh, well.

The quest for an interview.

Ok, so one of my major goals for the website is to get an interview with the Production Department for BSG before they quit filming up in BC. (Filming will be going on till March of 2008) Richard Hudolin is the number one main honcho on my list. I've seen the BSG featurette interviews he's done for Sci-Fi Channel and added to the DVDs. Very insightful, but I have so many questions that go beyond the little snippets you see on the featurette.

After a little calling around I ended up getting in touch with Carol, the Unit Publicist for BSG. She was very nice on the phone. But hopes be dashed, Carol said the production dept is too busy to conduct interviews right now. Which totally makes sense considering they are in the middle of some major filming as of this writing. On a bright note, Carol said I should call her back around September/November. The production will begin to start slowing down by then. (And, NO I will not share my contact info with you, so DO NOT ask!)

Hmmm, wonder if BSG has a series archivist?

My new BSG prop website.

Oh, how I have been busy. Almost every free moment after work has been taken by my feeble attempts to complete my new website. It's a work in progress, so check it out Future-Past Parts, The Props of Battlestar Galactica.

At least I'm getting my prop site up and running right on the heels of BSG calling it quits. Season four will be the conclusion of BSG. Sad news, but at least it's on the producers terms. Hopefully, I can get a visit to the set to document some props before they finish filming.

One of these days I'll actually have enough time to work on my families websites as well. Ugh, so much coding to do and so little time.

"C" is for cookie, and cookie is for ME!

Got to meet the Chief [Tyrol that is]

Wow, what an incredible night Thursday 22nd turned out to be.

Here is some background... I was invited to the Season 3 Finale Preview screening of Battlestar Galactica. This party was hosted by Science Fiction Museum (SFM) Seattle and the Sci-fi Channel. Only members were allowed to attend, so my wife and I made a night of it.

We get there around 7:15 and have to sign a Sci-fi channel non-disclosure form. The final episode hasn't aired yet, as the official air date is on Sunday the 25th, so they want us to keep our mouths shut about the episode. The form has the BSG logo on top and the normal legalese etc. I got a blank copy as a memento.

On the third floor of SFM there is a private screening room for us schmucks who weren't privileged enough to be VIP guest -- they got to wear neat lanyards with VIP on 'em -- and see the finale in the Sky Church hall. Two of the primary actors come out to introduce the episode. Any guesses? They are both male and they both got to kiss Grace Park. Yep, Aaron Douglas (Chief) and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo). They joke around a bit and we watch the episode. BTW, Aaron and Tahmoh said our group were more fun than the VIPs. At the end of the screening everyone erupts into thundering applause and cheers. Yes, it is that good!

After the screening we get to go down to Sky Church for a Q&A session with Aaron and Tahmoh. Both of them are very funny with the Q&A. The entirety was filmed by a crew from Sci-fi. It might show up on the website. Oh, If you ever wondered how to pronounce Tahmoh's name, it rhymes with "camo" think "Tamo" and that's how you say it.

After the Q&A Aaron and Tahmoh take a quick break at the bar and chat with guests and sign autographs. Then they film some interviews with some lucky guests to be aired on Sci-fi website. Pretty sure they will edit the heck out of them cos Tahmoh was a drunk and some of the guest comments were a bit dry and umm... let's say dorky. When I got Tahmoh's autograph and chatted with him briefly he was quite drunk. Although he thought the mini Galactica was cool.

While I was watching them film the interviews I got to chat with The Sci-fi Channels marketing director for BSG. I don't recall her name (Deborah maybe? she had straight long brown hair and a neat leather jacket). I asked her what Sci-fi's position is on fan websites based on the show. Well, low and behold she says... "Oh, we love them." and something along the lines that they really support the fans. I thought that was neat. It is so different from Lucas Film Limited's stance on fans. Also, the BSG Video toolkit is a major thing they want fans to participate in. The guy who directed the in-house cylon video on the website is a family member of one of the exec's in Sci-fi.

My wife and I were pleasantly surprised while chatting with Aaron Douglas. He is very appreciative of his fans. He signed a mini Galactica (from Comic-Con 2005) and wrote on the top of the box "I fix This -->" (he's so cool). Aaron also signed our BSG Season 1 Companion book for us. I asked him "Do you ever feel like a little kid walking into the hanger deck set, with all of those cool props and ships?" He got a real huge smile and told his publicist that he had to tell a story. Earlier she made him promises not to tell any stories. Aaron then recanted a fabulous story about a time when his son, Taylor, visited the set that put Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) to tears. Very touching and quite funny. Another interesting, yet befuddling, thing is that while we were chatting Aaron said he had heard of my wife. His exact words were... "I know you, I know of you." He is a big Canadian sports nut and my wife was involved with Canadian sports back in the day. Totally Nuts, we were there to talk to him and he's astoundingly telling my wife about facts that really only she would know. That was crazy. Aaron is totally fun and we would love to meet him again!

Any way, it was a night long to remember!

Oh, almost forgot. There was a guy talking at Tahmoh (remember he's pretty drunk by now) and he was really excited about Cobywan's biggie Galactica model. See post here... http://www.therpf.com/index.php?showtopic=112690
Tahmoh was like... "Oh thats neat... really 22 inches long..." and then he started looking at the floor. I'm pretty sure he won't be remembering to much of that night.
I didn't get a chance to talk to the guy about the biggie G, wanted to ask him if he is a member of RPF. Oh well.

Three bananas arranged in such a way look exactly like the new Cylon raider. Who would 'ave thunk.