A WALK TO THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PAST

Ancient Egyptian Mummies are fascinating to many people, including me. I also like the ones from the movies, even if the actors are much too tall to be playing a person from thousands of years ago. Boris Karloff? Christopher Lee?

It turns out that the art and science of the human mummification process as practiced by the Ancient Egyptians goes back to an earlier date than previously thought -- to more than 6,000 years ago. Stephen Buckley, an archaeological chemist at the University of York, led a team of researchers recently who studied burial cloths retrieved from cemeteries in the 1920s and 1930s. These fabrics are held in Britain’s Bolton Museum. My first inclination was to make sure I visit there next time I'm in the U.K., but then I remembered I live very close to the Royal Ontario Museum here in Toronto, Canada. (This museum is famous for its mummy collection.) The current expression is, "hello!"

I really dig this sample of fabric...

STAR TREK BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGES 6

The Klingon Battlecruiser miniature sits in the Howard Anderson Company shooting stage: The effects crew has rigged a black curtain behind the model; a bit of the regular blue-screen can be seen at the left side of frame, and the dolly track for the camera is at the bottom.

My guess is that a black background is used in this case since there is no perspective change in the shot; a travelling-matte would not be needed for the final composite. Utilizing a film clip printed from the shot a rotoscope artist would trace the outline of the model on paper then fill it in with black ink. This paper would then be pegged onto the animation stand and photographed on hi-contrast film to produce the matte element.

THE GRID FOLDS FOR THE LAST TIME

Some great force demanded I look up the website for Toronto's The Grid magazine. When I did the standard online search the top hit was just what I was looking for, so I clicked. As the search-results page was ready to be yanked from my computer screen my eye caught another hit; it said something like, "The Grid ceases publication". "What? Go back!"

The Grid magazine is no more. It has folded publication after three years. I'm not surprised, actually, since the free-give-away paper struck me as not knowing what it was trying to do. There was a lot of articles about food -- which is fine in itself but Toronto Life magazine covers that territory very well even though it's not a free publication -- a smattering of bits on politics and music, not to forget "dating" stories, but there seemed to me to be a lack of focus.

I did not feel compelled to pick up a copy of The Grid every week as I did with its predecessor, Eye Magazine.

The good thing about The Grid was a total lack of sexual-services adverts; although, this no doubt hurt the advertising revenues, which was the reason it tanked, as noted by the Globe and Mail newspaper...

Free weekly news magazine The Grid folds operations
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/weekly-toronto-magazine-the-grid-to-fold/article19413913/

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FAVOURITE TREKS?

One of the nicest and most positive responses I have received for this blog came in the form of an e-mail: 'Those are really well written. I'm looking forward to the next ones."

The writer of positivity was referring to something I posted on May 22nd of last year...

MY FAVOURITE TREKS - BATCH 1
http://barrysmight.blogspot.ca/2013/05/my-favourite-treks-batch-1.html


So... where is "Batch 2"?

Good question. (I guess I don't take compliments too well.)

My notes for the second volley are in long-hand and are from May of 2013. Can I muster the energy and resolve to keep moving on posting my favourite Star Trek episodes? Time will tell.

To be truthful, I should do similar hit pieces on my absolute favourite television series: All in the Family

Episodes from that series don't have individual titles, so in that case I would have to use an identifier such as, "the one where Archie...".

THE WEEK THAT IS GOODNESS

There is a line from a movie; I think it's from a really bad movie. It may be from Forrest Gump. The cheap bit of sagacity goes something like this: "Life is like a box of chocolates."

My tardiness in posting any bits since last Saturday is due to events pulling me this week. Someone has said, "life is... life".

It sure is.

I need a coffee. Make that, I demand a coffee.

Things are pretty good, actually. As I make up for lost postings, I will reveal morsels of tasty goodness....

FROM THE BACK GARDEN TO THE OUTER LIMITS

Do you ever have those flashes where you see something and it reminds you of a television series of some repute?

I had one recently after seeing a creature from a friend's garden walk across his back porch. Actually, the cat dragged it in... literally.

"It was something out of The Outer Limits; like some sort of creature that Projects Unlimited might have made for the show."



Great opening to one of the finest television series' of all time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCcdr4O-3gE

THE 'MADDY' AWAITS MY NEXT VISITOR

Students are preparing to start their new school year at the University of Toronto. This occurred to me yesterday as I strolled about the intersection of Bloor Street and Spadina Ave/Rd.

A question I've been asked more than a few times: "Excuse me, could you tell me where the 'Madison' is?"

I sure can: "It's on the west side of Madison Avenue, number fourteen, just north of Bloor. You can't miss it." (If I'm really close, like standing at the corner of Bloor and Spadina, I'll just point them in the right direction.)

This reminds me that I have not been at "The Maddy" since this time last year. It was hot on the upper deck. The beer was cold; the food, fine -- especially since an old friend of mine, who was visiting from out of town, paid for the whole shebang.

"The Madison Avenue Pub", the joint's correct and full name, is an interesting place, and one worth hitting if you are visiting Toronto and are into British-style pubs. You may end up asking me, or one of my 'Annex' mates, for accurate directions. We are experienced in the matter....

CANADIAN "LANC" FLIES TO U.K. FOR TOUR

On Tuesday morning of this week the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster bomber took off from Hamilton, Ontario, on the first leg of its journey to the U.K.

The trip was scheduled to take a total of three days, with various hops with stops in Greenland and Iceland. Once settled in its ultimate destination the machine will partake in a two-month aerial tour.

This particular Lancaster bomber is the only airworthy one in Canada; there is another, however, that can still take to the sky: The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lanc is awaiting the arrival of its mate so the two can create a display to call their own. It has been 50 years since two Lancasters have been seen flying together.

What a magnificent sight it will be.


From CTV News...

Famed Second World War Avro Lancaster bomber sets off for U.K. tour
http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/famed-second-world-war-avro-lancaster-bomber-sets-off-for-u-k-tour-1.1946584

SHATNER WANTS TO BE IN NEXT STAR WHAT?

Super starship captain, William Shatner, has said that he would "love" to have a part in the next Star Wars movie. He's kidding, I think. The man knows how to generate publicity so I'm taking it as a hot news-wire blurt.

Star Wars VII is, or will be, a J.J. Abrams/Disney summer tent-pole movie. Why would the coolest man in the galaxy volunteer to be sucked into a soulless black hole?

William Shatner is scheduled to appear at FanExpo Canada, at the end of this month.

SPACE: 2099 MAY BE A THING OF THE PAST

My regular readers will know that I've posted more than once on the old SF television series, Space: 1999. (If you are curious, do an internal search on this blog; and please don't tell me what the tally is thus far.) When I heard the news in February of 2012 that producer Jace Hall was in the process of rebootin' Space: 1999, as Space: 2099, my reaction was terse (here... I decided to write today's post after noticing this morning that the earlier blurb by me continues to get regular hits.)

Why reboot something that carries very little weight in the public memory? A recent story on that theme: I worked with a woman around my own age who is a big Doctor Who fan; I told her that I grew-up with the original show; when I mentioned that I was a fairly regular viewer of Space: 1999 she said, "I don't think I know that one". A couple of years ago I watched an online interview with 1999 creator Gerry Anderson. The show host, after seeing a model of the Eagle transporter vehicle, asked his subject, "what's that from?" (I should mention that the interviewer was not a "kid".)

Not good things to hear if you are a producer and you want to remake, or reboot, or reimagine, or rewhatever a series because you think the name will trigger a new demand. The original has to be a known property, if not, a redoing of any colour means nothing; except to the core fans. On that note, whenever a Space: 1999 convention is held, as there was in Los Angeles a year or two ago, barely 200 fans show up.

Nostalgia isn't good enough on its own.

In January of this year, after a long silence, Jace Hall announced that Space: 2099 is a "complete reimagining". He then added, "we are not remaking Space 1999".

In a quick round of research in prep for this piece, and to check out the latest news on 2099, I discovered that the website dedicated to the project (Space2099TheSeries.com) has been shut down. (Could this be a digital nail in the coffin?)

Not to dump on 1999, I like it very much for what it is and the DVD boxed set sits proudly on my shelf, but television is a numbers business. It is not a charity business. Fans of the series, even lesser ones like me, can just enjoy the original -- that should be good enough.

As the computer ("Computer"; voiced by Canadian-born actress Barbara Kelly) on Space: 1999 might say at a time like this: "Probability that Space: 2099 will be produced............ zero percent."

A sign of a cheap set: "Where are the controls on this bloody thing?!"