Quotes of the Year: 2015

Quote of the Year : "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP"
-Leonard Nimoy

Quote of the Year (Runner Up): "America has shown to me as an immigrant, that it is the land of opportunity. And I appreciate America so much and this is why it was so important for me to give something back. And we have to keep it the #1 country in the world. So I want to say thank you to America; that you have given me everything that I have."
-Arnold Schwartzenegger

And the rest...
"As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again."
-Bono

"What we've said all along, and have been called bigots for it, is when there's this many bad apples, there's something wrong with the orchard."
Bill Maher on Islam

"The interesting thing about Mulder is nominally he is law enforcement but he never solved one case in nine years. So he’s the worst F.B.I. agent of all time."
-David Duchovny

"Fuck you Eddie Van Halen."
-Sammy Hagar

"Whatever you think of Reagan, you have to admit, he had a black belt in badassery."
-Brad Meltzer

"It was all this contemporary music geared for that audience, and it was so disappointing listening to it. Really weak songwriting, insipid vocals and productions. It was really discouraging. I was sorry to hear that. You're waiting for something to happen, musically. You're waiting for some great thing. Like every generation or every decade seemed to have that big thing that carried it through. There's nothing now, at least in rock."

-Alex Liefson

"I felt like I was in a period-piece sometimes. Because I could hear echoes or
sensations of Connery or of Roger, which I didn't try to censor; I'd just allow
them to come in."
-Pierce Brosnan

"Some people think it's a genius album, but I think it's a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like '(Their) Satanic Majesties.'”
-Keith Richards on Sgt. Pepper's

“I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins.”
-Ben Carson

"Calm people live. Tense people die."
-Adam Savage

“Don’t be a slave like I was.”
-Carrie Fisher

My 110 Favorite TV Episodes: X-Files Edition

Beyond the Sea (1994)

Mulder and Scully reverse their roles as Scully seeks help from a pyschic on death row.

Darkness Falls (1994)

Mulder and Scully are attacked by ancient insects in an old growth forest.

The Erlenmeyer Flask (1994)

Scully finds an alien fetus and trades it for Mulder. Deep Throat is murdered.

Duane Barry/Ascension (1994)

Scully is abducted.

Die Hand Die Verletzt (1995)

Mulder and Scully meet Satan.

Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (1995)

Peter Boyle guest stars as a man that can see how people die. He helps Mulder and Scully capture a serial killer and then commits suicide.

Anasazi/The Blessing Way/Paper Clip (1995)

Mulder travels to the Navajo Reservation, discovers alien bodies, and is almost killed. He recovers, but Scully's sister dies. Meanwhile, Mulder discovers his own sister's fate.

Jose Chung's From Outer Space (1996)

Author Jose Chung tries to get the truth after a UFO encounter and gets several different stories about the event.

Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (1996)

The Smoking Man's past is revealed...or at least some of it.

Triangle (1998)

Mulder gets trapped in the Bermuda Triangle.

Two Fathers/One Son (1999)

The Syndicate is destroyed by alien rebels.

Quotes of the Month: March 2015

Quote of the Month:
"Just give me two hours, and you're going to have 50, 60, 70 years of memories. Two hours, can you sacrifice, and reach down and give me two hours, so that you can have a lifetime of memories for you, your family, your kids and your kids' kids? That's the memories I'm talking about!"


-Tom Izzo

Stupid Quote of the Month:
"Well, watch out, you know that Michelle Obama looks like she's from the cast of 'Planet of the Apes,' the movie."


-Rodner Figueroa

　
"They are going to eat him! Sisters . . sisters!"


-Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe when a group of nuns mobbed the Pope

　
"As long as you can go in some neighborhoods and it is easier for you to

buy a firearm than it is for you to buy a book, there are neighborhoods where it

is easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh

vegetable, as long as that's the case, we're going to continue to see

unnecessary violence."


-Barack Obama

　
"If Selma taught us anything, it's that our work is never done."


-Barack Obama

　
"Poor people have been voting Democratic for 50 years, and they're still poor."


-Charles Barkley
"What I dream is that for one election ... every black person in America vote Republican."


-Stephen A Smith

　
"Get over your temper tantrum, Mr. President."


-John McCain
　

"The interesting thing about Mulder is nominally he is law enforcement but he never solved one case in nine years. So he’s the worst F.B.I. agent of all time."

-David Duchovny

Sci Fi History: Kolchak The Night Stalker (1974-75)

Kolchak began as two popular TV movies. Their success led ABC to commission a series starring Darren McGavin as the reporter, Carl Kolchak, who investigated paranormal incidents and crimes. Kolchak was a consummate reporter, a bit slovenly, and definitely Midwestern. The show featured the "monster of the week" formula, which might have been its downfall. Kolchak inspired the X-Files two decades later. That show featured both an overall mythological story arch AND monster of the week episodes. The X-Files tried to bring the Kolchak character aboard, but copyright issues prevented it. Instead, McGavin made two appearances as Arthur Dales, the FBI agent that created the X-Files.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfmK8YUdSpY

Sci Fi History: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick directed this amazing sci-fi masterpiece. The film is split into four acts that follows man's evolution, which is aided by mysterious monoliths. It begins with "The Dawn of Man" featuring a bunch of protohumans learning to kill. In the second act, 21st century man discovers a monolith on the moon. Act III sends the cast to Jupiter where 2001 transforms into a horror film. The ship's computer, HAL, systematically murders the crew. One man survives into Act IV where he seemingly evolves into a higher being after an encounter with the monolith.

2001 was revolutionary. It did not feature humanoid aliens. A conspiracy on Earth program HAL to kill the astronauts 25 years before The X-Files. The special effects were cutting edge. The film influenced George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Additionally, elements of 2001 can be seen in Blade Runner, Close Encounters, Alien, Contact, and other films and television programs.


Dawn of Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEaGQb6dJk




Trailer:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ywMnbef6Y




Theme Song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxLacN2Dp6A

Top 10 X-Files Episodes

Here are my top 10 favorite episodes of the X-Files.

1. Jose Chung’s From Outer Space (1996): A lighthearted episode in which author Jose Chung (Charles Nelson Riley) investigates a UFO abduction. The case involves government deception, phony aliens, Lord Kinbote, and a pair of men in black that look like Jesse Ventura and Alex Trebek. Confusing things further, witnesses all have differing accounts of events.

2. Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (1995): A serial killer targets psychics and fortune tellers. Mulder and Scully are aided in hunting the killer by a real clairvoyant. Clyde Bruckman (Peter Boyle) can foresee people's deaths after obsessing over the random nature of the Big Bopper's death. In the end, Mulder is saved by random events as Scully accidentally arrived to save him.

3. Duane Barry/Ascension (1994): In part one, Mulder meets Duane Berry (Steve Railsback) in a hostage standoff. Barry claims he was abducted by aliens and Mulder believes him. In the second part, Berry kidnaps Scully and surrenders her to the aliens. Meanwhile, Mulder's new partner, Alex Krycek turns out to be a member of the conspiracy. Scully's abduction was a seminal moment in 1990s pop culture.

4. Die Hand Die Verletzt (1995): A Satanic cult loses it's faith and Satan appears to punish them. One is eaten by a snake while the surviving members kidnap Mulder and Scully for a sacrifice. Satan intervenes and they are forced to shoot themselves instead. 

5. Anasazi/The Blessing Way/Paper Clip (1995): A three part arch featuring Mulder's fall into madness as a result of poisoning and his recovery with the help of Navajo Indians. The conspiracy executes Mulder's father, a tape emerges with information about government UFO information, and buried train cars with alien bodies are discovered. The Cigarette Smoking Man tries to kill Mulder in the car, but he escapes and his aided by Navajos. While recovering, Mulder's dead friends and family visit him from the spirit realm. The arch also reveals which side Skinner is on.

6. Beyond the Sea (1994): A death row inmate, Luther Lee Boggs (Brad Dourff), claims psychic visions and offers to help find a kidnapper. Scully's beliefs are called into question as she is skeptical of Boggs. At the same time, she is in mourning for her father who passed. Boggs hoped for a deal, but is refused. He helps the agents anyway and even tells Scully how to save Mulder. He tells her to not follow the criminal to the blue devil. She is shocked to see a blue devil painted on rotted floorboards. The kidnapper falls through the boards to his death.

7. Pilot (1993): Most series pilots are weak. The X-Files is an exception. Scully and Mulder are assigned to the X-Files project. He believes in the paranormal while she is a skeptic sent to debunk Mulder's work. Their first case takes them to Oregon where they investigate alien abductions.

8. Biogenesis/The Sixth Extinction/The Sixth Extinction II (1999): A metal artifact is discovered in Africa. The artifact turns Mulder into a raving lunatic. Scully travels to Africa to try and uncover the truth. Mulder hovers near death before Scully rescues him with Diana Fowley's assistance. Fowley is murdered for her actions. This is the last great X-Files episode and story arc.

9. Squeeze (1993): Mulder and Scully investigate a serial killer that strikes every thirty years. Eugene Tooms (Doug Hutchinson) needs human livers to survive. He awakes every thirty years, hunts, and then returns to hibernate in a nest. Tooms has the ability to elongate his body to sneak through small, confined places. The agents find Tooms apartment which resembles an animal's nest. Eventually, Tooms is captured, but returns in 1994.

10. The Erlenmeyer Flask (1994): The X-Files set up several storylines with this episode. The agents discover evidence of alien abductions and human experimentation. At the end, Mulder's mentor and source "Deep Throat" (Jerry Hardin) is murdered in front of Scully leading many to question whether the series could continue. As he lay dying, he warned Scully to "trust no one." For me, this is a seminal moment in the series and in 90's pop culture.

The Greatest TV Episodes #11-20

11. Cheers: What is…Cliff Clavin? (1990): Cliff goes on Jeopardy. The categories are right up Cliff’s alley. He has an insurmountable lead by Final Jeopardy. For some reason, he wagers it all and does not know the Final Jeopardy answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=botdmsQilnU

12. Seinfeld: The Soup Nazi (1995): NO SOUP FOR YOU!

13. The Ed Sullivan Show: The Beatles (1964): While Elvis provided a milestone for the fifties, the Beatles provided the sixties generation with their own moment. 73 million watched the four on Ed Sullivan. The teen girls in the crowd wet themselves and cried uncontrollably. They were hysterical. The Beatles did five songs that night and the television station made sure everyone knew John was married.

14. The Ed Sullivan Show: Elvis Presley (1956): This was the biggest cultural moment for the fifties generation. 83% of the country watched. Critics complained that Elvis was over stimulating teenagers. Like they needed the help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6A3vLlVa3I

15. Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever (1967): The best episode in Star Trek history. Kirk and Spock return to 1930 to find McCoy and prevent him from changing the future. They discover that to save the future and prevent the Nazis from winning World War II, that Kirk’s new love, Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), must die.

16. Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963): A gremlin tears a plane apart in mid-air. Only a reformed mental patient sees it. He gets a gun and shoots the creature. The plane lands safely and he’s taken away in a straightjacket. However, the creature did exist as the plane's nacelle is ripped open from the outside.

17. 60 Minutes: Mike Wallace vs. Ayatollah Khomeini (1979): Mike Wallace calls Khomeini a lunatic. It does not get better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1fzFNsu15U

18. Frasier: Three Valentines (1999): The three stories center on Valentine’s Day. Niles prepares for a date at Frasier’s apartment and his anal retentive nature gets the best of him. It is one of the greatest moments in TV history (see link). Meanwhile, Frasier can’t figure out if he is on a date or not. Lastly, Martin and Daphne are bummed they don’t have a date on Valentine’s Day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTdD_dVyteA

19. X-Files: Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (1995): Mulder and Scully investigate murders of fortune tellers. They are assisted by Clyde Bruckman, who knows how people are going to die. Peter Boyle guest stars as Bruckman who has a hard time living with his ability.

20. Battlestar Galactica: 33 (2005): The fleet is pursued endlessly by the Cylons for days. They have to jump to light speed every 33 minutes to avoid the Cylon attack fleet. So, the humans don’t get any sleep whatsoever. The episode is almost as intense as the first half hour of Saving Private Ryan.

Greatest TV Episodes of All Time #31-40

31. MASH: Tuttle (1973): Hawkeye and Trapper invent a surgeon and eventually everyone believes the guy is real. Eventually, General Clayton wants to honor Captain Tuttle. Hawkeye solves the problem by killing Tuttle. The imaginary captain jumped out of a helicopter to help wounded soldiers, but forgot his parachute. Seinfeld used the same storyline for an episode 20 years later.

32. The Munsters: Herman the Rookie (1965): Leo Durocher discovers Herman playing ball with Eddie and gives him a tryout with the Dodgers. Herman destroys the baseball field and Leo has to let him go. Despite his amazing talent, repairs to the field would cost too much if Herman played professionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHBee9DAKYw

33. Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966): Kirk and crew encounter Romulans and engage in a deadly cat and mouse game based on films such as Run Silent, Run Deep with the Enterprise serving as a surface ship and the Romulans as a submarine.

34. MTV Unplugged: Nirvana (1993): Nirvana appeared on MTV Unplugged in late 1993. They played a lot of covers and lesser known songs. The stage was decorated with lilies and candles as Cobain wanted it to look like a funeral. He died in April, 1994 and the CD was the band’s first release after his death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eglOHphhpcg

35. Happy Days: They Don’t Shoot Fonzies, Do They? (1976): Fonzie agrees to help Joanie and enter a dance marathon at Arnold's. Joanie wants to beat the captain of the cheerleading squad who had her cut from the team. Fonzie’s bike breaks down and he has to walk it 12 miles and is exhausted. He collapses, but comes to when threatened with a crew cut. Fonzie breaks into a Russian jig and wins the contest. This scene is later used in a Weezer video.

36. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Inner Light (1992): Picard is zapped by a probe and lives another man’s entire life in a few minutes. He awakes to find that the people built the probe to save their culture as their star was going supernova.

37. Batman: The Purr-Fect Crime & Better Luck Next Time (1966): Catwoman steals priceless art. After the usual cliffhanger, Batman and Robin track her to a cave where Catwoman dies. Luckily, Julie Newmar has 9 lives.

38. X-Files: Jose Chung’s From Outer Space (1996): Mulder and Scully investigate the abduction of two teenagers. Meanwhile, noted sci-fi writer Jose Chung is writing a novel about the incident. Every person involved tells Chung a different story leading to an amusing episode.

39. Married with Children: It’s a Bundyful Life (1989): The bank closes on Al before he can do his Xmas shopping. When he returns home, Al decides to fix the Christmas lights. He is briefly electrocuted and meets his guardian angel, Sam Kinison. Al sees that his family would have lived a wonderful life without him. He wants to spoil it, so he returns.

40. Northern Exposure: The Aurora Borealis- A Fairy Tale for Big People (1991): The Aurora Borealis makes the people of Cicily act strangely. Joel is rescued by Bigfoot and Chris leaves the radio station to work on a sculpture. Bigfoot turned out to be a real man and not a beast.

Greatest TV Episodes #41-50

41. X-Files: Die Hand Die Verletzt (1995): Mulder and Scully meet Satan.

42. Murphy Brown: It’s Not East Being Brown (1993): Murphy needs to improve her image, so she appears on a children’s TV puppet show. The puppets taunt her, Murphy loses it on live TV, and rips the puppet off the puppeteer’s hand; scarring children for life.

43. Bewitched: Humbug Not Spoken Here (1967): In this retelling of “A Christmas Carol”, Samantha introduces the spirit of Christmas to a miserly old man. Santa even makes an appearance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW5Qh9wLs8A

44. Battlestar Galactica Mini-Series (2003): Ronald Moore reworked the 1978 cheese fest. Like the original, the Cylons break a truce and wipe out most of humanity. Unlike the original, this Galactica was gritty and filled with flawed humans as opposed to heroic figures.

45. South Park: Trapped in the Closet (2005): In one of the greatest spoofs of all time, South Park takes on Scientology by simply stating their tenants. The title refers to a R. Kelly song. In the episode, Tom Cruise is trapped in the closet.

46. Star Trek The Next Generation: The Drumhead (1991): An Admiral (Jean Simmons) loses her mind and conducts a witch hunt aboard the Enterprise. She eventually accused Captain Picard of disloyalty. He takes the stand and turns the trial around. She flips out and the witch hunt ends.

47. 60 Minutes: The Clintons (1992): Bill Clinton looked finished when the Gennifer Flowers scandal broke. With nothing to lose, he and Hillary appeared on 60 Minutes with Steve Kroft. The Clintons saved their campaign.

48. Batman: The Joker is Wild/Batman is Riled (1966): The Joker invents his own utility belt and drives Gotham City to the brink of anarchy. Batman and Robin eventually stop him.

49. The Andy Griffith Show: Lawman Barney (1962): A couple of peddlers treat Barney badly. Barney loses his confidence until Andy steps in behind the scenes. The peddlers realize Andy is full of it and confront Barney who develops a backbone and scares them off.

50. Seinfeld: The Opposite (1994): How do you get a job with the Yankees? Tell Steinbrenner off!

The Greatest TV Episodes #51-60

51. Magnum P.I.: Limbo (1987): This was originally supposed to be the series finale, but people wanted Magnum back. In the episode, he is shot and ends up in limbo. Magnum tries to communicate with his friends to stop his ex-wife’s murder.

52. The Dick Cavett Show: John and Yoko (1971& 1972): John talks candidly about a whole range of subjects in these classic interviews. He even calls people randomly to tell them he loves them. Footage later appears in Forest Gump.

http://www.openculture.com/2009/10/john_lennon_and_yoko_ono_on_the_dick_cavett_show.html

53. Star Trek Deep Space Nine: In the Pale Moonlight (1998): Sisko and Garak engineer the assassination of a Romulan senator to get the Romulans to enter into the war against the Dominion. Some point to this as the beginning of the end of Star Trek as producers move away from Roddenberry's utopian vision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTgGtJ-PisA


54. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001): Buffy arrives home to find her mom dead. The Scoobies have to deal with natural death as opposed to demons and vampires.

55. Friends: The One with the Prom Video (1996): The friends watch Rachel and Monica’s prom video. The gang look ridiculous in their 80s fashions. At the end, Rachel learns about Ross’ feelings ending almost two years of Ross-Rachel crap and launching another decade of it.

56. Rockford Files: So Help Me God (1974): Once again, Rockford has to dodge those that would do him ill. The episode is famous for its lesson in civil liberties as an innocent man is railroaded.

57. Star Trek: TNG: Tapestry (1993): Picard takes a knife through the heart and dies. In the afterlife, he meets Q. The two travel back to Picard’s graduation and events that led to his artificial heart which killed him. Picard changes the past and ends up a lowly junior officer. Q allows him to return to the past to put things right.

58. I Love Lucy: Lucy meets Harpo Marx (1955): This episodes includes the now famous mirror routine.

59. Twilight Zone: Back There (1961): Four braniacs are discussing time travel. Peter Corrigan, played by Russell Johnson (aka The Professor from Gilligan’s Island), leaves for the night. After leaving his snooty club and friends, he finds himself in April, 1865. Corrigan tries to warn the police about Lincoln's impending assassination, but no one will listen. John Wilkes Booth himself later drugs Corrigan who awakes in time to hear news of the assassination. He could not change history; or could he? When he returns to 1961, the club’s waiter was now a millionaire.

60. X-Files- Duane Berry/Ascension (1994): Scully is abducted in one of the iconic pop culture moments of the decade.