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About this site:
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The Elysian Visions Blog Spot
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LINKS:
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Ranting
and raving,
wisdom and whimsy,
from the mind of a Madman,
...with links.
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Poor grammar.
Adult themes.
Strange opinions.
Obscure references.
Foul language.
Utter madness.
Okay, that's it, you've been warned.
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May 24, 2005
Zvue, PSP, Revelations and predicting the future
i-Newswire
reports HandHeld Entertainment announced today that its personal media
player, the ZVUE, and the Sony PSP have been selected
as the devices of choice for playing Star Wars Revelations, the
Star Wars-themed 'fan film' that has been downloaded over a million
times.
How about that?
People continue to download, and watch Revelations and, by a vast
majority, to enjoy it. The positive feedback we keep getting is
very gratifying, as is the fan mail and media coverage. One of the things
that has happened, that I predicted, was that Revelations has
taken the art of the fan film from a little known fringe culture and
pushed into the mainstream. Never before has so much positive media
attention been garnished by any other fan film that wasn't a spoof.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking any credit for this personally. I
know all too well that the person most responsible for all of this is
Shane. The question is what next? Shane will no doubt gain the recognition
and acclaim he so richly deserves, but what then? What will his next
project be? Who will be involved? And what of the rest of us? Will we
simply return to our 9 to 5 jobs or will being involved in this vanguard
project lead to more work acting, writing, etc.? A few people I know,
and respect, have made it clear that they expect this to happen to me
in very short order. The question is are they just carried away by the
excitement of all of this or am I too close to see that they might be
right?
One person in particular, whom I respect deeply as someone far smarter
than I am, has made it clear that he believes that I will be offered
a principal role in some up coming professional production or other,
very soon.
He is so certain in fact, that the other day, when I went to log into
my work computers remotely and I couldn't, I called him and asked him
(jokingly) if I had been fired.
His response was; "What do you care? You'll be working in
TV or movies before the month is out and will have forgotten all about
us."
. . .
That will teach me to joke with those smarter than I.
(The problem that kept me from logging in turned out to be a reset UPS
under the desk in my office, for those who simply must know.)
. . .
The thing is though, that he wasn't really joking. He was serious, and
the thing that sticks in my mind now is that in the few years I've known
this person, I can't think of a single time when he made a prediction
of any sort that wasn't later proven spot on. Not once! I'm not talking
about some paranormal ability to read tea leaves here. What I mean is
that this guy's mental model of life, the universe and everything is
simply that good. So while I'm not certain if he is right this time
his predictions certainly have my attention.
Meanwhile I'm keeping my focus on the huge project here at work I have
undertaken.
As always things are going smoothly, if somewhat more slowly than I
expected.
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May 23, 2005
In the news
Okay the CBS thing wasn't great, but the CNN thing was and now there
is a link:
http://panicstruckpro.com/revelations/video/revelations_CNN_QT.mov
or (if that won't open)
You can try my local version here.
Also we are in Entertainment Weekly in this coming issue with
a picture of Gina and everything. Gina has been subscribed to EW for
years, so for her to find herself in it is very gratifying indeed. There
is a write up on both ROTS and Revelations and they gave both
a B-! So clearly they were taking the budget of Revelations into
account. Very generous of them that. Anyway I hear tell of great stirrings
in the force around Shane and Panic Struck - but so far it's all rumor
and talk. Gina continues to get Fan mail and WE STILL NEED AN AGENT
. . . or two. I'm just saying. It seems strange to us that with all
this attention and positive feedback we are still without representation.
Time will tell I suppose.
May 20, 2005
UPDATE
Shane was on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN tonight and it TOTALLY ROCKED!!!!
Whose house? SHANE'S
HOUSE!
Whose house? SHANE'S
HOUSE!
CBS Evening News, Weekend Edition
Gina and I met with the very nice Abbi Gleeson of CBS and did an interview
in NYC yesterday. Abbi was just great and the interview went really
well. The only problem was that we had to shoot it outside and I honestly
don't know how much of what they got, that they will be able to use
just because of background noise and distractions. We'll see I guess.
(Thanks also to Tom and Tim the sound and camera guys from CBS.) There
was also a crew sent down to Shane and Dawn's house. I believe the whole
thing is being cut together and is set to air on Saturday but I'm unclear
about the time. In any case Shane will be on Anderson Cooper 360 on
CNN tonight, (although it has been pushed back twice so far though,
so no promises.) and we just seem to be getting more and more press.
It's a bit of a surprise too because we thought for certain the when
"Revenge of the Sith" came out people would lose all interest
in us, but this seems not to be the case. Speaking of ROTS one of the
coolest things about it was that it was that, as near as we could tell,
nothing in it contradicted anything in "Revelations". Our
movie seems to fit into the overall scheme of things almost flawlessly.
May 17, 2005
Added New Header
Look I'm really busy these days. Okay?
A few additional notes here however. The end of Enterprise was great.
Also Shane was on MSNBC again with Tim Brazeal of http://www.saveenterprise.com/
and they totally kicked ass! The show tried to make them look like geeks
by having them fight about which is better Star Trek or Star Wars. Instead
they were both respectful and well spoken and made the host look petty
and childish by comparison. I for one was very proud. As a side note
if Shane and Tim do decide to produce a new, independent project I
want to play the Captain!
It's only like, the dream of my entire life, that's all.
May 12, 2005
Great article in USA
Today
Couple of notes here; First sorry to be so late getting this update
in. Worked most of the night and early this morning. Anyway the article
really is great, but if you actually buy the paper, the picture is just
huge! The picture and headline make up almost a quarter of the page!
USA Today is also hosting a version of the trailer. Also the article
quotes George Lucas right next to Shane. Mr. Lucas says he hasn't seen
it yet. (Probably true, I think I heard somewhere that he does have
a movie of his own coming out in like a week, or some such.) There
is also another picture in the paper of Gina and I in the Bar where
Gina looks like she's about to laugh.
So first thing this morning, I got a voice mail from the owner of the
company I work for. Who tells me that he's on a plane to Boston, and
a couple of rows up someone is reading the paper, . . . and there's
a huge picture of Gina and I. He was very impressed.
So go buy the paper if you can and check out page 3D in the Life Section.
May 11, 2005
Link to Shane's interview on MSNBC here.
(NOTE: Must be run from IE as near as I can tell.
Also runs a commercial.)
Gina looking at the marquee, from the red carpet, at the Premiere. |
May 11, 2005
The "Revelations" Premiere Special
on Inside Report
Check it out here:
http://www.inside-report.com/revelations.asp
This report is really very, very good. Lots of good interviews with
everyone, shots of us behind the scenes, on the red carpet at the premiere,
and meeting Sky herself was just great.
A must see!
Also keep a sharp eye out for an in depth CNN report being released
shortly, and you may want to pick up a USA Today Newspaper tomorrow
(Thursday the 12th).
So what does all of this attention mean to us?
So far, not too much really. We're still looking for agents, going to
work, paying the bills, etc.
It has been great fun so far though.
May 10, 2005
About Shane on MSNBC last night.
First of all, before I go off on my rant and you know I'm going
to, let me say that, all in all, it went pretty well. Shane gives a
good interview. What was most apparent to me however was that someone
at the MSNBC end was trying to make Shane (and the rest of us) look
like the Star Trek juror. It is obvious to me that when the really big
media looks at anything like this all they are really trying to do is
reinforce the stereo type of the Science Fiction geek. Much to his credit
Shane did not fall into that trap. Shane came off as articulate, professional
and well spoken. He spoke about the state of independent film making
and the rapid rise of highly effective, low cost software and its impact
on independent film making. From Shane's point of view he told me that
the entire interview seemed to rush past and he felt badly about not
speaking more about his cast, crew and the CG guys he worked with as
he did in the longer (and far less stressful) radio interviews. Overall
however, it came off very well. The comparison of our clips to the actual
clips from the upcoming RoTS was a very nice touch and I thought the
"Revelations" stuff stood up pretty well for itself. Too bad
they didn't do more of that.
Good job Shane.
May 9,2005
Revelations in the news
Interesting Review
on Blogcritics.org
and another interesting piece on fan films
in general titled Lights,
Sabers, Action!
in the SF Chronicle by Benny Evangelista.
In related news, I hear rumors of National News coverage starting, well,
today.
Can't say too much here, because Shane wants to keep things under wraps
but the word is out that a few of the larger news agencies (*Hrph!*
MSNBC *Cough* CNN *cough*
USA Today, *hrm*, excuse me) may all be
running articles and trying to scoop each other over this accelerating
story. For starters you might want to check out
MSNBC tonight at 5:00 PM EDT for a live interview on Connected Coast
to Coast with our director Shane Felux . . . but no promises, and you
didn't hear about it from me.
In other new Gina and I are picking up our convention schedule a bit
and planning to hit Balticon
and Dragon Con
in addition to the usual Shore Leave and Farpoint conventions. More
on this as time and tide permit.
 |
May 5, 2005
ON BASHING REVELATIONS
You know, if you watched Revelations, and you didn't like it for any
reason, I have no problem with that. We all know the film isn't perfect
and some people just may not like Science Fiction or Star Wars in the
first place, or may judge it against the professional productions, or
just consider it bad because it isn't produced by Lucas himself, or
whatever and that's okay. It's all okay with me. I for one don't pay
a lot of attention to the critics. I'm proud of the work we've done
and the entire project.
However let me tell you what does really get under my skin; one or
two folks from the same IP address, registering multiple times
(on several sites, for the first time in April), and then writing
really negative, mean spirited rants against us, logging off as one
user only to log in again as another just to agree with themselves.
I mean how pathetic and cowardly is that?
I am not usually the kind of person to suggest what I'm about to suggest,
but in light of this new development I'm going to make an appeal to
you my loyal readers. I want you to go to Ifilm.com
and IMDB.com
look up Star Wars: Revelations and rate it for us. Feel free to comment,
leave as little or as much information about yourself as you like, and
just give your honest opinion of the movie. Tell us and everyone else
what you think, where you thought the film was strong and where you
thought it was weak. Be honest, be fair, tell us what you think.
Thank you in advance.
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May 4, 2005
Happy Star Wars Day!
"May the 4th be with you."
. . .
Look this
wasn't my idea, okay.
May 3, 2005
Star
Wars Fanworks Interview with Shane
This one is pretty long, but very good and very positive.
To hear it directly click here. (MP3 format)
Corellian Dawn |
My only problem with it is that our esteemed director refers to Gina's
ship as the Corellian Dawn. That's my ship's name. Early
in the production the writers asked me for a suggestion for the name of
the Cougar class ship Declan flies. I took my inspiration from James Clavell's
book Tai Pan. In the Clavell novel Dirk Struan names all of his ships
something 'cloud' to honor his mother. Morning Cloud, Silver
Cloud, what-have-you. I wanted to use that same idea of naming the
ship like that and as the character was supposed to be a local to Corellia
I came up with Corellian Dawn. Of course, I got a hard time from
some because they thought I was kissing up to the producer whose name
also happens to be Dawn, but there was nothing to that.
During the long nights of the production I spent many hours building the
back story for Declan and I came up with this idea of a smuggler who is
very successful. This is the guy the Hutt's borrow money from! He keeps
a small cargo hold filled with fine black carbon powder that he jettisons
as soon as any imperial attempts to board or search his ship. This has
led to a wide spread belief, helped by Declan himself, that he has some
sort of instant disintegration device aboard his ship that he uses on
any contraband before anyone can catch him. This in turn has led to the
wide spread opinion, also fostered by Declan, that he has not only never
been caught, but is, in fact, impossible to catch.
The fact is however, that all of this, is just a dodge. Declan really
only trades in one thing and that's information. He has data storage systems
built right into the bulkheads of the ship itself and only Declan knows
how to access, retrieve and upload the data. Using his trusty wristcomm
unit Declan can upload fantastic volumes of data at incredible speeds
which he then makes available to the highest bidder. If the Imperial's
even get close to his ship he dumps his carbon powder hold and they never
find anything they can charge him with.
Once the Jedi are declared outlaws however, Declan turns his abilities
to smuggling them out of harms way, and giving them a lift wherever they
might need to go.
I also came up with an origin for Declan but that's a whole other story
and leads directly into my idea for the sequel to "Revelations",
which I call "I Declan: Hero of the Rebellion".
What are you looking at?
. . . it's just a working title.
May 2, 2005
NEW THEME
This month's theme will be Buckaroo Banzai!!!
Thanks to Pete for the suggestion. I love this movie.
Because "the future begins tomorrow!"
Now, about all those "Revelations" links most of you are still
looking for.
Where can you go to see Revelations?
Here is the main mirror site hosted by ZAP.
http://revelations.master-zap.com
IFILM host "Revelations." here: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2669337?htv=12
The Mirror
pool via theforce.net
Finding "Revelations" in the news?
May the
Force Be With You, and You, and You
By Clive Thompson on Slate
Star
Wars fan film generates close to a million downloads
By John Virata
'Star
Wars' on a shoestring By Peter Nowak
Online interview
with Shane by Comic
Geek Speak.
The Can Magazine canmag.com
has a very positive review here.
C-Net gives us an honorable mention of sorts here.
And C-Net has another here.
Kentucky.com has an article
about the film and local 328
Studios.
As well as reprint of the Tish Wells - Knight Ridder article here.
NFHQ has a short review here.
Baltimore
Sun Revelations Review by John Coffren
REVELATIONS REVIEW Knight Ridder by Tish Wells
here.
Other Related Links
Panic Struck
Productions
Revelations
Main Site (Flash Intro)
Revelations
Main site (Post Flash Intro)
Revalations
Fanzine Now Free!
Events
and Press Page
Frank
and Gina's: Revelations Page
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This Month's
Theme:
Buckaroo
Banzai
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Too much info
about me.
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An
independent, fan film; Starring Gina.
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Comments:
No comments! Get your own page.
Feedback:
For positive feedback:
Send an e-mail via the link below.
For negative feedback:
Just don't bother. I won't read it. I don't want to hear it.
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Started:
08/27/2003
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| Farpoint
Convention |
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February 11, 12 & 13, 2005 |
| Revelations
Premiere |
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April 16th, 2005 |
| Shore
Leave Convention |
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July 8, 9, & 10, 2005 |
| NY
Renaissance Festival |
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August 6 through September 25,
2005 |
| MD
Renaissance Festival |
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August through October, 2005 |
| Lakewood,
NJ Renaissance Fair |
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September 17 &18, 2005 |
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