Sci-Friday: May 4 2018

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Sci-Friday.

Yep, I picked a cartoon to kick things off. Way, way back in the day, movies at the theater were preceded by a cartoon (Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, etc.) or other short (The 3 Stooges, Little Rascals, etc.) to kick things off. It seems like a good idea to go back to this tradition.

WIth this in mind, here is tonight’s line up:

• Duck Dodgers in the 24th and 1/2 Century
• Buck Rogers- season 1 episodes 1 and 2
• Ray Harryhausen-  Special Effects Titan
• Mighty Joe Young (1949)

Yep, what better way is there to lead into Buck Rogers? Daffy Duck fits the bill to a tee. A “looney” spoof of Buck Rogers.

Insights and interesting facts about these features will be added before the next week’s (5/11/2018) edition.

Have fun and stay safe.

The Sci-Friday Line-up for May and June 2018

I’ve many ideas for the television series to start on. Some are still getting broadcast thanks to MeTV and other, similar stations. When everything was said and done, it seemed fitting to stick with the theme of coming out of hibernation/ hiatus. I submit for your viewing pleasure the tales of a man rescued from cryogenic hibernation…

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

 

 

The movie lineup was harder to come up with. Do I go with a theme? A genre? Or maybe a person. It was decided to go with a tribute lineup for a person… Mr. Ray Harryhausen.

 

 

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Mr. Harryhausen is an icon in movie special effects. May 7th will be the 15 year anniversary of his passing. To honor him, I decided to do a series on his films. The release dates and titles of the films are:

Year Released	Title
2011	Ray Harryhausen – Special Effects Titan
1949	Mighty Joe Young
1953	The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
1955	It Came from Beneath the Sea
1956	Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
1957	20 Million Miles to Earth
1958	The Strange World of Planet X
1958	The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
1960	The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
1961	Mysterious Island
1963	Jason and the Argonauts
1964	First Men in the Moon
1966	One Million Years B.C.
1969	The Valley of Gwangi
1973	The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
1977	Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
1981	Clash of the Titans

Join me on this endeavor on Friday evenings. See ya at the show…

Out of Hiatus

Wow. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over two years since I’ve done anything with this blog.

Originally, it was created as part of a class project while attending Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) online in the fall of 2014. After completing that course, I left the site and the videos up… not sure why though.

In the Spring of 2016, while working 2nd shift at ADT, I started series of posts on Facebook entitled: The Late Night/Early Morning Movie Presentation. I would pick a movie to watch (normally an older film) and post the title and a movie poster.

Here we are in May 2018. I finally get to watch the great Svengoolie on MeTV Saturday nights — I love the entire concept of horror hosts. Additionally, I am totally into MeTV’s Saturday Sci-Fi lineup.

So here we are. I’m inspired once more to do something similar to the Late Night/Early Morning Feature film. First though, this blog needed a facelift. The WordPress theme I used here was discontinued. After looking over my options, I chose this Circa theme. Next, the header image needed redone to reflect the new color scheme and size requirements. Here is a look at the old header:

I decided to do the “program” on Friday nights. The tentative title for this block is Frank’s Sci-Friday Program. I have some ideas to perk up both the title and presentation in the weeks ahead.

Later today (5/3/2018) I will post the lineup of films and the television show which will launch this new endeavor.

So, drop a comment or two. Let me know how this new theme works and thoughts about the header image.

Stay Tuned

Profitable Paranormal Investigations

Movie Poster | Ghostbusters (1995) | Columbia Pictures

Americans have long been fascinated by the idea of ghosts and paranormal activity. In the 1920’s, the great escape artist Harry Houdini began a quest with the paranormal. Eventually, Houdini’s search changed from trying to contact his mother to exposing self-proclaimed psychics and mediums as frauds. These frauds preyed upon the recently bereaved, taking the money in return for fabricated contact from the Great Beyond.

Johnny Mnemonic and Pharmaceutical Profit

The power that corporations hold in the world has been a topic of debate for years. With their vast resources, the large multinational conglomerates hold sway over the important facets of government. Among the largest corporate players in the world are the pharmaceutical companies.  These companies are entrusted to provide treatments for the various medical problems around the globe. Do the pharmaceutical companies work to build a healthier world? Or, do they work to build a healthier profit margin?

Movie Poster | Johnny Mnemonic (1995) | Tristar

Set in the cyberpunk sub-genre, the movie Johnny Mnemonic takes this corporate control to the next level. In the movie, the corporations are the government and organized crime functions as law enforcement. The concept of corporate rule is one of the primary tropes of cyberpunk.

Media for the people

Since humans began communicating with each other, there have been storytellers. These people created marvelous tales that enthralled audiences and captured imaginations. The stories were created by the people… for the people.

People crave stories, whether they come verbally, written, or performed in some manner. What type of stories do people want? The following scene from Babylon 5: In the Beginning sums up what people want in a good tale:

This is a Test Run

This is a test of Frank’s Blog publishing system.

If this had been an actual post, there would have been an actual article, image(s), video, or other form of communication here. Additionally, I would encourage all visitors to use the links to various forms of social media to spread the word.

This ends the test of Frank’s Blog publishing system. Have a nice day…