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5 Classic Songs to Haunt Sci-Fi Lovers
Last week one of my Twitter followers (@Andreas_Sch) told me that he set Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien” as his alarm clock ringtone. I thought it was brilliant, and it really got me thinking about the relationship of classic music in sci-fi films (it also sent me on an iTunes shopping spree).
As a lover of tragedy, a lot of the songs I thought of were the kind of songs played to conjure up feelings of bittersweet nostalgia; recognizable songs that have a personal meaning to the protagonist or the story. Here is a list of songs I came up with (in no particular order):
- The Very Thought of You by Billie Holiday – This song stabs me in the heart every time I hear it, thanks to Forever Young.
- Non, je ne regrette rien by Édith Piaf – This song, made popular to English speakers by the film Inception, is the kind of song I want to sing at the top of my voice while the universe comes to a fiery end.
- We’ll Meet Again by (Dame) Vera Lynn – The “happy” ending to cult classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Makes me smile and get teary-eyed all at once.
- Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino – This song was featured in one of my favorite time-travel films of all time; Twelve Monkeys. Bruce Willis deserved a fucking Oscar for this scene alone.
- Singin’ in the Rain by Gene Kelly (*ahem* or Malcolm McDowell) – Beautiful brutality from Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece A Clockwork Orange. Truly haunting.
Honorable mentions: Ruby Tuesday in Children of Men (disqualified for being a new version, not Rolling Stones); and We Have All the Time in the World in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (disqualified because it’s not usually recognized as a sci-fi film).
Can you think of more? Looking forward to listening to your haunting suggestions.
Dial M for Mature
Last weekend Rockstar Games invited me to a private demo of L.A. Noire at the historic Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. As a girl who went 100% on Red Dead Redemption last year, I’ve been seriously looking forward to this game, so there was no way in hell I was going to pass up a private demo!
Since my mother was in town, and I never meet strangers without bringing someone along, I brought her to the demo. We were led to a swanky room with haunting jazz playing, and the words “L.A. Noire” lighting up a big screen TV. After a briefing on the technology and basic information on the game, Tim – the guy showing me the demo – clicked Start. A moment later he paused dramatically to warn us that the video game is rated M. I turned to my mom and whispered “M is for Mature” then sat back to watch the show thinking the worst I’d see is what I’d already seen in previous Rockstar Games titles Red Dead Redemption and the Grand Theft Auto series. Holy shit, was I wrong.
Tim loaded up “The Red Lipstick Murder” and it showed graphic violence of a mysterious man pulling a woman out of a car trunk by her hair, then beating her over the head with some kind of metal object as she screamed and blood spurted from offscreen. It was chilling, but that wasn’t all. After a homicide briefing the next day, Detective Cole Phelps went to investigate the scene of the crime… and lying on the grass was a full-frontal naked female corpse with a hairy private area and the chilling initials “B.D.” (see Black Dahlia) written in red lipstick on her torso.
At this point I felt extremely uncomfortable. I was in a dark room, sitting next to my mother, watching a detailed naked, mutilated female corpse being thoroughly examined on the TV. This certainly wasn’t Pac-Man.
The rest of the demo was great. I got to see how realistic the technology used to capture the actors’ faces really was, and also heard how guns in this game, as they are in the real lives of police officers, are a last resort. It was refreshing, and made the game feel truly mature.
That said, this is a game made for adults. Though Red Dead Redemption was also rated M for Mature, I was consistently running into bratty kids playing it in multiplayer on XBox Live. Red Dead Redemption and the GTA series appeal to adolescent boys because it satisfies their aggressive teen fantasies with murder and crime, but L.A. Noire is a gentleman’s game of intelligence, skill, and patience. While I’m still uncomfortable with the extreme nudity and the idea that someone may eventually hack the game to make a rather disgusting necrophilia scene (see Hot Coffee mod), I’m happy to see how Rockstar Games is growing up with its’ players.
L.A. Noire hits stores on Tuesday, May 17th, and is available online for pre-order. Thanks to Mike and Tim from Rockstar Games for the awesome demo and the fancy water! ;)
Buy a piece of Galacticast!
Rudy and I just moved to a new apartment (W00T!) and are selling some of our stuff… ALL of which have been in Galacticast!
If you live in or around Los Angeles and need stuff for your place, or just want a piece of web series history, check out the following items on Craig’s List:
- Used Countertop Microwave with Sensor Cooking- Panasonic NNS560BF – $20
The microwave that made me into CASEY HULK in Project Gamma!!! Works perfectly, but our new place has a built-in microwave so we don’t need it anymore. - Used 27in Flat CRT Television – Sanyo – $20
The TV Rudy was watching awesome gay-targetted programming on in Sci-Pride! Works perfectly. - Used Leather Sofa – IKEA Kramfors 3-Seat – $200
Used in SO MANY episodes of Galacticast, like Stargating, Amok Time, GalactiCut, and much much more. The leather is in great condition, but the stitching on the seams need to be re-stitched (that should cost about $70 at an upholsterer). - Used Leather Footstool – IKEA Kramfors – $100
In most episodes the accompanying couch are in. In PERFECT condition… so nice. - Used Office Desk w/ 2 chairs – IKEA GALANT – $50
From the episode Sci-Fi Challenged, The Ducky Horror Picture Show, and Feedback. The table is in AWESOME condition, the chairs are chairs :P
Go shopping!!!
Damn it, Jim! I’m an actor, not a social media guru!
This past week my Twitter follower count crossed the 8000 mark (W00T!). It’s truly amazing to have such a big nerdy audience to share my geek references and get entertaining replies in return. I’m proud that my hobbies and my work has garnered such an awesome audience… and although I understand social media more than a lot of people in the entertainment industry, I am not a social media guru.
Every week I get emails and tweets asking me to link to someone’s online project, usually a web series or web comic. I don’t mind getting emails asking me to check something out, but asking me to link to it puts pressure on me to take action, even if I hardly know the people asking. After getting way too many of these requests, the straw has finally broken the camel’s back… and I feel it’s important for me to outline that there are really only three instances when I would consider linking to someone’s work:
- I have a prominent role in the work as an actor.
- A good friend has sent me a personal request, and I know that they would do the same for me.
- I happened upon something on my own and truly believe in it.
The best way to get me to link to your project is to involve me in it. I have built my audience with my passion, intelligence and hard work, and that audience, whether it be the 3000+ subscribers that read this blog, the 1100+ “Like”rs on Facebook, or the 8000+ followers on Twitter, is something valuable to me that I would never take for granted. So, if you really want to tap into that audience, hire me as an actor… the marketing will follow.
2010 From the Eyes of my Laptop
Happy New Year, kiddies! While I didn’t take a self-portrait every day last year, I did take many random self-portraits. Above is a compilation of nearly all the photos I took in Photo Booth on my MacBook Pro in 2010 (some photos cut for time), quite literally the world view of my laptop in 2010 ;)
Some people have asked me if I would continue my daily self-portrait series in 2011. My answer? I will try… the only issue being that I don’t feel very inspired by taking photos on my laptop anymore and would like to get a real camera… perhaps a 7D? I’ve been considering starting a fan fundraiser to raise money to buy a camera, with the promise that I will take daily self portraits for a year and continue to assemble monthly outtake videos. Let me know what you think of the idea! Just an idea at this point…
Musical Chairs: Running For a Seat on the IAWTV Board of Directors
The IAWTV is holding an election for six seats on the board of directors. I am pleased to announce that someone threw my name in the hat, and I’ve accepted the nomination with the following statement:
Thank you for considering me for a seat on the board of directors. As many of you know, I’m an international member (from Canada) whose been working in the web series field for over five years. I’m passionate about the issues we face and like to share my experience to help the community. Aside from my web productions, I have also written about my experience in the web TV industry for The Guardian, spoken on numerous panels in Canada and the US, judged the Canadian New Media Awards, and helped new community members with questions coming into our industry.
As a member of the IAWTV I have been helping the Awards Committee to come up with smart new ideas on how to further the “international” component of our organization; making sure whatever event we throw, we make it as inclusive and global as possible. I’d like these international ideals to apply to everything the IAWTV does, so people outside of Los Angeles and New York can reap the benefits of the organization. We can use technology and the web, two things we already know a lot about, as a tool to bring us closer together and further our collective goals.
Feel free to contact me with any questions, or see my biography or resume for details on my background and vision.
Thanks to whoever nominated me, I appreciate the vote of confidence! Now… may the best candidates win! ;)
From Rainbows to Grayscale: My Web Site Redesign
First came caseymcKinnon.com 1.0, a 70s-girly-exploitation site built in January 2007:
Then came caseymckinnon.com 2.0, a more spacey-but-girly site built in February 2008:
Then came this uncompleted happy “As seen on (web) TV” redesign in late 2009:
Then came this even happier uncompleted rainbow/”woodland creature” redesign in early 2010:
And finally came this Brian Wood-inspired black-&-white-urban redesign about two weeks ago:
I’m so happy. I still have a few things to add and tweak, but it looks awesome (to me, at least). Thanks to Rudy Jahchan for spending so many late nights bringing my vision to life. And thanks to the following people/web sites for providing creative inspiration and ideas on social media integration: Nerdist, Felicia Day, Olivia Munn, Complex, and Geek Sugar.
The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade raised over $1,000 for Movember!
Holy crap! We did it!!! My Movember team raised $1055.00 for men’s cancers by growing kick ass mustaches! Thanks to the fifteen awesome people who joined my team, and to the over two dozen people that donated money to our cause! Together we truly will change the face of men’s health.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for over six months now. I remember hearing about Movember last year, thanks to my childhood friend Erica Kwizak who had a team of her own, but it seemed too late for me to join in the fun. A few months later, however, a thought occurred to me… After giving myself a very uncomfortable breast exam, I tweeted the following:
I got so many @replies that night and a bunch of guys asking me if they really should check their balls! It seems many of my followers didn’t realize they were in the perfect at risk age group for Testicular Cancer and didn’t know they should check themselves. This troubled me… and I felt I needed to raise awareness.
So here we are almost seven months later! Lots of money raised… and hopefully my followers are a little more informed. If not, here are a few links: Testicular Cancer and how to perform a self-examination (for ages 15-40); Prostate Cancer guide (for age 40+); some general cancer facts for men. But seriously, I care about your health… so please see a doctor regularly. I know it’s tough when you don’t have health insurance or you get busy with work, but nothing should be more important to you than staying alive! I mean, seriously… if you’re not around, who would I tweet to? ;)
But don’t let me get you too down… if you catch it early enough, you can have a pretty happy ending like this guy: Cancer survivor to become a father… with sperm he had frozen 16 YEARS ago. [Single tear]
And now… my awesome boys and their epic ‘staches that helped raise the big bucks!!! <3
Bottom row: Kyle Freeman (@kyletwit), Quito Olegario (@quito), John Fillers (@fee501st)
Other team members not pictured here: Jose Cartin, Brendan Darling, Jeff Elwell, Jonathon Himann,
Derek Housman, Steven Keen, Elvis Morrow Sitkovski, Leon Yoshioka
And, lastly, thanks to my friends and fans who donated to the cause. I don’t know everyone who donated, but here are a few of you: Kevin Wong; Sean Percival (@percival); Tony & Kara Moore (@tonymoore & @artsaleskara); Lorelei Bunjes (@curiopraxis); Pelle Eklund (@eklund); John Fillers (@fee501st); Scott Sigler (@scottsigler); Boris Kievsky (@boriser); John “Halcyon” Styn (@halcyon); Liz Miller (@lizlet); Tara Platt (@taraplatt); Tara “Tiger” Brown (@tara); Erik Smith (@ebrown2112); Steven Craft; Lucas Rupnik (@lucasrupnik); Jose Cartin; and Jeff Elwell (@dangershoes). [If I missed anyone, let me know.]
And, of course, it’s not too late to donate! Go here, or donate directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.
Because I care about your man parts…
As announced yesterday, I’ve started a Movember team and I’m recruiting awesome people to grow mustaches and raise awareness (and moolah) for men’s cancers. I’d be happy to have you onboard… you’ll look adorable in a mustache, I’m sure. Girls are also encouraged to join, they call them “mo sistas.”
So come join my team; The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade!!!
Join the Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade!
Fine gentlemen of the internet,
I have created Movember team The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade and challenge you to join my team and grow a dashing mustache during the month of November. We do this to raise money for mens cancers, but mainly because mustaches are made of awesomesauce. Join me because I care about your man parts.
Respectfully yours,
Casey McKinnon
Captain, The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade
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