Happy New Year
So I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve. I did, and am anticipating a great 2011. I am by nature an optimist, but my experience has trained me to be more of a pessimist. I am trying to get past that. I like to tell everyone my attitude is like my blood type: B+ (it really is).
Anyway, I am going to celebrate New Years Day as only a nerd should; I am going to spend the day painting miniatures for my new Warhammer army and playing video games. Later on I am going to an unwind party at a friends house in San Francisco. Should be fun.
Sorry for the short, subjectless post, but if I did any more it would smack of work and I am trying to avoid that. I hope you all have a great holiday, and that 2011 is a vast improvement over the dregs that was 2010.
I will answer the who-would-win question, as those are more fun than work. In the fight between Mad Max and Alice from RE, I think it’s pretty circumstantial. If Max met Alice on the road in cars, Max would kick her ass. If they met on foot, Alice would probably win, especially with Max’s gimp leg. She has better combat and acrobatic skills. Notice Max did not even try to go toe to toe with the acrobatic Wes in the movie on foot, but had no problem beating him while driving a vehicle. It’s all about fighting in your best element. (Umbrella Corporation image courtesy of the Resident Evil t shirt category)
For today, I will ask one that I really thing could be hard to figure out. Who would win in a fight between Deadpool and Solomon Grundy? By the way, I am going to let this one go for a while and make a contest of it. Send me your answer on this one and why and the person who comes up with the best response will get two free buttons of your choice, including the very cool Marvel or Star Wars buttons. Email your responses to [email protected].
Jonathon Coulton: talented nerd folk singer or evil super genius bent on world domination?
So for Xmas a friend gave me a mix CD of Jonathon Coulton (JoCo) songs, which has been burning a hole in my car CD player ever since. I had of course heard the Re: Your Brains song and love it, but I was really impressed by all the songs and feel the need to review his music here.
If you have not listened to JoCo before, shame on you. Turn in your nerd card at the door and don’t let it hit you on the ass. Basically he is a uber nerd folk singer. He has a great voice and is a good song writer, but what sells him to me is when you listen to his lyrics you realize he has the same nerd dream of the future I and every other good nerd has. Evil super villain scientists, zombie apocalypses, robot super warriors, and alien invasion to name a few. His best song is probably Re: Your Brains, the story of a corporate zombie who turns into a real zombie and tries to convince a survivor to give him his brains, but I love the Skullcrusher Mountain song and the Future song. All great and really funny. (Forbidden Planet image courtesy of the science fiction t shirts)
The greatest thing about him, however, is not his lyrics or his nerd attitude but rather the fact that he actually sounds like a mainstream folk singer while performing. In other words you can play his music when with a girl who may not be into anything cool. Heck, even my mom can listen to it and as long as she doesn’t listen too carefully to the lyrics will actually like it. Finally a chance to geek out while hanging out with “normals”. Try it. It really works.
My only concern is this: is JoCo a nerdish folk singer or actually serious competition for my ultimate plan for world domination? If the former I will continue to support and enjoy his music. If the latter I will continue to enjoy his music while I destroy him. There can be only one. For that matter the rest of you had better get on board with the winning team now by subscribing to my RSS feed and Twitter. Don’t delay on this. When I complete my unstoppable plan for conquest there will be those who are members of my new ruling class and live like kings and those who will be slave labor in my underground sewage powered muck farms (by the way, if you happen to be one of the several hundred women who have rejected me over the years don’t bother with signing up for anything. Best you should go shopping now for the muck bucket of your choice. Brenda from high school, I am talking to you).
However, I like to believe JoCo will fit in to the Dave new world order and will live a long and prosperous life as my court minstrel and Minister of the Arts. As long as he enforces my edict regarding street mimes (death to the creepy, pale, silent bastards) then we will get along just fine.
Anyway, check him out. He is phenomenally good. I am not going to bother with the whole stars/black holes thing, as I can’t think of a single black hole and doing all stars will make me look like a mark for him. I’d estimate about 10 stars. Very good.
In answer to yesterday’s who-would-win question, I think it all boils down to will. If Zan and Jayna have the fortitude and will to turn into a Kodiak bear and an ice M1 Abrams main battle tank, Witchiepoo would be done in pretty short order. If, on the other hand, they opt to go with a California condor and an ice pogo stick for Gleep while they try to capture her, Wichiepoo will have them in the cooking pot pretty quick. Personally I would have to bet on the witch of the Living Island.
Today is an interesting question too. Who would win; Alice from Resident Evil or Mad Max from the Road Warrior?
Movie review: Tron Legacy
So I have discovered I like doing these movie reviews, and this time instead of doing something that has been out for weeks I would do something that just opened up (I also figured out that if I review these movies on my blog I can call the movie ticket a business expense. Life is good).
I just saw Tron Legacy in 3d. Normally I avoid 3D as it gives me a headache and I don’t think adds a lot to the movie experience, but I felt that if there were one movie I need to see on as an elaborate screen as possible, it’s this one. Overall, not a bad movie going experience, but not the earth shattering tribute to the first amazing Tron was. I’ll total it up after going through the points, but let’s see. (Flynn’s Arcade image courtesy of the science fiction t shirts).
Incidentally, if you have not seen or are not a fan of the first Tron, I would say this movie will be entirely wasted on you. A lot of the issues I was able to forgive due to being a massive fan of the whole Tron thing. If you are not than you will spend a lot of time wondering what just happened and why.
I approach most Disney movies with the same caution and reservation I would use in approaching a plague-ridden bunny rabbit. It’s still pretty cute and can be fun to watch, but is also terribly sick and likely running with all kinds of vile pus, bile, and humours. Disney has a way to taking a great movie concept and forcing it into it’s cookie-cutter, kid friendly PG model (by they way, Disney, kid friendly translates into suck for most adults with a 12 year old or older mentality). However, since this movie was an original Disney movie I can’t hate on them too much, and while the violence was definitely sanitized for kids they didn’t abuse it too much.
I’ll recap the story briefly, without spoiling anything. Kevin Flynn has been missing for 21 years. His dropout, slacker (sort of) son is now the owner of Encom, a massive computer company based on a real life computer company that shall go nameless but rhymes remarkably with LicroToft. However, he doesn’t run the thing and the company is headed by an evil looking CEO and cocky software developer who show up as the early heavies and the proceed to disappear entirely for the rest of the movie (something tells me some kind of corporate power struggle ended up on the cutting room floor. These characters serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever). Sam Flynn, the son, is sucked into the Grid and has to run around, finding his father and saving the world from some ill defined nemesis.
Honestly, the story felt like it had been Skyped in over a dial up connection. It seems pretty apparent Disney was counting on amazing CGI and special effects to carry the movie which, for the most part, it does. However, given the fact that guys producing films in their garages have access to the same technology (for proof, check out Iron Sky, a movie I would like to see get finished) building a movie around special effects is not a way to create a movie legacy (haw! Me so clever).
First the stars. Jeff Bridges is in the movie. Two stars. The special effects are freaking amazing. Three stars. The two female characters are super hot and wear skin tight outfits. One star. Disney managed to avoid the trap Lucas fell into and not have EVERY REFERENCE FROM THE FIRST MOVIE SHOW UP IN THIS ONE. One star. There was an amazing light cycle battle that later showed up again with a really cool twist. Two stars. The costumes were super cool and perfectly in theme. One star. There were Recognizers. One star. The fight sequences were well choreographed and very cool. One star. None of the characters annoyed me. One star. Total: 13 stars.
Now the black holes. There were any number “What the hell just happened?” and “Why the hell did he do that?” moments. There was no apparent motivation for anyone to do anything. Two black holes. The story overall kind of blew. Two BHs. In spite of being called Tron, Tron himself has a bit role wherein you never see his face and says less than 10 words. Also, they were gearing up for a huge Tron related surprise that would have been really cool except they decided the audience was brain damaged and just gave it away for no reason. One BH. The pacing kind of sucked. There were more than a few scenes wherein I was seriously in danger of dozing off because absolutely nothing was happening. Two BHs. The whole movie seemed to be gearing up towards a huge, epic final battle that never surfaced. One BH. In spite of breaking several of the basic laws of thermodynamics there was no attempt to explain where the technology to enter the grid came from like in the first movie. In fact, they don’t even talk about how they did it or show the transformation process. I think they just assumed we would all remember it from the first movie. One BH. There was no Sark. One BH. Total: 10 black holes.
So that gives us a net result of three stars. Overall, not bad, but not amazing. However, if I weren’t a fan of Tron I might have been a little harsher and scored it lower. The fact that I saw the 7pm showing in the only 3D theater for about 15 miles and the place was maybe 20% full might give you an idea of how well it’s going to do at the theater. Once all the fan boys (like me) see it I don’t know if it really has the legs to pull in the big numbers. I would say your best bet is see it once, but don’t drag your girlfriend or non-Tron fan friends to see it or you will owe her a serious chick flick for this one.
As for yesterday’s question, it is my unfortunate opinion that Airwolf would beat Blue Thunder, in spite of the fact that Blue Thunder looked 100 times cooler. Airwolf had more in the way of missiles while Blue Thunder only had the minigun. Too bad.
Today’s question is might over brain: who would win, Superman verses Professor Charles Xavier?
Nerd Dating: Making “the Move” part 3: Kissing basics
I’m not going to dig in too deep on this. There are any number of sites with advice on how to kiss. Instead, I will highlight things to look for that can make the kiss work well or fail miserably (trust me, when it comes to mistakes you can make to crash and burn, I am an expert).
1. Clean breath. I have stated this before many times, but it is important enough to restate again. If you think you might make out, don’t order the onion-garlic special for dinner. In fact, operate under the assumption that you might be kissing on any given night and order accordingly. Get your stank breath dinner plate on the way home after she rejects you for other reasons. Also, brush, floss, and toss in a breath mint at some point.
2. Match her tongue technique. Kissing a girl can be like trying to pet a strange cat. The slightest bad move and she will skitter under the bed, never to be seen again. Some women like a lot of tongue. Some women think it’s gross as hell. She will show you what she likes with her tongue. Go as deep as she does and not one micro-millimeter further. The difference between her thinking you a nice guy or a sex driven pervert is literally one lick too many.
3. Hold her face. Most (not all) women kind of like it if you put one hand on the side of her face while kissing. DO NOT use both hands. Try it and see if she seems to respond positively. Also, if you have hands big enough to encompass her entire head (I generally do) just use the the finger tips.
4. Go gentle. Slow and easy. Remember that strange cat. (Actually, this advice can be applied to all your interactions).
5. Close your eyes, and keep them closed. Some women will, at some point during the long kiss, open her eyes to make sure you don’t have your eyes open. Somehow the romance is robbed if you open your eyes, but not if she does. It’s called a double standard because it is twice as true.
6. Do your best to control your autonomic responses. Nothing will kill the mood like you having to belch (or something even less savory) during the kiss, but that should be obvious. However, given the audience I am talking to I can’t assume anything, so don’t belch during the kiss. The important one to avoid, however, is showing your excitement in a physical sense if you know what I mean. For some girls this would not be a real problem, but like I have said most women are constantly looking for an excuse to dump you and pitching a tent 30 seconds into your first kiss can give her the rip cord she is looking to pull. Think about baseball or something.
That’s it for today. Next post I will start talking about when and how to initiate the kiss.
Last posts’ “who would win” question actually seems pretty obvious in retrospect. I think Gandalf would kick seven kinds of crap out of Harry Potter in about 30 seconds. Sorry to all the Harry Potter fans out there, but any man who can beat a Balrog one on one will not have a lot of trouble with a pimple faced teenager on a broom.
Today’s question is kind of a “stoppable force meets movable object” one. Who would win; a squad of Stormtroopers verses a squad of Red Shirts? (Stormtrooper image courtesy of the Star Wars t-shirt category).
Goodbye, Leslie Nielson and John Steakley
I need to break away from the dating stuff for today as two of my favorite guys in the world both died yesterday and I feel the need to comment on them.
The first is the great Leslie Nielson, who passed away yesterday from pneumonia (Naked Gun image courtesy of the movie t shirt category). I’m sure this isn’t news for any of you, but I want to mention how much he meant to me personally. The Naked Gun was so much fun. It came out in 1988. At the time I was probably at my lowest point in my life, having dropped out of college and gotten a horrible, horrible job working graveyard shift at a medical lab, doing dangerous, mind killing work for a company that did not give a damn about me. Ever wonder how long it takes a gallon bottle of frozen urine to thaw out? I can answer that for you.
I used to go to work at 10:30pm and do overtime until about 11am. I would stumble home and was supposed to sleep until 6 or 7. However, my best friend at the time, Eric, would come over usually about 2 or 3pm. My mom would never let him wake me up so he learned to sneak around the house and tap on my bedroom window to wake me up. He was a manager at a local Edwards movie theater and we would inevitably go see a movie for free before I went to work. We saw pretty much every movie out, and let’s just say with a few exceptions it was not a great period in cinema. We saw a lot of crap.
One day we went the theater and the only thing playing that we hadn’t seen was something called the Naked Gun. I had never seen Police Squad and had no idea what it was about. I watched the movie and laughed so hard my stomach hurt. I was totally jazzed that night at hell job, and I think I watched it three more times over the next few weeks. To this day, the scene with Leslie and Richardo Montalban in the office with the pen and the exotic fish makes me laugh my ass off.
Leslie Nielson had this amazing combination of looking serious while delivering the most off the wall, insanely funny comments. He didn’t need to make weird faces or even be in particularly weird situations to make the scene funny as hell. I have been an avid fan ever since the Naked Gun and seen all his films before and since. I will miss him a lot.
The other passing was less well known. John Steakley was an author who wrote all of two novels, Armor and Vampire$. Vampire$ was about a team of mercenaries who would go around being paid to kill vampires. Good book, and was made into a mediocre movie starring James Woods. When you consider the fact that it was made by John Carpenter it actually really sucks. It was number 55 on a list of the top 70 vampire movies. Personally I think they took too much license with the script rewrite and should have stuck closer to the story, but that’s what I say about almost all movies that are derived from literature.
The other book, Armor, is considered a classic of military science fiction and that is for good reason. I don’t remember when I first read it, but when my literature well runs low I just pull it out and reread it again. It details the life of a truly messed up guy in a truly messed up war against giant ants. He runs around in a suit of power armor that is extremely cool. The story is amazing, the writing clean and very cool, and the characters engaging and interesting.
I have probably read that book twenty times, and to say it had an influence on my life is like saying the sun has an influence on the ecology of our planet. If you have never read it I highly recommend it. My love of science fiction started with Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (another book ruined by a bad movie) and was firmly cemented into place with this book.
Also, it seems I have a thing for powered suits of armor. It bugs me that we have advanced so much in asinine stuff like better ways of delivering porn but don’t have a powered suit of armor that I can use with jump boots to leap over a building.
Anyway, two guys who I like to consider a part of my life are gone, and the world is a sadder place for it. I will miss them both.
Nerd Dating: Spotting crazy girls early pt 3
Ok, back on the dating advice. I am sure this will make Gina happy. More tips that you may be dating a psychopath.
9. She is now, or has been, a member of some kind of cult, new age therapy group, or other kind of weird spiritual experience. Does she talk about channeling her chakras? Has she ever lived on some kind of commune? Does she seem to have an inordinate abundance of crystals around her place? Does she have a moon tattoo prominently displayed somewhere? Do discussions of animal and human sacrifices not repulse her? Then she is very likely to be a bizarre cult girl, and unfortunately this is a subject matter I am far too intimately familiar with. Basically, you will never not disappoint this girl, and she will be forever wishing you could better improve your spiritual self. Even if she is no longer in whatever she has been doing, odds are her personality will compel her to get into something else. Also, there is a good chance you will get sucked into it and end up dancing naked under a full moon and bathing in chicken blood.
10. Is she a strong advocate of one of the third parties? I don’t have a real issue with people who want to vote third party, but if she is gung ho for the Tea Party, Green Party, or Libertarian Party that believe me when I say dating her will be anything but a party. These people tend to really believe in what they say and if you don’t agree with them then that must mean you don’t understand and the only cure is to be lectured at continuously. If you make the mistake of agreeing with her (most likely in the vain hope that she will shut up about it) than you can look forward to being dragged to political rallies surrounded by other members of her party of choice who also want to lecture you continuously on the fine points of their party manifesto.
11. Is she a hard core born again Christian? This one depends on your perspective. If you are also a born again Christian than you can disregard this paragraph. If you are not but think you can get past it, prepare for disappointment. Christians are not a problem, but the really hard core true believers are nothing but headache. I don’t think I should get too into this, except to say I recently had an experience in this area that has reaffirmed my belief in this point.
12. Does she constantly ask you “What are you thinking?” Women naturally set traps, and this one is the tiger trap filled with punji sticks, scorpions, snakes, tigers, alligators, and burning napalm. Every woman will ask this question once in a while, but if she regurgitates this gem every time you look out into space like a dog returning to it’s own vomit it is a problem. There is never a good answer to this one. If you think fast and say something like “How great your smile is” than that will only encourage more 
of the same. If you tell the truth (Battlestar Galactica, if you locked your car, her breasts, the waitress’s breasts, who would win in a fight Deadpool or Punisher, or how best to get her alone at your place) than she will have the excuse she is looking for to be hurt. (BSG image courtesy of the television show t shirts)
By the way, if you are a girl reading this, if a guy really wanted to tell you what he was thinking, his lips would be moving. The answer to your question will either reek of insincerity or just really annoy you. Don’t flip over any rocks if you aren’t ready to deal with what you will find underneath.
More tomorrow.
Interview with Firefly veteran Danny Nero part 5
This is the last part of the interview with Danny Nero. Danny has been a great sport and a super guy. Here he tells one of the best stories about a certain actor who played a certain captain in a show we all love (no, it’s not Shatner).
D: Any last funny or insightful stories from your career you would like to share?
Danny: It was just about a year ago I was working on a “cross-over” episode of Gray’s Anatomy & Private Practice at a different studio in Hollywood. It just so happened “Castle” is shot there and I wondered if I might bump into Nathan Fillion. I got wrapped early and decided I would find Nathan if they weren’t on location. When I caught sight of Nathan’s stand-in, a great guy by the name of Carey Johnson, I knew I was in luck.
I watched Nathan shoot a scene on a rooftop set with a green screen. I felt a little guilty that I’d never watched the show before but I don’t see most of what’s on TV these days. When he was finished with that shot, he came down and I surprised him. Big hug and he insisted on introducing me to the crew and cast which I didn’t know including the lovely Alyssa Milano. (Melrose Place image, which Alyssa stared in, courtesy of the television t shirt category)
He took me on a tour of his NYC apartment set and took great joy in showing me the infamous “catalyzer” from the “Out of Gas” episode of Firefly. It sits inside a bookcase. I pulled out my iPhone and reminded him that the last time we worked together on “Drive”, we both were intrigued by the news that Apple was going to have another hit on its hands. He saw that I didn’t have a case for mine so he had me follow him into his trailer and had me pick a new case from a selection on his desk. What a guy right?
D: That is so awesome. It makes me happy to know that the actor behind the character I love is such a great guy. Danny, thank you very, very much. I am sure our readers have really loved your stories and insights. I look forward to seeing you in future projects.
Interview with Firefly veteran Danny Nero part 5
More with the incomparable Danny Nero. Here, in addition to everything else, he talks about working on a horror movie great.
D: What other shows have you worked on?
Danny: What other shows have I worked on? Did I mention I started back in 1981?
Actually my first time in front of the cameras would be back in 1958 when I was one of several children working on the Christmas episode of “The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show”. It was a popular variety show that aired weekly on NBC and my mom was part of his backup singer/dancer group called “The Top 20”. I have a shot from that if you want it but I’ll have to dig for it.
D: Please. That would be great.
Danny: Anyway I am on the floor of a living room set as mom and the other 19 adults sing some Xmas songs with good old Ernie Ford and the special guests Jon Provost and Lassie. I was 6 and don’t really remember much about that performance but watching the DVD made from a kinescope, you’d swear we kids were there at gun point! That was back in the days of live TV so we did a show for the East Coast and then another for the West. Mom had a nice 5 year run on that show.
Years later she joined the Screen Extras Guild and did very well as a “Dress Extra” for over 30 years. She’s probably best known for her small part in the original “Poseidon Adventure”.
So back in early ’73 she gets a 3 day call on a film at MGM that would also need dozens of non-union extras so she suggested me. It was “Soylent Green” and we worked in scenes in a NYC cathedral where we were camped out on the floor. It was actually Winter when this was shot but they sprayed all of us with glycerin to make us look sweaty. Chuck Connors was playing a hired killer and I remember him stepping on my hand in one shot. They had to cut when he apologized to me.
Watching the film later made me grateful that I wasn’t involved in the exterior riot scenes where people got scooped up. That could not have been a good time!
So in 1981 I was working for a Multi-Media company in Hollywood and some extra work on the side. My first SEG job was on “Mommie Dearest” and then “Poltergeist” a week or so later. I eventually had my own LAPD uniform and also worked as a college student, reporter, lawyer, doctor etc. Back then it was a relatively small group of a few hundred people that worked on shows like “The Love Boat”, “Dallas”, “Taxi”, “St. Elsewhere”, and “Hill St. Blues” to name a few.
From ’90-’94 I was a Casting Director at Central Casting. It was a nice group to work with but I found I am just not cut out for a desk job! I handled a 
bunch of different shows but the most challenging was “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. Lots of very specific background types needed there along with coordinating the various regulars according to uniform color, gender, race, etc. that made it pretty labor intensive. A very nice production company though and they always included me on their crew gift list. (Next Generation image courtesy of the Star Trek t shirt category)
One of the last pilots I worked on at Central was “E.R.” and months later when it was picked up and ready to go into production, they requested me to work it. When they found out I was gone from Central but now working as a stand-in, they still wanted me! I worked the first week of the first episode standing in for Noah Wylie. Who knows how long I might have stayed there if they hadn’t required that all of the stand-in’s also work in picture. I have no problem doing that once in awhile but for virtually every scene? You are doing 2 jobs and getting paid for 1 along with having to be on your feet all day and scrambling to use the toilet or get some coffee. Plus a show that relied heavily on the steadicam, it would be tough to watch your actor to see if there were any changes and be making crosses down another corridor. Again it was a nice bunch but I had to say goodbye and move on. No regrets!
I did several multi-camera shows that filmed with a live audience and that was a lot of work but I enjoyed it. A few more features and Movies of the Week and then “Brimstone” and you know the rest.
I also worked Background on a fair amount of commercials back in the 80’s and that was almost always good easy money. A Bud Light spot that started out as just background as a bartender got me up-graded to “Principal” with residuals that meant thousands of dollars when everyone was out of work because of a strike back in ’88. Very good timing there!
Interview with Firefly veteran Danny Nero part 4
Continuing my interview with Danny Nero, stand in extraordinaire. The photo on the left is Danny in full demon attire with Angel star Andy Hallett (the Host) at a Angel charity posting board party. I’m sure you know Andy tragically passed away in 2009.
D: Most of the outdoor filming for Angel happened in downtown LA. I used to live near there, and it’s always fun to recognize a particular piece of wrecked transit building or warehouse on the show. They also filmed The Crow down there. However, I know from personal experience that the neighborhood is 
one step up from a demilitarized zone. One thing I admire about Joss is his dedication to his personal vision. I guess a few crack dealers and gang members will not stop him from filming late at night in a terrible neighborhood. Have you found that such concerns are truly not an impediment to his getting the shot he wants? What are some of the most bizarre, dangerous, or just out of the way locations he has dragged the whole crew to? (Crow image courtesy of the horror movie t shirt category)
Danny: If you are familiar with the series, Angel’s first season hang out was a rather cramped underground lair that proved to be a difficult set to shoot in so by the end of season 1, it was blown up with the best pyro demonstration I’d ever witnessed! The explosion on the exterior of the building took place at about 3am on the Brooklyn street at Paramount and although it didn’t make a lot of noise (that was all added in later) it did send some huge fireballs out in all directions. One unintended effect was the trigger of the fire sprinklers in the soundstage directly behind the facade which flooded one of “Roswell’s” sets. I’ll bet that was costly!
The whole crew wished we had a convenient all-purpose alley set on the back lot to use but no we had to make many trips to downtown L.A. for so many of those all-nighters. There were plenty of real live rats that didn’t enjoy us being there but they didn’t bother me. I did pause one time when a medium size rat was running toward me one night and then it vanished into a hole in front of me covered by some rags. The alleys were always disinfected by the locations guys but sometimes that wore off before the sun came up and we had to resort to Vick’s around the nostrils.
There were resident’s of lofts in some of those neighborhoods that weren’t happy to see us. We all did our best to stay quiet late at night but it’s tough when you have a small army working carrying equipment and shining bright lights and talking on walkies. Some locals painted large camera symbols with red circles and slashes through them on brick walls where we needed to shoot. One night, I was standing on DB’s mark for a lighting setup when I was drenched with water tossed from above. I really considered myself lucky that it was ONLY water! We had heard stories of other nasty things being tossed down on unsuspecting crews.
The actors were mortified that I was a target and all graciously offered their trailer shower’s for me if I wanted but I just found some dry clothes and was
good to go.
So as much as I loved the “Angel” cast & crew, when I got wind of “Firefly” in the works sometime during season 3 of “Angel”, I asked the powers-that-be to send me. We were working in the soon-to-be-razed Ambassador Hotel kitchen fighting off small creatures called “sluks” when I told DB that I was going into space with Joss and that set him off. I was one of several crew from both “Angel” and “Buffy” that were making the jump and he stopped everything for a moment to ask “And who ELSE is going over to Firefly?” God bless my dear friend Andy Hallett raised his green hand and jumped up and down which broke everyone up. I can’t tell you how much I miss Andy!
We really had become good friends and getting the call from his Dad early one morning last year was such a horrible blow. I flew back East to Boston with Dayne Johnson who did Andy’s make up and Mark Lutz who played the Grooselug and we drove down to the small Cape Cod village to be pall bearers for Andy. We who were lucky enough to know him will never forget him.
Interview with Firefly veteran Danny Nero part 3
More with Danny Nero of Firefly fame. This photo is him in a costume from the flashback scene of the Battle of Du-Khang from “The Message.”
D: You contributed heavily to Firefly Still Flying, a book detailing interviews with cast, crew, and writers that includes unpublished stories and extensive set photos. Your photos seem to be the bulk of the image portion of the book. Were you the set amateur “camera guy”? Do you take a lot of photos on all your sets? Did the producers not have any issue with that?
Danny: I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many pictures on a set as I did with Firefly but so many other cast and crew did as well. There is kind of an understanding that you won’t ever do anything with the pictures that would embarrass anyone or be a spoiler. Joss had me shoot one of the electricians riding a crane with a light that moved quickly to simulate Serenity doing a tricky space maneuver because he thought it looked cool. It was all cool for me!
D: What are your thoughts on the show itself? Are you yourself a fan?
Danny: I was and am still a fan of the show. There are always the what ifs and if onlys when a good show doesn’t make it. It sure wasn’t for lack of trying! My only regret was not finding enough shade when we went out to Sable Ranch for Jaynestown. Three long days in that sun lowered my resistance to that evil little virus lurking in so many of us and I ended up with a light but still painful case of shingles. Big Ouch!
D: You also worked with Joss on Angel. How was that show to work on?
Danny: I got the job standing-in on Angel from the original DP, Herb Davis. We had met on “Brimstone”, another ill-fated Fox show that had a pretty good fan base. I stood in for the lead actor Peter Horton and it was my first trip into the supernatural world.
(Angel image courtesy of the womens t shirt category)
I thought it was a great premise and we all felt that the show had a very good chance of making it. The network had other ideas however and I believe we just did 11 or 12 episodes. The show did require all of us to work quite a few all-nighters and that takes a little getting used to. You might begin the week with a 7am call but by Friday you had a 5pm call and it became “Fraturday” very quickly. That leaves you with a short weekend. It was good training for our next series “Angel”. So we left Warner Bros and Paramount was our new home.
