Declan's Blog

We’re back from the Mojave and it’s been a long day.

We started out at 4:45am and drove over to the airport. Because we’d rented a $10 RV spot (that we didn’t use to sleep in – it SEEMED that a motel would be a better bet… 50mph winds and a resonant door proved that theory wrong… Somehow, in my sleep at about 2am, I thought to wedge a towel into the door so that it would stop humming), we didn’t have to wait in line on highway 58, we just went in by the Shell station and got right onto the airport. We drove around to where the $10 spots were and spotted Ryan Grant and friends, some of whom had driven in from Seattle just to see the launch. (Ryan had come from SF.)

The flight line was teeming with people, such that we couldn’t even get to the fence for decent pictures. I did get some very shaky video and I’ll post links below once it’s done compressing. Again – I KNOW the quality sucks, but it IS authentic. No one complains about that Bigfoot video…

Erin, the 8 yr old, was cranky, but as soon as she saw one of the airplanes go by, she perked up and thought the whole thing was cool.

Nathan, the 14 yr old…. well, he’s 14.

Soylant Green IS PEOPLE!!!

No really, this is the souvenir tent that we didn’t have the patience to wait for.

More still pictures (of the backs of lots of people with better views than us…)

Video Links

EDIT 2018 – all the links below are broken, but here’s a set of them on Youtube!  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4E5BB014BB7CFB46

(I’m adding more as I part the wheat from the chaff. Then compress the wheat… Digital video as Frosted Mini Wheats… can you tell I’m going on 1.5 hrs of sleep?)

3MB The White Knight, (the plane that carries SpaceShipOne to 47,000ft) with SpaceShipOne tucked underneath, taxis by.

650KB One of the chase planes, another Rutan design called the Starship, taxis by.

3M The White Knight takes off!

1.3MB SpaceShipOne lands safely, flanked by chase planes.

3MB The White Knight, sans SpaceShipOne, does a fly by and lands.

30MB The whole 15 minutes of badly shot, but very unique, video.

An Interesting Way to End the Day

Ok, I’m not making this up. So, we have this wonderful experience above and are heading home. We stop at the Baker’s Square (French Silk Pie!!! Nope, all out…) in Lancaster, CA. I make a trip to the little boy’s room, and as I’m headed back through the restaurant to our table, out of the corner of my eye I notice someone I should know… I cast my eyes over and lock gazes with William Shatner. No kidding. I don’t know what to do (this is all in 2/5ths of a second), so I give a hey-what’s-up-I’m-too-cool-to-bug-you, barely tilted backwards head nod, and keep moving. The we sit at the table for the rest of the meal whispering, “Is that him?” “Can’t be…” Even the grumpy child got excited and made a bathroom trip to confirm the sighting.

How cool would it be to end this with a picture of me and Kirk? Ah well, can’t mess with a guy eating pancakes…

Scary as it sounds, Nathan just got promoted from 8th grade! So, in September, our baby boy
will be going to high school. Man, I’m old…

Ain’t he cute?!?

He’s already got the attitude part down…

Nathan and Gary.

Nathan and Andy.

Nathan and Mom.

More Pictures…

In just a few hours, we’ll be leaving San Diego to drive to Mojave Airport,
America’s First Inland Spaceport!!! (about 3.5 hrs I hope –
depends on how many other people think this is a great idea…) to see the launch of SpaceShipOne!

I’ll post more pictures after the landing.

create your own personalized map of the USA

create your own visited country map

I gotta get out of the country more…

Who needs tornados!!!

Ok, this is totally geeky… I play World of Warcraft Beta and last night about 50-75 of us attacked an Alliance stronghold and I got some pictures.

The Other Network

This caught my eye in Entertainment Weekly this week. We’re big Wonderfalls fans and will miss the show. I saw a tag line that said that the unaired eps would be shown by The Other Network at LA’s Knitting Club. A little research yielded this stuff.

From The Modern Humorist:

“The Other Network” features un-aired and previously un-seen TV pilots by some of the most creative talent in the business: the writers and producers behind “Freaks & Geeks,” “The Ben Stiller Show,” “Larry Sanders,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Late Night with David Letterman,” “TV Nation,” “Frasier,” “Mr. Show,” “The Simpsons” and “Sex and the City,” including Bob Odenkirk, Robert Smigel, Merrill Markoe, Conan O’Brien, Ben Stiller and others. On-screen talent includes Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Ron Silver, Ray Romano, Fred Armisen, Amy Poehler, John Larroquette, Jill Clayburgh and Dave Foley.

The Other Network gives audiences a unique look at TV shows that were too original, too creative, or too disturbing for broadcast TV. And the festival offers a unique glimpse into the process of making television with specially-recorded introductions to each show by their creators.

Every year the broadcast networks spend millions of dollars making over a hundred TV shows, but very few ever make it to the air. Writers, producers, actors, crews, and network executives put their creative energy, hearts and souls into these programs, but the finished product is only ever seen by a few people, maybe a focus group or two. Until now.

See THE OTHER NETWORK live in LA
Fridays June 11 thru July 30

Knitting Factory-LA, 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Fridays, 7:30, $10 per night or…
$50 series pass good for any show

Friday, June 18

A night of “WONDERFALLS”, featuring two great un-aired episodes of the dearly departed series, plus a LIVE Q&A with Creators Bryan Fuller & Todd Holland.

This screening features a special giveaway: a copy of the pilot script signed by Fuller & Holland!

See 2 more un-aired episodes on July 23!