Part 1

8. A drunk Johnny falls off a cliff (The O.C., Episode 3.14: The Cliffhanger)

7. Mitch gets into a car accident (Dawson’s Creek, Episode 5.03: Capeside Revisited)

Come back tomorrow for two more deaths no one saw coming.

With the Paley Center’s “Dawson’s Creek: A Look Back” panel and the release of “Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series,” I’ve been on a DC high the past week and a half.  Imagine my delight in finding someone who was not only just as enthusiastic but also chock full of insider stories only true fans like TDW readers could appreciate. And when you combine that with the fact that this guy is also partly responsible for introducing Beverly Hills 90210 to the world, well, that pretty much makes him a teen drama god.

After reading all the DC and 90210 goodness executive producer Paul Stupin shared with me, you’ll never want TDW’s stroll down memory creek to end!

TeenDramaWhore: How was the Paley Center panel?  How did it come about?

Paul Stupin: It came about for two sets of reasons. The first was that there are a  lot of die-hard Dawson’s supporters and fans out there that could support such a event. And the second key element is Sony is planning to issue this monumental all-seasons of Dawson’s DVD collection.

TDW: Yeah! It came out yesterday and I went to three different stores and finally found it!

Stupin: I just think it’s the coolest thing ever. So it was a good opportunity to call some attention to the DVD collection while at the same time having an event for the fans. It was really fun for me because when I did Dawson’s, I look back on it as a very special and rewarding time in my life and to be able to talk about it and see some cast members and see Kevin [Williamson, creator] again was just a blast.

TDW: I’m sure. I wish I could’ve been there!

Stupin: Yeah, you would’ve liked it!

TDW: Oh, I’m sure. Well let’s go back even further, to 1997-1998, and Kevin Williamson comes to you with this idea to make this semi-autobiographical show. What made you come on board?

Stupin: Well, that’s not exactly how it happened but I can tell you. I had read an early draft of this film that he wrote. At the time, it was called Scary Movie but that was going to turn into Scream and they used the original title for something else. I had read a draft of that and I had really responded to the writing. One of the things I loved about it is not only did it have some smart thrills and chills but it also had this great sort of teenage/20-something dialogue. I just loved his voice and I loved the different perspectives that he had brought to the horror genre so I pushed really hard to his agent for Kevin and I to sit down. Originally, I wanted to run two areas by him. The first area was sort of a younger X-Files-esque kind of show and the second one was just a really smart, young ensemble sort of show that could tap into younger characters’ voices. I had ran programming at Fox, so the idea of doing a family show was kind of not on the board because Fox had Party of Five. So we started to talk about potentially doing a show about a number of younger characters who live on the same street. Then Kevin sort of went away and came back and sort of pitched to me a bunch of characters living on the same creek, which, of course, was semi-autobiographical. What made that so interesting is that it specified the idea and made it something unique and took us to a place I had never seen before. And the other thing that made that original pitch so exciting was the characters. He pitched to me the characters of Dawson [James Van Der Beek] and Joey [Katie Holmes] and Jen [Michelle Williams] and how that triangle would work. And then as we were talking about that, we came up with the idea of incorporating another character into the mix who could be a confidante for Dawson and that’s how the character of Pacey [Joshua Jackson] originated.

TDW: I think you really hit it when you said the show was unique. There are a couple of specific things that people are still talking about today and they really want the inside details of how it happened. I know you guys went over a bit of this at the panel but I’d love to hear it from you yourself.  So if we can just go over a couple of different storylines, I’d love to hear what you guys were thinking and the genesis of those. So the first one is in season 2 when we have Jack [Kerr Smith] announce that he’s gay [Episodes 2.14 & 2.15, To Be Or Not To Be... & ...That Is The Question].

Stupin: I think there were two reasons for that. The first reason is it was a great way to integrate in a gay character on our series and to do it from the perspective of the kids we’d come to know and love on the show from the get-go. So the thought of involving Joey in a relationship with Jack and seeing that relationship take a completely unexpected turn and then understanding the emotional impact it would have on Joey’s character, and what it would do to Dawson and Pacey–all that seemed really interesting. And at the time, the thought of integrating a gay character and following that journey seemed really powerful and a way to tap into a whole set of emotions that would make our show even more memorable. One of the things that I love about Dawson’s is that it sort of wore its heart on its sleeve. Not only did it capture the voices and that sense of teenage yearning and teenage love and first-time love, and the power and the strength of all that, with love comes heartache as well in many stories. I think it enabled us to tell a really emotional and powerful story for a character that we’d really come to enjoy in the form of Jack. So that was one element to it and I think for Kevin it was a very personal story as well, and it was a way to again put a whole different perspective on the teen ensemble drama in a way that it hadn’t been done before. The second element to it was the fact that when Joey started that relationship with Jack, it was not going to go on forever. The key relationship in our series was what was going on between Joey and Dawson and Pacey, so the Jack character, that romance, was ultimately going to come to an end. And I think there was the thought of what a powerful way to see the relationship head south when the character starts to realize an insight into his own sexuality.

TDW: Going back to the Dawson-Joey-Pacey relationship, I read in Jeff Stepakoff’s book “Billion-Dollar Kiss” that Greg Berlanti–whom I adore–was the one to suggest putting Joey and Pacey together. I was wondering how accurate that story was in the book.

Stupin: Well, at the top of every season, we’ll sit and we’ll talk about [our plans]. We take a couple of weeks and we talk about each character and where we were going and what the sort of macro-issues were that we want to cover over the course of that particular group of 22 episodes. And Greg was definitely a part of that and the thought  of telling sort of a whole Joey-Pacey romance did in fact come out of that, absolutely. But I think you can go back, you can look at the pilot and you can look at the chemistry–and I did, in looking at the pilot last week–you can look at the chemistry between Joey and Pacey and you just know they’re sort of two peas in a pod and sooner or later that element of the triangle is going to get explored. So it’s definitely true what Jeff had in the book but I think that Greg was building from the seeds that were established in the original conception of the show, to tell you the truth.

TDW: Right.  Going to a more somber note: this probably came early on for you guys given how you plan the season but a lot of people were really surprised and devastated when in the 5th season Mitch [John Wesley Shipp] died [Episodes 5.03 & 5.04, Capeside Revisited & The Long Goodbye].

Stupin: Yes.

TDW: I’m wondering what the idea for that was. We never knew if it was casting reasons or storyline-dictated.

Stupin: It wasn’t really casting issues. The thing with Mitch was every year we would figure out a way to have 1 or 2 sort of emotional stories between Dawson and his mom and dad. In the first season we had all that great stuff with her affair with a newscaster. That was just sort of natural. The second season we have the story with mom and dad trying the open marriage, and it’s arguable as to how memorable that actually was. It seemed like such a fresh idea. I’m not sure that it translated quite as well as the idea initially seemed. And then after that, when the inter-relationships between the teenagers grew ever-more prominent and people became much more invested, it felt like the parents–though still important–were not quite as much a part of the storylines. So that’s when we would always try to include them, to have them in different things, to have great sort of Dawson-mom, Dawson-dad scenes but I think we were straining a little bit. And I think that when we got to the point of deciding the fate with Mitch, it seemed like we weren’t using him altogether that much in the series, in the seasons. We were using him but we weren’t using him in a huge way. There weren’t any financial or casting considerations. It really did come from the creative angle, in terms of how would it affect Dawson’s character if in fact this happened to his dad, and exploring that, and exploring the unexpected tragedy of it seemed like another way to really heighten the exploration as to who Dawson was, so that’s basically where that came from. And I remember talking to John Wesley and mentioning that the one thing that this would provide is that it was going to take the Dawson-father storyline to a really heartbreaking sense of conclusion and, at that point, we weren’t using him as much as we had in the past.

TDW: How does that contrast, then, to the decision in the series finale [Episodes 6.23 & 624, All Good Things... & ...Must Come To An End] to have another death and this time it be Jen?

Stupin: It was so interesting last week; it came up that in a way it was a great book-end for the series. It frankly never occurred when we were talking about the beginning or the end of the show but one could argue that the series began with a catalyst and that was the arrival of Jen. And the series ended with a catalyst as well, and that was the departure of Jen. And the one thing that I think that it did is it really brought a sense of emotional resonance and power to that final episode, because one of the things with a final episode you want to be able to do, you want to be able to end a series in a satisfying and emotional and interesting way. And if we essentially had the last episode in history for Dawson’s Creek, we could talk about and we could explore issues of mortality involving some of our characters. Then when we talked about it, if we were going to be dealing with the characters’ mortality, she seemed like the most natural character in which to explore that.

TDW: Going back to the catalyst idea, it could be extended that that was really what it took for Joey to finally make up her mind between the two boys.

Stupin: Yeah, I think a little bit. I think the interesting thing was the series sort of ends twice. It ends in the episode before then [Episode 6.22, Joey Potter And The Capeside Redemption] where we get the sense that finally Dawson and Pacey are going to be friends and Joey did actually get to Europe. And I think that had a sense of closure. Then we took it another step and went to a sort of even more sort of larger-than-life ending of exploring who she was going to end up with. I think that was the big question: who was she going to end up with? And I think that that was handled pretty well, too. Like I personally love the thought that what this show was really about was not the romance of Dawson and Joey but about the strength and depth of that friendship and how that friendship was going to exist forever.

TDW: So if you had to answer the question, in your heart of hearts, do you think Dawson belongs with Joey in a platonic, friends soulmates sense and Pacey in the romantic soulmate way?

Stupin: In my heart of hearts, I think we ended it the right away. I think that what she did have in the romance with Pacey was as powerful as the friendship with Dawson. And I think that we were able to come up with a sense of satisfying closure for both of them. ‘Cause I will tell you, weirdly enough, when I was looking at The Sopranos–I’ll weirdly liken it to the conclusion of The Sopranos, at least from my weird perspective, because I was a fan of that. I like to think, in my mind, that Tony Soprano is still out there–maybe it wasn’t going to last forever, but maybe he’s still out there with his family, still dealing with the issues and still dealing with all the balls he was juggling. And in my mind, I like to think that Dawson and Joey are still out there in our alternate TV universe, still communicating with each other and still sharing the inner-most aspects of their hearts and still dealing with their friendship as adults, and that Joey and Pacey still have that romance. Because I feel like what we were able to come up with was, for me, an emotionally-satisfying conclusion for both stories which doesn’t let anyone down. And I know there are people who think Dawson and Joey should’ve been together romantically and I totally understand that point of view but I think we did the right thing.

TDW: Well, as a Joey and Pacey fan, I completely agree with you!

Stupin: Well, I can tell you this: that decision wasn’t made until the last hour was being shot and so if you look at the first hour of that final two-hour, I think at that point we were leaning toward her ending up with Dawson and so there are a few, I think, little cues–for the life of me I don’t remember exactly–that were set up to lead us in that direction and then, frankly, in the last hour, when the last hour was being shot–because it wasn’t shot as a two-hour; it was shot as two separate 1-hours–that when we came up with that conclusion, it caused us to shift things around a little bit. So I’ll tell ya, we were undecided up until the very last minute ourselves.

TDW: Wow. Well, switching gears slightly, you spoke about Dawson and the way he would communicate with Joey. Going off that, both Kevin Williamson and James Van Der Beek are on Twitter these days. I was wondering, had the service existed when the show was on the air, how do you think Dawson would’ve used it, if he would’ve used it? As I said, They’re both on it now, and Dawson was very much a storyteller.

Stupin: Well, I think Dawson might’ve used it to express his emotions. I think he might’ve used it as a shorthand way of communicating with both Joey and Pacey. It’s certainly easier to communicate things to someone by Twitter than it is necessarily in real life. He might’ve, at some point in our storytelling, he might’ve used it to express something that he might not have been so willing to express in person.

TDW: When you look back on the show and the television landscape then and now, what do you think the show’s legacy is?

Stupin: You know, I think for me it’s–well, first of all, I’m so proud of the show. I think the characters were amazing. I think their stories were amazing. I think the quality of the writing, the quality of the direction was–of course I’m biased but I think it was just top-flight. And I really do think it took the young adult teen genre and elevated it from just a niche kind of show to something universal and iconic. I think adults could look at it. When we were doing it we never looked at it as just a teen show.  We looked at it as just a smart, interesting, relationship show that happened to deal with teenagers and though our core audience was teenagers, it was written for everybody, for people in their 20s, their 30s, their 40s. And I really think it managed to transcend all of that and bring an element of quality and exploration to the genre that really took it to the next step.

TDW: Do you have a favorite episode or storyline?

Stupin: You know, I’m so biased. It’s like trying to pick if you have 120 kids which one’s your favorite. But I think for me there are certain sort of moments that I love. There’s certain episodes, like the pilot because it introduced us to that world, and I remember so much of it almost like it was yesterday. The first season-ender when Joey went to visit her dad in prison, I loved that. I loved the detention episode [Episode 1.07, Detention]. A lot of them are some of the original ones. But then I think I love the episode when they graduated high school [Episode 4.22, The Graduate]. I thought that was just sensational. I love the one-hour ender as well as the two-hour series finale ender. I think there’s so many. The episode where they studied and it was an all-nighter [Episode 2.07, The All-Nighter]. The episode where Joey had to enter the beauty pageant [Episode 1.12, Beauty Contest]. I just love all of those.

TDW: Well, conversely, do you have a big regret or something you wish you did differently?

Stupin: Yeah. My biggest regret would probably be, as I think about it–and it was a mistake we made–was the character of Eve. Remember that character?

TDW: Yeah. You guys even have a joke about that in the episode before the series finale.

Stupin: Yeah. I don’t think the first episodes of season 3 really were as memorable as the other episodes. And I think that whole notion of “Is she Jen’s sister? Is she not?”–I don’t think that was that effective. I don’t look back on that run of episodes as my favorites.

TDW: Yeah, I think the fans do agree with that.

Stupin: Yeah, but you know what, we turn it around.  In the middle of that season we turned it around with–

TDW: With Joey and Pacey.

Stupin: Yeah, with Joey and Pacey. And that certainly helped get us back, I think, to our roots.

TDW: Going more to your history, I know you played a bit of a role with the creation of Beverly Hills 90210.

Stupin: Yes, I did.

TDW: What influence, if any, did that show have on Dawson‘s Creek?  If you learned anything from how viewers took to what was really the first teenage show, as Dawson’s Creek is largely considered the next step in the genre.

Stupin: Well, two things. And it’s an interesting question. The first thing: when I hired Darren Star to write 90210, I felt as if his voice was just so unique in terms of his ability to write characters and come up with dialogue and wit that seemed like it would be a particularly good fit if he put into teenager characters’ mouths. So in a way I think that when I read Kevin’s voice, I felt some of it was the same in terms of being clever and sharp and smart and pop culturally-savvy. I felt like I had found another voice who was capable of taking the genre to the next step. So I felt like both Kevin and Darren brought originally a really unique sense of humor and sharpness to their creation of characters and dialogue. So I think there was a similarity there. The one issue that I took away from 90210, that was very effective in 90210, was the mix of issue-oriented episodes and personal inter-relationships. Though, when we jumped into Dawson’s, we veered away from doing the issue-oriented episodes and explored further just all of the great inter-relationships.

TDW: Going further ahead to the rest of the genre and the teen dramas that are on today, do you think Dawson’s Creek influenced them?

Stupin: I’m sure it did, though I can’t say–you know, again, I’m biased. I don’t know. In my mind, I’m undecided as to what the next real step in the genre is after Dawson’s. I’m not sure what it is. I haven’t watched enough of the shows. I hold, of course again I’m so biased, but I hold everything up to the prism of Dawson’s. I don’t know if any of them that have come since have quite represented that cultural milestone that Dawson’s did.

TDW: Do you think Dawson’s Creek would fly on The CW today? Because it’s so different than what The WB was.

Stupin: Yeah. I’m not sure. I’ve often thought would I be able to sell Dawson’s today? Would I be able to pitch that as a series and get it going, and I’m not altogether sure. Because now, when you look at Dawson’s, we sold it off the strength of the characters and off of the strength of Kevin’s voice being so fresh. Now, I think that the networks are looking for slightly higher concepts. So I’m not altogether sure that a Dawson’s would be able to sell today.

TDW: I have to ask, then, why do you think the 90210 spin-off sold?

Stupin: Oh, I see, are you talking about bringing able to bring it back, for instance?

TDW: Well, no, not for it to be a spin-off. But the 90210 concept today is working.

Stupin: Well, I think the 90210 concept–everyone, myself included, has fondness for that original show. The thought of sort of putting two new outsiders into that world and bringing the  show back is a great way to hook people into a whole new group of characters, and I think it was a great idea. The thing with Dawson’s is I don’t know if bringing the world of Dawson’s Creek back with a bunch of new characters would generate quite the excitement. Because I think when you think about the show, you think about Dawson and you think about the very unique 3 characters, the 4 characters we had, and the actors that played them. And I’m not sure if it was brought back again–I certainly wouldn’t want to redo it with a new Dawson or a new Pacey. So the question would be could we go back to Capeside with a whole new group of characters, and I’m not sure we would be able to put together a new group of people as memorably as we did originally.

TDW: Right. You know, they say lightening strikes once.

Stupin: Right. And you know, I’m afraid you always run the risk of–when you make a sequel to a movie that’s not as good, it kind of reflects negatively on the original movie.

TDW: I completely agree.

Stupin: And I like to think of all our episodes as being so special, I’m not sure it’s something you could bring back.

TDW: Well, my biggest disappointment right now is that Dawson’s Creek is no longer on any channel in America.

Stupin: Really? You know, they gotta get on that! Wasn’t it running like forever in the early morning hours?

TDW: It used to be on TBS. When I was in high school, it used to be on at like 10am. And then they pushed it to 4:30am, 5:30am and then it just faded away there and now it’s not on at all.

Stupin: I’m not sure what the design is on that because I always like to know that Dawson’s is out there.

TDW: I know, I know. It saddens me that it’s just not in repeats anywhere anymore in this country.

Stupin: You know what, those things tend to be cyclical. Maybe in the future you’ll be channel surfing one night. Knowing you, you’ll know way before then but maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

TDW: Fingers crossed.

Stupin: Exactly.

TDW: Well, let’s bring it back and finish on today. You’re with Make It Or Break It on ABC Family. Just looking at your career over the years, what is it about Make It or Break It that you’re here now?

Stupin: Well, what I love about Make It Or Break It is I’m a big fan of the genre, having originally developed 90210 and then developed Dawson’s. When I left to become a producer, I never really thought that my first real success would be in the same genre as 90210 because I actually never thought that lightning would strike twice in that genre for me as quickly as it did. But after I ran Dawson’s, you know, for six years, I developed a real love for the genre. And the thing that I love about Make It or Break It is the idea. It’s a fresh idea, it’s a fresh world. And it provides a pretty unique prism in which to explore sort of teenage relationships in a really unusual way. I mean, these girls aren’t normal teenagers. They’re elite gymnasts and there are rules against relationships as they’re pursuing their passion. How do they deal with that? And how do we deal with the same elements of teenage love and relationships and heartbreak but from a whole different perspective? And I love that about it, and I also love the relationships between the main characters and their parents and their parental figures. I think they’re a really organic element to the show and give us an opportunity to deal with really unusual family situations as well. So that’s why I love it. And also the gymnastics is just really cool. It’s a lot of fun just to see the gymnastics.

TDW: Oh, the gymnastics is just phenomenal to watch.

Stupin: So I think that Make It Or Break It is just such a special show. We’ve done 10 episodes and I think it’s just starting to get its sea legs. I think it has a huge successful life in front of it, I hope.

TDW: Well, best of luck to you on that!

Stupin: Thank you!

Come back next Sunday for another exclusive interview!

TDW Interview Index

Dagens inlägg hade jag tänkt mig att bjuda på en schyyst låt med tre stycken remixer. Låtarna är “previews” och i väldigt dålig kvalité men man hör fortfarande det ljuvliga i dem. Sist har jag fått en kort preview av deras upcoming track tillsammans. Den har stor potential, eller vad tycks? Kommentera och ge gärna feedback till dessa herrar. Kommentera och gå med i fb-gruppen.

 iTod, Junior & J.J Feat MissuM – Six Feet Under (Original Version)
iTod, Junior & J.J Feat MissuM – Six Feet Under (Mitch Remix)
iTod, Junior & J.J Feat MissuM – Six Feet Under (Rogerio Lopez Remix)
iTod, Junior & J.J Feat MissuM – Six Feet Under (Joel Smiel Remix)

Upcoming
iTod, Junior & J.J – Work In Progress Teaser

/Jesper

Adventure Mitch and Survival Charley
Adventure Mitch and Survival Charley

Adventure Mitch and Survival Charley Game
Adventure Mitch and Survival Charley Game Description : Indiana Jones like retro platform game.
How to Play Adventure Mitch and Survival Charley Game? Left / Right Arrow Keys – Move.
Up Arrow Key – Jump.
Spacebar – Attack.

Hey Norile,
die letzten drei Wochen waren für Lone und mich mehr als aufregend: nicht nur, das wir plötzlich einen neuen, kleinen Süßvogel in der Familie haben, nun haben wir auch noch ein Haus gekauft! Ohne Witz! Es steht in Altenholz am Ginsterweg 5, das ist rund 10 Minuten nördlich von Kiel (quasi auf dem Weg zu Tina und Ange nach Schilksee) und sieht so aus:

Ziemlich okay, oder?
Wir hatten es schon vor Ellas Geburt als “unser Haus” entdeckt, die ersten Verhandlungen haben wir sogar aus dem Krankenhaus geführt. Es hat natürlich ein wenig gedauert, zum Schluss hatte es sich noch einmal dramatisch zugespitzt, weil ein anderer Käufer uns überbieten wollte! Aber nix da. Heute um 17:00 Uhr haben wir beim Notar den Vertrag unterschrieben! Und hier werden wir dann demnächst auf der Terasse sitzen und Kaffee, wahlweise heiße Schokolade oder Waldmeisterbrause schlürfen:

Terrassen sind knorke. Gekocht wird übrigens hier:

Kommen natürlich nur leckere Sachen raus. Das hier ist eins der Bäder:

Das Bad im Erdgeschoss hat sogar eine Badewanne, für extragroße Dreckspatzen. Auch für Gäste gibt es ein Zimmer, dazu einen ziemlich großen Keller mit 80qm und einen kleinen, aber schönen und sonnigen Garten. Am 1.April (wieder kein Scherz) werden wir dort einziehen.Wenn Du also das nächste mal zu uns nach Kiel kommst, kannst Du gleich das Gästezimmer einweihen. Das waren erstmal die Breaking News von der Kleinfamilie, fühl Dich umarmt von Lone, Mitch und Ella!

*SPOILER ALERT*

Monday November 9:

Jared vows that he is innocent.

Jessica comes across something shocking . . . .Nash’s dead body!!!

A “Mystery Man” reveals himself to Natalie, Jared and Jessica!

Gigi confesses while she is drunk to Schuyler, who refuses to make love to her.

Rex finds out who is real father is. . . . Mitch!

Fish is called away from his first date back with Kyle. . . . he’s called to investigate Nash’s grave robbery!

Cris and Layla get some advice.

Tuesday November 10:

Natalie, Jessica and Jared are faced with Mitch. a.k.a the Mystery Man.

Rex can’t believe who his father is. . . .Mitch.

Bo, Nora and Tea find out Matthew and Dani took off out of the school to get Matthews surgery.

Wednesday November 11:

Brody and John have to rush to save Natalie and Jessica.

Blair witnesses some of Ross’ bad side.

Viki promises to always be there for Charlie.

Thursday November 12:

Jared’s life is in danger. . . . he gets shot!!!

Blair and Ross make a deal.

Elijah begs Tea to tell Todd about how Dani is his daughter.

Friday November 13:

Rex faces off with Roxy about Mitch being his father.

Bo and Nora are too late and can’t stop Matthew’s surgery.

Charlie’s past resurfaces.

Finally got back into my normal routine last evening–went to bed at 9:30 and got up at 5:30 today.  That was good.

Mitch is doing well with potty training, also good.

Blood pressure this week is too high.  Don’t know why.  I will start walking and working out again and see if it helps.   If not I may need to alter my meds.

Revised my goals yesterday some–mostly in the area of goal rewards.  I am adding them to my reward book now.  I will be printing them out in a few minutes.

This week I feel like I haven’t made much progress at all toward my goals.  Ugh.  Yesterday I was pretty stressed out and didn’t get much work done.  The rest of the week was tied up with the product launch.

Now maybe I am ready to make some rock and/or roll.

Little Mike is really struggling with depression and not being able to take the action necessary to make him successful.  I told him I would come down tomorrow and walk him through the steps of planning moves he CAN take.  I don’t want to be controlling, but I do want to be appropriately helpful.  I don’t want him to pine away the next three months and end up losing his house and possibly his family.

A few months ago I went through a “drama” with one of my boys.  He supposedly grabbed/pinched/punched one of his closest friends on the private parts (through two layers of clothes, may I add).  The fall out was incredible, suddenly my loving son was labeled a sex fiend and a pedophile by narrowed-minded mothers. Parents contacted me saying that Mitch was not allowed to play with their son anymore for a variety of reasons including because “my partner was sexually abused 40 years ago”!!!! I was hurt, angry and very upset. Obviously my maternal instinct was taking over my rationale and I was ready to physically kill someone, instead I saw the school counsellor who said that it was normal 8yo behaviour in boys as they start to realise that grabbing someone on the privates makes them take notice of you (very quickly) and she also said that if the negative fallout continued that she would contact the parents and set them straight. I always believed that the mother’s over reaction was a reflection of their own insecurities. And that many adults find it easier to pick on a child than look in the mirror and do their own self-evaluation for fear of what they might see.

Anyway, yesterday Mitchy came home from school and said that he had nothing to do at lunch.  I asked him where his other friends were and he said they were playing a game called “Think Quick” and then proceeded to say that the game is where you think quick to try and stop other people grabbing your privates. Mitch told them the game was silly and went to play cricket with another boy who has a disability.  I had to laugh to myself (very loudly) because the absolute irony of this is that some of the boys that were playing the game are boys that are supposedly no longer allowed to play with Mitch.  If only their well-to-do mothers knew about that game.

I love it when events happen in life that put a perspective on other happenings. It helps to put things more clearly in my head. I’ve learnt throughout this that I need to learn to take things a little less seriously and that following my own heart is so important for my family. I knew that Mitch’s behaviour was normal. And this is just another example of one of life’s little ironies.

Hey Nora,
das ist Ella!

Am 18. Oktober kam die kleine Süßmaus und Deine neue Cousine zur Welt und wir wissen schon gar nicht mehr, wie es ohne sie war. Wir haben uns zuhause zu dritt schon ganz gut eingegroovt, und ich glaube, sie findet uns auch ganz okay. Obwohl sie manchmal etwas pikiert guckt, wenn ich eine Abknutschattacke starte. Aber da muss sie durch. Bevor wir aber ausführlich Bericht erstatten, erstmal ein paar Bilder:

Ellas allerallererstes Foto (mit leicht schläfrigem Papa)

Der allererste Spaziergang mit Mami und Papi und dem neuen Kinderwagen.

Kindern kann man total lustige Sachen anziehen.

Sie können sich ja nur ganz schlecht wehren.

Hab ganz lieben Dank für Deinen tollen Brief an Ella, das war wirklich etwas ganz Besonderes. Und Ella wird sich (etwas später, im lesefähigen Alter) sicher auch ganz doll darüber freuen!

Herzliche Grüße nach Indiana von der neuen Kleinfamilie!
Lone, Mitch & Ella

This past weekend was full of Halloween fun, beginning on Friday night.  My brother, Kevin, and his wife, Aimee, threw a birthday party for their 9 year old daughter, Brianna.  At least I think she’s 9.  I’m pretty sure she’s 9.  I lose track.  It happens.  Anyway, Bri’s birthday is actually in August before the start of school, decidedly inconvenient for a kid to have a party and invite her 20 or so closest friends.  Bri still has a party in August with the family, but her party with her friends is now held at the end of October.  This is the 2nd year they’ve celebrated the birthday with a Halloween Party, and I don’t know why they decided to go this route or whose idea it was, but let me tell you, they go all out!  I think this is perhaps the single coolest thing my brother and SIL do for my niece – think of the fun and memories she’ll have.  (You’ll be convinced too after you see the pictures.) 

Taking pictures at night was a challenge.  Since I became immersed in this new hobby, I have a healthy disdain for the use of the camera flash.  Unfortunately, I don’t have an off camera flash and, truth be told, I wouldn’t know what to do with it if I had one, but I enjoyed taking pictures all the same and hope you enjoy them too!

The birthday girl, Wednesday Addams:

My brother (Kevin) and sister-in-law (Aimee):

Aimee’s makeup is definitely worthly of a closer look!  I can’t believe how fabulous she looked!

My mother … she served the witch’s brew:

Aimee’s sister and brother-in-law, Pam and Mitch, travelled all the way from the 8o’s … they barely made it in time for the party!

What a great picture of the sisters … I know Sarah is disappointed she couldn’t be here too!

Aimee and Kevin would make Martha Stewart proud!  I am especially impressed with Aimee’s witch and cat yard displays.  Aimee jigsawed and painted those herself one weekend when Kevin was out of town!  She’s quite possibly one of the most creative people I know.  (She made the cake too!  It’s actually made of little cupcakes. )

I have lots more pictures to share from the weekend (including more Halloween pictures!), but this post is plenty long for one sitting.  I hope you had a haunting Halloween as well!

GingerSnapps

Wes Craven's Shocker (1989)

Shocker (aka Wes Craven’s Shocker) is a 1989 horror film written and directed by Wes Craven. The relatively low-budget film has since become a cult classic. It starred Mitch Pileggi as the antagonist Horace Pinker. This role gained Mitch fame as Assistant Director Walter Skinner in The X-Files television series.

Tagline:  On October 2, at 6:45 AM mass murderer Horace Pinker was put to death. Now, he’s really mad.

Both Wes Craven and Universal had hoped for the film to launch a franchise (Craven had particularly wanted to create a new series since he felt he had not been given due profits from New Line Cinema resulting from the Nightmare on Elm Street series). However, due to the middling commercial performance of the film, no sequel was made.

A special edition DVD was released in 1999.

Buy This Title only $7.99

Trivia:

• Shocker was filmed in ten weeks and in a low budget. Craven said that all this savings are in a small team work with talent and low known actors.
• According to Wes Craven, the film was severely cut for an R-rating. It took around 13 submissions to the MPAA to receive an “R” instead of an “X”.
• In Jonathan’s second dream, he looks up at a street sign and sees the street names Maddalena and Wagner. Marianne Maddalena was a producer of the film, and the actor playing the executioner was Bruce Wagner.
• When Jonathan and his father enter the Tavern after the funeral of their family, a news program is playing on the TV in the background and discussing the murders. Someone immediately changes the channel and on comes (briefly) the 1986 concert footage of Alice Cooper’s The Nightmare Returns tour.
• One of the bodies that Horace took over (the male “Road Worker” with long black hair) is a former guitarist for Alice Cooper.
• One of the bodies that Horace took over (the “Jogger” in the park) is Jonathan Craven, son of director Wes Craven.

Music:

Original musical contributions were made by Alice Cooper (who would later play Freddy Krueger’s abusive foster father, Mr. Underwood, in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare), Megadeth who covered Alice Cooper’s 1973 hit No More Mr. Nice Guy. The movie’s “title song” was recorded by The Dudes Of Wrath, which was composed of KISS’ Paul Stanley and producer Desmond Child both on vocals, Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell and Guy Mann-Dude on guitars, Whitesnake’s Rudy Sarzo on bass guitar, and Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee on drums. Also backing vocals by Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony & Kane Roberts.

Soundtrack listing:
“Sword & Stone” – Bonfire
“No More Mr. Nice Guy” – Megadeth
“Shocker” – The Dudes Of Wrath
“Timeless Love” – Saraya
“Demon Bell – The Ballad Of Horace Pinker” – Dangerous Toys
“Love Transfusion” – Iggy Pop
“Different Breed” – Dead On

Washington D.C. Times bureau

Breaking news from Hollywood:

In an impromptu press conference Monday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science announced that the recipient of their annual life time achievement award will be Barack Obama. The Academy cited his accomplishments as director of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Best Actor nomination in A Streetcar Named Desire, and recent CGI work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, not to mention being the key grip on all four of the Alien movies starring Sigourney Weaver.

When reached for comment White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, said that, “though President Obama is honored and humbled by the award, he would like to remind the Academy was actually Stanley Kubrick, Marlon Brando, and many other talented and deserved people that were not him involved in those films.” Robert Gibbs also denied all rumors that Barack Obama was Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies and that the President was a member of SAG or any of the hollywood teamster unions.

This straight forward denial of all rumors and refusal to host the next Academy Awards or accept his lifetime achievement award did not curb pundits like Glenn Beck from commenting on his radio show, accusing Obama of “controlling the liberal media” and “ruining the economy with his Hollywood Jew bankers to corrupt the fabric of the America I love by making unpatriotic films.” He went on to claim that the 912 Project and the T.E.A. Party protestors deserved the credit for 2001: A Space Odyssey and that Lou Dobbs was actually Chewbacca. Harrison Ford could not be reached for comment.

Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy, Tuesday, publicly challenged the Obama administration to provide hard evidence as to the membership status of Obama in both the Communist Party and the Local 538 Cue Card/Prop Masters Union in Burbank, CA. Obama issued a press release in response to these claims pointing out that “it is impossible to provide hard evidence of something he is not involved in. An absence of evidence is not evidence to the contrary.” After reading this statement on the air Gretchen Carlson went cross-eyed and her head spontaneously exploded.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling for an exploratory committee to be formed and a full investigation of Obama family involvement in Hollywood film production. McConnell, in statements Tuesday morning, said that the air needs to be cleared on facts from health care reform specifics as well as the rumor that the Sopranos were based on the Obama family during their time in Chicago. When reached for comment Nancy Pelosi just looked uncomfortable and rolled her eyes.

More information should be coming out this week as the Senate goes forward with this expensive and critical investigation. One thing that will not need further investigation is the now debunked rumor that Bo, the Obama family Portuguese Water Dog took ‘best in show’ at the 39th Annual Alpo Open Dog Show in Albuquerque, NM last month. Inquiry in to the event showed that despite not attending or even being registered for the event Bo only won runner up to ‘best in breed’. President Obama, Tuesday morning, simply shrugged, “What can I say, it’s just our year.”

Mitch DeCanter – so often I have wanted to know who I am. Now at 65 years old, I think I am about to accept myself, thanks to some very important friends. I believe it is better to go back over some of my history, that will tell who I am, and perhaps you will begin to understand why I do not think of myself as normal.
I was born in 1944, during a great world war, in Gainsville Fl. My mom had followed my dad to Gainsville to be near him while he started his military adventure. Three weeks after my birth, Mom went back to Mississippi, in the rural country near Potts Camp Mississippi. When Dad came back from the Army, we lived in several areas of North Mississippi.
I was honored to become the first DeCanter to graduate from High School, due to my Mom’s support and encouragement. It seems that I believed that I was dumb, and was conditioned to believe that I would never be anything of Value. However, deep down I knew that I was not dumb, but did not know how to prove it. I made a decisive decision my last year of High School. I knew that I could not make it through college and that I did not have the income to have a college life. I enlisted into the USAF with the dream of becoming someone. I wanted to make my Mom proud of me.
The medical professionals in the USAF discovered that I had a reading deficiency, I am dyslexic, so they taught me how to read. I went to college and carried a 4.0 average. However, I do have to read more critically than most, so when I study I do tend to learn more.
Along the way, I met the most wonderful spouse in Newcastle Wyo, Ms. Jan has traveled with me in “This thing called life” for more that 44 years. We have two daughters living in Ohio.
After I retired from the USAF, I worked in the State of Arkansas with the Public Service Commissioner, I moved to Ohio and did field engineering, then moved back to Mississippi, where I opened my own professional photography studio. At the age of 49, I accepted myself, admitted that I am an artists, and started liking myself. My logo is “Touching lives through the Art of Photography” because I like to encourage people.
While I am slowing down with the photography work, I am doing work from my home business. I am not about hype and false hope, but rather I develop RELATIONSHIPS AND FRIENDSHIPS, we then encourage and help each other as we market and work out business. I do provide training and mentoring to anyone will to work hard and stick with it to becoming a successful home based business person. You may see more information about me at http://www.photographybytwinvisions.com/, http://www.enrichwithmitch.com/ and you are welcome to email me at mentormitch@gmail.com. If you are dying to see my low cost easy business, where they give you lots of tools and resources, go to http://globalnpn.com/?id=76992&tag=BG

I am ready to be your friend. Mitch DeCanter