Art and the X-Files

 I've been bingeing on X-Files lately. A feast! I've also been going through many of my art books, seeking inspiration. And found, to my surprise, The Art of the X-Files. Great find but have no memory of how I came to own this book. I don't remember, nor does my husband. Nothing mysterious here; no doubt, during my days as a folklore UFO nerd at the U of O, I purchased the book. Maybe it was a gift. Either way, nice discovery!

A Little X-Files Musing

Binging on all the X-Files episodes, from beginning to end. Of course I had already seen them all, at least once, if not a few times. But this time around, I realized that, among other factors , X-Files was a great love story between Mulder and Scully. Adult, mature, romantic and sexy all at once. Over time. Deep friendship within the love. So excellent. Still in my top five best ever paranormal TV shows.

I also was reminded that the episodes with Robert Patrick, who "replaced" David Duchovny as Fox Mulder, was excellent in his own right. Patrick's presence didn't do any harm and The X-Files was just as excellent. Of course, I do hold a special affection for Mulder and Scully.

My Top Paranormal Themed TV Shows:

The Outer Limits (original)

The Twilight Zone (original)

The X-Files

Millenium

Legion

Resident Alien

Fringe

And I know there are more but my post. Christmas head space can't get there right now.

Organizing the Room of Doom

Bigfoot books . . . 

For some time now, have been calling the "study" the Room of Doom -- such a mess! An unholy, awful, mess. I would literally go into a spin of hysteria when entering that room and trying to deal with the mess.

I realize, too, that I need to rename that room and no longer encourage the negative energy of Room of Doom, and give it a more positive name to reflect the changes.

A few UFO books. . . and yes, I'm a nerd, official X Files mug and all

Somehow, finally, I had some kind of cosmic breakthrough and have been able to work in that room, enjoy it even! So I've been rearranging books, giving books away, donating books, selling books, and discovering that yes, I have a hell of a lot of UFO and paranormal, Fortean, anomalous type books.

A few more UFO books . . .

Then I messed up my knee and leg and had to take off for a couple of days. And I was looking forward to the next project: organizing my "haunted locations" shelf.

File holders full of Fates, UFO Magazine, Strange, Fortean Times and many more. Plus a free alien water bottle straight from Area 51/Exterrestrial Highway in Nevada, courtesy of a good and thoughtful friend.

Richard Thomas Interviews Dean Haglund (X-Files, Lone Gunmen)

From June of the year: BoA contributor Richard Thomas interviews Dean Haglund of X-Files and Lone Gunmen. Haglund has interesting things to say about art, the culture's "zeitgeist of the moment," the trivialization of conspiracy theory-theory, Haglund's current projects and a lot more of course, including his thoughts on our world now vs. the world during X-Files days. 


And for more, visit Deanhaglund.com

The New X-Files Movie, Torchwood

Of course I'll go see it! But naturally! I think the title is just awful: "I Want To Believe" Really?

I like Amanda Peet and Bill Connolly, who are also in the movie. All the usual hype and hush about the movie; the plot line, Mulder and Scully's "romance" (er, didn't they have a baby -- kind of puts the need for adolescent questions about their relationship to rest, doesn't it?) but I don't care about any of it. It's a new X-Files movie! What more is there?

Well, there's Torchwood. A great show; was so sorry to see season two end so quickly. (And so damn sadly.) Dear husband "George" says it's better than X-Files, but for myself, it's not "better" it's not a question of "better." Torchwood is the X-Files of its time, I suppose. Hipper, certainly more sexually open. Torchwood also deals a lot more with human emotions and pathos, etc. than X-Files did. You either like that a lot (I do) or you don't. Depends on one's temperament. Both have sexy main characters, which helps quite nicely.

I'm glad Torchwood has come along and filled the void X-Files left.

Wales Seeing More UFOs?

And is it because of Torchwood?

Two things I need to remind myself of: there is no X-Files, not really, and David Duchovny is an actor, not Spooky Mulder. Not really. There is no Torchwood, not really, and there is no such person as handsome sexy Captain Jack in his black trenchcoat. It’s all pretend. Pretend. TV. These are two of my all time favorite TV shows; fictional shows.

So, this article asks if the popularity of Torchwood isn’t responsible for people seein more UFOs lately:

“Torchwood could well have brought an increase in the number of people looking at the skies rather than their feet when they are coming out of the pub.”

says Dr David Clarke,who wrote Flying Saucerers, A Social History of UFOlogy. I haven’t read the book, and don’t know the slant, but from his comment it seems like he’s being fair. (He also acknowledges Wales is a UFO hot spot.) If you look UP, you’ll see things. I know that, Alfred Lehmberg knows that (see his current article in UFO Magazine) Lesley knows that; all kinds of people know that. Try it.

I do take exception to Dr. Clarke’s opinion about the government’s innocence in such things:

He warned against conspiracy theories that accused the government of covering up alien landings, adding: “The idea that the government has a Men in Black department and they send out Captain Jack or whoever... it doesn’t happen.”

Okay, so maybe there isn’t a Captain Jack in a trenchcoat being all sexy assertive and commanding (and yet oh so vulnerable, the poor immortal dear) and jumping in and out of black SUVs, but come on, to suggest the government (theirs, ours, . . .) is content to let it all go by is naive.

X-Files, while fictional, did a lot to nudge us towards seeking out these areas. Torchwood seems to be doing the same. Shows like this are popular for a reason, and there are all kinds of people with all kinds of theoires on why this is so. Briefly, the theories range from "people are lonely geeks who need to fill a void with something magical" to "people are paranoid due to our ever increasing technological, post WWII world" to "Because they're here, damnit! Haven't you been looking up? And around?! Haven't you been looking?!" I go for that last one.

Six Degrees (Kind of) of UFO Type Separation

"Diane, whenever two events happen simultaneously pertaining to the same object of inquiry, we must always pay strict attention!" ~ Special Agent Diane Cooper, Twin Peaks

A great quote that can be applied to many a Fortean and UFO event. Special Agent Dale Cooper, a character on one of the best TV shows ever, was played by David Duchovny, who played Agent Fox Mulder on the best TV series ever, The X-Files. (Amends: no he didn't. As Daniel Breton pointed out -- see comments below -- it was Kyle MacLachlan who played Cooper. David Duchovny played cross dressing agent Dennis/Denise Bryson.)

I found this quote on
Peter Levenda’s blog, via Lesley, author of The Debris Field Blog.

The quote leads into an entry by Levenda on the E. Howard Hunt/Kennedy/Monroe assassination association. For more on this read Levenda's entry. The dizzying associations between Hunt and occult-covert forces makes for very interesting reading. There’s much more here than I’ve mentioned; I don’t want to spoil anything, check out Levenda’s blog.

Layers, connections, relationships, ships in the night, juxtapositions -- all part of UFOania.

How the X-Files Killed Ufology by Tina Sena

I enjoyed this piece on BOA by Tina Sena. Tina writes about my favorite Fortean televison program of all time, The X-Files. Don't let the title or the beginning of the article fool you into thinking it's something it isn't.

From Daniel Brenton's blog: UFOs, An Unreasonable Argument

This is from Daniel Brenton's blog, The Meaning of Existence and All That: UFOs An Unreasonable Arguement. It's a very good piece on the weirdness factor within UFOlogy.