Month: September 2012

  • I Worship His Shadow- part 2- The Cluster

    This is part 2.
    Go back to part 1.
    Go on to part 3.
    Return to The Lexx.
    Go to main blog.

    Images in this post click back to outside sources. Thumbnails will click to full size or back to source. :edit: I apologize, the server move broke the links on some of the pix, they're on my fixit list. Thanx for your patience.

    With our hero dead only 6 minutes into the movie, which way do we go? That's right, we skip forward 2000 years.

    The first thing we see is The Cluster filling the screen, the home planet to His Divine Shadow, and like it says, capital to the League of 20,000 Planets. Planet watchers may notice this particular planet is a chunk of rock, like an overgrown asteroid or moon, and the Cluster is carved into it and shielded with a ceiling built into the planet's surface. You're also going to notice several other things about The Cluster as the movie moves along- no green things growing anywhere, no open sky besides complete cloud or city cover, and no decor. The Cluster is pure form and function.

    The Cluster as Capital City is a sealed and highly monitored compound. These groups of buildings house the Lexx and a complex judicial system. The outer accessways of these rows of big pyramid styled buildings is worker housing for what look like prisoners.

    The first person we see sleeps in a tiny box, his only living quarters. He is awakened with propaganda and a computerized image sentences punishment for not reporting for work on time. Note that there is no volume knob or off switch, a scene very much like Big Brother on roids.

    "Only a thin dimensional barrier separates us from the festering evil, malignant depravity, and alien chaos of the Dark Zone. The Dark Zone is not separate like two different planets. The Dark Zone coexists in the same space as our universe, in the same place at the same time. The Dark Zone has no rules, no sense, no order. We give thanks to His Divine Shadow for his ceaseless vigilance, protecting our universe of Light and Order from the horrors and disorder of the Dark Zone. We worship His Shadow. Long may he reign."

    "Good morning. Security Guard Class 4, number 47632943, Department 511, Level 4. This is your third wake up call. If you are late, you will receive 7 demerits. You already have 991 demerits."

    A lot of other people seem to be going through the same thing. A whole lot of people sleep in nothing more than tiny little boxes and literally own nothing but the uniforms on their backs.

    Meanwhile, the same obnoxious computerized face, apparently used as an interface for all menial communications, kicks off a redirect alert in a prisoner transport bound for the Cluster. (By the way, nice visual pun, a face as an interface, not sure if that was intentional, but we later realize the weird macabre style doll face most certainly was an intentional slight against humans, once we see the extreme species prejudice in the fourth movie.)

    "Due to a bulkhead malfunction, Prisoner Transport 58K603, you are being diverted from Gate 417 Punishment Level 2, to Gate 511." All the numbers are read off individually, like five-one-one.

    It is never indicated or even hinted at, but I believe the audience is supposed to realize as the story unfolds that the bulkhead malfunction was a deliberately premanufactured plant by Heretics as part of a much bigger plot. Or it could just be that particular transport had such a famous guest on board that it was diverted directly over for entertainment purposes, but I don't think so, given the plan that was carried out. A lot of things happen in Lexx that are never explained, you either miss it or put the puzzle together on your own, which I feel is a compliment, the film makers assuming that we have brains and don't need to be spoon fed, like so many scifi shows feel the need to do.  Good editing does the work of explaining everything. winky 

    These guards are being awakened out of stasis while the prisoner transport is remotely rerouted into a different flight path among a whole flock of other prisoner transports. All prisoners wind up on the Cluster.

    (Incidentally, have you wondered yet why in the world it's called The Cluster? You can look up a definition for cluster and it all looks about right, or you can go a step further... hint- some insects cluster, and rows of egg follicles are called clusters. Season 2 will go into why this might be a better image.) (And if you are remembering that part 1 said the Brunnen G defeated the Insects in the Insect Wars, you get a star on your forehead.)

    My first question upon seeing the inside of the prisoner transports is how costly must it be to run all those small vessels from other planets with only a few prisoners in each one. Wouldn't a larger cargo ship carry them all more efficiently?

    Two things, slavery and psychology. Cost doesn't matter if you're running a spartan slave society, and keeping prisoners bolted to slabs and isolated into very small groups for processing kills hope and diminishes the success of subversive efforts for rescue.  At any rate, prisoner comfort and human rights aren't a consideration.

     

    "It's your day of justice, Thodin!"

    But still, this seems to be an overly elaborate way to handle prisoners. What is the point? *IS* there a point? Remember I asked this when you watch the fourth movie later.

    The prisoner transports are guided through an opening in the roof of the Cluster and over a sprawling metro complex, a mega city in perpetual darkness. I have thought so much about this city, a model society completely controlled by His Shadow. No creativity, no choice, no autonomy. No escape.  Model citizenry based on ratting out your fellow man, entertainment wrapped around a heinous judicial system, government as religion, sucking up to Big Brother, in this case, His Shadow.  If Orwell ever gave you the willies, Lexx will melt you in fear, especially when you think how close some of our own histories have come to stuff like this, or still could.

    One of the first things we see as the transports fly into the Cluster is the Lexx, housed in a huge hangar overlooking the city. The transports fly past Lexx and over a giant mega stadium to an even taller docking port. I'm not sure I can estimate how many stories high these constructions are, but they are massively impressive.

    A security guard with 991 demerits is almost late reporting to work at Department 511 Level 4. A prisoner transport has been diverted to Gate 511. This is Thodin's day of justice... 

    Ok, you have to imagine that last bit with my tongue so far in cheek that it's sticking out my ear.  You've NEVER seen a movie like this one.  I can't wait to start obsessing over part 3.

    This is part 2.
    Go back to part 1.
    Go on to part 3.
    Return to The Lexx.
    Go to main blog.

  • mmm, rocks

    Here we go, finally starting to turn around here. Won't be long till the really big spiders come out and make their insanely gigantic webs across the yard.

     

    Hawk watch. I'm not sure bunching up and freezing into place is the right move when a big hawk drops down and soars right over (I'm pretty sure that wing span was nearly as wide as I am tall). Red-Tailed Hawk | Missouri Department of Conservation

     

    They stayed in that tight little knot all the way up to the house, but did a very thorough bug genocide over a ten foot wide strip between their house and mine.  Chicken herding has never been easier than with this bunch.

     

     
     

  • Glade Top Trail

    I don't think I had been on Glade Top Trail in over 20 years. I've been sandwiched into between metro and tourist cities in a rural covenanted subdivision for so long that I kinda feel like I'm caught in a rat race. I lived on hundreds of acres near national forest during high school, so yesterday was awesome to get out and really breathe, even if it was only metaphorical. My histamines shot through the roof, so I had to crank up the benadryl a little.

    My dad is one county over. The countryside from here to there is like night and day. This is still pretty tame a little over halfway to his house.

    Most tourists come through the Ozarks and think they're seeing rugged and beautiful, but it's usually from the comfort and safety of people milling around a theme park or zipline. Seeing 'the woods' from a highway isn't the woods. My first 14 years were spent in New Mexico thinking that 'woods' were the pine trees in the Colorado mountains. I couldn't imagine the kind of woods in "Where the Red Fern Grows", more like jungle growing right up out of steep jagged flint, the bones of the earth. We moved to the Ozarks when I was first hitting high school, and we lived in The Woods, creepy and magical, just like in fairy tales. "Wild thing from the wild woods, what do you want?" (Kipling, Just So Stories) Our dog was part coyote, one of our cats was half bobcat. I know because I saw that thing born from a stray cat out of the woods, the hugest ugliest tailless kitten we ever saw, and only room for one. I don't know how that birth didn't kill the mother. That kitten was bigger than she was when it was only half grown and never would tame down. Also, have to add this, us kids walked a mile one way just to get on a school bus, regardless of the weather. One day we stepped over a black snake stretched across the dirt road, well over 5 feet long. Never catch those and keep them in a jar, by the way, they really smell bad.

    You don't properly leave 'metro' until you've passed this point, the highest elevation for miles before a twisty plunge into another world decades behind this one. It's kind of like traveling back into the 1970's for me, but back in the 80's it was like going back to the 50's. Every time I travel through this countryside I imagine Hobbits traveling by pony to far away places, and how hard it would be for me without the highway. I think we take highways way too for granted nowadays.

    And at that point I passed a house that has never had electricity. That's a pretty rare thing, even in the most rural areas, and it's right on the highway. I've been in that house, the people are sane and normal, they just like living without distraction. I doubt they have the kinds of anxiety issues that plague nearly one fifth of American adults, including me. The United States of Anxiety

    We picked up my sister before we went to Dad's. She lives down this magical road. Do you believe in fairies and pixies?

     Don't worry, she's a big believer in electricity, even though she's hand quilting a project from scratch. I don't have the patience for that. I noticed she's got a bumper crop of persimmons, the equivalent of deer candy.

    Dropped a bunch of homemade goodies in my dad's freezer (it's his birthday, he's 83 now) and put him in the front with the atlas. All us kids grew up with an atlas, learning to 'navigate'. We're all sort of obsessed with maps because of that, me to the point where I took a cartography class in my resource planning degree program so I could learn the history of how they are made, and even make one myself. I loved visiting the big map room in the college library, but back to Dad. He refuses to join our modern age, so it was all about that atlas, although he eventually got so fascinated by the Tom-Tom that he couldn't put it down.

    All roads lead to Rome, they say, so it wasn't long until we were driving over the historical Rome bridge, originally built in 1913 and closed to traffic for a time in 2007 for severe structural deficiency. But little things like that don't stop anyone from driving over it. Never saw a warning posted this time.

    We overshot and wound up way on the other side of Glade Top, thanx to a sign being shorn right off a metal pole, possibly from a tornado that skipped through awhile back. We had to turn around and go back up this highway. Can you imagine how beautiful this scene will be in a few more weeks when the foliage turns?

    We eventually arrived, and x marked the spot on the map.

    There are plenty of places to stop and take in views all around.

    We probably saw a hundred squirrels and a couple of wild turkeys, but I was more focused on trying not to look down the sheer drop offs along one side of the road. My sister's girl made up a ghost story during a field trip to Glade Top about a young married couple who plunged to their deaths in a Model T, and the story gets retold to this day. Kinda makes you wonder if most ghost stories are started by kids, and they're around so long it becomes 'fact'. That was almost 20 years ago. Note of trivia- my sister's mother-in-law's family owned the Glade Top property until the government incorporated it into the Mark Twain National Forest.

    I've always had a hard time driving along steep drops, so I asked my sister if she remembered how we'd ask to ride in the back of the pickup when Dad took us up mountains so we could plan on bailing and leaping out before he slid off and rolled down a steep mountainside, and she totally remembered it. Dad would drive as close to the edge as possible so he could get a better view, and more than once we felt a tire slip. I utterly trust my dad, he has never ever let anything bad happen to us, but more because he walked the line of faith than held an arm in front of us. I grew up feeling like I need to be ready to bail in case of utter disaster and annihilation, even though it never happened. To this day I feel safer in the bed of a pickup than I do in the front seat, and I still have nightmares about driving up 90 degree inclines and clinging for dear life to the steering wheel and praying the whole vehicle doesn't just fall off the road backwards. Come to find out, so does my sister... It was very hard for me to sit through watching the Titanic sinking because I know what hanging onto the pickup felt like going up and down steep hills. As I got older I realized I could get out and walk, and I did, far enough away so I'd be clear of where the pickup might roll. But it never did.

    That atlas gave us stuff to bicker about several times. Dad was like a robot caught in a logic loop over the 'missing' road numbers (take a plat map if you go!), and my sister finally grabbed the atlas and became the navigator. I knew before I ever got to Dad's it would be like this, having grown up with the guy, so I got a big kick out of the whole thing.  And it turned out I was right, we had crossed over into Taney County, and then cross back into Ozark County as we twisted around the little mountain.

    The server move chopped out my short videos and isn't letting me put them back in yet, but you can still see what riding in the car with my dad was like. Drive with Dad-1 and Drive with Dad-2

    Missouri still has execution laws.

    Finally reached a nice picnic area near the top. They keep it fixed up because there are so many local groups and activities on Glade Top, including the Foxtrotters (horses) and the annual Flaming Fall Revue: A Barbecue and Music Event. You can see the old fire tower still standing. When our kids were young, people would still climb it, but I think now they've got warnings on it now because it's getting too old.

    After Glade Top we went out a different way to Theodosia to eat lunch at Cookie's by the marina. Scott couldn't resist the homemade malt.

    Then we cut back through around Glade Top. I found the whole drive to be very satisfying after a hectic year in my own life.

    And I'm a little envious of some of the people living on the rolling land around there. You never know where people will lose themselves when they've got the money to live the sustainable life, and I was a little surprised at a few of the 'mansions' tucked away in the hills.

    For those who read the pre-drive post and are curious, no, Dad never did start building his coffin yet. In a couple weeks it'll be 3 years since Mom died, and it's really hard being alone after a long marriage. I'm also thrilled that this drive experiment went so well, I've barely been able to travel or sit in a car very long for about 5 years, and apparently the stuff I'm learning in physical therapy and strength training is working really well. I was able to control my pain levels just by getting out of the car every little bit and doing certain extension exercises, and if I can maintain that kind of control, I might be able to start traveling again. #veryexciting

    :edit: I caught my sister on video talking about when she stayed at a cabin at Star Valley Retreat right there at Glade Top Trail, so if anyone reading this post is wondering about where to stay if they come scout out the Glade Top Trail side of Mark Twain National Forest, you can keep up with their current events and specials at Star Valley Retreat on Facebook.

  • it's Halloween all year long with us

    I never know what I'm going to see driving around town. Today it was this. #greenwithenvy

    Jurassic Park 

    Let's see, what else is going on lately? I thought I'd be updating more often, but it seems to be more like monthly assessments.

    Physical therapy has me nearly back to superhero status. Ok, midlife superhero status. Kinda different rating scale on that nowadays.

    Those giant mirrors all over physical therapy are taunting me into an opportunity that I hope will be magically easy, like my first go round on a 1500 calorie diet a couple of years ago. 50 pounds melted right off me over 4 months with me hardly even trying before I plateaued, and all I did was count calories and especially carbs. That's 5 bowling balls. Or a giant sack of cat food, whichever way you want to look at it.

    I didn't bloat up the easy and fun way on yummy stuff, I did most of it during 9 months of daily steroids while I was real sick for a long time. It sucked. I vowed to do everything in my power to never get that sick again if I could possibly prevent it, and what has come out of that is I can't say enough how diet change actually really works. Anyway, may as well take it all the way, right? Yeah, baby! Time to finish what I started.

    Kinda been a little busier lately getting ready to go see my dad. His birthday is next week, so I asked him if he'd like to get out for a drive (he's over 80), and it sounds like he's got a doozy planned out, roaming around the countryside like he always loved to do. When we were kids he'd sometimes take us on drives up to the mountains, or to go see some Indian ruins. These weren't the typical fun outings, where you stop and get a pop on the way home. No, we were so worn out and starving and dying of thirst by the time we finally dragged back home that I developed a hearty loathing of driving around, until I got my own car and my own money and stopped whenever I jolly well felt like it for what I jolly well wanted. Anyway, one day Dad piled us in the back of the pickup and drove us out across some guy's big ranch in New Mexico to see a petrified log and pottery shards and stuff, pretty big acreage, and on the way back out of there he hit a rut or something and I went flying right off the back of the truck. He didn't slow down, didn't even know I was missing, and I picked myself up and started hauling it like crazy and managed to catch up and sorta lunge back onto the truck before I lost all my wind. I had no doubt in my mind that if I didn't make it, he might not be back for awhile (and I was already sunburned and so thirsty I could barely swallow), because he was busy yapping in the cab to someone and wouldn't pay that much attention to the kids beating on the back glass. This is the guy we're taking out for a drive this weekend. He's so excited he can hardly stand it. For some reason I think that is pretty funny.

    And what else do you get an old Mennonite for his birthday? I told him I'd mix up a bunch of little meatloaves to put up in his freezer to cook later through the year, and make him some rolls and cookies. Really curious to see if he ever got started on the homemade coffin he got all excited about making last winter. He repeatedly went over detailed instructions with me on the phone on all the ways we are NOT to save his life if it comes down to it. Here you go, something from my private blog awhile back.  Please be advised that the reason I usually put stuff like this in private is because I say horrible things that generally aren't taken well by the public, but it 'splains a lot.

    Tuesday, November 29, 2011

    an Addams Family Christmas

    Back on track. Little tiny chicken in a little tiny pot on the stove, so cute!  Laundry going. Bathed. Ate a big salad for breakfast. Beans for lunch pretty soon. Couple scrabble games with Sal. Discussed Dad's insistence that all us kids sign and notarize his last wishes...

    I think we're way more morbid than the Addams family sometimes. The details are stupid and incredible. I argued with him a couple weeks ago about how we are *not* going to let him lay till he dies if he falls and beaks a hip, that's extreme negligence and any authority would come after us over it. There is no way I'm pulling his gold teeth out of his head *myself*. ~gag~ No, I refuse, don't want that memory, Dad. Nope, not getting in a big fight with anyone because I won't let anyone comfort your cries of pain that will probably last *looking at watch* DAYS while we withhold food and water on top of the injury or illness... What a horrible memory for the grandkids, especially, and we'd have to be outright monsters to do that. I know Julie and John could never live with that kind of guilt. And if you *do* happen to lay there in your bodily wastes before we find you, we are NOT letting you keep laying in them, BUT, I am NOT cleaning you up myself. Either way, that's just nasty.

    Seriously. Yes, I had this conversation with my dad. And apparently he has moved on to Sal.

    So we're digging up paperwork he can fill out as an addendum to the power of attorney we already have, so he can be explicit in all his last wishes. Very explicit. Shockingly explicit. Let me lay in my excrement in horrible agony with no offer of food or water, no matter how long it takes me to die, even if it's not necessarily a life threatening condition unless I simply just can't get up by myself.... I've never even seen him do that to a farm animal if there was a way to either get it up or put it down. He would go hand feed it, even if he was too stupid to call a vet, so I don't know why he thinks we could do this to another human being.

    Sal thinks we should go ahead and dig his hole and give it to him for Christmas.  She's awesome. He wants to be buried super fast, even faster than Mom if possible (right around 12-13 hours for her), and Sal and I are thinking if John's out on the road, he's going to miss the whole thing. I asked Dad if he wants us to open the casket and see if he's really in there, he said just a crack, I said I'll bring a flashlight... He adamantly does not want any kids putting stuff in the casket (preferably a cardboard box...) with him like they did Mom. I'm thinking how cathartic it would be to put in all the stuff he can't bring himself to throw away. Old utensils. 30 year old magazines...

    Well, enough of that yap. Falalalala, as they say this time of year. We're hoping he goes in his sleep just so we won't have to deal with anything, but since this could drag on for years, I'm sure we'll thoroughly discuss it to death long before he ever really croaks off.

    What a charming day I'm having.

    I watched Attack of the Clones yesterday, today I'm about to start Revenge of the Sith. Just need something Christmasy, you know? Keep that ol' holiday spirit going.

    Anyway, we've got it all ironed out, if all he does is simply break a leg and it gets infected because he refuses to go to a doctor and have it set and it swells up all purple and he can't even get around his house to take care of himself, he's now decided that he has the will power to will himself to death before he'd actually die of thirst. And he will lay himself down in his homemade coffin, and if he doesn't answer his phone for awhile and we come over to check on him, we are NOT to touch him or the coffin until he's actually really dead. Then we are still under instruction to get the gold yanked out of his teeth ourselves so the funeral home people don't rip it off, and then get him into the ground ASAP before we call any relatives.

    Personally, just to get even with the guy for all this pre-death stress, I think we should send out invitations to a Macabre Party and throw a huge wake. Maybe angle for gold.

    But in the meantime, I'm kinda looking forward to getting out with my dad for a drive around the countryside. I'll pack some snacky stuff in a cooler and take the camera, and maybe a half a vicodin just in case.

  • cackleberry factory

       Morgana has taken over as lead hen since she started laying.  Very bossy!

     

    All six hens are laying now, bringing in about five eggs a day, just in time to start mixing up cookie doughs and other good stuff to put up into the freezer for holidays.

                                  

     

  • Lexx 1: I Worship His Shadow, part one

    This is part 1.
    Go on to part 2.
    Return to The Lexx.
    Go to main blog.

    "I am Kai, last of the Brunnen G.   Millenia ago, the Brunnen G led humanity to victory in the war against the Insect Civilization.  The Time Prophet predicted that I would be the one to destroy the Divine Order in the League of 20,000 Planets.  Someday, that will happen.  But not today, because today is my day of death- the day our story begins."

    There is no way I can cover the whole first movie with the screen shots I want to highlight, so I'm breaking "I Worship His Shadow" down into several posts.

    Images in this post click back to original sources.  Some images are thumbnailed for loading convenience, they will click back to original source or to full size if it's mine.  I still want to add a little more detail (in some shots the characters might be blurry, but the Insect tech will be more sharp, etc), so I am doing what any fan on the planet can do, I am using my Nikon Coolpix 10X wide FullHD camera to take pix of my Vizio 1080P FullHD TV screen and clipping them down so we can see some really cool stuff (so yeah, you'll see the pause button in some of them).  I'm also running my dvd through the blu-ray.  My only frustration is the room lighting and screen reflections, but overall, I'm pretty satisfied with what I'm doing.  I have equipment, but I like to play.  As fans or as film students, The Lexx series is well worth the extra study because it's so different, fresh, and timeless.  It's incredible what you see frame advancing on pause, because this show sometimes goes so fast, and they don't slow down and explain anything.

    Ok, sorry, back to I Worship His Shadow.

    We open with a battle scene as a few warriors leave Brunnis 2 to take on His Shadow's planet killer, the Foreshadow.  We get more details later in season two's episode "Brigadoon".

    The Brunnen G have Insect technology, but it's never disclosed throughout the series where they got it from or how long they've had it.  All we know in the beginning is that they are an ancient race of romantic dreamers.

       

    Kai is in command of the tiny squadron, and is the only one to evade annihilation and make his way to the Foreshadow's control pod, while Brunnis 2 burns in death throes behind him.

    In a last ditch move, Kai ducks through the power grid and follows one of the Foreshadow's main arms to the central command deck.  This is a very quick but very detailed scene, well worth the frame advance so you can catch his strategy and all the detail along that arm.

    You can see the command center (the control pod Kai is talking about) is at the heart of the Foreshadow and facing toward the planet it is destroying.

    The collision is horrific, and the control pod is, indeed, smashed open to space, the Insect gunner that Kai is piloting shears into pieces and lands upside down, skidding through shards and fire, and Kai is violently thrown out at His Shadow's feet while the control pod shields automatically close to seal off the venting atmosphere and stabilizes the command center.

       

    Although Kai's body is broken and he can't move, he remains defiant with his last ragged breaths.

    Kai: His Shadow.
    HS: His Divine Shadow, yes.
    Kai: The Brunnen G will defeat you.
    HS: I don't think so.  The power of Order has destroyed your planet.  The power of Order will destroy you, and you were the last of the Brunnen G left alive.
    Kai: The Time Prophet has seen your Order destroyed by the Brunnen G.
    HS: The Time Prophet's vision appears to be flawed.

    His Shadow draws a curved dagger and slips it into Kai's body.

    Then His Shadow takes Kai's memories.

    "This last specimen of the now extinct culture of romantic dreamers merits punishment beyond death.  Transport it to the bioscholars."  This Cluster symbol is a big deal, and you find out what it represents in the fourth movie.

    And then His Shadow finds it curious that Kai's shattered ship was an Insect.

    What does it all mean?  Where can it go from here?  The hero is already dead!  The bad guy won only 6 minutes into the movie!

    This is part 1.
    Go on to part 2.
    Return to The Lexx.
    Go to main blog.

  • putting our purple on

     

    Here we go!
     
      
     
    This is the unofficial start of the holiday season for us. cool Every week is a mini party with football and food, and holidays only make it more intense when they roll around. Scott's got 6 fantasy teams this year. I played fantasy a couple years and got too emotionally wrapped up in it, so I stay back and watch. I get way too stressed out to interact well with others. I really think females would kill wars because we would END THEM by stomping everyone FLAT, haha.
     
    So we're kicking off with big yummy breakfast, and filet mignons later, and the weather is going to be nice today so we can have the windows open, Redzone ready to go... 

  • restaurant quality alfredo sauce

    This is hands down the best alfredo sauce I've ever eaten. I originally tried to recreate the tortellini dish from Pasta House, which I've enjoyed for many years, and wound up with something even way better.

     
     
     
    Cook 2-4 strips of bacon till crispy, drain and set aside. Wipe out pan, melt 2-3 T. butter on low heat while you thinly slice 1 small onion and chop enough of your favorite mushrooms to equal the amount of onion. Put those into the pan, grind on some pepper, turn up the heat a little, saute till tender. Turn the heat back down to sorta low, and into the pan add an 8 oz block of cream cheese, 1/2 c. can milk, 1/3-1/2 c. grated parmesan (powdered kind works best), and a tablespoon of garlic powder. As the cream cheese gets soft and you get stuff stirred in, splash in regular milk to thin it out a little, about 1/2 cup. The low heat keeps it all from curdling, so be patient. Crumble the bacon into this mixture, and if you'd like to add a little color, toss in a handful of frozen peas when the sauce is done.
     

     
    At this point you can add anything else you want. I like tortellini, so I heat Buitoni's Cheese and Roasted Garlic Tortellini separately in boiling water, but be careful not to get let your pasta get too tender and soggy so it won't fall apart in the sauce. When it's done, drain well and stir gently into the alfredo sauce. This is also a good time to add precooked shrimp or whatever else takes your fancy.
     

     

  • The Lexx

    You are on the Lexx Index Page.  Images in this post click back to original sources. Scroll down for the Lexx marathon index, Lexx fun stuff, and links to other Lexx sites. This index gets updated regularly.

    If you could fly away on the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes, would you do it?

    One day you're sitting there stuffing your face with tons of fresh meat and growing at a phenomenal rate, like you always do,

    and next thing you know you're being hijacked by a group of rebels and then stolen by escaped prisoners and flown over a stadium full of screaming people. #veryexciting

    Lexx is a very big bug, designed by bioviziers on the Cluster for His Divine Shadow.

    The Lexx is the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes. He likes to blow up planets.

    Lexx can be commanded only by the person who holds the key.

    His Shadow wants the Lexx back, even if he has to defy ancient prophecy to make it happen.

    Welcome to my Lexx episode and character review navigation page. I'll link more Lexx review posts below as I marathon through the four seasons of Lexx this year, so ignore the date up there, this page will get updated a lot. I don't think I've watched any Lexx since 2007, so this will be a trip down memory lane. I have an age rated caution on this blog so I hopefully don't have to moderate comments.

    Lexx Online Marathon

    Lexx Movies, Season 1
    Lexx 1: I Worship His Shadow, part one 9-13-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 2- The Cluster 9-29-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 3- Stanley Tweedle 10-12-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 4- His Divine Shadow 10-22-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 5- The Time Prophet 10-30-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 6- The Big Bug 11-7-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 7- Termination  11-25-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 8- Zev Bellringer  12-1-12
    I Worship His Shadow- part 9- Thodin 1-10-13
    I Worship His Shadow- part 10- the bug bomb 3-13-14

    Lexx TV Series, seasons 2,3,4
    (coming soon, because we can't wait to see Xev, Lyekka, Mantrid, the Milk Fed Boys, Prince, Bunny, Priest, and more!)
    Lexx- Season Two 8-26-13

    My Own Lexx Reviews and Character Articles
    Why Lexx Is Important  12-7-12 (Season and character philosophical breakdown summary.)
    You Can't Handle Watching LEXX 12-30-12
    the sounds of LEXX- info, downloads, soundtracks 1-25-13
    Lexx Review at NerdMovie 2-15-13
    How big is the Lexx? 2-26-13
    Why Lexx Is Personal 3-23-13 :edit: 4-2-13
    The Dark Zone and the Cycles of Time 1-17-14
    Last of the Brunnen-G: Sci-fi's Favorite Zombie 2-3-14
    Heresy in the First Degree- Thodin of the Ostral-B Pair 3-29-15

    Shout Outs
    Janika Banks gets Xanga Bombed 11-2-12
    The Lexx Revival Project 3-19-13 :edit: 4-2-13
    The Dead Do Not Snark 4-9-13
    the coolest LEXX t-shirt in the world 5-14-13
    Ellen Dubin interview with Wormhole Riders 5-26-13 (this page has been removed due to conflict of interest 3-28-16)
    So, Lexx... 9-5-13
    Stats for Lexx fans, and waving to the U.S. AirForce 9-30-13
    Little Lexx 10-7-13
    Where can I watch Lexx?- 4-15-14 Echo Bridge Entertainment followed me
    Lexx on twitter 5-15-14
    Whatever happened to the Line Major? 6-18-14

    Lexx Fun Stuff
    why am I taking so long posting more Lexx?!?! >=(  10-11-12
    prisoner transports over a stadium...  10-11-12
    Lexx- opening sequence  11-13-12
    Any particular reason why Florida?  11-18-12
    "Dare" Lexx Sex Survey 11-18-12
    Lexx and psychological health, perhaps  11-20-12
    Lexx on Droid 11-25-12
    Da Lexx- Rapdicted  11-27-12
    What, NO Lexx???  11-28-12 (Syfy didn't blip Lexx once on their anniversary special.)
    Lexx ecards  12-4-12
    Lexx traffic  12-12-12
    Holiday Lexx  12-14-12
    End of the World  12-21-12
    Lexx on Netflix 12-23-12
    Kai on the River Kwai 12-23-12
    Lexx- wallpapers, icons, pix 12-27-12 (updated 4-9-13)
    glitchy guestbook 1-9-13
    Stanley Tweedle (video) 2-2-13
    3-13-13 3-13-13
    Lexx Twitter Challenge 3-18-13
    the making of Lexx 3-24-13 :edit: 4-2-13
    Lexx actors on twitter and facebook 3-28-13
    Lost Lexx Art 4-12-13
    Print Your Own LEXX Magazine 6-17-13
    But the dark zone is full of depravity and evilness and darkness 11-6-13
    Valentine Lexx 2-4-14

    Finding Lexx
    Watch Lexx Online - TV.com
    Watch Lexx on Hulu
    Watch Lexx Online | Netflix
    Echo Bridge Entertainment - Lexx
    iTunes - TV Shows - Lexx, Season 1
    Amazon.com: lexx: Movies & TV

    Lexxtraneous Stuff
    Group LEXX watch twitter party (#LexxWatch2013 Jan. 19 on twitter pending playoff scheduling) 1-5-13
    LEXX WATCH PARTY 6-15-13
    Lexx fans video chat 12-13-13

    Links to More Lexx (and more to come!)

     Angelbacchae's screen captures > Lexx

     Brian Downey on Facebook

    Debbie Emerson Art Doll Galleries

     Echo Bridge Entertainment - Lexx

    Emerson Art

    Flamegrape's Xev Picture Archive

    Kai, Last of the Brunnen G

    IMDb- Lexx (TV Series 1997–2002)

     Lexx Domain

    photo lexxfanclub.jpg Lexx Fan Club

     Lexx | Get Glue

    photo Lexxlight.jpg Lexx- Light Zone (Russian)

     LEXX Light | 790 (originally written by Janika Banks)

    photo lexxmuseum.jpg LEXX MUSEUM

    photo lexxnet.jpg Lexx Net (Russian fan club)

     LEXX Revival Project

     Lexx Soundboard - Android Apps on Google Play

     Lexx t-shirts by blackdalek | Redbubble

     Lexx wiki dotorg

     Lexxicon wiki dotcom

     Lexxplorations

     Lexxverse

     LexxZone

    photo lexxzonelogo.jpg LexxZone on Tumblr

    Lisa Hynes - IMDb

     Little Lexx Bored

    Nerd Movie- Lexx

    photo norajean.jpg Nora Jean's Lexx Index

    photo sadgeezer.jpg Sadgeezer- Lexx

     Sci-Fi Talk interviews with Brian Downey and Michael McManus

     Sci-Fi Updates Lexx TV Series Wallpapers and Desktops

     Sci-Fi Updates Lexx Gallery

     SF Series and Movies Lexx

     SF Series and Movies Lexx Characters

     SF Series and Movies Lexx Episode Guide

    photo lexxgallerybanner.jpg SR Series and Movies Lexx Gallery

     SF Series and Movies Lexx Info

     ~~* The PIC Bug *~~ Your online source for Lexx screen captures

     Vel's Homepage- Lexx Video Game

     Watch Lexx on Hulu

     Watch Lexx Online | Netflix

     Watch Lexx Online - TV.com

    I no longer archive or follow current events, so I'm not recreating a fansite. This is still just one of my personal blogs. However, after being blown away by 800+ views in only a week when I brought Lexx out of the closet last month, I thought hmm, a lot of people really like Lexx and want more, might be fun to have a little Lexx fling here and there, just for kicks when I get a day off. And if anyone would like to take advantage of my site traffic and pile on, you're welcome to email your Lexx linx and site names to me so other people can get to you while they're here, and I will arrange them alphabetically. I will not link obvious porn or spam, but I will link your art and writing pages if you want. I know, I deleted it all before, why wouldn't I do it again, right? Well, lemme pose you this one- what if an EMP shut down your national grid and you didn't have any technology to see it with for months anyway? Or what if, heaven forbid, 790 showed up and told the Lexx to blow us up? See, I actually had the nerve to do that... But yeah, I don't think it's going away any more.

    :edit: 10-28-12 I'll also be adding links I've used in Lexx posts, and links that have faithfully sent regular traffic to me all these years, even when this site closed and my Lexx stuff disappeared.

    2-5-13 Ok, I give up, it's gotten out of hand, I'm just adding links I run into regardless. There is a LOT of Lexx out there.

    DISCLAIMER- No one is paying me to list here. This site is a personal blog and part time fansite, it's not here to make money. I have never made any money through anything Lexx, and the only money I ever got for a raffle from MegaCon '07 in which I donated all the items involved went 100% to charity. I am happy to list everyone who is a Lexx fan or involved with Lexx in any way.

    3-13-2014: I took about a year off updating my marathon film review posts. Time to come back and work some more on what looks like may turn out to be the biggest Lexx film review in the two universes.

  • visitors

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GrandFortuna

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Please go to Lexxperience.com for updates. This site is not yet EU cookie compliant and being blocked in some countries outside the U.S.

LEXX 20th Anniversary- 2016 photo 20yearssnip.jpg

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Lexx Index

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XANGA IS BACK - a public thank you to the Xanga Team.

photo lexxperienceheader2.jpg Lexxperience.com supports mobile viewing until Xanga gets that going again. (It's back on my Android now when I turn it sideways.)

Lexxperience is also on Facebook photo lexxperiencepageavatar.jpg Public sharing page for Lexx fans.

Open discussion in the Lexxperience group on Facebook if you'd like to interact with me and other fans about what I'm writing about Lexx.

Fanlisting

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SAVE LEXX <-- what's happening with this blog.

I will NEVER ask for or accept donations to keep this site going. Ever.

Laptop screencaps used in not for profit blog episode and character reviews and film study at grandfortuna.xanga.com and lexxperience.blogspot.com Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

My screencaps are hosted at LexxPix. You are welcome to use my bandwidth to share these pix to other sites.

Join registered hashtags #Lexxperience, #Lexx, and mashtag #MerLexxian for real time twitter feed, photos, and videos.

Public hashtag #pblexxpix goes to a shared album in my photobucket. Anything on twitter, instagram, and photobucket labeled with this hashtag will automatically appear in this album as well. You are welcome to use my bandwidth to share these pix to other sites.

Lexx fans have permission to translate and copy my material to other fan sites and hotlink images from this blog.

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web stats

My first tracker was installed in 2004 and broke several times before moving to a new server, which lost a few months of stats, and then Xanga moved to new servers and I lost more stats for more months before the page came back up, so I've lost a total of about two years' worth of stats. The second was installed 2-22-14 and is considered very conservative by business owners who use analytics, which itself is very conservative, estimates being that roughly one third to one half of hits by real live people aren't even counted, most likely due to javascript discrepancies. Actual hits on several posts here are in the thousands now, and the Lexx Index in the ten thousands. I've got pingbacks turned off, so spam isn't counted at all within the Xanga internal tracker, and most direct post hits can be correlated to my real time linking activity on twitter and other social media. When I did Google Analytics beta testing I got to see how search engine performance compares to tracking. I believe live feed linking sources to various social medias are key to a future where search engines are more about performance than cataloging, which has been confirmed to me by coders who create bot algorithms as I was beta testing paper.li. I've fought hard through redundant age-old stacks to make my way to the google front lines again, so my Lexx work shows up faster on Chrome searches now. This has been a really interesting ride. At any rate, my point is, I can still go back 6 years on my original tracker and I can still see that in 2013 just before the last big blog server move, I was getting traffic like this (and since then, the tracker may have been abandoned, we can't tell). Click the thumbnail to see full size.

My original tracker also still lets me see the latest 500 visitors on a map. I once counted over 80 countries among the total visits. You guys are not alone. Click the map to see it better.

Besides Lexx, the most common search phrases that bring new visitors here are variations on 'huge spaceship'. The most seen post from a phrase search is How Big is the Lexx? My biggest Lexx referrer is Lexx Domain. Most of page views per person count comes from the Lexx tag on Tumblr. Visitors who stay the longest come through URLOpener and are pinged through the Google translator server in Mountain View, CA.

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Lexx Index

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Lexxperience photo lexxperienceheader2.jpg

Google+ photo Lexxhangoutpage.jpg

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