... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: June 30, 2008 Site Update – New material added, some things go away, and I appear on the Region 2 AVP-R DVD. Greetings and welcome to this week's... er... month's PSA/site update. As many of you have noticed there has been a drastic decline in my weekly updates here at the site. Fear not! The site is still being worked on. The lack of updates is a result of a few real life happenings that have been having an impact on various personal projects (such as this site). The first was that for several weeks I had become swamped at work - to the point that I was bringing work home. And the time on the train (when most of my work on this site is done) was spent decompressing from my day... or sleeping. Second, was the fact that my wife and I have been expecting the birth of our second baby (the first no longer being a baby anymore as he's currently a very rambunctious 4 year old). So what free time I did have at home was largely spent remodeling and getting things ready for the new arrival. And third: with the birth of our second son on June 4, 2008 my attention has been on my family. So with all that's been going on this latest update has been a little slow going, but I'm happy to say that it is now done, and online. So to answer a few of the questions that have been going around: no - the move to the new server, my staff position at AXP, nor my opionions on the direction of the AVP franchise have had any impact on the lack of updates here at The Essays. The lack of activity here is solely related to what has been going on in my personal life. This is not to say that I haven't been working piece meal on the site since my last update, because I have - it's just taken me a few months to get the this update finished. So what is the new update? Well, for starters: it's not an essay. It's something I've wanted to add to the site since I re-worked the interface and overall design of the site a few years back: a massive collection of screen shots pulled together into image libraries that tie-in to the various essays. In all there are now 23 separate image libraries that pull from a collection of almost 900 different screen shots from the four original ALIEN films. These libraries are accessible via their respective Essays, and are listed in the contents at the top of each page. Some of the images are nothing new, and have been seen floating around the internet for years, others (I'm pleased to say) I have yet to see listed anywhere else (such as the frame by frame study of Murphy getting a face full of alien spit in ALIEN 3). As many of you go though the libraries you will undoubtedly feel that some classic shots have been omitted - this is because I didn't feel that some better known shots had direct relevance to the essays the images were associated with - so you will not find as many screen shots of characters, and such, but more relating to the various stages of development and individual creatures to better illustrate the points of the essays herein. And yes, I captured all of the screen shots used on this site myself. …Another reason why this update was so long in coming. Some additional site-related info is that I've removed inactive links to yet-to be re-written material, and yet-to be written material. As such, references to Essays such as "Feeding Habits," "Communication," and the like have been removed from the list of links in the navigation list to the right and at the bottom of each page. Why? For a few reasons, but I suppose the primary reason is that given the amount of time it takes to research and rewrite material for the site I don't like how the inactive links look. This does not mean that those essays will not be re-worked and eventually be added back into the site's content - they will - I'm just cleaning out some cobwebs and giving the site a more cohesive look and less like the work in progress that it is. Now, in news that is related to the site, but not related to any updates: Yours truly appears in the supplemental material of the AVP-R Region 2 "Ultimate Combat Edition" of the DVD. Rumor has it I also appear on the Region 2 Blu Ray and Region 4 DVD as well, but I don't have any confirmed info on that. You can find me in the "Science of the Xenomorph" and "Science of the Hunter" pieces. Each is 10 minute pieces hat revolve around the theoretical science behind the alien and the Predator, and between the two pieces I have about 2 minutes of on-screen time. The interviews were recorded on October 19, 2007 (2 months prior to the US release of the film). A big, big "Thank you" goes out to Jeff Eggleston (Producer), Troy Benjamin (Production Coordinator), Dorthe Peterson (Liaison to Fox at Trailer Park Studios), and Darkness over at AVPG for all making this happen, and making my trip out to Los Angeles a great one. I am going to try and continue to maintain regular PSA's - I do have new essays that are being worked on, and I will be re-writing the DNA Reflex (which has no bearing on the AVP films - I want to deal with some new ideas that have come to mind)... which is a major undertaking. However, I have another project that I want to get to, which will pull from my time on this site: a site dedicated to the memory of my father and his time in the US Air Force while stationed in Thailand during Vietnam. As a result I will be shifting my focus for a little while. Until the next update This is Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: March 19, 2008 Site Update – Hive Essay Now Online and The Anchorpoint Essays Move to a New Home. Well, after much talk over the past couple of months the Hive essay is now online and part of the Anchorpoint Essays' line up once again. It has been completely re-written, and takes into consideration some changes in thought regarding the hive, its use by the aliens, how it's constructed, and... well, you're just going to have to read it. I also have to give thanks to three people who acted as major points of inspiration with this essay. Scott Middlebrook, Darryl Baker, and Will Ames. Through conversations at AXP both Scott and Darryl sparked major points of inspiration. I credit the idea of the hive expanding on its own, and essentially "growing" to Scott. His idea, which was only a few lines of text, spawned thoughts and ideas that cover nearly half of the current essay. And Darryl made an equally brief, but potent, comment about the possibility of the hive somehow being linked to the aliens' own senses - thereby expanding their sensory network. This set my mind in motion and I very quickly had entwined both Scott's and Darryl's ideas into one larger theory. Without their inspiration I can say that the Hive essay would be a great deal shorter than it is now. Thank you, guys. Will, once again, played the role of advisor for some of the trickier aspects of the Essay. His input and guidance really helped pull together the idea of the aliens utilizing an environment's native bacteria to aid in building the hive structure. So a big "thank you" goes out to Will, as well. And since I'm handing out "thanks" I need to acknowledge Pete O'Connor of Alien Experience, and give him a very big "Thank you" for helping out the Anchorpoint Essays by offering it a new home. He was kind enough to offer space on the AXP servers to help house The Essays. As of March 18, 2008 this site was officially running from it new, and most spacious living quarters. Thanks, Pete! So, what about the weekly updates? Well, the intention is still there, but I've been keeping very busy with work and at home. I have several personal projects pruning at home, and I've actually been bringing work home these past few weeks, so I've been missing my Weekly Updates. When things calm down I will start up with the PSAs again. And what's next for The Essays? It's not an essay. I do have some work on the Social Aspects essay done, and this will be the next essay to see work, but my immediate plan is to focus on something a little different for the site. Something I've been thinking about adding for a long time, and now that the site has the server space I'm going to see it through and get it on the site. I think it will add to the scope of the site, and make it feel more like an element of corporate research, rather than a group of theoretical White Papers. Until next time. This is Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: February 22, 2008 Weekly Update – PSA: Busy, Busy Busy. Greetings and welcome to this week's PSA. Talk about being late! It's been almost a month. I've found myself really busy these past few weeks between dismantling my study at home/creating a nursery, work (both at the office and home), becoming a board moderator over at Alien Experience, and throw into the mix my laptop has been acting up and is need of repair. My wife and I are expecting our second baby, so what is currently our study will become the baby's room. Which means all my stuff now needs to find a new home elsewhere in the house. And this includes my computer and all of its peripherals! We purchased a smaller desk, so in the coming weeks my computer/office will make the transition to its new location downstairs. Once that happens the soon-to-be-nursery will be repainted and populated with new furniture. It's the process of dong all of this that is getting to be quite time consuming. And my laptop is in need of repair... how does this effect the site? This is were the bulk of my work on the site has been done lately as I commute to and from work each day. So without it my advancements for the site have slowed. Did I mention board moderator at Alien Experience? I'm now the Moderator of the Bio Weapons Division - a board dedicated to the discussions and theories related to Alien and Predator biology, behavior, social structure, culture and technology. Something that I'm very excited about. And a big "thank you" to Hicks, and the rest of the global moderating staff for the nod. I won't let you down. So where does that leave The Essays? Well believe it or not the Hive Essay is near completion. I am at a point where I need to give it a good proofing and double check some of my ideas, and then it's ready for upload. So it should be up on the site in the very near future. I don't want to offer and set dates for an upload, but suffice to say it will be soon. Until next week, This is Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: January 26, 2008 Weekly Update – PSA: On Track and Doing Research. Greetings and welcome to this week's PSA. My apologies for being a week late. OK, so... Where am I with the site? Good question. The Hive Essay is still in production. I know that many of you are chomping at the bit for new material, and I'm working on adding more. The really time consuming part of this site is not so much the writing, but the research that goes into each essay. I have to work out an idea for an essay, outline various theories that are applicable, and then do the research to flesh out the ideas and see if they work or not. And invariably additional theories come to mind as I'm doing research. And being that there is no team for this site - it's just me - I have to do all of the footwork in digging up info. There are a couple of people that I occasionally bounce ideas off of to make sure I'm not totally off in left field when it comes to some of the more esoteric and theoretical material. …There's always someone who knows more about something than I do, so if I've worked out an idea, or even having a tough time hammering one out, I'll touch base with them and get some feedback. At which point I usually have to go back and make revisions to a theory... which has a trickle-down effect since there are usually other things tied into that theory. So the creation of an essay is not as short as I'd like it to be - unfortunately. So, with all of that being said: the Hive essay is moving along. I've slowed down a little to research the plausibility of the theories, but it's still progressing. I also did a little work on the Sensory Abilities Essay this past week as well, following a post I made to AVPGalaxy.com. That post got me thinking, so I put down some ideas in that area. I've been getting a lot of questions as to how much material regarding AVP-R will be added to the site - in short: not much. As I've said in previous PSA's there will be a section relating to "pre-history" (which is any event that took place prior to the film ALIEN). Originally my plan for AVP had been about a week's worth of recording transcripts from Weyland Industries' interrogation of Lex following her being picked up from the Piper Maru. And I had about 30+ pages written for this in MS Word. But since AVP-R took place about 24 hours after the end of AVP that put a major crimp in my material. And being that everyone dies (except Lex) and nearly all of the material brought to the site was destroyed in the blast there would be little left for analysis. The same goes for AVP-R: nearly everyone dies, evidence of the alien is wiped out in the blast, and OWLF only had a shot of the aliens' teeth as evidence of something being in Gunnison. Also, there’s the fact that I honestly see AVP as its own franchise, and quite separate from the ALIEN franchise. ...So, for those reasons I will be making my inclusion of AVP material relatively minimal. Yes, they are still Alien films, but they are a different form of alien films based only loosely on the parent franchises of ALIEN and PREDATOR. AVP has about as much to do with ALIEN as KING KONG VS. GODZILLA does with KING KONG. So I’ll be keeping AVP related references to the minimum. I think that pretty much wraps up my thoughts for this week. Until next week, This is Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: January 12, 2008 Weekly Update – PSA: ...I'm at a loss for why I'm at a loss Greetings and welcome to this week's PSA. As I mentioned last week, Chris "FNG" Chulamanis - a figure well known in the modeling and Colonial Marine community - had a major heart attack on January 2, 2008. Over the course of the past week Chris had made small but positive progressions: His condition went from critical to stable, and he had begun to show signs of responsiveness. However, despite his progressions his doctors remained wary. On January 10, 2008 at 18:00 GMT Chris passed away while under the care of doctors at Parker Adventist Hospital, Parker, Colorado. Chris was an outgoing, gentle, friendly, and caring individual. He was a loving husband, Vietnam veteran, a friend to many, and for many years an integral part of the Colonial Marine community, making yearly trips to DragonCon with fellow Marines, and a regular fixture on The ALIENS Legacy forums. He was always willing to lend a hand, or words of support. After reopening The Anchorpoint Essays Chris was one of the first people to contact me, and welcome me back. During is time in Vietnam (April 1970 - April 1971) SPC 5 Chulamanis was an Army Salvage Diver. Trained by the US Navy, in San Diego, in 1969, Chris was a member of class # 6902 - which graduated Diver Training in May of 1969. One year later he was deployed to Vietnam, where he was housed on a self-propelled dive barge, which was tied to a sea wall. Chris was fortunate enough to be in a place, at a time, which was relatively quite – as far as combat is concerned. By and large, the only dangers he, and his team, faced were those underwater in the dark. This is not to say that Chris was totally removed from combat. His dive barge was close enough to the theater of combat that at night he could sometimes hear explosions, or watch red tracer rounds cut through the sky. So, needless to say everyone in his team took guard duty very seriously. Chris tells of having a “nasty sawed off shotgun” as back up for the guy on guard duty. …Conjures an image of Cpl. Hicks: “I like to keep this handy… for close encounters.” As with everything that Chris seemed to do, he enjoyed his time as a salvage diver with the US Army. Chris was one of those people who could be counted on for finding the light in every situation, and spreading it to others. Chris will be missed, and his memory and presence will be forever felt within the ALIENS and Colonial Marine communities. I cannot express the feeling of loss and regret that I have over loosing someone like Chris. However, what I feel is nothing in comparison to that felt by his family and those who were closer to him than I. My heart, and condolences, go out to his wife Joy, and those who had the honor of knowing him longer than I. Chris’s wife, Joy, has mentioned that she would like his USCM armor to be on display at the 2008 DragonCon. Personally, I think this is very fitting. He made a yearly effort to be there with his fellow Colonial Marines, and it was an event he looked forward to all year long. In honor of Chris I will not be making a general PSA regarding the site's progress and status this week. Such reports will resume next week. You put up a good fight, my friend, and now the greatest adventure lies ahead. God Speed, soldier. Oorah! Via con dios, This is Mike Lynch signing off.
>> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: January 5, 2008 Weekly Update – PSA: Sad News. Greetings and welcome to this week's PSA. As much as I wish I didn't have to start out on a sad note, but I feel that I must. Chris "FNG" Chulamanis, of The ALIENS Legacy forums, suffered a major heart attack on Wednesday, January 2. He is currently in the hospital, and sadly, things are not looking good. Chris is widely known among the USCM costume and prop community. He's always been a supporting figure, and one who is eager to help out anyone who had a question or problem. And anyone who knows Chris knows he's a warm, outgoing, and caring individual. He's also known for supplying the USCM community with extremely well crafted USCM props that he's created. ...To say he's a talented man is a bit of an understatement. The fact that his scratch built 1/6 scale APC recently made the cover of the "Sci-Fi Fantasy Modeler" magazine is a testament to his talents, and an achievement that was long over due, in my opinion. I'm not really much of a praying man, but right now my hopes, thoughts and prayers are with him and his wife, Joy. God's speed, my friend, and here's to a speedy recovery. I look forward to seeing you on the forums again, and to continue our email conversation. It's actually hard to talk about the site following news of Chris, but I feel I should close this weeks PSA on an upward beat. ...This past week started out pretty slow with regards to work on the site, but Wednesday evening things suddenly picked up. I'd run into a small problem that I was having difficulty thinking through with regards to the Hive Essay. But while I was on my commute home I had a sudden idea, and I found my small problem to be a big new direction. So once again I'm on track and the Hive Essay is blossoming. I don't want to jinx myself, but in light of the hell that became the Exoskeleton Essay (months upon months of research and then months upon months of writing and re-writing) the Hive Essay is moving along very nicely. There are places that obviously need to be smoothed over, and some ideas that need to be fleshed out a little, but considering how far along I am in this essay at this point I'm rather excited about it. The Social Behavior Essay is coming along a little slower since I'm really focusing on the Hive Essay at the moment. Plus there is a little more research that needs to be done there. Until next week, This is Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: December 29, 2007 Weekly Update – PSA: Plans for AVP-R and AVP. The Hive and Social Behavior Essays. Greetings, and welcome to this week's PSA. I'm going to speak on AVP-R only briefly at this point, as I'm still digesting it. I will be including it in The Essays, but it's likely to not be until after it's released on DVD. This way I can give it a more thorough watching and get my screen captures. How does AVP-R alter my directions for AVP? I'm not sure yet. However, I will say that I'm questioning how much of an entry AVP will get at this point. The events of the first film occurred in an isolated location with no means of recording the events that took place, and much of the evidence of it's occurrence were either destroyed or carted away on a space ship. Lex was the only survivor of a 24 person team, and all she had to show for her experience was the spear she was given and a brand on her check... and given that AVP-R's opening is a day, or so, after the close of AVP and the government and the military were brought into the confrontation its events would greatly overshadow anything that Lex would have told anyone in debriefing. Even with the death of Charles Weyland. ...So AVP may wind up being nothing more that a footnote in comparison to AVP-R here at The Essays. Also, so as not to disrupt the continuity of the existing portions of the site (which are based on the original four ALIEN films) any and all AVP related material will be added to a 'Pre-History' section of the site. 'Pre-History' meaning simply anything that occurred prior to the events in ALIEN and Weyland-Yutani's active involvement in trying to acquire the alien. I would say 'prior to the existence of Weyland-Yutani' but for all I know The Company may come into existence in the next AVP film. And, yes, I think there will be a third. So, what have I been working on this past week? The Hive essay and the Social Behavior essay. Actually, I've been really biting deep and hard in to the Hive essay, so it's coming along nicely. The research is the only part that is slowing down the process of writing at all. But by and large I'm pleased with what I have so far - considering I've only been working on it since Wednesday of this week (I didn't get much done on the site over the Christmas holiday). The Social Behavior
essay is in its early stages, but the framework of the piece is taking
shape. Here again, as with the Hive essay, I'm starting from scratch.
I read over the material that I used to have up on the site and didn't
like it. I didn't agree with any of my previous thoughts on the matter.
...So I'm scrapping it in favor of new material. Until next week, Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: December 23, 2007 Weekly Update – PSA, AVP-R, AVP, The Hive, and Happy Holidays. Greetings, and welcome to this week’s PSA. My apologies for being three days late on this one, but between the holidays, and having to bring work home this week I haven’t been able to get this posted. Which brings me to my first bit of news: Starting next week all future weekly updates will be posted on Friday nights/Saturday mornings. So next week’s update will be posted on the 28th/29th. Well, here we are: 2 days until the official US release of AVP-R. Am I excited? Yes. And for combined reasons: the first is that this film looks like it will actually be an entertaining popcorn munching romp. I’m not looking for high art, or even something close to ALIENS… logically I can’t expect anything like that from a ‘vs’ film, but I am looking forward to an entertaining ride. And the second reason is a more personal one… and that is all I will say on that (for now). Actually, the release of AVP-R brings me to my next subject: the vexing AVP section that I’ve been working on. I had worked out a new direction for the section that helped with my creative block… however, being that the opening sequences of AVP-R take place within 24-36 hours of the end of the previous film my idea for the AVP section has been squashed, since it relied on having more than a day to investigate the explosion in Antarctica, the loss if 23 people (including Charles Weyland), and the survival of a single person found with a weapon of unknown origin. Shortening this window means that a great majority of what I had done would not work… So it appears that I’m going back the drawing board on this one. Not that this is a bad thing necessarily, just a creative hurdle. At this point I’m going to wait until after I’ve seen AVP-R (most likely on the 29th) and digest it before I decide how I’m going to deal with the elusive AVP section. With that in mind I’ve removed any and all references to AVP from the site… not that there were that many to begin with. Basically, until I have a definitive direction for the material I don’t want any of it on the site. So where does that leave me, and the site, at the moment? Well, I’ve spent my commute over the past few days hammering out revisions to the Hive Essay. Actually, to say they are ‘revisions’ is not entirely accurate – more like ‘re-writing’ the Hive Essay. Remember, some of the ideas in this essay were 10 years old… and in dire need of reworking. Why the Hive Essay? Because that’s where my thoughts have been leaning for the past month or, so. I’ve also had some interesting conversations over at AXP recently with regard to hive construction and its uses beyond that of breeding and colonized habitation. On that note I’m off to take care of wrapping the last if my Christmas presents. Happy holidays, everyone, and I’ll see you next week. Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: December 13, 2007 Weekly Update – PSA, A Slow Week... Sorry Welcome to this week’s PSA. Unfortunately, there isn't much to report on this week. Since last Friday I've been taking it slow with the upcoming AVP section. I seem to have hit a bit of a creative wall, and the flow of information isn't as smooth as it was earlier. Apparently some of my latest additions altered the pacing and over all flow. ...Go figure. Well, I've been taking a "hands off" approach for much of this week to let my head clear. I'll be heading back to it in a couple of days to see if I can smooth out the rough spots that have cropped up, and breech this creative wall that's popped up. Well, until next week folks. Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: December 6, 2007 Weekly Update – PSA, Weekly Updates and the AVP Section Grows Greetings, greetings, greetings, and welcome to this week’s PSA. …All be it a day late. I was going to post last night for this morning, but after I put my son to bed I crashed and didn't get up until the alarm started yelling at me. Hence the lack of a Weekly update at the usual time. Which actually brings me to my first topic: When do the Weekly Updates get posted? Thursday morning (my local time – which is GMT -5 hours). Why Thursday? Well, the reason is pretty simple: that’s the day I started. Well, not really. I started on a Wednesday night, but by the time I get to posting the update it’s around 11:00pm/12:00am, so it becomes Thursday morning. There’s really no other reason for it. Next topic: the AVP update. It continues to grow. As of this evening it’s at a whopping 30 pages (in it’s current form as a MS Word doc), so don’t expect a quick read on this one folks. It’s current length puts well over the Exoskeleton Essay, which was 12 pages long in Word. How could it be so long? Well, it all has to do with how the information is being handled. It’s not that I find the film to be so enthralling that I can’t stop talking about it, but rather constructing a believable environment, scenario, and flow of information. I know: why bother, considering the movie didn’t put too much effort into such things. Basically, if I add material to my site I want it to be worthwhile. Both in creation, and in the time you spend reading it. Granted, I can’t please everyone, and I know that I don’t, but I want to be happy with my creation, and I want those of you who look to this site for entertainment and information to be pleased as well. Actually, I had been in the process of proofing the new material when I started finding places that could stand to be added upon. …Well, 8 pages later I’m still finding little nooks and crannies that need to be fleshed out. At the rate I’m going it may be well over 40 pages (in Word) by the time I finally post it. Well, until next week folks. Mike Lynch signing off. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: November 29, 2007 Weekly Update – PSA, AVP Essay, Commuting, and a brief history of te site The AVP section is really coming along nicely. Since I acquired a laptop last week I've been spending much of my commute plugging away at material for the site. And that averages out to a little over two hours a day. So at this point the AVP section is about 2/3 done - the bulk of the information is done, I just need to go back and add some additional info to round it out, and then proof and edit the piece. I have to say that so far I'm pleased with it - I hope you are too. I realize I can't please everyone, but AVP is a difficult topic to breech since the Alien fan base has such an overwhelming dislike for the film. So I find myself asking "how would I want the prospect of and AVP section handled and resolved?" I have a feeling my approach will ruffle some feathers among fans of the site, since the format will vary so greatly from what I've been doing here for years. But, all I can say is tat I've thought about this long and hard, and the manner in which I'm handling AVP is the best, in my mind, for this site. There are so many continuity errors between AVP and its preceding films that using the same treatment as the rest of the site would throw existing elements into disarray. Anyway, that being said I don't foresee it taking too much longer to complete the AVP section. I'm not going to lay down any dates just yet, but it won't bee long now. Speaking of writing on the train... I've actually caught a few people reading what's on the screen as I work. Not that I think they know what's for, but I wonder what they think as they read it. And lastly, I just wanted to explain why the site has a birth date of January 31, 1997 and it's not complete. For those of you who don't remember what the site was like before, sit back, grab a pint, and listen. The Anchorpoint Essays have not been incomplete for the past 10 years. On the contrary - they were complete for a grand total of 7. When I originally created the site it was only 8 pages deep, and I didn't upload any of it until it was done, So, its finial phase was that of a complete site. Over the next year I added essays to the line up, and by January of 1998 the site was as complete as I wanted... and there it sat... and sat. The Anchorpoint Essays were not updated or added on to from 1998 to 2004. At that time I began to put down some of the new and/or re-worked theories into writing. I also decided to change the over all look for the site. As I began to re-work the Essays I realized that some essays needed to be scrapped completely and rewritten. As this occurred it quickly became apparent that if I left unfinished, or old, essays up on the site there would be continuity issues as well as flow problems (meaning the flow of information would not feel natural). So I took down any essays that were no yet done. Which brings us to today. So the Anchorpoint Essays has only been without a complete line up of material since 2004. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: November 21, 2007 Weekly Update – PSA ...A week late Welcome to this week's PSA, and my apologies for missing last week's. My mother had surgery, and it turned me upside down last week. As a result I didn't work on the site, I disappeared from several of the forums I belong to (both work related and personal), and I didn't keep up with my e-mail (which I'm still catching up on - so if you haven't heard from me yet just be patient, I'll get there). However all is well, my mother's doing much better, and she's looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow. ...She won't be preparing any food, but she'll be there to partake and give thanks. Which we're all thankful for. This week I've been making up for my lack of attention towards the site in spades! I just acquired a laptop, and I've been spending my commute on the train immersed in writing material for the site. The AVP section has really blossomed, and I'm quite pleased with its progress. As usual: it's not light on the copy, so once it's done it'll occupy quite a bit of reading time, but hopefully you'll find it to be time well spent. To all celebrating a holiday this week: Have a very Happy Holiday, and I'll see you here next week. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: November 7, 2007 Weekly Update – PSA, Reaching Far and Wide, and Donations! Welcome to this week's PSA. Well, aside from putting in some more work on the AVP section I've also found myself working on various other essays as well, such as the Hive, Feeding Habits, Social Aspects, and the Communication Essays. And I've put in some work on a huge pictorial database! Generally, I try to work on a given essay before moving on to another, but this week my brain has been working over time. So, how much of the site will be up by the opening of AVP-R? I can't say. But truth be told: I'm not trying to meet the new film's release date for completing any part of the site. It would be nice if the AVP section could be done by then, but I'm not going to rush anything. And I just want to extend a big thank you to everyone whose taken the time to write me since I re-opened the site. It's been greatly appreciated. Which brings me to another topic: Donations. I have never asked for money to help run this site... actually it never even occurred to me, but in the past couple of weeks I've received three different requests offering donations. I have to say I'm really touched to know that people want to help, and are willing to help pay for the site's hosting costs. However, as much as I appreciate the gestures I am not accepting donations. The cost to maintain this site is relatively small, and even with the amount of traffic I get I have yet to come close to my maximum bandwidth restrictions. And on the off chance that I need to seek alternative hosting options due to bandwidth usage I have options to seek out. So, even though I'm not accepting donations I just want to say: Thank you. You guys are awesome! >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: October 31, 2007 Weekly Update – Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween everyone! And welcome to this week's PSA. I've found a direction for adding AVP to the site. As I mentioned last week - all AVP related material will fall under its own section, and now that I have a format and direction that material is being written. I should say now that it's format will be drastically different than what is elsewhere on the site. It will also contain very little in the way of analysis and exposition - so consider yourself warned. This is not to say that it will be short, because it wont. It's already turning out to be longer than I had expected. It will also be very sparse on images - and when I say "very sparse," I mean "very sparse." So what about the rest of the site? That's progressing too. Slowly - because I want to get AVP up before I go back the rest - but progressing. Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: October 24, 2007 Weekly Update – AVP Material and Domain Names I've decided to start making weekly updates... even if they turn out to be Public Service Announcements - much like today's. Advancements in AVP screen caps are being made, but I had to put a brief hold on it to take care of some work. I've also made a decision which will effect how AVP material will be dealt with on the site: it will be going in it's own section. This means that the AVP related material in the newly uploaded Exoskeleton Essay will be moved to a different area - once it's up and running. I'm still in the process of deciding how this separate area will unfold, but one thing at a time. Why put AVP related material in a different section? Well, the idea is that the events in AVP and AVP-R happen before the Weyland-Yutani merger, and most likely before Sweatband Industries or Yutani Corp. had considered the prospect of an extraterritorial as a biological weapon. Also the means of recording the events would not have been as well developed and/or implemented as they were in the later years (circa: the events on the Nostromo, and LV-426). As such, records would be sketchy, incomplete, most likely inaccurate in areas (or at least very difficult to validate), as well as various bits of information would have either been lost or destroyed over the years (intentionally or otherwise). So since the pre W-Y info would be of an incomplete and unverifiable nature it wouldn't be included with the rest of the essays - it would have it's own section. Another little tid-bit of news: you now have two ways of getting to The Essays. I recently parked a new Domain name on the site: theanchorpointessays.com. The primary domain is still anchorpointessays.com, and my email address is still associated with that domain, I've just added a second domain and parked it on the site as well. Why bother? Well it's come to my attention that some folks have been looking for the site under the domain of theanchorpointessays.com - and the reason is understandable: it's the name of the site... so in a moment of generosity I added the second domain. It's still he same site, it's still on the same server, it's just a second way of getting here. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: October 10, 2007 Exoskeleton Essay Now Online It only took a little over two years to finally get the near-mythical Exoskeleton Essay online, but here it is for your enjoyment. This essay proved to be the toughest of all of the essays to date to create. Between the research, it's length, and multiple drafts, it turned into a beast of a piece, but I wanted to get it up on the site as another way of saying thanks to the fans who convinced me to re-open the site. Many thanks go out to William Ames and Keiron Summers for their input, feedback, support, and inspiration when it came to this Essay. Now, some of you may notice that I've included information about AVP in this new essay, but there are no images from the film. This is because my collection of AVP stills was lost to a hard drive failure, so I need to re-capture various images. This is actually going to be my next order of business, and once the captures are done I'll start adding them to the site. I've also made a few other modifications to the site as well - most will be invisible to the casual visitor, so I won't bore you with listing all of those. However, I have updated the Links by adding some new sites to the list, as well as cleaning out some of the dead links. I've also included a page of Anchorpoint Essays Banners for those of you who wish to use those as a means of linking to the Essays. And for those of you who prefer buttons/micro-banners I will be creating a couple for you to use as well in the near future. >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... >> Time Stamp: October 2, 2007 Back By Popular Demand! After several months of being closed, and numerous emails from those who tracked me down I'm going to give this another go. I initially created the Essays so that I could have the kind of ALIENS site that I had always wanted, but never found. So this site had been an act of self-indulgence, but something I hadn't realized is that over the years this site had become not just my site, but your site as well. You, the fans of the ALIENS saga, are what keeps sites like this going. And it was you who convinced me to reopen the site and give it another try. Besides... with comments like this how could I not give it another try: "You gave so much to the ALIENS community over the past 10 years, perhaps more than you realize. You changed the way many of us think, perceive the Alien, and even how we watch the movies. Your imagination changed the face of the Alien forever." ...Thanks Matthew! I'm not sure how much I really changed the slime covered mug of our favorite Xenomorph, but the numerous other sentiments that echoed Matthew are what brought this site back. So I thank you all once again. So what have I been up to since February? Quite a bit, actually. The short version of it is I was laid off, planned on going full-time freelance, and wound up being offered a job to not only start-up, but head, an in-house CG department for a comp house in New York City. Which means I've been doing a lot of Industrial Design/Product Vis - which is right up my alley! Our pipeline consist of LightWave, Modo, After Effects, and Photoshop... again - right up my alley! So I now have a healthy commute, and I've been busy getting the department on its feet, producing work... and well, you get the idea. :) >> End of entry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Home
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