X-Files Playlist (Okay, Okay, it's Really a Mulder and Scully Playlist) [UPDATED]

Like the title says, it's a little bit X-Files, but mostly for Mulder and Scully. Cast off and set sail on one of the greatest 'ships of all time with this playlist. Enjoy everyone!

•People Are Strange - The Doors
•Magic - Coldplay
•Counting [Remix] - Autre Ne Veut
•Walking After You - Foo Fighters
•Undisclosed Desires - Muse
•The Different - Melissa Etheridge

UPDATE: Oh how my little playlist has grown! I dug into the actual music that has been used on the show, both original stuff by Mark Snow and tracks borrowed from other artists and man oh man did I get INSPIRED! I even wrote a great new description for it on my Beats Music profile: 

Set sail on the good ship Mulder and Scully and relive all the spooky strange fun of the X-Files with this playlist featuring songs from the show and films as well as some of my own picks.

 New additions are as follows:

• X-Files Theme (UNKLE Variation on a Theme...) - Mark Snow
• Adflatus - Mark Snow
• Scully's Serenade - Joohyun Park
• The Sky Is Broken - Moby
• My Weakness - Moby
• Breathe In Me - Liquid Mind
• Love Theme - Jack Wall
• I Was Lost Without You - (Mass Effect 3 Soundtrack)
• M4 Pt. 2 - Faunts
• Credits - Faunts (Mass Effect 3 Soundtrack)
• Home Again - Mark Snow
• Walking in Memphis - Cher
• Madness - Muse
• Space is Only Noise if You Can See - Nicolas Jaar
• One - Filter
• More Than This - The Cure
• Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
• Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darin
• Chantilly Lace - Big Bopper
• Hey Man, Nice Shot - Filter
• Unmarked Helicopters - Soul Coughing
• Twilight Time - The Platters
• Gwely Mernans - Aphex Twin

Note: The order of the songs is pretty important up through 'Madness'. It works best if you listen to them that way!

X-Phile Ritual

I have always been absolutely crazy about the X-Files. To this day, I believe it is still one of the best shows ever to be broadcast on television (yes even seasons 8 and 9...don't hate!). I recently finished a watch-through of all nine seasons AND the two movies (that's over two-hundred episodes!) and when I got to the end I was ready to watch it again! I had unknowingly re-stoked the fires of a mania that is rarely experienced in this day and age of ho-hum television.

As I just mentioned, I have just finished a complete rewatch. This came about when I noticed that the entire show had been made available on Netflix instant watch. I jumped on the opportunity because for some reason that I really have yet to understand, I have never owned the X-Files on DVD or any other format. It was my first time seeing the show since the frequent reruns that used to air on FX. I fell in love with the show all over again, and I fell HARD. My immediate resolution after this rewatch was to own the entirety of the X-Files on some kind of physical media. Such was my re-ignited passion for this amazing show, that I could not trust it to the whims of Netflix licensing. Oh no that would not do at all.

I should preface this next part of the story by relating that, while I did not own the X-Files, the complete series set HAS been sitting on my Amazon wish list for ages...I just couldn't afford them. I was in grave danger of succumbing anyway after my Netflix rewatch. One day I was out shopping and to my surprise discovered the season 1 and 2 DVD sets for a mere $12 each! YES! I snatched them up and like a good little addict holed up and proceeded to watch the entire show over yet again. The deal I've made with myself is that every month I will buy one season set until I FINALLY own all nine! This deal has worked out fantastically, as the price of these sets has finally come down to a reasonable level.

As of right now I have been in somewhat of a budgetary holding pattern. I was nearly finished with season 7 when the need to use some money for GRID Autosport came along, and so I forfeited my purchase of season 8 this last month and reached the end of season 7 all too quickly. This holding pattern could have been agonizing, but it actually forced me into the discovery of something super awesome, which brings me to the real purpose of this post.

Something that I really enjoy is listening to podcasts about shows and subjects that I am interested in. While I wait to purchase my season 8 set and get on with my watch-a-thon, I thought to myself I wonder if there are any good X-Files podcasts out there? This was quickly followed by the thought Hey, wouldn't it be fun to go back to the beginning of the show and listen to a bunch of great podcasts about each episode as I watch along? It has been a wonderfully rewarding epiphany!

This is the ritual that I have developed as I go through the show yet again, this time absorbing all the musings of other Philes from all over the internet. I wanted to share with all of the you the blogs and podcast that I have found. Hopefully they will heighten your enjoyment the same way they have for me.

1. Listen to my favorite review/recap podcasts about the given episode

• X-Files Truth Podcast
• Re-Opening the X-Files

2.Watch the episode

3. Read the blog entry about the episode

• Musings of an X-Phile
• My X-Files Truth
• Re-Opening the X-Files (TOR.com Feature Blog)

4. Listen two a couple of hilarious recap podcasts about the given episode

• Kumail Nanjiani's The X-Files Files
• Intro to X

In a nutshell, I'm reviewing what the episode is about and marking off in my mind the cool little things to watch for or see what people like/don't like about an episode so I can watch for it. Then I watch the episode with the info from the recaps and reviews in mind. I read the blogs for more insights and info with the hindsight of having watched the episode and then I cleanse my palette with the humor found in the other two podcasts, because the jokes are even funnier after the episode is fresh in your mind from having just watched it!

Unfortunately some of these great sources seem to have been abandoned. Musings of an X-Phile sadly stops after the first couple episodes of season 7 (the last post was in 2012) and Re-Opening the X-Files stops at the episode Anasazi (last podcast was February of 2012). The good news is that the others are currently active, and brand new in the case of the X-Files Files podcast, which just got underway last month.

Of course when I get my season 8 set I will be busy with marathoning my way through it, but I will also be able to look forward to going back to my methodical rewatch that follows along with these great podcasts until I can get season 9. It will also be there to console me when its all over and I've read the last page of my X-Files Season 10 comics.

If you're wondering, I am downloading and saving all these podcasts so that when I'm ready, I can do this whole process all over again someday. I never get tired of following Mulder and Scully, watching their journey together, and digging into the minutiae of the show. Definitely one of my all time favorite shows, and two of my all time favorite characters, EVER. I highly recommend that you give this new viewing ritual that I've discovered a try.

The truth is out there...

Monaco Grand Prix 2014 Playlist

A nice little playlist I put together for my favorite race weekend of the year. Enjoy!

Can't Kill Us - The Glitch Mob
Alive (Zedd Remix) - Empire of the Sun & Zedd
Modern World - Joelistics
When the Rain Is Gone - Adam F
Pressure - Tensnake
Gimme Some Lovin' - Spencer Davis Group
The Power - DJ Fresh
Wild For the Night - A$AP Rocky
Voltage - Danny Avila
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked (Ahab Remix) - Cage the Elephant
Houdini (RAC Mix) - Foster the People

Custom Halo Reach Spartan Update #6

I don't usually do the New Years resolution thing, but this year I made the commitment to work on this a little bit every weekend until it gets finished.

Primer on the arms and helmet is now done, which was the last bit of priming I had left. Onward to color! Woo hoo!

Click the 'Custom Halo Reach Spartan' link below to see more posts about this project, or 'Custom Figures' to view posts about all my custom figure projects.

Find a Crew, Find a Job, Keep Flying...

I had a most excellent Christmas this year, one of my best gifts being the Firefly board game that my mom and best buddy went in on together to get me. I've been having a lot of fun "practicing" by playing the single player rules game, but its definitely a practice mode that is not as dynamic or exciting as the full multiplayer experience. So I decided that since I was spending this New Years at home, it would be a great time to break the game out to play for reals with another person, namely my mom, who by the way is as big a Firefly fan as I am.

The best way I can describe the game is that its like a D&D role play game, but played with simpler board game mechanics, which work very well. The game does a great job of mimicking travelling the 'verse doing jobs to get paid so you can keep your crew paid and your ship flying. You can play it straight, dabble with illegal jobs, misbehave, and just be flat out immoral if that's your cup of tea. Misbehaving and immorality certainly have their rewards when it comes to pay, but I find the risk often outweighs the potential reward...but that's just me.

Seeing as my time with the game has been just a couple of single player rules games played alone, and mom has never played before at all, we decided to play the "good for new players" special downloadable card entitled "First Time In The Captain's Chair". For this over-arching story, we were each tasked with first getting "solid" with two different contacts (in other words, successfully completing a job for them), amassing at least $6000 credits, and then flying to planet Ezra in the Georgia system to pay off our debt to Niska to own our ships outright, free and clear.

I enjoyed a lot of things about this game, but in particular, I liked the 'race' aspect of this particular story. Actually for much of the game things went rather bad for me.  For the longest time I hadn't even finished a job and mom was well on her way to the second goal. Fortune did finally start to favor me and it turned into a super tight, super exciting race to the end to see who could get to Ezra and pay off Niska first. And while mom was trying to be careful and moseying from sector to sector, I was flying full out, full burn, by the seat of my pants, at the mercy of fate, ship holding together by a thread, trying to pull off one last job. If my gamble paid off, I could finish one last job and just beat her. I land on the sector for my drop off location, NewHope, just a couple sectors adjacent to Ezra...and pull the Reaver Cutter card. Again. For the second time this game, I have to pull a crazy Ivan to get away, using the last of my fuel in the process, and to add insult to injury, the damn Reavers are parked in the sector where I need to make my drop. The drop that would give me enough to pay off Niska! DAMN!

But wait...all is not lost... Two crazy, by the seat of the pants full burns ago, I flew out of Triumph with a hold full of contraband that I could sell to Niska for $800 each! Half of that load would be enough to put me over the mark to pay him off and claim my ship for my own! Mom has made it to the system, but is held up on the edge a couple sectors away when her ship breaks down during full burn. One tiny lucky break for me. I arrive at Ezra on fumes, out of fuel, only able to mosey along...sell the contraband to Niska for a tidy sum of $5600...but I've used my two actions this turn, one to fly in to Ezra, one to do the contraband deal...I have to wait until the next turn to pay off Niska for my ship. Nothing to be done for it as I was short without the contraband deal...Mom initiates another full burn to try and make it the rest of the way to Ezra, and she's already carrying all the money she needs. She makes it without any incident and takes the win right out from under me by one friggin turn! Ah but it was so exciting!

I loved the feeling that I was flying as hard as I could, racing to get there first, when I had been so woefully behind that it almost seemed hopeless. I could imagine my ship, the Bonnie Mae, coming apart at the seams as I pushed her to the limit...It was great! This may have been a beginner card, but I really liked the way it played out. I can't wait to try some of the other stories. The cool thing is that there are different play styles involved depending on the story. What's more they are coming out with expansions for the game that will bring in more play styles and stories, ships, characters, etc. This 'starter' set is more than enough game on its own...I just think its really cool that it can and will be expanded and can grow with new additions. Totally epic game, especially if you love Firefly!

Custom Halo Reach Spartan Update #5

Primer on the torso is finished! Arms are up next and then I will be able to move on to COLOR!!!

Click the 'Custom Halo Reach Spartan' link below to see more posts about this project, or 'Custom Figures' to view posts about all my custom figure projects.

Custom Halo Reach Spartan Update #4

More personal issues and the absolute madness of starting a new job have kept me away from this project yet again, but now that I've gotten some shred of my free time back, I've FINALLY been able to do some more work on this project!

Primer on both legs, as well as the front and back of the waist piece, now completed! Hoping to do more soon!

Click the 'Custom Halo Reach Spartan' link below to see more posts about this project, or 'Custom Figures' to view posts about all my custom figure projects.