2001 Exhibit News |
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Volume 2 |
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Feb 13, 2002 |
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Issue 54 |
Feb. 13, 2002:
Greetings from Dennis Gonzales
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Well, nothing has change for
me lately. I'm more than ever busy at NASA and with the last of the "2001"
projects. We have a lot of exciting things coming out on the website in
a few weeks. In the meantime, since this is the World Tonight, we are happy
to have original World Tonight newscaster, Kenneth Kendall from "2001"
in this week's newsletter. "2001" fan Nick Day contacted Mr. Kendall
exclusively for this newsletter
Art Imitates Art:
As a special feature in this issue of 'The World Tonight', we are pleased to present an exclusive interview by Nick Day with Kenneth Kendall, who introduced the report by 'Martin Amor' for 'The World Tonight' on BBC 12, and now runs a Fine Art gallery on the Isle of Wight in the UK.
WT: Good afternoon Mr. Kendall, and thanks very much for allowing us to interview you. Firstly, did you meet Arthur C. Clarke or Kubrick, and do you have any memories of them?
KK: I met Stanley Kubrick, but not Clarke. He was there when the film was being shot. The one memory I have of him is that when my scene was being shot he asked me what I would have on the desk in front of me. I said that on the desk I would have a pen, and he said 'What sort of pen?’ and I showed him a Parker biro that I had, one of those brushed steel ones. He said 'I think we'll have to have something better than that, to make it a little bit more authentic', which showed his desire for authenticity at all times. Anyway, when it came to the final shooting I didn't have that pen and they only shot me from the shoulders upwards, so it didn't make much difference, but it was a rather interesting little point I thought.
WT: So initially he was suggesting you use a different pen, was he?:
KK: Yes, he was going to have a different pen designed for it.
WT I don't know if you know, Parker designed two pens for the film.
KK Well one of those was going to be for me, bit it didn't... (laughs).
[see <http://www.underview.com/2001/how.html> for details of the pens]
WT That's fascinating. I noticed you had your hands on a book there. Maybe you happen to remember what that was?
KK I can't, I'm afraid. Also I can't remember where it was shot. I think it was Shepperton but I can't be certain about that.
WT Yes, the main studios where they shot the film were in Shepperton. Did you see anything of the other filming or preparations?
KK No, not at all.
WT Did you meet 'Martin Amor', whose report you introduced, or know who played him?
KK No, I'm afraid not. The only other slight point, a bit more of a personal thing, is that a few weeks after I'd done my part, my telephone rang at home, and a man at the other end said that 'I'm the film
representative of Equity' [the UK actors' trades-union who strictly ensure that actors appearing in films are members]. 'I believe that you've taken part in Kubrick's film '2001: A Space Odyssey'.'
I said 'Yes'. He said 'well, you're not a member of Equity, are you!' 'Well, no I'm not'. He said 'Don't you think you should be, because this is a nineteen million dollar film?’ I took that as being slightly menacing. So I said 'yes, by all means I'll join Equity'. I did join Equity; I'm not an actor, but that's how it arose!
WT ...and you've been a member ever since?
KK Yes that's right.
WT Well that's fascinating.
KK It was rather odd, wasn't it? I don't know how he got my home telephone number since I was ex-directory anyway. They have their ways (laughs). So that's all I can remember of the occasion at all. I can't remember when it was shot, sometime in the mid to late Sixties I think.
WT Yes, it would have about '65 I should think. [Actually, later than that] Thanks very much indeed, Kenneth, that fills in a few interesting gaps. Many thanks for your time.
KK Bye!
We thought the item about the pen most intriguing, and wonder if Kenneth started Stanley thinking about pens; he contacted Parker but the prototype was not ready in time for Kenneth's scene. Kubrick then thought of the floating pen sequence, and the rest is history... from bone, to spacecraft, to pen. Maybe.
We will post this interview in our World Tonight web pages next week. If you like to contact Nick Day, email him at nday@cableinet.co.uk
2001:a space oddity kinetic sculpture:
We're proud to present Paul Bailey's "2001" kinetic sculpture project held last year. We hope to add much more pictures soon. Visit the art section in Gallery at http://www.2001exhibit.org/arts/bailey.html
Paul Bailey, gpaulbailey@attbi.com
"2001: Destination Space" Lives Again!:
Thomas Halaczinsky from tudor-productions.com now has a 20-minute video documentary about the "2001:Destination Space" event across the United States, which part of it, was broadcast in Europe. From Robert McCall to the Tech Museum, visit http://www.tudor-productions.com/2001 and to see an example of the documentary, visit http://www.tudor-productions.com/movie.html
We are now working with Thomas on our own documentary, so stay tune about this special video feature in the next few months!
HAL 9000 Brain-Room Project:
For the past week, photographer and model maker, Mark Watson and I have been re-building the Comdex brain-room at his house. It's grueling work but I think we are ready for the final photo shoot this weekend and with Gary Lockwood who cancelled this week.
I want to thank Josh Koral, Harrison A. Lorenzana and Tom Seiler for helping us out. The set was designed and built by Josh Koral. Harrison A. Lorenzana created HAL. Tom Seiler researched HAL brain-room artwork. The logo was re-created by Mike Jackson. Thanks to "2001" local fan, Terry Boblet, see a sneak preview of behind the scenes, go to http://www.2001exhibit.org/science/img/DCP00249.JPG
Website Update:
This weekend, I will be upgrading the website's navigation so the latest Netscape 6 and I.E. 5 browsers can interpret the DHTML. Sorry for the many people that have written to me about the unstable nav but we've been swamped and I will take care of this problem soon.
"2001" Influence Alert:
Orange County Space Society's President Larry Evans spotted an influence to "2001" and "2010". Here are his comments:
"I don't know if you caught it last Sunday, but it had many references to 2001, including the main part, which was about the ship's computer which just happened to have an interface with a faceplate and big red eye like another famous computer we all know and love! At one point, Bender was wooing the computer by singing Daisy! Oh, I also forgot to mention that on Futurama, the ending was right out of 2010 with a new star in the sky and the voice over narration."
The Learning Channel "2001" Television Special Update:
Model Makers, Alan Nadel and Mark Watson have sent out their models for shooting of the Learning Channel's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Arthur C. Clarke has been interviewed from Sri Lanka and more to come in next week's newsletter.
Fan Question:
"2001" fan Dean Lillibridge is looking for any catalog or booklet which can have the Discovery One space craft model in details for a model to assemble. He can be reached at dwglillibridge@netzero.net
"2001" fan Fred Robinson is looking for mission patches worn by astronauts in 2001 & 2010. Contact Fred at crabgras@sunlink.net
HAL 9000 Screensaver Update!
FINALLY! The HAL 9000 screensaver has been updated:
2.09.2002
The HAL screensaver is 1.0
http://guide.net/~mental/hal9000/
Finally got the HAL 1.0 Screen Saver up for download. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but hope you think it was worth it. It’s probably as much as I can do to it without more reference material in the form of screen captures or still images from the film's production.
I think over the last two years with the help of several people I’ve tracked down every possible image that could be found. Still from time to time rare things do pop-up like the short film "The Making of 2001" which my friend James discovered recently though it contained no images of HAL or his screens curiously enough. It was made in 1965 or 1966 as best I can tell and featured filming on the sets at MGM while the scenes on the Discovery's centrifuge set.
If anyone out there thinks they have images of HAL screens not featured in the screensaver, please let me know via email. mental@digiscape.com
Thanks to everyone who helped on the screensaver; Dennis Gonzales for all the reference image hunting, Wally Fields for recreating HAL's voice, Matt Wilson for his AE-35 wireframe source model and Mike Drennan for helping convert the Flash projectors. A great big thanks guys for all the help.
"2001" Radio Shows:
All 3 "2001" radio shows are now on-line for all to enjoy! Re-visit the Press section in Radio-Internet at
http://www.2001exhibit.org/press/radio-net.html
See you next Wednesday (Frank).
Lego goes "2001"!
http://spiteyourface.com/one/
Posted by, David L. Takemoto-Weerts, dltakemotoweerts@ucdavis.edu
Moonwatcher is now on-line.
http://www.danrichter.com/
Posted by, Mike Jackson, mental@digiscape.com
"2001" spacesuit comes to life!
http://www.2001spacesuit.com/
Posted by, Mike Jackson, mental@digiscape.com
Posted by:
Dennis Gonzales
2001: Exhibit