National Women's History Month - March

Yes, March, is National Women's History Month.

Visit the National Women's History Project.

Let's talk a moment about the state of women in the US today. Women make 80 cents on the dollar to men. The US is ranked 90th in the world for women in legislative positions. Seventeen percent of the House of Representatives are women. In Rwanda it is fifty-six percent. Afghanistan, Iraq, China and Cuba have more women in legislative positions. Three percent of fortune 500 companies are owned by women. Seven percent of the directors in Hollywood, ten percent of the writers in the top 250 grossing films, are women. Budget cuts are disproportionately hurting women. [from Lt. Gov. Gavin Newscom D.-Calif.]

Look at Family Planning, the most trusted agency in America, whose abortions are approximately three percent of what they do and who have been attacked by the Republicans by cutting funding, is going to increase abortions by 40,000 more new ones. Cutting their funding is not in any way going to save money, it is a religious agenda propagated by the Christian, mostly Republican, right and is a travesty and a horror. One out of either women have used family planning and so most women know how good Family Planning is for America.

And remember, we're not out of the dark ages yet. A low still on the books in Michigan states that a woman isn't allowed to cut her own hair without her husband's permission.

From the NWHP brochure:

∗ The Labor Movement which began as early as 1765 when women formed the first society of working women.
∗ The Women’s Suffrage Movement which was launched in 1848 at the first women’s right conference held at Seneca Falls, NY.
∗ The Civil Rights Movement in which women held a variety of roles from leader-ship to organizers to participants.
∗ The Women’s Rights Movement which was re-energized in the 20th Century with what is called the Second Wave.
∗ The Environmental Movement in which women played a key role from the early 19th century and which was officially launched on Earth Day, April 22, 1970

Test your knowledge of women with the NWHP quiz.

Now, go out about be nice to the women in your life. Strive to make their lot in life better, at home, at work, on the street.

Weekend Wise Words

Before I get started, I would like to bring you the words of Gloria Steinem on Real Time With Bill Maher, from last night. At first, I thought she was going to reference the 1991 Sheen vehicle (movie), "Hot Shots!" or '93s "Hot Shots! Part Deux", but no, she went one better:

"If Charlie Sheen had an Air Force, he would be Kadafi."

And now on to our regularly scheduled programming:

This weekend I bring you, the Wisdom of Charlie Sheen (also check out the Charlie Sheen talking head web site:

 Charlie and his "Goddesses", Natalie Kenly and Rachel Oberlin

• "I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available. If you try it once, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body." - Let's leave that to the side for now and let's not come back to it.
• "I'm Not Bipolar, I'm Bi-winning" - Yes, of course you are.
• "I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen." - What Chuck is saying here, is if you are going to be on drugs, you be the drug you are on. It goes further than that really, because you have to be a drug you would want to, or need to, be on. Obviously, Charlie is "crack" to Charlie.
• "I’m on a quest to claim absolute victory on every front." - There isn't much to explain here; this, is a good idea, do claim victory on every front, but achieving, but working at it, by, excuse me for saying this, winning."
• "Faith is for winners. Hope is for losers." - This is true in a way. Hoping is when you cannot do anything about something; Faith is believing the change will occur. The only issue here is that if you have Faith in something, you have to also work toward making it come true. Hoping it will come true infers a lack of effort.
• "I was banging seven gram rocks and finishing them. Because that’s how I roll." - This could explain much of what has been going on with him recently. To do that much cocaine is to do at least some degree of brain damage and could explain much of what is about to be said.
• "Got to dismiss these clowns." - True. When people are getting you down, but considering you are doing what you need to be, and should be doing, you simply have to dismiss the nay sayers, the haters, the ignorant.
• "I’ve got tiger blood, man." - Yes, indeed. One has to believe one has some kind of superiority and the blood of a tiger is as good as any.
• "Gnarly gnarlingtons." - Yes, uh, uhum, okay, well, now....
• "I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total, bitchin’ rock star from Mars." - This is a very useful thing to do, to believe you are what you want to be; of course, without the realms of delusion, not within.
• "I have a disease? Bullshit. I cured it with my brain." - I believe this is a misintended, but quite a partially true statement. He does seem to have a disease called Bullshit. Whether or not he has cured himself, is yet to be seen.
• "Resentments are the rocket fuel that lives in the tip of my sabre." - Yes, uhuh. Okay.
  
• "Work fuels the soul." - I suspect he's read this somewhere. And wasn't it music, that fuels the soul?
• "Apocalypse Now will teach you how to live inside of a moment between a moment." - Um, yeah, sure, how many grams of what? Really I have no idea about that one.
• "Winning. Everyday." - Nuff' Said!

We have had fun poking fun at Charlie, but really? He's manic, his thinking is grandiose, he's only stopped doing drugs for a short time which tends to lead to this kind of mania and grandiosity. He needs help, he needs serious hospitalization for months, six in fact, wouldn't be ridiculous. I wish him well. He made me laugh many times on watching his show "Two and a Half Men" with my own son. Maybe he has the strength to kick this, but we have many months to go to prove that.

All the best Charlie. Take care of your kids by taking care of yourself.

ID, Ego, Super-Ego using the famous as placeholders

Looking at the Freudian view of Id, Ego and Super-Ego, sometimes it's handy to view it by giving it handles, or short hands, symbols or something.

Consider the Id. Think, Charley Sheen, in his current metamorphosis.

Chuck Lorre (one of my favorite guys) with Charlie

"It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learned from our study of the dream-work and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of that is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego." -- Sigmund Freud, "New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" [1933] (Penguin Freud Library 2)

Consider the Ego. Think, Dr. Phil

"The Ego acts according to the reality principle; i.e. it seeks to please the id’s drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bringing grief." -- Mead, Merrill (Feb. 1984). "Ego Development and Psychopathology: A Study of Hospitalized Adolescents"

Consider the Super-Ego.Think, Your Mom (yes, Mom, considering everyone has one, I'm stretching it to say, Mom's, are famous).

"The Super-ego works in contradiction to the id. The Super-ego strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id just wants instant self-gratification. The Super-ego controls our sense of right and wrong and guilt. It helps us fit into society by getting us to act in socially acceptable ways." -- Snowden, Ruth (2006). "Teach Yourself Freud" McGraw-Hill.

So now that we've gotten that out of the way, consider this, you are sitting in a room with Charlie Sheen, Dr. Phil, and yes, your Mom. A really hot girl walks by (okay okay, a really hot guy, if you're female, or gay, or bi, or confused, or whatever). 

Your Charlie thought is first and it is:

"Oh my God, Baby! Hmmm.... How can I have sex with that girl?"

(okay OKAY, maybe it's a guy, whichever! geez....).


But you're thinking, "I want", and "how do I get"; you are fully motivated to getting instantly what you want. 

First off, that is just stupid. If you could have every girl (guy) you wanted, instantly, well, how boring would THAT be? You'd be like that guy in the Twlight Zone episode who was a gambler and wanted to always win. After about one night he was ready to kill himself as he had no more thrill and he realized that it wasn't the winning, it was the thrill, the anticipation, the fear of losing, the many things OTHER things than the simple winning, or "getting", that turned him on. Sad, it was.


So, its about here now that Dr. Phil looks at you, KNOWS what you're thinking and says in that ridiculous southern drawl that goes in and out with his speech:


"You know, you should just go up to her if you want her, maybe straighten up a bit, maybe think about how you could get her just a little bit more; think, consider her feelings, you see, that will help you get laid. Be nice first off, engage in conversation. Talk about anything BUT sex. Entice her. Think about all the ways you can be clever and achieve your goal. Carpe Diem, Dude!"

Okay, no I didn't forget, same goes for if it were a guy. 


So what are we missing? Oh yes, Mom. So Mom says:


"No. You don't need her. Go find a nice girl, marry her, have a job, education first. Get engaged for a LONG time, let ME meet her and decide if she's right for you. Or just refuse to have sex or think about sex, or know about sex. Maybe you should go to church, or start building a nice jigsaw puzzle."


About just this time, you're probably losing your lust for the... person.


Welcome, to the Id/Ego/SuperEgo (I/E/SE) conundrum. Now you can understand why people are so screwed up, huh?


So, who is usually going to win out? 

Quite depends upon your make up as a person, don't you think? Your genetics, your evolution as a human being (no, not that kind of evolution, I mean SINCE you were born, socially, psychologically, etc.), who has been in your environment and what has that environment been to you; and, oh yes, let's not forget, luck. 

Why do I bring this all up? I don't know. I have watched a bunch of Charlie Sheen videos this week. It made me start to think about the I/E/SE thing. How nice it would be if we could be all Id, like Charlie, or House on, you know, the TV show, "House" (Love that show), or Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) on TVs "Lie to Me" (Love that show). Why do I like these shows? Because these are characters who do whatever they want, or think the want, or think needs to be done with no consideration for anyone else.

What a dream, yes?

But at House shows rather frequently, he wonders about the things he does, the pain he causes, but he realizes he is basically a sociopath, not so different than a serial killer, except that he is a doctor, sworn to save lives, and is oriented toward that; and so, he continues on.

God, what a relief that would be, don't you think? No concerns for reaction, or pain, or consequences.

Well, yes, but I am quite content with my pseudo safe, calm, quiet life. For now. But who knows what the future may bring. Charlie wasn't always like this. Was he?

Stewart Middle School Tacoma, WA - Fight Club

Wow, I happened to randomly turn on the local news before I headed into Seattle this morning about 5:30AM, and there was a news article about my old Alma mater, Stewart Jr. High, now Stewart Middle School.

It would seem that nine sixth-grade boys suspected of participating in a so-called "fight club" have been expelled ( first rule of fight club, for a reason, is "You don't talk about fight club" as is Rule Number Two). But these kids recorded it on their cell phones and there it was, on the news, images of two kids beating the hell out of one another in the boy's bathroom.

1940s photo of Stewart Jr. High (now Middle School)

When I went to Stewart, it was grades 7-9, now 6-9. I was scared enough and got in enough fights as a 7th grader. I can't imagine what its like being a sixth grader. But back then I was fighting in Karate tournaments and it wasn't much for me to have a fight at or on the way to or from school, as I was fighting about five fights a night at the dojo anyway. 

Still...FIGHT CLUB in sixth grade? Give me a break. I never liked the middle school concept, nor the 9th graders in high school. But, I don't have any say over it. Then again, maybe kids are just maturing faster now.

But rather than these kids getting in trouble , they should simply give them a place to expend their energy. Like I said, I got mine out in the dojo and in tournaments. These were point fighting and even then it was sometimes terrifying. But it let you walk down the street with a sense of accomplishment, confidence and an ability to at least try to protect yourself.

I thought this was just the first time this had happened, but even doing a cursory search online I found others from previous years. Other Fight Clubs in Jr Highs over the years:

2005

2006

2008

2010: and again, and again.

All I can say is hey kids, THIS, is Fight Club....

Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in 1999s Fight Club

What you're doing is Play Club. And if that's what you're really into, find a gym or a dojo, dojang, or whatever you want to call it. It seems like its fun being in charge of your fun, but chew on this for a while. You're a kid. If someone gets really hurt, you're gonna regret it.

Okay, I know there aren't any kids reading this. So I guess if I direct this at the assumed audience here, I should be saying that if your kid gets caught being in one of these surreptitious haphazard organizations, go easy on them. Don't punish the symptom, find the cause, and give it an appropriate affect. Find them a better outlet, and it may not be what you want or thing it should be.

My mother may be half crazy (or all crazy) but she did do some smart things while I was growing up that people raised eyebrows over at the time. I was gun crazy since very young, typical of many boys born in the 1950-60s and before.

 1958 on the way to Spain, this made media outlets all over the world

 Done as a joke, childhood best friend Dave and I, 1973 when he was on leave from the Army

Out for a day shooting: My buds when I was in the Air Force, in Spokane, WA, about 1977-78

Georgian Craig, Local Tony my civilian friend and California Dan

Before you think I'm some kind of psycho, I was raised during Vietnam, I studied a killing martial art Isshinryu Karate and during my University years in the early 80s I began to follow the Buddha Dharma as it was very close akin to Zen, Asian thought I'd grown into since Karate days and Phenomenology which I was studying at that time. I don't believe in killing, but I do believe its necessary at times, e.g., when its you or them, when someone is going to harm a child, or kill someone and its a trade-off, obviously, the innocent wins out against the aggressor at that point.

Anyway, mom got me into an "gun club" sanctioned by the Tacoma Police Department. I want to do dangerous stuff, she got me into Civil Air Patrol and we learned how to support and perform search and rescue, for real. This was no cub scout stuff. We were really hanging off of cliffs, getting lost in the mountains, learning how to get found, find your way out, find others who were lost. I landed my first small plane at Tacoma Industrial Airport (now Tacoma Narrows Airport) across the Narrows Bridge from Tacoma in eighth grade. What the photo below doesn't show you is that on the right, as you're flying into the landing strip, you are facing a shear cliff face that is daunting but fairly safe due to the updraft.

Tacoma Narrows Airport

I got into fights all through grade school and it was seldom me and another kid in a fight, it was frequently me against a group of boys. So she stuck me in Karate just before the beginning of sixth grade.

Yes, I ended up doing some crazy things like going sky diving for the first time at seventeen. This one my mom put her foot down on though. Whoever, when I got to the air field with a couple of friends one day, and found out you only had to be like fifteen (actually they were questioning if there even was a requirement by age at that time), I signed up and paid my fee and went home pumped up and proud after 5 hours of training and a 3,000ft jump (I hit the target, no one else did that day). Mom, wasn't happy, but she was glad I wasn't smeared all over a landing strip at Thun Field in Puyallup.

Thun Field, Puyallup, WA (now Pierce County Airport)

So, in summing up. Fight Club, bad. Kids wanting to do Fight Club, well, need an outlet. You're the parent. Get on it!

Brian De Palma's movie - Redacted

I just watched the film by Brian De Palma: "Redacted".

What a great film. Even if this is only showing the negatives of what has happened in this war, it's valuable. De Palma, known for such films as most notably 1983s, "Scarface", and "Casualty of War" with Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox, has revisited the situation from that previous Vietnam era film about rape in war and how the dehumanizing effects of war lead to war crimes in an environment that makes moral accounts unqualified muddy affairs.

Brian de Palma on set

I heard Redacted was a good movie so I queued it up on Netflix. I watched it, unsure of the film as it went along. Then toward the end, it barreled forward on me and when the end hit I was sitting there like someone had hit me in the face with a mallet. That surprised me and confused me. I couldn't figure out why until I saw who had directed it and then it all made sense.

One of the things this film drove home was what the Iraqi people (and therefore, others in this situation) have suffered through. I don't take this film as an indictment of what all our troops have done in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere, but it did drive home how this kind of thing is possible, and that anything can be possible when dealing with this kind of situation and these kinds of numbers of people; something typically will happen. And if it can happen once, well....

Think about your local school bully. Now, give him a gun and an unaccountable situation; free range to satiate his more base desires, in a country where so much is forbidden.

The images of the Iraqi family being intruded upon by soldiers, for apparently the right reasons, in searching for a terrorist killer, then later, intruding on this family for no reason other than lust, is sad, fear invoking, immoral and unbelievable, but this kind of thing does happen. It happens here at home, it happens far away in a war situation even more easily. This is based on a true story after all.

It is worth struggling through this kind of film just to remind yourself of why war is hell and why we need to stop doing it, allowing it.

Two interesting bits of trivia according to IMDB:

Magnolia Films requested that Brian De Palma blacked out the faces of dead Iraqis in the disturbing photo montage at the end of the film. It was feared that families of the dead could sue.

---

The genesis of the film began when HDNet Films approached Brian De Palma in 2006 to make a film with only two strings attached: it had to be shot for $5 million and on HD

Clive Barker

I first met Clive back in the late 80s. I worked at Tower Video, just out of University. I was reading a Newsweek magazine. There was a blurb in it about Clive Barker, this new British Horror Writer who was taking the world with his Books of Blood anthologies. Steve King, the "King of Horror fiction" said of Clive: "I have read the future of Horror and it is, Clive Barker." Nice blurb, huh?

About what I looked like back in the late 80s

For some reason, I decided to write to both Steven King and Clive Barker. Clive wrote back. I never heard from King. Nothing, nada, zip, not even the standard fake promo material. Well, now, admittedly, Steve was an icon even then. So I didn't expect much. But Clive actually wrote back. So I wrote him again. And he wrote back.

Clive Barker some years ago

One day, I heard he was going to be at Tower Books, so I was first in line to meet him. While I stood there, I listened to those in line behind me. It seemed like forever when Clive arrived. I had by now, read his books. He came in, wearing a light colored suit and a man asked him if he could get him anything. Some kind of aide or handler of which there were two. Clive said, coffee would be nice and the one man asked her he would like it. Clive said "White," and the man was totally confused. The other man jumped in and said to Clive, "okay, no problem, thank you," and walked off telling the other man that "white" was another way of saying milk or cream in it.

I was first in line and Clive looked up at me and smiled and said, "Hi." I said, "Hi." And we started talking. I told him that most the people in line behind me were Steve King fans. They were there to give Clive a chance. Etcetera. Clive got a kick out of it. He said, "I'll take fans where ever I can get them." He signed my books. All of them. I was married at the time, so I even had him sign some so she could have her own collection.

Funny story. After we divorced, I was at her apartment one day to pick up my son. Now, I had been missing one of my Books of blood and couldn't figure out where It was. As I was waiting for her to get our son ready for me to take him for the weekend, I noticed on the floor a line of books next to her stereo, and in the middle were the Books of Blood. I didn't think anything of it until I noticed there was a duplicate of one book.

So I picked it up and opened it and sure enough, it was signed to me by Clive. I mentioned that when she returned to the room and she got angry. She said something like "Why don't you just look through all my stuff to see if I took anything else?" I said, "well, hey, it has, like, my NAME in it." I was about to blow her off on her offer to look though her things but then I realized that she knew damn well she had my book. So I looked through her other books and I found another. She was pissed. I was humble. But once outside, I felt so good about it. It annoyed me that she wouldn't even have those books if I hadn't paid for them, got them signed and gave them to her; and then she tries to keep one of my set of his books. Low.

Some time later, I heard Clive was coming back. I was still married and my wife (the one I mentioned above) was off somewhere, possibly at work and I had our son. So, I took him at the last minute, down to Lower Queen Anne Tower Books in his stroller. He was maybe 18 months old or so. I strolled him in and we saw Clive. I reminded Clive we'd met (how's he supposed to remember with all he meets?) and had corresponded and he fell into an amiable attitude. I asked him to shake hands with my son, as even though he doesn't understand, I could one day tell him he shook Clive's hand.

So Clive shook his hand. My son had the strangest look on his face and Clive and I remarked to one another about it, laughing.

And now, its years later and I'm looking for Clive to give me a blurb for my book like King did for his. Will it happen? Probably not. Should it happen? I don't know, but hey, who wouldn't want it to happen? Clive will always be my favorite. His prose is better than King, he's more direct, he's more my style. King, you are the original, after Poe, perhaps. Clive, in my book you'll always be "The Man" of Horror Fiction.

So, I got a response from Clive's people. They will forward my email to him and gave me his address to send him my manuscript once its ready to be reviewed. I forwarded this to my publisher which will make her very happy. They had said he's very busy with deadlines but hey, I could wait. For a while. Considering I didn't think I'd even get this far all I can say is, only time will tell, and it never hurts to ask.

Filmmaking in Seattle and Washington State

I would like to see more films shot in Seattle. We have a very artistic community (nothing to do when the weather is bad but play music and make art, right?). We have a reputable film festival and community and a lot of great art, film and music has come out of the Pacific NorthWest.

Pictured, DXC-D55L 2/3" EFP-Ready Camera Head

There have been some great films and TV made entirely, or in part made, in Seattle or Washington in general. Well, some films I really liked anyway, I don't want to get into any arguments about what makes a great film. You might be surprised at what films were filed in Washington, or at least parts of, or special F/X were, I'll offer some examples.

If you are thinking of shooting a film in Washington, I can say, we have just about every type of land form you could need, from Mountains, to lakes, to salt water, Ocean, caves, desert, even petrified forests.

Nearly everyone has some brush with a movie being made. I can't count how many times I've happened upon a film being shot, typically never even knowing what it was for. Some interesting bits where films shot in Washington and my family crossed paths:

Elvis in "It Happened at the World's Fair"

• I just missed Elvis at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962s "It Happened at the World's Fair", by time my family got to go the filming was done. 

 

• I missed the filming of John Wayne's 1974 film, McQ at Ocean Shores; my family had been staying there and I had to leave Sunday night for Monday work. The rest of my family got to see much: My mother danced with the Duke, walked along and talked with Diana Muldaur, and watch Clu Gulager clowning around just having being riddled with bullets on the beach gun fight scene.

 

Robert Hays as Starman

• I was on the set of the 1986 TV pilot for "Starman" for one full night, standing directly next to I believe Director Robert Chenault, seated next to the camera while they shot a night scene at the Seattle Center's Monorail terminal. Sadly, there were only stand in shots being done and I never got to meet Robert Hays. As they filmed, the rides in the "Fun Forest" had to be coordinated to be going, although there were no passengers. I started the night with them at top of Queen Anne Hill on the South West side.

Gleamed from the Washington State web site for film, here is a partial list of movies filmed in part or completely (as much as any film is filmed completely outside of Hollywood or another location outside of principle shooting) in Washington:

• "Trouble in Mind" (AKA, "Rain City"), with Keith Carradine and Kris Kristopherson, a quirky, cool little film was shot in Seattle.
• "Tugboat Annie" from the 1930s was shot in Seattle based on the life of Thea Foss of Tacoma, Washington. I used to watch the TV show (Canada 1957-61) when I was a little kid. Later years, no one believed me, they just said there was a movie made in 32, but now I know, there was indeed a TV show.
• "Star Trek III" - (computerized generated backgrounds produced by Seattle company - Stray Frames)
• "Barefoot in the Park" a TV version in 1981 of the famous Robert Redford film.
• 1982s "Frances" - The true story of Frances Farmer's meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood and the tragic turn her life took when she was blacklisted. My mother got a job at Western State Mental Hospital when she was 17, lying about her age. One of her patients was Francis Farmer.
•  1980s "The Changling" with George C. Scott.
• "An Officer and a Gentleman"
• "War Games" with Matthew Broderick.
• "Cinderella Liberty" with James Caan.
• "Bustin' Loose" with Richard Pryor.
• "House of Games" by David Mamet, one of my favorite screen/playwriters.
• "Harry and the Hendersons" with a cute movie with John Lithgow.
• "Say Anything" a favorite of my ex wife, and John Cusak always a favorite of mine, by Cameron Crowe.
• "The Fabulous Baker Boys" with the Bridges brothers, Beau and Jeff, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
• "Fire Walk With Me" by David Lynch of his "Twin Peaks" TV show fame (see below).
• "Sleepless in Seattle" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, by Nora Ephram.
• "The Vanishing" with Jeff Bridges.
• "Little Buddha" with Keanu Reeves.
• "Disclosure" with Michael Douglas and Demi Moore.
• Assassins with Sylvestor Stallone and Antonio Banderas.
• "Slaves to the Underground".
• "Countdown".
• "Get Carter".
• "Inheritance".
• "I love you to death" with River Phoenix and Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman and William Hurt.
• "The Ring 2".
• "The Last Mimzy".
• "Into the Wild".
• "88 Minutes".
• "Battle in Seattle".
• "Burn After Reading".

And many other as well as the TV shows:

• "Twin Peaks" Exteriors were primarily filmed in Snoqualmie and North Bend, with additional exteriors shot in southern California. Most of the interior scenes were shot on standing sets in a San Fernando Valley warehouse.
• "Northern Exposure" Although the town of Cicely is widely thought to be patterned after the real town of Talkeetna, Alaska, the main street of Cicely and the filming location was actually that of Roslyn, Washington. Northern Exposure II (The main production facility) was located in Redmond, Washington in what is now the headquarters of Genie Industries, behind a business park. The barbed wire fence around it still exists.
• "Dark Angel" Okay, maybe not, but I liked this one. The program is set in Seattle, Washington, and was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, at Lions Gate Studios.
• "Millennium" Okay, yet another one. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, though most episodes were ostensibly set in or around Seattle, Washington. Theme music for the show was composed by Mark Snow, who also created the distinctive theme music for The X-Files.
• "Frasier"
• "Gray's Anatomy"
• "MTVs Real World" down on the piers in a reconverted warehouse condo on the dock.
• "Starman"
• "Almost Live!" a show that went national and was shown before Saturday Night Life for a while and whom the current TV show "Community" and "The Soup" star Joel McHale hailed from.
• "Here Come the Brides"
• "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Scott Bakula and Maria Bello.
• "Night Stalker" a remake of the previous 1974 series,"Kolchak: The Night Stalker" with Darrin McGavin.

Here are some informational and links in case you want to make a film in Washington State.

Washington Filmworks funding assistance application

Seattle Film Festivals

Washington State Film Liaison links

Fims made in Seattle

Washington State Film incentives

Seattle Film incentives

A few more reasons why filming in Washington makes sense (and dollars)

Incentive Downloads
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