More Wyland/Sylvia Earle Photos

It took quite a few hours to go through all the photos I took this week.  I usually don't like to post so much, otherwise you have to sit at your computer too long, but it was an interesting week.  If you get really bored, you're allowed to quit before the end.  It was great getting a chance to talk with Dr. Sylvia Earle.  She's an inspiring person who's done a lot in her life.  Look her up if you haven't heard of her before.  Aside from conservation issues, we talked a bit about submarines, but she gets to go exploring on the fun kind (the kind with windows).  It was also fun to spend some time with Wyland and get his artist's perspective on things.  They did a press conference with Honolulu TV if you'd like to watch it:

http://www.kitv.com/news/30201407/detail.html

(good, but they gave Andy Collins from NOAA credit for my photo)

I'll quit with the text right now, since I put up so many pics.

 This is the same shot of Charlie Barracks that I posted a few days ago.

Here's a better view of the lower albatross.

Wyland got the monk seal outline and general coloring done in about 10 minutes.  I took this photo about 3 minutes after he started.

 Wyland is just finishing up the seal.

Sylvia likes algae, so Wyland painted some really big algae under the turtles, since they like to eat that.  He used Susan Middleton's Archipelago book for an example.  Here's a photo break from painting with Michelle Jones (works for the State of Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife), Sylvia Earle, Wyland, and Susan Middleton.

                               
Wyland sits on the bench outside of Charlie Barracks deciding what to paint.

 Sylvia is ready to dive.

After I took the group out diving, I took them to Reef Hotel for snorkeling.  Wyland had a really nice underwater camera and lighting system.  I'm sure he has a better picture of me than I have of him.

 I wish I was a little closer, but Wyland is getting a decent shot of a turtle swimming by.

I wish I was a little farther away.  It's really difficult to get a perfect underwater shot.  I guess I could just tell you that I was trying for a closeup of the front half of a surge wrasse.

This is Amanda Meyer.  She's the manager of Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.  She's also the Dive Safety Officer so she came out to assist with the SCUBA.  You can barely see Sylvia in the background taking a photo of Amanda.

The Chugach Band played on Saturday night.  Susan M., John Hannah, and Sylvia E. had a good time.

It's kind of a tradition for groups that are here to sign ceiling tiles for the All Hands Club.  This is the one that Wyland and Sylvia Earle made.

I took Sylvia, Amanda, and Susan to see the Short-tailed albatross on Sand Island.  As we were watching, it chased this Black-footed albatross off its nest and stole its egg.  It's kind of a bully sometimes and has done this before.  It loses interest in the nest after a while and goes away.  If the Black-footed albatross hangs around long enough, it can have its egg back.  Amanda saw this one back on the egg when she went jogging later in the evening.



I really liked how gold this one came out (without any photoshop work).  I showed up a little early for the dive boat last Saturday, so I got some sunrise photos.  Double click the pictures for a bit larger size.

UFO movie news round-up (13 Jan. 2012)

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Marvel Studios has ordered a rewrite of Don Payne’s script for Thor 2. According to Deadline.com, the latest (and presumably final) draft will be penned by Hollywood heavyweight Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan, Falling Skies). The first Thor movie – released last year – touched on various UFOlogical themes and ideas, including Ancient Astronaut theory, ETs using wormhole technology, and Men-in-Black-type agents (SHIELD) keeping tabs on other-worldly phenomena. Expect more of the same in the sequel. The movie will go into production later this year for release in 2013.

Elsewhere in cyberspace, the web site Cinemart is currently displaying two new photographs allegedly from behind the scenes of Ridley Scott's upcoming, Prometheus – and, if authentic, they reveal a clear link to the movie’s 1979 prequel, Alien.

For both phots and the full story behind them, head on over to Cinemart.

A trailer for an upcoming arthouse film has sparked discussion in the UFO community. The Legend of Kaspar Hauser concerns a mysterious young man who suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to walk or speak, and his integration into society. The trailer simply shows a man from behind (presumably the film's star, Vincent Gallo) standing in a desert landscape directing UFOs overhead through... some sort of... expressive dance?

In other news, Disney has released its international poster for the upcoming Mars-based epic, John Carter...

And last, but by no means least, Brad Hansen of Craveonline.com has created an ingenious movie trailer mash-up of Disney-Pixar’s enchanting WALL-E and Ridley Scott’s terrifying Prometheus. The result? WALL-ETHEUS...

Dr. Sylvia Earle/Wyland Visit

You can usually tell when I've had a busy week, because I skip my blog.  It's been fun though.  This week we had a visit from the artist, Wyland, whom most of you probably know from his marine paintings on buildings all over the world.  Dr. Sylvia Earle also came to Midway.  She has a very long resume, but she is one of the premier ocean explorers of the last century and was a major influence on the creation of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.  I had a good time snorkeling, driving the dive boat, and showing them around.  Here is a link to an article about their visit on the USFWS Midway Atoll NWR website:

http://www.fws.gov/midway/whatsnew.html

If you want to find out more about Wyland, here is his website:

http://wyland.com/

And if you want to find out more about Dr. Sylvia Earle, here's a link to one of her sites with a nice slideshow of their visit:

http://blog.sylviaearlealliance.org/

Here is a link to a few more photos on Flickr, some that I took, most that others took.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/sets/72157628789649819/with/6668259253/

I'll write a bit more on Sunday, but here's a few photos for now.

This is the wall of Charlie Barracks before the painting began.

 This is the finished product.  Wyland didn't do his usual undersea scene because he wanted to highlight just a few animals (and algae under the turtle).

Here are Wyland and Sylvia Earle about to go on their first dive together.  I'll show some more photos of their visit on my next entry, but here's a few other photos I took this week.

                            

 This is a large Hawaiian spiny lobster under an overhang.  We found a spot with about 5 or 6 of them hiding in the holes.

 This is a Hawaiian green lionfish.  I used to see them a lot at French Frigate Shoals, but the only other one I saw at Midway was in the duck seep after the tsunami.

 Dan celebrates a strike at Sunday night bowling.

Bryce Zabel joins Silver Screen Saucers

 By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Silver Screen Saucers welcomes Bryce Zabel.

I am delighted to announce that, as of today, award-winning Hollywood writer/producer Bryce Zabel has joined Silver Screen Saucers in the role of Consulting Editor.

As many readers will no doubt be aware, Bryce is the co-creator of the NBC television series Dark Skies (1996-1997), which presents an alternate, covert history of the second half of the 20th Century as shaped by UFO/ET related events.

From 2001 to 2003, Bryce served as the Chairman of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has collaborated with the likes of Steven Spielberg (on the UFO mini-series Taken), Stan Lee and David Kelly. In 2008, he received the Writers Guild of America Award for his Hallmark mini-series, Pandemic.

In 2010, Bryce teamed up with Richard Dolan to co-author the groundbreaking book A.D. After Disclosure, which explores the potential impact of UFO Disclosure on government, science, religion, media, culture, law, education, and politics. The book is being released in a new, revised edition by Career Press in May 2012.

In his role as Silver Screen Saucers Consulting Editor, Bryce will contribute occasional articles and commentary pieces to the site, sharing with the reader his valuable insider’s perspective on Hollywood’s UFO-themed entertainment products.

Silver Screen Saucers will be considerably enriched by Bryce's involvement, making the site all the more essential, both as a unique, easily accessible resource for the serious UFO researcher and as a one-stop-shop for the info-hungry UFO movie fan.

For more information about Bryce Zabel,  check out his web sites: BryceZabel.com, MovieSmackdown.com, and AfterDisclosure.com.

Dulce base movie ‘Umbra’ in production shake-up

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

The upcoming sci-fi conspiracy thriller Umbra – a leaked draft script for which makes strong references to the deep-underground biogenetic research facility alleged to exist in Dulce, New Mexico – is currently undergoing a major production shake-up.

The director originally attached to the production – Roger (Species) Donaldson – was replaced by A-Team helmer Joe Carnahan last year. Carnahan was also in the process of rewriting the original (leaked) version of the script.

Now, according to Deadline.com, Carnahan has dropped out of the Umbra project altogether and has been replaced by veteran director Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale, Green Lantern). The script, meanwhile, is undergoing yet another rewrite – this time at the Oscar-winning hands of Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby). Haggis caused a storm in 2009 when he quit the Church of Scientology after more than three decades of membership ("I was in a cult for thirty-four years. Everyone else could see it. I don’t know why I couldn’t").

Archuleta Mesa, New Mexico, location of alleged Dulce base.

Just how far Campbell and Haggis’ Umbra movie will veer from the original script (which features numerous references to the darker chapters of UFOlogical history, including the alleged human/alien fire fight at Dulce described by ‘whistleblower’ Phil Schneider) remains to be seen.

Umbra will begin shooting in the spring and will hit cinemas sometime in 2013.

For a (potentially plot-spoiling) summary of the UFOlogical content of the original leaked Umbra script, see here.

For the full script itself, see here.

Related:

What is 'UMBRA'?

Bradley Cooper to star in Dulce Base movie 'Umbra'?

Spielberg's 'E.T.' survives kidnap ordeal

Silver Screen Saucers

A life-sized replica of Steven Spielberg’s iconic movie alien E.T. has “come home” to its owner four months after being stolen from its Hampshire UK residence.

The unique, handcrafted E.T. replica belonging to pensioner Margaret Wells, 76, was spotted floating in the sea off the coast of Old Porstmouth, Hampshire, by a local walker, just five miles from where it was taken. Fearing it to be a human body, the walker immediately notified the police.


According to The Daily Mail: “police and coastguard attending the scene quickly realised it was not a human, but the alien model... A Coastguard spokeswoman said: ‘It rolled up on the beach and gave somebody a bit of a fright.’”

Mrs Wells said of her beloved E.T.: “There's only one in the whole of England and that is mine.” The model is the work of Mrs Wells' daughter, Louise, who spent three months creating it while completing a stage make-up course.

“The police rang and said somebody has found a body in the Solent and it belongs to you – it’s E.T.,” Mrs Wells said, “I always knew E.T. would come home... he has lost a finger and looks a bit roughed up. But he has a smile on his face.”

Yes, it’s a slow news day here at Silver Screen Saucers.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  It's been an eventful year out here, as usual, but I'm not going to recap, since you can just scroll down the page and do that anyway.  I was planning on starting out the year with a snorkel trip, but it was a bit too windy and a little gray today, so it was just a nice day off.  We swapped out a few of the albatross counters on the plane, and Dasha's vacation time was up, so she left on the last flight, too.  I hope it won't be too long before I can get back to D.C. to visit.  We also got 5 new Thai employees on the island.  Three of them will be helping out with the verbesina removal on Eastern Island, so it's nice to have them here.  They've got their work cut out for them.

We also did a Christmas Bird Count for the Audubon Society.  They do the count annually all across the mainland to get an idea of what birds are around.  It's nice that some of our albatross counters took their only day off from counting albatrosses to count all of the other species of birds on the island. 

Here's our Christmas tree complete with gifts underneath for our gift exchange on Christmas Eve.



 Here's Santa and his elves.  They look an awful lot like Dan, Richard, Nik, and Darlene.

One of my few artistic photos.  This is A2 playing the harmonica with the band, and a bit of messing with the camera zoom and a slow shutter speed.



 Dasha finally got to see the dolphins here at Midway on her fourth visit.  She took this photo on our way back from Eastern Island since I was driving the boat.

 Another shot of the spinner dolphins following us back to the harbor.

Just another sunset.



We finally got out to put Dasha's kayak training into use.  It was kind of windy, so we used the 2 seater so we could paddle into the wind a little easier.



This is a tagged Bristle-thighed curlew.  A group of them was tagged at their breeding grounds in Alaska.  This is the only one we've seen on Midway that's marked.