On March 14, 1997 I officially launched Xenite.Org as a new collective home for four Websites I had established in various places. I built my first Website (“The Worlds of Michael Martinez”) on CompuServe in a special users’ section I think they called Compuserve Places (or maybe that was Compuserve Personal Pages), where we each received 1…
Author: Michael Martinez
Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix Sing ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’
In case you missed it, Dick Van Dyke’s acapella group the Vantastix gave an impromptu performance of the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” theme song recently at a Denny’s restaurant in California. Patrons rushed to grab their cell phones and upload video of the performance to social media. It’s a catchy tune that everyone remembers fondly…
Low Budget Backyard Ideas from Science Fiction & Fantasy
The garden wall picture in this article titled “5 Compost Bin Ideas for a Beautiful Backyard” set my thoughts to wandering. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could create a science fiction or fantasy backyard on a low budget. I have never been a big landscaping buff because when I was a kid my parents…
New Information Added to CompuServe IMPs Site
Our special feature for the CompuServe IMPs online writing group has grown just a little bit. I have been chatting online with some of the IMPs recently and started feeling both nostalgic and inadequate as a biographer. There are so many IMPs and so many IMPcomplishments and yet I have so little time to write them…
Cosplay Pictures from DragonCon 2015
I am the worst photographer in history. Give me a camera and I am sure to take the blurriest, most unfocused pictures you can imagine. You cannot count the rolls of film I have wasted in my life time trying to convince myself I could ever take a decent picture. The advent of the digital…
Watch Tolkien Moot XI Session with Two Bards
My friend Hawke Robinson invited me to host a panel session at Tolkien Moot XI with Scott C. Brown and Andy Doperialski of Two Bards Productions. If you have heard of “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising” then you may recognize Scott as Flynn / Leo / Turk. Scott and Andy have recorded over 100 podcasts that you…
A Sad but Special Day for Andre Norton Fans
Ten years ago today Andre Norton closed her eyes for the last time in this world. It was a very sad day for many of us, and Xenite.Org was blacked out for 24 hours to ensure that all our visitors knew that Andre was gone. Today fans of the Grand Dame of Science Fiction and…
An Interview with Robert Mellette, Part One
Robert Mellette contacted us earlier this year and asked if we would be interested in interviewing him about his (now newly published) book, Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand. Mellette was better known to us old-timey Xena fans as Xenastaff on the MCA/Universal Web forum, so we said, “Gladly”. Naturally, everything broke down on our…
Legend of the Seeker Fans Push Hard for a Movie
Sam Raimi has been receiving mail from fans of Legend of the Seeker who want him to produce a movie based on the television show. I loved the show myself and watched it every week. I was also privileged to be able to interview Craig Horner in December 2009 (the article was published in 2010)….
Xenite Updates Features and Emma Watson Galleries
The Xenite.Org Special Features Index page has been updated with links to some of our recently updated feature article sections. These extensive article and photo gallery sections were previously implemented as “microsites” on the old Xenite.Org before we switched over to WordPress. In the June 2011 redesign we took most of the old Xenite content…
Xenite 1997-2012: 15 Years of Magic, Sweat, and Passion
Today, March 14, 2012 marks the 15th anniversary of Xenite.Org. I have told everyone who would listen to me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and SF-Fandom that this day was coming. I’ve even sent email to a few thousand friends (and former friends) of SF-Fandom, asking them to recognize this day with a friendly Tweet. I…
March 14, 1997 to March 14, 2007
March 14, 1997 to March 14, 2007 I didn’t realize it at the time, but somewhere in 1995 I created my first Web page. It happened quietly and suddenly. I posted a message to a news group and a service called Deja News copied that message and stored it for posterity in a Web page….