X-Files 2 Set Visit Auction Update

Seven hours into the auction.

Latest bid: $10,800.

Seriously.

Money, Happiness, and the X-Files 2 Set Visit Auction

Does money buy happiness? I (like most poor people) would tend to argue in the affirmative. Here's an example: over at GAWS, it has been announced that they are going to auction off two passes to spend a day on the set of the X-Files 2, watching shooting take place and meeting the cast and crew.

It is times like this that I really, really wish I wasn't in poverty. I mean sure, I want a nice house and a cool car. I'd like to be able to know for sure that I am going to have enough money for food and rent at the end of the month. I'd like to have my student loans and credit card debt paid off. Those creature comforts would all be wonderful, but what I would really like is the ability to drop a few thousands dollars, or whatever it is going to cost, to win this auction and get onto the set of the X-Files 2.

I couldn't even imagine what that experience would be like... to finally get to meet people like Chris Carter and Gillian Anderson, people who have brought such joy and pleasure to my life. These people affected my personal development on a deep level. They played a huge part in my becoming the person I am today and an even bigger part in the person I was throughout high school. They have had a monumental influence on my life, and I have had no influence what-so-ever on theirs. The opportunity to say, "Thanks," would be amazing.

And that, my friends, is how money can buy happiness. Money affords you the ability to walk onto the set of the new X-Files movie, shake hands with Chris Carter, look him in the eyes and say, "Thank you. Your art made my life better." These are the moments that poverty steals away from you. It's not just that you can't have nice things, it's that you can't do the things you want to do, the things that would bring you real joy and create memories that would last you a life time.

I had the opportunity to meet Chris Owens, the actor who played Jeffery Spender, at a comic book convention in Toronto a few years ago. And William B David, the cigarrette smoking man himself, was kind enough to send me an email a few months back. In that sense, I'm lucky. I have interacted with some of the people who brought The X-Files to life.

In fact, I'm very lucky. When I say "poverty" I mean only that I have to worry about how I'm going to pay my rent sometimes, and that it will be a few decades before my wife and I pay off our student loans. I don't mean that I am on the streets, starving and alone, like hundreds of thousands of Canadians out there. I've rarely gone hungry in my life and I have a shelf that holds nine seasons worth of X-Files DVDs, most of which sold for more than $100 each back in the day.

But that only serves to prove my point. One of the reasons I was able to experience the bliss of watching The X-Files was the fact that I had the money to afford cable television, a DVD player and the box sets of the seasons. The X-Files brought me bountiful joy, but only because I had the money to purchase access to that joy.

My wife and I currently pay $700 a month in student loans. Lets say the set passes end up selling for $5000, and lets say that I won. That would mean it would take me an extra seven months to pay off our student loan debt. Throw on the interest and it would probably be more like eight or nine months. Plus, we'd have to add the cost of plane tickets to Vancouver, lodging once we are there, and transportation to the set. That's probably a couple more months worth of money there.

So, in the end of the day, I have to ask myself, is one day on the set of The X-Files 2 worth one year of my life? Sadly, the answer is, "probably not."

I really hope that whoever wins the auction appreciates how truly lucky they are.

First Set Photos Arrive

We truly live in a glorious age. A mere three days into shooting, and already we have our first set of behind the scenes photos! Check them out over at X-Files Ultimate, where they also have an awesome X-Files 2 countdown clock. Shots include Duchovny, as well as Peet and Xzibit. Plus there is the great shot, to the right, of Carter directing Duchovny.

I guess we will have to wait a little longer to find out what Scully's hair is going to look like, but Duchovny's hair and clothing in these photos certainly look appropriately Mulder-esk.

The First Day of Shooting

Here it is, the day we have all been waiting for! As I type this, the first scenes from the new X-Files film are being shot in Vancouver, B.C.

On this very special and exciting day I want to send out all my best wishes and good vibes to Gillian, David and Chris.

Here's hoping you folks knock this one out of the park!

New X-Files 2 Cast Members

GAWS is reporting three new additions to the X-Files 2 cast!

Xzibit, Amanda Peet and Billy Connolly have all signed on to perform in the film. Apparently Xzibit and Peet will pay FBI agents. No word on what role Connolly will play, though one can picture him playing an Alvin Kurtzweil type character pretty easily.

Connolly, incident, appeared in Lemony's Snicket's A Serious of Unfortunate Events, one of my all time favourite movies.

The Final Weekend Before Shooting

So here we are. The last weekend before Gillian Anderson, David Duchovney and Chris Carter begin shooting a new X-Files movie in Vancouver.

It's still hard to believe how quickly it all happened. I mean, we all knew Carter needed to finish up his lawsuit with Fox before a new film would go ahead, but did anyone expect it would happen this fast? I doubt it! Just a few months ago, it was all still rumours. Now, we're three days away from shooting.

It's strange. My life has changed so much since the final episode of the X-Files aired so long ago. In the years following the airing of "The Truth" I finished my undergrad, and then grad school, split from my long time girlfriend, started a career, got married… I am a completely different person than who I was back then. Will Mulder and Scully have changed too? Have they spent five years on the run from the government? If so, is William with them? He would be, what, six years old now? Are Mulder and Scully even still a couple? So many questions. I suppose foremost among them (and really the only one that matters) is will the movie be good?

It's strange… this whole thing feels like some sort of flashback to the 1990's, a period of time which has started to look better and better given the hindsight of the post 911 era. I think Mulder represented a mode of heroic idealism that has been washed away by the complexities of life in the 21st century. We just don't have dreamers like Mulder anymore. Everything is now cynical and ironic, with an underlining sense of utter futility.

I wonder if Carter's 90's politics were a really a response to Clinton's administration, or if they were actually a reflection back on the era of Nixon's conservative and corrupt reign which would have taken place during his formative years; a reflection that was, in fact, afforded by the freedom offered by Clinton's Democrats. I would definitely lean towards the latter, which truly makes me wonder how Carter's new film will reflect life under Bush Jr. I just hope he hasn't lost his sense of unbridled optimism and belief in goodness, even in the face of ever amassing evil.

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It has become a very different world since Mulder and Scully last graced our screens. I'm looking forward to finding out who they have become.