Steven Helmer Publications

As I go through another re-watch of the series Psych , I find myself a bit amazed at the number of characters who were introduced, some with multiple-episode stories, only to be written off the show and never mentioned again.  My opinion about this is mixed. While some of the characters, like Freddie Prinze Jr.'s cameo as the alien-obsessed Dennis Gogolack made sense as a one-off, other characters, such as Shawn Spencer's ( James Roday Rodriguez ) long-time love interest, Abigail Lytar ( Rachel Leigh Cook ) seemed like they should have been around longer than they were. There is one character, however, that I find myself lumping into a different category - someone who both deserved a bit more time on the show but also in a different capacity. I am referring to Nestor Carbonell's Declan Rand, a character that I think would have made an awesome supervillain but was never given the opportunity. A quick recap for anyone who doesn't remember Declan. Introduced in the season...

Synopsis: Elderly and unliked goat farmer, Pete Jenkins, performs a Satanic ritual right before he dies and later returns as a younger version of himself, posing as his nephew, Nick Richards. Soon after, a dog attack leaves a local gas station owner, David Simpson, seriously disfigured and that is followed by a pair of mysterious deaths. Meanwhile, Richards seems to be endearing himself to Simpson's fiancée, Nell Lucas. Who's in it? The movie stars Ed Nelson , Jean Allison, Richard Crane , Edgar Buchanon and Spencer Carlisle. Review: I had woken up this morning intending to watch the 1927 silent film version of The Cat and the Canary.  However, it turned out to be a poor-quality copy, and I decided to call an audible after a few minutes. I had come across Devil's Partner a couple days ago, thought it looked interesting and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be an OK choice but not quite as good as I was hoping it would be. I think the best way to describe this fi...

Synopsis: After committing what they hope will be their last armed robbery on their way to a new life in Florida, Mickey and his girlfriend, Jules, run out of gas and break into a nearby home in the hopes of either stealing the car in the garage or gas. While searching the house, they come across a young girl chained in the basement and soon after encounter the home's owners, George and Gloria. When an attempt to rescue the girl, Sweetiepie fails because of the girl's surprising reluctance to leave, Mickey and Jules are taken captive by the other couple with little hope for escape and their lives likely in danger. Who's in it? The movie stars  Bill Skarsgård , Maika Monroe , Jeffrey Donovan, Kyra Sedgwick and Blake Baumgartner. Review: My wife and I had discussed going out tonight, but she has a potential modeling gig tomorrow (weather pending) and my bucket-list archaeology dig earlier today took a bit more out of me than expected. So, as usually happens, we found a mov...

Being involved in an archaeological dig has been on my bucket list for some time now and I finally had an opportunity to do it this morning without even needing to get in my car. Some background. My hometown of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin has a park known as Swan Park.  This part of Beaver Dam has a history that dates back thousands of years, when it was (according to the city web site) a popular hunting ground for local Native American tribes. The part of Beaver Dam's past that is applicable to this story is the late 19th Century, when Dr. George Swan built a hotel/spa on the piece of land. The resort lasted just two years before he closed it and auctioned off most of the buildings. Today's dig, which was open to the public and drew quite a few volunteers was to try to locate artifacts from that hotel. Courtesy of the Beaver Dam Library Since the park is within walking distance of my house, I decided to volunteer. I only was there for a couple hours, but it was a productive couple o...

I've been taking the time to re-watch the television series Psych in order whenever I have a few free minutes and have enjoyed the episodes the second (or is it tenth?) time around just as much as I did the first time.  As is the case with most good shows, it is more about the memorable characters than the stories themselves. The one thing I realized during this re-watch is while the show is centered around Shawn Spencer ( James Roday Rodriguez ) and his friend, Gus ( Dulé Hill ), the unsung hero in all eight seasons may also be one of television's most underrated dads, Henry Spencer ( Corbin Bernsen ). Here's why: He was, for all intents and purposes, a single dad. Shawn's parents divorced when he was young and while his mom (played in later seasons by Cybill Shepherd) left Santa Barbara, Henry raised his son while also working as a police officer. That is something that had to be a hard enough job on its own and was only amplified by young Shawn's well-documented ...

I don't know if I didn't sleep well, the overall weariness from a long week catching up to me or just old age but I woke up feeling exhausted today and have been dragging a bit because of it.  As a result, I seriously considered skipping my walk today, especially since yesterday's walk was a bit of a bust photo-wise. However, this is one of the very few spring-like days we've had so far this year, and I realized it would be a shame to waste weather that was sunny and warm without yet reaching a point where it is too hot. So, I reluctantly forced myself to go. My photo taking was much like yesterday's. There wasn't much cooperating with me, including a camera that insists on focusing on just about anything other than what I'm trying to get a photo of. However, I still managed to get some photos. This includes a couple of a red-winged blackbird that followed me through the park, squawking and flapping its wings at me because I apparently got too close to its n...