Human Target - Gren{ade} Vidlet

I've always thought this song would be perfect for Chance, but when I started looking around, the song seemed very well protected, so I abandon the idea.  That was probably almost a year ago.

With this LiveJournal TVRealm challenge, I thought I'd take a risk with this short segment of the music.  You can buy the whole thing at iTunes!

I love the twist from the last line of the song to the clip I added at the end.  She certainly does save him if he needs it.

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A Penny for Them

Actually, I'd probably give more than a penny to know what Chance is thinking here. This is from Imbroglio S2E9. Ilsa is not pleased to see him at the opera as she feels the pressure of her sister-in-law's visit.

This screen cap is from a clip I'm using in a vidlet set for a TV Realm Challenge which, with any luck, will be uploaded in the next day or so!  The theme for this vidlet is Dress Up and includes characters from a few different fandoms near and dear to my heart.

Some Screen Caps!

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I posted...
Sometimes when I'm working on a video, I find some nice screen caps - sometimes they're just amusing.
I thought I'd share a few caps I found in The Return of Baptiste.  While you're looking at them, you can listen to this radio interview by Mark Valley.  I learn something new everytime I hear an interview - and no, I haven't heard them all.  Sigh.  He didn't even talk about HT!
Although I've recorded most of Harry's Law I haven't been keeping up with it.  I guess Oliver Richards didn't grab me fast enough...
Here is the link to that radio interview,  and here are your HT screen caps.  Just a very few from the start of the episode.

Chance's Special Talent - A Human Target Quirk

I'm pretty sure this was written for the guy viewers, but I can't help chuckle continuously when I watch this series of clips from Imbroglio, so I guess it appeals to everyone.

Thanks (I think) to writer Robert Levine for keeping a smile on my face.  Each one of the characters handles Chances "talent" in beautiful form.

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Chances Update

No, I'm talking about my video Chances!  Sorry to get you excited.
Well, YouTube giveth and YouTube taketh away....

I was wondering why Chances wasn't getting the usual number of viewings and when I checked, YouTube had unexpectedly blocked it:

.....your video is blocked in these locations:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bouvet Island, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

No, wouldn't it just have been easier to list the countries it was viewable in? 

Never fear, if you are in one of these countries and you'd like to see Chances, it's on Vimeo here!

Oh, yeah, I forgot, I can embed it here, too.  :-)

Chances from CI Musings on Vimeo.

Communication Breakdown Photos

Ahhh, watched Harry's Law again this week and it just made me miss these guys even more...  Although Ollie Richards is growing on me.  It seriously annoys me he's not in every scene.  If the camera is focused on Kathy Bates, I'm not.

So here are a few pics from the set of Communication Breakdown.

Mark Valley looks like he's enjoying smushing Indira Varma's face into the leaves.  Bad Boy!

Perhaps she plans revenge with the knee? He still looks like he's having too much fun.  We all know Ilsa was barefoot in the jungle - do you like her little rehearsal booties? - not to mention the big fluffy jacket?

Here is the clip from that scene (in typical bad quality Blogger uploads - sorry!)  Doesn't it make you want to watch the whole episode?

Frazzled!

Ever noticed how Chance gets frazzled?
Ever noticed it happens when Ilsa is in danger? He yells at her.....   Hello?  It's particularly noticable in Imbroglio - he yells at her after she has just saved him from drowing.  Not exactly smooth, debonair or "under control"! 
It's okay Chance.  We understand what the problem is!

Frazzled from CI Musings on Vimeo.

Video clips are from
Communication Breakdown
Imbroglio and
The Trouble With Harry
and I'm sure there are others!

Under Control?

"It's under control" is one of Chance's favourite lines at the end of Season 2.  He says it three times in The Trouble With Harry and at the very start of Marshall Pucci. But I think he was under quite a  bit of strain at the end of Communication Breakdown, S2E8.

This might just be my wishful thinking - to see Chance losing control of that guy facade - but I've examined the video clips numerous times (I cannot make a vid and not include them). 

In the first screen cap in profile, Chance really looks like he is cracking from the horror of what Ilsa has been through and shocked by how close she came to death.  I think Indira Varma did an incredible job in this scene. I could not take my eyes off her for many many viewings - it's one of those unforgettable tv scenes.  Her silent trembling and the incomprehension on her face as her eyes are riveted on Chance are haunting. And there is something around Mark Valley's eyes that makes me think he bought it, too!

From Communication Breakdown, S2E8

But when you flip around to face him, he has lost that vulnerability.  Pity!  But it's still an amazing scene with only her name spoken once.

From Communication Breakdown, S2E8

The music is Semi-Automatic by Boxer Rebellion and you can listen to it here.  I was going to embed the scene here, but Warner Bros claimed the rights and I couldn't embed it.  You'll just have to head for your dvrs!  And hopefully Season 2 will be released soon.

Location: Steveston

This wasn't too hard to figure out!
This is one of the final clips from Kill Bob, S2E11 where Chance walks back down the wharf.  You can see him in this cap if you look hard!

And this is a touristy promotional photo advertising Steveston.

Here is a map of Vancouver with locations mentioned so far - so when you visit, you'll know where to go!  ;-)

And seeing we have that established, here are a couple of caps from the episode!

Ilsa's Passport

I'm a little confused over this!  From Communication Breakdown, S2E8 we know that Ilsa is Irish but grew up in London.  All EC passports are red, and this is not a US passport.  So can someone enlighten me?  I'm thinking it's a creation by the props guys....

from The Other Side of the Mall, S2E6

The Power of Ilsa Pucci

I started working on this blogpost long ago and it sort of morphed into the recent video because of the song lyrics, but it's finally time..... 

The title of this post isn’t referring to Ilsa’s power because of her wealth.  It refers to the effect she manages to have on Chance.  (Guys are just going to hate hearing this stuff about Chance, but.....)

Ilsa’s mechanism for dealing with things she can’t cope with is to turn and walk away.  I recognize it, because I do it.

There is a lot Chance won’t bend for (and that’s for another blog entry), but have you ever notice how often he’ll follow her when she turns away? Lucky Ilsa, she has the power.

Some of these clips can be interpreted that he's just following her to talk to her, but there is a definite pattern.  It isn't very often that he won't follow her. The last time it takes him a few hours to get going and a prod from Winston. 

Let me know if you think of other examples!

And in the very last clip, he *runs*.

Clips are from

The Return of Baptiste

The Other Side of the Mall

A Problem Like Maria

Marshall Pucci

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Do Chance and Ilsa sound a bit chipmunky? I've altered their pitch to help prevent YouTube blocking the video....  And sorry for the roll in some of the clip transitions.  I don't know why it does that when I don't get that happening when I make video.  ??????????????

Blueberry Football

or Soccer if you wish.  Keep your eyes on the blueberries. Whoop, there's a pair, almost a third.  Blueberry avalanche!  I think Chance would be just as happy kicking his feelings under the table in this scene!

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From Marshall Pucci, S2E13.

Blueberry Football from CI Musings on Vimeo.

Love Lost

Love Lost is by The Temper Trap. This is the music that was playing at the very end of Marshall Pucci S2E13.  I leave it to you to figure out what they were trying to tell us!!  (Sorry if I leave you wanting more....   No spoilers for the UK crowd who are just getting this season on SyFy!)

I've uploaded this on Vimeo because the Blogger quality is soooo bad and Vimeo doesn't ask as many questions as YouTube....  so far.

Love Lost from CI Musings on Vimeo.

You can hear it complete here:

and purchase it on iTunes.

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Budding Thrillseeker and Trust

In the first episode of Season 2, Ilsa Pucci is put in a position where she really has no choice but to jump through a plate glass window from the 17th (?) storey of a high-rise in Geneva.  She looks pretty anxious about trusting Chance.

From Ilsa Pucci, S2E1

But in the final episode of Season 2, when she is again in a no-choice situation with Chance, does she look worried? Maybe she would be if she looked at his face! This time the trust comes with less fear.

From Marshall Pucci, S2E13

Here are the two scenes in video.

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Semi-Automatic

This is an awesome song.  It was used in Communication Breakdown as Chance rushes to Ilsa - he is sure Hector Lopez will kill her. The quiet urgency of this song contrasts beautifully with the violence and fear.  But I can't listen to it with comfort yet, as in my mind it's completely integrated with these riveting clips.  It's one of my favourite sequences in all tv viewing, exquisitely played by Indira Varma and Mark Valley and it features prominently in both my Human Target fanvids.

Here is a short clip as the song starts - Semi-Automatic continues in this amazing scene for over two and half minutes.

from Communication Breakdown, S2E8

This song is by The Boxer Rebellion and you can listen to it complete here

Buy it on iTunes here
Buy it on Amazon.com here

Who First?

In a comment in a previous blog post, Marie asked who I thought was attracted to the other first, Chance or Ilsa?  Ooo, that’s a hard one.  I think it’s pretty gradual. This isn’t cut and dried and this post became longer and longer the more I thought about it. (and this post has taken weeks to compose!)

Ilsa was enamored by the legend/mystique of Christopher Chance even before she met him. She spent 6 months learning about him and searching for him. She convinced herself she needed him.  So she was invested first, although she didn’t realize it.

And as I’ve said before, once she found him she couldn’t give him up, even when she learned up-close and personal about his past.  She is fascinated and puzzled by him (In The Wife’s Tale he didn’t stand up for himself to the wife whose husband he had killed years before, even though that husband was going to ditch his wife.  But that’s another topic… ).

I love this little coy look she gives after Chance has turned his back in The Return of Baptiste.  She often asks him point-blank if he’s worried about her.  And he always hedges.  Chance is a master at avoidance. Why is she toying with him? (sorry these Blogger uploads are such crappy quality)

from The Return of Baptiste, S2 E4

Marie mentioned the look on Ilsa’s face when Ilsa first sees Maria – and I hadn’t noticed (great catch Marie!), but oh, she has quite the expression.  For a change she doesn’t have Chance all to herself. Maybe she was expecting a 60 year old bald woman...  I think Ilsa is later mad at him because he continually backs Maria over and over even when Maria is so blatantly using him.  Is Ilsa jealous? or pragmatic?

 Of course the complication with Ilsa is her lasting loyalty to Marshall.  If they come back for another season, watch to see if her wedding rings come off.  They need to.  When she said goodbye to Winston and Ames at the end of Marshall Pucci, she seemed like a woman with a great weight lifted off her shoulders.

As for Chance, he is immediately intrigued by Ilsa – but maybe that has more to do with 6 months on an ashram without women.  The fact that he accepted her as a partner proves he is interested in more than a one episode stand.  All through Season 1 he seemed to be looking for a connection, for a soulmate.  He is our lonely hero.  Yet he has such a fight-or-flight response that it’s a miracle he doesn’t run away from Ilsa in the first episode of Season 2.

We know for sure by the time of The Trouble With Harry, he is invested.  Definitely off his A-game because Ilsa is in the thick of things.  But it’s this look after Harry accuses him of having feelings for Ilsa that is so amusing.  It’s just a subtle widening of his eyes but it’s saying volumes - of something.

from The Trouble With Harry, S2 E12

Is this a look of shock because

a)      He’s just realized, yes, he cares for Ilsa and that’s why he’s off his game?

b)      He knows he has feeling but is shocked he hasn’t covered them up well enough?

c)       He is shocked that even Harry has figured it out?

I’m leaning towards c)

Chance wouldn’t have let Ilsa kiss him if there wasn’t something there.   Of course, he is a *guy*, but he knows the difference between what’s right and wrong – after all he let Maria go and turned away from her kiss at the end of A Problem Like Maria.

Of course Winston and Guerrero have figured out there is something going on during Communication Breakdown…  Ames doesn’t get it till we see her sweet look of surprise and approval just before Chance climbs the outside of the building to go after Ilsa in Marshall Pucci.

Chance and Ilsa seem to sort out a lot in Communication Breakdown.  Ilsa knows Chance pretty well by the time they start fighting, so she knows exactly which buttons to push, but Chance learns a huge amount about Ilsa in this episode. Not that he doesn’t do his own button pushing…   He learns that she’ll tramp through the jungle in bare feet,  that she won’t accept help if she’s mad, that she’s not afraid of spiders, that she knows what it’s like to be shot, that she’s not a trophy wife and that she is perfectly capable of saving him if necessary.  She does not curl into a ball and need to be saved, even at the end of Communication Breakdown when she shoots Hector Lopez in self-defense.

I haven’t quite figured out why his anger at Ilsa over the Maria thing evaporated.  Ilsa was trying to control him – or rather she was trying to control the situation after he had failed.  But maybe she earned his respect (yet again) while they were out in the jungle.  She seems to have to do that every few episodes  – but that thought, too, is for another time.

So, I really don’t have an answer to Who First?  Chance is too enigmatic to pin down.   I may have missed something and will continue to watch for clues.

And none of this is addressing whether each of them realizes the other cares.  Of course Chance had an unfair advantage thanks to this exchange with Winston and Guerrero.

from Communication Breakdown, S2 E8

In general, the writing for these two was really good.  There wasn't a lot of on again/off again stuff the really annoys me in other shows.  So once again, thumbs up to Matt Miller for monitoring this so carefully.

So, what do you think?

Human Target - Where I Go (Video)

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This is a Christopher Chance and Ilsa Pucci fanvid for the Nick Gardner contest.  http://artypartypants.livejournal.com/7526.html to vote

My interpretation of this song, in the context of Human Target, reflects Chance’s conviction that no one can go where he’s been and he would never want anyone to.  Where does he “go”?  He is tortured by self-recrimination for deeds past and is endlessly searching  for redemption.  He frequently runs away from the people he cares most about fearing they will be hurt or worse.  Until Ilsa.  In the end, he keeps her from following in his footsteps….

This amazing song immediately stole my heart and I was over the moon that it was available for use with permission!
Please check out Nick Gardner’s other beautiful music on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/nrhgardner
 Many thanks to him for allowing the use of Where I Go. It was this vidder’s dream of a song.  My apologies Nick, if I didn’t quite hit your mark with some of the video transitions!

This vid is dedicated to my friend Magra, a vidder extraordinaire, who helped and encouraged me when I first started.  Happy birthday! (This was finished on your birthday but technical issues delay it!)

"Where I Go" (C) 2009
Lyrics, Melody, Music written by Nick Gardner

The hand on the clock chimes, reads me my life line
Then you go and drop that bomb on me
You take a step back, then we can't get back
We're poor and they're expecting a fee.
We're fighting for air, it's not fair...
The Gods are immune to our plea
And I could go further, and commit murder
But tell me then where would I be?
[CHORUS]
Where I Go
Where I Go
There'll be fire that goes blazing on the snow
Where I Go
Where I Go
There'll be fire that goes blazing on the snow
And I know, where I go, isn't somewhere that you can easily see
And I know, where I go, isn't somewhere that you'll ever be
You'll ever be, you'll ever be...
[VERSE 2]
Tell me that story, of your life before me
Go back to it and set yourself free
Erase all the trouble, and then the struggle
Like the struggle to split sand from the sea
There's not enough time, to fix this crime
On the souls hurt so effortlessly
I wish I could be there, or at least not care
Then you wouldn't have to care about me
[CHORUS]
[BRIDGE]
When the sky starts turning and it goes back
The sun turns back and the ground cracks
At vanishing point on the broken glass floor
Through the mirror in your mind and the lock on the door
Goes nowhere, you can't go there, or know there, nothing grows there
'Cept your shadow grows smaller and in the blink of an eye
I can't see you anymore
[CHORUS]
You'll ever be, you'll ever be, you'll ever be..
You'll be, you'll be

Braver

P.S. Anonymous comments have been enabled on this blog, so you don't need a Blogger account to add your thoughts!

After writing the other day that Ilsa had searched for Chance for 6 months, I started thinking.

Ilsa sought out Chance to free her from the same people who had killed her husband. Once that was initially accomplished, she couldn’t let go. Really, what was she thinking? It seems that partnering with these men gave her a complete break from her previous life which had been ruined by the death of her husband and the subsequent threats. Now that she was free, what next? What’s even more interesting was that the team agreed to partner with her.

I love that she was so astute about Chance right off the bat in Ilsa Pucci, Season 2 Episode 1.

It didn’t take much for Ilsa to put together that Chance had an enormous conscience. She already knew he had recreated himself – that he was a former assassin turned bodyguard. She found him in an ashram, a spiritual hermitage, a place located far from human habitation designed for meditation and making penance in order to find solace and tranquility. This is clearly a man trying to change his life again.

However, it didn’t take much persuasion for Chance to take her on as a client. Maybe he applauded her persistence. Maybe he sensed her frustration or that indeed, she was not like his other clients. Maybe he was tired of ashram life. Maybe he thought he’d done enough penance. Or maybe it was the “braver” stab.
(if you are receiving this as an email update, please click on the title to view the mini-videos on the blog.)

Ilsa probes even deeper when being brave comes up again later in the episode.

And then there is this wonderful interaction between Chance and Ilsa after the bullets have stopped flying.  She once again assesses him perfectly and he is willing to answer her honestly and not blow her off with a flippant remark.  Beautifully written and acted.

Ilsa is a smart woman.  She knows what to say although I don't think she was being calculating or manipulative at all in this scene.
In the end, Ilsa gets what she wants - at least in this episode - and I'm pretty sure it has to do with winning his heart by calling him brave. 

Chance Meets Ilsa

I love the first episode of Season 2, Ilsa Pucci.   It's here we are introduced to billionaire philanthropist and recently widowed Ilsa.  She has it all, except Chance.

This is a mini-vid of their first meeting.  She is sophisticated, sexy, challenging and mocking. She's been searching for him for six months and has had six months to prepare her first words to him.  How does Chance respond?  He stops meditating and looks her up and down.  Yep. He's obviously had too many months on an ashram.....

This episode was written by Matt Miller, the Season 2 showrunner, who leaves us wanting to know more about the multi-layered and complex Ilsa.  I think he writes Ilsa better than anyone. There is a nice (early) interview with him here.
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Size Matters

from Ilsa Pucci, Season 2 Episode 1

One day I was curious how tall Winston was.  They all look waaaay up to him.  So I went hunting.  Chi McBride is 6' 4-1/2" according to the internet.  Um, he's tall.
I couldn't stop there, so how tall is Chance?  Mark Valley is 5' 10" 
Guerrero?  Jackie Earle Haley is recorded at 5' 5".  And I wouldn't want to mess with him no matter how tall he was.
Guerrero's sidekick Ames?  Janet Montgomery is 5' 6"

Ilsa Pucci?  Indira Varma is 5' 7".  Put her in 3" heels and she is the same height as Chance.  Perfect.  Equals.